University of California Berkeley 
 Gift of 
 
 Cathrine Coates 
 
ALraizo Chappel 
 
 
CCWSE ORATING- THE TTiAG -A.T TORT SHM1TEB_.. 
 
 Alraiao Cliajipei 
 
 27 BKKKMAN STRKKT. 
 
NATIONAL HISTORY ^ 
 
 OT THE 
 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION, 
 
 Ciiril, UJilitarg anfr $JahL ^ 
 
 POUNDED ON 
 
 OFFICIAL AND OTHER AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS, 
 
 BY 
 
 EVERT A. DUYCKESTCK, 
 
 Author of " National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Americans" " Cyclopedia of American Literature" Etc. 
 
 toitfc JigMs-f itusljtir SUel 
 
 BATTLE SCENES BY SEA AND LAND, AND FULL-LENGTH PORTRAITS 0/NAVAL AND 
 MILITARY HEROES, PROM ORIGINAL PAINTINGS, 
 
 BY ALONZO CHAPPEL AND THOMAS MST. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. -VOLUME I. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 JOHNSON, FRY AND COMPANY, 
 
 27 BEEKMAN STREET. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1861, 
 
 BY JOHNSON, FRY & COMPANY, 
 lu the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. 
 
THE Publishers submit this record of the WAR FOR THE UNION with a few 
 words of acknowledgment to their Subscribers for their support during its 
 progress. Undertaken at an early period of the conflict, when its duration 
 could not be calculated, the work has been steadily prosecuted, chapter by 
 chapter contemporaneously with the rapid march of events. Relying mostly 
 upon original documents which will always retain their value, the narrative 
 has been proportioned to the importance and length of the struggle ; while 
 the Artists have presented in a series of more than seventy engravings, the 
 most remarkable incidents and most important personages who have figured in 
 the national history during this unprecedented struggle. In attaining this 
 result, the Publishers have had to encounter many mechanical difficulties 
 growing out of the interruptions of labor, and the increased price of materials, 
 consequent upon the war ; but they have never suffered these embarrassments to 
 interfere with the steady progress of the work. 
 
 One thing has been constantly kept in view, to exhibit as far as opportunity 
 at the time allowed, the merits of the conflict as set forth in important State pa- 
 pers and other public documents by the parties on either hand. Thus by the 
 side of the messages of President Lincoln will be found those of the leader of the 
 Rebel Confederacy, and, where such materials were accessible, the dispatches 
 and reports of rival commanders. Nor has it been attempted generally to sit in 
 judgment upon the merits or pretensions of individuals, officers or statesmen, 
 in the thronged arena of the conflict. It has been thought sufficient to exhibit 
 prominent facts and results, leaving the decisions and awards of fame to the 
 judgment of the reader. But one thing, it is believed, has never been lost sight 
 of the paramount claims of national allegiance and unqualified patriotism. 
 This is a test upon which all lovers of their country will be agreed ; that whatever 
 allowances may be made for minor differences, they must all yield to the safety 
 and welfare of the whole where the interests of the nation are at stake, in the 
 maintenance and preservation of the UNION. 
 
CONTENTS OF VOLUME 1 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE 
 
 I. INTRODUCTORY 5 
 
 II. RISE AND PROGRESS OP SECESSION 20 
 
 III. PRELIMINARIES TO SUMTER 37 
 
 IV. SECESSION IN CONGRESS 60 
 
 V. THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY 65 
 
 VI. INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 78 
 
 VIL FORT SUMTER 95 
 
 VIII. PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION 120 
 
 IX. RESPONSE OF THE NATION 131 
 
 X. SEIZURE OF HARPER'S FERRY AND THE NORFOLK NAVY YARD 149 
 
 XI THROUGH BALTIMORE 1C2 
 
 XII. GENERAL BUTLER'S DEPARTMENT OF ANNAPOLIS 174 
 
 XIII. THE ADVANCE ACROSS THE POTOMAC 189 
 
 XIV. AFFAIRS ON THE POTOMAC 202 
 
 XV. MOVEMENTS OF THE CONFEDERATES 214 
 
 XVI. THE DEATH OF SENATOR DOUGLAS 230 
 
 XVII. AFFAIRS AT BALTIMORE 238 
 
 XVIII. GENERAL BUTLER AT FORTRESS MONROE 252 
 
 XIX. WESTERN VIRGINIA 274 
 
 XX. EASTERN TENNESSEE 293 
 
 XXL PROCEEDINGS IN MISSOURI 305 
 
 XXIL THE POSITION OF KENTUCKY 324 
 
 XXIII. GENERAL McCLELLAN IN WESTERN VIRGINIA 342 
 
 XXIV. MEETING OF THE NATIONAL ' CONGRESS IN JULY .351 
 
 XXV. THE MOVEMENT TOWARD MANASSAS 3C7 
 
 XXVI. THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN 384 
 
 XXVII. INCIDENTS OF TflE ENGAGEMENT 408 
 
 XX VIII. FOREIGN RELATIONS 432 
 
 XXIX. THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT AT RICHMOND.. 46-? 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTBR. PAGS 
 
 XXX. THE SOUTHERN PRIVATEERS ^ 479 
 
 XXXL EXTRA SESSION OF THE NATIONAL CONGRESS 490 
 
 XXXII. THE BATTLE OF CARTHAGE, MO., JULY 5, 1861 502 
 
 XXXIII. GENERAL LYON'S MISSOURI CAMPAIGN. BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK, AU- 
 GUST 10, 1861 514 
 
 XXXIV. THE DEFENCE OF LEXINGTON, SEPTEMBER 12-20, 1861 5;U 
 
 XXXV. HATTER AS ISLAND 538 
 
 XXXVI. THE CAMPAIGN IN SOUTH-WESTERN VIRGINIA 556 
 
 XXXVII GENERAL FREMONT'S MISSOURI CAMPAIGN 578 
 
 XXXVIII. MILITARY AND NAVAL ENGAGEMENTS AT SANTA ROSAS ISLAND AND THE 
 
 'PASSES OF THE MISSISSIPPI, SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER, 1861 602 
 
 TOL I. 
 
TO 
 
 THE ARMY AND NAVY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNITED STATES 
 
 <sr\ 
 
 SDgis 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION 
 
 18 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 
 
THOU, TOO, SAIL ON, O SHIT OF STATE! 
 
 SAIL ON, O UNION, STRONG AND GREAT I 
 
 HUMANITY WITH ALL ITS FEARS, 
 
 WITH ALL THE HOPES OF FUTURE YEARS 
 
 IS HANGING BREATHLESS ON THY FATE 1 
 
 WE KNOW WHAT MASTER LAID THY KEEL, 
 
 WHAT WORKMEN WROUGHT THY RIBS OF STEEL ; 
 
 WHO MADE EACH MAST, AND SAIL, AND ROPE, 
 
 WHAT ANVILS RANG, WHAT HAMMERS BEAT 1 . 
 
 IN WHAT A FORGE AND WHAT A HEAT 
 
 WERE SHAPED THE ANCHORS OF THY HOPE. 
 
 FEAR NOT EACH SUDDEN SOUND AND SHOCK, 
 
 'TIS OF THE WAVE AND NOT THE ROCKC 
 
 'TIS BUT THE FLAPPING OF THE SAIL, 
 
 AND NOT A RENT MADE BY THE GALE. 
 
 IN SPITE OF ROCK AND TEMPEST'S ROAB, 
 
 IN SPITE OF FALSE LIGHTS ON THE SHORE, 
 
 SAIL ON, NOR FEAR TO BREAST THE SEA I 
 
 OUR HEARTS, OUR HOPES, ARE ALL WITH THEE; 
 
 OUR HEARTS, OUR HOPES, OUR PRAYERS, OUR TEARS, 
 
 OUR FAITH TRIUMPHANT O'ER OUR FEARS, 
 
 ARE ALL WITH THEE, ARE ALL WITH THEE. 
 
THE 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION, 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 "HOWEVER disagreeable it may be," 
 is the language of the American his- 
 torian, Minot, in commencing his nar- 
 rative of the Insurrections in Massa- 
 chusetts in 1786, and the Rebellion 
 Consequent Thereon, " to review the 
 troubles of our country, every patriot 
 will look upon it as his duty, not to let 
 them pass without notice. The period 
 of misfortune is the most fruitful source 
 of instruction. By investigating the 
 causes of national commotions, by trac- 
 ing their progress and by carefully 
 marking the means through which they 
 are brought to a conclusion, well estab- 
 lished principles may be deduced, for 
 preserving the future tranquility of the 
 commonwealth." It is in the calm, im- 
 partial spirit of this remark that we 
 would proceed to narrate, simply and 
 clearly as we may, the development of 
 the present most extraordinary conflict, 
 a rebellion or attempted revolution, gi- 
 gantic in its extent, terrible in the fe- 
 rocity with which it has been carried on, 
 and memorable to all time for its trial 
 of principles and modes of government, 
 in which the whole modern world is 
 interested, and upon the maintenance 
 of which the welfare of millions of peo- 
 
 ple is immediately dependent. In many 
 lights, truly, a most sad and humiliating 
 struggle ; in others, radiant with the 
 purest glory of national devotion and 
 self-sacrifice. 
 
 The time has, of course, not yet come 
 for a complete record of these occur- 
 rences to be written. The movement 
 began hi secrecy ; many of its hidden 
 contrivances and resources will probably 
 never be fully known ; others may be 
 disclosed only by the revelations of pri- 
 vate manuscripts and correspondence in 
 another age. Even a knowledge of what 
 was publicly transacted, so wide has been 
 the area and so numerous and compli- 
 cated have been the incidents, must await 
 the slow and patient labors of long-con- 
 tinued research. Who can now enter 
 into the secrets of the opposing cabi- 
 nets, or unravel the intricate web of 
 statesmanship ? The very operations 
 of war, which would appear to be of 
 a tangible character, have always their 
 disputes and contradictions. With the 
 best of evidence before us it is most dif- 
 ficult to determine the facts of a battle 
 what was actually performed and suffer- 
 ed, let alone determining the motives and 
 plans of the combatants. Military critics 
 
 (5) 
 
WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 yet dispute over conflicts which hundreds 
 of annalists and commentators have la- 
 bored to elucidate. How then must it 
 be when the smoke and dust of the en- 
 counter have scarce rolled away from 
 the plain ? 
 
 Enough, however, lies open to the 
 view to supply the reader with the more 
 prominent features of these extraordi- 
 nary passing events ; to gratify his cu- 
 riosity in many most interesting partic- 
 ulars ; to afford fruitful opportunity for 
 meditation in even a cursory review of 
 the chronicle. We shall meet with 
 many deeds of exalted heroism, worthy 
 a better field than the painful theatre 
 of civil war ; with many exhibitions of 
 manners and character which we might 
 survey with more satisfaction, perhaps, 
 were our fellow citizens not the actors, 
 and our beloved country the scene. 
 
 To understand properly the origin 
 and causes of this attempt on the part 
 of the Southern States to assert and 
 maintain their independence of the gov- 
 ernment of the United States, we must 
 ascend to the beginning of our national 
 history. We shall there find at the out- 
 set certain differences and conditions, 
 marking the two portions of the coun- 
 try, the North and the South, which at 
 no subsequent period, perhaps, have 
 been wholly inoperative. They are to 
 be referred, generally, to climate and 
 the social relations springing frun the 
 peculiar institution of slavery. The 
 South, as an agricultural producing re- 
 gion, with its fields tilled and its products 
 gathered by slave labor, a privileged class 
 of its inhabitants enjoying the benefits 
 of wealth thus obtained, presented many 
 contrasts to the less favored regions of 
 the North, where competence, and even a 
 bare subsistence could be gained in most 
 
 instances only by patient toil and long 
 continued self-denial. When the men of 
 these opposite regions first met in the 
 conventions and congresses preliminary 
 to the formation of the national confed- 
 eracy, the effects of these diversities were 
 exhibited in taste and temper. John 
 Adams, then making his way rapidly 
 upward in the world, a curious and poli- 
 tic student of men's manners, and keenly 
 sensitive to social discriminations, has left 
 us in his diaries and correspondence 
 various anecdotes and observations of 
 these differences. As he travels south- 
 ward from New England, he notices in 
 Virginia the increased style and expense 
 of living, and more than once records the 
 perils to which the infant Union was sub- 
 jected in the opposite temperaments and 
 interests of the representatives of the 
 North and the South. There is in particu- 
 lar a curious illustration of the relative 
 social aspects of the two regions, in a 
 letter which he wrote in 1775, to Joseph 
 Hawley, in reference to the pay given by 
 Congress to the privates of the army. 
 His correspondent, at the East, urged 
 that this remuneration be increased, a 
 recommendation to which Adams replies 
 that the gentlemen of the army from the 
 southward thought it already too high, 
 and that of the officers too low. He 
 says that "many an anxious day and 
 night " has been spent upon this subject ; 
 and adds the general reflection, " we 
 cannot suddenly alter the temper, prin- 
 ciples, opinions and prejudices of men. 
 The characters of gentlemen in the four 
 New England colonies differ as nrich 
 from those in the others, as that of the 
 common people differs ; that is, as much 
 as several distinct nations almost. Gen- 
 tlemen, men of sense, or any kind of 
 education, in the other colonies, are much 
 
THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. 
 
 fewer in proportion than in New England. 
 Gentlemen in the colonies have large 
 plantations of slaves, and the common 
 people among them are very ^ignorant 
 and very poor. These gentlemen are 
 accustomed, habituated to higher notions 
 of themselves, and the distinction be- 
 tween them and the common people than 
 we are. And an instantaneous alteration 
 of the character of a colony, and that 
 temper and those sentiments which its 
 inhabitants imbibed with their mothers' 
 milk, and which have grown with their 
 growth, and strengthened with their 
 strength, cannot be made without a mir- 
 acle. I dread the consequences of this 
 dissimilitude of character, and without 
 the utmost caution on both sides, and the 
 most considerate forbearance with one 
 another, and prudent condescension on 
 both sides, they will certainly be fatal. 
 An alteration of the Southern Constitu- 
 tions, which must certainly take place if 
 this war continues, will gradually bring 
 all the continent nearer and nearer to 
 each other in all repects." * 
 
 This, certainly, is a very noticeable pas- 
 sage which has lost none of its political 
 significance after the lapse of three-quar- 
 ters of a century. That alteration of the 
 Southern Constitutions is yet needed to 
 complete that essential condition of a per- 
 fect union, which has never been better 
 defined than in those very words, " grad- 
 ually bringing all the continent nearer 
 and nearer to each other in all respects." 
 
 The war of the Revolution did much to 
 accomplish this. The men of the South 
 shed their blood in the battle-fields of the 
 North, and the men of the North in the 
 battle-fields of the South, in a common 
 cause ; and the fraternity of the trench, 
 
 * Letter to Joseph Hawley, Philadelphia; 25th Novem- 
 ber, 1775. Adama' Works, ix 366-7. 
 
 the rampart and the deadly encounter 
 with the foe was not lost upon them. It 
 was a great lesson of brotherhood when 
 Morgan and his riflemen hastened on foot 
 on their extraordinary march to the field 
 of Saratoga, or when Lincoln and Green 
 with their companions found themselves 
 by the side of Sumter and Marion, in de- 
 fence of the plantations of the South. It 
 was a still greater when WASHINGTON, 
 aptly chosen from the middle region of 
 the country, a representative of the pur- 
 est and best traditions of the South, 
 patiently and magnanimously spent his 
 life in reconciling all contradictions, to 
 mould and establish a great nation. The 
 fates seemed to hold an impartial balance 
 as the struggle for independence begun 
 on Northern soil ended in the sunny re- 
 gion of the South. 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, this cement 
 of blood in the common struggle of the 
 Revolution, the North and the South 
 were not as yet sufficiently one people 
 to enter without an effort upon the more 
 perfect union of the Constitution. The 
 historian of that great charter of our 
 liberties, while enumerating the embar- 
 rassments which beset its adoption, in- 
 cludes also, as "a very serious cause for 
 discouragement, the sectional jealousy 
 and State pride which had been con- 
 stantly growing from the Declaration of 
 Independence to the time when the 
 States were called upon to meet each 
 other upon broader grounds, and to 
 make even larger sacrifices than at any 
 former period. It is difficult," be adds, 
 in a philosophic spirit, and with a 
 prescience of coming events, " to trace 
 to all its causes the feeling which has at 
 times arrayed the different extremities 
 of this Union against each other. It 
 was very early developed, after the dif- 
 
WAR FOR THE UN10JS. 
 
 ferent provinces were obliged to act to- 
 gether for their great mutual objects of 
 political independence ; but, even in its 
 highest paroxysms, it has always at last 
 found an antidote in the deeper feelings 
 and more sober calculations of a con- 
 sistent patriotism. Perhaps its preva- 
 lence and activity may with more truth 
 be ascribed, in every generation, to the 
 ambition of men who find in it a con- 
 venient instrument of local influence, 
 rather than to any other cause. It is 
 certain that when it has raged most vio- 
 lently, this has been its chief aggra- 
 vating element. The differences of 
 neither manners, institutions, climate, 
 nor pursuits, would at any time have 
 been sufficient to create the perils to 
 which the Union of the States has occa- 
 sionally been exposed, without the mis- 
 chievous agency of men whose personal 
 objects are, for the time, subserved by 
 the existence of such peculiarities. The 
 proof of this is to be found in the fact, 
 that the seasonable sagacity of the peo- 
 ple has always detected the motives of 
 those who have sought to employ .their 
 passions, and has compelled them at last 
 to give way to that better order of men 
 who have appealed to their reason." * 
 
 Alas ! since this was written the ar- 
 gument has been put to a ruder issue, 
 and a sterner arbiter has been brought 
 in than the voice of sober judgment. 
 But at the beginning and throughout the 
 unhappy contest we may look to find the 
 same parties. The antagonism commenced 
 in faction, and the insane will of the few 
 must depend for reconciliation in the 
 end on the well grounded sober second 
 thought of the many. Posterity, we may 
 hope, profiting by our misfortunes, will 
 
 History of the Constitution of the United States, by 
 George Ticknor Curtis, i. 372. New York, 1854. 
 
 be too wise again to renew the conflict 
 on such a stage, with such weapons. 
 No questions of domestic rights and 
 policy can arise among us which may 
 not be peaceably and satisfactorily ad- 
 justed by fair minded men for the wel- 
 fare of all under the liberal provisions 
 and beneficent working of the Constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 To expect that any large bodies of men 
 will live together under a general gov- 
 ernment, actuated by the spirit of free- 
 dom, without the existence of party dif- 
 ferences and opinions, is to look for wha.t 
 has never yet existed under any politi- 
 cal system, and what it would, perhaps, 
 be unphilosophical to desire. Uniformity 
 of sentiment on all subjects in which a 
 considerable number of men are called 
 to act together, can exist only with a de- 
 gree of indifference which would be more 
 alarming than opposition. We may have 
 stagnation and apparent uniformity ; but 
 a living, vital system will be the result 
 of contending energies. Party we must 
 expect to have under the best possible 
 conditions of government. No society, 
 worthy to take rank with the nations of the 
 world, may hope to be without it. The 
 various interests of such a community 
 cannot be made so homogeneous that some 
 cause of contention will not arise. If 
 we could bring our wills and inclinations 
 to uniformity, the very constitution of 
 nature would still produce diversity. If 
 our Northern and Southern States were 
 to be definitely separated from one an- 
 other, in each portion there would yet 
 be differences. The manufacturing and 
 commercial interests, city and country, 
 free trade and protection, capital and la- 
 bor, would be asserting their distinctive 
 claims with more or less of hostility. 
 There would be a foreign policy and a 
 
POLITICAL ADJUSTMENTS. 
 
 domestic policy ; a policy of taxation, an 
 inequality in the means of meeting it ; 
 a rivalry between the seaboard and the 
 interior, between army and navy, be- 
 tween one mUhod of internal improve- 
 ment and another. While, if we should 
 admit into the arena the discussion of 
 new forms of government, or make re- 
 ligion in any way a state question, the 
 opportunities of controversy would be 
 indefinitely and intensely multiplied. 
 
 Now, the first principle of all combi- 
 nations in society whatever, is that men 
 must regulate their differences by adjust- 
 ment and concession in some way. It is 
 the most imperative of all social and po- 
 litical doctrines, without which neither a 
 family, a club of friends, a city, a state, 
 an empire, in fact, any form of human 
 organization whatever, can exist. The 
 full recognition of this paramount truth 
 is the great distinction between wisdom 
 and charlatanism in statesmanship. It is 
 the difference between theory and prac- 
 tice, between mathematics and morals 
 the acceptance of a fate which is a law 
 to the whole world. When material 
 forces simply are to be dealt with, pro- 
 vided their qualities are well understood, 
 a result only of long experience, they 
 may be handled according to a definite, 
 fixed rule or prescription. A formula 
 of the chemist or the mechanician may 
 be carried out to the letter. Not so with 
 human dealing. There our action and 
 progress must be politic. We must, 
 within certain limits, be pliable and 
 yielding, and leaving ideal abstractions 
 and inflexible resolutions, get all the 
 good we can under the circumstances. 
 Wisely, treating of this very subject, and 
 in connection too with American affairs, 
 said the great English statesman, Edmund 
 Burke, "All government, indeed every 
 2 
 
 human benefit and enjoyment, every vir- 
 tue and every prudent act. is founded on 
 compromise and barter. We balance in- 
 conveniences ; we give and take ; we re- 
 mit some rights that we may enjoy others ; 
 and we choose rather to be happy citizens 
 than subtle disputants." But he adds, 
 however, that while we may part with 
 some civil liberties, "for the advantages 
 to be derived from the communion and 
 fellowship of a great empire," we must 
 take care that "the thing bought bear 
 some proportion to the purchase paid."* 
 Applying these principles to the regula- 
 tion of our political affairs on this con- 
 tinent, we find them already recognized 
 in that great instrument, one of the sub- 
 tlest contrivances of human wisdom, the 
 Constitution of the United States. That 
 organizes a government of balanced pow- 
 ers and mutual duties. It prescribes 
 limitations where they are necessary, and 
 leaves action free in the path of progress. 
 It has been found hitherto, and will be 
 found again, that where its provisions are 
 honestly received and maintained, we 
 shall have a free, liberal and enlightened 
 government. 
 
 Is there anything which necessarily 
 interferes with this ? Has the Constitu- 
 tion failed to meet any question which 
 has arisen, either of domestic or foreign 
 policy ? On the contrary, under its guid- 
 ance and protection we have advanced 
 in honor and influence abroad, in wealth 
 and happiness at home. Why, then, 
 have not all alike acknowledged its ad- 
 vantages, and been faithful in their alle- 
 giance ? 
 
 In answer to this question, which in- 
 volves the considerations of the essential 
 conditions of union in the government 
 of the whole number of states, we may 
 
 * Speech on Conciliation with America, March 22, 1775. 
 
10 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 with satisfaction turn from the tumult 
 and confusion of the hour, to the calm, 
 accurately-pronounced judgment of De 
 Tocqueville. He is universally accredi- 
 ted as a philosophical observer, of nice 
 powers of discrimination in all that re- 
 lates to the constitution and government 
 of political bodies, and the qualifications 
 for their well being. He has shown a 
 remarkable sagacity and insight in his 
 treatment of the affairs of America, and 
 he wrote, moreover, at a time when the 
 subject was fairly open to his view, am- 
 ply illuminated by the experience of 
 half a century of the history of the 
 country, and quite unobscured by any 
 mists of passion or prejudice belonging 
 to the day. From 1835 to 1840, when 
 M. De Tocqueville was engaged in com- 
 mitting to writing his great work on 
 American Democracy, the results of his 
 observations made a few years previously 
 in the United States, the nation was pros- 
 perous and in repose. The cloud which 
 had gathered on the political horizon, in 
 a small region of South Carolina, in the 
 Nullification proceedings of 1832, had 
 been dissipated ; and the political ma- 
 chinery of the general and state govern- 
 ments was working with its accustomed 
 ease and regularity. What were then 
 his observations and deductions ? Look- 
 ing first to the material interests de- 
 pending upon the permanent existence 
 of the Union, he found a powerful plea 
 for its safety in the advantages gained 
 by the States in strength in maintaining 
 their commercial and public rights with 
 other nations ; while at home he saw, in 
 the continuance of the confederacy, the 
 absence of those evils of custom-houses, 
 standing armies, taxes, and burdensome 
 restrictions of all kinds, sure to arise 
 on the Continent, on the breaking up 
 
 of the national government. Nor did 
 he find any physical causes calculated 
 to favor such a dissolution. The Alle- 
 ghanies presented no formidable dif- 
 ficulty, and the differences of soil and 
 climate, with their corresponding varie- 
 ties of production, so far from creating 
 hostilities, were rightly considered bonds 
 of union. He observed the almost ex- 
 clusive agricultural employments of the 
 Southern States ; the equally engrossing 
 commercial and manufacturing pursuits 
 of the North, and the mingled agricultu- 
 ral and manufacturing industry of the 
 West. But he saw no opposition in these 
 diverse forms of wealth. He perceived 
 no unhappy disagreement between the 
 production of tobacco, of cotton, or rice, 
 and that of wheat or Indian corn ; nor 
 did he see why one region might not yield 
 with propriety what another with equal 
 felicity should distribute to the world, 
 The central regions of the West could 
 have no ships, and the South might cer- 
 tainly benefit by the hardy commercial 
 adventure of the North. As for slavery, 
 so far from looking upon it at that time as 
 a means of disintegration, he saw the 
 South dependent upon the North for pro- 
 tection against the possible dangers of 
 an alarmingly increasing negro popula- 
 tion, dangerous to the safety of the 
 whites in the minority. 
 
 Turning from material, he regarded 
 those moral instincts which, stronger than 
 all physical ties, are the bonds of good 
 citizenship in civil societies. He found 
 in the United States a remarkable agree- 
 ment on those leading social and politi- 
 cal principles, which make men to be of 
 one mind in a house. "A government,'' 
 says he, " retains its sway over a great 
 number of citizens, far less by the volun- 
 tary and rational consent of the multi- 
 
ELEMENTS OF UNION. 
 
 11 
 
 tude, than by that instinctive and, to a 
 certain extent, involuntary agreement, 
 which results from similarity of feelings 
 and Tf semblances of opinion." The peo- 
 ple of the United States, though cherishing 
 a great variety of sects, in general, he 
 remarked, exhibited great uniformity of 
 belief. Emphatically they had but one 
 notion of politics, that of self-govern- 
 ment, with all its claims or pretensions 
 to wisdom, justice and virtue ; while na- 
 tional pride, lifting them above the mon- 
 archies of the old world, which regarded 
 them with distrust, bound them together 
 as one people. " They perceive that, for 
 the present," said he, " their own demo- 
 cratic institutions succeed, while those of 
 other countries fail ; hence they conceive 
 an overweening opinion of their superior- 
 ity, and they are not very remote from 
 believing themselves to belong to a dis- 
 tinct race of mankind." 
 
 These, it must be admitted, are pow- 
 erful links of agreement, both of interest 
 and sympathy. But man is not always 
 steadily governed by his interests, and 
 his sympathies on great subjects may 
 be disturbed by very inferior motives. 
 The philosophical De Tocqueville saw 
 some of these at work. Glancing at the 
 danger of some one portion of the coun- 
 try getting so powerful as to do without 
 the rest, and the difficulties which might 
 result in some undefined way from the 
 vast and unwieldy growth of a people rap- 
 idly spreading on a huge continent, with 
 singular sagacity, as the event has proved, 
 he dwelt at length on the jealousy which 
 might arise from the comparative inferior- 
 ity of a portion a comparison, by the 
 way, which ought never to arise where 
 inevitable sectional differences should be 
 lost in the general welfare of the whole. 
 That cause of embarrassment he found at 
 
 the South, which at that time, under the 
 impulses given to European emigration, 
 was rapidly yielding in population to the 
 hitherto unpeopled West. The institu- 
 tion of slavery he saw also, not so much 
 producing a diversity of interest, as a 
 difference of manners ; opposing the feel- 
 ings and sentiments attached to a com- 
 paratively idle, luxurious mode of living 
 to the thoughts and habits induced by 
 the stern industry and resolute persis- 
 tence of the occupants of regions in some 
 respects less favored by nature. 
 
 "The inhabitants of the Southern 
 States are, of all the Americans," is the 
 language of this acute writer, "those 
 who are most interested in the mainten- 
 ance of the Union ; they would assur- 
 edly suffer most from being left to them- 
 selves ; and yet they are the only citi- 
 zens who threaten to break the tie of 
 confederation. But it is easy to perceive 
 that the South, which has given four 
 presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Madi- 
 son, and Monroe, to the Union ; which 
 perceives that it is losing its c ederal in- 
 fluence, and that the number of its rep- 
 resentatives in Congress is diminishing 
 from year to year, while those of the 
 Northern and Western States are in- 
 creasing ; the South, which is peopled 
 with ardent and irascible beings, is be- 
 coming more and more irritated and 
 alarmed. The citizens reflect upon their 
 present position, and remember their 
 past influence, with the melancholy un- 
 easiness of men who suspect oppression : 
 if they discover a law of the Union 
 which is not unequivocally favorable 
 to their interests, they protest against 
 it as an abuse of force ; and if their 
 ardent remonstrances are not listened 
 to, they threaten to quit an associa- 
 tion which loads them with burdens 
 
12 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 while it deprives them of their due 
 profits." 
 
 Even in this the philosophic observer 
 saw nothing so very alarming, provided 
 time were given, and with time, the sense 
 of justice and moderation which comes 
 with reflection, to settle and compose 
 such fears. He perceived, however, an 
 unfavorable influence at work, in that 
 respect, growing out of the very extent 
 and rapidity of the national prosperity. 
 If the development were less rapid there 
 would not, he thought, be so much occa- 
 sion for alarm. " The progress of society 
 in America is precipitate, and almost 
 revolutionary. The same citizen may 
 have lived to see his State take the lead 
 in the Union, and afterward become pow- 
 erless in the federal assemblies ; and an 
 Anglo- American republic has been known 
 to grow as rapidly as a man, passing from 
 birth and infancy to maturity in the 
 course of thirty years. It must not be 
 imagined, however, that the States which 
 lose their preponderance, also lose their 
 population or their riches ; no stop is put 
 to their prosperity, and they even go on 
 to increase more rapidly than any king- 
 dom in Europe. But they believe them- 
 selves to be impoverished, because their 
 wealth does not augment as rapidly as 
 that of their neighbors ; and they think 
 that their power is lost because they sud- 
 denly come into collision with a power 
 greater than their own. Thus they are 
 more hurt in their feelings and their pas- 
 sions than in their interests. But this is 
 amply sufficient to endanger the mainten- 
 ance of the Union." 
 
 How wise is all this! What a key 
 does it afford to the present unhappy con- 
 test. It may not unlock all the recesses 
 of this intricate question which, assuming 
 the vast form of an attempted revolution, 
 
 must needs have many explanations of 
 interest and passion ; b'it it is certainly 
 sufficiently comprehensive of the main 
 issue. The South, jealous of declining 
 influence, and indisposed from pride or 
 prejudice to look for new elements of 
 strength, which might have been found 
 within the Union, sought power and au- 
 thority outside of it, in a revolutionary 
 attempt at its destruction. 
 
 Mr. John Stuart Mill, the eminent 
 English author of the System of Logic, 
 universally acknowledged one of the 
 most acute writers of the times on mat- 
 ters relating to political and social sci- 
 ence, has, in a chapter of his recent work 
 on Representative Government, consid- 
 ered the essential conditions of a suc- 
 cessful federation. He finds them to be 
 three -fold : a mutual sympathy ; an 
 amount of power in none of the states 
 great enough to maintain itself alone 
 against encroachment ; an equilibrium of 
 strength, involving mutual dependence 
 of the component parts. Taking the 
 United States separately, and not by 
 large geographical divisions, we may 
 safely apply the two latter tests. None 
 of them is powerful enough to array it- 
 self in arms against any serious foreign 
 aggression, and no one is strong or 
 wealthy enough not to feel the need of 
 one or more of the others. As for the 
 first and most important consideration, 
 it is resolved by Mr. Mill, somewhat in 
 the style of thought of De Tocqueville, 
 into the sympathies of race, language, 
 religion, and above all, of political insti- 
 tutions. To name these conditions is at 
 once to suggest their applicability to the 
 United States. We need not stop to il- 
 lustrate them. But while we draw from 
 them the most hopeful auguries for the 
 future, we may pause to note the single 
 
r 
 
 PHYSICAL BONDS OP UNION. 
 
 13 
 
 exception taken by this intelligent ob- 
 server. " In America," says lie " where 
 all the conditions for the maintenance of 
 union existed at the highest point, with 
 the sole Irawback of difference of insti- 
 tutions in the single but most important 
 article of slavery, this one difference has 
 gone so far, in alienating from each oth- 
 er's sympathies, the two divisions of the 
 Union, as to be now actually effecting the 
 disruption of a tie of so much value to 
 them both."* 
 
 The argument for Union afforded in 
 the physical geography of the country, 
 the bonds and ties of its great arteries 
 of river communication, needs only a 
 glance at the map to be demonstrated. 
 Its force was felt by the first founders of 
 the nation. No one saw it better than 
 Jefferson, who, with prophetic instinct, 
 gave the nation Louisiana. No dweller 
 on the Ohio, the Missouri, the Mississippi 
 or their numerous tributaries need be told 
 of it. Yet we may cite with satisfaction 
 the noble expression of this great natu- 
 ral and political truth uttered by Dr. 
 Lieber in a letter to the President of the 
 Chamber of Commerce of New York. 
 "Nature," says he, "gave us a land 
 abounding in all the means of sustaining 
 life and industry food and fuel. She 
 cast a net work of fluvial high roads over 
 the whole. Our history is marked by no 
 feature more distinctly than by the early 
 complete freedom of river navigation, 
 for which other nations have struggled 
 in vain for many long centuries ; and 
 this Insurrection with a Federal confes- 
 sion of judgment, steps in and means to 
 snap the silver thread. The Mississippi 
 belongs to you, sir, as much as to any 
 man in Louisiana, and it is mine as. much 
 
 * Considerations on Representative Government. By 
 John Stuart Mill. Chap. xvii. Lond. 1861. 
 
 as it is yours. It belongs to the country 
 by Divine right, if jus divinum ever 
 existed in any case ; and let us trust in 
 Clod, that the country will never allow it 
 to be wrested from us. Every considera- 
 tion, from the consciousness of a high 
 mission impressed upon us by our Maker 
 to that of the commonest economy, urges 
 us to hold fast to the unstinted freedom 
 of our fluvial and all other communica- 
 tion."* 
 
 Turning from this cursory glance at 
 the elementary conditions of the Union 
 and its preservation, we may briefly re- 
 view a few of the historical antecedents 
 which stand out prominently in more or 
 less relation to this great Revolt. They 
 may be referred generally, with sufficient 
 accuracy for our purpose, to the mainten- 
 ance on important occasions of the doc- 
 trine of State Rights, and to the legisla- 
 tion on the subject of Slavery. The first 
 prominent assertion of the former after 
 the adoption of the Constitution, arose in 
 the administration of John Adams, in an 
 opposition to certain measures of the 
 government, and found expression in 
 those pregnant texts for future political 
 orators the Kentucky and Virginia Reso- 
 lutions of 1798. Both of these were 
 levelled against what are called the Alien 
 and Sedition acts, which were passed by 
 Congress with the view oLdefending the 
 government against the machinations of 
 foreigners, and any conspiracies or fur- 
 therance of them by malicious writings. 
 The Administration of Adams, it will be 
 remembered, was then opposed with great 
 violence by a faction in the interest of 
 France, and it was held, doubtless, by 
 the legislators who passed the acts, that 
 the extraordinary perils of the day jus- 
 
 * Letter of Dr. Francis Lieber to the President of Cham 
 ber of Commerce, New York, October, 1861. 
 
14 
 
 WAK FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tified them. Not so, however, thought 
 that watchful guardian of the public 
 liberties, Thomas Jefferson, whose zeal 
 on the occasion was sharpened by the 
 fervor of political animosity. He pre- 
 pared the draft of a series of resolutions 
 to be presented to the Kentucky Legis- 
 lature, in which a theory of the govern- 
 ment was laid down, and a practice 
 enjoined which would virtually set aside 
 the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court on 
 questions where power given by the 
 Constitution to the government was sup- 
 posed to be transcended, and make the 
 individual States sovereign judges over 
 the whole. The Resolutions, as actually 
 presented in a less destructive, modified 
 form, asserted the limited powers of the 
 government under the " compact " of the 
 Constitution, and maintained " that as in 
 all other cases of compact, among parties 
 having no common judge, each party has 
 an equal right to judge for itself, as well 
 of infractions as of the mode and meas- 
 ure of redress." This was certainly a 
 broad generalization, but, if we may in- 
 terpret it by the light of the accompany- 
 ing resolutions, it was by no means 
 intended to cover the modern doctrine 
 of secession. The object of the Resolu- 
 tions was to agitate and procure a repeal 
 of the obnoxious acts. The utmost that 
 was said, was " that these and successive 
 Acts of the same character, unless arrest- 
 ed on the threshold, may tend to drive 
 these States into," not, be it remarked, 
 peaceable secession, but " revolution and 
 blood." The spirit of the whole was a 
 jealous maintenance of the reserved 
 rights of the States against any usurpa- 
 tion of authority by the general gov- 
 ernment. That Jefferson himself, their 
 author, would, if he had been required 
 to pronounce a settled opinion on the 
 
 subject, have deprecated any division of 
 the Union on any grounds short of an 
 absolute necessity for revolution, may be 
 judged from the words of a letter which 
 he wrote some months before, to John 
 Taylor of Caroline, when that extreme 
 theorist thought it was time " to estimate 
 the separate map of Virginia and North 
 Carolina with a view to their separate 
 existence." Not so, said Jefferson, ir 
 reply, after reviewing the evils which 
 the country was supposed to be suffering 
 from the New England domination : 
 "If, on a temporary superiority of the 
 one party, the other is to resort to a scis- 
 sion of the Union, no Federal govern- 
 ment can ever exist. If to rid ourselves 
 of the present rule of Massachusetts and 
 Connecticut we break the Union, wiL 
 the evil stop there ? Suppose the New 
 England States cut off, will our natures 
 be changed ? Are we riot men still to 
 the South of that, and with all the pas- 
 sions of men ? Immediately we shall see 
 a Pennsylvania and a Virginia party 
 arise in the residuary confederacy, and 
 the public mind will be distracted with 
 the same party spirit. What a game, 
 too, will the one party have in their 
 hands by eternally threatening the other 
 that unless they do so and so they will 
 join their Northern neighbors ? If we 
 reduce our Union to Virginia and North 
 Carolina, immediately the conflict will be 
 established between the representatives 
 of these two States, and they will end by 
 breaking into their simple units. Seeing, 
 therefore, that an association of men who 
 will not quarrel with each other, is a 
 thing which never yet existed, from the 
 greatest confederacy of nations down to 
 a town meeting or a vestry seeing that 
 we must have somebody to quarrel with, 
 I had rather keep our New England as- 
 
STATE RIGHTS DOCTRINES. 
 
 15 
 
 sociates for that purpose than to see our 
 bickering transferred to each other." * 
 
 The Virginia resolutions, drawn up 
 by James Madison, and presented in 
 the State Legislature in December, a 
 month after the Kentucky resolutions, 
 may be considered explanatory of the 
 latter. In marked language they ex- 
 pressly assert " that this Assembly most 
 solemnly declares a warm attachment to 
 the Union of the States," and maintain 
 the inviolability of the Constitution for 
 the preservation of that Union. For 
 that end, an alarm of danger was indeed 
 Bounded, but with no other sentiment 
 than " the truest anxiety for establishing 
 and perpetuating the union of all." The 
 other States were called upon to join 
 Virginia in pronouncing the acts uncon- 
 stitutional, and to take the necessary 
 measures to co-operate " in maintaining 
 unimpaired the authorities, rights, and 
 liberties reserved to the States respect- 
 ively, or to the people." The resolu- 
 tions were undoubtedly of a suspicious 
 and dangerous character, but they were 
 far from countenancing any doctrine of 
 secession, still further from putting any 
 such doctrine in practice. Their object 
 was political agitation within the limits 
 of the Constitution, for its preservation. 
 
 They were often appealed to, in sub- 
 sequent days, as the creed of the State 
 Rights party, and much that they con- 
 tain is incontrovertible ; they were, 
 doubtless, mischievous in the tendency 
 of certain expressions ; they perhaps 
 trifled with nullification ; but we have 
 too much respect for their authors, Thom- 
 as Jefferson and James Madison, to sup- 
 pose for a moment that they inculcated 
 so absurd a political doctrine as the se- 
 cession of a State from the Union, fede- 
 
 * Hildreth's Hisr. of the United States. 2d series, H. 234. 
 
 ral compact, or whatever it may be 
 called, at will. When that question came 
 up thirty-four years after, one of the 
 parties, Madison, emphatically the guar- 
 dian and interpreter of the Constitution, 
 gave no unequivocal opinion upon the 
 subject.* 
 
 No action injurious to the government 
 followed these much talked of resolutions. 
 The occasion which called them forth 
 soon passed away ; the obnoxious acts 
 ceased from their own limitation. Jef- 
 ferson came into power, and his party, 
 of course, were satisfied with the ordin- 
 ary working of the Constitution. 
 
 The next demonstration of this nature 
 on the part of the States, arose in New 
 England, and grew out of dissatisfaction 
 with the war of 1812. The embargo 
 destroyed the commerce of that region, 
 and there were local jealousies and other 
 distrusts of the employment of the mil- 
 itia. The eastern States were disposed 
 to claim exclusive control over the latter 
 raised within their borders. They were 
 reluctant to furnish money and men for 
 what they thought an unprofitable war- 
 fare. A Convention was called at Hart- 
 ford to discuss these grievances. It gave 
 birth to a Report which reflected the 
 spirit of the Kentucky and Virginia res- 
 olutions in some of its sentences, but 
 which by no means countenanced rebel- 
 lion. The resolves which were adopted, 
 were limited to recommendations to the 
 legislatures of the States represented, to 
 protect their citizens from the opera- 
 tion of acts unauthorized by the Consti- 
 tution, subjecting them to forcible drafts, 
 conscriptions, or impressments, and ad- 
 vice to the States to protr-ct and defend 
 
 * Letter to Daniel Webster on his speech in t'ue United 
 States Senate, " The Constitution not a Compact. " in reply 
 to Calhoun. Everett's Memoir of Webster. Webster'! 
 Works, I. cvii 
 
16 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 themselves. There were also amend- 
 ments to the Constitution proposed, ap- 
 portioning representation and taxation on 
 the basis of the white population, limiting 
 the powers of Congress with reference to 
 embargoes and the war-making power, 
 forbidding naturalized citizens to be el- 
 igible to any civil office under the United 
 States, and the president to be elected 
 twice or for two terms, or to be chosen 
 from the same State twice in succession. 
 The convention which made these sugges- 
 tions met in secret, prepared them with 
 diffidence, and had but little encourage- 
 ment in any quarter. The proceedings 
 came to nothing. It was but a local and 
 temporary agitation. The war passed 
 over, and the suggestions and amend- 
 ments were not thought of again. The 
 Hartford Convention, greatly exagger- 
 ated, remained only a name of terror, 
 occasionally brought forward to discredit 
 politicians who, rightfully or wrongfully, 
 were made to bear the penalty of an un- 
 popular act. The bare suspicion of dis- 
 loyalty to the government was a fatal 
 brand to a man endeavoring to rise in 
 public life. 
 
 Nearly twenty years passed away when 
 the voice of disaffection was again heard 
 at the South. This time the tariff acts of 
 1828 and 1832 were the grievances com- 
 plained of. They were in the interest 
 of the North and a burden to the South, 
 it was alleged, and were pronounced 
 unconstitutional. The South Carolina 
 Legislature, under the inspiration of Cal- 
 houn, asserted the State Rights doc- 
 trines in their extreme form. The 
 State, it was resolved, should, when it 
 had determined for itself that the Con- 
 stitution was infi-inged, repudiate the acts 
 of the government. This was Nullifica- . 
 tion. A. Convention of Delegates niet in 
 
 November, 1832, and adopted an ordin- 
 ance applying the principle. The tariff 
 acts were declared null and void, and 
 any attempt of the United States to en- 
 force them, it was resolved should be a 
 signal for the dissolution of the Union, 
 when the State of South Carolina would 
 forthwith proceed to organize a separate 
 government. This revolutionary declara- 
 tion was met the following month by the 
 most energetic proceeding on the part of 
 the government, to maintain its military 
 authority at Charleston, and the Pro- 
 clamation of President Jackson, which 
 with great clearness and an unanswerable 
 line of argument, maintained the power 
 assumed by the State to be "incompati- 
 ble with the existence of the Union, con- 
 tradicted expressly by the letter of the 
 Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, 
 inconsistent with every principle on 
 which it was founded, and destructive 
 of the great object for which it was 
 formed." 
 
 The Proclamation, as is well known, 
 was written by Edward Livingston, but 
 its sentiments and ideas were fresh from 
 the heart of Jackson. It was prepared 
 under his supervision, and received it 
 most earnest appeals from his patriotic 
 energy. "Let it," said he, as he wrote 
 at midnight, submitting the conclusion tc 
 his friend for his amendment and revi- 
 sion, "let it receive your best flight of 
 eloquence to strike to the heart and 
 speak to the feelings of my deluded 
 countrymen of South Carolina. The 
 Union must be preserved, without blood 
 if this be possible ; but it must be pre- 
 served at all hazards and at any price."* 
 
 * Andrew Jackson to Edward Livingston, December 4, 1832 
 11 o'clock p. M. This letter was read by Mr. George Ban- 
 croft at the Cooper Institute at a meeting in November, 1861, 
 called for the aid of the suffering patriots of North Carolina. 
 The original letter was placed in his hands by the only sur 
 viving child of Mr. Livingston. 
 
NULLIFICATION. 
 
 17 
 
 Jackson was not a man to be content 
 with words. A Proclamation with him 
 was always the prelude to vigorous action. 
 It was backed in this case by a force 
 quite adequate to collect the revenue 
 and maintain the laws. The conse- 
 quence of this decision was, that the reve- 
 uue was still collected and South Carolina 
 postponed her desperate remedy. Cal- 
 houn came on to Washington to take his 
 seat in the Senate. The President was 
 disposed to arrest him for treason, and it 
 is said, afterward regretted that he had 
 not done so. The Force Bill to make 
 provision for the collection of the reve- 
 nue was introduced. Mr. Calhoun then 
 made his stand, submitting a series of 
 resolutions announcing his favorite doc- 
 trine of the separate sovereignty of the 
 States, the constitutional compact which 
 united them as States, and the right of 
 each to determine for itself when its 
 privileges were violated, and to choose 
 its own measures of redress. He main- 
 tained these resolutions in* an elaborate 
 speech, marked by the speaker's charac- 
 teristic clearness and subtilty, which was 
 replied to with at least equal ability by 
 Webster, in an oration refuting the 
 "compact" theory of State sovereign- 
 ties, and establishing the authority of the 
 Constitution as a government proper, 
 founded on the adoption of the people, 
 and creating direct relations between it- 
 self and individuals ; that, as a necessary 
 consequence, no State authority could 
 dissolve these relations, that nothing 
 < ould dissolve them but revolution, and 
 that there could of course be no such 
 thing as secession without revolution. 
 
 Subsequent events have proved the force 
 of the orator's argument. His theories 
 and warnings have unhappily been writ- 
 ten in letters of living light in the actions 
 8 
 
 of rebellion ; they have been stamped in 
 characters of fire upon the country ; thou- 
 sands of desolated abodes are monuments 
 of his judgment ; a myriad of graves re- 
 cord his sagacity. "To begin with Nullifi- 
 cation," said he, "with the avowed intent, 
 nevertheless, not to proceed to secession, 
 dismemberment and general revolution, 
 is as if we were to take the plunge of 
 Niagara, and cry out that he would stop 
 half way down. In the one case as in 
 the other, the rash adventurer must go 
 to the bottom of the dark abyss below, 
 were it not that that abyss has no dis- 
 covered bottom." His conclusion, en- 
 forcing the necessity of preserving the 
 Constitution and Union at every cost, 
 was equally prophetic. He, indeed, was 
 spared the practical application of his 
 own doctrine. The energy of Jackson 
 and the moderation of Clay for a time 
 arrested the dark fate which the rebel- 
 lious State courted for herself. In our 
 time she has claimed and secured the 
 awful Nemesis. When men pondered for 
 a moment, awe-struck and inert, the 
 words of Webster, though dead, yet 
 speaking;, came to their ears. "If the 
 Constitution cannot be maintained with- 
 out meeting these scenes of commotion 
 and contest, however unwelcome, they 
 must come. We cannot, we must not, 
 we dare not, omit to do that which, in 
 our judgment, the safety of the Union 
 requires." 
 
 In 1860, in the concluding acts of the 
 thirty-sixth Congress, when the seceding 
 Southern members were aiming their 
 Parthian arrows at the gentle mother 
 which had given them protection and a 
 name, a noble-hearted defender of his 
 country, destined shortly to seal his de- 
 votion on the battle-field with his life, 
 stood up in his place to parry the deadly 
 
18 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 assault. The honest, forcible convictions 
 of Senator Baker of Oregon, in reply to 
 the casuistry of Senator Benjamin of 
 Louisiana a leader presently of the 
 rebel government were uttered in the 
 language of Webster. The weapons, 
 " forg'd for proof eterne," with which he 
 fought, were borrowed from that celestial 
 armory.* 
 
 "I have had a laborious task here," 
 wrote Jackson, from Washington to a 
 clergyman, the Rev. Andrew J. Craw- 
 ford, in a slaveholding State, when the 
 contest with South Carolina was over, 
 " but nullification is dead ; and its actora 
 and courtiers will only be remembered 
 by the people to be execrated for their 
 wicked designs, to sever and destroy the 
 only good government on the globe, and 
 that prosperity and happiness we enjoy 
 over every other portion of the world. 
 Hainan's gallows ought to be the fate 
 of all such ambitious men, who would 
 involve their country in civil war and 
 all the evils in its train, that they 
 might reign and ride on its whirlwinds 
 and direct the storm. The free people 
 of these United States have spoken, and 
 consigned these wicked demagogues to 
 their proper doom. Take care of your 
 nullifiers ; you have them among you ; 
 let them meet with the indignant frowns 
 of every man who loves his country. 
 The tariff, it is now known, was a mere 
 pretext. . . . The next pretext wiU be 
 the negro or slavery question."* 
 
 The maintenance of the State Rights 
 theory, in the extreme doctrine of Nulli- 
 fication and its kindred progeny, thus 
 furnished a certain support, a set of prin- 
 ciples as it were, which might be brought 
 
 * Senator Baker's Speech in the Senate, January 2, 1861. 
 f Manuscript Letter of Gen. Jackson. May 1, 1833, 
 Mted by Mr. Sumner in the Senate, December 10, 1860. 
 
 into service, when it was thought neces- 
 sary to intimidate or coerce the political 
 action of the majority. 
 
 It remains to consider briefly the state 
 of facts, or the subject matter, which was 
 to furnish food for the development, on 
 so grand a scale, of this malevolent the- 
 ory. This, as Jackson predicted, was 
 the question of slavery. From the be- 
 ginning of the government there had 
 been jealousies and anxieties on this head. 
 The interests and growing moral convic- 
 tions of the North, and the views of 
 many influential leaders at the South, 
 were opposed to the institution from the 
 beginning ; but in the formation of the 
 government it was left untouched in the 
 several States, and by a species of com- 
 promise, recognized to a certain extent 
 in the Constitution. It was made a basis 
 of representation, and it was protected 
 outside of its State municipal limits, 
 within which it was never interfered 
 with, by the provision which required 
 the return of- fugitives from labor. Be- 
 yond this, in the practice of the govern- 
 ment, it was considered and treated as a 
 subject within the control and legislation 
 of Congress. Thus in the Congress of 
 1789, the first under the Constitution, 
 the ordinance passed by the Congress of 
 the Confederation in 1787, prohibiting 
 lavery in the territory northwest of the 
 river Ohio, was unanimously re-affirmed. 
 It was again the subject of legislation to 
 some extent, in the organization of the 
 Territory of Mississippi, derived from 
 the State of Georgia, and became nota- 
 bly such when the purchase of Louisiana 
 added a vast region to the country. The 
 question was brought to a direct issue on 
 the admission of Missouri as a State in 
 1819. A strong Northern party was 
 desirous, in accordance with the spirit 
 
CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION. 
 
 19 
 
 and motives of the ordinance governing 
 the Northwestern Territory of the original 
 States, to exclude slavery from this ad- 
 ditional western region. The battle was 
 long and fiercely fought, calling forth 
 many of those arguments and appeals 
 on both sides which have of late become 
 so familiar to the country. The moral 
 evil of slavery, and the duties to restrict 
 it, were pressed with great earnestness 
 by pae party, while the other maintained 
 it was beyond the province of Congres- 
 sional legislation. After long agitation, 
 the subject was settled by a compromise. 
 Missouri was admitted as a slave State, 
 while, with the exception of her domain, 
 all the territory north of the line of 36 
 degrees, 30 minutes, being the northern 
 line of Arkansas, was to be free. It fol- 
 lowed by natural inference, that the oc- 
 cupants of all territory south of the line, 
 might exercise their discretion on the 
 subject ; and, at a proper time, be admit- 
 ted into the Union as States, with or 
 without the adoption of slavery in their 
 several Constitutions, as they preferred. 
 SucL was the opinion and practice of 
 the nation, till the year 1845 introduced 
 a new element into the question. Texas 
 was then annexed, an event which was 
 .immediately followed by the war with 
 Mexico. The termination of that conflict 
 brought a vast additional area to the 
 
 O 
 
 country, lying between the northern 
 boundaries of California and the far 
 southern limits of New Mexico, drawn 
 from the Rio Grande to the Pacific. 
 New legislation was required. By the 
 Congressional legislation of 1850, Cali- 
 fornia was admitted as a free State, the 
 Territories of New Mexico and Utah 
 were organized, the slave trade was abol^ 
 ished in the District of Columbia, and the 
 South received new guarantees for the 
 
 enjoyment of her slave propertj r , in a 
 stringent Fugitive Slave Act drawn up 
 by Senator Mason. The series of meas- 
 ures, taken together, were considered as 
 a compromise on the vexed question of 
 slavery, and as such were advocated by 
 their author, Henry Clay, and secured 
 the support of Benton, Webster, and 
 others. In the North they were gene- 
 rally accepted ; in the South they were 
 received with distrust, which might have 
 led through disaffection to open revolt, 
 had the extreme councils of some of the 
 leaders, like Quitman, been adopted by 
 the people. South Carolina and Missis 
 sippiwere, indeed, fast ripening for re- 
 bellion, but the hour had not yet come, to 
 strike. Mr. Clay's was not a good name 
 to conjure evil spirits. They would not 
 come at that call. The conspirators 
 waited another word of incantation. The 
 love of the Union in the hearts of the 
 people was not yet lightly to be dis- 
 lodged. 
 
 With the passage of Mr. Clay's resolu- 
 tions, it was hoped the much-agitated sub- 
 ject would be laid at rest, and the coun- 
 try enjoy the longed for repose ; and 
 this, perhaps, might have been the case, 
 had the wise councils of the disinterested 
 advocates ~of the Compromise continued 
 to govern their successors. Four years 
 after, when Clay had closed his mortal 
 career, his last memorable public service 
 being the advocacy of the measures just 
 alluded to ; and Webster, with an inter- 
 val of a few months only, had followed 
 him to the grave, the mouldering fires 
 were stirred again in their ashes, and the 
 flames burst forth with renewed vigor. 
 ^Eke organization of the Territories of 
 Kansas and Nebraska, brought the old 
 discussion once more to the . legislative 
 halls at Washington. The adjustmeni 
 
20 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 of that matter, in the passage of the 
 Kansas and Nebraska Act, in 1854, by 
 which, the duty of Congress in the pro- 
 tection of the Territories during their pu- 
 pilage being suspended, the whole ques- 
 tion was left to be decided by chance or 
 conflict as it might happen, the pro- 
 vision of the admission of these States, 
 with or without slavery, as the terms of 
 their Constitution at the time of their ap- 
 plication should dictate this abandon- 
 ment of the principles of the Missouri 
 Compromise, re-opened once more the 
 whole fatal strife. The debate was trans- 
 ferred from the Senate Chamber to the 
 battle-field ; emigrants from the free and 
 from the slave States met on the soil of 
 Kansas, in rival attempts to occupy the 
 ground in favor of their different modes 
 of society. Through wrangling, pe- 
 plexity, fraud, and bloodshed the work 
 of colonization was carried on. The 
 boasted Squatter Sovereignty, as the 
 bastard system of Senator Douglas was in- 
 gloriously and not inappropriately called, 
 proved not the so-much desired solution 
 of a difficult question in peace and har- 
 mony, or the expected cessation of polit- 
 ical antagonism ; but on the contrary, 
 the introduction of the wildest confusion 
 
 and embarrassments, confounding the 
 councils of the President, Congress, hosts 
 of Committeemen, troops of Governors 
 and army officials. Out of the sickening 
 contest came, in the end, the free State 
 of Kansas ; but its birth heralded a wide 
 spread civil war, which had taken its 
 first lessons of crime and desolation on 
 that blood-stained soil. 
 
 The annexation of Texas and the war 
 with Mexico, were thus indirectly the 
 source of the political agitations which 
 placed Mr. Lincoln in the Presidency in 
 1860. A war undertaken for the exten- 
 sion of slavery, ended in its limitation. 
 The territory was gained, and its first 
 production was the Democratic Free-soil 
 party of 1848. Texas, the Mexican war, 
 the Wilmot proviso, the Clay compro- 
 mises, Douglas' Kansas and Nebraska 
 Act, the rehearsal of strife and battle 
 in the infant Territory, the rise and 
 rapid development of the Republican 
 party, the canvass of Fremont, the elec- 
 tion of Lincoln, are so many events in 
 direct sequence marking the progress of 
 that great rivalry of ideas and institu- 
 tions which, existing from the beginning, 
 often laid to rest and never extinguished, 
 culminated in the Great Rebellion of 1 861. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RISE AND PROGRESS OP SECESSION. 
 
 THE introduction to this opening drama 
 was the election for the Presidency. 
 The canvass of 1860 brought four candi- 
 dates into the field, representing differ- 
 ent shades of political opinion, turning 
 more or less directly on the free-soil agi- 
 tation which had vexed the country since 
 
 the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. 
 Of these, Mr. John C. Breckonridge, of 
 Kentucky, was the candidate of a minor- 
 ity of the Democratic party, the ultra 
 pro-slavery party of the South ; and 
 stood pledged by the resolutions of his 
 supporters in the conventions, at Ch&r 
 
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 
 
 21 
 
 Icston in April and at Baltimore in June, 
 to the fullest protection of the institu- 
 tion. Not only, by the terms of those 
 resolutions, had Congress or the Territo- 
 rial Legislature no power to abolish or 
 prohibit the introduction of slavery in 
 the Territories, or impair its assumed 
 rights, but it was declared to be the duty 
 of the Federal Government, if necessa- 
 ry, to afford to such property active pro- 
 tection. Diametrically opposed to this 
 doctrine stood the declarations under 
 which Mr. Lincoln accepted his nomina- 
 tion, from the Republican National Con- 
 vention at Chicago, in May. The "plat- 
 form " of that body explicitly set forth, 
 in language made remarkable by subse- 
 quent events, " that the new dogma that 
 the Constitution, of its own force, carries 
 slavery into any or all the Territories of 
 the United States, is a dangerous politi- 
 cal heresy, at variance with the explicit 
 provisions of that instrument itself, with 
 contemporaneous exposition, and with 
 legislative and judicial precedent, is rev- 
 olutionary in its tendency, and subver- 
 sive of the peace and harmony of the 
 country." It was also farther declared, 
 " that the normal condition of all the ter- 
 ritory of the United States is that of 
 freedom ; that as our republican fathers, 
 when they had abolished slavery in all 
 our national territory, ordained that no 
 person should be deprived of life, liberty, 
 or property without due process of law, 
 it becomes our duty, by legislation, when- 
 ever such legislation is necessary, to 
 maintain the provisions of the Constitu- 
 tion against all attempts to violate it ; 
 and we deny the authority of Congress, 
 of a Territorial Legislature, or of any 
 individuals, to give legal existence to 
 slavery in any Territory of the United 
 States.' Intermediate between these 
 
 declarations on the Territorial question, 
 came in Mr. Douglas, the nominee of the 
 majority of the Democratic Convention 
 at Baltimore, who was understood to ad- 
 vocate a doctrine of non-intervention by 
 Congress, or " popular sovereignty." A 
 fourth body of delegates, professing to rep- 
 resent a certain "Constitutional Union" 
 conservatism, met also at Baltimore in 
 May, and with the simple declaration, 
 "that it is both the part of patriotism and 
 duty to recognize no political principles 
 other than the Constitution of the coun- 
 try, the Union of the States, and the en- 
 forcement of the laws," pledged them- 
 selves to " maintain, protect, and defend 
 those great principles of public liberty 
 and national safety." Their nominee for 
 the Presidency was Mr. John Bell, of 
 Tennessee, with Mr. Edward Everett for 
 the Yice Presidency. 
 
 With principles thus pronounced, the 
 case was given to the country in Novem- 
 ber, when it appeared that of the entire 
 popular vote, 4.662,170, Mr. Lincoln re- 
 ceived 1.857,610 ; Mr. Douglas, 1.365, 
 976 ; Mr. Breckenridge, 847,953 ; and 
 Mr. Bell, 590,631. Every free State, 
 except New Jersey, where the vote was 
 divided, voted for Lincoln, giving him 
 seventeen out of the thirty-three States 
 which then composed the Union. In 
 nine of the slave States, besides South 
 Carolina, he had no electoral ticket. Al- 
 abama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, 
 Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Missis- 
 sippi, North and South Carolina, Texas, 
 cast their vote for Breckenridge ; Bell 
 received Kentucky, Tennessee, and Vir- 
 ginia ; Douglas, Missouri. The electoral 
 vote stood for Lincoln and Hamlin, 180 ; 
 for Breckenridge arid Lane, 72 ; for Bell 
 and Everett, 39 ; for Douglas and John- 
 son, 12. 
 
22 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Such was the expression of the popu- 
 lar voice, after a canvass conducted with 
 earnestness on both sides, and, apart 
 from the intrigues and divisions of the 
 politicians of the Democratic party in 
 their Charleston Convention, with re- 
 markable moderation and freedom from 
 acerbity. It appeared the calm, sober, 
 regular assertion of the judgment of the 
 country on a question of national policy 
 which had been long discussed and fully 
 investigated. The Republican speakers 
 had, indeed, been denied a hearing at 
 the South ; but of this, while they felt 
 its inconvenience and injustice, they made 
 no complaint, for they were successful 
 without it. The public had yet to learn 
 what such exclusiveness foreboded ; they 
 did not read in it incipient treason and 
 rebellion, or if the suspicion crossed the 
 mind, it was rejected as uncharitable and 
 incredible. On the other hand, Southern 
 orators like Yancey, openly threatening 
 rebellion, and partizans of their way of 
 thinking, had spoken freely in Northern 
 cities ; and their language, however un- 
 palatable, had been listened to with res- 
 pect. The defeated party had nothing 
 to complain of on that score. If their 
 divisions had elected Lincoln, it was ob- 
 viously their own fault. They were not 
 such children in political science, as to 
 be taught the propriety of submission to 
 the authoritative declarations of the bal- 
 lot-box. 
 
 The vote, if we interpret it by the 
 professions of the Republicans, and 
 they were entitled to the benefit of their 
 promises till they should refute them by 
 their actions, said that, while the influ- 
 ence of the new government was to be 
 on the side of freedom, yet that every 
 principle of the Constitution was to be 
 maintained. The party, absorbing largely 
 
 the old elements of Whiggism, cer- 
 tainly did not present a revolutionary 
 aspect. It rather appeared to lean to 
 conservatism. Its candidate had been 
 chosen as eminently a safe, prudent 
 leader. Indeed, in the delicate relations 
 of the times, the country would not have 
 tolerated a violent agitator or disturber 
 of its peace. The intention of the vic- 
 torious party, if we regard the declara- 
 tions of its interpreters, was to adhere to 
 and maintain the sound constitutional 
 doctrines of the fathers of the Republic. 
 If any resistance was to be offered to 
 slavery, it was not to the privileges con- 
 ceded to it by the Constitution, but to 
 its extension into new fields of which 
 Congress was the guardian. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln, whose election was so of- 
 ten made the pretence of hostility, 
 as if the whole Government were in 
 the hands of the President, had open- 
 ly pronounced his sentinents on the 
 chief measures in agitation in the coun- 
 try in reference to slavery ; and in each 
 instance had shown not only the highest 
 deference to the Constitution and the 
 laws, but a prudent regard to the peace 
 and welfare of the country. He had de- 
 clared, in the most emphatic manner, 
 that he considered the people of the 
 Southern States entitled to a Congres- 
 sional Fugitive Slave Law ; though he 
 thought the one in existence might be 
 amended, while he had no intention of 
 impairing its efficiency. He would not, 
 he said, " introduce it as a new subject 
 of agitation upon the general question of 
 slavery." He would even, he admitted, 
 much as he should dislike the necessity, 
 acknowledge the claim of a new State to 
 be admitted with a slave constitution, 
 though he would have the noxious ele- 
 ment of slavery kept away from it while 
 
MR. LINCOLN'S DECLARATIONS. 
 
 23 
 
 in a territorial condition. In regard to 
 the abolition of slavery in the District of 
 Columbia, while, with Henry Clay, he 
 thought it desirable to " sweep from our 
 Capital that foul blot upon our nation," 
 he held that if it were done, it should be 
 in accordance with several conservative 
 provisions, namely, that the abolition 
 should be gradual, that it should be on a 
 vote of the majority of qualified voters 
 in the District, and that compensation 
 should be made to unwilling owners. Of 
 the abolition of the slave trade between 
 the different States, he had formed no 
 opinion, for he had not sufficiently studied 
 the constitutional question ; but, if he 
 were to make up his mind in favor of the 
 measure, he would not press it without 
 regard to the wishes and welfare of the 
 parties immediately interested. Such, 
 in effect, were the declarations to which 
 he pledged himself in the summer of 
 1858, in his electioneering contest with 
 Douglas in Illinois ; arid the record was 
 often appealed to while he was a candi- 
 date for the Presidency. 
 
 There was, however, another declara- 
 tion which fell from his lips the same 
 season, which, as it was frequently quoted 
 by his opponents and has since, by the 
 progress of events, attained a sort of his- 
 torical significance may be worth pre- 
 senting in this relation. It was made 
 in a speech at Springfield, Illinois, at the 
 close of the Republican State Conven- 
 tion in June. " We are now," said he, 
 " far into the fifth year, since a policy 
 was initiated with the avowed object and 
 confident promise of putting an end to 
 slavery agitation. Under the operation 
 of that policy, that agitation has not only 
 not ceased, but has constantly augmented. 
 In my opinion it will not cease until a cri- 
 sis shall have been reached and passed. 
 
 'A house divided against itself cannot 
 stand. 7 I believe this government can- 
 not endure permanently half slave and 
 half free. I do not expect the Union to 
 be dissolved I do not expect the house 
 to fall but I do expect it will cease to 
 be divided. It will become all one thing, 
 or all the other. Either the opponents 
 of slavery will arrest the further spread 
 of it, and place it where the public mind 
 shall rest in the belief that it is in the 
 course of ultimate extinction ; or its ad- 
 vocates will push it forward, till it shall 
 become alike lawful in all the States, old 
 as well as new North as well as South." 
 This was indeed a notable expression of 
 opinion, a most sagacious glance of a keen 
 sighted observer on what was passing 
 before him, a species of prophecy, as it 
 turned out ; but it did not necessarily im- 
 ply any disposition to hasten either event' 
 by a revolutionary course of conduct. 
 
 More important, however, than any 
 of these declarations of a local political 
 conflict several years old, as an inter- 
 pretation of Mr. Lincoln's views and feel- 
 ings in relation to the existing state of 
 affairs, was the language of the address 
 which he delivered in the city of New 
 York not long before his nomination, 
 and which was largely circulated as an 
 indication of his policy. Its leading design, 
 rigorously carried out with equal learn- 
 ing and acumen, was to test the princi- 
 ples of the Republican party by the 
 practice of the Fathers of the Constitution. 
 " Let all," said he, adopting a text thrown 
 out in one of the speeches of Senator 
 Douglas, "who believe that 'our fathers, 
 who framed the Government under which 
 we live, understood this question just as 
 well, and even better, than we do now,' 
 speak as they spcke and act as they 
 acted upon it. This is all that Repub- 
 
24 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 licans ask all Republicans desire in 
 relation to slavery. As those fathers 
 marked it, so let it again be marked, as 
 an evil not to be extended, but to be tol- 
 erated and protected only because of and 
 so far as its actual presence among us 
 makes that toleration and protection a 
 necessity. Let all the guaranties those 
 fathers gave it, be, not grudgingly, but 
 fully and fairly maintained. For this 
 Republicans contend, and with this, so 
 far as I know or believe, they will be 
 content. ... It is exceedingly desirable 
 that all parts of this great Confederacy 
 shall be at peace and in harmony, one 
 with another. Let us Republicans do our 
 part to have it so. Even though much 
 provoked, let us do nothing through pas- 
 sion and ill temper. Even though the 
 .Southern people will not do so much as 
 listen to us, let us calmly consider their 
 demands, and yield to, them if in our 
 deliberate view of our duty, we possi- 
 bly can."* 
 
 The amiable and conservative charac- 
 ter of these declarations had to be ad- 
 mitted by all fair-minded disputants, who 
 would then be driven to point out the 
 probability of the influence of such a man 
 in bringing others to his way of thinking, 
 and thus providing for the passage of 
 measures tending to the limitation of 
 slavery with the safeguards which he 
 proposed. The weakness and absurdity 
 of such a remonstrance were palpable 
 enough, yet it was frequently urged by 
 men who appeared so determined to up- 
 hold Southern institutions, that they 
 would not permit them to be brought in 
 question even by the Southerners them- 
 selves ; for who could be influenced to 
 any purpose in such an issue save the 
 
 * Address of the Hon. Abraham Lincoln at the Jooper 
 Institute. New Fork, February 27, 1860. 
 
 slaveholders ? Moreover, both branches 
 of Congress were in the hands of the 
 opponents of Mr. Lincoln, and might be 
 presumed to be a sufficient guard over his 
 movements. He could be little, after all, 
 but their Executive. What, then, was 
 the danger to be apprehended from a 
 Republican President, thus prudent in his 
 own resolves, and thus powerfully held 
 in check by his political adversaries ? 
 
 In vain were all these inducements to 
 a pacific policy held up before Southern 
 statesmen. It would seem that they had 
 adopted a course of revolt before which 
 nothing of good counsel that could be 
 offered would be suffered to stand in the 
 way. On no other hypothesis than a 
 disposition to break up the Union at all 
 hazards, can their conduct be accounted 
 for. Instant measures were taken by 
 them to array the whole region south of 
 the Potomac in opposition not merely to 
 the Republicans, but to the government 
 itself. It was not legitimate influence in 
 the work of legislation which was sought 
 for in their agitation, but disorganisation 
 and absolute destruction of the State. 
 Immediately leading actors began to busy 
 themselves publicly with the work of 
 treason. Influential politicians corre- 
 sponded with one another, schemed, 
 plotted and intrigued. The readiness 
 with which they brought forward their 
 arguments, and the confidence of their 
 plans showed them practiced in the arts 
 of revolt. They were evidently but en- 
 acting in the eye of the public what 
 they had long before studied and re- 
 hearsed in private. The long-desired 
 opportunity for which they had eagerly 
 waited, had arisen. Their arguments on 
 previous occasions had failed to convince, 
 or had not been followed by action. 
 They had now an irresistible appeal in 
 
COURSE OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 25 
 
 the election by the North of a Republi- 
 can President, a sworn foe, as he was 
 represented, of Southern institutions. 
 In full command of their political ma- 
 chinery, working upon the prejudices 
 and ignorance of the people, they had 
 but to touch certain springs, and the fair 
 edifice of the national authority in the 
 South fell to the ground, and in its stead 
 arose the hideous structure of a rebel 
 Confederacy. 
 
 Indeed, there is but too much reason 
 to believe, from the public declarations 
 of many of their eminent politicians, 
 from the divisions at the Charleston 
 Convention, and from other indications, 
 that Disunion was a foregone conclusion 
 in many Southern minds. The election of 
 a Northern President, chosen by the votes 
 of the Northern States, it was frequently 
 asserted would justify an act of seces- 
 sion. When the vote was taken, and 
 the decision made known, the action was 
 immediate. The legislature of South 
 Carolina, which was in session, called 
 together in advance of its regular meet- 
 ing, to appoint electors for President and 
 Vice President, proceeded at once to 
 take the initiative in the revolt. In- 
 deed, Governor Gist, the very first day 
 of the meeting of that body, the fifth of 
 November, had in his message advised 
 the course to be pursued in the event of 
 Abraham Lincoln's election. " The only 
 alternative," said he, "is the secession 
 of South Carolina from the federal 
 Union." Not overlooking the inevitable 
 contingency upon such action, if, as he 
 expressed it, "in the exercise of arbi- 
 trary power, and forgetful of the lessons 
 of history, the government of the United 
 States should attempt coercion," he add- 
 ed, " it will become our solemn duty to 
 meet force by force." In accordance 
 4 
 
 with this conclusion he recommended a 
 thorough reorganization of the State mi- 
 litia, and the acceptance of the services 
 of ten thousand volunteers, who should 
 be drilled and be in readiness for instant 
 action. "With this preparation for de- 
 fence," he concluded, " and with all the 
 hallowed memories of past achievements, 
 with our love of liberty and hatred of 
 tyranny, and. with the knowledge that 
 we are contending for the safety of our 
 homes and firesides, we can confidently 
 appeal to the Disposer of human events, 
 and surely trust our cause to his keeping." 
 The advice fell upon willing ears. 
 Following the suggestion of the Gov- 
 ernor, the topic of Secession was freely 
 discussed by the legislature. There was 
 much talk of arming, of the relative ad- 
 vantages of separate action and of coop-, 
 eration with other States ; Messrs. Ches- 
 nut and Hammond, the representatives 
 of South Carolina in the United States 
 Senate, resigned their seats, and their 
 resignation was accepted ; and the most 
 important, because most dangerous, pro- 
 ceeding of all a resolution was unani- 
 mously adopted in both branches of the 
 Legislature, calling a special convention 
 of the people, to meet on the 17th De- 
 cember, to consider and provide for the 
 interests of South Carolina in the as- 
 sumed emergency. On the 27th Novem- 
 ber the legislature was again in session 
 at Columbia, listening to another mes- 
 sage from Governor Gist, urging various 
 means of independence, commercial and 
 military, and strongly charged with Seces- 
 sion doctrines and advice. The Federal 
 Government, he said, could " not rightful- 
 ly use force to prevent a State from seced- 
 ing, or force her back into the Union," 
 adding significantly, " but, in the lan- 
 guage of the late Judge Harper, men 
 
26 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Having arms in their hands may use 
 them." It is not a little significant of 
 the calculations made at this period by 
 the South, that he encouraged his hear- 
 ers with the remark, "It is gratifying to 
 know that, if we must resort to arms in 
 defence of our rights, and a blow struck 
 at South Carolina before the other States 
 move up in line, we have the tender of 
 volunteers from all the Southern and 
 some of the Northern States to repair 
 promptly to our standard and share our 
 fortunes." With reckless indifference to 
 the probable consequences of these re- 
 bellious suggestions, with an appeal to 
 honor and religion, he added : "We can- 
 not penetrate the dark future ; it may 
 be filled with ashes, tears, and blood ; 
 but let us go forward in the discharge of 
 our duty, with an unwavering trust in 
 God, and a consciousness that anything 
 is preferable to dishonor and degradation." 
 The Hon. C. G-. Memminger, afterward 
 Secretary of the Treasury of the Confed- 
 erate Government, in a speech at a pub- 
 lic meeting in the city of Charleston, on 
 the 30th of November, with the pres- 
 cience of an actor who had in his own 
 hands the guarantee of his predictions, 
 marked out the entire programme of the 
 Rebellion. The action of the Convention, 
 the Commissioners to be sent to Wash- 
 ington to treat for the forts, the capture 
 of the latter by armed men if not surren- 
 dered, the indisposition of President Bu- 
 chanan to act offensively, the powerless- 
 ness of President Lincoln in the early 
 days of his administration, giving time to 
 South Carolina to gain over to her cause 
 the cotton States, were all pointed out as 
 so many onward stages in the progress to 
 Southern Independence.* There was no 
 
 * History of the Southern Rebellion, by Orville J. Vic- 
 tor, L W 
 
 attempt in this argument to conceal the 
 employment of armed resistance. It was 
 the common talk at Charleston. At the 
 same meeting a letter was read from 
 Colonel Hayne, in which the prospects 
 of a struggle with the government were 
 thus confidently discussed : " Should the 
 South be called upon," said he, " to 
 meet the North in the battle-field, we 
 have eight millions of the Anglo-Saxon 
 race to sustain us and our cause, just in 
 the sight of God and man. What more 
 do we want? Did not Frederick the 
 Great, with a population of not half of 
 our number, carry on successful war 
 with almost the whole of Europe against 
 him, and at the close of the war, add- 
 ing largely to his empire ? The great 
 Napoleon conquered Europe -all but 
 gallant England. Burke, with his large 
 mind, told Lord North the British pre- 
 mier in ' '76,' that the Southern colonies 
 would, on trial, be found hard to subdue 
 and it was found to be so, in the hour 
 of trial and on the battle-field. For all 
 the purposes of war especially long and 
 continued war, for good and sufficient 
 reasons perfectly understood and duly en- 
 dorsed by our people the Southern 
 States rank among the first nations of the 
 world."* 
 
 In Georgia there was at first some 
 hesitation for there were many friends 
 of the Union in the State, and others 
 who, from interest, looked with suspicion 
 upon the threatened movement. Gov- 
 ernor Brown, in his message to the legis- 
 lature in November, opposed secession 
 and the project of a Southern Convention, 
 contenting himself with a plan of taxation 
 and reprisals upon the property of citi- 
 zens of States infringing upon Southern 
 
 * A. P. Hayne to Captain S. Y. Tupper, Charleston, NOT 
 ember 20, 1860. Charleston Marcury, December 1 
 
PROGRESS OF THE REVOLT. 
 
 27 
 
 rights. He recommended, however, the 
 appropriation of a million of dollars to 
 arm the State. The legislature refused 
 to elect a new Senator to the United 
 States Senate for the next Congress, an 
 example followed before the conclusion 
 of the month in North Carolina. 
 
 Governor Moore, of Alabama, was de- 
 cidedly authoritative in advising the peo- 
 ple of his State of the necessity of Se- 
 cession. In an address sent forth early 
 in November, he set before them this 
 solemn asseveration : "In full view and, 
 I trust, just appreciation of all my obli- 
 gations and responsibilities, official and 
 personal, to my God, my State, and the 
 Federal Government, I solemnly declare 
 that, in my opinion, the only hope and 
 future security for Alabama and other 
 slaveholding States is in secession from 
 the Union." Alabama was ripe for re- 
 volt. In October, Governor Herschel V. 
 Johnson, in a speech at New York, had 
 coupled her with South Carolina in a 
 sketch of the programme of disunion. 
 "Alabama," said he, "is pledged to with- 
 draw from the Union, and has appropri- 
 ated two hundred thousand dollars for 
 military contingencies."* 
 
 Governor Pettus, of Mississippi, on the 
 26th November, met the legislature of 
 that State with advice not less uncompro- 
 mising. Florida, the least important of 
 the Southern States, the most dependent 
 upon the Union for her prosperity, bound 
 to -the National Government through 
 every stage of her history by every claim 
 of gratitude and allegiance for benefits re- 
 ceived, was among the loudest and least 
 considerate in these pretensions of revolt. 
 Governor Perry, in his Message of No- 
 vember 26, proclaimed, " the only hope 
 
 * Speech at th Cooj>r Institute, New York, October 
 24, 1860, reported m Th. World of the following day. 
 
 the Southern States have for domestic 
 peace and safety, or for future respecta- 
 bility and prosperity, is dependent on 
 their action now, and that the proper 
 action is secession from our faithless, per- 
 jured confederates." The arguments and 
 appeals which he used to hasten the work 
 of revolt were no better and no worse, 
 though more candidly avowed, than those 
 of his more powerful confederates. They 
 present a curious and very instructive 
 specimen of the logic of the rebellion 
 " But some Southern men, it is said, ob- 
 ject to secession until some overt act of 
 unconstitutional power shall have been 
 committed by the general government ; 
 that we ought not to secede until the 
 President and Congress unite in passing 
 an act unequivocally hostile to our insti- 
 tutions, and fraught with immediate dan- 
 ger to our rights of property and to our 
 domestic safety. My countrymen, if we 
 wait for such an overt act, our fate will 
 be that of the white inhabitants of St. 
 Domingo. " But why wait for this overt 
 act of the general government? What 
 is that government ? It is but the trustee, 
 the common agent of all the States, ap- 
 pointed by them to manage their affairs 
 according to a written Constitution, or 
 power of attorney. Should the sovereign 
 States then the principal and the part- 
 ners in the association for a moment 
 tolerate the idea that their action must be 
 graduated by the will of their agents? 
 The idea is preposterous." 
 
 The remaining cotton States were 
 equally ripening for revolt, and a dan- 
 gerous sympathy was exhibited in the 
 border slave States. There was con- 
 siderable disaffection already manifested 
 in Virginia, where, under the auspices 
 of Governor Letcher, the leaders were 
 coolly calculating the resources of rebel- 
 
28 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 lion. Ex-Governor Henry A. Wise, 
 adopting an intermediate course, could 
 not at once bring himself to forego the 
 benefits of Union, but ingeniously hit 
 upon a plan of "fighting in the Union," 
 what Governor Quitman, ten years 
 before, when reviewing the materials for 
 rebellion, called " the system in Virginia 
 of petty hostilities within the Union." 
 Writing to a gentleman in Georgia, who 
 wished an explanation of this phrase, 
 Governor Wise said truly enough, " the 
 Union is not an abstraction ; it is a real, 
 substantial thing, embracing many essen- 
 tial and vital political rights and proper- 
 ties. Is it not cowardly to renounce one 
 right to save another ? Are these rights 
 not as precious as the mere right of 
 property in negroes ? " * Kentucky, 
 with bat little inclination at the time to 
 revoll, implored, by the mouth of her 
 Governor Magoffin, the forbearance of 
 the Gulf States. " If you secede," was 
 his cry, "your Representatives will go 
 out of Congress and leave us at the mercy 
 of a Black Republican Government." 
 North Carolina exhibited a loyal disposi- 
 tion. Tennessee, as yet, influenced by 
 past traditions and the patriotism of her 
 democratic senator, Andrew Johnson, 
 was faithful to her allegiance ; and Gov- 
 ernor Hicks in Maryland had taken that 
 stand for Union which was destined to 
 save the State. 
 
 In this condition of the public mind at 
 the South, while the North was calmly 
 contemplating the prospects and responsi- 
 bility of its unexpected political triumph, 
 Congress met at Washington in its usual 
 session, in December. President Bu- 
 chanan, in his opening Message, took oc- 
 casion to review the existing political 
 condition of the country. His tone on 
 
 If. Y. Herald, December 19, 1860. 
 
 the occasion was that of the leader or 
 follower of a party long accustomed to 
 power suddenly and unexpectedly check- 
 ed in its enjoyment. There was an evi- 
 dent look of suspicion cast upon the new 
 incumbent who had been chosen by the 
 people to administer the government. 
 Some of the President's expressions were 
 certainly very peculiar, and perhaps, in 
 this respect, better represented the state 
 of feeling in a large portion of the coun- 
 try than would the usual more courteous 
 and conventional terms of public docu- 
 ments. There was a certain air about 
 the Message of stinted allowance or for- 
 bearance, as if the incoming Republicans 
 were creeping into power surreptitiously, 
 or were in some measure, as yet, spite of 
 the authoritative voice of the people, on 
 trial. Nor was this very much to be 
 wondered at in so facile a chief magistrate, 
 when it was commonly asserted out of 
 doors by members of his party, that the 
 inauguration of the new President would 
 never be suffered to take place ! Indeed, 
 Mr. Buchanan was reported about this 
 time to have said, that he would prob- 
 ably be the last President of the United 
 States. How clearly was this remark- 
 able condition of opinion represented in 
 such apologetic utterances as this in the 
 Message. "The election of anyone of 
 our fellow citizens," said Mr. Buchanan, 
 with a simplicity which would be amus- 
 ing were it not the index of a coming 
 tragedy, " to the office of President, 
 does not of itself afford just cause for dis- 
 solving the Union" adding to this enor- 
 mous platitude and startling intimation 
 of treasonable intentions somewhere, the 
 soothing declaration: "this is more es- 
 pecially true if his election has been 
 effected by a mere plurality, and not a 
 majority of the people, and has resulted 
 
'ic>n- frvni the ffnqmaZ mffie- possfs 
 
PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S MESSAGE. 
 
 29 
 
 from transient and temporary causes 
 which may probably never again occur." 
 One would hardly have thought that a 
 people so accustomed during two gen- 
 erations to the method of representative 
 government, would now, in the third, 
 need such an exposition of their conduct 
 at the polls. With the shadow of rebel- 
 lion curiously haunting his mind, he then 
 proceeded : "In order to justify a resort 
 to revolutionary resistance, the Federal 
 government must be guilty of a deliberate, 
 palpable and dangerous exercise of pow- 
 ers not granted by the Constitution. 
 The late Presidential election, however, 
 has been held in strict conformity with 
 its express provisions. How, then, can 
 the result justify a revolution to destroy 
 this very Constitution ? Reason, justice, 
 a regard for the Constitution, all require 
 that we shall wait for some overt and 
 dangerous act on the part of the Presi- 
 dent elect, before resorting to such a 
 remedy." 
 
 "It is said, however," continues this 
 document, the first formal announcement 
 to the world, we believe, of any author- 
 ity, of the disaffection or treason that 
 was working in the veins of the body 
 politic, preparing to break out in the 
 manifest leprosy of revolt, " that the 
 antecedents of the President elect have 
 been sufficient to justify the fears of the 
 South that he will attempt to invade 
 their constitutional rights. But are such 
 apprehensions of contingent danger in 
 the future sufficient to justify the imme- 
 diate destruction of the noblest system 
 oi government ever devised by mortals ? 
 From the very nature of his office and 
 its high responsibilities, he must neces- 
 sarily be conservative. The stern duty 
 of administering the vast and complicated 
 concerns )f this government affords in 
 
 itself a guarantee that he will not at- 
 tempt any violation of a clear constitn 
 tional right. After all, he is no more 
 than the chief executive officer of the 
 government. His province is not to 
 make, but to execute the laws ; and it is 
 a remarkable fact in our history that 
 notwithstanding the repeated efforts of 
 the anti-slavery party, no single act has 
 ever passed Congress, unless we may 
 possibly except the Missouri Compro- 
 mise, impairing in the slightest degree, 
 the rights of the South to their property 
 in slaves. And it may also be observed, 
 judging from present indications, that no 
 probability exists of the passage of such 
 an act by a majority of both Houses, 
 either in the present or the next Con- 
 gress. Surely, under these circumstances, 
 we ought to be restrained from present 
 action by the precept of Him who spake 
 as never man spake, that ' sufficient unto 
 the day is the evil thereof.' The day of 
 evil may never come, unless we shall 
 rashly bring it upon ourselves." 
 
 Further, in deprecation of any seces- 
 sion on the part of the Southern States, 
 and in answer to their assertions that 
 they were denied equal rights with the 
 other States in the common territories 
 they were reminded, that no acts impair- 
 ing those rights had been passed by 
 Congress, or were likely to be passed ; 
 while the Supreme Court, had positively 
 " decided that slaves are property, and 
 like all other property, their owners 
 have a right to take them into the com- 
 mon territories and hold them there 
 under the protection of the Constitution." 
 As for the execution of the fugitive slave 
 law, another ground of uneasjuese, the 
 South was told, that " all the courts, both 
 State and National, before whom the 
 question has arisen, have, from the be- 
 
30 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ginning, declared the fugitive slave law 
 to be constitutional. It has been carried 
 into execution in every contested case 
 since the commencement of the present 
 Administration." 
 
 With assurances like these, all, it will 
 be observed, relating to the protection 
 of slave property as the only alleged 
 ground of variance, Mr. Buchanan sought 
 to smooth the ruffled temper of the South. 
 " Gentlemen," said he, in effect, and, on 
 this question no one could speak from 
 more abundant evidence, or with less 
 probability of being disturbed by a 
 Northern bias, "gentlemen, you have 
 really no just occasion for alarm. The 
 evil which you speak of has not happen- 
 ed, nor is there any rational probability 
 of its happening. At any rate, it will 
 be time enough for revolutionary re- 
 sistance when you have exhausted all 
 peaceful and constitutional means to ob- 
 tain redress." 
 
 He then entered upon an examination 
 of the recently bruited doctrine of seces- 
 sion, and in an easy demonstration proved 
 it to have no warrant in the letter or spirit 
 of the Constitution. " In order," said 
 he, " to justify secession as a Constitu- 
 tional remedy, it must be on the princi- 
 ple that the Federal Government is a 
 mere voluntary association of States, to 
 be dissolved at pleasure by any one of 
 the contracting parties. If this be so, 
 the Confederacy is a rope of sand, to be 
 penetrated and dissolved by the first 
 adverse wave of public opinion in any 
 of the States. In this manner our thir- 
 ty-three States* may resolve themselves 
 into so many petty, jarring, and hostile 
 republics, each one retiring from the 
 Union without responsibility, whenever 
 
 * Kansas making the number thirty-four, had not then 
 be"n admitted. 
 
 any sudden excitement might impel them 
 to such a course. By this process, a 
 Union might be entirely broken into 
 fragments in a few weeks, which cost our 
 forefathers many years of toil, privation 
 and blood to establish." 
 
 This, the reductio ad ah-surdum, per 
 haps as strong and convincing an argu- 
 ment as any on the subject, was followed 
 by sound historical references to the 
 opinions of Madison and Jackson, and a 
 cogent enforcement of the whole, drawn 
 from an examination of the particular 
 exclusive and sovereign powers con- 
 ferred by the Constitution on the Fede- 
 ral Government. " This Government, 
 therefore," he concluded and we take 
 the argument from him in preference to 
 others, as well from the peculiar relation 
 in which he stood to those who main- 
 tained the contrary, as from the author- 
 ity of his high position," this Govern- 
 ment is a great and powerful Govern- 
 ment, invested with all the attributes of 
 sovereignty over the special subjects to 
 which its authority extends. Its framers 
 never intended to implant in its bosom 
 the seeds of its own destruction, nor 
 were they at its creation guilty of the 
 absurdity of providing for its own disso- 
 lution. It was not intended by its fram- 
 ers to be the baseless fabric of a vision 
 which, at the touch of the enchanter, 
 would vanish into thin air ; but a sub- 
 tantial and mighty fabric, capable of re- 
 sisting the slow decay of time, and of 
 defying the storms of ages." 
 
 Thus far all was well. The Govern- 
 ment being intended, by its framers and 
 the evident purport of the Constitution, 
 to be perpetual, and there being no right 
 existing in any of its members to break 
 it up, the only thing left, in face of the 
 resolves at Charleston, was to maintain 
 
DOUBTS AND DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 31 
 
 it accordingly. To do this, to execute 
 the laws in the rebellious States in the 
 ordinary course of the administration of 
 justice, would be impossible. The forts 
 and other public property of the country 
 should be defended, undoubtedly, on 
 this point the message was explicit ; but 
 taking the evil in the aggregate, in the 
 withdrawal of a State, there was no 
 power known to the Constitution to 
 1: ring it back by force to its allegiance. 
 " Without descending to particulars," 
 was his language, " it may be safely as- 
 serted that the power to make war 
 against a State is at variance with the 
 whole spirit and intent of the Constitu- 
 tion." Nor, granting the employment 
 of such force, did he think the object 
 aimed at could be secured. '"Suppose 
 such a war should result in the conquest 
 of a State, how are we to govern it af- 
 terward ? Shall we hold it as a prov- 
 ince, and govern it by despotic power ? 
 In the nature of things we could not, by 
 physical force, control the will of the 
 people, and compel them to elect Sena- 
 tors and Representatives to Congress, 
 and to perform all the other duties de r 
 pending upon their own volition, and re- 
 quired from the free citizens of a free 
 State as a constituent member of the Con- 
 federacy. But, if we possessed this 
 power, would it be wise to exercise it 
 under existing circumstances ? The ob- 
 ject would, doubtless, be to preserve the 
 Union. War would not only present 
 the most effectual means of destroying 
 it ; but would banish all hope of its 
 peaceable reconstruction. Besides, in 
 the fraternal conflict a vast amount of 
 blood and treasure would be expended, 
 rendering future reconciliation between 
 the States impossible. In the mean time, 
 who can foretell what would be the suf- 
 
 ferings and privations of the people dur- 
 ing its existence ? The fact is, that our 
 Union rests upon public opinion, aud can 
 never be cemented by the blood of its 
 citizens shed in civil war. If it cannot 
 live in the affections of the people, it 
 must one day perish. Congress possess- 
 es many means of preserving it by con- 
 ciliation ; but the sword was not placed 
 in their hands to preserve it by force." 
 
 The policy of President Buchanan 
 is fully indicated in these passages of his 
 Message. We see him in the toils of a 
 position in which he is apparently inex- 
 tricably involved, the peril of which he 
 beholds, but from which he has not the 
 strength, or hardly the hope, to escape. 
 He saw the dissolution of the States 
 more than threatened by the course of 
 South Carolina ; aud knowing the char- 
 acter of the men who were the authors 
 of that revolt, and their motives, must 
 have felt that the ruin, if unchecked, 
 would be fully accomplished. He pro- 
 claimed the fatal result of disunion in a 
 body of "petty, jarring, and hostile re- 
 publics " and told his countrymen and the 
 world at the same time, in effect, that 
 the cause was hopeless. You may par- 
 ley with the evil, says he, but if, as is 
 not unlikely, it will not be reasoned with, 
 you cannot meet it with force. The 
 practical inconsistency of the President's 
 position was at once, on the delivery of 
 the Message, pointed out by a Southern 
 Senator, an advocate of the Secession 
 pretences, Clingman of North Carolina. 
 Why, said he, in effect, if you treat a 
 seceded State as sovereign in one way, 
 do you still insist upon collecting taxes 
 and levying tribute from her, a proceed- 
 ing intolerabk to any foreign state? 
 The embarrassment arose from talking 
 of the rebel States as such, and not of 
 
32 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the rebellious people within them, citi- 
 zens of the United States, pledged to 
 and answerable to her authority. The 
 assumption involved in the phrase, " co- 
 ercion of a State," was the cause of much 
 unnecessary difficulty. 
 
 Jefferson Davis, also, on the floor of 
 the Senate, rebuked the diplomatic un- 
 certainty of the paper. It was, in his 
 view, neither one thing nor the other, 
 neither fish nor flesh, a kind of political 
 medley, a Federal head ill assorted 
 with a State Eights tail. " It had," said 
 he, "all the characteristics of a diplo- 
 matic paper, for diplomacy is said to ab- 
 hor certainty, as nature abhors a vacu- 
 um ; and it was not within the power 
 of man to reach any fixed conclusion 
 from that Message. When the country 
 was agitated, when opinions were being 
 formed, when we were drifting beyond 
 the power evei to return, this was not 
 what we had a right to expect from the 
 Chief Magistrate. One policy or the 
 other he ought to have taken. If a Fed- 
 eralist, if believing this to be a govern- 
 ment of force, if believing it to be a con- 
 solidated mass and not a confederation 
 of States, he should have said : No State 
 has a right to secede ; every State is 
 subordinate to the Federal Government, 
 and the Federal Government must em- 
 power me with physical means to reduce 
 to subjugation the States asserting such 
 a right. If not, if a State Rights man 
 and a Democrat, as it has been for many 
 years my pride to acknowledge our ven- 
 erable Chief Magistrate to be, then an- 
 other line of policy should have been 
 taken. The Constitution gave no power 
 to the Federal Government to coerce a 
 State ; the Constitution gave an army for 
 the purposes of common defence, and to 
 domestic tranquillity ; but the 
 
 Constitution never contemplated using 
 that army against a State. A State ex- 
 ercising the sovereign functions of Seces- 
 sion is beyond the reach of the Federal 
 Government, unless we woo her with the 
 voice of fraternity, and bring her back to 
 the enticements of affection. He should 
 have brought his opinion to one conclu- 
 sion or another, and to-day our country 
 would have been safer than it is."* 
 
 No public document ever fell more 
 heavily on the ear of the people of the 
 United States, and the friends of our 
 National Union throughout the world, 
 than this Message. At a moment when, 
 if ever, strength and resolution were 
 needed in the Executive, he voluntarily 
 came forward to announce the weakness 
 of his position. The lame and impotent 
 conclusion was utterly at war with the 
 premises. If there could be no destruc- 
 tion, there surely ought to be preser- 
 vation. If the body could not die, it 
 certainly was entitled to live. If the 
 States ought not to go, and yet would 
 go, they should be made to stay. Why, 
 it might have been asked, should that 
 Constitution, founded by the wisdom of 
 our ancestors, firmly knit in the affec- 
 tions of the people, well adapted to 
 maintain their common interests, pre- 
 servative of principles of society and 
 government the beneficent fruits of 
 which we were just beginning to en- 
 joy be so tamely relinquished ? Jack- 
 son, when a similar question arose in 
 his administration, took no counsel 
 from parliamentary fears, but actively 
 employed the means at hand to stay the 
 evil. It was not his humor to present 
 to his countrymen a scene of disaster, 
 and tell them they had no means of es- 
 
 * Speech of Jefferson Davis on the State of the Union, 
 in the Senate, January 10, :861. 
 
TEMPORIZING POLICY. 
 
 caping from it. He took care that the 
 Southern forts should be well manned, 
 and that the navy should be on hand to 
 protect the national property and inter- 
 ests. He, in the spirit of his military 
 policy at New Orleans, went forth to 
 meet the enemy on the road, knowing 
 that when he was once seated and estab- 
 lished in our territory, the work of ex- 
 pulsion would be a thousand-fold more 
 difficult. Mr. Buchanan, when it came 
 to his turn to act, mildly announced, with 
 an uncertainty strongly indicative of his 
 convictions, "It is not believed that 
 any attempt will be made to expel the 
 United States from this property (the 
 forts, arsenals, etc., in South Carolina) 
 by force ; but if in this I should prove 
 to be mistaken, the officer in command 
 of the forts has received orders to act" 
 strictly on the defensive. In such a con- 
 tingency, the responsibility for conse- 
 quences would rightfully rest upon the 
 heads of the assailants." To act on 
 the defensive with the interpretation 
 given to the word by President Bu- 
 chanan's Administration, was, in fact, 
 not to act at all ; for it was a policy 
 which suffered the enemy to grow so 
 powerful in his means of assault, that 
 any adequate action, as was proved 
 at Sumter, would, for a time, become 
 impossible. Not to protect the public 
 property, was to lose it. Every hour's 
 inaction was a premium on rebellion. 
 
 It is but justice, however, to say, that 
 whatever weakness was displayed by 
 President Buchanan and nothing could 
 well be more culpable than weakness of 
 any kind or degree in the Executive in 
 such an emergency yet that he appar- 
 ently had some hopes of a peaceful ad- 
 justment of all difficulties by a resort to 
 the remedy offered in extreme cases by 
 5 
 
 the Constitution. He recommended an 
 "Explanatory Amendment" of that in- 
 strument to be made in due form, origi- 
 nating either with Congress or the State 
 Legislatures, which should be confined 
 to the final settlement of the true con- 
 struction of the Constitution on three 
 special points, namely: "an express 
 recognition of the right of property in 
 slaves in the States where it now exists 
 or may hereafter exist ; the duty of 
 protecting this Tight in all the common 
 territories throughout their territorial 
 existence, and until they shall be admit- 
 ted as. States into the Union, with or 
 without slavery, as their Constitutions 
 w may prescribe ; a like recognition of the 
 right of the master to have his slave, 
 who has escaped from one State to an- 
 other, restored and ' delivered up ' to 
 him, and of the validity of the fugitive 
 slave law enacted for this purpose, to- 
 gether with a declaration, that all State 
 laws impairing or defeating this right, 
 are violations of the Constitution, and 
 are consequently null and void. Such 
 an Explanatory Amendment (he added) 
 would, it is believed, forever terminate 
 the existing dissensions, and restore 
 peace and harmony among the States." 
 The Convention of South Carolina met 
 according to appointment, on the 17th 
 of December, at Columbia, but the small 
 pox prevailing there, was immediately 
 adjourned to Charleston, where it held 
 its sessions in Institute Hall. General 
 D. F. Jamison, a gentleman of intelligence 
 and literary cultivation, from the Barn- 
 well District, was chosen President. 
 " We have entered," said he, in taking 
 his seat, "on a great work, and God, 
 who holds in his hands the destinies of 
 nations, only knows what may be the re- 
 sults." 
 
34 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Though meeting but a fortnight after 
 the delivery of President Buchanan's 
 Message, the Convention did not appear 
 at all governed in its deliberations by 
 the conciliatory terms of that remarkable 
 document. The neglect was not compli- 
 mentary to the politician whom Southern 
 votes had raised to power, and who was 
 now destined to experience the ingrati- 
 tude of the party which he had served 
 but too devotedly. The last months in 
 office of James Buchanan t^ach a lesson 
 which should not be lost upon rising 
 politicians. It is, that subservience to 
 party may secure a position for a time, 
 but that, of all tyrannies and exactions, 
 its unfeeling despotism is the most insup- 
 portable. When its end is gained, and 
 new servants are needed for other pur- 
 poses, the old are thrown away, neglected 
 and despised. But to the true patriot 
 who sees only his country and her just 
 cause, the statesman superior to party, 
 there is no termination of his honorable 
 career but with life. Washington was 
 never out of office in the thoughts and 
 affections of his countrymen ; nor were 
 Marshall, Webster, Jackson, and Henry 
 Clay, who thought it better to be right 
 than President. 
 
 Two da^s after the meeting of the 
 Convention, the act of secession was 
 passed by the unanimous vote of its One 
 hundred and sixty-nine members. It 
 was entitled "An Ordinance to dissolve 
 the union between the State of South 
 Carolina and other States united with 
 her under the compact entitled the Con- 
 stitution of the United States of Ameri- 
 ca," and in a single sentence, pretending 
 to repeal the solemn acts adopting and 
 ratifying the Constitution of the United 
 States, declared the separation : "We, 
 the people of South Carolina, in Conven- 
 
 tion assembled, do declare and ordain, 
 and it is hereby declared and ordained, 
 that the Ordinance adopted by us in Con- 
 vention, on the 23d day of May, in the 
 year of our Lord 1788, whereby the 
 Constitution of the United States of 
 America was ratified, and also all acts 
 and parts of acts of the General As- 
 sembly of this State ratifying amend- 
 ments of the said Constitution, are here- 
 by repealed, and that the Union now 
 subsisting between South Carolina and 
 other States, under the name of the 
 United States of America, is hereby 
 dissolved." 
 
 The Ordinance was accompanied by a 
 "Declaration of Causes which induced 
 the secession." In this the public was 
 treated to a brief disquisition on the 
 doctrine of State Rights, the Govern- 
 ment of the United States being regarded 
 as a compact between independent pow- 
 ers which might be broken up by any 
 one of the partners, on the failure of 
 any other to fulfil his obligations, the 
 aggrieved party being entitled to deter- 
 mine for himself " the fact of failure 
 with all its consequences." In accord- 
 ance with this convenient principle, ut- 
 terly ignoring the powers of Congress, 
 the uses of the Executive, and the judg- 
 ments of the Supreme Court, South 
 Carolina, deciding the case for herself, 
 proceeded to arraign no less than four- 
 teen of the States for their " deliberate 
 refusal for years past to fulfil their Con- 
 stitutional obligations." Having proved 
 to her own satisfaction, that the Fugitive 
 Slave clause in the fourth article of the 
 Constitution had been thus in a greater 
 or less degree violated, she pronounced 
 this summary judgment: "Thus the 
 Constitutional compact has been delib- 
 erately broken and disregarded by the 
 
APPEALS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 non-slaveholding States ; and the conse- 
 quence follows, that South Carolina is 
 released from her obligation." Having 
 by this easy demonstration argued her- 
 self out of the Union, this free and in- 
 dependent State condescended to a fur- 
 ther enumeration of grievances, all of 
 which, it is noticeable, related to this one 
 topic of interference, real or supposed, 
 with slavery. Among other points of 
 this nature, it was asserted that a geo- 
 graphical line had been drawn across the 
 Union, and all the States north of that 
 line have been united in the election of 
 a man to the high office of President of 
 the United States, whose opinions and 
 purposes are hostile to Slavery." To 
 this was added, without any show of 
 proof, " He is to be intrusted with the 
 administration of the common Govern- 
 ment, because he has declared that that 
 ' government cannot endure permanently 
 half slave, half free/ and that the public 
 mind must rest in the belief that slavery 
 is in the course of ultimate extinction. 
 . . On the 4th of March next, this party 
 will take- possession of the government. 
 It has announced that the South shall be 
 excluded from the common territory, 
 that the judicial tribunal shall be made 
 sectional, and that a war must be waged 
 against slavery until it shall cease 
 throughout the United States." To this 
 extraordinary statement, which if it had 
 been true, it is needless to say, would 
 have rendered the success of the Repub- 
 lican party impossible, was added the 
 still more startling declaration, fact it 
 was called, "that the public opinion at 
 the Forth has invested a great political 
 eiror with the sanctions of a more erro- 
 neous religious belief." 
 
 From this document then it appears 
 that the only ostensible reasons thought 
 
 to be worth giving to the world in a 
 Declaration of Independence by South 
 Carolina were that an interference with 
 the sacred institution of slavery by the 
 Republican party was to be dreaded. In 
 vain had she just been told by President 
 Buchanan that the fugitive slave law had 
 always been maintained and that the new 
 President, even if he desired to do so, 
 would be unable to rule contrary to the 
 provisions of the Constitution. 
 
 Another document, however, an "Ad- 
 dress to tbf> People of the Slaveholding 
 States/' was put forth by the Convention, 
 at the same time, which varied somewhat 
 the grounds of appeal. It dwelt upon 
 the resemblance between the present po- 
 sition of the Southern States towards the 
 Government at Washington and that of 
 the colonies toward Great Britain at the 
 period of the War of Independence. 
 With an unparalleled hardihood of as- 
 sertion it maintained that the Constitu- 
 tion being overthrown, the government 
 of the United States was " no longer a 
 free government but a despotism ;" that 
 the Northern majority in Congress control- 
 ling Southern interests was in effect the 
 same with the ancient no-representation 
 in Parliament ; that the taxation of that 
 body found its parallel in the tariffs of 
 our own day, and as Great Britain would 
 have expended the sums which she pro- 
 posed to exact, at home, so the South was 
 impoverished by paying duties which 
 were lavished upon the North ; in fact, 
 that the cities of the South were " pro- 
 vincialized" under the operation. The 
 dangers to the institution of slavery in 
 the States were then insisted upon as in- 
 evitably flowing from the will of a peo- 
 ple who thought then selves bound to 
 exclude it, if possible, from the virgin 
 soil of the Territories. " If," was the ar- 
 
36 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 gument, "African slavery in the South- 
 ern States be the evil their political 
 combinations affirm it to be, the requisi- 
 tions of an inexorable logic must lead 
 tLem to emancipation." On such gra- 
 tuitous suppositions, in advance of any 
 acts of aggression, while the Government 
 was subservient to their policy and the 
 Supreme Court was pronouncing its decis- 
 ions in their favor, it was thought fitting 
 to declare : " We but imitate the policy 
 of our fathers in dissolving a Union with 
 nonslaveholding confederates, and seek- 
 ing a confederation with slaveholding 
 States." 
 
 That there might be no doubt of the 
 principles upon, which the secession was 
 organized, the demand for sympathy was 
 enforced with the appeal "to be one of 
 a great slaveholding confederacy stretch- 
 ing its arms over a territory larger than 
 any power in Europe possesses." Nor 
 was this urged as a simple concession to 
 a state of things already existing, some- 
 thing to be accepted of necessity ; but 
 that state was put forward as a ground 
 of glory and rejoicing. Comparing the 
 enforced servitude of the South with the 
 free labor of other countries, preference 
 was given to the former. As a clear in- 
 dication of an important element in the 
 future struggle, which subsequently en- 
 gaged the attention of President Lincoln 
 in one of his Messages, we give the very 
 words of the passage in the South Caro- 
 lina Address : " We rejoice that other 
 nations should be satisfied with their in- 
 stitutions. Self-complacency is a great 
 element of happiness with nations as 
 with individuals. We are satisfied with 
 ours. If they prefer a system of indus- 
 try in which capital and labor are in per- 
 
 petual conflict and chronic starvation 
 keeps down the natural increase of pop- 
 ulation and a man is worked out in 
 eight years and the law ordains that 
 children shall be worked only ten hour? 
 a day and the sabre and bayonet are 
 the instruments of order be it so. It is 
 their affair, not ours. We prefer, how- 
 ever, our system of industry, by which 
 labor and capital are identified in inter- 
 est, and capital, therefore, protects labor, 
 by which our population doubles every 
 twenty years ; by which starvation is un- 
 known and abundance crowns the land ; 
 by which order is preserved by an un- 
 paid police and the most fertile regions 
 of the world, where the Caucasian cannot 
 labor, are brought into usefulness by the 
 labor of the African, and the whole world 
 is blessed by our own productions. 
 All we demand of other people is to be 
 let alone to work out our own high des- 
 tinies. United together, and we must be 
 the most independent as we are the most 
 important amongst the nations of the 
 world. United together, and we require 
 no other instrument to conquer peace 
 than our beneficent productions. United 
 together, and we must be a great, free, 
 and prosperous people, whose renown 
 must spread throughout the civilized 
 world, and pass down, we trust, to the 
 remotest ages." With a renewal of the 
 appeal thus flippantly and confidently 
 sent forth the address ended : " We 
 ask you to join us in framing a confed- 
 eracy of slaveholding States." The South, 
 subduing all interests to one devouring 
 passion, were acting under the impulse 
 of the " inexorable logic" which they fan- 
 cied was driving on to "the inevitable 
 conflict" the people of the North. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PRELIMINARIES TO 8UMTER. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA thus placed herself at 
 the head and front of the rebellion. 
 Many months afterward, her Governor 
 Pickens in one of his messages proudly 
 asserted the fact. " From the 20th of 
 December last," said he, " until the 9th 
 of February, this State acted alone. She 
 was entirely separate and independent."* 
 That interval between the declaration 
 of independence by South Carolina, arid 
 the organization of the rebel Confederacy 
 at Montgomery, was by no means lost to 
 the cause of revolt. It was filled with a 
 series of uniform, resolute acts of aggres- 
 sion, and preparation for an impending 
 conflict. 
 
 The Convention of South Carolina 
 assumed for the State the powers of the 
 General Government, taking under its 
 control the management of the custom 
 house and collection of the revenue, the 
 judicial authority of the United States, 
 made treason to the new rule punishable 
 with death, regulated the appointment 
 and reception of foreign ambassadors, 
 and in general began to provide for all 
 the acts of independent sovereignty. 
 The military property of the General 
 Government at Charleston, the forts in 
 the harbor and the arsenal were already, 
 by an arrangement or understanding be- 
 tween the Congressional Representatives 
 of the State and the Secretary of "War 
 at Washington, and the President, virtu- 
 
 * Message to the Senate and House of Representatives 
 of South Carolina. Charleston Courier, November 6, 1861. 
 
 ally in the safe keeping and at the mercy 
 of the South Carolinians. An agree- 
 ment had been made, under pretence of 
 giving time for adjustment and reconcili- 
 ation of difficulties, by which the forts 
 were not to be attacked or molested by 
 the one party, nor reinforced by the 
 other. The effect of this was, that a 
 handful of United States soldiers, two 
 partly-filled companies of artillerymen, 
 under the command of Major Robert 
 Anderson of Kentucky, an officer who 
 had served with distinction in the Mexi- 
 can war, at Vera Cruz, at El Molina dol 
 Rey, at Chapultepec, kept feeble guard 
 of Fort Moultrie, while an ever-increas- 
 ing force of rebels, as the conspiracy 
 gained strength, threatened them on all 
 sides. It was a policy which was far 
 from being understood or appreciated at 
 the North. Constantly was it asked by 
 the people, in view of the impending 
 danger, "Why are not the forts fully occu- 
 pied ? Why is not a sufficient naval 
 guard in the harbor ? When the subject 
 was discussed in the Cabinet on the 13th 
 of December, and decided against the 
 reinforcement of Fort Moultrie, General 
 Cass, unable longer to endure the post- 
 ponement of patriotic duty, resigned his 
 office of Secretary of State. 
 
 Meanwhile the work of disorganization 
 was proceeding in the cotton States with 
 rapidity. The familiarity of the people 
 with the machinery of conventions, and 
 all the subsidiary forms of political ac- 
 
38 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tion, assisted them greatly in the enter- 
 prise. At short notice they were every- 
 where ready to meet and resolve, assume 
 to themselves all the prerogatives of leg- 
 islation, pronounce their decrees, and 
 extemporise a new form of government. 
 Accustomed to their separate State jur- 
 isdiction, there was little to shock the 
 habitual feelings of the people, in setting 
 up a parliamentary authority arrogating 
 to itself the powers belonging only to the 
 United States. The very simplicity and 
 perfection of the government was thus 
 turned to its destruction. At the instiga- 
 tion of the Governors and State legisla- 
 tures, conventions were called to take 
 what action they thought necessary. 
 Elections were held and delegates ap- 
 pointed. Their deliberations in all 
 cases ended in the resolve of separation. 
 Before the close of January five States, 
 in addition to South Carolina, had thus 
 formally seceded from the Union in the 
 following order : Mississippi on the 9th 
 of January, Florida and Alabama on the 
 llth, Georgia on the 19th, Louisiana on 
 the 26th. On the 1st of February, Texas 
 was added to the number. The laws and 
 ordinances binding these several States 
 to the General Government were repeal- 
 ed ; the obligations of the people to ob- 
 serve the same were withdrawn ; the 
 State was pronounced henceforth free, 
 sovereign, and independent. 
 
 As a sequence of these pronunciamen- 
 tos, the public property of the United 
 States was taken possession of. Forts 
 and arsenals, with their supplies of am- 
 munition, were seized in all quarters. By 
 concert with Floyd of Virginia, the Sec- 
 retary of War at Washington, and 
 through the inaction of the President, 
 the forte in Charleston harbor, as we 
 have stared, were left at the command of 
 
 the rebels. It was not to be expected, 
 however, that they could long remain in 
 that position. The South Carolina Con- 
 vention, shortly after its assembling, had 
 sent commissioners to Washington to 
 treat for their delivery or surrender, 
 an unparalleled act of effrontery in face 
 of the obligations of the State to the 
 Union, and the express declaration of the 
 President in his Message, that he would 
 discharge the duty imposed upon him by 
 his oath of office in the protection of the 
 public property. 
 
 The exact terms of this extraordi- 
 nary commission of the sovereign State 
 are worthy of remembrance as a curios- 
 ity in diplomacy. They authorized am 
 empowered the embassadors, " to treat 
 with the government of the United States 
 for the delivery of the forts, magazines 
 light-houses, and other real estate with 
 their appurtenances, in the limits of 
 South Carolina ; and also for an appor- 
 tionment of the public debt, and for a 
 division of all other property held by 
 the Government of the United States, as 
 agent of the Confederated States, of 
 which South Carolina was recently a 
 member, and generally to negotiate as to 
 all other measures and arrangements 
 proper to be made and adopted in the 
 existing relation of the parties, and for 
 the continuance of peace and amity 
 between this Commonwealth and the 
 Government at Washington." The 
 Commissioners to carry this decree into 
 effect, Messrs. R. W. Barnwell, J. H. 
 Adams, and James L. Orr arrived in 
 Washington on the 26th of December. 
 On the night of that very day, before 
 they had opportunity to open communica- 
 tion with the President, an act took place 
 at Charleston which materially affected 
 the conditions of their embassy. 
 
FROM MOULTRIE TO SUMTER. 
 
 39 
 
 Major Anderson, at Fort Moultrie, rest- 
 ive under the threats of the people of 
 Charleston, in his comparatively defence- 
 less position, which he had in vain en- 
 deavored to make tenable, and which he 
 felt, assured, from the menacing prepara- 
 tions for assault around him, could not 
 probably be held for more than forty- 
 eight or sixty hours longer, resolved to 
 remove his command to the more secure 
 protection of Fort Sumter, in the harbor. 
 Accordingly, under cover of the night, 
 having spiked his larger guns and burnt 
 the carriages, by the aid of the boats of 
 the garrison, he transported his little 
 force, with the exception of a nominal 
 guard left behind, to the new position. 
 He also carried with him the stores of 
 provision and ammunition. 
 
 A letter written from Fort Moultrie a 
 fortnight before, by the wife of one of 
 the officers of the garrison, which was 
 published in the Northern papers, with 
 no little effect upon public opinion at the 
 time, will exhibit the perils to which the 
 post was exposed, the spirit of its de- 
 fenders, and a woman's just appreciation 
 of the shortcomings of the government. 
 "I feel too indignant," was its language, 
 " I can hardly stand the way in which 
 this weak little garrison is treated by the 
 head of the government. Troops and 
 proper accommodation are positively re- 
 fused, and yet the commander has orders 
 to hold and defend the fort. Was ever 
 such a sacrifice an intentional one 
 known ? The Secretary has sent several 
 officers, at different times, to inspect here, 
 as if that helped. It is a mere sham to 
 make believe he will do something. In 
 the mean time, a crisis is very near. I 
 am to go to Charleston the first of the 
 week. I will not go further if I can help 
 it. Within a few days, we hear and 
 
 from so many sources that we cannot 
 doubt it that the Chaiiestonians are 
 erecting two batteries, one just opposite 
 us, at a little village Mount Pleasant 
 and another on this end of the island 
 and they dare the commander to inter- 
 fere while they are getting ready to fight 
 sixty men. In this weak little fort, I 
 suppose President Buchanan and Secre- 
 tary Floyd intend the Southern Con- 
 federation to be cemented with the blood 
 of this brave little garrison. Their 
 names shall be handed down to the end 
 of time. When the last man is shot 
 down, I presume they will think of send- 
 ing troops. The soldiers here deserve 
 great credit, though they know not but 
 that an unequal number is coming to 
 massacre them, yet they are in good 
 spirits, and will fight desperately. Our 
 commander says he never saw such a 
 brave little band. I feel desperately 
 myself. Our only hope is in God." 
 
 Such was the character of the neglect- 
 ed handful of men at Fort Moultrie and 
 their gallant officer, who, with a full con- 
 sciousness of their imperiled position, 
 stealthily removed themselves to Fort 
 Sumter. in the hope that the government 
 yet would be roused to aid them. The 
 spirit in which this was done, the sober 
 sense of duty, the religious conscientious- 
 ness which bound the commanding offi- 
 cer, Major Anderson, to his country, may 
 be gathered from many incidental ex- 
 pressions in his correspondence in 
 Avhich, at the same time, he showed him- 
 self sensibly touched by all proper con- 
 siderations of friendship and humanity 
 but especially from a solemn act of 
 devotion at the raising of the flag in 
 Fort Sumter. It was the national stan- 
 dard which he had brought with him 
 from Moultrie. At noon, on the day fol- 
 
40 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 lowing his entry of the place, he caused 
 the whole of the small garrison, and the 
 laborers who were employed at the fort 
 to assemble in the area within, around 
 the flag-staff. " The national ensign was 
 attached to the cord, and Major Ander- 
 son, holding tht? end of the lines in his 
 hands, knelt reverently down. The offi- 
 cers, soldiers and men clustered around, 
 many of them on their knees, all deeply 
 impressed with the solemnity of the 
 scene. The chaplain made an earnest 
 prayer such an appeal for support, en- 
 couragement and mercy as one would 
 make who felt that ' man's extremity is 
 (rod's opportunity.' As the earnest, 
 solemn words of the speaker ceased, and 
 the men responded Amen, with a fer- 
 vency that, perhaps, they had never be- 
 fore experienced, Major Anderson drew 
 the ' Star Spangled Banner ' up to the 
 top of the staff, the band broke out with 
 the national air of ' Hail Columbia,' and 
 loud and exultant cheers, repeated again 
 and again, were given by the officers, 
 soldiers and workmen." 
 
 The people of Charleston, disappointed 
 of their easy prey, were greatly excited 
 at the occupation of Sumter. The State 
 authorities immediately entered the de- 
 serted Moultrie, took possession also of 
 Fort Pinckney, which had no force to 
 offer resistance, and seized the Govern- 
 ment offices in the city. News of these 
 transactions at once reached Washing- 
 ton by telegraph. The South Carolina 
 Commissioners in exercise of their ex- 
 traordinary authority immediately ad- 
 dressed a letter to the President in 
 which, after announcing that the State 
 had "resumed the powers she delegated 
 to the Government of the United States 
 and declared her perfect sovereignty and 
 independence," they stated that it would 
 
 have been their duty to enter upon a ne- 
 gotiation in reference to "all such ques- 
 tions as are necessarily raised by the 
 adoption of the Ordinance," with a view 
 to an amicable adjustment, but that the 
 events of the last twenty-four hours had 
 made such assurance impossible. " We 
 came here," said they, " the representa- 
 tives of an authority which could at any 
 time within the past sixty days, have ta- 
 ken possession of the forts in Charleston 
 harbor, but which, upon pledges given in 
 a manner which we cannot doubt, deter- 
 mined to trust to your honor rather than 
 to its own power." In conclusion, they 
 urged the immediate withdrawal of the 
 troops from the harbor. 
 
 To this request the President calmly 
 replied by reminding the Commissioners 
 of the language of his Message in re- 
 gard to his resolution to defend the 
 property of the United States in South 
 Carolina, and setting forth the nature of 
 the alleged agreement or pledges, which 
 he represented as little, if anything, more 
 than the mutual expression of a desire 
 that nothing should be done in the way 
 either of attack on the one side or rein- 
 forcements on the other, till time was 
 given for reflection. From the written 
 memorandum which he presented of the 
 South Carolina Members of Congress, the 
 mediators in this affair, it appeared that 
 they, at least, had promised nothing, 
 only " expressed their strong convictions 
 that neither the constituted authorities, 
 nor any body of the people of the State 
 of South Carolina, will either attack or 
 molest the United States forts in the har- 
 bor of Charleston, previously to the act 
 of the Convention, and we hope and be- 
 lieve not until an offer has been made 
 through an accredited representative, to 
 negotiate for an amicable arrangement of 
 
THE PRESIDENT SPEAKS. 
 
 41 
 
 all matters between the State and the 
 Federal Government, provided that no 
 reinforcements shall be sent into those 
 forts, and their relative military status 
 shall remain as at present."* 
 
 The signers of the memorandum, in 
 fact, could hardly have asked the Presi- 
 dent of the United States to bind the 
 Government to inaction while the uncer- 
 tain forbearance of the other side might 
 be terminated at any moment by a hos- 
 tile act of the Convention. "It is well 
 known," says the President "that it was 
 my determination, and this I freely ex- 
 pressed, not to reinforce the forts in the 
 harbor and thus produce a collision, un- 
 til they had been actually attacked, or 
 until I had certain evidence that they 
 were about to be attacked." He then re- 
 cited the instructions of the War Depart- 
 ment to Major Anderson, which required 
 him to hold possession of the forts in the 
 harbor, and if attacked defend himself to 
 the last extremity, while it was left to 
 his discretion, in case of an attack or 
 "tangible evidence of a design to pro- 
 ceed to a hostile act," to put his command 
 into any one of the forts which he might 
 think best adapted to increase its power 
 of resistance. Under these circumstan- 
 ces, said the President, Major Anderson, 
 as " a brave and honorable officer should 
 not be condemned without a fair hear- 
 ing.'' 
 
 The President however, would even 
 then have been disposed, in spite of dis- 
 couragements to such a course, to recall 
 Major Anderson from Sumter to Moul- 
 trie. ' My first promptings," he wrote, 
 " were to command him to return to his 
 former position, and there to await the 
 contingencies presented in his instruc- 
 
 * Messrs. McQueen, Bonham, Boyce and Keitt to Presi- 
 dent Buchanan, Washington, December 9, 1860. 
 fi 
 
 tions. This would only have been done 
 with any degree of safety to the com- 
 mand by the concurrence of the South 
 Carolina authorities. But before any 
 step could possibly have been taken in 
 this direction, we received information 
 that the ' Palmetto flag floated out to the 
 breeze at Castle Pinckney, and a large 
 military force went over last night (the 
 27th) to Eort Moultrie.' Thus the au- 
 thorities of South Carolina, without wait- 
 ing or asking for any explanations, and 
 doubtless believing, as you have express- 
 ed it, that the officer had acted not only 
 without but against my orders, on the 
 very next day after the night when the 
 removal was made, seized by a military 
 force two of the Federal forts in the har- 
 bor of Charleston, and have covered 
 them under their own flag instead of that 
 of the United States. At this gloomy 
 period of our history, startling events 
 succeed each other rapidly. On the very 
 day, the 27th instant, that possession of 
 these two forts was taken, the Palmetto 
 flag was raised over the Federal Custom- 
 house and Post-office in Charles* n ; and 
 on the same day every officer of the 
 Customs Collector, Naval Officer, Sur- 
 veyor and Appraiser resigned their 
 offices. And this, although it was well 
 known from the language of my Message 
 that, as an executive officer, I felt myself 
 bound to collect the revenue at the port 
 of Charleston, under the existing laws. 
 In the harbor of Charleston we now find 
 three forts confronting each other, over 
 all of which the Federal flag floated only 
 four days ago ; but now, over two of 
 them, this flag has been supplanted, and 
 the Palmetto flag has been substituted in 
 its stead." 
 
 The President was touched to the 
 quick, and would be trifled with no 
 
42 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 longer. "It is under all these circum- 
 stances," said he, " that I am urged im- 
 mediately to withdraw the troops from 
 the harbor of Charleston, and am in- 
 formed, that without this negotiation is 
 impossible. Thi# I cannot do this I 
 will not do. Such an idea was never 
 thought of by me in any possible con- 
 tingency. At this point of writing," he 
 adds, in a concluding paragraph, ".I 
 have received information by telegraph 
 from Captain Humphreys, in command 
 of the arsenal at Charleston, that ' it has 
 to-day (Sunday, the 30th) been taken by 
 force of arms. 7 It is estimated that the 
 munitions of war belonging to this ar- 
 senal are worth half a million of dollars. 
 Comment is needless. After this informa- 
 tion, I have only to add, that whilst it is 
 my duty to defend Fort Sumter, as a 
 portion of the public property of the 
 United States, against ' hostile attacks, 
 from whatever quarter they may come, 
 by such means as I may possess for this 
 purpose, I do not perceive how such a 
 defence can be construed into a menace 
 against the city of Charleston."* 
 
 This spirited reply, which certainly 
 appears the most moderate which could 
 have been presented under the circum- 
 stances, was met by a second letter from 
 the commissioners, d\\ elling in no friendly 
 mood upon various concessions already 
 made by the President in reference to 
 the forts, and seeking to entangle him in 
 a breach of good faith in his present dec- 
 larations. As a specimen of its temper, 
 we present a few sentences where the 
 President is most ungratefully upbraided 
 with an enumeration of the favors he had 
 already yielded as if, because he had 
 given so much, he was to yield every- 
 
 * President Buchanan to Messrs. Barnwell, Adams and 
 Orr. December 3ft 1 860. 
 
 thing. " Some weeks ago," wrote these 
 unfeeling and insatiate remonstrants, 
 " the State of South Carolina declared 
 her intention, in the existing condition of 
 public affairs, to secede from the United 
 States. She called a Convention of her 
 people to put her declaration in force. 
 The Convention met and passed the Or- 
 dinance of Secession. All this you an- 
 ticipated, and your course of action was 
 thoroughly considered in your Annual 
 Message. You declared you had no right, 
 and would not attempt, to coerce a se- 
 ceding State, but that you were bound 
 by your constitutional oath, and would 
 defend the property of the United States 
 within the borders of South Carolina, if 
 an attempt was made to take it by force. 
 Seeing very early that this question of 
 property was a difficult and delicate one, 
 you manifested a desire to settle it with- 
 out collision. You did riot reinforce the 
 garrison in the harbor of Charleston. You 
 removed a distinguished and veteran offi- 
 cer from the command of Fort Moultrie 
 because he attempted to increase his sup- 
 ply of ammunition. You refused to send 
 additional troops to the same garrison 
 when applied for by the officer appointed 
 to succeed him. You accepted the re- 
 signation of the oldest and most eminent 
 member of your Cabinet, rather than 
 allow the garrison to be strengthened, 
 You compelled an officer stationed at 
 Fort Sumter to return immediately to the 
 arsenal forty muskets which he had ta- 
 ken to arm his men. . . . You have de- 
 cided, you have resolved to hold by force 
 what you have obtained through our mis- 
 placed confidence ; and by refusing to dis- 
 avow the act of Major Anderson have 
 converted his violation of orders into a 
 legitimate act of your executive author- 
 ity. Be the issue what it may, of this 
 
THE RETIREMENT OF FLOYD. 
 
 43 
 
 we are assured, that, if Fort Moultrie 
 has been recorded in history as a me- 
 morial of Carolina gallantry, Fort Sum- 
 ter will live upon the succeeding page as 
 an imperishable testimony of Carolina 
 faith. By your course, you have proba- 
 bly rendered civil war inevitable. Be it 
 so. If you choose to force this issue upon 
 us, the State of South Carolina will ac- 
 cept it, and relying upon Him who is the 
 God of Justice as well as the God of 
 Hosts, will endeavor to perform the great 
 duty which lies before her hopefully, 
 bravely, and thoroughly."* The let- 
 ter was returned with the endorsement, 
 "This paper just presented to the Presi- 
 dent is of such a character that he de- 
 clines to receive it." The President of 
 the United States had spoken at last. 
 The mission of the South Carolina Com- 
 missioners was at an end. 
 
 Simultaneously with this correspon- 
 dence, the Hon. John B. Floyd, Secre- 
 tary of War, on the 27th of December, 
 in the presence of the Cabinet, read to 
 the President a paper denouncing the re- 
 mova 1 fh>ra Moultrie by Major Anderson, 
 as a violat'on of " the solemn pledges of 
 the Government," which had left " but 
 one remedy to vindicate our honor and 
 prevent civil war, and that is, to with- 
 draw the garrison from the harbor of 
 Charleston." Two days after, he fol- 
 lowed this up by another communication 
 to the President, in which he stated, that 
 the refusal or even the delay of. the Gov- 
 ernment " to place affairs back as they 
 stood under our agreement, invites a col- 
 lision, and must inevitably inaugurate 
 civil war;" that he could not "consent 
 to be the agent of such a calamity," and 
 that he was, therefore, under the neces- 
 
 * Messrs Barn will, Adams and Orr to President Bu- 
 clianau, Washington January 1, 1861. 
 
 sity of tendering his resignation as Sec- 
 retary of War, " because I can no loagei 
 hold it under my convictions of patriot- 
 ism, nor with honor, subjected as I am to 
 a violation of solemn pledges and plighted 
 faith." To this, President Buchanan re- 
 plied briefly and coolly on the 31st: 
 "My dear Sir, I have received and ac- 
 cepted your resignation of the office of 
 Secretary of W r ar ; and not wishing to 
 impose upon you the task of performing 
 its mere routine duties, which you have 
 so kindly offered to do, I have author- 
 ized Postmaster-General Holt to admin- 
 ister the affairs of the Department until 
 your successor shall be appointed." 
 
 The change was accepted by the pub- 
 lic with the profoundest satisfaction. It 
 was, indeed, high time for Mr. Floyd to 
 depart, and a citizen of unquestioned 
 loyalty and honor to be put in his place. 
 His fidelity to the Government was 
 doubted, and there were various unpleas- 
 ant suspicions afloat of his participation 
 hi certain transactions, recently brought 
 to light, of enormous army acceptances, 
 connected with which an immense sum 
 of government securities in State Stocks 
 had been feloniously withdrawn from the 
 Department of the Interior. So strong 
 ran the current against him, that a pre- 
 sentment was shortly after made by the 
 Grand Jury of the city of Washington, 
 charging him with maladministration in 
 office, complicity in the abstraction of the 
 bonds, and conspiracy against the Gov- 
 ernment. A few days before hig depar- 
 ture from the War Department, he ad- 
 dressed a communication to the House 
 of Representatives, offering an explana- 
 tion of his course in reference to the ac- 
 ceptances. The letter was referred to a 
 committee, which, after a careful investi- 
 gation of the circumstances, pointed out 
 
44 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 "the recklessness of his official conduct, 
 his inattention, and the ignorance of the 
 details of his affairs," and characterized 
 his conduct as "not to be reconciled 
 with purity of private motives and faith- 
 fulness to public trusts."* 
 
 Under these circumstances, Secretary 
 Floyd immediately left for Virginia, to 
 re-appear in due time upon the public 
 stage as a brigadier-general of the army 
 of the so-called Confederate States of 
 America. It was then mentioned with 
 peculiar satisfaction in Richmond that, 
 by a single order, made in his last year 
 of office as Secretary of War, he had 
 transferred one hundred and fifteen thou- 
 sand improved muskets and rifles from 
 the Springfield armory and Watervleit 
 arsenal, to five depositories at the South.f 
 All of them were, as a matter of course, 
 seized by the State authorities at the 
 opening of the Rebellion. 
 
 The departure of Floyd was not the 
 first important change in President Bu- 
 chanan's Cabinet. Howell Cobb, the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, a politician .of 
 the Southern school, took leave of the 
 President shortly after the opening of 
 Congress. He had accomplished his work 
 at Washington though he had failed in 
 his department. An empty treasury and 
 depreciated public funds were his legacy 
 to his successor. He turned from his seat 
 fa the government to agitate rebellion in 
 his native State of Georgia. He was 
 succeeded for a time by the Commissioner 
 of Patents, Mr. Philip F. Thomas, of 
 Maryland. General Cass, as we have 
 seen, moved to sadness at the prospects 
 of the times, left the Cabinet a few days 
 
 * Report of the Select Committee appointed to investi- 
 gate the frauds in the Department of the Interior, to the 
 House of Representatives, February 12, 1861. 
 
 j- Richmond Examiner, cited in the New York Evening 
 Pn*i. May 15, 1861. 
 
 after Mr. Cobb, from very different mo- 
 tives, when his place was taken by the At- 
 torney-General, Mr. Jeremiah S. Black, 
 of Pennsylvania. The vacant Attorney- 
 Generalship was then conferred on an- 
 other citizen of that State, Mr. Edwin M. 
 Stanton, a man of energy in his profession 
 of the law, and a zealous patriot of whom 
 we shall hear much hereafter under an- 
 other dispensation. 
 
 In a special Message,- on the 8th of 
 January, a day to recall the memory 
 of a previous Executive who scented 
 treason from afar, and who never hesi- 
 tated in the performance of duty, 
 President Buchanan briefly reviewed 
 the condition of affairs, and urged upon 
 Congress the necessity of prompt inter- 
 position to avert the threatened calami- 
 ties. He pictured the state of the coun- 
 try, its gloom and despondency, the 
 paralysis which had fallen upon trade 
 and commerce, the universal depreciation 
 of property, and the rapid decline of the 
 credit of the public securities. These 
 evils he justly attributed to the suscep- 
 tibility or exposure of the State to the 
 threatened danger from within. " In a 
 government organized like ours," said 
 he, "domestic strife, or even a well- 
 grounded fear of civil hostilities, is more 
 destructive to our public and private in- 
 terests than the most formidable foreign 
 war." Recurring to his late Annual 
 Message, he reiterated his convictions of 
 the inadequate pretensions made for se- 
 cession, and again declared his inability 
 to acknowledge the independence claimed 
 for any State under its assumptions. Of 
 the war-making power, he said, "I cer- 
 tainly had no right to make aggressive 
 war upon any State , and I am perfectly 
 satisfied that the Constitution has wisely 
 withheld that power even from Congress. 
 

J hueou-i'iy & Cx3. Riblisliers. UewVcVrfc 
 
PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S MESSAGE. 
 
 45 
 
 But the right and the duty to use military 
 force defensively against those who resist 
 the Federal officers in the execution of 
 their legal functions, and against those 
 who assail the property of the Federal 
 Government, is clear and undeniable." 
 Recognizing the magnitude of the evils 
 which threatened the state for " the 
 fact," said he, "cannot be disguised that 
 we are in the midst of a great revolu- 
 tion" he appealed to Congress, and 
 cast the entire responsibility of action 
 upon that body. " The Union," was his 
 language in words worthy of the occa- 
 sion, and the sentiment, though familiar, 
 cannot be too often repeated, " is a sa- 
 cred trust, left by our revolutionary 
 fathers to their descendants ; and never 
 did any other people inherit so rich a 
 legacy. It has rendered us prosperous 
 in peace and triumphant in war. The 
 national flag has floated in glory over 
 every sea. Under its shadow American 
 citizens have found protection and respect 
 in alMands beneath the sun. If we de- 
 scend to considerations of purely mate- 
 rial interest, when, in the history of all 
 time, has a confederacy been bound to- 
 gether by such strong ties of mutual 
 interest? Each portion of it is depen- 
 dent on all, and all upon each portion, 
 for prosperity and domestic security. 
 Free trade throughout the whole supplies 
 the wants of one portion from the pro- 
 ductions of another, and scatters wealth 
 everywhere. The great planting and 
 farming States require the aid of the 
 commercial and navigating States, to 
 send their productions to domestic and 
 foreign markets, and to furnish the naval 
 power to render their transportation se- 
 cure against all hostile attacks." 
 
 He turns, then, to the disappointment 
 of these obvious provisions of the bene- 
 
 ficence of nature and Providence in the 
 threatened destruction of the govern- 
 ment. "The calamity," said he, "would 
 be severe in every portion of the Union, 
 and would be quite as great, to say the 
 least, in the Southern as in the Northern 
 States ; " adding, what was of the ut- 
 most value as the testimony of an un- 
 questionable witness in the case about to 
 be submitted to the judgment of the 
 world " The greatest aggravation of the 
 evil is, as I am firmly convinced, that 
 the secession movement has been chiefly 
 based upon a misapprehension at the 
 South of the sentiments of the majority 
 in several of the Northern States." He 
 urged peaceful but decided action, and 
 advised that the questions at issue should 
 be "transferred from political assemblies 
 to the ballot box," that the people them- 
 selves might redress the grievances which 
 the South had suffered. ' ' I appeal through 
 you," he said to Congress, "to the peo- 
 ple of the country to declare- in their 
 might that the Union must and shall be 
 preserved by all constitutional means." 
 In furtherance of this end, he recom- 
 mended the compromise line which had 
 been proposed, as though, perhaps, not 
 entirely satisfactory, yet to be pre- 
 ferred by " the patriotism of Congress " 
 to the destruction of the Union. After 
 vindicating the action of Major Ander- 
 son in transferring his command from 
 Moultrie to Sumter, and promising to 
 preserve peace in the District of Colum- 
 bia, concerning which there was now a 
 growing uneasiness, he said: "In con- 
 clusion, it may be permitted to me to 
 remark, that I have often warned my 
 countrymen of the dangers which now 
 surround us. This may be the last time 
 I shall refer to the subject officially. I 
 feel that my duty has been faithfully, 
 
16 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 though it may be imperfectly, performed ; 
 and, whatever the result may be, I shall 
 carry to my grave the consciousness that 
 I at least meant well for my country." 
 
 With the infusion of new life into the 
 departments, the Government exhibited 
 some signs of action, but it was altogether 
 too feeble and uncertain to arrest, in any 
 considerable degree, the strong tide of 
 rebellion which was now setting in at the 
 South. An effort was made, though 
 quite inadequate to the purpose in view, 
 to reinforce and provision Fort Sumter. 
 The commercial steamer Star, of the 
 West was prepared at New York, and 
 on the night of the 5th of January, load- 
 ed with supplies, and with a picked body 
 of two hundred United States troops on 
 board, left the harbor for Charleston. 
 The preparations were made with secrecy, 
 jut not with such privacy as to prevent 
 some friend of the South sending news 
 of the movement in advance by the tele- 
 graph, which was then uninterrupted, to 
 her place of destination. When the ves- 
 sel arrived off the port, early on the 
 morning of the 9th, she found a steamer 
 ready to signal her appearance. " The 
 soldiers," to continue the narrative in the 
 words of the official report of the cap- 
 tain of the steamer, John McGowan, 
 "were now all put below, and no one 
 allowed on deck except our own crew. 
 As soon as there was light enough to see, 
 we crossed the bar, and proceeded on up 
 the channel, (the outer bar buoy having 
 been taken away,) the steamer ahead of 
 us sending off rockets and burning lights 
 until after broad daylight, continuing on 
 her course up nearly two miles ahead of 
 us. When we arrived about two miles 
 from Fort Moultrie, Fort Sumter being 
 about the same distance, a masked bat- 
 tery on Morris Island, where there was 
 
 a red Palmetto flag flying, opened fire 
 upon us at the distance of about five- 
 eighths of a mile. We had the Ameri- 
 can flag flying at our flagstaff at the time, 
 and soon after the first shot, hoisted a 
 large American ensign at the fore. We 
 continued on under the fire of the bat- 
 tery for over ten minutes, several of the 
 shots going clear over us. One shot just 
 passed clear of the pilot house, another 
 passed betwen the smoke stack and walk- 
 ing beam of the engine, another struck 
 the ship just abaft the fore-rigging and 
 stove in the planking, while another came 
 within an ace of carrying away the rud- 
 der. At the same time there was a 
 movement of two steamers from near 
 Fort Moultrie, one of them towing a 
 schooner, (I presume an armed schooner,) 
 with the intention of cutting us off. Our 
 position now became rather critical, as 
 we. had to approach ' Fort Moultrie to 
 within three-quarters of a mile before 
 we could keep away for Fort Sumter. 
 A steamer approaching us with an armed 
 schooner in tow, and the battery on the 
 island firing at us all the time, and hav- 
 ing no cannon to defend ourselves from 
 the attack of the vessels, we Concluded 
 that to avoid certain capture or destruc- 
 tion, we would endeavor to get to sea. 
 Consequently we wore round and steered 
 down the channel, the battery firing up- 
 on us until the shot fell short."* 
 
 Major Anderson, in consequence of the 
 espionage upon his movements by the au- 
 thorities at Charleston, was not allowed 
 a knowledge of the sailing of the steam- 
 er. As she approached, however, beset 
 by the batteries of the harbor, her pur- 
 pose to render him assistance became 
 evident, and he was prepared to second 
 
 * Captain MoGowan to M. O. Roberts, Star of th<* West 
 New York, January 12, 1861. 
 
RESIGNATIONS FROM THE CABINET. 
 
 her alvance by opening fire upon the 
 assailants, when she was driven back. 
 His interpretation of the act was shown 
 in a letter which he immediately ad- 
 dressed to Governor Pickens, asking if 
 the firing of the batteries "upon an un- 
 armed vessel bearing the flag of my Gov- 
 ernment," was authorized, and notifying 
 the Governor, that if it were not dis- 
 claimed " he must regard it as an act of 
 war, and that he should not, after a rea- 
 sonable time for the return of his mes- 
 senger, permit any vessel to pass within 
 range of the guns of his fort."* To this 
 menace, Governor Pickens replied with 
 assertions of the Independence of South 
 Carolina, an interpretation of the visit of 
 the Star of the West, as evidence of a 
 desire to coerce the State by the armed 
 forces of the United States, and his con- 
 sequent approval of the firing from tne 
 batteries. " The act," he wrote, " is per- 
 fectly justified by me. In regard to your 
 threat in regard to vessels in the harbor, 
 it is only necessary to say, that you must 
 judge of your responsibility. Your po- 
 sition in this harbor has been tolerated 
 by the authorities of the State ; arid 
 while the act of which you complain is in 
 perfect consistency with the rights and 
 duties of the States, it is not perceived 
 how far the conduct which you propose 
 to adopt, can find a parallel in the his- 
 tory of any country, or be reconciled 
 with any other purpose of your Govern- 
 ment, than that of imposing upon this 
 State the condition of a conquered prov- 
 ince."* 
 
 The resolution shown by the President, 
 in this attempt to preserve the public 
 property in the harbor of Charleston, 
 
 * Major Anderson to Governor Pickens, Fort Summer, 
 January 9, 1861. 
 
 * Governor F. W. Pickens to Major Anderson, January 
 9, 1861. 
 
 was attended by further withdrawals 
 from the Cabinet of members whose 
 Southern sympathies or political scru- 
 ples would not permit them to acquiesce 
 in this exercise of authority. Mr. Jacob 
 Thompson, of Mississippi, the Secretary 
 of the Interior, resigned on the 8th of 
 January, while the Star of the West was 
 yet on her way, and three days after, 
 when her mission had proved unsuccess- 
 ful, Mr. Thomas abandoned his post as 
 Secretary of the Treasury. Greatly to 
 the satisfaction of the mercantile and 
 financial classes, the place of the latter 
 was occupied by the Hon. John A. Dix, 
 of New York. This spirited citizen, a 
 member of the Democratic party, who 
 had made every exertion to maintain the 
 revolted States in the Union, entered 
 vigorously on the work of repairing the 
 disasters which had been incurred, or at 
 least, of preserving what could be main- 
 tained of the rights of the nation. The 
 entire property of the Union at the South 
 was being pillaged or destroyed. The 
 commercial, no less than the military 
 operations, were suspended by the occu- 
 pation of harbors, the plundering of cus- 
 tom houses, the desertion of their officers 
 and the seizure of the public vessels. 
 Two revenue cutters at New Orleans and 
 Mobile, which were in especial danger, it 
 was thought, if vigilantly looked after, 
 might yet be preserved. On the 19th 
 of January, four days after Secretar}' 
 Dix took charge of his Department, 
 he sent Mr. William Hemphill Jones, 
 Chief Clerk in the First Comptroller's 
 Office, to save this property. Arriving 
 at New Orleans, this officer, according to 
 his instructions, ordered Captain Bresh- 
 wood, in command of the cutter Robert 
 McClelland, to proceed with her to New 
 York ; to which the summary answer was 
 
48 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 returned, " I refuse to obey the order.' 
 Upon this, Jones telegraphed to Secre- 
 tary Dix for further instructions. The 
 answer sent by telegraph, ordered the 
 arrest of Breshwood, with this pithy in- 
 junction : "If any one attempts to haul 
 down the American flag, shoot him on the 
 spot." The message did not at once reach 
 its destination ; it was intercepted at the 
 telegraph offices of the South, and was 
 too late to oe put in execution. But it 
 did not fail in another direction. It was 
 accepted as the first energetic utterance 
 of the powers of government, and was 
 echoed by thousands of tongues, glad to 
 give voice to one burst of indignant feel- 
 ing at the gross and repeated insults to 
 the national ensign. The few emphatic 
 words were not forgotten by the public. 
 They helped to make Secretary Dix, Ma- 
 jor-General of the United States armies. 
 The people wanted a watchword, and in 
 the midst of the prevailing despondency, 
 were thankful that it proceeded from a 
 high officer of the Government. 
 
 The deliberate act of hostility and as- 
 sault upon the national flag, in the attack 
 upon the Star of the West, strange to 
 say, was attended with no immediate 
 important consequences, though it no 
 doubt had its influence in bringing the 
 public mind toward the conclusion, that 
 the rebellion was something more than a 
 wordy altercation to be settled at leisure 
 by conventions, resolutions, and debates. 
 The Administration, indeed, and the peo- 
 ple of the North generally, were reluct- 
 ant to accept any other than a peaceful 
 interpretation of whatever might occur. 
 Had they not been indisposed to admit 
 an unfriendly conclusion, the assault on 
 the Star of the West would in its effects 
 have anticipated that on Sumter. Cer- 
 tainly, nothing was wanting in it of in- 
 
 jury and defiance on the part of the 
 South Carolinians. 
 
 In spite of the deliberate avowal by 
 Governor Pickens of the firing on the 
 Star of the West, Major Anderson, from 
 humane and kindly motives, with the hope 
 of the so long-deferred interposition of 
 peaceful counsels, still hesitated, unwill- 
 ing to assume the responsibility which 
 his judgment dictated, and pursue the 
 course which he had marked out for him- 
 self. Eesolving to seek further instruc- 
 tion from the Government, he asked and 
 obtained from Governor Pickens his con- 
 sent to the passage of Lieutenant Talbot, 
 an officer of the garrison, on the errand. 
 The messenger was permitted to depart, 
 and only two days afterward, before he 
 could return, on the llth of January, 
 a formal application was made by Gov- 
 ernor Pickens to Major Anderson for the 
 surrender of the fort. This; of course, 
 he refused, but again expressed his de- 
 sire to refer the matter to Washington. 
 
 Governor Pickens, in consequence, im- 
 mediately deputed the Hon. J. W 
 Hayne, Attorney-General of the State, 
 to proceed to the National Capital as the 
 bearer of a letter to the President, in 
 which he renewed the demand for the 
 surrender. " The demand," was its lan- 
 guage, " I have made of Major Anderson 
 and which I now make of you, is sug- 
 gested because of my earnest desire to 
 avoid the bloodshed which a persistance 
 in your attempt to retain the possession 
 of that fort will cause, and which will be 
 unavailing to secure you that possession, 
 
 t induce a calamity most deeply to be 
 deplored."* An interval of about three 
 weeks occurred after Colonel Hayne 's 
 arrival in Washington, while an effort 
 
 Governor Pickens to President Buchanan, January 11, 
 
 1861. 
 
SEIZURE OF FORTS. 
 
 49 
 
 was made by certain Southern Senators, 
 including Davis, Wigfall, Slidell, and 
 others, to prolong the negotiation, when 
 the answer of the Government was giv- 
 en, through the Secretary of War, Mr. 
 Holt, to the final demand, which was 
 somewhat modified by an offer on the 
 part of South Carolina to purchase Sum- 
 ter and its contents as property of the 
 United States, with the alternative of 
 taking it by force in case this novel ne- 
 gotiation were refused. Mr. Holt's reply, 
 one of the most admirable of his excel- 
 lent State papers, combatted this strange 
 proposition, pointed out its inadmissible 
 character, and while it asserted his re- 
 solve to maintain the fort in its present 
 position, and make every effort, if the 
 occasion arose for it was now repre- 
 sented by Major Anderson that he stood 
 in no need of immediate aid to reinforce 
 it also, renewed the President's declara- 
 tions of his pacific policy and intentions. 
 "If," was its conclusion, "with all the 
 multiplied proofs which exist of the Pres- 
 ident's anxiety for peace, and of the ear- 
 nestness with which he has pursued it, 
 the authorities of South Carolina shall 
 assault Fort Sumter, and peril the lives 
 of the handful of brave and loyal men 
 shut up within its walls, and thus plunge 
 our country into the horrors of civil war, 
 then upon them and those they represent 
 must rest the responsibility."* 
 
 Whilst this was the condition of affairs 
 at Sumter and at Charleston, the public 
 property in the other Southern States 
 was also suffering spoliation. Under 
 plea of danger from popular violence, 
 Forts Pulaski and Jackson, the fortifica- 
 tions of the harbor of Savannah were 
 taken possession of for the State by Gov- 
 
 * Hon. J. Holt to Hon. J. W. Hayne, War Department, 
 February 6, 1861. 
 
 7 
 
 ernor Brown on the 3d of January. 
 Fort Morgan, at the entrance to the bay 
 of Mobile, with the arsenal and its sup- 
 plies at that city, were similarly occupied 
 the next day. Forts Johnson and Cas- 
 well were seized by the State troops of 
 North Carolina a few days later. On the 
 10th, Louisiana seized Forts St. Philip 
 and Jackson on the Mississippi, and the 
 arsenal at Baton Rouge. The Floridians 
 secured Fort Barrancas and the navy 
 yard at Pensacola, on the 12th. The 
 last day of the month the United States 
 Mint and Custom-house, at New Orleans, 
 with about half a million of dollars of 
 the public money, passed by a bold act 
 of confiscation, into the keeping of the 
 State. The arsenal at Little Rock, in 
 Arkansas, and the military posts and 
 property of Texas, fell into rebel hands 
 a short time after. The spoliation of the 
 Texas forts was particularly discreditable, 
 since it was accomplished by a prominent 
 officer of the United States service. 
 Brigadier-General Twiggs, who had gain- 
 ed deserved distinction in Mexico under 
 the flag of his country, first deserted his 
 troops who were guarding the frontier, 
 and not content with this " infamy of 
 treason to his flag, added the crowning 
 crime of deliberately handing over to the 
 armed enemies of his government all the 
 public property intrusted to his charge, 
 thus even depriving the loyal men under 
 his command of all means of transporta- 
 tion out of the State."* The United 
 States soldiers, as they arrived from 
 their distant posts at the seaboard, were 
 made prisoners, and though urgently 
 solicited, not a man of them would fol- 
 low the example of their general and 
 abandon their allegiance to their coun- 
 
 * Report of the Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, 
 July 1, 1861. 
 
50 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 try. After suffering various hardships, 
 and a portion of them making an ineffec- 
 tual attempt to escape by sea, they were 
 all compelled to lay down their arms. 
 They finally gave their parole and were 
 allowed to return to the North. 
 
 More than a million of dollars' worth 
 of property mules, horses, wagons and 
 various materials of war was directly 
 transferred by General Twiggs to the 
 Eebel Commissioners. The loss of the 
 government property of various kinds at 
 the forts and stations in the State was 
 estimated at about three millions. On 
 the 1st of March, one of the last few 
 
 days of the retiring Administration, the 
 following Order, signed by Secretary 
 Holt, was issued from the War Depart- 
 ment at Washington: "By the direc- 
 tion of the President of the United 
 States, it is ordered that Brigadier-Gen- 
 eral David E. Twiggs be, and is hereby 
 dismissed from the army of the United 
 States, for his treachery to the flag of 
 his country, in having surrendered on 
 the 18th of February, 1861, on the de- 
 mand of the authorities of Texas, the 
 military posts and other property of the 
 United States in his department and 
 under his charge " 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 SECESSION IN CONGRESS. 
 
 THE speeches and proceedings of the 
 National Congress offered, meanwhile, a 
 curious reflection of the disordered state 
 of the public mind. On the part of the 
 Southern members, there was a singular 
 tone of assurance as to the progress and 
 triumph of the Secession movement. They 
 appeared to regard it from the first as an 
 established fact, something which could 
 neither be gainsayed nor refuted, which 
 was proof equally against argument and 
 arms, which they had but to assert to 
 maintain. Looking into those two re- 
 markable volumes of the Congressional 
 Globe in which the acts and debates 
 of the session are recorded, and which 
 will be eagerly studied, with mingled 
 feelings of sorrow and astonishment by 
 posterity, to pluck out the heart of this 
 mystery, we know not which most to 
 wonder at ; the reckless, wanton conduct 
 of the secessionists, or the patient sub- 
 
 missiveness with which their language 
 was listened to by the patriotic members. 
 Bold assailants of the nation, the very 
 audacity of the course of the Southerners 
 was their safety. The loyalty of the 
 people had hitherto been so well pre- 
 served, that the Government for a while 
 appeared incapable of receiving the dead- 
 | ly blow, and made no defence against 
 the stroke. 
 
 The . debate on the President's Mes- 
 i sage in the Senate at once called forth 
 ! the most decided expressions. The lan- 
 guage of Iverson of Georgia was suf- 
 | ficiently direct and treasonable, if trea- 
 | son had been understood. The right of 
 ! secession, he frankly admitted, was not 
 j given in the Constitution either expressly 
 | or by reservation ; it was simply an act 
 | of revolution. With equal candor, he 
 I proclaimed that the repeal of the person- 
 I al liberty bills of the North w^uld be of 
 
A DEFIANT SPEECH. 
 
 51 
 
 no consequence in stopping the progress 
 of disunion. " It is not because," said 
 he, " that in their practical operation 
 they ever do any harm." Nor did he 
 look for any overt act of injury upon the 
 part of Mr. Lincoln. The danger to be 
 dreaded was in the disposition of the 
 North on the subject of slavery, and the 
 influence which could be exerted by the 
 dominant party for its extinction. "Why, 
 sir," was his language, " the power of 
 this Federal Government could be so ex- 
 ercised against the institution of slavery 
 in the Southern States as that, without 
 an overt act, the institution would not 
 last ten years. We know that, sir ; and 
 seeing the storm which is approaching, 
 although it may be seemingly in the dis- 
 tance, we are determined to seek our own 
 safety and security before it shall burst 
 upon us and overwhelm us with its fury, 
 when we are not in a situation to defend 
 ourselves." This, at least, was a candid 
 admission of the motives of the course 
 to be pursued. 
 
 " Now, sir," he added defiantly, " we 
 intend to go out of this Union. I speak 
 what I believe upon this floor, that before 
 the 4th of March, five of the Southern 
 States at least "he had already enume- 
 rated them, with a glowing panegyric of 
 their progress in secession " will have 
 declared their independence ; and I am 
 satisfied that three others of the Cotton 
 States will follow as soon as the action 
 of the people can be had." There was 
 "a clog," he admitted, in the case of 
 Texas, whose aged Governor Houston 
 had shown considerable reluctance so 
 lightly to abandon the old flag ; but for 
 that he had a remedy in this classic inti- 
 mation : " If he does not yield to public 
 sentiment some Texan Brutue will arise 
 to rid his country of the hoary-headed 
 
 incubus that stands between the people 
 and their sovereign will." A prompt 
 and vigorous method, surely, of expedit- 
 ing the good work of secession by the 
 assassination of a governor. 
 
 But the Senator from Georgia said 
 something further of the calculations of 
 rebellion, of what it intended, and upon 
 what it relied. "We intend, Mr. Pres- 
 ident," he continued, "to go out peace- 
 ably if we can, forcibly if we must ; but 
 I do not believe with the Senator from 
 New Hampshire, (Mr. Hale,) that there 
 is going to be any war. If five or eight 
 States go out, they will necessarily draw 
 all the other Southern States after them. 
 That is a consequence that nothing can 
 prevent. If five or eight States go out 
 of this Union, I should like to see the 
 man who would propose a declaration of 
 war against them, or attempt to force 
 them into obedience to the Federal Gov- 
 ernment at the point of the bayonet 
 or the sword. If one State alone was to 
 go out, unsustained by her sister States, 
 possibly war might ensue, and there 
 might be an attempt made to coerce her, 
 and that would give rise to civil war ; 
 but, sir, South Carolina is not to go out 
 alone. In my opinion she will be sus- 
 tained by all her Southern sisters. They 
 may not all go out immediately ; but 
 they will in the end join South Carolina 
 in this important movement ; and we 
 shall, in the next twelve months, have a 
 Confederacy of the Southern States, and 
 a government inaugurated and in suc- 
 cessful operation, which, in my opinion, 
 will be a government of the greatest 
 prosperity and power the world has ever 
 seen."* Such was the well-calculated 
 description of the destruction of his 
 
 * Remarks of Mr. Iverson in the Senate, December 6 
 1860. 
 
52 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 country, presented to John C. Brecken- 
 ridge, the Vice President of the nation, 
 in the chair, and which, for aught that 
 ippears on the record, was suffered to 
 pass without remonstrance or rebuke. 
 
 The remarks of Louis T. Wigfall, Sena- 
 tor from Texas, jocosely uttered, were to 
 the same effect. " I know," said he, 
 " that there is much truth, there is much 
 philosophy in Dogberry's saying, 'An 
 two men ride of a horse, one must ride 
 behind ; ' and if we proposed to remain 
 in this Union, we should undoubtedly 
 submit to the inauguration of any man 
 who was elected by a constitutional ma- 
 jority. We propose nothing of that sort. 
 We simply say, that a man who has been 
 distasteful to us has been elected, and we 
 choose to consider that as a sufficient 
 ground for leaving the Union, and we 
 intend to leave the Union. Then, if you 
 desire it, bring us back. When you un- 
 dertake that, and have accomplished it, 
 you may be like the man who purchased 
 the elephant you may find it rather 
 difficult to decide what to do with the 
 animal." 
 
 The House of Representatives began 
 the discussions of the session in a more 
 promising mood. Their first act, on the 
 reception of the Message was, on motion 
 of Mr. Boteler, of Virginia. " to refer so 
 much of it as related to the present 
 perilous condition of the country to a 
 special committee of one from each 
 State." By the side of this committee 
 of thirty-three, a similar committee of 
 thirteen was presently appointed in the 
 Senate, with the design of devising some 
 plan of reconciliation, to relieve the 
 country of the threatening disunion. 
 Mr. Corwin, of Ohio, was at the head 
 of the House Committee, which included 
 Charles Francis Adams of Massachusetts 
 
 Nelson of Tennessee, Rust of Arkansas, 
 and others of note. Mr. Powell of Ken- 
 tucky, the mover of the Resolution, pre- 
 sided over the Senate Committee, of 
 which, Hunter of Virginia, Crittenden 
 of Kentucky, Seward of New York, 
 Toombs of Georgia, Douglas of Illinois, 
 Collamer of Vermont, Jefferson Davis 
 of Mississippi, Wade of Ohio, Bigler of 
 Pennsylvania, Rice, of Minnesota, Doo- 
 little of Wisconsin and Grimes of Iowa, 
 were members. To these committees 
 various propositions involving more or 
 less of compromise were referred. They 
 were taken into consideration, and noth- 
 ing came of them but further dissatisfac- 
 tion. The Senate Committee, after ten 
 days' discussion, reported their inability 
 to agree upon any general plan of adjust- 
 ment. 
 
 The House Committee held out longer, 
 though with little better result. After 
 more than a month's anxious deliberation, 
 a majority report was submitted by Mr. 
 Corwin, proposing various recommenda- 
 tions, such as a request to the non-slave- 
 holding States to repeal all laws in con- 
 flict with the laws for the recovery of 
 fugitives, and on the other hand, a. modi- 
 fication of the fugitive slave law itself; 
 an amendment to the Constitution, deny- 
 ing for ever to Congress any power to 
 interfere with slavery in the States till 
 every State in the Union shall consent 
 to its exercise ; and a settlement of the 
 question of slavery in the territories by 
 at once admitting New Mexico as a State 
 "on an equal footing with the original 
 States." A minority report of Wash- 
 burn of Wisconsin and Tappan of New 
 Hampshire, scouted the proposed pallia- 
 tives. "South Carolina," was its lan- 
 guage, " is our ' sick man,' that is labor- 
 ing under the influence of the most 
 
COMPROMISE RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 53 
 
 distressing of maladies. A morbid dis- 
 ease which has been preying upon that 
 State for a long series of years has at 
 last assumed the character of acute 
 mania, and has extended to other mem- 
 bers of the Confederacy, and to think 
 of restoring the patient to health by the 
 nostrums proposed, is, in our judgment, 
 perfectly idle." It closed with a resolu- 
 tion, " that the provisions of the Consti- 
 tution are ample for the preservation of 
 the Union and the protection of all the 
 material interests of the country ; that it 
 needs to be obeyed rather than amended, 
 and our extrication from present difficul- 
 ties is to be looked for in efforts to pre- 
 serve and protect the public property 
 and enforce the laws, rather than in new 
 guarantees for particular interests, or 
 compromises or concessions to unreason- 
 able demands." 
 
 The most important or best known of 
 the many propositions submitted to Con- 
 gress were, doubtless, the Eesolutions 
 offered by the venerable Senator Crit- 
 tenden, of Kentucky, who, with the most 
 patriotic intentions and unwearied zeal, 
 sought to reconcile all differences by a 
 comprehensive system of concession and 
 compromise. He proposed several arti- 
 cles of Amendment to the Constitution, 
 providing for the prohibition of slavery 
 in all territory north of the line 36 de- 
 grees 30 minutes, and its protection to 
 the south of that line, leaving the admis- 
 sion of all future new States out of any 
 portion of the territory, north or south, 
 to be uncontrolled in respect to the pe- 
 culiar institution ; denying to Congress 
 the power to abolish slavery in places, 
 (the forts, dockyards, &c.) under its ex- 
 clusive jurisdiction, and situate within 
 the limits of States that permit the holding 
 of slave? ; restricting the power to abol- 
 
 ish slavery in the District of Columbia 
 while it exists in Virginia and Maryland, 
 or either, or without the consent of the 
 inhabitants or remuneration to owners ; 
 and further, that Congress shall have no 
 power to prohibit or hinder the trans- 
 portation of slaves from one State to 
 another, or to a Territory in which slaves 
 are, by law, permitted to be held, whether 
 that transportation be by land, naviga- 
 ble rivers, or by the sea. By a fifth ar- 
 ticle, Congress was to provide for the 
 payment to the owner of the value of a 
 fugitive slave whose return was pre- 
 vented by violence or intimidation. A 
 sixth article provided that these provis- 
 ions should never be affected by any 
 future amendment of the Constitution. 
 An accompanying series of Resolutions 
 recommended the enforcement of the ex- 
 isting fugitive slave law, its improvement 
 to the extent of making the commission- 
 er's fee equal in amount in the cases de- 
 cided by him, whether his decision be in 
 favor of or against the claimant, and the 
 repeal by the States of the personal lib- 
 erty bills, and that the laws forbidding 
 the African slave trade, be made effec- 
 tual. Arguments and debates were held 
 on these Resolutions during the greater 
 part of the session. Other resolutions 
 and amendments were offered. There 
 were caucuses of members from the 
 Border States outside of Congress ; there 
 were conferences within ; there were in- 
 genious schemes of individuals, by John- 
 son, in the Senate, and others. No less 
 than seventeen members of the House, at 
 different times proposed Amendments to 
 the Constitution, beside the labors of the 
 Committee of thirty-three, and other sim- 
 ple resolutions, deprecating hostilities and 
 suggesting terms of adjustment of existing 
 difficulties. There was a Peace Con- 
 
WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ference of commissioners from twenty- 
 one States, sitting at Washington during 
 the month of February. It was held at 
 the instance of Virginia, and was presided 
 over by Ex-President Tyler, who presen- 
 ted to Congress a series of Amendments 
 to the Constitution, similar to the Crit- 
 tenden Resolutions. Every form of guar- 
 antee which could be thought of was 
 agitated, to assure the South of the full 
 preservation of its rights under the Con- 
 stitution. Beyond this, the majority was 
 not willing to go ; nor did it appear that 
 any concession which could be proposed, 
 would satisfy the Southern temper which 
 was sternly bent on independence, and 
 the consequent destruction of the Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 On one of the last days of the session, 
 in a final effort, Mr. Crittenden raised 
 his voice in the Senate, "We are about 
 to adjourn. We have done nothing. 
 Even the Senate of the United States, 
 beholding this great ruin around them, 
 beholding dismemberment and revolution 
 going on, and civil war threatened as the 
 result, have been able to do nothing ; we 
 have done absolutely nothing. . . . This 
 will make a strange sound in the history 
 of Governments, and in the history of 
 the world. Some are for coercion ; yet no 
 army has been raised, no navy has been 
 equipped. Some are for pacification ; 
 yet they have been able to do nothing ; 
 the dissent of their colleagues prevents 
 them ; and here we are in the midst of a 
 falling country, in the midst of a falling 
 State, presenting to the eyes of the world 
 the saddest spectacle it has ever seen. 
 Cato is represented by Addison as a 
 worthy spectacle, ' a great man falling 
 with a falling State ;' but he fell strug- 
 gling. We fall with the ignominy on our 
 heads of doing nothing, like the man who 
 
 stands by and sees his house in flames, 
 and says to himself, 'perhaps the fire 
 will stop before it consumes all/ "* 
 
 At last, at the end of the term, a few 
 propositions were passed by which noth- 
 ing essential was yielded or conceded. 
 The Corwin resolutions were stripped of 
 their important provision of a perma- 
 nent boundary line for the protection of 
 Slavery ; and Mjc. Crittenden's Resolu- 
 tions were lost in the Senate by a single 
 vote. All, in fact, that could be ob- 
 tained from the Senate or the House, 
 was a recommendation to the States that 
 the spirit of the Constitution should be 
 respected, and the laws on the subject of 
 slavery observed. In consonance with 
 this willingness to abide by the existing 
 terms of the Constitution, was the joint 
 resolution for an article of amendment to 
 that instrument, providing, " that no 
 amendment shall be made to the Consti- 
 tution, which will authorize or give Con- 
 gress power to abolish or interfere within 
 any State with the domes-tic institutions 
 thereof, including that of persons held to 
 labor or servitude by the laws of said 
 State." The passage of this resolution 
 required a two-thirds vote in both houses. 
 It had the full number in the House of 
 Representatives, and two-thirds of those 
 remaining, not of the entire body, of the 
 Senate. It was decided, however, that 
 the vote of the latter was sufficient, so 
 that when ratified by three-fourths of the 
 legislatures of tho several States, the 
 amendment will be part of the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States. 
 
 The patience, " the melancholy assi- 
 duity," as it was subsequently character- 
 ized by Mr. Everett, with which these 
 topics were discussed by the loyal mem- 
 bers, in face of the startling evidences of 
 
 * Speech in the Senate, March 2, 1861. 2b 
 
J dim. B on .'Eiy & Co.TiitbaherH.KewYork . 
 
 nter+tf. ^.-.terdi*. VfiS AJ2 1S3 Sy Jchnscn. fij i v<*. *r- tk cfatcy yfftfr rn 
 
RETIREMENT OP SENATORS. 
 
 55 
 
 revolt which were brought into their 
 midst, could only have been maintained 
 by the most friendly and earnest desire 
 to preserve the blessings of peace for the 
 whole country. States which had fully 
 determined upon revolt, up to the time 
 of the actual resolve of their Conven- 
 tions pronouncing the act of secession, 
 were represented in Congress. As word 
 came of the final defection, the members 
 of the revolted States, deliberately and 
 without impediment, took leave of their 
 brethren, in various humors, according to 
 individual tempers, from the pathetic to 
 the defiant. The first of these with- 
 drawals was of the South Carolina dele- 
 gation of the House of Representa- 
 tives, on the 21st of December, which 
 was communicated in a brief letter to the 
 speaker. So far as the occasion admit- 
 ted, it was courteously worded. A simi- 
 lar announcement was made by the 
 Mississippi members, on the 12th of Jan- 
 uary. Two days after, her Senator, Al- 
 bert Gr. Brown, intimated his resignation. 
 The formal leave-taking of his associate, 
 Jefferson Davis, was delayed by illness 
 till the 21st, when he made the act the 
 occasion of a remarkable declaration of 
 his sentiments. 
 
 It was a notable day in the Senate 
 us the representatives of three States, 
 Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, pro- 
 nounced their farewells. David L. Yulee 
 of Florida, led the way in a few temper- 
 ately expressed remarks, in which he as- 
 signed sectional aggrandizement as the 
 cause of the defection of his State. 
 "She sees fast rising above all others," 
 said he, " the great issue of the right of 
 the people of the States to sovereignty 
 and self-government within their respect- 
 ive territorial boundaries ; and in such 
 an issue she is prepared to devote the 
 
 lives and fortunes of all her people." 
 His associate, Stephen R. Mallory, fol- 
 lowed in a gentle, strain, "mere in sor- 
 row than in anger," invoking a peaceful 
 separation. 
 
 The two representatives of Alabama, 
 Clement C. Clay and Benjamin Fitzpat- 
 rick next took their leave. Clay spoke 
 for his colleague and himself in an har- 
 angue steeped with bitterness, the bur- 
 den of which was the invasion by the 
 North of the rights of slavery. He 
 mentioned no other ground of difference. 
 " It. is now nearly forty-two years," said 
 he, "since Alabama was admitted into 
 the Union. She entered it, as she goes 
 out of it, while the Confederacy was in 
 convulsions, caused by the hostility of 
 the North to the domestic slavery of the 
 South. Not a decade or scarce a lus- 
 trum has elapsed since her birth, that 
 has not been strongly marked by proofs 
 of the growth and power of that anti- 
 slavery spirit of the northern people, 
 which seeks the overthrow of that do- 
 mestic institution of the South, which is 
 not only the chief source of her prosper- 
 ity, but the very basis of her social or- 
 der and State polity." The indignant 
 speaker then presented this fearful bill 
 of indictment, all the items of which, it 
 will be observed, have but one source 
 and issue. " It (the anti-slavery spirit) 
 denied us Christian communion, because 
 it could not endure what it styles the 
 moral leprosy of slaveholding ; it refused 
 us permission to sojourn, or even to pass 
 through the North, with our property ; 
 it claimed freedom for the slave if brought 
 by his master into a northern State ; it 
 violated the Constitution and treaties and 
 laws of Congress, because designed to 
 protect that property , it refused us any 
 share of lands acqu red mainly by our 
 
56 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 diplomacy and blood and treasure ; il 
 refused our property any shelter or se- 
 curity beneath the flag of a common 
 government ; it robbed us of our prop- 
 erty and refused to restore it ; it refused 
 to deliver criminals against our laws, 
 who fled to the North with our property 
 or our blood upon their hands ; it threat- 
 ened us, by solemn legislative acts, with 
 ignominious punishment if we pursued 
 our property into a northern State ; it 
 murdered southern men when seeking 
 the recovery of their property on nor- 
 thern soil ; it invaded the borders of 
 southern States, poisoned their wells, 
 burnt their dwellings, and murdered 
 their people ; it denounced us by delib- 
 erate resolves of popular meetings, of 
 party conventions, and of religious and 
 even legislative assemblies, as habitual 
 violators of the laws of God and the 
 rights of humanity ; it exerted all the 
 moral and physical agencies that human 
 ingenuity can devise, or diabolical malice 
 can employ, to heap odium and infamy 
 upon us, and to make us a by-word of 
 hissing and of scorn throughout the civ- 
 ilized world." Yet this climax, virulent 
 and intolerable as it would seem, might, 
 said Mr. Clay, have been endured some 
 time longer, but for the republican plat- 
 forms of 1856 and 1860, and the election 
 of a President who promised "to disre- 
 gard the judgments of your courts, the 
 obligations of your Constitution, and the 
 requirements of his official oath, by ap- 
 proving any bill prohibiting slavery in 
 the Territories of the United States." 
 
 After a few words from Mr. Fitzpat- 
 rick, Jefferson Davis closed the melan- 
 choly procession of departing senators. 
 With calmness, with courtesy, with an 
 approach even to the language of tender- 
 ness, he informed his brother senators of 
 
 the separation of his State, by her own 
 act, from the Union ; he expressed his 
 approval of the measure, and reminded 
 the members that he had in that house, 
 in their presence, for many years, advo- 
 cated the doctrine of secession, "as an 
 essential attribute of State sovereignty." 
 It might be inferred, that assuming the 
 right, he would give some adequate reason 
 for its exercise. It could hardly be sup- 
 posed that one who had held such high 
 offices under the government, could be 
 ignorant of the import and responsibility 
 of the measure he had in hand. An ex- 
 planation was certainly due from him for 
 his course. He gave it in these words : 
 " It has been a conviction of pressing 
 necessity, it has been a belief that we 
 are to be deprived in the Union of the 
 rights which our fathers bequeathed to 
 us, which has brought Mississippi into 
 her present decision." Simply the notion 
 or fear that " we are to be deprived." For 
 three score and ten years and more the 
 government of the United States had 
 performed its functions with paternal 
 kindness, without one single imputed act 
 of trespass upon the privileges or pre- 
 rogatives of any one of the States, and 
 now, on the mere supposition that she 
 may at some unknown time, in some 
 unknown way, do otherwise, an act of 
 withdrawal constituting a child of the 
 household, from whom love, honor and 
 obedience might be challenged, an alien, 
 is avowed and justified. 
 
 This- senator, whose words are made 
 more memorable by his subsequent posi- 
 tion, proceeded : " I find in myself, per- 
 aaps, a type of the general feeling of my 
 ;onstituents towards yours. I am sure I 
 feel no hostility to you, senators from the 
 N"orth. I am sure there is not one of 
 you, whatever sharp discussion there may 
 
LUGUBRIOUS FAREWELLS. 
 
 have been between us, to whom I cannot 
 now say, in the presence of my God, I 
 wish you well ; and such, I am sure, is 
 the feeling of the people whom I repre- 
 sent towards those whom you represent. 
 I therefore feel that I but express their 
 desire when I say I hope, and they hope, 
 for peaceful relations with you, though 
 we must part. They may be mutually 
 beneficial to us in the future, as they 
 have been in the past, if you so will it. 
 The reverse may bring disaster on every 
 portion of the country ; and if you will 
 have it thus, we will invoke the God of 
 our fathers, who delivered them from the 
 power of the lion, to protect us from the 
 ravages of the bear ; and thus, putting 
 our trust in God, and in our own firm 
 hearts and strong arms, we will vindi- 
 cate the right as best we may." And 
 with such words as these on his lips, 
 with his hand on the doors of the closed 
 temple of Janus, in the very act of let- 
 ting loose upon a continent the unutter- 
 able woes and sufferings of civil war, 
 this plotter and accomplisher of sedition 
 walked forth in peace from the sacred 
 precincts of the capitol, and made his 
 way in safety, unchallenged, to perfect 
 his impious work in the banded rebellion 
 of the South. 
 
 A week later, Alfred Iverson, of Geor- 
 gia, treated the Senate to another of 
 these lugubrious farewells. His mood, 
 as we have seen, at the opening of the 
 session, was the truculent and defiant. 
 He had now the satisfaction, of looking 
 upon the accomplishment of two months 
 of treasonable conspiracy, of reasserting, 
 with fullei confidence, the imminent ap- 
 proach of the great slaveholding Con- 
 federac} 7 of the South. Again he calcu- 
 lated the chances of war. "You may," 
 he said, with an anticipation of coming 
 8 
 
 evils, the necessity of which few were 
 then disposed to contemplate, even in 
 imagination, "you may possibly over- 
 run us, desolate our fields, burn our 
 dwellings, lay our cities in ruins, murder 
 our people, and reduce us to beggary ; 
 but you cannot subdue or subjugate us to 
 your government or your will. Your 
 conquest, if you gain one, will cost you a 
 hundred thousand lives and more than a 
 hundred million dollars. Nay, more, it 
 will take a standing army of a hundred 
 thousand men and millions of money, an- 
 nually, to keep us in subjection. You 
 may whip us, but we will not stay whip- 
 ped. We will rise again and again to 
 vindicate our right to liberty, and to 
 throw off your oppressive and accursed 
 yoke, and never cease the mortal strife 
 until our whole white race is extinguished 
 and our fair land given over to desola- 
 tion. You may have ships of war and 
 we may have none. You may blockade 
 our ports and lock up our commerce. 
 We can live, if need be, without com- 
 merce. But when you shut out our cot- 
 ton from the looms of Europe, we shall 
 see whether other nations will not have 
 something to say and something to do on 
 that subject. ' Cotton is king,' and it will 
 find means to raise your blockade and 
 disperse your ships." 
 
 On the 4th of February, two other 
 memorable men, the representatives of 
 Louisiana, John Slidell and Judah P. 
 Benjamin, pronounced their valedictories 
 on the floor of the Senate. Slidell spoke 
 in a plausible vein, of the course of the 
 new Confederacy in the adjustment of 
 its relations with the government, the di- 
 vision of the public property, the free 
 navigation of the Mississippi, and other 
 matters of negotiation. All this was on 
 the presumption of a peaceable separa- 
 
58 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tion. If, however, on the other hand, 
 there were any attempts at enforcing the 
 laws, the Senator, in the same easy rheto- 
 ric, sketched the conditions of that emer- 
 gency. " You will find us," said he, in a 
 careless manner, " ready to meet you 
 with the outstretched hand of fellowship, 
 or in the mailed panoply of war, as you 
 may will it. Elect between these alterna- 
 tives." In cool, insulting phraseology, 
 he travestied the maintenance of the 
 government, representing its acts as hos- 
 tilities, and pictured, in glowing colors, 
 the means of resistance. " We will not 
 permit the introduction or consumption 
 of any of your manufactures ; every sea 
 will swarm with our volunteer militia of 
 the ocean, with the striped bunting float- 
 ing over their heads, for we do not mean 
 to give up that flag without a bloody 
 struggle ; it is ours as much as yours ; 
 and although, for a time, more stars may 
 shine on your banner, our children, if 
 iiot we, will rally under a constellation 
 more numerous and more resplendent 
 than yours." Again, danger to slavery 
 was put forth. The election of Lincoln, 
 the Senator asserted, was conclusive evi- 
 dence of the determined hostility of the 
 northern masses to our institutions, and 
 this presumption was given as ".the cause 
 of our action." 
 
 Senator Benjamin brought his eminent 
 legal faculty to the occasion. He was 
 argumentative and astute, and ingeniously 
 presented the doctrine of the right of se- 
 cession, as an element of strength rather 
 than weakness. "Nothing, "said he, "can 
 be more obvious to the calm and candid 
 observer of passing events, than that the 
 disruption of the Confederacy has been 
 due, in great measure, not to the exist- 
 ence but to the denial of this right. Few 
 candid men would refuse to admit that 
 
 the Republicans of the North would have 
 been checked in their mad career, had 
 they been convinced of the existence of 
 the right and the intention to assert it. 
 The very knowledge of its existence, by 
 preventing occurrences which alone could 
 prompt its exercise, would have rendered 
 it a most efficient instrument in the pres- 
 ervation of the Union. But if the fact 
 were otherwise if all the teachings of 
 experience were reversed better, far 
 better, a rope of sand, aye, the flimsiest 
 gossamer that ever glistened in the morn- 
 ing dew, than chains of iron and shackles 
 of steel ; better the wildest anarchy, with 
 the hope, the chance, of one hour's inspi- 
 ration of the glorious breath of freedom, 
 than ages of the hopeless bondage and 
 oppression to which our enemies would 
 reduce us." 
 
 Toombs of Georgia, who was speedily 
 to be appointed to a chief seat in the 
 Rebel Confederacy, unlike his comrades, 
 took no formal leave of the Senate : 
 though shortly before his final disappear- 
 ance he left on record a speech which 
 may serve well enough for the purpose. 
 It was delivered on the 7th of January, 
 immediately after a calm, earnest, expos- 
 tulatory address by Senator Crittenden, 
 in support of his joint resolution on the 
 subject of slavery. The tone of the 
 Georgia Senator seemed doubly out- 
 rageous by contrast. Bold, truculent, 
 reckless, defiant, extreme in his demands, 
 he argued the territorial question with a 
 copy of the Constitution in one hand and 
 a sword in the other. " But," he rough- 
 ly exclaimed, in words no doubt suf- 
 ficiently astounding to the calm, venera- 
 ble statesman he was addressing, " no 
 matter what may be our grievances, the 
 honorable Senator from Kentu ky, Mr. 
 Crittenden, says we cannot secede. "Well. 
 
SENATOR TOOMBS. 
 
 59 
 
 what can we do ? We cannot revolu- 
 tionize. He will say that is treason. 
 What can we do ? Submit ? They say 
 they are the strongest and they will hang 
 us. Very well ; I suppose we are to be 
 thankful for that boon. We will take 
 that risk ; we will stand by the right ; 
 we will take the Constitution ; we will 
 defend it by the sword with the halter 
 round our necks. Will that satisfy the 
 honorable Senator from Kentucky ? You 
 cannot intimidate my constituents by 
 talking to them about treason. They 
 are ready to fight for the right with the 
 rope round their necks, and meet the 
 black Republicans and their allies upon 
 whatever ground they may select. Trea- 
 son ! bah F 7 
 
 Again, in reference to Mr. Crittenden's 
 proposed extension of the line of the 
 Missouri Compromise, " I am willing," 
 said he, " to take the proposition of the 
 Senator as it was understood in commit- 
 tee, putting the North and the South on 
 the same ground, prohibiting slavery on 
 the one side, acknowledging slavery and 
 protecting it on the other, and applying 
 that to all future acquisition, so that the 
 whole continent to the north pole shall 
 be settled upon the one rule, and to the 
 south pole under the other. I will not 
 buy a shameful peace. I will have equal- 
 ity or war. Georgia is on the war path 
 and demands a full and final settlement 
 this time." The Georgia Senator was 
 evidently not in a proper mood for ad- 
 justing a disputed question. In fact he 
 had already prejudged the case, and cared 
 little what heed might be paid either 
 to his arguments or his denunciations 
 for certainly no sane man could hope 
 to convince a body of Senators by hurl- 
 ing his assumptions at them in this fash- 
 ion. A fortnight before, indeed, he had 
 
 telegraphed from Washington an address 
 to the people of Georgia, in which, after 
 informing them of the fate of certain 
 propositions which he had submitted to 
 the Committee of Thirteen, he had open- 
 ly invited them to revolt. " I tell you," 
 said he in this missive, an extraordi- 
 nary paper to proceed from a Senator 
 sitting in his seat the sworn defender of 
 the Constitution, "upon the faith of a 
 true man, that all further looking to the 
 North for security for your constitutional 
 rights in the Union should be instantly 
 abandoned. It is fraught with nothing 
 but ruin to yourselves and your poster- 
 ity. Secession by the fourth day of 
 March next, should be thundered from 
 tht ballot-box, lay the unanimous vote of 
 Georgia, on the second day of January 
 next. Such a voice will be your best 
 guarantee for liberty, security, tranquil- 
 ity and glory."* In this key United 
 States Senators pitched their public cor- 
 respondence in Washington, in the win- 
 ter of 1860. 
 
 The next that we hear of Senator 
 Toombs is from his native State of Geor- 
 gia, not long after his speech in the Sen- 
 ate, when we find him engaged in another 
 characteristic telegraphic correspondence. 
 On the 24th of January, a few days after 
 the State had adopted the Secession Or- 
 dinance, he addressed this interrogatory 
 from Milledgeville, to His Honor Mayor 
 Wood at New York : "Is it true that 
 any arms, intended for and consigned to 
 the State of Georgia, have been seized 
 by public authorities in New York? 
 Your answer is important to us and to 
 New York. Answer at once. R. 
 Toombs." To which His Honor, Fer- 
 nando Wood, something more than apol- 
 
 * Address of Senator Toombs by telegraph, Decemhei 
 23, I860. 
 
60 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ogetically replied : "I regret to say vbat 
 arms intended for and consigned to the 
 State of Georgia, have been seized by 
 the police of this State, but that the City 
 of New York should in no way be made 
 responsible for this outrage. As Mayor, 
 I have no authority over the police. If 
 I had the power I should summarily pun- 
 ish the authors of this illegal and unjus- 
 tifiable seizure of private property." 
 The very day Senator Toombs made this 
 indignant inquiry, Governor Brown of 
 Georgia helped himself to the property 
 of the United States arsenal at Augusta. 
 The correspondence is most curious, as a 
 picture of the time when people's ideas 
 at the North were as yet undetermined 
 in relation to what constituted treasona- 
 ble communications ; though few, if they 
 had looked into the matter, would have 
 had much doubt of the treason. 
 
 With a single exception, the House of 
 Representatives was spared the uncom- 
 fortable leavetakings with which the 
 seceders afflicted the Senate. The mem- 
 bers from the several revolting States,. in 
 most cases, were content with sending in 
 a brief notice of withdrawal, generally 
 stating their resolve to share the fortunes 
 of their State whatever they might be, 
 and, in one or two instances, adding a 
 few words of courtesy addressed to the 
 Speaker. The card or document was 
 laid on the table without action or debate. 
 The signers disappeared from their ac- 
 customed seats and that was all. What 
 may have been the motive for this con- 
 certed silence with men certainly not 
 accustomed to let such excellent oppor- 
 tunity of airing their eloquence pass by, 
 we cannot say. It may have been, that 
 coming directly from the people to the 
 popular branch of the national legisla- 
 ture, they may have had some reluctance 
 
 unnecessarily to wound the generous 
 mother of States in whose embrace they 
 had been raised to honor. It may have 
 been, that while they were willing to place 
 their act upon record as one of obedi- 
 ence to the authority of their respective 
 State governments, they were loth, in 
 view of possible future reconciliation, to 
 brand themselves with the stigma of un- 
 forced expressions of treason. Or it may 
 have been that they feared the temper 
 of the House as less forbearing than the 
 courteous indifference of the Senate. 
 
 One of the retiring members, however, 
 broke the silence, Miles Taylor, a repre- 
 sentative from Louisiana. His speech 
 was noticeable for its expositions of the 
 hopes and reliance of the Southern Con- 
 federacy should the North endeavor to 
 maintain the authority of the government 
 and the integrity of the Union. He 
 spoke particularly of the dependence of 
 the seceding States in that event upon 
 the power which they held in their hands 
 in the possession of cotton ; how in sup- 
 plying a consumption in manufactures at 
 the North of eight hundred thousand 
 bales annually, which by capital and in- 
 dustry ensured a value of one hundred 
 and twenty millions of dollars, and in 
 Europe of nearly three millions of bales, 
 expanding in like manner to an aggregate 
 of four hundred millions of dollars, this 
 staple article controlled the interests and 
 policy of the great manufacturing States 
 at home and abroad. He looked par- 
 ticularly to England and France to inter- 
 fere in breaking the threatened blockade. 
 As he proceeded, he was more than once 
 interrupted by members who felt these 
 minatory intimations as insults to the 
 government which they were all alike 
 pledged by a solemn oath to maintain. 
 Francis E. Spinner, from the Mohawk 
 
SPIRIT OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 61 
 
 district of New York, chafed at the lan- 
 guage of the t-peaker, and would, if he 
 had not been overruled, have arrested 
 his speech at its beginning by denying a 
 hearing. " I think," said he, " it is high 
 time to put a stop to this countenancing 
 of treason in the halls of legislation." 
 Later, when the member for Louisiana, 
 in the continuance of his remarks, had 
 been drawn by a pertinent query of 
 Daniel E. Sickles, another New York rep- 
 resentative, into a defence of the seizure 
 of the public property by his State, 
 Spinner again indignantly interposed. 
 " I make a point of order upon the gen- 
 tleman from Louisiana. I want to know 
 whether it is competent for a member, 
 sworn to support the Constitution of the 
 United States, to stand upon the floor of 
 the House of Eepresentatives and boldly 
 avow, advocate and justify treason to 
 the United States, and to defend the 
 stealing of United States forts, United 
 States arsenals, United States hospitals 
 and United States ships. The gentle- 
 man from Louisiana avows, I believe, 
 that he is no longer a member of this 
 House ; yet he justifies in this House the 
 spoliation of property to this govern- 
 ment. Is it competent for him to stand 
 here and defend acts of insult and dis- 
 grace to this government ? " The Chair 
 indulgently permitted the orator to go 
 on. "I have said," continued he, in 
 words strangely prophetic of the subse- 
 quent event, "if the United States send 
 ships to blockade our ports, and if the 
 armies of the United States invade the 
 soil of the seceding States, that would be 
 war ; and that when the first blow is 
 struck, the spirit of Southern nationality 
 will leap from the hearts of the Southern 
 people, ' like Pallas all armed ;' and that 
 State after State will array themselves 
 
 under her guidance, until every Southern 
 State will be banded together to maintain 
 that independence which all will have 
 declared, and to vindicate the right of 
 their people to exercise for themselves 
 all the powers of self-government When 
 that blow is struck, gentlemen, let me 
 tell you, whatever you may think to the 
 contrary, that the people of the State of 
 Maryland, in which the first act was done 
 which led to the formation of the exist- 
 ing government, will come to the rescue. 
 The sons of Virginia, the mother of 
 States and of statesmen, will come to the 
 rescue. And the children of Kentucky, 
 the dark and bloody ground, will come 
 to the rescue. When that blow is struck, 
 North Carolina will awake ; and from her 
 mountains and her valleys will stream 
 that people who have never yet failed to 
 hear the calls of duty, or the demands 
 of honor. Tennessee will send forth her 
 thousands filled with the memories of the 
 patriotic dead whose remains now repose 
 in her soil the hero of the last war An- 
 drew Jackson. And even the hardy pion- 
 eers of Missouri, one of the younger of 
 the sisters, will, like their own mighty river 
 when at the flood, rush to the assistance 
 of their Southern brethren ; and then 
 such a conflict as this world has never 
 yet witnessed, will be upon us. Fields 
 which are now filled with men engaged in 
 the employments of ordinary life, will be 
 trenched with the march of war, and 
 every hillside will be the scene of com- 
 bat, and the streams of every valley will 
 run with blood. But I will not look 
 upon the horrid picture which a swift- 
 coming future may but too soon, per- 
 haps, force upon the unwilling gaze." 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, the general 
 secession drif of Mr. Taylor's remarks, 
 it might havf been observed that, unlike 
 
62 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the virulent representatives of his State 
 in the Senate, he admitted and even 
 dwelt upon the prospect of future ad- 
 justment. He saw in the distance the 
 Union again restored under one flag, 
 provided constitutional amendments and 
 changes in the organic law should be 
 made, " which will meet the changes 
 that have taken place in the situation 
 of a portion of our people, and in the 
 feelings and views of a portion of the 
 States, and restore the Union to the 
 condition in which it was when it was 
 framed, by erecting positive barriers 
 which will restrain the action of the peo- 
 ple and of the departments of the .Fede- 
 ral Government, within the boundaries 
 set to that action by the public sentiment 
 of the country, when the Government 
 went into operation."* The speaker's 
 associate in the House John E. Bouligny, 
 declined to follow the example of his col- 
 league in retiring. He had received no 
 "direction to leave, from the legislature 
 of Louisiana, and if he had, he would not 
 obey it. He had been elected by the 
 people. If they recalled him, he would 
 go. " Then, and not till then," said he, 
 " I shall resign ; and after resigning my 
 position here, I shall yet be a Union man, 
 and stand under the flag of the country 
 which gave me birth." 
 
 In the midst of these ill omened voices 
 of secession, there were not wanting reso- 
 lute words of good cheer, animated by a 
 sense of duty. It was the fashion, indeed, 
 to speak contemptuously of the govern- 
 ment ; that was the tone of political so- 
 ciety m Washington at the time ; if the 
 Constitution was not directly assailable, 
 it was despised. Yet good men and true 
 rallied to its defence. Andrew Johnson, 
 
 Remarks of Mr. Taylor ir the House of Represent^ 
 thes, February 6, 1861. 
 
 Senator from Tennessee, supported by 
 Emerson Etheridge in the House of Eep- 
 resentatives, did generous service in the 
 cause, reminding the people that the re- 
 gion which had cherished Jackson and 
 Clay, was not yet barren of patriots. He 
 was instant in season and out of season, in 
 defence of the beleaguered Union. Plant- 
 ing himself on the firm basis of popular 
 rights, secured by the national Govern- 
 ment, rights which he saw were endan- 
 gered by the dreams and pretensions of 
 the Southern oligarchy, he exclaimed, in 
 one of the ablest of his speeches, " I have 
 an abiding faith, I have an unshaken con- 
 fidence in man's capability to govern 
 himself. I will not give up this Govern- 
 ment that is now called an experiment, 
 which some are prepared to abandon for 
 a constitutional monarchy. No ! I intend 
 to stand by it, and I entreat every man 
 throughout the nation, who is a patriot, 
 and who has seen and is compelled to ad- 
 mit the success of this great experiment, 
 to come forward, not in hteat, not in fa- 
 naticism, not in haste, not in precipitancy, 
 but in deliberation, in full view of all 
 that is before us, in the spirit of broth- 
 erly love and fraternal affection, and 
 rally round the altar of our common 
 country, and lay the Constitution upon 
 it as our last libation, and swear by our 
 God and all that is sacred and holy, that 
 the Constitution shall, be saved and the 
 Union preserved."* 
 
 Emerson Etheridge exhibited the in- 
 operative character of the personal lib- 
 rty bills of the North, testified to the 
 very inconsiderable losses of the South 
 from fugitives, and warned the slavehold- 
 ing secessionists of their condition when 
 the Canada line should be brought down 
 to the banks of the Ohio. His speech of 
 
 Speech on the state of the Union, December 19, 1860 
 
AN AFFECTING APPEAL. 
 
 63 
 
 the 23d of January, in which these and 
 similar topics were candidly presented, 
 was well calculated to dispel Southern 
 prejudice, if reason could have been 
 heard. He asked for time, for the voice 
 of the people, for the compromises before 
 the House, but should all these measures 
 fail, he said, " I will not then abandon the 
 Union of these States and the untold 
 blessings it lavishes upon the votaries of 
 civil liberty throughout the world. I 
 will return home and link my destinies 
 with those who are ready to confront 
 disunion." Reviewing the successive an- 
 nexations to the country, by purchase 
 and conquest, he paused to contemplate 
 the boundaries of the nation as enlarged 
 to the Pacific by the treaty of Guada- 
 lupe Hidalgo. With the prospect brought 
 vividly before the minds of his hearers, 
 he exclaimed with powerful effect : " This 
 is the country which party madness would 
 suspend upon the passions of the hour. 
 Behold it, with all its vast resources, its 
 rivers and lakes, its mountains and min- 
 eral wealth. Though in its infancy, it is 
 greater in all the elements of enduring 
 power and more advanced in a high civ- 
 ilization than was the Roman empire, 
 when her imperial eagles were hovering 
 around the pillars of Hercules. The 
 hand of disunion must be stayed. Our 
 country must not perish while its monu- 
 ments are yet unfinished and the soldiers 
 of the Revolution survive." 
 
 Senator Baker of Oregon, a kindred 
 spirit with Johnson, also a man of the 
 people, who had learnt to value the gov- 
 ernment in its life-imparting principles, 
 in the elevating rewards which it con- 
 ferred upon all honest efforts, warmed 
 with fervent eloquence as he waived high 
 iloft the dishonored flag of his adopted 
 country. Douglas, forgetful of the con- 
 
 t( st at the ballot-box for the Presidency, 
 generously lent his efforts to preserve the 
 Union over which his antagonist must 
 preside. Seward gave Lis best powers 
 to the work before him, willing, in view 
 of the imminent peril of the nation, to 
 concede all for peace, except principle. 
 His speech on the state of the Union, 
 remains perhaps the most noticeable of 
 the session. It was calm, philosophical, 
 almost skeptical in its tone as various 
 modes of approaching the subject were 
 passed in review, pronounced ineffectual 
 and, to the disappointment of the pub- 
 lic, not supplanted by anything more 
 potent from the lips of the orator. There 
 was a tone of sadness throughout, per- 
 vading and overpowering his most assur- 
 ing arguments. The value of the Union 
 was exhibited not as in other days by 
 glittering eulogium, but by the represen- 
 tation of what its loss would be. The 
 listener could not but feel the altered 
 circumstances and share the burden of 
 anxiety feelingly presented in an illus- 
 tration drawn from a familiar scene of 
 the Senate chamber : 
 
 ' While listening to these debates," 
 said the speaker, " I have sometimes for- 
 gotten myself in marking their contrast- 
 ed effects upon the page who customarily 
 stands on the dais before me, and the 
 venerable Secretary who sits behind him. 
 The youth exhibits intense but pleased 
 emotion in the excitement, while at every 
 irreverent word that is uttered against 
 the Union the eyes of the aged man are 
 suffused with tears. Let him weep no 
 more. Rather rejoice, for yours has 
 been a lot of rare felicity. You have 
 seen and been a part of all the great- 
 ness of your country, the towering na- 
 tional greatness of all the world. Weep 
 only you, and weep with all the bitter 
 
64 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ness of anguish, who are just stepping 
 on the threshold of life ; for that great- 
 ness perishes prematurely and exists not 
 for you, nor for me, nor for any that 
 shall come after us." 
 
 Nor were the words in which he re- 
 cited the sad items of the catalogue of 
 disasters which would afflict the broken 
 and dismembered State, less affecting. 
 The enumeration is one of the finest 
 passages in the orator's many rhetorical 
 speeches thoughtful, compact, energetic, 
 picturesque in illustration, varied in de- 
 tail, philosophical in the comprehensive 
 grasp of the whole. Every sentence, as 
 the orator appeals to our different pas- 
 sions, our pride, our interest, our love of 
 power, our pursuit of happiness, closing 
 with the grand image of, the national 
 greatness, seems to sound the knell of 
 a departing blessing. " The public pros- 
 perity," was his language, " how could 
 it survive the storm ? Its elements are, 
 industry in the culture of every fruit ; 
 mining of all the metals ; commerce at 
 home and on every sea ; material im- 
 provement that knows no obstacle and 
 has no end ; invention that ranges 
 throughout the domain of nature ; in- 
 crease of knowledge as broad as the hu- 
 man mind can explore ; perfection of art 
 as high as human genius can reach, and 
 social refinement working for the renova- 
 tion of the world. How could our suc- 
 cessors prosecute these noble objects in 
 the midst of brutalizing civil conflict? 
 What guarantees will capital invested 
 for such purposes have, that will out- 
 weigh the premium offered by political 
 and military ambition ? What leisure will 
 the citizen find for study, or invention, 
 
 or art, under the reign of conscription ; 
 nay, what interest in them will society 
 feel, when fear and hate shall have ta- 
 ken possession of the national mind ? 
 Let the miner in California take heed , 
 for its golden wealth will become the 
 prize of the nation that can command 
 .the most iron. Let the borderer take 
 care ; for the Indian will again lurk 
 around his dwelling. Let the pioneer 
 come back into our denser settlements ; 
 for the railroad, the post road, and the 
 telegraph advance not one furlong fur- 
 ther into the wilderness. With standing 
 armies consuming the substance of our 
 people on the land, and our Navy and 
 our postal steamers withdrawn from the 
 ocean, who will protect or respect, or 
 who will even know by name our petty 
 confederacies? The American man-of- 
 war is a noble spectacle. I have seen it 
 enter an ancient port in the Mediterra- 
 nean. All the world wondered at it and 
 talked of it. Salvos of artillery, from 
 forts and shipping in the harbor, saluted 
 its flag. Princes, and princesses, and 
 merchants, paid it homage, and all the 
 people blessed it as a harbinger of hope 
 for their own ultimate freedom. I im- 
 agine now the same noble vessel again 
 entering the same haven. The flag of 
 thirty-three stars and thirteen stripes 
 has been hauled down, and in its place a 
 signal is run up, which flaunts the device 
 of a lone star, or a palmetto tree. Men 
 ask, " Who is the stranger that thus 
 steals into our waters?" The answer 
 contemptuously given is, " She comes 
 from one .of the obscure republics of 
 North America. Let her pass on."* 
 
 * Speech in the Senate, January 12, 1861. 
 
 TJ ]!':< 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. 
 
 ON the 4tli of February, the same day 
 that John Tyler's Peace Congress assem- 
 bled at Washington, the delegates of six 
 seceding States, South Carolina, Missis- 
 sippi. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and 
 Louisiana, met in convention at Mont- 
 gomery, Alabama. Texas, completing 
 the original " seven," sent her delegation 
 some days after. The members were not 
 chosen by the people, but by the Seced- 
 ing conventions of the States ; it being a 
 prominent characteristic of the whole 
 movement, that it was carried on as far 
 as possible out of the reach of popular 
 discussion. A few leading schemers, in 
 fact, kept control of the entire affair. 
 That they succeeded in exciting the en- 
 thusiasm of the people, and secured, as 
 the experiment went on, an extraordi- 
 nary degree of support, is not inconsis- 
 tent with the original usurpation. Forty- 
 one delegates, in unequal numbers from 
 the different States, were present at the 
 opening and formed the convention. Of 
 these, the members best known to the 
 country were the Georgia representa- 
 tives, Robert Toombs, late United States 
 Senator, and Howeil Cobb, late United 
 States Secretary of the Treasury. The 
 latter, on motion of R. B. Rhett, Senior, 
 of South Carolina, was called to the 
 chair. 
 
 In his address on taking his seat, after 
 
 the usual complimentary sentence of 
 
 thanks and expression of good intentions, 
 
 he alluded briefly to the dissolution of 
 
 9 
 
 the political associations with the national 
 government, by " the sovereign and inde- 
 pendent States " which they represented, 
 and waiving all discussion of the causes 
 which led to the act, pronounced it suf- 
 ficient that, in the judgment of their con- 
 stituents, they were ample and sufficient. 
 "It is now," said he, "a fact, an irre- 
 vocable fact ; the separation is perfect, 
 complete, and perpetual. The great 
 duty is now imposed on us to provide 
 for these States a government for their 
 future security and protection. We can 
 and should extend to our sister States 
 who are identified with us in interest, 
 feeling, and institutions a cordial invita- 
 tion to unite with us in a common des- 
 tiny ; desirous, at the same time, of 
 maintaining with the rest of our late con- 
 federates, as with the world, the most 
 peaceful and friendly relations, both po- 
 litical and commercial. Our responsi- 
 bilities, gentlemen, are great ; and I 
 doubt not we shall prove equal to the 
 occasion. Let us assume all the respon- 
 sibility which may be necessary for the 
 successful completion of the great work 
 committed to our trust, placing before our 
 countrymen and the world our acts and 
 their results, as the justification of the 
 course which we may pursue and adopt. 
 With a consciousness of the justice of our 
 cause, and with a conf dence in the guid- 
 ance and blessings of a kind Providence, 
 we will this day inaugurate for the South 
 a new era of peace, security, and pros- 
 
66 
 
 WAR FOE- THE UNION. 
 
 perity." Of the assumption of the res- 
 ponsibility the public was not left long 
 in doubt; the "new era" of peaceful 
 felicity was not so abundantly realized. 
 
 The first step of the Convention was 
 the preparation of a Constitution, which, 
 as it was mainly a transcript of that of 
 the United States, caused little delay. 
 It was brought forward on the 8th, and 
 unanimously adopted. It was ordained 
 to continue one year from the inaugura- 
 tion of the President, or until a perma- 
 nent confederation of the States whos-e 
 delegates were assembled, should be put 
 in operation. In the few new terms of 
 this Provisional Constitution two politic 
 clauses were introduced ; one intended 
 to ingratiate the government with foreign 
 powers, the other to appeal to the inter- 
 ests of the border States. By the first, 
 the importation of African negroes "from 
 any foreign country other than the slave- 
 holding States of the United States" was 
 forbidden ; and by the other, power was 
 given to Congress " to prohibit the intro- 
 duction of slaves from any State not a 
 member of this Confederacy." The inti- 
 mation was significant enough. It was 
 addressed to Virginia and the other more 
 northern slave States, which derived a 
 large income from the raising and expor- 
 tation of negroes to the southern mar- 
 kets. As for the prohibition of the foreign 
 slave trade, there were, doubtless, not a 
 few in the South to whom the provision 
 was decidedly unpalatable ; but it might 
 be submitted to as a good stroke of policy 
 which could be amended thereafter. A 
 stringent fugitive slave law was included, 
 and an article adopted requiring the 
 Government to "take immediate steps 
 for the settlement of all matters between 
 the States forming it and their late con- 
 federates of the United States, in relation 
 
 to the public property and the public 
 debt, at the time of their withdrawal from 
 them, these States hereby declaring it to 
 be their wish and earnest desire to ad- 
 just everything pertaining to the com- 
 mon property, common liabilities, and 
 common obligations of that Union, upon 
 principles of right, justice, equity, and 
 good faith." 
 
 On the following day, the 9th, Jeffer- 
 son Davis of Mississippi, was chosen 
 President, and Alexander H. Stephens 
 of Georgia, Vice President of the Con- 
 federation. The former, as a master 
 spirit of the conspiracy, an agent of un- 
 doubted ability, calm, polished, sagacious, 
 of great concentration of purpose, versed 
 in political intrigue, of experience in the 
 most arduous affairs of State, in war and 
 finance and executive administration, in 
 the cabinet and the field, was well quali- 
 fied to take the lead. About fifty-four 
 years old, a native of Kentucky, carried 
 by his father to Mississippi in his boy- 
 hood, he had entered West Point by the 
 favor of President Monroe, and passed 
 from that institution to a career of honor- 
 able distinction in the Black Hawk war. 
 On his retirement from this duty he mar- 
 ried the daughter of Colonel Taylor, 
 afterward the President, with whom he 
 had served, and became a cotton planter 
 in Mississippi. He was sent to Congress 
 from that State in 1845, and resigned his 
 seat to take part in the Mexican war. 
 again by the side of General Taylor, 
 with whom, at the head of his famed Mis- 
 issippi Rifles, he acquired new laurels at 
 Buena Vista. His coolness and gallantry 
 In the battle, where, though wounded, he 
 still kept the field, and powerfully assist- 
 ed in turning the wavering fortunes of 
 the day, were specially commended in the 
 official dispatch. In 1848 he was chosen 
 
CHOICE OF LEADERS. 
 
 67 
 
 to the United States Senate, but did not 
 complete his term, retiring in 1851, to be 
 a candidate for Governor of Mississippi 
 as an advocate of disunion principles. 
 He was not successful, but soon reap- 
 peared in public life as Secretary of 
 War in the Cabinet of President Pierce. 
 When Mr. Buchanan succeeded, he again 
 entered the Senate, from which, as we 
 have seen, he retired to take part in the 
 seceding movement. In person he is 
 described by an intelligent observer who 
 saw him during the session of the Con- 
 vention at Montgomery, as "a man of 
 slight, sinewy figure, rather over the mid- 
 dle height, and of erect, soldierlike bear- 
 ing. His features are regular and well 
 
 < ' o 
 
 defined, but the face is thin, and marked 
 on cheek and brow with many wrinkles, 
 and is rather careworn and haggard. 
 One eye is apparently blind ; the other 
 is dark, piercing and intelligent."* 
 
 His associate, Stephens, was of a some- 
 what different disposition and force of 
 mind ; more conservative in his tastes : 
 less politic and determined in his coun- 
 cils ; of a more genial flow of oratory. 
 Born in Georgia in 1812, his youth had 
 been passed in poverty, from which he 
 had struggled upward to eminent success 
 at the bar of his native State. He had 
 served in Congress with distinction, for 
 many years, at first, as a member of the 
 old whig party, and afterwards as a 
 leader of the Southern democracy. Since 
 1858, he had lived in retirement. Like 
 Jefferson Davis, he had suffered from dis- 
 ease, which had left its mark in his weak 
 and attenuated frame. 
 
 He was chosen, doubtless, to conciliate 
 his somewhat refractory State, which had 
 shown some reluctance to follow in the 
 
 * W. H. Russell, Correspondent of the London Times, 
 Montgomery May 8, 186J. 
 
 footsteps of South Carolina and the more 
 ardent of her revolting brethren. In- 
 deed, Stephens himself, in one of his ex- 
 cellent speeches, had, but a few months 
 before, strongly resisted any act of seces- 
 sion. In the previous November he had, 
 in the Hall of the House of Representa- 
 tives at the capital of Georgia, demon- 
 strated to his fellow-citizens that the 
 election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presi- 
 dency, was by no means an adequate 
 cause of withdrawal from the Union. 
 "Let us," said he, "not anticipate a 
 threatened evil. If he violates the Con- 
 stitution, then will come our time to act. 
 Do not let us break it, because, forsooth, 
 he may. If he does, that is the time for 
 us to strike. I think it would be inju- 
 dicious and unwise to do this sooner. I 
 do not anticipate that Mr. Lincoln will 
 do anything to jeopard our safety or se- 
 curity, whatever may be his spirit to do 
 it ; for he is bound by the constitutional 
 checks which are thrown around him, 
 which at this time render him powerless 
 to do any great mischief. This shows 
 the wisdom of our system. The Presi- 
 dent of the United States is no emperor, 
 no dictator ; he is clothed with no abso- 
 lute power. He can do nothing unless 
 he is backed by power in Congress. The 
 House of Representatives is largely in 
 the majority against him. In the Senate 
 he will also be powerless. He cannot 
 appoint an officer without the consent of 
 the Senate ; he cannot form a Cabinet 
 without the same consent. He will be 
 in the condition of George III., the em- 
 bodiment of Toryism, who had to ask the 
 Whigs to appoint his ministers, and was 
 compelled to receive a cabinet utterly op- 
 posed to his views ; and so Mr. Lincoln 
 will be compelled to ask of the Senate to 
 choose for him a cabinet, if the Democ- 
 
68 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 racy of that body choose to put him on 
 such terms." 
 
 From arguments and considerations 
 like these, he rose to the contemplation 
 of the Government of the United States. 
 " I am not," said he, " one of those who 
 believe this Union has been a curse up 
 to this time. True men, men of integ- 
 rity, entertain different views from me 
 on this subject. I do not question their 
 right to do so ; I would not impugn their 
 motives in so doing. Nor will I under- 
 take to say that this Government of our 
 fathers is perfect. There is nothing per- 
 fect in this world of a human origin ; 
 nothing connected with human nature, 
 from man himself to any of his works. 
 You ma} r select the wisest and best men 
 for your judges, and yet, how many de- 
 fects are there in the administration of 
 justice ? You may select the wisest and 
 best men for your legislators, and yet 
 how many defects are apparent in your 
 laws ? And it is so in our Government." 
 In full view, notwithstanding, of these 
 philosophical disparagements, he delib- 
 erately asserted his "settled conviction" 
 that "this government of our fathers, 
 with all its defects, comes nearer the ob- 
 jects of all good governments than any 
 other on the face of the earth. . . . 
 Where will you go, following the sun in 
 its circuit around our globe, to find a 
 government that better protects the lib- 
 erties of its people, and secures to them 
 the blessings we enjoy. I think that one 
 of the evils that beset us, is a surfeit of 
 liberty, an exuberance of the priceless 
 blessings for which we are ungrateful." 
 
 Nor was this said of the North merely, 
 or of the country generally, but of the 
 State of Georgia, in particular a State 
 which might and should have controlled 
 the entire rebellion movement. He pre- 
 
 sented a glowing picture of its growing 
 wealth and improvements. Its taxable 
 property had doubled since 1850 a 
 year when many of its inhabitants had 
 longed to carry the State out of the Un- 
 ion. "Do you believe," said he, "that 
 if that policy had been carried out at 
 that time, we would be the same great 
 people that we are to-day ? . . . When 
 I look around," he added, with a pro- 
 phetic intimation, casting a shadow over 
 the scene, "and see our prosperity in 
 everything, agriculture, commerce, art, 
 science, and every department of educa- 
 tion, mysical and mental, as well as 
 moral advancement, and our colleges, I 
 think, in the face of such an exhibition, 
 if we can, without the loss of power, or 
 any essential right or interest, remain in 
 the Union, it is our duty to ourselves and 
 to posterity to do so. Let us not too 
 readily yield to this temptation. Our 
 first parents, the great progenitors of the 
 human race, were not without a like 
 temptation when in the garden of Eden. 
 They were led to believe that their con- 
 dition would be bettered that their eyes 
 would be opened, and that they would 
 become as Gods. They in an evil hour 
 yielded. Instead of becoming gods, they 
 only saw their own nakedness. I look 
 upon this country, with our institutions, 
 as the Eden of the world, the paradise 
 of the Universe. It may be that out of 
 it we may become greater and more 
 prosperous, but I am candid and sincere 
 in telling you that I fear if we evince 
 passion, and without sufficient cause shall 
 take that step a disruption of the ties 
 that bind us to the Union that, instead 
 of becoming gods, we will become de- 
 mons, and at no distant day commence 
 cutting one another's throats."* About 
 
 Speech at Milledgeville, November 14,1860. 
 
ME. STEPHENS' DECLARATIONS. 
 
 69 
 
 the same time lie wrote to a friend, 
 " When this Union is dissevered, if of ne- 
 cessity it must be, I see at present but 
 little prospect of good government after- 
 wards. At the North, I feel confident 
 anarchy will soon ensue. And whether 
 we shall be better off at the South, will 
 depend upon many things that I am not 
 now satisfied that we have any assurance 
 of. Eevolutions are much more easily 
 started than controlled, and the men who 
 begin them, even for the best purposes 
 and objects, seldom end them."* Yet, 
 in spite of his own convictions, and his 
 contentment with present good and fear 
 of future evil, with nothing in the ele- 
 ments of political life and action at Wash- 
 ington to exasperate further, but, on the 
 contrary, with much to conciliate, we 
 now find this sagacious, thoughtful, feel- 
 ing orator enlisted as the Vice President 
 of a rebel government. It was an unnat- 
 ural position for such a man to be placed 
 in, but not an uncommon choice for such 
 emergencies, when bolder men, whose ob- 
 jects would be suspected, keep behind 
 the scenes and thrust forward an image 
 of mildness and gentleness. Moderate 
 men are the tools of revolutionists ; they 
 gain favor and conciliate, while they are 
 worked for sterner purposes than they 
 conceive of. 
 
 On the evening of his election Mr. 
 Stephens addressed a few words to the 
 citizens of Montgomery, breathing of 
 peace and a prosperous future, with one 
 special and remarkable reference to the 
 prominent motive of the revolt. " With 
 staples/' said he, "and productions which 
 contest the commerce of the world ; with 
 institutions, so far as regards our organic 
 and social policy, in strict conformity to 
 
 * Alexander H. Stephens, Crawfordsville, Ga., Novem- 
 ber, 25, 1860 ; .V. Y. Herald, December 6, 1860. 
 
 nature and the laws of the Creator, 
 whether read in the Book of Inspiration, 
 or the great Book of Manifestations 
 around us, we have all the natural ele- 
 ments essential to attainment in the high- 
 est degree of power and glory. These 
 institutions have been much assailed, and 
 it is our mission to vindicate the great 
 truth on which they rest, and with them 
 exhibit the highest type of civilization 
 which it is possible for human society to 
 reach." This Utopia, to which the admi- 
 ration of the world was invited, was in 
 other words an ideal state of societ}^ 
 built upon the foundations of slavery. 
 The following month the principle was 
 still more distinctly annunciated by Yice 
 President Stephens in a speech at Savan- 
 nah, on the blessings and advantages ot 
 the new Constitution. " This," said he, 
 " has put at rest forever all the agitating 
 questions relating to our peculiar institu- 
 tions African slavery as it exists among 
 us the proper status of the negro in our 
 form of civilization. This was the imme- 
 diate cause of the late rupture and pres- 
 ent revolution. Jefferson, in his fore- 
 cast, had anticipated this, as the 'rock 
 upon which the old Union would split.' 
 He was right. What was conjecture 
 with him, is now a realized fact. But 
 whether he fully comprehended the great 
 truth upon which that rock stood and 
 stands, may be doubted. The prevail- 
 ing ideas entertained by him and most 
 of the leading statesmen at the time of 
 the formation of the old Constitution 
 were, that the enslavement of the Afri- 
 can was in violation of the laws of na- 
 ture ; that it was wrong in principle, 
 socially, morally and politically. It was 
 an evil they knew not well how to deal 
 with ; but the general opinion of the 
 men of that day was, that, somehow or 
 
70 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 other, in the order of Providence, the in- 
 stitutions would be evanescent and pass 
 away. This idea, though not incorpo- 
 rated in the Constitution, was the pre- 
 vailing idea at the time. The Constitu- 
 tion, it is true, secured every essential 
 guarantee to the institution while it 
 should last, and hence no argument can 
 b'e justly used against the constitutional 
 guarantees thus secured, because of the 
 common sentiment of the day. Those 
 ideas, however, were fundamentally 
 wrong. They rested upon the assump- 
 tion of the equality of races. This was 
 an error. It was a sandy foundation, 
 and the idea of a Government built 
 upon it when the ' storm came and the 
 wind blew, it fell.' Our new Govern - 
 ment is founded upon exactly the oppo- 
 site ideas ; its foundations are laid, its 
 corner-stone rests upon the great truth 
 that the negro is not equal to the white 
 man ; that slavery, subordination to the 
 superior race, is his natural and moral 
 condition. This, our new Government, 
 is the first, in the history of the world, 
 based upon this great physical, philo- 
 sophical, and moral truth."* 
 
 Mr. Stephens was now duly inaugura- 
 ted and pending the arrival of Jefferson 
 Davis, from his home in Mississippi, the 
 Convention went on with its work of or- 
 ganization and preparation for civil and 
 military life, of which it had now become 
 the supreme director for the Confeder- 
 ate States. On the 16th the President 
 reached Montgomery, having been her- 
 alded along the way by the shouts of 
 applauding assemblies of the people. 
 His words in reply were full of resolu- 
 tion, and ominous of an impending con- 
 flict. "He expressed," we are told, on 
 one of these occasions, "an earnest de- 
 
 * Speech at Savannah, Ga., March 21, 1861. 
 
 sire for peace, and a determination tc 
 act on the defensive ; but if war must 
 come, if it is forced upon us, he pledged 
 the best energies of his whole nature- 
 relying upon a brave people and a just 
 God for support, to defend to every ex- 
 tremity the rights and honor of his coun- 
 try. He compared the capacities of the 
 two sections for sustaining a war, both 
 offensive and defensive, expressing the 
 opinion that the North was greatly the 
 most vulnerable, both because of its 
 great commerce, which would be des- 
 troyed by privateers, and its highly cul- 
 tivated and densely settled territory 
 in which a hostile army could do irrepa- 
 rable damage." On his arrival at even- 
 ing at the new capital, he addressed the 
 people at the railway station, and again 
 near midnight from the balcony of his 
 hotel. "Fellow citizens and brethren of 
 the Confederate States of America," he 
 exclaimed, "for now we are brethren 
 not in name merely, but in fact men of 
 one flesh, one bone, one interest, one 
 purpose, and of an identity of domestic 
 institutions. We have hence, I trust, a 
 prospect of living together in peace, with 
 our institutions subject to protection, not 
 defamation. It may be our career will 
 be ushered in in the midst of storm. It 
 may be, that as this morning opened, 
 with clouds, mist and rain, we shall 
 have to encounter inconvenience at the 
 beginning. But, as the sun rose, it lifted 
 the mist and dispelled the clouds, and 
 left the pure sunlight of Heaven ; so 
 will the progress of the Southern Con- 
 federacy carry us safe to the harbor of 
 constitutional liberty and political equal- 
 ity. Thus, we have nothing to fear at 
 home, because at home we have homo- 
 geneity. We will have nothing to fear 
 abroad, because, if war should come, if 
 
INAUGURATION OF DAVIS. 
 
 71 
 
 we must again baptize in blood the prin- 
 ciples for which our fathers bled in the 
 Revolution, we shall show we are not 
 degenerate sons, but will redeem the 
 pledges they gave, preserve the sacred 
 rights they transmitted to us, and show 
 that Southern valor still shines as bright- 
 ly as in 1776, in 1812, and in every 
 other conflict. ... I will devote to the 
 duties of the high office to which I have 
 been called, all I have of heart, of head, 
 of hand. If, in the progress of events, 
 my services shall be needed in another 
 position ; if, to be plain, necessity shall 
 require that I shall again enter the ranks 
 as a soldier, I hope you will welcome me 
 there." Thus the President elect, with 
 his thoughts intent on war, sought to 
 arouse a martial ardor in his susceptible 
 countrymen. 
 
 The Inauguration ceremonies which 
 look place on the 18th, followed the cus- 
 tom observed at Washington by the 
 Presidents of the United States. The 
 President elect seated in a carriage drawn 
 by six horses was escorted from his lodg- 
 ings in a military and civic procession to 
 a platform in front of the portico of 
 the State Capitol. A prayer was made 
 by the Rev. Dr. Manley, the address by 
 the President elect delivered, after which 
 the oath was administered by the Presi- 
 dent of the Convention. At night the 
 town was illuminated, and the President 
 shared the festivities of the citizens, 
 mingling with them at the balls given in 
 honor of the occasion. 
 
 The Inaugural address, like other 
 compositions of its author, was dexter- 
 ous, smooth, and plausible, with some 
 gloomy intimations under .its superficial 
 calmness. The speaker's glance at the 
 political antecedents of the country ; hi& 
 mingled appeal to the conscience and in- 
 
 telligence of the world and the omnis- 
 cience of heaven, in the same sentence ; 
 the talk of peace, blended with ever re- 
 curring words of war ; the candid avowal 
 of the social policy of the new Govern- 
 ment, looking to Slavery for its princi- 
 ple of homogeneity ; the tone of pious 
 exultation at the conclusion ; all are so 
 blandly presented, that their novel char- 
 acteristics and startling significance are 
 not at once perceived. The document, 
 which we print entire, as a prominent 
 landmark of the times, will repay an at- 
 tentive perusal. 
 
 GENTLEMEN OF THE CONGRESS OP THE CONFEDEEATB 
 STATES OF AMERICA : 
 
 Friends and Fellow- Citizens : Called 
 to the difficult and responsible station of 
 Chief Executive of the Provisional Gov- 
 ernment which you have instituted, I 
 approach the discharge of the duties as- 
 signed me, with an humble distrust of my 
 abilities, but with a sustaining confidence 
 in the wisdom of those who are to guide 
 and aid me in the administration of pub- 
 lic affairs, and an abiding faith in the 
 virtue and patriotism of the people. Look- 
 ing forward to the speedy establishment 
 of a permanent Government to take the 
 place of this, and which, by its greater 
 moral and physical power, will be better 
 able to combat with the many difficulties 
 which arise from the conflicting interests 
 of separate nations, I enter upon the du- 
 ties of the office to which I have been 
 chosen, with the hope that the beginning 
 of our career as a Confederacy may 
 not be obstructed by hostile opposition 
 to the enjoyment of our separate exist- 
 ence and independence which we have 
 asserted, and which, with the blessing of 
 Providence, we intend to maintain. Our 
 present condition, achieved in a manner 
 unprecedented in the history of nations, 
 
72 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 illustrates the American idea that Gov- 
 ernments rest upon the consent of the 
 governed, and that it is the right of the 
 people to alter and abolish Governments 
 whenever they become destructive to the 
 ends for which they are established. The 
 declared compact of the Union from 
 which we have withdrawn, was to estab- 
 lish justice, insure domestic tranquility, 
 provide for the common defence, promote 
 the general welfare, and secure the bless- 
 ings of liberty to ourselves and our pos- 
 terity ; and when, in the judgment of the 
 sovereign States now composing this 
 Confederacy, it has been perverted from 
 the purposes for which it was ordained, 
 and ceased to answer the ends for which 
 it was established, a peaceful appeal to 
 the ballot-box declared that, so far as 
 they were concerned, the Government 
 created by that compact should cease to 
 exist. In this they merely asserted the 
 right which the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence of 1776 defined to be inalienable. 
 Of the time and occasion of its exercise 
 they, as sovereigns, were the final judges, 
 each for itself. The impartial, enlight- 
 ened verdict of mankind will vindicate 
 the rectitude of our conduct, and He who 
 knows the hearts of men, will judge of 
 the sincerity with which we labored to 
 preserve the Government of our fathers 
 in its spirit. 
 
 "The right, solemnly proclaimed at 
 the birth of the States, and which has 
 been affirmed and reaffirmed in the Bills 
 of Rights of the States subsequently ad- 
 mitted into the Union of 1789, undenia- 
 bly recognizes in the people the power 
 to resume the authority delegated for 
 the purposes of Government. Thus, the 
 sovereign States, here represented, pro- 
 ceeded to form this Confederacy, and it 
 is by the abuse of language that their act 
 
 I has been denominated ' revolution.' They 
 formed a new alliance ; but, within each 
 State, its Government has remained. The 
 rights of person and propert}^ have not 
 been disturbed. The agent through whom 
 they communicated with foreign nations 
 is changed ; but, this does not necessarily 
 interrupt their international relations. 
 Sustained by the consciousness that the 
 transition from the former Union to the 
 present Confederacy has not proceeded 
 from a disregard, on our part, of our just 
 obligations, or any failure to perform ev- 
 ery constitutional duty, moved by no in- 
 terest or passion to invade the rights of 
 others, anxious to cultivate peace and 
 commerce with all nations, if we may not 
 hope to avoid war, we may at least ex- 
 pect that posterity will acquit us of hav- 
 ing needlessly engaged in it. Doubly 
 justified by the absence of wrong on our 
 part, and by wanton aggression on the 
 part of others, there can be no cause to 
 doubt that the courage and patriotism of 
 the people of the Confederate States will 
 be found equal to any measures of de- 
 fence which their security soon may re- 
 quire. An agricultural people, whose 
 chief interest is the export of a com- 
 modity required in every manufacturing 
 country, our true policy is peace, and 
 the freest trade which our necessities 
 will permit. It is alike our interest, and 
 that of all those to whom we would sell, 
 and from whom we would buy, that there 
 should be the fewest practicable restric- 
 tions upon the interchange of commodi- 
 ties. There can be but little rivalry 
 between ours and any manufacturing 
 or navigating community, such as the 
 Northeastern States of the American 
 Union. It must follow, therefore, that 
 mutual interest would invite good-will 
 and kind offices. If, however, passion, 
 
ADDRESS OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 
 
 73 
 
 or lust of dominion, should cloud the 
 judgment, or influence the ambition of 
 those States, we must prepare to meet 
 (lie emergency, and maintain, by the 
 final arbitrament of the sword, the posi- 
 tion which we have assumed among the 
 nations of the earth. 
 
 " We have entered upon a career of 
 independence which must be inflexibly 
 pursued through many years of con- 
 troversy with our late associates of the 
 Northern States. We have vainly en- 
 deavored to secure tranquility and ob- 
 tain respect for the rights to which we 
 are entitled. As a necessity, not a choice, 
 we have resorted to the remedy of sepa- 
 ration, and henceforth our energies must 
 be directed to the conduct of our own 
 affairs, and the perpetuity of the Con- 
 federacy which we have formed. If a 
 just perception of mutual interest shall 
 permit us peaceably to pursue our sepa- 
 rate political career, my most earnest de- 
 sire will have been fulfilled. But if this 
 be denied us, and the integrity of our 
 Territory and jurisdiction be assailed, it 
 will but remain for us, with firm resolve, 
 to appeal to arms, and invoke the bless- 
 ing of Providence on a just cause. As a 
 consequence of our new condition, and 
 with a view to meet anticipated wants, 
 it will be necessary to provide a speedy 
 and efficient organization of the branches 
 of the Executive Department having spe- 
 cial charge of Foreign Intercourse, Finan- 
 ces, Military Affairs, and Postal Service. 
 For purposes of defence, the Confederate 
 States may, under ordinary circumstan- 
 ces, rely mainly upon their militia ; but, 
 it is deemed advisable, in the present 
 condition of affairs, that there should be 
 a well-instructed, and disciplined army, 
 more numerous than would usually be 
 required on a peace establishment. I 
 10 
 
 may also suggest, that, for the protection 
 of our harbors, and commerce on the 
 high seas, a navy adapted to those ob- 
 jects will be required. These necessi- 
 ties have doubtless engaged the attention 
 of Congress. 
 
 "With a Constitution differing only 
 from that of our fathers in so far as it is 
 explanatory of their well-known intent, 
 freed from sectional conflicts which have 
 interfered with the pursuits of the gene- 
 ral welfare, it is not unnatural to expect 
 that the States from which we have re- 
 cently parted may seek to unite their for- 
 tunes with ours, under the Government 
 we have instituted. For this, your Con- 
 stitution makes adequate provision ; but, 
 beyond this, if I mistake not, the judg- 
 ment and will of the people are, that un- 
 ion with the States from which they have 
 separated is neither practicable nor de- 
 sirable. To increase the power, to de- 
 velop the resources and promote the 
 happiness of a confederacy, it is requisite 
 there should be so much of homogeneity 
 that the welfare of every portion would 
 be the aim of the whole. Where this 
 does not exist, antagonisms are engen- 
 dered, which must and should result in 
 separation. Actuated solely by a de- 
 sire to preserve our own rights, and 
 to promote our own welfare, the separa- 
 tion of the Confederate States has been 
 marked by no aggression upon others, 
 and followed by no domestic convulsion. 
 Our industrial pursuits have received, no 
 check ; the cultivation of our fields pro- 
 gresses as heretofore ; and, even if we 
 should be involved in war, there would 
 be no considerable diminution in the 
 production of the staples which have con- 
 stituted our exports, in which the com- 
 mercial world has an interest scarcely 
 less than our own. Th.'e common inter- 
 
74 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 est of producer and consumer can only 
 be intercepted by an exterior force which 
 should obstruct its transmission to for- 
 eign markets a course of conduct which 
 would be detrimental to manufacturing 
 and commercial interests abroad. Should 
 reason guide the action of the Govern- 
 ment from which we have separated, a 
 policy so detrimental to the civilized 
 world, the Northern States included, 
 could not be dictated even by a strong 
 desire to inflict injury upon us ; but, if it 
 be otherwise, a terrible responsibility 
 will rest upon it, and the sufferings of 
 millions will bear testimony to the policy 
 and wickedness of our aggressors. In 
 the mean time there will remain to us, 
 besides the ordinary remedies before sug- 
 gested, the well-known resources for re- 
 taliation upon the commerce of an enemy. 
 "Experience in public stations of a 
 subordinate grade to this which your 
 kindness has conferred, has taught me 
 that care, and toil, and disappointments, 
 are the price of official elevation. You 
 will see many errors to forgive, many 
 deficiencies to tolerate, but you shall not 
 find in me either want of zeal or fidelity 
 to the cause that is to me the highest in 
 hope and of most enduring affection. 
 Your generosity has bestowed upon me 
 an undeserved distinction, one which I 
 neither sought nor desired. Upon the 
 continuance of that sentiment, and upon 
 your wisdom and patriotism, I rely to 
 direct and support me in the perform- 
 ance of the duty required at my hands. 
 We have changed the constituent parts, 
 but not the system, of our Government. 
 The Constitution formed by our fathers 
 is that of these Confederate States. In 
 their exposition of it, and in the judicial 
 construction it has received, we have a 
 light, which reveals its true meaning. 
 
 Thus instructed as to the just interpre- 
 tation of that instrument, arid ever re- 
 membering that all offices are but trusts 
 held for the people, and that delegated 
 powers are to be strictly construed, I 
 will hope, by due diligence in the per- 
 formance of my duties, though I may 
 disappoint your expectations, } r et, to re- 
 tain, when retiring, something of the 
 good-will and confidence which will wel- 
 come my entrance into office. It is joy- 
 ous, in the midst of perilous times, to 
 look around upon a people united in 
 heart, where one purpose of high re- 
 solve animates and actuates the whole ; 
 where the sacrifices to be made are not 
 weighed in the balance against honor, 
 right, liberty, and equality. Obstacles 
 may retard, but they cannot long pre- 
 vent, the progress of a movement sanc- 
 tioned by its justice and sustained by a 
 virtuous people. Reverently let us in- 
 voke the God of our fathers to guide, 
 and provide, and protect us, in our ef- 
 forts to perpetuate the principles which, 
 by His blessing, they were able to vin- 
 dicate, establish, and transmit to their 
 posterity, and with a continuance of His 
 favor, ever gratefully acknowledged, we 
 may hopefully look forward to success, 
 to peace, to prosperity." 
 
 Thus inaugurated the Confederacy be- 
 gan it career. The President appointed 
 his Cabinet and the machinery of the 
 new State was set in motion. The offi- 
 cers of the administration were Robert 
 Toombs of Georgia, Secretary of State ; 
 G. 0. Memminger of South Carolina, 
 Secretary of the Treasury ; Leroy Pope 
 Walker of Alabama, Secretary of War, 
 and Stephen R. Mallory of Florida, Sec- 
 retary of the Navy. To these were af- 
 terward added John H. Reagan of Texas, 
 Postmaster-General, and Judah P. Ben- 
 
THE PROVISIONAL CONGRESS. 
 
 75 
 
 jumin of Louisiana, Attorney-General. 
 Three of these officials, beside the Presi- 
 dent, Toombs, Mallory and Benjamin, 
 had just resigned their seats in the Sen- 
 ate of the United States. Mr. Walker, 
 a member of an influential family in 
 Alabama, was a lawyer residing at 
 Huntsville in the northern part of the 
 State, and was well known as a demo- 
 cratic politician. Mr. Memminger was 
 also known as an accomplished lawyer, 
 and Mr. Reagan had previously served 
 in Congress. 
 
 Among the most important measures 
 of the Provisional Congress were the 
 steps taken to open negotiations abroad 
 and the acts passed to raise money and 
 provide an army, the appointment of a 
 Judiciary and of Commissioners to ne- 
 gotiate at Washington. The first agents 
 or commissioners appointed to proceed 
 to Europe to obtain the recognition of 
 the independence of the Confederate 
 States and make such commercial ar- 
 rangements as might be practicable, 
 were the Hon. William L. Yancey of 
 Alabama, Judge P. A. Rost of Louisi- 
 ana, and Col. Dudley A. Mann and T. 
 Butler King of Georgia. Col. Mann 
 was thought to have peculiar fitness for 
 his duties as ambassador, having been 
 employed by the United States Govern- 
 ment in several special missions abroad, 
 to the German States, to Hungary, in the 
 troubled times of 1849 ; and to Swit- 
 zerland, the year after. He had also 
 been employed as Assistant Secretary 
 of State in President Pierce's Adminis- 
 tration. Mr. Yancey was a native of 
 South Carolina. He had for many years 
 his home in Alabama. A cotton planter, 
 lawyer, a State Rights politician, and 
 thorough and persistent advocate of Se- 
 cession, he had served in the State 
 
 legislature and in Congress, and, fully 
 prepared for the event, had been one of 
 the most active members of the recent 
 revolutionary convention of Alabama. 
 
 The first attempt at financiering was 
 the creation of a loan of fifteen millions 
 of dollars, a portion of which, in the 
 early ardor of the rebellion, was taken 
 by various capitalists and moneyed in- 
 stitutions in the larger cities ; but the 
 enthusiasm was hardly sufficient to call 
 forth so considerable an amount from the 
 pockets of the people, and it was found 
 to be a much readier way of getting 
 along to resort to the old expedient in 
 such cases, namely, to utter extraordin- 
 ary quantities of paper promissory notes, 
 which in the absence of any thing better 
 for gold and silver speedily disap- 
 peared supplied the place of a more 
 solid currency. By the army act the 
 President was authorized and directed 
 to assume control of all military opera- 
 tions in every State, having reference to 
 a connection with questions between the 
 said States, or any of them, and powers 
 foreign to them, and to receive from the 
 States the arms and munitions of war 
 which they had taken from the forts and 
 arsenals of the United States. This act 
 relieved South Carolina of the military 
 responsibility of the proceedings hitherto 
 under the supervision of Governor Pick- 
 ens in Charleston Harbor. Provisions 
 were made for the regular military es- 
 tablishment of the Confederate States, 
 and for a Provisional army, by receiv- 
 ing into the service of the Government 
 such forces then in the service of the 
 separate States as might be tendered or 
 who might volunteer by consent of their 
 State, in such numbers as the President 
 might require, for any time not less than 
 twelve months, unless sooner discharged, 
 
76 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 [n this proceeding, followed by speedy 
 preparations for the field, more than a 
 month before Sumter and the Proclama- 
 tion of President Lincoln, the Confeder- 
 ate Government took a decided step to- 
 ward " inaugurating " the war for which, 
 when it broke out, the National Govern- 
 ment was so inadequately prepared. In 
 consideration of the border and western 
 States, and as an appeal to their sympa- 
 thy the free navigation of the Missis- 
 sippi river was granted by a special act. 
 The choice of a flag as a symbol of the 
 new Confederacy was naturally an early 
 subject of the deliberations of the Con- 
 vention. The matter excited consider- 
 able interest in the Southern community, 
 and numerous plans and designs were 
 presented to the congress, in several 
 of which the familiar American eagle 
 figured, while there was a strong dispo- 
 sition to retain the old colors. The 
 discussion of the topic created no little 
 excitement, and seemed in some danger 
 of awakening old associations not alto- 
 gether in keeping with the business of 
 the Convention. The ladies took the 
 affair in hand, and forw r arded various 
 plans, exhibiting more or less fancy and 
 ingenuity. As a characteristic memo- 
 rial of the times, we present a letter 
 gallantly introduced to the Convention 
 by Mr. Chilton of Alabama. It was 
 from two young ladies, Rebecca C. Fer- 
 guson and Mollie A. D. Sinclair, pupils 
 of a seminary in Alabama, and read : 
 "The Undersigned, pupils in the art de- 
 partment of the Tuskegee Female Col- 
 lege, conscious of weakness, but ardently 
 desirous to do something for their coun- 
 try, have employed their pencils to pro- 
 duce various designs for a flag for the 
 Southern Eepublic. They have found a 
 pleasure in trying to mix the patriot's 
 
 with the artist's flame. You will appre- 
 ciate the difficulties of their task when 
 you reflect, that amidst all their efforts 
 at originality, there have ever danced 
 before them visions of the star-gemmed 
 flag, with its parti-colored stripes, that 
 floated so proudly over the late United 
 States. In the designs submitted, we 
 have endeavored to secure simplicity with 
 an intelligible symbolism and striking 
 conspicuousness of color. Let us snatch 
 from the eagle of the cliff our idea of 
 independence, and cull from the earth 
 diamonds and gems from the heavens to 
 deck the flag of the Southern Confederacy. 
 With cotton for king, there are seven 
 States bound by a chain of sisterly love 
 that will be strengthened by time, as on- 
 ward, right onward they move up the 
 glorious path of Southern independence. 
 No. 1. The seven seceding States repre- 
 sented by seven rings, bound together by 
 golden links. No. 2. The opposite side 
 of the above, a large cotton bale. No. 
 
 3. Field gules, eagle in or, on a blue 
 shield, bearing in its beak a scroll with 
 our representative political ideas. No. 
 
 4. Eagle's nest, seven eaglets, represent- 
 ing seven seceding States. No. 5. An 
 eagle perched upon a lone rock, in the 
 midst of a tempestuous ocean, stars in 
 semicircle, sun rising. No. 6. Eagle on- 
 a field of blue, diamond shaped, olive 
 branch in one claw, arrows in the other, 
 scales in his beak. No. 7. A circle, 
 within it seven diamonds, tangent, form- 
 ing a seven pointed star ; in the centre 
 a cotton bale." 
 
 After due consideration, Mr. Miles of 
 South Carolina submitted an elaborate 
 report of the Committee on the nationa 1 
 flag which was adopted. An immense 
 number of designs had been brought 
 before them, some preserving the prin- 
 
CHOICE OF A FLAG. 
 
 77 
 
 cipal features of the United States flag 
 with slight modifications ; others "very 
 elaborate, complicated or fantastical." 
 The objection to the first was obvious ; a 
 flag, too, like the old was like to be con- 
 founded with it. As for any attachment 
 to "the stars and stripes," the Commit- 
 tee confessed that they did not all share 
 in the sentiment. There was no pro- 
 priety, they thought, in retaining the en- 
 sign of a government which had become 
 so oppressive and injurious to their in- 
 terests as to require their separation 
 from it. It is idle, they said, " to talk 
 of ' keeping ' the flag of the United States 
 when we had voluntarily seceded from 
 them." Their revolutionary forefathers 
 had not retained the flag of Great Brit- 
 ain, though the youthful Washington had 
 won his spurs under it, and it was "good 
 to imitate them in this comparatively 
 little matter, as well as to emulate them 
 in greater and more important ones." 
 Besides Liberia and the Sandwich Isl- 
 ands were found to have flags very simi- 
 lar to that of the United States, a cir- 
 cumstance which afforded special and 
 peculiar reasons for a new choice : 
 "They felt no inclination to borrow at 
 second hand what had been pilfered and 
 appropriated by a free negro community 
 and a race of savages." Notwithstand- 
 ing this embarrassment, however, the 
 Committee thought that something might 
 be conceded " to what seemed so strong 
 and earnest a desire to retain at least a 
 suggestion of the old ' stars and stripes.' 
 Accordingly, passing over a great variety 
 of contrivances foreign to the purpose, 
 " pretty when made up by the cunning 
 skill of a fair lady's f ngers in silk, satin 
 and embroidery, but not appropriate as 
 flags, "--they hit upon a design with a 
 certain resemblance to the old ensign. 
 
 "A flag," they considered, ''should be 
 simple, readily made, and, above all, 
 capable of being made up in bunting ; 
 it should be different from the flag of 
 any other country, place or people ; it 
 should be significant ; it should be read- 
 ily distinguishable at a distance ; the 
 colors should be well contrasted and 
 durable ; and, lastly, and not the least 
 important point, it should be effective 
 and handsome. The committee," the re- 
 port proceeded, "humbly think that the 
 flag which they submit combines these 
 requisitions. It is very easy to make. 
 It is entirely different from any national 
 flag. The three colors of which it is 
 composed red, white and blue are the 
 true republican colors. In heraldry they 
 are emblematic of the three great vir- 
 tues of valor, purity and truth. Naval 
 men assure us that it can be recognized 
 at a great distance. The colors con- 
 trast admirably and are lasting. In 
 effect and appearance it must speak for 
 itself. Your Committee therefore re- 
 commend that the flag of the Confeder- 
 ate States of America shall consist of a 
 red field, with a white space extending 
 horizontally through the centre, and 
 equal in width to one third the width of 
 the flag ; the red space above and be- 
 low to be of the same width as the 
 white ; the union, blue, extending down 
 through the white space and stopping at 
 the lower red space ; in the centre of the 
 union a circle of white stars, correspond- 
 ing in number with the States of the 
 Confederacy." The report was adopted 
 and the new flag of Secessia given to 
 the breeze. 
 
 On the llth of March, a permanent 
 Constitution for the Confederate States 
 was adopted. There were several new 
 provisions engraved upon the Constitu- 
 
78 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tion of the United States in addition to 
 those which we have noticed in the Pro- 
 visional instrument on the importation 
 of negroes. The principle of State sov- 
 ereignty was distinctly recognized in the 
 preamble which read " We, the people 
 of the Confederate States, each State 
 acting in its sovereign and independent 
 character, in order to form a permanent 
 Federal Government, establish justice, 
 insure domestic tranquillity and secure 
 the blessings of liberty to ourselves and 
 our posterity invoking the iavor and 
 guidance of Almighty G-od do ordain 
 and establish this Constitution for the 
 Confederate States of America." In 
 recollection, perhaps, of the old New 
 England Fishery grievance it was pro- 
 vided that no bounties shall be granted 
 from the Treasury, nor were any duties 
 to be laid on foreign importations to fos- 
 ter any branch of industry. The Post- 
 office Department was required to pay 
 its expenses out of its own revenue. 
 There were several regulations looking 
 to economy and responsibility in the ap- 
 propriation of money. To give direct- 
 ness to legislation and check a dangerous 
 practice, it was ordained that every law 
 shall relate to but one subject that shall 
 be expressed in the title. The President 
 
 and Vice President were to hold office 
 for six years and the former was not 
 to be eligible for reelection. Provision 
 was made for governing new territories 
 which might be acquired, in all of which 
 slavery was to be recognized and pro- 
 tected. No law, it was provided, "de- 
 nying or impairing the right of property 
 in negro slaves " should be passed. The 
 opportunity for amendment of the Con- 
 stitution was given at the demand of any 
 three States legally assembled in their 
 several conventions. At their request 
 Congress was to summon a Convention 
 of all the States to take the suggested 
 amendment into consideration and if it 
 was there agreed upon it was, upon rati- 
 fication by the legislatures of two thirds 
 of the several States, or by Conventions 
 in two-thirds thereof, to become a part 
 of the Constitution. 
 
 Several of these provisions, particu- 
 larly that enlarging the Presidential 
 term, that in reference to the greater 
 simplicity of legal enactments, and those 
 of an economical character, on their pro- 
 mulgation, were commented upon with 
 favor at the North. 
 
 On the 16th of March the Provisional 
 Congress adjourned to meet again in 
 Montgomery the second Monday of May. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN. 
 
 WHILST these proceedings of the rebel 
 Confederacy were going on at Montgom- 
 ery, Abraham Lincoln, President elect 
 of the United States, was travelling from 
 his home at Springfield, Illinois, toward 
 Ihe National Capital. Before accom- 
 
 panying him on his journey, it may not 
 be amiss to pause for a moment and 
 glance at the previous circumstances of 
 a career which was now to be crowned 
 by the highest honor in the gift of the 
 people. The success, it will be found, 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 79 
 
 was fur more due to native intelligence, 
 integrity of character and resolute per- 
 severance, than to what is usually called 
 education or the gifts of fortune. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was now just closing 
 his fifty-second year, having first seen the 
 light in Hardin County, Kentucky, in 
 February, 1809. His grandfather was 
 one of the early settlers of the .country, 
 and like msmy worthy men who in those 
 days made their home in that frontier 
 territory, had laid down his life, a vic- 
 tim to the warfare with the Indians. It 
 is as good a title in the West to the grat- 
 itude of posterity as if he had fallen at 
 Bunker Hill, or Monmouth. The ill-fat- 
 ed frontiersman left a family of three 
 sons, the youngest of whom, Thomas, the 
 father of the future President, growing 
 up without education in a life of rugged 
 labor, emigrated to Indiana. He carried 
 his son, Abraham, with him, tiien in his 
 eighth year, and the youth well grown 
 and strong, was of much assistance in 
 clearing the forest for the farm. The 
 axe was oftener in his hands than the 
 spelling-book, his school discipline alto- 
 gether riot exceeding a years' instruction 
 and that of the most elementary charac- 
 ter. What he learned from books he af- 
 terwards acquired by himself; but his 
 education was for a long time in a rough, 
 practical school undecorated by the Mu- 
 ses. At nineteen he laid the foundation 
 for his knowledge of the strategic im- 
 portance of the Mississippi, by a trip 
 down that river to New Orleans in 
 the capacity of a hired hand upon a 
 flat-boat. At the age of twenty-one, he 
 accompanied his father's family in a new 
 emigration to Illinois, where his axe was 
 again brought into requisition in building 
 a log cabin and splitting rails to fence the 
 new farm the rails which gave him his 
 
 popular designation of " the rail -splitter" 
 in the canvass for the Presidencj 7 ', the 
 first time, probably, this vehicle of pop- 
 ular vengeance ever rode its victim to 
 any honorable political exaltation. An- 
 other turn on the Mississippi in the trad- 
 ing flat-boat voyaging followed by em- 
 ployment in charge of a mill at New 
 Salem, Indiana, brings the young man to 
 a new stage in his career, as Captain of 
 a volunteer company in the Black Hawk 
 war of 1832, where Jefferson Davis and 
 other celebrities on both sides of the pres- 
 ent struggle were taking their first les- 
 sons in military life. He was three 
 months in the service, which he left a< 
 the close of the campaign with a stock 
 of popularity which encouraged him to 
 try his fortune in politics. He ran for 
 the Legislature as a Whig candidate ; but 
 the county being democratic he was beat- 
 en, while the people of his vicinity were 
 for him almost to a man. This, it is said, 
 is the only time he was ever defeated in 
 a direct vote of the people. He was next 
 engaged in a country store, which did not 
 prove profitable ; when he turned his at- 
 tention to the study of the law, borrow- 
 ing the requisite books from a neighbor 
 in the evening to return them in the morn- 
 ing. Something was thrown in his way 
 at this time by the surveyor of the coun- 
 ty, who gave him a snare of his employ- 
 ment, for which Lincoln rapidly qualified 
 himself. In 1834, he was sent to the Il- 
 linois Legislature, where his "success is 
 proved by the fact of his reelection for 
 three successive terms. He was admit- 
 ted to the bar in 1836, and in the follow- 
 ing year removed to Springfield, where 
 he formed a legal partnership with Major 
 John F. Stuart. His acuteness and 
 shrewd sense soon made him known in 
 the profession as a master of forensic ar- 
 
80 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 guraent. He at no time, however, entire- 
 ly withdrew from politics, being earnest- 
 ly devoted to the whig cause and an ac- 
 tive champion of Henry Clay, for whom 
 he canvassed the State in 1844. Two 
 years afterwards he was elected to Con- 
 gress from the central district of Illinois, 
 and became distinguished in the House 
 of Representatives during his term by 
 his advocacy of the questions such as 
 domestic improvements, and a protective 
 tariff with which the whig party was 
 identified, while he signalized his course 
 by a marked devotion to the free soil 
 principles, then rapidty rising in national 
 importance. He was a candidate for the 
 United States Senate in 1849, when Gen- 
 eral Shields was chosen by the Legisla- 
 ture, and subsequently, in the summer of 
 1858, canvassed the State as a rival can- 
 lidate of the late Senator Douglas for 
 the same high office. By an arrange- 
 ment between the two, they frequently 
 spoke on the same day at the same place. 
 Their speeches, delivered on these occa- 
 sions, published together in a single vol- 
 ume, have been largely circulated and 
 certainly form a series of the best sus- 
 tained and instructive political debates 
 of the kind on record. From no other 
 source can better information be obtained, 
 of the nature and essential principles of 
 the present momentous political conflict. 
 Having now brought Mr. Lincoln to 
 the period of his election to the Presi- 
 dency, the facts connected with which 
 we have already given, we may properly 
 add to this personal notice an interesting 
 sketch of the man and his associations 
 as he appeared surrounded by his friends, 
 at his home, on the eve of his departure 
 for his Inauguration at Washington. An 
 intelligent correspondent at Springfield 
 writing at the end of January presents 
 
 this interesting description of the simple 
 scene, with the good humored host and 
 bustling throng of visitors. " All," says 
 this observer, " meet a hearty welcome 
 and depart impressed with the good 
 humor, if not good looks, of the ' tall man 
 eloquent.' He has an exceedingly happy 
 faculty in receiving all manner of men, 
 on every conceivable business, from that 
 prompted by the ' low vice curiosity' to 
 that involving the vital interests of the 
 republic. The Springfield White House 
 is placed on the north-east corner of 
 Eighth and Jackson streets, and is a 
 plain wooden structure of two stories, 
 painted brown, with green blinds. Its 
 appearance is more modest than that of 
 many houses in its vicinity. No one 
 would suspect it of illustrious associations. 
 Yet it is unquestionably at this writing 
 the most notable building and important 
 centre in Springfield, for since Governor 
 Yates took possession of the Executive 
 chamber at the Capitol, Mr. Lincoln is 
 only to be seen at ' his warm but sim- 
 ple home.' A polite mulatto servant, 
 ' William,' answers the bell and ushers 
 all callers into the front parlor, at the left 
 of the hall, a comfortable though severely 
 plain room, with a pine mantel, an in- 
 grain carpet, low ceilings and a wood 
 stove. The head of the house, if not 
 already present, soon enters from his 
 oSice on the second floor, and is instantly 
 in close and familiar conversation with 
 the visitor whoever he may be. The 
 flat-boatman and the statesman, the beg- 
 gar and the millionaire, are treated with 
 equal courtesy, and all heard with 
 marvellous patience. Honors have not 
 changed the manners of ' Honest Old 
 Abe.' Every state and territory sends 
 its representatives. A day or two since 
 a gentleman from Central Georgia made 
 
LINCOLN AT HOME. 
 
 81 
 
 a long visit. Several have come from 
 Mississippi ; and yesterday a Texan had a 
 most agreeable interview. ' Lincoln is 
 a fine man' said a burly Virginian to me 
 at the hotel ; ' he will never intention- 
 ally harm any one.' 
 
 " There can be no doubt that Mr. 
 Lincoln's rare social qualities have con- 
 tributed much to his political success. 
 Frank, fluent and sparlding in conver- 
 sation, with a keen relish for humor, 
 
 ' Forever foremost in the ranks of fun, 
 The laughing herald of the harmless pun,' 
 
 he has always been a favorite at the fire- 
 side, and the life of the court-room. A 
 volume might bo filled with his original 
 and witty sayings, as fondly treasured by 
 the community of which he has so long 
 been the pride. A few days since, I 
 happened to be present when several old 
 friends, rough prairie farmers, called to 
 see him, announcing as their sole purpose 
 a desire to see a rail-splitter turned 
 President. The occasion was adapted to 
 call forth his best humor, and it did so to 
 the great entertainment of his rustic 
 visitors and your correspondent. Old 
 laughter-provoking stories of other days 
 were rehearsed with inimitable zest, and 
 the details of early western life and 
 adventure dwelt upon with unfeigned 
 delight. No one who knows Mr. Lincoln 
 thoroughly can be surprised at his great 
 popularity in this part of the country. 
 He is possessed of all the elements com- 
 posing a true western man, and his purity 
 of character and indubitable integrity of 
 purpose add respect to admiration for his 
 private and public life. His word ' you 
 may believe, and pawn your soul upon 
 il, ; It is this sterling honesty (with 
 utter fearlessness), even beyond his vast 
 ability and political sagacity, that is to 
 command confidence in his administration. 
 11 
 
 1 A good fame is better than a good 
 face.' So the proverb tells us, and it has 
 been gladly accepted by the friends of 
 Mr. Lincoln, who have not dared to deny 
 his forbidding visage. They may now, 
 however, do so without hesitation, for a 
 vigorous growth of comely whiskers has 
 entirely changed his facial appearance. 
 The improvement is remarkable. The 
 gaunt, hollow cheeks, and long, lank jaw- 
 bones are so developed as to give fulness 
 and rotundity to the entire face, and if 
 he escapes the barbers, Mr. Lincoln will 
 go to Washington an exceedingly pre- 
 sentable man. His stature is truly tower- 
 ing. Gen. Scott will alone, of all the 
 official dignitaries, be able to compare 
 inches with him."* 
 
 On the morning of the llth of Feb- 
 ruary, Mr. Lincoln parted with his 
 friends at the railway station in Spring- 
 field, addressing them a few words from 
 the platform, marked by personal feel- 
 ing and a sense of the gravity of the 
 position to which he was called. "My 
 friends," said he, "no one not in my 
 position can appreciate the sadness I 
 feel at this parting. To this people I 
 owe all that I am. Here I have lived 
 more than a quarter of a century ; here 
 my children were born, and here one of 
 them lies buried. I know not how soon 
 I shall see you again. A duty devolves 
 upon me which is, perhaps, greater than 
 that which has devolved upon any other 
 man since the days of Washington. He 
 never would have succeeded except for 
 the aid of Divine Providence, upon 
 which he at all times relied. I feel that 
 I can not succeed without the same Di- 
 vine aid which sustained him ; and in 
 the same Almighty Being I place my re- 
 
 * Correspondence of the N. Y. Evening Pott, Spring 
 field, HI., January 28, 1861. 
 
82 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 liance for support, and I hope you, my 
 friends, will all pray that I may receive 
 that Divine assistance, without which I 
 cannot succeed, but with which success 
 is certain. Again I bid you all an af- 
 fectionate farewell." The assembly re- 
 sponded to this burst of emotion with 
 tears, and the country accepted it as a 
 good indication of the future that he who 
 was to guide the destinies of the nation 
 through so important a period should 
 approach his work with a profound re- 
 ligious earnestness. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln travelled with his wife 
 and son, and was accompanied by a 
 number of friends in military and civil 
 life, some of whom were afterward dis- 
 tinguished in the events which rapidly 
 followed. Among these was Major Hun- 
 ter, of the United States Army, and a 
 young Colonel of the militia service, El- 
 mer E. Ellsworth, then engaged in study- 
 ing law at Springfield, with his thoughts, 
 however, more intent on military equip- 
 ments and organizations. A soldier's 
 life was his passion. We shall see him 
 chivalrously hurrying to a soldier's death. 
 Dr. Wallace, the family physician of Mr. 
 Lincoln, was with him. Various local 
 political celebrities gathered in his train 
 as he proceeded. 
 
 At Cincinnati, the next day, Mr. Lin- 
 coln, evidently addressing himself to an 
 audience other than that before him, took 
 occasion to recall a speech which he had 
 made a year before the election in that 
 place to the Kentuckians, who were then 
 among his auditors. He had, at that 
 time, he said, prophesied that the Re- 
 publicans would be placed in power, and 
 had told them by what principles, in that 
 event, the incoming party would be guid- 
 ed. This he now repeated as an indica- 
 tion of his own future policy. " We 
 
 mean to treat you," he said, " as near as 
 we possibly can as Washington, Jeffer- 
 son and Madison treated you. We meau 
 to leave you alone, and in no way to in- 
 terfere with your institutions ; to abide 
 by all and every compromise of the 
 Constitution, and, in a word, coming 
 back to the original proposition, to treat 
 you so far as degenerate men, if we 
 have degenerated, may, according to the 
 example of those noble fathers, Wash- 
 ington, Jefferson and Madison. We 
 mean to remember," he added, with a 
 homely earnestness, which, sure of his 
 own honest meaning, he employed, Avith 
 confidence that it would be interpreted 
 simply as it was meant, " that you are 
 as good as we ; that there is no differ- 
 ence between us other than the differ- 
 ence of circumstances. We mean to re- 
 cognize and bear in mind that you have 
 as good hearts in your bosoms as other 
 people, or as we claim to have, and treat 
 you accordingly." This was not the or- 
 dinary conventional language of politic- 
 ians, but the direct expression of a man 
 unused to artifice, who was willing to say 
 a plain thing in a plain way. 
 
 At Indianapolis, on the same day, he 
 touched more intimately the wound which 
 was afflicting the national life. In a series 
 of tentative questions, uttered as if he 
 were thinking aloud, in a rude vigorous 
 way, not without a certain humor tinging 
 the sagacity, he proposed the problem, 
 rising in all men's minds, and which all 
 felt and knew it was the business of the 
 coming Administration to solve. In this 
 way, in a Socratic mood, he stripped the 
 disguises from words and showed the re- 
 alities lying beneath them. "The words 
 ' coercion ' and ' invasion,' " said he, " are 
 much used in these days, and often with 
 some temper and hot blood. Let us 
 
ON THE WAY TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 83 
 
 make sure, if we car that we do not 
 misunderstand the meaning of those who 
 use them. What is ' coercion ? ' what is 
 ' invasion: ? ' Would the marching of an 
 army into South Carolina, without the 
 consent of her people, and with hostile 
 intent toward them, be invasion ? I cer- 
 tainly think it would be ' coercion ' if the 
 South Carolinians were forced to submit. 
 But if the United States should merely 
 hold and retake its own forts and other 
 property, and collect the duties on for- 
 eign importations, or even withhold the 
 mails from places where they were ha- 
 bitually violated, would any or all these 
 things be ' invasion ' or ' coercion ' ? Do 
 our professed lovers of the Union, but 
 who spitefully resolve that they will re- 
 sist coercion and invasion, understand 
 that such things as these, on the part of 
 the United States, would be coercion or 
 invasion of a State ? If so. their idea of 
 means to preserve the object of their 
 great affection would seem to be exceed- 
 ingly thin and airy. If sick, the little 
 pills of the homoeopathist would be much 
 too large for them to swallow. In their 
 view, the Union, as a family relation, 
 would seem to be no regular marriage, 
 but rather a sort of free love arrange- 
 ment, to be maintained on passional at- 
 traction. By the way," he continued, 
 brushing away all obstructions in a man- 
 ner calculated to dismay a Virginia poli- 
 tician, " in what consists the special sa- 
 credness of a State ? I speak not of the 
 position assigned to a State in the Union 
 by the Constitution, for that by the bond 
 we all recognize. That position, how- 
 ever, a State cannot carry out of the 
 Union with it. I speak of that assumed 
 primary right of a State to rule all which 
 is less than itself, and to ruin all which is 
 largei than itself. If a State snd a coun- 
 
 try, in a given case, should be equal in 
 extent of territory, and equal in num- 
 bers of inhabitants, in what, as a matter 
 of principle, is the State better than the 
 country ? Would an exchange of names 
 be an exchange of rights ? Upon prin- 
 ciple, on what rightful principle, may a 
 State, being no more than one-fiftieth 
 part of the nation in soil and population, 
 break up the nation, and then coerce a 
 proportionally larger subdivision of it- 
 self in the most arbitrary way ? What 
 mysterious right to play tyrant is con- 
 ferred on a district of country, with its 
 people by merely calling it a State? 
 Fellow citizens," he concluded, " I am 
 not asserting anything. I am merely 
 asking questions for you to consider." 
 
 The next day, at Columbus, Ohio, he 
 addressed the people again, still prudent- 
 ly abstaining from declaring any fixed 
 line of policy, not knowing what future 
 events might dictate, and reserving to him- 
 self the liberty to act accordingly. His 
 course was then pursued by way of 
 Cleveland, Buffalo, and Albany to the 
 city of New York, while he was every- 
 where greeted with enthusiasm on the way. 
 He reached New York on the nineteenth, 
 and was escorted from the terminus of the 
 Hudson River Eailroad through the Av- 
 enues and Broadway to his quarters at 
 the Astor House, where he responded to 
 the congratulations of an immense throng 
 from the balcony. He was received by 
 Mayor Wood the next day ,at the City 
 Hall, and in the few words of reply 
 which he made to a species of civic lec- 
 ture on the crisis, used this illustration on 
 the subject of the preservation, of the 
 Union. He compared it to a ship " made 
 for the carrying and preservation of the 
 cargo," which should never be abandon- 
 ed so long as it can be saved with cargo. 
 
84 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 but which, he seemed to admit, it might 
 be necessary according to circumstances 
 to lighten or desert. " So long," he ad- 
 ded, in application of this illustration, " as 
 it is possible that the prosperity and lib- 
 erties of the people can be preserved in 
 this Union, it shall be my purpose at all 
 times to use all my power to aid in its 
 perpetuation." 
 
 From New York Mr. Lincoln proceed- 
 ed by way of Trenton to Philadelphia, 
 where, on the twenty-second, Washing- 
 ton's birthday, with appropriate ceremo- 
 nies, he raised the national flag on Inde- 
 pendence Hall. The State of Kansas 
 having recently been admitted to the 
 Union, the occasion was marked by the 
 addition of a new star, the thirty-fourth, 
 to the field of the banner. Previous to 
 this act he had responded to an address 
 in the Hall, when, in reference to the 
 principles which had been consecrated on 
 the spot, he said, with feeling : "I have 
 often pondered over the dangers which 
 were incurred by the men who assembled 
 here and framed and adopted that Dec- 
 laration of Independence. I have pon- 
 dered over the toils that were endured 
 by the officers and soldiers of the army 
 who achieved that Independence. I have 
 often inquired of myself, what great prin- 
 ciple or idea it was that kept this Con- 
 federacy so long together ? It was not 
 the mere matter of the separation of the 
 Colonies from the mother land ; but that 
 sentiment in the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence which gave liberty, not alone to 
 the people of this country, but, I hope, 
 to the world for all future time. It was 
 that which gave promise that, in due time, 
 the weight should be lifted from the shoul- 
 ders of all men. This is a sentiment em- 
 bodied in the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence. Now, my friends, can this country 
 
 be saved upon this principle ? If it can, 
 I will consider myself one of the happi- 
 est men in the world, if I can help to 
 save it. If it cannot be saved upon that 
 principle, it will be truly awful. But if 
 this country cannot be saved without giv- 
 ing up that principle, I was about to say, 
 I would rather be assassinated on this 
 spot than surrender it." Circumstances 
 soon occurred which called attention to 
 this last sentence. Its import, at the 
 time, was not suspected. 
 
 Thus far, indeed, the tour of the Pres- 
 ident elect had proceeded without any 
 serious difficulty. There had been some 
 embarrassment from the crowd, in the 
 absence of an adequate police to main- 
 tain order at the station at Buffalo, where 
 the arm of Major Hunter was dislocated 
 in the effort to protect the party, and 
 there had been some criticisms by the 
 politicians, of the style and matter of the 
 occasional speeches ; but nothing had oc- 
 curred to mar the general harmony or jus- 
 tify the apprehensions which had been ex- 
 pressed of a violent interruption of the 
 journey. It was not to be denied, how- 
 ver, that there was some uneasiness in the 
 3ublic mind. There were darkintimations 
 that Mr. Lincoln would not be allowed to 
 proceed to Washington in safety, and as- 
 sassination even was vaguely hinted at. 
 His friends, however, were on the alert, 
 and it was evident from the thorough 
 police arrangements along the line of the 
 procession in New York that his move- 
 ments were guarded. There was nothing 
 definite, however, to create any particu- 
 lar anxiety, and the suspicion was passing 
 away, with many other fiendish threats 
 which had been uttered in bravado after 
 the recent election, as the gossip of the 
 hour. Suddenly, however, the public 
 was startled by the intelligence that tfo 
 
PLOT AT ASSASSINATION. 
 
 85 
 
 contemplated line of Mr. Lincoln's tour 
 had been broken up, and that, to avoid 
 the imminent danger of assassination he 
 had made his way in disguise by night, 
 in a special railway train to Washington. 
 
 The circumstances of this remarkable 
 affair, as they were related at the time, 
 were these. We take the account as it 
 was published in the Albany Evening 
 Journal, the editor of which paper, Mr. 
 Thurlow Weed, we may mention, was 
 spoken of as one of the persons to whom 
 the plot was first communicated by the 
 police : 
 
 " Some of Mr. Lincoln's friends having 
 heard that a conspiracy existed to assas- 
 sinate him on his way to Washington, set 
 on foot an investigation of the matter. 
 For this purpose they employed a detec- 
 tive of great experience, who was en- 
 gaged at Baltimore in the business some 
 three weeks prior to Mr. Lincoln's ex- 
 pected arrival there, employing both men 
 and women to assist him. Shortly after 
 coming to Baltimore, the detective dis- 
 covered a combination of men banded 
 together under a solemn oath to assas- 
 sinate the President elect. The leader 
 of the conspirators was an Italian refu- 
 gee, a barber, well known in Baltimore, 
 who assumed the name of Orsini, as 
 indicative of the part he was to perform. 
 The assistants employed by the detective, 
 who, like himself, were strangers in Balti- 
 more City, by assuming to be secession- 
 ists from Louisiana and other seceding 
 States, gained the confidence of some of 
 the conspirators, and were intrusted with 
 their plans. It was arranged in case Mr. 
 Lincoln should pass safely over the rail- 
 road to Baltimore, that the conspirators 
 should mingle with the crowd which might 
 surround his carriage, and ty pretending 
 to be his friends, be enabled to approach 
 
 his person, when, upon a signal from their 
 leader, some of them would shoot at Mr. 
 Lincoln with their pistols, and others 
 would throw into his carriage hand- 
 grenades filled with detonating powder, 
 similar to those used in the attempted 
 assassination of the Emperor Louis Nap- 
 oleon. It was intended that in the con- 
 fusion which should result from this 
 attack, the assailants should escape to a 
 vessel which was waiting in the harbor to 
 receive them, and be carried to Mobile, 
 in the seceding State of Alabama. 
 
 " Upon Mr. Lincoln's arrival in Phil 
 adelphia upon Thursday, the 21st of 
 February, the detective visited Philadel- 
 phia, and submitted to certain friends of 
 the President elect, the information he 
 had collected as to the conspirators and 
 their plans. An interview was immedi- 
 ately arranged between Mr. Lincoln and 
 the detective. The interview took place 
 in Mr. Lincoln's room, in the Continental 
 Hotel, where he was staying during his 
 visit to Philadelphia. Mr. Lincoln, hav- 
 ing heard the officer's statement, informed 
 him that he had promised to raise the 
 American flag on Independence Hall on 
 the next morning the morning of the 
 Anniversary of Washington's Birthday 
 and that he had accepted the invitation 
 of the Pennsylvania Legislature to be 
 publicly received by that body in the 
 afternoon of the same day. ' Both of 
 these engagements,' said he, with em- 
 phasis, ' I will keep if it costs me my life. 
 If, however, after I shall have concluded 
 these engagements, you can take me in 
 safety to Washington, I will place myself 
 at your disposal, and authorize you to 
 make such arrangements as you may 
 deem proper for that purpose.' 
 
 " On the next day, in the morning, 
 Mr. Lincoln performed the ceremony of 
 
86 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 raising the American flag on Indepen- 
 dence Hall, in Philadelphia, according to 
 his promise, and arrived at Harrisburg 
 on the afternoon of the same day, where 
 he was formally welcomed by the Penn- 
 sylvania Legislature. After the recep- 
 tion he retired to his hotel, the Jones 
 House, and withdrew with a few con- 
 fidential friends to a private apartment. 
 Here he remained until nearly 6 o'clock 
 in the evening, when, in company with 
 Col. Lamon, he quietly entered a carriage 
 without observation, and was driven to 
 the Pennsylvania Railroad, where a 
 special train for Philadelphia was waiting 
 for him. Simultaneously with his de- 
 parture from Harrisburg, the telegraph 
 wires were cut, so that his departure, if 
 it should become known, might not be 
 communicated at a distance. The special 
 train arrived in Philadelphia at lOf 
 o'clock at night. Here he was met by 
 the detective, who had a carriage in readi- 
 ness into which the party entered, and 
 were driven to the depot of % the Phila- 
 delphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Rail- 
 road. They did not reach the depot 
 until Hi o'clock ; but, fortunately for 
 them, the regular train, the hour of which 
 for starting was eleven, had been delayed. 
 The party then took berths in the sleep- 
 ing car, and without change of cars, 
 passed directly through to Washington, 
 tfhere they arrived at the usual hour, 
 6^ o'clock, on the morning of Saturday 
 the 23d. Mr. Lincoln wore no disguise 
 whatever, but journeyed in an ordinary 
 travelling dress. 
 
 " It is proper to state here that, prior 
 to Mr. Lincoln's arrival in Philadelphia, 
 (Ipneral Scott and Senator Seward, in 
 Washington, had been apprised from 
 independent sources, that imminent dan- 
 ger threatened Mr. Lincoln in case he 
 
 should publicly pass through Baltimore ; 
 and accordingly a special messenger, Mr. 
 Frederick W. Seward, a son of Senator 
 Seward, was despatched to Philadelphia, 
 to urge Mr. Lincoln to come direct to 
 Washington, in a quiet manner. The 
 messenger arrived in Philadelphia late 
 on Thursday night, and had an interview 
 with the President elect, immediately 
 subsequent to his interview with the de- 
 tective. He was informed that Mr. 
 Lincoln would arrive by the early train 
 on Saturday morning, and, in accordance 
 with this information, Mr. Washburn, 
 member of Congress from Illinois, awaited 
 the President elect at the depot in Wash- 
 ington, whence he was taken in a car- 
 riage to Willard's Hotel, where Senator 
 Seward stood ready to receive him." 
 
 Little more than a week now inter- 
 vened before the inauguration of the new 
 President. It was spent in social courte- 
 sies, and in the study of the momentous 
 interests which the old Administration 
 and the old Congress were leaving to 
 their successors. "After me, the deluge," 
 might have been adopted as the motto 
 of the retiring President, who shook off 
 the cares of office as a heavy burden 
 which he would willingly part with. 
 
 Owing to the excellent provisions for 
 the safety of Washington, made under 
 the directions of General Scott, who, 
 from the scanty resources of the army 
 as it was then distributed, had assembled 
 with difficulty some six hundred national 
 troops in the city, there was but little 
 danger of any interference with the in- 
 auguration ceremonies. They took place 
 according to the usual programme. There 
 was a procession composed of the cus- 
 tomary official personages. President 
 Buchanan left the White House in an 
 open barouche, and at Willard's, receiv- 
 
THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 87 
 
 ed Mr. Lincoln, when they proceeded 
 together to the capitol. The customary 
 address was delivered by the President 
 elect from a platform on the portico of 
 the building, where he was surrounded 
 by the Judges of the Supreme Court, 
 the members of both Houses and the 
 foreign ministers. In front, many thou- 
 sands of citizens were assembled from 
 all parts of the country among them 
 those who had labored devotedly for the 
 election of a Republican President, and 
 who went prepared to defend the inau- 
 guration if necessary, with their lives. 
 After the reading of the address, which 
 was delivered in a firm, clear tone, the 
 oath was administered by Chief-Justice 
 Taney. Mr. Lincoln was the ninth Presi- 
 dent who had come into office during his 
 judicial career. 
 
 The Inaugural Address was a thought- 
 ful, manly, w r ell-considered paper firm 
 in the expression of a determination to 
 maintain the laws ; kind and concilia- 
 tory in the manifest effort to allay preju- 
 dice, and, if possible, find a quiet path 
 out of existing embarrassments. Like 
 all the compositions of its author, it 
 bore a marked individual character. It 
 was evidently the result of much anx- 
 ious thinking, worked out in the writer's 
 own way ; and, if it occasionally lacked 
 elegance of style, the frequent striking, 
 pithy phraseology made amends for any 
 want of smoothness. Without unneces- 
 sary preamble, the speaker at the very 
 outset, touched upon the ostensible griev- 
 ance or complaint of the South, as if he 
 would once for all remove a stumbling- 
 block from the threshold of his Adminis- 
 tration. "Apprehension," he said, " seems 
 to exist among the people of the Southern 
 States, that, by the accession of a Repub- 
 lican Administration, their property and 
 
 their peace and personal security are to be 
 endangered. There has never been any 
 reasonable cause for such apprehension. 
 Indeed, the most ample evidence to the 
 contrary has all the while existed, arid 
 been open to their inspection. It is 
 found in nearly all the published speeches 
 of him who now addresses you. I do 
 but quote from one of those speeches 
 when I declare that ' I have no purpose, 
 directly or indirectly, to interfere with 
 the institution of slavery in the States 
 where it exists.' I believe I have no 
 lawful right to do so, and I have no in- 
 clination to do so. Those who nominated 
 and elected me did so with a full knowl- 
 edge that I had made this, and made 
 many similar declarations, and had never 
 recanted them. And, more than this, 
 they placed in the platform for my ac- 
 ceptance, and as a law to themselves and 
 to me, the clear and emphatic resolution 
 which I now read : ' Resolved, that the 
 maintenance inviolate of the rights of the 
 States, and especially the right of each 
 State to order and control its own do- 
 mestic institutions according to its own 
 judgment exclusively, is essential to that 
 balance of power on which the perfec- 
 tion and endurance of our political fabric 
 depends ; and we denounce the lawless 
 invasion by armed force of the soil of 
 any State or territory, no matter under 
 what pretext, as among the gravest of 
 crimes.' I now reiterate these sentiments, 
 and in doing so, I only press upon the 
 public attention the most conclusive evi- 
 dence of which the case is susceptible, 
 that the property, peace and security of 
 no section are to be in anywise endangered 
 by the now incoming Administration. I 
 add, too, that all the protection which, 
 consistently with the Constitution and 
 the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully 
 
WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 given to all the States when lawfully de- 
 manded, for whatever cause, as cheer- 
 fully to one section as to another." 
 
 He then recited the provision of the 
 Constitution requiring the delivering up of 
 fugitives from service or labor. " It is 
 scarcely questioned," he said, " that this 
 provision was intended by those who 
 made it for the reclaiming of what we 
 call fugitive slaves, and the intention of 
 the lawgiver is the law. All members of 
 Congress swear their support to the whole 
 Constitution to this provision as well as 
 any other. To the proposition, then, 
 that slaves whose cases come within the 
 terms of this clause ' shall be delivered 
 up/ their oaths are unanimous. Now, 
 if they would make the effort in good 
 temper, could they not, with nearly equal 
 unanimity, frame and pass a law by 
 means of which to keep good that unani- 
 mous oath ? There is some difference of 
 opinion whether this clause should be 
 enforced by national or by state author- 
 ity, but surely that difference is not a 
 very material one. If the slave is to be 
 surrendered, it can be of but little con- 
 sequence to him or to others by which 
 authority it is done ; and should any one, 
 in any case, be content that this oath 
 shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial 
 controversy as to how it shall be kept ? 
 Again, in any law upon this subject, 
 ought not all the safeguards of liberty 
 known in the civilized and humane juris- 
 prudence to be introduced, so that a free 
 man be not, in any case, surrendered as 
 a slave ? And might it not be well at 
 the same time to provide by law for the 
 enforcement of that clause in the Consti- 
 tution which guaranties that ' the citi- 
 zens of each state shall be entitled to all 
 the privileges and immunities of citizens 
 in the several states?' I take the of- 
 
 ficial oath to-day with no mental reser- 
 vations, and with no purpose to construe 
 the Constitution or laws by any hyper- 
 critical rules, and while I do not choose 
 now to specify particular acts of Congress 
 as proper to be enforced, I do suggest 
 that it will be much safer for all, both in 
 official and private stations, to conform 
 to and abide by all those acts which 
 stand unrepealed, than to violate any of 
 them, trusting to find impunity in having 
 them held to be unconstitutional." 
 
 Having thus explicitly declared his 
 views on a subject upon which there had 
 been much misrepresentation he pro- 
 ceeded to announce his position in regard 
 to the maintenance of the authority of 
 the Union. " It is seventy- two years," 
 said he, " since the first inauguration of 
 a President under our national Constitu- 
 tion. During that period fifteen different 
 and very distinguished citizens have in 
 succession administered the executive 
 branch of the government. They have 
 conducted it through many perils, and 
 generally with great success. Yet, with 
 all this scope for precedent, I now enter 
 upon the same task, for the brief consti- 
 tutional term of four years, under great 
 and peculiar difficulties. A disruption of 
 the federal Union, heretofore only men- 
 aced, is now formidably attempted. I hold 
 that in the contemplation of universal law 
 and of the Constitution the union of these 
 States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, 
 if not expressed, in the fundamental law 
 of all national governments. It is safe 
 to assert that no government proper ever 
 had a provision in its organic law for its 
 own termination. Continue to execute 
 all the express provisions of our national 
 Constitution, and the Union will endure 
 forever, it being impossible to destroy it 
 except by some action not provided for 
 
INTENTIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 89 
 
 in the instrument itself. Again, if the 
 United States be not a government pro- 
 per by an association of States in the 
 nature oi a contract merely, can it, as a 
 contract, be peaceably unmade by all the 
 the parties who made it ? One party to 
 a contract may violate it break it, so to 
 speak but does it not require all to law- 
 fully rescind it ? Descending from these 
 general principles we find the proposition 
 that in legal contemplation the Union is 
 perpetual, confirmed by the history of 
 the Union itself. The Union is much 
 older than the Constitution. It was 
 formed, in fact, by the Articles of Asso- 
 ciation in 1774. It was matured and 
 continued in the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence in 1776. It was further matured, 
 and the faith of all the then thirteen 
 States expressly plighted and engaged 
 that it should be perpetual, by the Arti- 
 cles of Confederation in 1778, and finally, 
 in 1787, one of the declared objects for 
 ordaining and establishing the Constitu- 
 tion was to form a more perfect Union. 
 But if the destruction of the Union by 
 one or by a part only of the States be 
 lawfully possible, the Union is less than 
 before, the Constitution having lost the 
 vital element of perpetuity. It follows 
 from these views that no State upon its 
 own mere motion can lawfully get out of 
 the Union ; that resolves and ordinances 
 to that effect are legally void, and that 
 acts of violence within any State or 
 States against the authority of the United 
 States, are insurrectionary, or revolution- 
 ary, according to circumstances. 
 
 " I therefore consider," continued he, 
 in direct reference to the policy to be 
 pursued under existing difficulties, "that, 
 in view of the Constitution and the laws, 
 the Union is unbroken, and, to the extent 
 of my ability I shall take care, as the 
 12 
 
 Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon 
 me, that the laws of the Union shall be 
 faithfully executed in all the States. 
 Doing this, which I deem to be only a 
 simple duty on my part, I shall perfectly 
 perform it, so far as is practicable, unless 
 my rightful masters, the American peo- 
 ple, shall withhold the requisition, or in 
 some authoritative manner direct the con- 
 trary. I trust this will not be regarded 
 as a menace, but only as the declared 
 purpose of the Union, that it will consti- 
 tutionally defend and maintain itself. In 
 doing this there need be no bloodshed or 
 violence, and there shall be none unless 
 it is forced upon the national authority. 
 The power confided to me will be used to 
 hold, occupy and possess ike property and 
 places belonging to the government, and 
 collect the duties and imposts ; but be- 
 yond what may be necessary for these 
 objects there will be no invasion, no us- 
 ing of force against or among the people 
 anywhere. Where hostility to the United 
 States shall be so great and so universal 
 as to prevent competent resident citizens 
 from holding the federal offices, there 
 will be no attempt to force obnoxious 
 strangers among the people who object. 
 While the strict legal right may exist of 
 the government to enforce the exercise 
 of the offices, the attempt to do so would 
 be so irritating, and so nearly impracti 
 cable withal, that I deem it better to 
 forego for the time the uses of such 
 offices. The mails, unless repelled, will 
 continue to be furnished in all parts of 
 the Union. So far as possible, the peo- 
 ple everywhere shall have that sense of 
 perfect security < which is most favorable 
 to calm thought and reflection. The 
 course here indicated will be followed, 
 unless current events and experience 
 shall show a modification or change to be 
 
90 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 proper, and in every case and exigency 
 my best discretion will be exercised ac- 
 cording to the circumstances actually 
 existing, and with a view and hope of a 
 peaceful solution of the national troubles 
 and the restoration of fraternal sympa- 
 thies and affections." 
 
 These carefully guarded declarations, 
 which soon became of momentous import 
 in the rapid progress of events were sec- 
 onded by an earnest, argumentative ap- 
 peal in behalf of the endangered Union. 
 " That there are persons," he said, " in 
 one section or another, who seek to de- 
 stroy the Union at all events, and are 
 glad of any pretext to do it, I will nei- 
 ther affirm nor deny. But if there be 
 such, I need address no word to them. 
 To those, however, who really love the 
 Union, may I not speak before entering 
 upoc so grave a matter as the destruction 
 of our national fabric, with all its bene- 
 lits, its memories and its hopes ? Would 
 it not be well to ascertain why we do it ? 
 Will you hazard so desperate a step 
 while any portion of the ills you fly from 
 have no real existence ? Will you, while 
 the certain ills you fly to are greater than 
 all the real ones you fly from ? Will you 
 risk the commission of so fearful a mis- 
 cake ? All profess to be content in the 
 Union if all constitutional rights can be 
 maintained. Is it true, then, that any 
 right plainly written in the constitution 
 has been denied ? I think not. Happily 
 the human mind is so constituted that no 
 party can reach to the audacity of doing 
 this. Think, if you can, of a single in- 
 stance in which a plainly-written provis- 
 ion of the constitution has ever been de- 
 nied. If, by the mere force of numbers, 
 a majority should deprive a minority of 
 any clearly-written constitutional right, it 
 might, in a moral point of view, justify 
 
 revolution ; it certainly would, if such 
 right were a vital one. But such is not 
 our case. All the vital rights of minor- 
 ities and of individuals are so plainly as- 
 sured to them by affirmations and nega- 
 tions, guaranties and prohibitions in the 
 Constitution, that controversies never 
 arise concerning them. But no organic 
 law can ever be framed with a provision 
 specifically applicable to every question 
 which may occur in practical administra- 
 tion. No foresight can anticipate, nor 
 any document of reasonable length con- 
 tain express provisions for all possible 
 questions. Shall fugitives from labor be 
 surrendered by national or by state au- 
 thorities ? The Constitution does not ex- 
 pressly say. Must Congress protect sla- 
 very in the territories ? The Constitu- 
 tion does not expressly say. From ques- 
 tions of this class spring all our constitu- 
 tional controversies, and we divide upon 
 them into majorities and minorities. If 
 the minority will not acquiesce, the ma- 
 jority must, or the government must 
 cease. There is no alternative for con- 
 tinuing the government but acquiescence 
 on the one side or the other. If a mi- 
 nority in such a case will secede rather 
 than acquiesce, they make a precedent 
 which in turn will ruin and divide them, 
 for a minority of their own will secede 
 from them whenever a majority refuses 
 to be controlled by such a minority. For 
 instance, why not any portion of a new 
 confederacy, a year or two hence, arbi- 
 trarily secede again, precisely as portions 
 of the present Union now claim to secede 
 from it ? All who cherish disunion sen- 
 timents are now being educated to the ex- 
 act temper of doing this. Is there such 
 perfect identity of interests among the 
 states to compose a new Union as to pro- 
 duce harmony only, and prevent renew- 
 
THE SUPREME COURT. 
 
 91 
 
 ed secession ? Plainly, the central idea 
 of secession is the essence of anarchy. 
 
 " A majority held in restraint by con- 
 stitutional check and limitation, and al- 
 ways changing easily with deliberate 
 changes of popular opinions and senti- 
 ments, is the only true sovereign of a free 
 people. Whoever rejects it, does, of ne- 
 cessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism. 
 Unanimity is impossible. The rule of a 
 majority, as a permanent arrangement, 
 is wholly inadmissible ; so that, reject- 
 ing the majority principle, anarchy or 
 despotism in some form is all that is left. 
 I do not forget the position assumed by 
 some that constitutional questions are to 
 be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do 
 I deny that such decisions must be bind- 
 ing in any case upon the parties to a suit, 
 as to the object of that suit, while they 
 are also entitled to very high respect and 
 consideration in all parallel cases by all 
 other departments of the government ; 
 and while it is obviously possible that 
 such decision may be erroneous in any 
 given case, still the evil effect following 
 it, being limited to that particular case, 
 with the chance that it may be overruled 
 and never become a precedent for other 
 cases, can better be borne than could the 
 evils of a different practice. At the 
 same time, the candid citizen must con- 
 fess that if the policy of the government 
 upon the vital questions affecting the 
 whole people is to be irrevocably fixed 
 by the decisions of the Supreme Court, 
 the instant they are made, as in ordinary 
 litigation between parties in personal ac- 
 tions, the people will have ceased to be 
 theii own masters, unless having to that 
 extent practically resigned their govern- 
 ment into the hands of that eminent tri- 
 bunal. Nor is there in this view any as- 
 sault upon the court or the judges. It is 
 
 a duty from which they may not shrink, 
 to decide cases properly brought before 
 them, and it is no fault of theirs if oth- 
 ers seek to turn their decisions to politi- 
 cal purposes. One section of our coun- 
 try believes slavery is right and ought to 
 be extended, while the other believes it 
 is wrong and ought not to be extended ; 
 and this is the only substantial dispute ; 
 and the fugitive slave clause of the Con- 
 stitution, and the law for the suppression 
 of the foreign slave trade, are each as 
 well enforced, perhaps, as any law can 
 ever be in a community where the moral 
 sense of the people imperfectly supports 
 the law itself. The great body of the 
 people abide by the dry legal obligation 
 in both cases, and a few break over in 
 each. This, I think, cannot be perfectly 
 cured, and it would be worse in both ca- 
 ses after the separation of the sections 
 than before. The foreign slave trade, 
 now imperfectly suppressed, would be ul- 
 timately revived, without restriction, in 
 one section, while fugitive slaves, now 
 only partially surrendered, would not be 
 surrendered at all by the other. Physi- 
 cally speaking, we cannot separate we 
 cannot remove our respective sections 
 from each other, nor build an impassable 
 wall between them. A husband and 
 wife may be divorced and go out of the 
 presence and beyond the reach of each 
 other, but the different parts of our coun- 
 try cannot do this. They cannot but re- 
 main face to face, and intercourse, either 
 amicable or hostile, must continue between 
 them. Is it possible, then, to make that 
 intercourse more advantageous or more 
 satisfactory after separation than before ? 
 Can aliens make treaties easier than 
 friends can make laws ? Can treaties be 
 more faithfully enforced between aliens 
 than laws among friends ? Suppose you 
 
92 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 go to war, you cannot fight always ; and 
 when, after much loss on both sides and 
 no gain on either, you cease fighting, the 
 identical questions as to terras of inter- 
 course are again upon you." 
 
 Nor was he unwilling to recognize the 
 desire of a portion of the people, that new 
 provisions should be engrafted on the 
 Constitution to reconcile, if possible, any 
 conflicting interests. " This country," 
 was his language on this subject, " with 
 its institutions, belongs to the people who 
 inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow 
 weary of the existing government they 
 can exercise their constitutional right of 
 amending, or their revolutionary right to 
 dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be 
 ignorant of the fact, that many worthy 
 and patriotic citizens are desirous of hav- 
 ing the national Constitution amended. 
 While I make no recommendations of 
 amendment, I fully recognize the full au- 
 thority of the people over the whole sub- 
 ject, to be exercised in either of the 
 modes prescribed in the instrument itself, 
 and I should, under existing circumstan- 
 ces, favor, rather than oppose, a fair op- 
 portunity being afforded the people to 
 act upon it. I will venture to add, that 
 to me the convention mode seems prefer- 
 able, in that it allows amendments to or- 
 iginate with the people themselves, in- 
 stead of only permitting them to take or 
 reject propositions originated by others 
 not especially chosen for the purpose, 
 and which might not be precisely such 
 as they would wish either to accept or 
 refuse. I understand that a proposed 
 amendment to the Constitution (which 
 amendment, however, I have not seen) 
 has passed Congress, to the effect that 
 the federal government shall never in- 
 terfere with the domestic institutions of 
 States,- including that of persons held to 
 
 service. To avoid misconstruction of 
 what I have said, I depart from my pur- 
 pose not to speak of particular amend- 
 ments, so far as to say that, holding such 
 a provision to now be implied constitu- 
 tional law, I have no objection to its be- 
 ing made express and irrevocable." 
 
 In regard to his own especial position 
 in the Government, he said, recalling to 
 the rninds of the people that they were 
 the real source of authority : " The 
 Chief Magistrate derives all his autho- 
 rity from the people, and they have con- 
 ferred none upon him to fix the terms for 
 the separation of the States. The peo- 
 ple themselves, also, can do this if they 
 choose, but the Executive, as such, has 
 nothing to do with it. His duty is to 
 administer the present government as it 
 came to his hands, and to transmit it un- 
 impaired by him to his successor. Why 
 should there not be a patient confidence 
 in the ultimate justice of the people ? Is 
 there any better or equal hope in the 
 world ? In our present differences, is 
 either party without faith of being in 
 the right? If the Almighty Ruler of 
 Nations, with his eternal truth and jus- 
 tice, be on your side of the North, or on 
 yours of the South, that truth and that 
 justice will surely prevail by the judg- 
 ment of this great tribunal, the Ameri- 
 can people. By the frame of the gov- 
 ernment under which we live, this same 
 people have wisely given their public 
 servants but little power for mischief, 
 and have with equal wisdom provided 
 for the return of that little to their own 
 hands at very short intervals. While 
 the people retain their virtue and vigi- 
 lance, no administration, by any extreme 
 wickedness or folly, can very seriously 
 injure the government in the short space 
 of four years." 
 
Johnson J ? Ty & Co. PiibUhhers New York. 
 
 
 
THE NEW CABINET. 
 
 93 
 
 " My countrymen/' he exclaimed, in a 
 final appeal, closing an address which, 
 while it unequivocally expressed a deter- 
 mination to maintain the Union, breathed 
 peace and moderation throughout, ". my 
 countrymen, one and all, think calmly 
 and well upon this whole subject. Noth- 
 ing valuable can be lost by taking time. 
 If there be an object to hurry any of 
 you, in hot . haste, to a step which you 
 would never take deliberately, that ob- 
 ject will be frustrated by taking time ; 
 but no good object can be frustrated by 
 it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied 
 still have the old Constitution unim- 
 paired, and on the sensitive point, the 
 laws of your own framing under it ; 
 while the new administration will have 
 no immediate power, if it would, to 
 change either. If it were admitted that 
 you who are dissatisfied hold the right 
 side in the dispute, there is still no sin- 
 gle reason for precipitate action. Intelli- 
 gence, patriotism, Christianity, and a 
 firm reliance on Him who has never yet 
 forsaken this favored land, are still com- 
 petent to adjust, in the best way, all our 
 present difficulties. In your hands, my 
 dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not 
 in mine, is the momentous issue of civil 
 war. The government will not assail 
 you. You can have no conflict without 
 being yourselves the aggressors. You 
 have no oath registered in Heaven to 
 destroy the government ; while I shall 
 have the most solemn one to ' preserve, 
 protect, and defend ' it. I am loath to 
 close. We are not enemies, but friends. 
 We must not be enemies. Though pas- 
 sion may have strained, it must not 
 break our bonds of affection. The mys- 
 tic cords of memory, stretching from 
 every battle-field and patriot grave to 
 every living heart and hearthstone all 
 
 over this broad land, will yet swell the 
 chorus of the Union, when <*gain touched, 
 as surely they will be, by the better an- 
 gels of our nature." 
 
 The next day the Senate in extra ses- 
 sion confirmed the appointments by the 
 President of his Cabinet. It was thus 
 composed : William H. Seward of New 
 York, Secretary of State ; Salmon P. 
 Chase of Ohio, Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury ; Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, 
 Secretary of War ; Gideon Welles of 
 Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy ; 
 Caleb B. Smith of Indiana, Secretary of 
 the Interior ; Montgomery Blair of Mary- 
 land, Postmaster General, and Edward 
 Bates of Missouri, Attorney General. 
 The leading position was justly consid- 
 ered by the friends of the Administra- 
 tion to belong to Mr. Seward. He had 
 long been an advocate of the principles 
 of the party, and on the score of the 
 eminent services he had rendered would 
 have been entitled to its highest honors. 
 His former office of Governor of the 
 State of New York, his late career in 
 the Senate, his generally recognized abil- 
 ity as a writer and speaker, his repute as 
 a statesman, justified his appointment in 
 the eyes of the people, who relied upon 
 his politic skill and adaptation in turning 
 events to the best advantage. 
 
 The antecedents of Mr. Chase, the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, were all in 
 his favor. Born in 1808, in New Hamp- 
 shire, and early deprived of his father, 
 his education had been directed by his 
 uncle, the venerable Bishop of the Epis- 
 copal church, at his seminary in Ohio. 
 Returning to his native State, he entered 
 Dartmouth, and became a graduate of 
 that institution, from which he passed to 
 the study of the law in Washington, un- 
 der the guidance of the distinguished 
 
WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 William Wirt. the most genial and in- 
 spiring of legal preceptors. At the 
 capital he gained the means of support- 
 ing himself while pursuing his studies by 
 giving instruction to a select school of 
 boys, the sons of Henry Clay, "Wirt and 
 other celebrities. He was admitted to 
 the bar in the District of Columbia, in 
 1829, and immediately after took up his 
 residence in Cincinnati, Ohio. He soon 
 became known in his profession, especial- 
 ly by his engagement in various cases 
 involving the position of the general 
 government in reference to slavery. In 
 all of these his powers were exerted in 
 behalf of freedom. He was prominent 
 in the early free soil political organiza- 
 tion in the West, which prepared the 
 way of the Eepublican party, giving his 
 support in 1848 to the nomination for 
 the Presidency of Mr. Yan Buren. He 
 was sent by Ohio, the following year, to 
 the United States Senate, and in 1855 
 was elected Governor of his State, in 
 which capacity he rendered eminent ser- 
 vice at a critical period by his financial 
 skill and integrity. He had just been 
 reflected to the United States Senate 
 when he was called by President Lin- 
 coln to the cabinet. 
 
 The Attorney-General, Mr. Bates, was 
 one of the most honored citizens of Mis- 
 souri, havwig been identified with its 
 political history since its formation as a 
 State. A native of Virginia, of Quaker 
 descent, he had early shown an im- 
 patience of the quiet traditions of his 
 family by seeking a midshipman's warrant 
 in the navy, which he was compelled to 
 relinquish by the solicitations of his 
 mother, who could not endure the trade 
 of war. The youth, however, he was 
 nineteen at the time, managed to get 
 off to Norfolk as a volunteer when the 
 
 British, in 1813 threatened an invasion 
 of the State. He served in the army 
 during that year, and in the ensuing spring 
 followed his brother, the Secretary of the 
 Territory of Missouri, to St. Louis, where 
 he engaged in the study of the law and 
 was admitted to the bar. When the 
 State Government was put in action in 
 1820 he was appointed the first Attorney- 
 General. He held other offices in the 
 State and was sent to the national House 
 of Representatives in 1826. He was 
 afterward again in office in Missouri in 
 the legislature and in 1833 and the two 
 following years as Judge of the Land 
 Court of St. Louis County. His leading 
 position in his State and in the councils 
 of the Whig party induced President 
 Filhnore to appoint him to a seat in the 
 Cabinet as Secretary of War, which he 
 was impelled from personal and domestic 
 reasons to decline. No one took a pro- 
 founder interest in the formation and 
 advancement of the Republican party, 
 or was more relied on in its councils for 
 his solidity and intelligence. His sup- 
 port of Mr. Lincoln had greatly aided 
 him in his election to the Presidency. 
 
 Simon Cameron, the Secretary of War, 
 was a native of Lancaster County, Penn- 
 sylvania. By the death of his father he 
 was thrown in his youth upon his own 
 resources. In 1817 he bound himself as 
 apprentice to the printing business at 
 Harrisburg, whence, on coming of age, 
 he made his way to Washington, where 
 he was employed as a journeyman. He 
 soon became engaged in political life and 
 rose rapidly in influence, becoming Ad- 
 jutant-General of Pennsylvania in 1828. 
 In 1832 he was elected Cashier of the 
 Middletown Bank and held the position 
 for twenty-seven years. During this 
 period he became widely known by 
 
PUBLIC ANXIETIES. 
 
 95 
 
 his devotion to some of the most im- 
 portant railway and other industrial 
 improvements of the State which he was 
 instrumental in carrying forward to a suc- 
 cessful completion. He was chosen as a 
 United States Senator in 1857, and in the 
 late Congress had proved an active and 
 efficient member of his party. 
 
 Mr. Welles of Connecticut, the Secre- 
 tary of the Navy, was a member of the old 
 Democratic party, had exercised consider- 
 able influence as editor of the Hartford 
 Times, and held office under the admin- 
 istrations of Van Buren and Polk. On 
 the new territorial questions coming up 
 
 he had joined the liberals, and in the re- 
 cent Presidential canvass had taken an 
 active part in the election of Lincoln. 
 
 Montgomery Blair was a son of Francis 
 P. Blair, the well known editor and 
 politician in Gen. Jackson's administra- 
 tion. He was a graduate of West Point, 
 went to Missouri, there pursued the pro- 
 fession of the law, and was appointed by 
 President Pierce Judge of the Court of 
 Claims. 
 
 Mr. Smith, the Secretary of the Inte- 
 rior, was versed in public affairs, and had 
 formerly been a member of Congress from 
 Indiana. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FORT SUMTER. 
 
 NOTHING is more remarkable in the 
 progress of this struggle than the long- 
 continued forbearance of the government 
 at Washington a forbearance in an anx- 
 iety to conciliate, carried even to the 
 verge of imbecility to assert its lawful 
 authority in the face of open, stoutly-pro- 
 claimed rebellion. While it was a series 
 of plottings, threats, and defiance on one 
 side, it was all delicacy and considera- 
 tion on the other. The country waited 
 with impatience for the action of the Ad- 
 ministration. It is impossible to read the 
 newspapers of those weary weeks con- 
 tinuing beyond the term of Mr. Buchan- 
 an's culpable neglect, a full month after 
 the inauguration of his successor, without 
 vividly recalling the painful emotions 
 which loyal citizens experienced as the 
 proud pillars and lofty fabric of the nation- 
 al greatness seemed to be tottering to their 
 fall. Have we a country, a government 
 
 and laws ? Do we live as a nation ? Is 
 treason a crime known to the Constitu- 
 tion ? Do this much vaunted flag, these 
 foreign treaties which we have made ; 
 these laws which we have hitherto obey- 
 ed, this President and these Houses 01 
 Congress so solemnly established at 
 Washington, these Judges of the Supreme 
 Court, this bond and pledge of States 
 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the 
 St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico do 
 these institutions which we have so long 
 reverenced, which our fathers bequeath- 
 ed to us, for which they bled and died, 
 do they mean nothing ? In this pause of 
 inaction, when fortunes were crumbling 
 on all sides in the dread uncertainty, and 
 men's hearts were failing them for fear, 
 the country was at length roused from 
 its despondency by undoubted intima- 
 tions from Washington that the hour of 
 action was at ha id. 
 
96 
 
 WAR FOR THE UK ION. 
 
 The conduct of the leaders of the Re- 
 bellion at the city of Charleston gave the 
 occasion for this display for resolution. 
 After the attempted relief of Fort Sum- 
 ter, in January, by the Star of the West, 
 the demand of the insurgents for its re- 
 duction became still more pressing. In 
 vain had the State pronounced itself sov- 
 ereign and independent if a foreign pow- 
 er, for so the people affected to regard 
 the United States, were to be allowed to 
 hold possession of the most important de- 
 fence in its chief harbor, threaten the 
 city and control its foreign commerce. 
 The reduction of Sumter became in fact 
 a necessity of the Rebellion, indispensa- 
 ble to South Carolina, and "essential to 
 her influence with the neighboring States 
 whose fortunes she desired to involve in 
 the same evil destiny with her own. " No 
 longer hoping for concessions," was the 
 language of an insolent appeal which ap- 
 peared towards the end of January in the 
 Charleston Mercury, " let us be ready for 
 war, and when we have driven every 
 foreign soldier from our shores, then let 
 us take our place in the glorious Repub- 
 lic the future promises us. Border South- 
 ern States will never join us until we 
 have indicated our power to free our- 
 selves until we have proven that a gar- 
 rison of seventy men cannot hold the 
 portal of our commerce. The fate of the 
 Southern Confederacy hangs by the en- 
 sign halliards of Fort Sumter." Active 
 preparations of defence and attack were 
 going on in the harbor against which Gen- 
 eral Anderson, in concert with his Gov- 
 ernment, hoping for a peaceful settlement 
 of the existing difficulties or hesitating to 
 strike the first blow to begin a war of 
 which no man could see the consequen- 
 ces, offered no resistance. 
 
 The ingenuity of the people of Charles- 
 
 ton was much exercised, in advance of 
 the regular operations of war, as to the 
 best method of capturing the fort. " A 
 variety of plans," says a chronicler of 
 the day, early in January, " have been 
 devised, but, as yet, none have been put 
 in practice. One man thought it might 
 be taken by floating down to the fort 
 rafts piled with burning tar-barrels, thus 
 attempting to smoke the American troops 
 out as you would smoke a rabbit out of a 
 hollow. Another was for filling bombs 
 with prussic acid and giving each of the 
 United States soldiers a smell. Still an- 
 other supposed that the fort might be 
 taken without bloodshed, by offering to 
 each soldier ten dollars and a speaking 
 to. And still another thought that by 
 erecting a barricade of cotton bales, and 
 arming it with cannon, a floating battery 
 might be made, which, with the aid of 
 Forts Moultrie and Johnson, and Castle 
 Pinckney, together with redoubts thrown 
 up on Morris' and Jones' Islands, and 
 with further assistance of an armed fleet, 
 an attack might be made on the fort, and 
 at some convenient point a party of 
 sharp-shooters might be stationed, who 
 would pick off the garrison, man by man, 
 thus giving an opportunity to a party of 
 infantry to scale the walls of the fort. 
 Such a storming, however, could only be 
 accomplished by an immense sacrifice of 
 life ; and the only practicable mode of 
 taking the fort would seem to be by a 
 protracted siege, and by the unchristian 
 mode of starving them."* 
 
 The month of February was passed in 
 this uncertain condition of hostilities, both 
 parties making eager efforts, though with 
 very unequal opportunities, to strengthen 
 their respective works. Early in March, 
 
 * The South Carolinian, January Y. Moore's Rebellion 
 Record, voL 1, Diary, p. 11. 
 
GENERAL BEAUREGARD. 
 
 97 
 
 the State of South Carolina having re- 
 signed its boasted military prerogative 
 into the supreme hands of the Confeder- 
 ate Government at Montgomery, a new 
 actor appeared upon the scene in the 
 person of a military officer, pars belli 
 hand temnenda, sent by President Jef- 
 ferson Davis to take command of the forces 
 at Charleston. This was General Peter 
 Gustav Toutant Beauregard, late a Major 
 in the United States Service. A native 
 of the State of Louisiana, of Canadian de- 
 scent, he had entered the Military Acad- 
 emy at West Point at an early age, and 
 after a career of distinguished credit, 
 graduated in 1838, the second of a class 
 of forty-five, with the appointment of Se- 
 cond Lieutenant in the First regiment of 
 Artillery. He was then immediately 
 transferred to the Corps of Engineers, 
 in which he was promoted the following 
 year to be First Lieutenant. He served 
 with great distinction in that capacity 
 with the army of General Scott during 
 the Mexican War, from Vera Cruz to the 
 capital, being brevetted Captain for his 
 gallant conduct at Contreras and Churu- 
 busco, and Major for like honorable ser- 
 vice at Chapultepec. General Scott 
 handsomely acknowledged his merits in 
 the Official Reports, making particular 
 mention of his share in the brilliant 
 achievements at entering the city of 
 Mexico, where he was wounded at the 
 assault on the Belen Gate. Among his 
 honored companions on that occasion 
 were Lieutenants G. W. Smith and 
 George B. McClellan, both destined 
 to be prominent with him in the Re- 
 bellion, one his associate in arms, the 
 other his antagonist. After the war 
 Major Beauregard was employed by the 
 Government in the construction of the 
 fortifications at the entrance to the Mis- 
 13 
 
 sissippi. On the eve of the Rebellion 
 he was appointed in Mr. Buchanan's Ad- 
 ministration to the important duty of 
 Superintendent of the Military Acade- 
 my at West Point, as the successor of 
 Major Delafield, but had hardly time to 
 think of the office before he was precip- 
 itated with his State in the Revolt. He 
 resigned his commission in the Corps of 
 Engineers of the United States Army on 
 the 20th of February, 1861, two days 
 after the inauguration of Jefferson Davis 
 as President of the Confederate States. 
 His exact professional knowledge, united 
 with his energy of character, immedi- 
 ately on his arrival at Charleston, gave 
 increased efficiency to the military pre- 
 parations for the reduction of Sumter, 
 which now awaited the conclusion of the 
 negotiation at Washington. 
 
 One of the first acts of the Confederate 
 Government at Montgomery was to send 
 three distinguished citizens of the South, 
 Messrs. A. B. Roman of Louisiana, for- 
 merly Governor of the State ; John 
 Forsyth of Alabama, Minister to Mexico 
 in President Buchanan's administration ; 
 Martin J. Crawford of Georgia, one of 
 the seceding members of the recent Con- 
 gress, as commissioners to open negotia- 
 tions with the Government at Washing- 
 ton concerning all questions growing out 
 of the separation, with a view to their 
 peaceable solution. They arrived at the 
 capital the day after President Lincoln's 
 inauguration, and a week later, on the 
 twelfth, Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford 
 addressed a formal communication to the 
 Secretary of State, setting forth the mo- 
 tive of their visit, and asking the appoint- 
 ment of an early day to present their 
 credentials and the ..objects of the mis- 
 sion, to the President. To this Mr. 
 Seward wrole an answer, that he was 
 
98 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 unable to comply with the request, and 
 that he had no authority, nor was he at 
 liberty to recognize them as diplomatic 
 agents, or hold correspondence or other 
 communication with them. The refusal 
 thus decided was courteously expressed, 
 and was accompanied by this explanation 
 of the writer's view of the position of 
 affairs : "The Secretary of State frankly 
 confesses that he understands the events 
 which have recently occurred, and the 
 condition of political affairs which actu- 
 ally exists in the part of the Union to 
 which his attention has thus been directed, 
 very differently from the aspect in which 
 they are presented by Messrs. Forsyth 
 and Crawford. He sees in them, not a 
 rightful and accomplished revolution and 
 an independent nation, with an established 
 government, but rather a perversion of a 
 temporary and partisan excitement to 
 the inconsiderate purposes of an unjusti- 
 fiable and unconstitutional aggression 
 apon the rights and tL<i authority vested 
 in the federal government, and hitherto 
 benignly exercised, as from their very 
 nature they always must so be exercised, 
 for the maintenance of the Union, the 
 preservation of liberty, and the secur- 
 ity, peace, welfare, happiness, and ag- 
 grandizement of the American people. 
 The Secretary of State, therefore, avows 
 to Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford that he 
 looks patiently, but confidently, to the 
 cure of evils which have resulted from 
 proceedings so unnecessary, so unwise, so 
 unusual, and so unnatural, not to irregu- 
 lar negotiations, having in view new and 
 untried relations with agencies unknown 
 to and acting in derogation of the Con- 
 stitution and laws, but to regular and 
 considerate action of the people of those 
 States, in cooperation with their brethren 
 in the other States, through the Congress 
 
 of the United States, and such extra- 
 ordinary conventions, if there shall be 
 need thereof, as the federal Constitution 
 contemplates and authorizes to be as- 
 sembled." 
 
 This reply of Mr. Seward was dated 
 March 15th but, by agreement was not 
 called for or delivered till the 8th of 
 April ; a delay for which the Commis- 
 sioners, in the letter which they wrote 
 on its receipt, thus accounted. They were 
 assured at the outset, they said, " by a 
 person occupying a high official position 
 in the Government, and who, as they 
 believed, was speaking by authority, that 
 Fort Sumter would be evacuated within 
 a very few days, and that no measure 
 changing the existing status prejudicially 
 to the Confederate States, as respects 
 Fort Pickens, was then contemplated, and 
 these assurances were subsequently re- 
 peated, with the addition that any con- 
 templated change as respects Pickens, 
 would be notified to them. On the 1st 
 of April they were again informed that 
 there might be an attempt to supply 
 Fort Sumter with provisions, but that 
 Grov. Pickens should have previous notice 
 of this attempt. There was no sugges- 
 tion of any reinforcements. They did 
 not hesitate to believe that these assur- 
 ances expressed the intentions of the 
 Administration at the time, or at all 
 events of prominent members of that 
 Administration. This delay was assented 
 to, for the express purpose of attaining 
 the great end of their mission, to wit : 
 A pacific solution of existing complica- 
 tions. A\ ai . It was only when all these 
 anxious efforts for peace had been ex- 
 hausted, and it became clear that Mr. 
 Lincoln had determined to appeal to the 
 sword to reduce the people of the Con- 
 federate States to the will of the section 
 
DEFIANCE OF TEE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 or party whose President he is, that they 
 resumed the official negotiation tempor- 
 arily suspended, and sent their Secretary 
 for a reply to their official note of 
 March 12." 
 
 In the same communication, among oth- 
 er threatening intimations, they thus, 
 with a calm confidence in the result, re- 
 plied to the pacific suggestions of nego- 
 tiation by Mr. Seward, which* we have 
 just cited from his letter : " The under- 
 signed, like the Secretary of State, have 
 no purpose ' to invite or engage in dis- 
 cussion' of the subject on which their two 
 Governments are so irreconcilably at va- 
 riance. It is this variance that has bro- 
 ken up the old Union, the disintegration 
 of which has only begun. It is proper, 
 however, to advise you that it were well 
 to dismiss the hopes you seem to enter- 
 tain that, by any of the modes indicated, 
 the people of the Confederate States will 
 ever be brought to submit to the author- 
 ity of the Government of the United 
 States. You are dealing with delusions, 
 too, when you seek to separate our peo- 
 ple from our Government, and to charac- 
 terize the deliberate, sovereign act of the 
 people as a ' perversion of a temporary 
 and partisan excitement.' If you cher- 
 ish these dreams you will be awakened 
 from them and find them as unreal and 
 unsubstantial, as others in which you 
 have recently indulged. The undersign- 
 ed would omit the performance of an ob- 
 vious duty were they to fail to make 
 known to the Government of the United 
 States, that the people of the Confederate 
 States have declared their independence 
 with a full knowledge of all the responsi- 
 bilities of that act, and with as firm a de- 
 termination to maintain it by all the 
 means with which nature has endowed 
 them, as ihat which sustained their fath- 
 
 ers when they threw off the authority of 
 the British crown."* 
 
 The immediate cause of this explosion 
 was that the Government, in accordance 
 with the understanding alluded to by the 
 Commissioners, had announced its inten- 
 tion to provision the garrison of Fort Sum- 
 ter, which, by an order of General Beau- 
 regard of the 5th of April, had been de- 
 prived of its carefully regulated daily sup- 
 ply of food from the city. Lieutenant Tal- 
 bot was sent from Washington to commu- 
 nicate this resolve to Governor Pickens. 
 He arrived in Charleston on the 8th, 
 and delivered his message. On its re- 
 ceipt General Beauregard thus addressed 
 Mr. L. P. Walker, the Secretary of War 
 of the Confederate States, at Montgome- 
 ry, by telegraph : " An authorized mes- 
 senger from President Lincoln, just in- 
 formed Governor Pickens and myself 
 that provisions will be sent to Fort Sum- 
 ter peaceably, or otherwise by force." 
 To this the following reply was received, 
 dated the 10th : " If you have no doubt 
 of the authorized character of the agent 
 who communicated to you the intention 
 of the Washington Government, to sup- 
 ply Fort Sumter by force, you will at 
 once demand its evacuation, and if this 
 is refused, proceed in such a manner as 
 you may determine to reduce it. An- 
 swer." Word was sent back the same 
 day : " The demand will be made to- 
 morrow at twelve o'clock." To this the 
 Secretary of War immediately answer- 
 ed : " Unless there are especial reasons 
 connected with your own condition it is 
 considered proper that you should make 
 the demand at an early hour ;" to which 
 urgent message it was responded : " The 
 reasons are special for twelve o'clock." 
 
 * Letter of Messrs. Forsyth, Crawford, and Roman to 
 B i. W. H. Seward, Waslrpgtcn, April 9, 1861. 
 
100 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Two hours later than the time appointed, 
 his military preparations having been 
 carefully made, General Beauregard sent 
 a letter to Major Anderson, stating that 
 " the Government of the Confederate 
 States had hitherto forborne from any hos- 
 tile demonstration against Fort Sumter, in 
 the hope that the Government of the Uni- 
 ted States, with a view to the amicable ad- 
 justment of all questions between the two 
 Governments, and to avert the calamities 
 of war, would voluntarily evacuate it." 
 There was reason, he asserted, to be- 
 lieve that the Government of the United 
 States would, at the time, have pursued 
 such a course, and, with this impression 
 no demand had hitherto been made for 
 the surrender. Now, however, the Con- 
 federate States could " no longer delay 
 assuming actual possession of a fortifica- 
 tion commanding the entrance of one of 
 their harbors and necessary to its defense 
 and security." He then communicated 
 in the name of his Government a demand 
 of the evacuation of Fort Sumter, offer- 
 ing " all proper facilities for the removal 
 of yourself and command, together with 
 company arms and property, and all pri- 
 vate property, to any port in the United 
 States which you may elect. The flag 
 which you have upheld so long and with 
 so much fortitude, under the most trying 
 circumstances, may be saluted by you on 
 taking it down." This demand was car- 
 ried by Colonel Chesnut and Captain Lee, 
 Aids of General Beauregard. The reply 
 of Major Anderson was immediate, in few 
 words : "I have the hon^r to acknowl- 
 edge the receipt of your communication 
 demanding the evacuation of this fort ; 
 and to say in reply thereto that it is a 
 demand with which I regret my sense of 
 honor and of my obligation to my Gov- 
 ernment prevent my compliance." An ac- 
 
 knowledgement was added of "the fair, 
 manly and courteous terms proposed" 
 and " the high compliment" paid him. 
 There were also some remarks made by 
 Major Anderson to the Aids, to the effect 
 that in the present condition of the fort, 
 his forces would soon be starved out, if 
 they were not in the meantime battered 
 to pieces. This reply presently brought 
 from General Beauregard the following 
 communication to Major Anderson, dated 
 an hour before midnight of the same 
 day : " In consequence of the verbal 
 observations made by you to my Aids, 
 Messrs. Chesnut and Lee, in relation to 
 the condition of your supplies, and that 
 you would in a few days be starved out if 
 our guns did not batter you to pieces or 
 words to that effect ; and desiring no 
 useless effusion of blood, I communicated 
 both the verbal communication and your 
 written answer to my * communication to 
 my Government. If you will state the 
 time at which you will evacuate Fort 
 Sumter, and agree that in the meantime 
 you will not use your guns against us, 
 unless ours shall be employed against 
 Fort Sumter, we will abstain from open- 
 ing fire upon you. Colonel Chesnut and 
 Captain Lee are authorized by me to en- 
 ter into an agreement with you. You 
 are, therefore, requested to communicate 
 to them an open answer." Two hours 
 after it was written, at one o'clock on the 
 morning of the 12th there was little 
 sleep that night for the military authori- 
 ties this missive was presented at the 
 fort by an embassy consisting of four Aids 
 of General Beauregard, Colonel Chesnut, 
 Colonel Chisholm, Captain Lee, and Mr. 
 Pryor of Yirginia. The letter was at 
 once considered by Major Anderson and 
 the following reply addressed to General 
 Beauregard, dated half-past two o'clock 
 
OPENING OF THE ATTACK. 
 
 101 
 
 the same morning, submitted to the em- 
 bassadors : " General, I have the honor 
 to acknowledge the receipt of your sec- 
 ond communication of the llth inst., by 
 Colonel Chesrmt, and to state, in reply, 
 that cordially uniting with you in the de- 
 sire to avoid the useless effusion of blood, 
 I will, if provided with the proper and 
 necessary means of transportation, evac- 
 uate Fort Sumter by noon on the 15th 
 instant, should I not receive, prior to that 
 time, controlling instructions from my 
 Government or additional supplies ; and 
 that I will not, in the meantime, open my 
 fire upon your forces, unless compelled 
 to do so by some hostile act against this 
 fort, or the flag of my Government by 
 the forces under your command, or by 
 some portion of them, or by the perpe- 
 tration of some act showing a hostile in- 
 tention on your part against this fort or 
 the flag it bears." In accordance with 
 their instructions this communication was 
 read by Colonel Chesnut and Captain Lee 
 and immediately answered, on the spot, 
 in the following reply, dated twenty min- 
 utes past three : " Sir : By authority of 
 Brigadier-General Beauregard, command- 
 ing the Provisional Forces of the Con- 
 federate States, we have the honor to no- 
 tify you that he will open the fire of his 
 batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour from 
 this time." 
 
 The position of the respective forces 
 in this conflict may be thus generally in- 
 dicated. Entering the harbor of Charles- 
 ton by the main channel from the Atlan- 
 tic there were to the right, on the north, 
 Sullivan's Island with the defences of 
 Fort Moultrie and several adjoining bat- 
 teries commanding the approach from 
 th 3 sea ; within, on the upper end of the 
 island, in an advantageous position for 
 sweeping the left flank of Fort Sumter, 
 
 a floating battery, constructed of palmet- 
 to logs with iron facings, mounting two 
 42 and two 32-pounders ; while beyond, 
 toward the city, a mortar battery was 
 erected at Mount Pleasant. On the 
 south, at Cummings' Point, a projection 
 of Morris' Island, there was a formid- 
 able iron protected battery, and beyond, 
 on another point of land on James Is- 
 land, a mortar battery at Fort Johnson. 
 In front of the two positions just named, 
 though at unequal distances, commanding 
 the channel and facing Fort Moultrie, 
 stood Fort Sumter. 
 
 Before daylight, at half-past four, of 
 Friday, the 12th of April, the hostile 
 proceedings commenced with the firing 
 of a signal shell from Fort Johnson, and 
 in half an hour the fire from the rebel 
 batteries became general. It was not 
 returned, however, from Fort Sumtor 
 till a few minutes before seven o'clock, 
 when Major Anderson, having divided 
 his small force into three relief parties, 
 each to serve for two hours, commenced 
 a vigorous, but, as it proved, ineffectua. 
 attack upon the iron battery at Cum- 
 mings' Point. The enemy's aim from 
 that powerful battery and the two oth- 
 ers at the Point, as well as from their 
 Enfilade Battery, Floating Battery, and 
 Dahlgren Battery, at Sullivan's Island, 
 was to prevent the working and dis- 
 mount the barbette guns of Fort Sum- 
 ter, and so well were these stations 
 taken and their guns handled for the 
 purpose, that the attempt was successful, 
 without any extraordinary difficulty or 
 risk to the assailants, who, well instruct- 
 ed and well protected, skillfully avoided 
 the shot which were poured upon them. 
 " During the day," says General Beaure- 
 gard, in his report of the engagement, 
 " the fire of my baiteries was kept up 
 
102 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 most spiritedly, the guns and mortars 
 being worked in the coolest manner, pre- 
 serving the prescribed intervals of firing. 
 Towards evening it became evident that 
 our fire was very effective, as the enemy 
 was driven from his barbette guns, which 
 he attempted to work in the morning, 
 and his fire was confined to his casemat- 
 ed guns, but hi a less active manner than 
 in the morning, and it was observed that 
 several of his guns en barbette were dis- 
 abled." The fire of Fort Sumter, beside 
 its assault upon the Cummings' Point 
 Battery, was mainly directed upon Fort 
 Moultrie and its adjoining batteries, and, 
 it is admitted, was skillfully employed. 
 The assailing works of the South Caro- 
 linians, however, were too numerous and 
 powerful in comparison, and the well- 
 trained men who occupied them had 
 been suffered too long to make their 
 ample preparations to render the con- 
 test anything but an unequal one. The 
 combatants surrounding the beleaguered 
 fort were at least fifty to one, amply 
 furnished with all the munitions of war 
 and with powerful reserves at hand ; 
 within, a handful of defenders with a 
 scant supply of food, were not in a posi- 
 tion to hold out long, even if the assault 
 were indifferently conducted. But, as it 
 happened, it was attended with some un- 
 usual embarrassments. Three times on 
 Friday, the barracks were set on fire 
 and gallantly extinguished by the men. 
 There were many other individual acts of 
 courage, in manning the guns under the 
 heavy assault, performed that day by 
 the little band. One of the workmen, 
 it is said, was found at a gun which 
 from its exposed position had been aban- 
 doned. " What are you doing here with 
 that gun ? " he was asked. " Hit it right 
 in the centre," was the reply, indicating 
 
 his successful shot aimed at the floating 
 battery. Another, Sergeant Kearney, 
 an old Mexican war veteran, was struck 
 on the head and knocked down l^y a por- 
 tion of the concrete, dashed by the accu- 
 rate fire of the enemy, from an embras- 
 ure. He was asked if he was hurt badly. 
 " No," said he, as he resumed his work, 
 " I was only knocked down temporarily." 
 The enemy's batteries having readily 
 gained the range of the fort, a steady 
 fire of shell from the mortars was thrown 
 at regular intervals of ten or fifteen 
 minutes within its enclosure, effectually 
 depriving the garrison of rest during the 
 night of Friday, which proved rainy and 
 dark, with a high wind. A guard was- 
 kept up by Major Anderson at different 
 points of the work, that he might be 
 ready to repel assailants from the bay or 
 receive the expected reinforcements from 
 the United States vessels of the relieving 
 expedition which had arrived off the 
 bar, and been seen from the fort in the 
 afternoon. The following morning the 
 sun rose in a cloudless sky, and the fir- 
 ing was vigorously resumed on both 
 sides. Presently at nine o'clock, smoke 
 was discovered issuing from Sumter. 
 The wood-work of the quarters was in 
 flames. Upon this the fire of the be- 
 sieging batteries was plied, ii possible, 
 with greater vigor, red hot shot being 
 thrown into the fort. When the smoke 
 was seen, says Beauregard, " the fire of 
 our batteries was increased as a matter 
 of course, for the purpose of bringing 
 the enemy to terms as speedily as pos- 
 sible, inasmuch as his flag was still float- 
 ing defiantly above him. Fort Sumter 
 continued to fire from time to time, but 
 at long and irregular intervals, amid the 
 dense smoke -flying shot and bursting 
 shells. Our brave troops, carried away 
 
PERILS OF THE GARRISON. 
 
 103 
 
 by their naturally generous impulses, 
 mounted the different batteries, and at 
 every discharge from the fort cheered 
 the garrison for its pluck and gallantr} 7 , 
 and hooted the fleet lying inactive just 
 outside the bar." 
 
 The flag of Sumter which was raised 
 on a staff in the open parade, had gal- 
 lantly resisted the perils of the previous 
 day. The halyards had been cut by the 
 bursting shell, but, entangled with the 
 ropes, it still adhered to its position. It 
 was now, however, destined to succumb 
 to the incessant fire when an hour after 
 midday the staff itself was shot away 
 some fifty feet from the truck, it being 
 the ninth time, it was said, that it had 
 been hit. The flag was then nailed to 
 a temporary staff, and planted upon the 
 ramparts. This gallant act was per- 
 formed by a member of the police force 
 of New York, named Peter Hart, who 
 had accompanied Mrs. Anderson, the wife 
 of the commander, on a visit to the fort 
 soon after its occupation, and who, on 
 her departure, had been suffered to re- 
 main. Though not enlisted in the ser- 
 vice, he was quite willing to encounter 
 the fiery storm descending upon the area, 
 and peril his life for the maintenance of 
 the flag. 
 
 Meanwhile, it being found impossible 
 to extinguish the flames, the efforts of 
 officers and men who were not imme- 
 diately employed at the guns, were di- 
 rected to remove the powder from the 
 magazine before the rapid spread of the 
 conflagration should compel it to be 
 closed and rendered inaccessible. Fifty 
 barrels were thus removed and distribut- 
 ed through the casemates, when the heat 
 made it necessary to close the magazine 
 doors and pack earth upon them. As 
 the fire increased, clouds of smoke and 
 
 cinders were driven into the casemates, 
 exposing the powder in its new situation 
 to great risk of explosion, when, by 
 order of the commanding officer, all but 
 five barrels were thrown out of the 
 embrasures into the water. The supply 
 of cartridges was so short that the men 
 were employed during the bombard- 
 ment in manufacturing the bags from 
 blankets, shirts, sheets and such acci- 
 dental materials. Shell lying exposed 
 were exploded by the shot or the flames 
 from the barracks, which it was a vain 
 endeavor of the officers and men to 
 check. The gunners, begrimed, weary, 
 exhausted, oppressed almost to suffoca- 
 tion by the stifling atmosphere, could 
 breathe the infected air only by throw- 
 ing themselves with their faces to the 
 ground, and protecting their respira- 
 tion with wet cloths and handkerchiefs. 
 Fortunately the men were few in number 
 or the slaughter would have been fearful, 
 from the inability to secure shelter. 
 This continued for hours, the fire of the 
 assailants being still poured in with in- 
 creasing fury, while the defenders could 
 reply only at intervals with an occasional 
 shot. It was evident to the combatants 
 on the bay, and to the eager spectators 
 at Charleston, who witnessed the smoke, 
 flames and explosions, that such a scene 
 must soon end in the utter desiruction, 
 if not of the fort, at least of its inmates. 
 At this crisis, when the flag had dis- 
 appeared from the staff and not yet been 
 seen on the ramparts, a boat was sent in 
 the midst of a heavy fire of shot and 
 shell to the fort from Cummings' Point, 
 bearing Colonel Louis T. Wigfall of 
 Texas, a seceding United States Senator 
 of the late Congress, at present a volun- 
 teer aid of General Beauregard. He 
 had been detached by that officer lor 
 
104 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 special duty on Morris' Island and was 
 now crossing by order of Brigadier- 
 General Simons with a flag of truce a 
 white handkerchief elevated on the point 
 of his sword "to ascertain from Major 
 Anderson whether his intention was to 
 surrender, his flag being down and his 
 quarters in flames." On arriving outside 
 the fort he announced himself and called 
 for Major Anderson who, immediately, 
 accompanied by Lieutenant Snyder, 
 passed through the blazing gateway to 
 meet him. Before they could reach him, 
 however, Colonel Wigfall had been ad- 
 mitted through an embrasure into the 
 fort where he was met by Captain Foster, 
 Lieutenant Mead and Lieutenant Davis, 
 when the following conversation is re- 
 ported to have occurred. Hastily asking 
 to see Major Anderson, he added in an 
 excited manner, " Let us stop this firing. 
 You are on fire and your flag is down. Let 
 us quit." To this Lieutenant Davis replied, 
 " No, sir, our flag is not down. Step out 
 here and you will see it waving over the 
 ramparts." "Let us quit this," said Wig- 
 fall. " Here's a white flag. Will any 
 body wave it out of the embrasure." One 
 of the officers replied, "That is for you 
 to do, if you choose." Wigfall responded. 
 " If there is no one else to do it, I will," 
 and jumping into the embrasure waved 
 the flag toward Moultrie, while the firing 
 was still continued from that fort and the 
 batteries on Sullivan's Island. Having 
 thus made the act his own, at his request, 
 he was relieved of this hazardous occu- 
 pation by a corporal who was directed 
 to hold " Colonel Wigfall's flag." The new 
 incumbent, however, soon grew as im- 
 patient of the duty as the rebel Senator. 
 When several shots had presently struck 
 around him he started back exclaiming, 
 " D- -n it. I won't hold that flag, for they 
 
 don't respect it. They are firing at it. 
 They struck their colors but we never 
 did." Upon which Wigfall remarked, 
 " They fired at me two or three times 
 and I stood it ; and I should think you 
 might stand it once;" adding, "If you 
 will show a white flag from your ram- 
 parts they will cease firing." Lieutenant 
 Davis replied, " If you request that a 
 flag shall be shown there while you hold 
 a conference with Major Anderson, and 
 for that purpose alone, it may be done." 
 
 At this point Major Anderson came 
 up, having reentered through an embra- 
 sure, when the Colonel introduced himself. 
 " Major Anderson," said he, " you have 
 defended your flag nobly, sir. You have 
 done all that is possible for men to do, and 
 General Beauregard wishes to stop the 
 fight. On what terms, Major Anderson, 
 will you evacuate the fort ?" To this 
 Major Anderson replied, "General Beau- 
 regard is already acquainted with my 
 only terms." " Do I understand that 
 you will evacuate upon the terms pro- 
 posed the other day?" " Yes, sir, and 
 on those conditions only." " Then, sir," 
 said Colonel Wigfall, " I understand that 
 the fort is to be ours ?" " On those con- 
 ditions only, I repeat." " Very well," 
 said Wigfall, and he retired. Such was 
 the conversation as it was understood 
 and reported by the inmates of Fort 
 Sumter. The commanding officer under- 
 stood the conditions to be accepted on 
 the basis spoken of, and the white flag 
 was raised and the United States flag 
 lowered accordingly. 
 
 Shortly after this scene a new deputa- 
 tion appeared at the fort, sent by Gen- 
 eral Beauregard himself, on noticing the 
 change of the flag, to offer assistance to 
 the garrison in their evident extremity. 
 It consisted of three of his Aids, Cap- 
 
INCIDENTS OF THE SURRENDER. 
 
 105 
 
 tains Lee, Roger A. Pryor and W. Por- 
 cLer Miles. They delivered their mes- 
 sage, proffering assistance, and Major 
 Anderson replied, that he had already 
 agreed upon the terms of evacuation, 
 when it appeared that some misunder- 
 standing had arisen, or that Wigfall had 
 acted without the authority of the Com- 
 mander in Chief. This new embarrass- 
 ment, however, was cured by the prompt 
 arrival of another embassy sent by Gen- 
 eral Beauregard, consisting of Major D. 
 R. Jones, the chief of his Staff, with sev- 
 eral other Aids, charged with the volun- 
 tary offer of substantially the same pro- 
 positions submitted to Major Anderson 
 in the correspondence a few days pre- 
 ceding the bombardment, with the ex- 
 ception of the privilege of saluting his 
 flag. To this Major Anderson replied 
 we cite here the language of General 
 Beau regard's Report " It would be ex- 
 ceediigly gratifying to him, as well as to 
 his command, to be permitted to salute 
 their flag, having so gallantly defended 
 the fort, under such trying circumstan- 
 ces, and he hoped that General Beaure- 
 gard would not refuse it, as such a priv- 
 ilege was not unusual." He further said, 
 " he would not urge the point, but would 
 prefer to refer the matter again to Gen- 
 eral Beauregard." " The point was, 
 therefore," continues General Beaure- 
 gard, " left open until the matter was 
 submitted to me. I very cheerfully 
 agreed to allow the salute as an honor- 
 able testimony to the gallantry and for- 
 titude with which Major Anderson and 
 his command had defended their post, 
 and I informed Major Anderson of my 
 decision about half-past seven o'clock, 
 through Major Jones." Previous to the 
 return of Major Jones, it should be add- 
 ed, General Beauregard sent a fire-en- 
 14 
 
 gine, under Mr. H. Nathan, Chief of the 
 Fire Department, and Surgeon-General 
 Gibbes of South Carolina, with several 
 of his Aids, to offer further assistance to 
 the garrison of Fort Sumter, which was 
 declined.* 
 
 An incident is related as having oc- 
 curred in the somewhat confused embas- 
 sies attending the surrender, which, hap- 
 pily escaping the tragic, is not without 
 that tinge of the ludicrous which is found 
 often provokingly blended with the dig- 
 nity of great and imposing events. We 
 give the story as we find it in a news- 
 paper of the day a specimen of the 
 rough humors of the war. " Roger A. 
 Pryor of Virginia, ex-Member of Con- 
 gress, was one of the second deputation 
 that waited upon Major Anderson. He 
 was the very embodiment of Southern 
 chivalry. Literally dressed to kill, brist- 
 ling with bowie-knives and revolvers, 
 like a walking arsenal, he appeared to 
 think himself individually capable of 
 capturing the fort, without any extran- 
 eous assistance. Inside of the fort he 
 seemed to think himself master of every 
 thing monarch of all he surveyed and, 
 in keeping with this pretension, seeing 
 upon the table what appeared to be a 
 glass of brandy, drank it without cere- 
 mony. Surgeon Crawford, who had wit- 
 nessed the feat, approached him and 
 said : " Sir, what you have drunk is poi- 
 son it was the iodide of potassium 
 you are a dead man." The representa- 
 tive of chivalry instantly collapsed, bow- 
 ie-knives, revolvers and all, and passed 
 into the hands of Surgeon Crawford, who, 
 by purgings, pumpings, and pukings, de- 
 feated his own prophecy in regard to his 
 
 * Official Report of Brigadier-General G. T. Beauregard 
 to Brigadier-General Cooper, Adjutant-General C. S. A., 
 Headquarters Provisional Army, Charleston, S. C., ApiU 
 27, 1861. 
 
106 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 fate. Mr. Pry or left Fort Sumter " a 
 wiser, if not a better man." * 
 
 It was arranged at the request of Major 
 Anderson, in accordance with the liberal 
 terms of the surrender, that the formal 
 evacuation should take place on Sunday, 
 the day after the final bombardment. A 
 steamer was to be placed at his disposal 
 for the removal of his command with 
 their effects, and the flag was to be sa- 
 luted by the force- in the garrison pre- 
 vious to embarkation. Lieutenant Snyder 
 was sent from the fort to communicate 
 with the fleet lying off the harbor, to 
 arrange for the reception on board the 
 national vessels. Saturday night was 
 mostly spent in packing up the personal 
 property and hospital stores for the de- 
 parture. Early the next morning the 
 preparations were completed. Lieutenant 
 Snyder was conducted to the fleet by Com- 
 modore Hartstein and several officers of 
 General Beauregard's staff, and presently 
 returned with Captain Gillis of the United 
 States Navy, the commander of the Poca- 
 hontas, to the fort. The Charleston steam- 
 er Isabel, which had been provided by 
 the military authorities, was brought up to 
 conduct the garrison to the ships ; while 
 the old flag, stained and torn in battle^ 
 which for nearly four months had ani- 
 mated the spirits of the defenders during 
 the anxious siege, and which they had so 
 gallantly sustained during the last two 
 days in the fiery attack of shot and shell 
 and the more fearful conflagration, was 
 raised upon the ramparts waiting the 
 honors of the parting salute. It is stated 
 to have been the intention of Major 
 Anderson to have fired a salute of one 
 hundred guns, but the number was re- 
 duced to fifty by an untoward accident, 
 
 * N. T. Tribune, April 19, 1861. Moore's Rebellion Re- 
 cord, I, Incidents, Ac., p. 28. 
 
 which imparted an additional gloom to 
 the melancholy scene. In the course of 
 the firing a quantity of ammunition near 
 the guns was exploded, instantly killing 
 one of the men and fatally wounding 
 another, while several others were more 
 or less injured. Every attention was 
 paid to the sufferers by Dr. Crawford of 
 the garrison, assisted by Prof. Chisholm 
 of Charleston, Assistant-Surgeon Maddox 
 of the State forces, and others. When 
 the salute was finished, the victim of the 
 disaster, private Hough, was buried with 
 military honors in the centre of the 
 parade ground, the Chaplain of the Con- 
 federate troops assisting at the funeral 
 service. After this ceremony the United 
 States troops, dressed in fall uniform, 
 wearing their arms, were formed into line, 
 and, to the national air of "Yankee 
 Doodle," marched out of the fort. 
 
 Whilst this was taking place at Sum- 
 ter a distinguished party of the civil and 
 military authorities of South Carolina 
 and the Confederate Government were on 
 their way to the spot, the story of whose 
 visit, as narrated at the time in the 
 Charleston Mercury will convey to the 
 reader a vivid impression of the scenes 
 of the day. " At half-past twelve," says 
 the writer,- " his Excellency Governor 
 Pickens, with his Aids, and Messrs. Jam- 
 ison, Harllee and Magrath, of his Exec- 
 utive Council, and General Beauregard, 
 with his Aids, Messrs. Miles, Prior, 
 Manning, Chesnut and Jones, and many 
 distinguished gentlemen, invited to be 
 present, took their departure in a steam- 
 er from Southern Wharf, and were borne 
 in the direction of the Fort. As we ad- 
 vanced, it was apparent, however, that 
 the evacuation was not completed. 
 Though the steamer Isabel, at the request 
 of Major Anderson had been present 
 
A PARTY FROM CHARLESTON. 
 
 107 
 
 from nine o'clock, and the expectation 
 bad been occasioned that very soon there- 
 after his command would be under way, 
 still causes of delay had intervened. To 
 avoid the embarrassments of a prema- 
 ture arrival, the party was landed on 
 Sullivan's Island. Availing themselves 
 of the opportunities thus afforded, they 
 visited the floating battery, the Dahl- 
 gren battery, the enfilading battery, and 
 were ascending the mortar battery, when 
 the booming of the guns upon the para- 
 pets of Fort Sumter, announced the low- 
 ering of the " stars and stripes." In the 
 terms of the capitulation it was allowed 
 to Major Anderson to salute his flag, and 
 it was perhaps expected that he would 
 fire the usual complement of twenty-one 
 guns ; but, reaching that number, he still 
 went on to fire, and the apprehension was 
 that he might exhibit the discourtesy of 
 numbering thirty-four. But he continued 
 still to fire, up to fifty, and then slowly 
 lowering his flag, the shouts from assem- 
 bled thousands, upon the shores and the 
 steamers, and every species of water 
 craft, announced that the authority of the 
 late United States upon the last foot of 
 Carolina's soil was finally withdrawn. It 
 had been noticed that at the firing of the 
 seventeenth gun, there was the sound as 
 of two reports, and the impression was, 
 that two guns had been fired together ; 
 but, as the party, reembarking, were on 
 their way to Fort Sumter, they were met 
 by a boat, which announced that one of 
 the caissons had exploded, and made the 
 earnest request that the boat would re- 
 turn to Sullivan's Island for a fire-engine, 
 from the apprehension that the magazine 
 might be in danger. This obtained, the 
 party again started for the fort, and made 
 their entrance. 
 
 41 It were vain to attempt a detailed 
 
 I description of the scene. Every point 
 and e-ery object in the interior of the 
 fort, to which the eye was turned, except 
 the outer walls and casemates, which are 
 still strong, bore the impress of ruin. It 
 were as if the Genius of Destruction had 
 tasked its energies to make the thing com- 
 plete, brooded over by the desolation of 
 ages. It could scarce have been devel- 
 oped to a more full maturity of ruin. The 
 walls of the internal structure, roofless, 
 bare, blackened, and perforated by shot 
 and shell, hung in fragments, and seemed 
 in instant readiness to totter down 
 Near the centre of the parade-ground 
 was the hurried grave of one who had 
 fallen from the recent casuality. To the 
 left of the entrance was a man who seem- 
 ed to be at the verge of death. In the 
 ruins, to the right, there was another. 
 The shattered flag-staff, pierced by four 
 balls, lay sprawling on the ground. The 
 parade-ground was strewn with fragments 
 of shell and of the dilapidated buildings. 
 At least four guns were dismounted on 
 the ramparts, and at every step the way 
 was impeded by portions of the broken 
 structure. And so it was that the author- 
 ities, compelled to yield the fortress, had 
 at least the satisfaction of leaving it in a 
 condition calculated to inspire the least 
 possible pleasure to its captors. 
 
 " Of all this, however, the feeling was 
 lost when, ascending to the parapet, the 
 brilliant panorama of the bay appeared. 
 And when, from this key to the harbor, 
 the view expanded to the waving outline 
 of main and island, and when, upon this 
 key, the flag of the Confederacy, togeth- 
 er with the Palmetto flag, were both ex- 
 panded to the breeze ; and when the 
 deafening shouts arose from the masses 
 clustered upon boats and upon the shores, 
 and when the batteries around the entire 
 
108 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION 
 
 circuit shook the fortress with the thun- 
 ders of their salutation, the feeling that 
 the victory was indeed complete ; that 
 the triumph was a fact accomplished ; 
 (hat liberty had indeed been vindicated, 
 and that the State had established her 
 claim to the skill and courage necessary 
 to the cause she had the intellectual in- 
 trepidity to avow, thrilled in the breast 
 of every one of Carolina's sons, as sel- 
 dom has such feeling thrilled in the 
 breasts of any men before. Shortly af- 
 ter the arrival, the garrison marched out, 
 and were received on board the Isabel ; 
 which, however, from the condition of the 
 tide was unable to move off, and it was a 
 somewhat unpleasant circumstance that 
 Major Anderson and his command should 
 have been made unwilling spectators of 
 the exultations inspired by their defeat." 
 We may indeed, severely as all pat- 
 riots must censure the fatal policy of the 
 attack upon Fort Sumter, and the wicked 
 counsels of the conspirators against the 
 peace and happiness of the nation which 
 inspired it, allow the authorities at 
 Charleston credit for a certain gener- 
 osity in their manner of proceeding after 
 the work was taken though it would 
 have added to their claims to respect, if 
 the firing had not been so ruthlessly con- 
 tinued, and even augmented, when the 
 fort was in flames. The leaders appear 
 to have been touched by the gallantry 
 of the defenders. In their own view of 
 the matter, they doubtless thought they 
 were making considerable concessions to 
 a fallen foe in the easy and honorable 
 terms of surrender. What that point 
 of view was, and how the capitulation 
 was represented at the South, we may 
 learn from an extraordinary passage in 
 the Message at the close of the month, 
 of FVesident Jefferson Davis to his Con- 
 
 federate Congress. " I cannot refrain," 
 says he, in that document, "from a well 
 deserved tribute to the noble State, the 
 eminent soldierly qualities of whose peo- 
 ple were so conspicuously displayed in 
 the port of Charleston. For months they 
 had been irritated by the spectacle of a 
 fortress held within their principal har- 
 bor, as a standing menace against their 
 peace and independence. Built in part 
 with their own money, its custody con- 
 fided with their own consent to an agent 
 who held no power over them, other than 
 such as they had themselves delegated 
 for their own benefit, intended to be used 
 by that agent for their own protection 
 against foreign attack, they saw it held 
 with persistent tenacity as a means of 
 offence against them by the very gov- 
 ernment which they had established for 
 their protection. They had beleagured 
 it for months felt entire confidence in 
 their power to capture it yet yielded 
 to the requirements of discipline, curbed 
 their impatience, submitted without com- 
 plaint to the unaccustomed hardships, 
 labors and privations of a protracted 
 siege ; and when at length their patience 
 was rewarded by the signal for attack, 
 and success had crowned their steady 
 and gallant conduct even in the very 
 moment of triumph they evinced a 
 chivalrous regard for the feelings of the 
 brave but unfortunate officer who had 
 been compelled to lower his flag. All 
 manifestations of exultation were check- 
 ed in his presence. Their commanding 
 general, with their cordial approval and 
 the consent of his Government, refrain- 
 ed from imposing any terms that could 
 wound the sensibilites of the comman- 
 der of the fort. He was permitted to 
 retire with the honors of war to salute 
 his flag, to depart freely with all his 
 
MAJOR ANDERSON'S DESPATCH. 
 
 109 
 
 command, and was escorted to the vessel 
 in wLich he embarked with the highest 
 marks of respect from those against 
 whom his guns had been so recently 
 directed. Not only does every event 
 connected with the siege reflect the high- 
 est honor on South Carolina, but the for- 
 bearance of her people, and of this gov- 
 ernment, of making any harsh use of a 
 victory obtained under circumstances of 
 such peculiar provocation, attest to the 
 fullest extent the absence of any purpose 
 beyond securing their own tranquility, 
 and the sincere desire to avoid the cal- 
 amities of war." 
 
 Major Anderson, with his command, 
 remained Sunday night in the harbor on 
 board the Isabel. On Monday morning 
 they were transported to the steamer 
 Baltic, and sailed immediately for the 
 north. When the men were all em- 
 barked, the flag of Sumter was raised to 
 the mast head and saluted by the guns 
 of the Baltic, the Pocahontas, the Paw- 
 nee and Harriet Lane. As the ship 
 entered the bay of New York, on the 
 morning of the 18th, the flag was again 
 elevated and greeted with the salutes of 
 the forts and the cheers of enthusiastic 
 spectators. On his approach to the har- 
 bor, while off Sandy Hook, Major Ander- 
 son addressed this brief despatch to the 
 Secretary of War : " Having defended 
 Fort Sumter for thirt} T -four hours, until 
 the quarters were entirely burned, the 
 main gates destroyed by fire, the gorge 
 wall seriously injured, the magazine sur- 
 rounded by flames and its doors closed 
 from the effects of the heat, four barrels 
 and three cartridges of powder only be- 
 ing available, and no provisions but pork 
 remaining, I accepted terms of evacua- 
 tion offered by General Beauregard, being 
 the same offered by him on the llth inst., 
 
 prior to the crmmencement of hostilities, 
 and marched out of the fort Sunday 
 afternoon, the 14th inst., with colors 
 flying and drums beating, bringing away 
 company and private property and salut- 
 ing my flag with fifty guns."* 
 
 Captain Foster's Engineer journal of 
 the bombardment, published with the 
 Annual Report of the War Department, 
 presents us with many interesting partic- 
 ulars of the defence in an authentic 
 form. It appears from this that for a few 
 days preceding the attack, when the ene- 
 my's batteries were first unmasked on Sul- 
 livan's Island, there was great activity in 
 the fort in providing additional security 
 for the working of the heavy guns on the 
 parapet, which were intended to operate 
 upon Fort Moultrie and Cummings' Point, 
 and in preparing means for quickly un- 
 loading any vessel which might run in 
 with supplies for the garrison. In the 
 absence of sand-bags a heavy double curb 
 of boards and scantling, to serve as a 
 traverse or screen for the protection of 
 the gunners, was raised by night to the 
 parapet and filled with earth, which had 
 been hoisted from the parade. Ladders 
 and runaways were provided to take in 
 reinforcements and provisions at the em- 
 brasures, one of which was enlarged to 
 the size of a barrel. On the 9th of April 
 the quantity of bread is reported as 
 "very small," and only half-rations of it 
 were allowed to the men. The next day 
 it failed entirely, and its place was sup- 
 plied by " picking over some damaged 
 rice, which, while spread out during the 
 day in one of the quarters had been filled 
 with pieces of glass from the window 
 panes shattered by the concussion of 
 guns fired in practice." It being found 
 
 * Major Anderson to the Hon. S. Cameron, Secretary ct 
 War, steamship Baltic, of* Sandy Hook, April 18, 1861. 
 
11C 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 that there were few cartridges on hand, 
 the surplus blankets and extra company 
 clothing were cut up to make bags for an 
 additional supply. The manufacture, 
 however, proceeded slowly, for there 
 were but six needles to work with in the 
 fort. At the commencement of the ac- 
 tion the entire armament consisted of 
 twenty-seven guns mounted en barbette, 
 of which two were 10-inch columbiads, 
 six 8-inch columbiads, six 42-pounders, 
 three 32 ? s, six 24's, and four 8-inch sea- 
 coast howitzers ; of twenty-one guns, 
 four 42-pounders and the rest 32- 
 pounders in the lower casemate tier the 
 embrasures of the upper were filled with 
 brick and stone and earth while on the 
 parade one 10 -inch columbiad was ar- 
 ranged to throw shells into Charleston, 
 and four 8-inch columbiads to throw 
 shells into the batteries on Cummings' 
 Point. Of all these, the casemate guns 
 were the only ones used. The supply of 
 cartridges, seven hundred in number, 
 with which the action commenced, became 
 so much reduced by the middle of the 
 first day that " although the six needles 
 were kept steadily employed" the firing 
 was of necessity confined to six guns. 
 
 The effect of the fire Captain Foster 
 admits was not very good, which he at- 
 tributes to the insufficient calibre of the 
 guns for the long range. Not much dam- 
 age, he says, " appeared to be done to 
 any of the batteries except those of Fort 
 Moultrie where our two 42-pounders ap- 
 peared to have silenced one gun for a 
 time, to have injured the embrasures 
 considerably, riddled the barracks and 
 quarters, and torn three holes through 
 their flag. The so-called 'floating bat- 
 tery ' was struck very frequently by our 
 shot, one of them penetrating at the an- 
 gle between the front and roof, entirely 
 
 through the iron covering and woodwork 
 beneath, and wounding one man. The 
 rest of the 3 2 -pounder balls failed to 
 penetrate the front or the roof, but were 
 deflected from their surfaces, which were 
 arranged at a suitable angle for this pur- 
 pose. We could not strike below the 
 water-line on account of the sea-wall be- 
 hind which the battery had been ground- 
 ed, and which was just high enough to 
 allow their guns to fire over it and to in- 
 tercept all our ricochet shots. The col- 
 uinbiad battery and Dahlgren battery 
 near the floating battery did not appear 
 to be much injured by the few shots that 
 were fired at them. Only one or two 
 shots were fired at Fort Johnson, and 
 none at Castle Pinckney or the city. 
 Our fire towards Morris' Island was 
 mainly directed at the iron-clad battery, 
 but the small calibre of our shot failed 
 to penetrate the covering when struck 
 fairly. The aim was therefore taken at 
 the embrasures, which were struck at 
 least twice, disabling the guns for a 
 time." 
 
 In regard to the fire from the enemy 
 and its effect upon the fort, Captain Fos- 
 ter states that " the vertical fire was so 
 well directed and so well sustained that 
 from the seventeen mortars engaged in 
 firing 10-inch shells, one half of the 
 shells came within or exploded above 
 the parapet of the fort and only about 
 ten buried themselves in the soft earth 
 of the parade without exploding. In 
 consequence of this precision of vertical 
 fire Major Anderson decided not to man 
 the upper tier of guns, as by doing so 
 the loss of men, notwithstanding the 
 traverses and bomb-proof shelters that 
 I had constructed, must have been great. 
 These guns were therefore fired only 
 once or twice by some men who ven- 
 
C APT UN FOSTER'S REPORT 
 
 111 
 
 tured upon the parapet for this purpose. 
 In doing this they.managed without much 
 care, pioducing little or no effect upon 
 the enemy, besides doing injury to the 
 guns. At the third fire of the 10-inch 
 columbiad at the right gorge angle it was 
 omitted to throw the friction wheels out 
 of bearing, and consequently, in the re- 
 coil, the gun ran entirely off its chassiz, 
 overturning itself, and in its fall dismount- 
 ing the 8-inch sea coast howitzer next 
 to it. The direction of the enemy's shells 
 being from the north-east, north, south- 
 west and south-east, sought every part 
 of the work, and the fuses being well 
 graduated, exploded, in most instances, 
 just within the line of parapet. To this 
 kind of fire no return was made from the 
 columbiads arranged to fire shell, nor 
 were the hot shot furnaces used or open- 
 ed. The effect of the direct fire of the 
 enemy w&s not so marked as the vertical. 
 For several hours from the commence- 
 ment a large proportion of their shot 
 missed the fort. An 8-inch colum- 
 biad of the upper tier was . dismounted, 
 and another struck on its side and crack- 
 ed by the guns of Fort Moultrie. Three 
 of the iron cisterns over the hall-ways 
 were destroyed by shots during the day, 
 and the quarters below deluged by their 
 contents of water, aiding in preventing 
 the extension of the fires. The enemy's 
 fire on the second day was more rapid 
 and effective. None of the upper tier of 
 guns, however, were dismounted. After 
 the cessation of fire about six hundred 
 shot marks on the face of the scarp wall 
 were counted, but they were so scattered 
 that no breached effect could have been 
 expected from such fire, and probably 
 none was attempted except at the right 
 gorge angle. The only effect of the di- 
 raot fire during the two days was to dis- 
 
 able three barbette guns, knock off large 
 portions of the chimneys and brick walls 
 projecting above the parapet, and to set 
 the quarters on fire with hot shot." 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, the terri- 
 ble fire of the descending shells and the 
 conflagration of the quarters, . the fort, 
 Captain Foster thinks, might have been 
 held for some time had it not been for 
 other insurmountable difficulties. " We 
 could," he says, " have resumed the fir- 
 ing as soon as the walls cooled sufficient 
 to open the magazines ; and then having 
 blown down the wall left projecting above 
 the parapet, so as to get rid of flying 
 bricks, and built up the main gates with 
 stones and rubbish, the fort would actu- 
 ally have been in a more defensible con- 
 dition than when the action commenced. 
 In fact it would have been better if the 
 chimneys, roofs and upper walls of the 
 quarters and barracks had been removed 
 before the firing began, but the short 
 notice and the small force did not permit 
 anything of this kind after the notice of 
 the attack was received. The weakness 
 of the defence principally lay in the lack 
 of cartridge bags and of the* materials to 
 make them, by which the fire of our bat- 
 teries was all the time rendered slow, and 
 towards the last was nearly suspended. 
 The lack of a sufficient number of men 
 to man the barbette tier of guns, at the 
 risk of losing several by the heavy ver- 
 tical fire of the enemy, also prevented us 
 making use of the only guns that had the 
 power to smash his iron-clad batteries, 
 or of throwing shells into his open bat- 
 teries so as to destroy his cannoniers. 
 The want of provisions would soon have 
 caused the surrender of the fort, but with 
 plenty of cartridges J ihe men would have 
 cheerfully fought five or six days, and, if 
 necessary, much longer, on pork alone, 
 
112 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 of which we had a sufficient supply. I 
 do not think that a breach could have 
 been effected in the gorge at the distance 
 of the battery on Cummings' Point within 
 a week or ten days ; and even then, with 
 the small garrison to defend it, and means 
 for obstructing it at our disposal, the 
 operation of assaulting it, with even vastly 
 superior numbers, would have been very 
 doubtful in its results."* 
 
 Having thus briefly narrated the for- 
 tunes of Fort Sumter and its gallant 
 defenders during the bombardment, we 
 may turn to contemplate more particular- 
 ly the means by which the captiire was 
 effected. The well contrived battery at 
 Cummings' Point, where the guns were 
 pointed from a shelving defence con- 
 structed of railroad iron, admirably 
 adapted for the protection of those 
 within, by throwing off opposing balls at 
 an angle, was most effective in its dis- 
 charges against the fort. Its contiguity 
 to the less defended side of the fort also 
 aided its destructiveness. The guns of 
 this battery, which were admitted by 
 Major Anderson to have been well han- 
 dled, numbered three 8-inch or 64-pound 
 columbiads, from which were fired during 
 the combat one hundred and eighty-three 
 solid shot and sixty shells. The distance 
 was about twelve hundred yards, a short 
 range for these powerful missives. In 
 addition to this Stevens or Iron Battery, 
 worked by a detachment of the Palmetto 
 Guard, there were mounted at the Point 
 on Morris' Island two 42-pound guns, 
 six 10-inch mortars and a 12-pounder 
 imported Blakely rifle cannon, all of 
 which were efficient in -sweeping the ex- 
 posed places of the fort. Nearly four 
 
 * Engineer Journal of the Bombardment of Fort Sumter, 
 oy Captain J. G. Foster, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. New 
 York October 1, 1861. 
 
 hundred shells and as many solid shot 
 were thrown from these works. 
 
 Sullivan's Island, on the opposite side, 
 mounted no less than six distinct bat- 
 teries bearing on Fort Sumter at various 
 distances. The most important of these 
 was the Sumter Battery of Fort Moultrie, 
 commanded by Lieutenant Alfred Rhett. 
 There were in this battery three 64- 
 pound columbiads, two 32 and four 
 24-pounders, from which were discharged 
 six hundred and fifty shots, including two 
 hundred and forty-eight 64-pound balls 
 and forty-one red hot 32-pound balls. The 
 distance is about eighteen hundred yards. 
 Other batteries to the right and left 
 mounted eleven guns of heavy calibre 
 and four 10-inch mortars, discharging 
 more than a thousand solid shot and some 
 two hundred and fifty shells. There were 
 also the Mount Pleasant mortar battery 
 and two others on James Island, mount- 
 ing altogether six 10-inch mortars. 
 From fourteen batteries, in all, mounting 
 forty-two heavy guns and mortars, well 
 manned and in full action, were thrown 
 more than three thousand balls and shells. 
 The exact number is stated at two thou- 
 sand three hundred and sixty-one shot 
 and nine hundred and eighty shells.* 
 The number of men actively employed 
 in the circuit of the Confederate works, 
 may with moderation be stated as ex- 
 ceeding three thousand. The force in 
 reserve would swell the number to seven 
 or eight thousand. 
 
 Fort Sumter was constructed for three 
 tiers of guns, two in casemated batteries, 
 and the third en barbette. To man its 
 entire armament when complete, of one 
 hundred and forty guns, would require the 
 services of at least six hundred men. The 
 
 * These details are from an elaborate article published 
 in the Charleston Mercury, May 2, 3. 
 
BEAUREGARD'S REPORT. 
 
 113 
 
 fort being unfinished, however, when 
 Major Anderson took possession, and be- 
 ing occupied and held under very un- 
 favorable circumstances, without supplies 
 of materials, notwithstanding the zealous 
 labor of its defenders was, at the time of 
 the siege, in a very inadequate condition 
 for defence. It had, as we have seen 
 when the attack had commenced, but fifty- 
 three guns mounted, and of these twenty- 
 one only were used. Its entire force was a 
 body, all told, of one hundred and thir- 
 teen men, of whom nine were commis- 
 sioned officers, seventeen non-commis- 
 sioned, forty-two privates, six attached 
 to the band, a small number of mechanics, 
 and the rest laborers. The artillery force, 
 under favorable circumstances, was bare- 
 ly equal to the management of nine guns. 
 The officers, however, were of a resolute 
 spirit, and their men, two companies of 
 the First Artillery, shewed themselves 
 every way worthy of the occasion. The 
 names of the gallant little band in com- 
 mand under Major Anderson are worth 
 remembering. More than one of them by 
 their services in the subsequent war have 
 gained additional claims upon the public 
 attention. They were Assistant-Surgeon 
 S. Wylie Crawford, of the Medical Staff ; 
 Captain Abner Doubleday, Captain True- 
 man Seymour, First Lieutenant Jefferson 
 Davis Second Lieutenant N. J. Hall, all 
 of the First Artillery ; Captain J. G. 
 Foster, Lieutenant G. W. Snyder and 
 R. K. Meade, of the Engineers. Captain 
 Foster, a native of New Hampshire, was 
 a distinguished graduate of West Point of 
 the class of 1846. He served in Mexico 
 with honor, being severely wounded at 
 El Molino del Rey, was bre vetted Cap- 
 tain, and subsequently was employed as 
 Assistant Professor of Engineering at 
 West Point. After the defence of Sumter 
 15 
 
 he was engaged in the superintendence of 
 raising fortifications at Sandy Hook. He 
 was next appointed by the President 
 Brigadier-General of volunteers, in which 
 capacity we shall meet with him again in 
 the North Carolina Expedition of General 
 Burnside. 
 
 All accounts agree as to the zest with 
 which the incessant murderous fire was 
 hurled upon the devoted fort, and the 
 fortitude with which it was sustained. 
 The usually cool narrative of General 
 Beauregard in his official account, ap- 
 proaches enthusiasm as he enumerates 
 the particular services rendered by the 
 warriors of South Carolina in this mem- 
 orable action. The names are too num- 
 erous to recount, but we may mention as. 
 especially honored by their commander, 
 Lieutenant-Colonel R. S. Ripley, Com- 
 mandant of Batteries on Sullivan's Is- 
 land, Lieutenant-Colonel W. G. De Saus- 
 sure who directed the batteries on Mor- 
 ris' Island, Major P. F. Stevens, of the 
 Naval Academy in charge of the Cum- 
 mings' Point Batteries, Captain Thomas, 
 of the Citadel Academy, at the same 
 spot, " who had charge of the rifle-can- 
 non, and had the honor of using this val- 
 uable weapon, a gift of one of South Car- 
 olina's distant Sons to his native State, 
 with peculiar effect ; " while to the en- 
 gineers, Majors Whiting and Gwynn and 
 others, " too much praise cannot be be- 
 stowed for their untiring zeal, energy and 
 gallantry." Captain Hartstein, who at 
 the surrender showed praiseworthy at- 
 tentions to his old associates, is in par- 
 ticular commended for the service which 
 he rendered in 4he naval department as 
 one of the General's volunteer Aids, 
 11 perfectly indefatigable in guarding the 
 entrance into the harbc r, and in trans- 
 mitting my orders." Colonol Wigfall 
 
114 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 in like manner is commended for the 
 devotion, which we have recorded, in 
 his passage to Fort Sumter in an open 
 boat amidst a heavy fire of shot and 
 shell. Nor, as one of the interesting 
 anecdotes of the occasion, must the inci- 
 dent much dwelt upon at the time in 
 South Carolina, be forgotten, of " the 
 venerable and gallant Edward Euffin of 
 Virginia, at the iron battery, firing many 
 guns, undergoing every fatigue and shar- 
 ing the hardships at the battery with the 
 youngest of the Palmettos." The last 
 named gentleman hastened over to the 
 island from Charleston as a volunteer, 
 was elected a member of the Palmetto 
 Guard on the spot, and assigned the 
 honor of firing the first gun from the 
 "battery. " All honor ! " enthusiastically 
 exclaims a journalist of the day at 
 Charleston, " to the chivalric Virginian ; 
 may he live many years to wear the 
 fadeless wreath that honor placed upon 
 nis orow on our glorious Friday." He 
 had not to live many months to wit- 
 ness some of the first fruits of this glori- 
 ous action, in the dismemberment of his 
 native State and the occupation and de- 
 vastation of that proud portion of the 
 earth, by hostile armies, which the echoes 
 of his^iron battery had called to face 
 each other. 
 
 The armed vessels and transports 
 which had arrived for the relief of Fort 
 Sumter were the steam sloop-of-war 
 Pawnee, ten guns, the Eevenue Cutter 
 Harriet Lane, five guns, and the steam 
 transport ship Baltic carrying about a 
 hundred troops. The Pawnee sailed 
 from Washington on the^ 6th of April ; 
 the others from New York between that 
 day and the 9th, all with sealed orders. 
 The expedition was placed under the 
 direction of Captain C. V. Fox of the 
 
 United States Navy, who had been in 
 council with the Government and had 
 advised its preparation. The destination 
 was Charleston, and the orders wero to 
 send in provisions to the fort, if unop- 
 posed, by the launches ; but if opposition 
 were made, the armed vessels and troops 
 should follow and accomplish the object 
 as best they could. The Harriet Lane 
 was the first to arrive early on Thurs- 
 day evening, and her coming doubtless 
 influenced the onset of the assailants, 
 which had been fairly commenced before 
 her consort the Pawnee with the Baltic 
 made their appearance. At noon they 
 had approached the mouth of the har- 
 bor, and were witnessing the bombard- 
 ment at a distance of about five miles 
 from Fort Sumter. The necessity of aid 
 was evident, while the original plan had 
 been thwarted by the commencement of 
 the action. It was expected, however, 
 that the attempt at introducing supplies 
 should be made early Saturday morning, 
 when the boats should advance protected 
 as far as possible by the fire of the war- 
 vessels. So well was the harbor guard- 
 ed that it could not, with any prospect 
 of safety, be made at night, when, in the 
 darkness, the Pawnee and Harriet Lane 
 could render no assistance. The next 
 morning the project with the resources 
 at hand, which were quite too scanty for 
 the occasion, did not seem more feasible, 
 and the three vessels, now reinforced by 
 the United States steamer Pocahontas, 
 were compelled quietly to wait and re- 
 ceive the anticipated news of the surren- 
 der of Fort Sumter, while the channel 
 batteries along the shore would have 
 welcomed them an easy prey to their 
 tender embraces. Indeed, it was then 
 and for some time after quite a matter 
 of vaunting, that the ships had been d.e- 
 
SAFETY OF THE BESIEGERS. 
 
 115 
 
 fied and insulted and yet taken no part 
 in the conflict. Even Jefferson Davis in 
 his Presidency of the new confederacy 
 had his allusion to " the prudent conduct 
 of the officers who commanded the fleet." 
 All the part, indeed, they were enabled 
 to bear in the proceedings was, to receive 
 and console the exhausted defenders, and 
 pay due honors to the torn flag of their 
 country. 
 
 One of the most extraordinary circum- 
 stances of this whole affair as it was con- 
 sidered at the time, was the alleged blood- 
 less nature of the conflict. The only liv- 
 ing creature killed at the batteries is said 
 to have been a fine horse belonging to 
 General Donnovant, which he had hitch- 
 ed behind Fort Moultrie. That such 
 deadly instruments as were employed 
 could be discharged for so long a time 
 without interruption, by practiced hands 
 on both sides and with so considerable 
 material injury, wounding the air with 
 shattering explosions, upturning the 
 earth, dismounting guns and spreading 
 conflagration, and that no one of the as- 
 sailants or defenders should be hurt, was 
 one of those phenomena which seemed to 
 discredit or throw ridicule on the giant 
 preparation for destruction of modern 
 warfare. Yet this was apparently the 
 case. It was so asserted in the Southern 
 bulletins at the moment, the statement is 
 authoritatively given in General Beau- 
 regard's official despatch, where the fact 
 is attributed to the skill of his engineers, 
 and the authority of the statement has 
 oeen confirmed by subsequent experience. 
 General Beauregard, however, pronoun- 
 ced the fact extraordinary. He speaks 
 of the naprecedented example of tak- 
 ing such an important work without hav- 
 ing to report the loss of a single life and 
 but four slightly wounded." Governor 
 
 Pickens stated publicly, at Charleston, 
 that "not a single Human being had been 
 sacrificed in this cause, so much identified 
 with the liberty and the independence of 
 our country," and saw in the circumstance 
 " the finger of Providence." To be sure, 
 almost in the same sentence, he pronoun- 
 ced " before the civilized world" that the 
 independence of his town's people was 
 " baptized in blood," but that might be 
 taken as a figure of speech, and some- 
 thing under the circumstances should be 
 allowed to the occasion. The President 
 of the Confederacy, however, Jefferson 
 Davis, himself, at a calmer moment, at 
 the end of the month, in his Message to 
 the Provisional Congress at Montgomery 
 renews the statement. "Fortunately," 
 says he, " not a single life was lost on our 
 side." With such asseverations on the 
 part of those who certainly had the best 
 opportunities of gaining correct informa- 
 tion on the subject, there would appear 
 little room for doubt. There were peo- 
 ple, notwithstanding, who thought the 
 thing incredible on the ground merely of 
 its improbability. 
 
 The London Times in a jocular artick 
 on the subject treated the affair as if the 
 combatants were hardly in earnest, or 
 as if it was all a shadowy, unsubstantiaf 
 scene of mimic warfare, theatrically con- 
 trived for the amusement of the world. 
 " Nature, or something that stands in its 
 stead," said that eminent journal, "is 
 still strong in the Americans. They fight 
 ' willing but with unwilling minds,' they 
 lift the hand to strike, they wing the in- 
 strument of death, but a mysterious pow- 
 er averts the stroke, or blunts the edge, 
 or deadens the blow. Are they in ear- 
 nest, or are they playing at war, or 
 
 * Speech of Governor Pickens, Charleston, April '8 
 1861, 
 
116 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 dreaming that they strike and still strike 
 not ? It sounds mor^ like a dangerous 
 game than a sad reality. Seven batter- 
 ies breached and bombarded Fort Sum- 
 ter for forty hours, burnt down its bar- 
 racks, blew up several magazines, threw 
 shells into it innumerable, and did a vast 
 show of destruction. The fort replied 
 with like spirit. At length it surrender- 
 ed, the garrison marched out prisoners 
 of war, and it was then found that not a 
 man was killed, or an officer wounded on 
 either side. Many a ' difficulty' at a bar 
 has cost more bloodshed. Was this a 
 preconcerted feat of conjuring ? Were 
 the rival Presidents saluting one another 
 in harmless fire-works to amuse the 
 groundlings ? The whole affair is utterly 
 inexplicable. It sounds like the battles 
 when the coat of mail had come to its 
 perfection, and when the only casualty 
 after a day's hard fighting, was a case of 
 suffocation and a few bruises. Odin's he- 
 roes as they renew their daily warfare 
 are really wounded, though their wounds 
 are quickly healed. This is sparring 
 with boxing gloves not the loaded coes- 
 tus of modern warfare. It is a mere 
 spectacle. The population and even the 
 ladies of Charleston poured forth to see 
 the sight. Ten thousand soldiers lined 
 the works, watching the sport and con- 
 tributing their share. ' Our own cock- 
 neys have seen as much, and done as 
 much at Cremorne, or the Surrey Gar- 
 dens, not more unscathed, and, let us 
 hope, in not more pacific mood. But 
 perhaps, this is only the interchange of 
 courtesies which in olden times preceded 
 real war. The result is utterly different 
 from all we are accustomed to hear of the 
 Americans. There "a word or a blow" 
 has been the rule. In this case, the blow 
 when it does at last come, falls like 
 
 snow and lights as gently as thistle 
 down." 
 
 Others, at home, were supported in 
 their incredulity by various stories, 
 which, arising from different quarters 
 found more or less acceptance with the 
 newspapers and the people. One of these 
 was the tale of "a Massachusetts gen- 
 tleman, well known," says the New Ha- 
 ven Chronicle, " to several of our citi- 
 zens as a person of unquestioned verac- 
 ity," who, having escaped from Fort 
 Moultrie, where he had been impressed 
 in the Confederate service, reported, 
 with perfect willingness to clinch the 
 same by a solemn oath, that " from six 
 to seven hundred men were killed in that 
 fort during the engagement." A New 
 York "flour merchant," also impressed 
 into the rebel service, gave a lusty ac- 
 count of the death dealing missives of 
 Fort Sumter. The ^ery first shot which 
 entered Fort Moultrie he reported " kill- 
 ed thirty- three men instantly, and wound- 
 ed many more." Such an alarming re- 
 sult was, of course, not accomplished by 
 the ball directly but by its multiplied 
 energies, by means of the splinters of a 
 gun-carriage which it first shattered. 
 The tale was further circumstantially 
 supported by the incident of burial, at 
 the end of the engagement, of one 
 hundred and sixty victims, transport- 
 ed in a sloop to the negro burial 
 ground. 
 
 A mate of a schooner from Charleston 
 likewise reported having seen " an ag- 
 gregate of about two hundred coffins " 
 taken on board the steamboat plying be- 
 tween the city and the batteries. This, 
 however, pretended to be only circum- 
 stantial evidence of a somewhat shr dowy 
 character. The boxes might have been 
 such as are used in the packing of mus- 
 
GOVERNOR PICKENS' SPEECH. 
 
 117 
 
 kets, ia general appearance, by the way, 
 offering a painful anticipation of the ulti- 
 mate resting place, which too many of 
 those handling their contents premature- 
 ly get into. Still another attempted elu- 
 cidation of this mystery, which gained 
 considerable favor with northern jour- 
 nals, had also something of a marine fla- 
 vor. It purported to come from " a rig- 
 ger from New London " who had been on 
 the Battery at Charleston during the first 
 day of the fight. He heard the reports 
 as they came in of " nobody killed," but 
 with some incredulity, which was shared 
 by his northern companions. In fact 
 they determined, so far as they could, to 
 investigate the matter for themselves. 
 Accordingly watching the approach of 
 the steamboats they witnessed the arri- 
 val of nearly one hundred dead bodies ; 
 and they saw more the next night. 
 
 Testimony like this, of course, was to 
 be received with many grains of allow- 
 ance. The newspaper stories through- 
 out the whole of this war are, indeed, 
 shockingly careless or inventive, and ill 
 betide the future historian who trusts 
 himself too hastily to their guidance. 
 It is quite probable, on a review of the 
 whole affair, that nobody was killed, 
 and the explanation of the fact is very 
 simple. There were unusual opportuni- 
 ties for safety, and extraordinary means 
 were employed to take advantage of 
 them. The batteries were well protect- 
 ed, watchers were on the look-out for 
 the fire of the few well-known guns of 
 Sumter ; sand bags, cotton bales and iron 
 ramparts were judiciously employed, and 
 " rai-holes," as burro wings in the sand 
 for refuge were called, were well known 
 to the defenders. General Beauregard 
 attributes, as we have seen, the singular 
 immuLity to the great and faithful labors 
 
 of his engineers, and with this elucida- 
 tion, for the present at least, we may let 
 this curiosity of history rest. 
 
 Charleston had hailed the bombard- 
 ment with the greatest animation and joy. 
 The house-tops of the city, commanding 
 a view of the forts in the harbor, were 
 covered with eager spectators of the con- 
 flict ; the wharves were thickly crowded ; 
 while " on no gala occasion," in the lan- 
 guage of a local journalist, " have we 
 ever seen so large a number of ladies on 
 our Battery, as graced the breezy walk 
 on this eventful morning."* Governor 
 Pickens surveyed the scene with a tele- 
 scope from a convenient house in the 
 town, where General Beauregard also 
 had his-, headquarters and directed the 
 operations of the day. Nor was this en- 
 thusiasm confined to the crowded masses 
 of citizens who might be supposed to be 
 carried away by the contagious excite- 
 ment of the hour. Their time of thought 
 and reflection, perhaps of repentance, 
 might come hereafter ; but a calm looker- 
 on might surely have expected from the 
 lips of the Executive officer of the State 
 words of milder import than those which 
 fell from the lips of Governor Pickens, 
 when he addressed a number of the peo- 
 ple from the balcony of the Charleston 
 Hotel on the evening of that day of 
 surrender, so pregnant with the fate of 
 America. Alluding to the deliberate 
 preparation for this attack which the 
 State had made, he said in words, sad and 
 now ominous enough, " When the pro- 
 per time had come, when I knew we 
 were prepared, there was not a moment 
 that I was not ready to strike the blow 
 for my State and tlie independence of my 
 country, let it lead to what it might, even 
 if it led to blood and ruin. Thank God 
 
 * Charleston Courier, April 18, 1861. 
 
118 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the day is come ; thank God the war is 
 open and we will conquer or perish. They 
 have vauntingly arrayed their twenty 
 millions of men against us ; they have 
 exultingly also arrayed their navy, and 
 they have called us but a handful of men, 
 a weak and isolated State, full of pride 
 and what they call chivalry, and with the 
 hated institution of slavery, as they sup- 
 posed a source of weakness, too, but 
 which in fact is a source of strength in 
 war, and they have defied us. But we 
 have rallied, . . we have met them 
 and we have conquered. We have de- 
 feated their twenty millions, and we have 
 made the proud flag of the Stars and 
 Stripes, that never was lowered before 
 to any nation on this earth, we have 
 lowered it in humility before the Pal- 
 metto and the Confederate flags, and we 
 have compelled them to raise by their 
 side the white flags, and ask for an honor- 
 able surrender." Again he returns with 
 shameful emphasis to this theme : " We 
 have humbled the flag of the United States. 
 I can here say to you, it is the first time 
 in the history of this country that the 
 Stars and Stripes have been humbled. It 
 has triumphed for seventy years, but, to- 
 day, on the thirteenth day of April, it has 
 been humbled, and humbled before the 
 glorious little State of South Carolina." 
 The speech was received on the spot 
 with "vociferous applause," but thinking 
 men at a distance stood aghast at this 
 insulting demoniac recklessness and fool- 
 hardiness. Well might they ask, is this 
 the spirit which is to control the solemn 
 interests of a vast and serious nation, 
 intent on its mission oj 1 civilization in the 
 world and tenacious of law and order 
 that it might religiously accomplish it? 
 That the time for such consideration had 
 fully come was sufficiently brought home 
 
 to the nation by the public declaration 
 of Mr. L. Pope Walker, the Secretary 
 of War of the Confederate States, at 
 Montgomery. Addressing the citizens 
 of that recent capital the day on which 
 the attack on Sumter was begun, he said, 
 " No man can tell where the war this 
 day commenced will end ; but I will pro- 
 phesy that the flag which now flaunts the 
 breeze here will float over the dome of 
 the old Capitol at Washington before the 
 first of May. Let them try Southern 
 chivalry and test the extent of Southern 
 resources, and it may float eventually 
 over Faneuil Hall itself." 
 
 Nor were the politicians, accustomed 
 by their profession to inflammatory har- 
 angues, left unsupported in their frantic 
 rejoicings by voices of grave authority 
 and generally of more reserved, if not 
 more prudent, councils. A portion of 
 the clergy at least, for we hear of none 
 protesting, shared the enthusiasm of the 
 hour and offered up their thanksgivings, 
 as if rebellion to the State had been a" 
 duty to God. " The glorious issue of the 
 bombardment," we read in a pamphlet 
 published at Charleston in honor of the 
 event, somewhat curiously entitled The 
 Battle of Fort Sumter and First Victory 
 of the Southern Troops, " was duly com- 
 memorated in several of our Churches on 
 the Sunday following the surrender. The 
 incidents in ' old St. Philip's ' we wit- 
 nessed were deeply touching. The heart 
 of the worshippers in that sacred fane, 
 consecrated by the precious historic mem- 
 ories which made the glory of the 'first 
 temple' on this site, had been poured 
 out in devout thanksgiving to the Giver 
 of Victory, when a venerable old man, 
 leaning on his staff, was led by the Rec- 
 tor to the sacred desk. It was the 
 Bishop of the Diocese, wholly blind and 
 
LIEUTENANT SLEMMER. 
 
 119 
 
 physically feeble, yet with the eyes .of 
 faith discerning the light of Heaven and 
 rejoicing therein. In his exhortation, he 
 said, that not only a patriotic but a per- 
 sonal interest in the great event of the 
 past week had brought him to the city, 
 and made him here abide until the battle 
 had been fought. Your boys were there 
 and mine were there, and it was right 
 that they should be there. Still the 
 heart had inly bled ; the strong man, as 
 well as the tender woman had quivered 
 under the influences of natural affection, 
 for we were not children, we knew what 
 we were doing, and had counted the cost, 
 and had weighed in our very souls the 
 warfare upon which we were going. And 
 how very marvellous had been God's 
 doings ! How unparalleled his agency. 
 All our children had passed through the 
 fire unhurt ! ' Not unto us, not unto us, 
 but unto Thy name, oh Lord, be the 
 glory !' We forbear to follow the good 
 Bishop through the affecting -application 
 which he made of this wonderful Provi- 
 dence of God, but cannot pass over the 
 strong testimony which he bore to his 
 firm persuasion, strengthened by travel 
 through every section of our State in 
 the discharge of pastoral duty, that the 
 grand movement in which our people 
 were now engaged, was begun by them 
 in the deepest conviction of duty to God, 
 and after laying their case before God 
 and God had most signally blessed our 
 dependence on Him. At the Cathedral 
 of St. John and St. Finbar, Bishop 
 Lynch alluded in happy terms to the 
 events of the previous two days, and a 
 Te Deum was chaunted in thanksgiving 
 for the bloodless victory."* 
 
 It was some consolation to the country 
 to know that shortly after the attack 
 
 * The Battlt of Fort Suinter, Ac., Charleston, 1861. 
 
 upon Sumter, Fort Pickens was rein- 
 forced by a portion of the fleet which, 
 it had been supposed, was destined for 
 Charleston Harbor. That fort had been 
 preserved for the nation by an act of 
 gallant patriotism which ranks with the 
 devotion of Anderson in his occupation 
 of Sumter. On the 12th of January, 
 when a band of lawless insurgents, led 
 by Captain Y. M. Eandolph of the 
 United States Navy, a citizen of Ala- 
 bama, with the plea of a commission from 
 the Governor of Florida, presented them- 
 selves at the Pensacola Navy Yard, and, 
 by the connivance of the officers in com- 
 mand, Lieutenant E. Farrand and Lieu- 
 tenant F. B. Eenshaw, by whose order 
 " the flag was hauled down amid the jeers 
 and shouts of a drunken rabble,"* re- 
 ceived its unconditional surrender, Lieu- 
 tenant Adam J. Slemmer, a young officer 
 of artillery, stationed with his company 
 in temporary charge of the adjacent Fort 
 McEae, spurning the treason of his as- 
 sociates, hastily proceeded with his com- 
 mand to occupy Fort Pickens, on Santa 
 Eosa Island, facing the harbor. There, 
 strengthening himself with a body of ma- 
 rines from the United States steamer 
 Wyandotte at the station, some of the 
 soldiers from Fort Barrancas and a few 
 men from the Navy Yard, more scrupu- 
 lous than their officers in refusing the 
 disgraceful terms of surrender, he set the 
 enemy at defiance till the Fort was re- 
 inforced and properly garrisoned by the 
 Government. 
 
 Lieutenant Slemmer, to whom the 
 country was indebted for this brilliant 
 service of rescuing one of its most valu- 
 atle defences from armed treason, was a 
 native of Pennsylvania, about thirty-two 
 
 * Report of a Select Committee to the Senate and House 
 of Representatives. February 21, 1861. 
 
120 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 years of age. He was a graduate of 
 West Point of the class of 1850, and had 
 since that time served with distinction in 
 various important positions in California, 
 on the Coast Survey, as an instructor at 
 the Military Academy, and in com- 
 mand in the harbor at Pensacola. In the 
 attentions subsequently paid to the de- 
 fenders of Sumter, the aid which he 
 had rendered the cause at Pickens was 
 not forgotten. The New York Chamber 
 of Commerce, representing one of the 
 most important interests of the nation, 
 gracefully coupled the services of the two 
 garrisons in the presentation to officers 
 and men of a series of medals prepared 
 in honor of both events. The first class 
 Sumter medal bore on its obverse a me- 
 dallion portrait of General Anderson and 
 on the reverse " the Genius or Guardian 
 Spirit of America arising from Fort Sum- 
 ter. Wounded by the insult to the coun- 
 try's honor, she seizes the starry symbol 
 of the nation and, with the flaming torch 
 of war, calls aloud for loyal men to pro- 
 lectit," with the inscription, "The Cham- 
 ber of Commerce, New York, honors 
 
 the defender of Fort Sumter the patriot, 
 the hero and the man." A similar medal 
 presented the portrait of Major Slemmer 
 such was his rank at the time of pre- 
 sentation with an emblematic device on 
 the reverse, of " Cerberus, or the monster 
 of war chained to Fort Pickens." By this 
 design, the artist, Mr. Charles Muller, 
 tells us he " endeavored to typify the 
 forbearance of the Government and its 
 service ; a virtue strikingly shown during 
 the defence of Fort Pickens. The initial 
 letters U. S. on the collar of the monster 
 indicate his owner. Amid the taunts and 
 insults of the foe, the three-headed mon- 
 ster is kept chained to the fort. Im- 
 patient of restraint, yet faithful to his 
 trust, in his captivity he can but exhibit 
 his fierceness, impatience and defiant 
 courage on himself. With one head he 
 gnaws his paw, significant of the traitors 
 in our camp ; with another he glares de- 
 fiantly at the foe, and with the other he 
 sounds the charge." The inscription was, 
 " The Chamber of Commerce, New York, 
 honors valor, forbearance and fidelity 
 Fort Pickens, 1861." 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION. 
 
 THE blow was now struck which gave 
 to the North a cause, and to the Govern- 
 ment a policy. Treason expressed in 
 resolutions might be tolerated ; conven- 
 tions might meet and pass their ordinan- 
 ces : they were so much harmless breath 
 and waste paper. The resignation of of- 
 ficers, the pillage of property, the waste 
 of credit, repudiatic- 1 of debts, the occu- 
 patior. of forts and arsenals, might be 
 
 borne with from the spoiled child of the 
 Republic with the hope that its wanton 
 or misguided malice expended, it would, 
 under the influence of kind solicitations, 
 return to better counsels. There were 
 threats and defiance, fierce enough and 
 disastrous enough, if persisted in, but in 
 spite of the most obvious dangers, it was 
 difficult to bring the nation to believe in 
 their reality. It was still more difficult 
 
POSITION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 121 
 
 to rouse the nation to express its convic- 
 tion in energetic action. The North was 
 sc intertwined with the South by af- 
 fection and interest, by social and bus- 
 iness ties ; the political action of the two 
 portions of the country had been so 
 blended ; there were so many complica- 
 tions of sophistry and prejudice ; the 
 question before the country, moreover, 
 was so novel ; that it appeared well nigh 
 impossible that the Government could be 
 sustained by that unanimity of the peo- 
 ple which was needed, to give it the 
 due authority for the preservation of its 
 powers.' Men talked and argued about 
 these things ; the clear sighted urged the 
 necessity of action ; all felt the evils of 
 the disbanding State, but many were in- 
 disposed to apply a remedy. The sick 
 man was every day getting worse under 
 the expectant system. Even hope itself in 
 the expressive and discouraging language 
 of President Buchanan in his fast-day 
 proclamation "seemed to have deserted 
 the minds of men ; all classes were in a 
 state of confusion and dismay."* To the 
 rebellion of the South was added the pros- 
 pect of disintegration and revolution 
 in other portions of the land. The con- 
 stitution was derided, and the failure of 
 the boasted American system of govern- 
 ment, so confidently assailed in its first 
 principle of obedience to the lawfully ex- 
 pressed will of the majority, openly pro- 
 claimed loudly abroad, in no undisguis- 
 ed intimations at home. Anything seem- 
 ed to be more desirable than this fearful 
 state of inaction, in which the elements 
 of prosperity were vanishing, and the 
 very foundations of civilization were sink- 
 ing beneath us. A few more such months 
 as those which intervened between No- 
 
 * President Buchanan's Recommendation of a Fast-Day, 
 December 14, 1860. 
 16 
 
 vember and March would, it began to be 
 felt, complete the ruin of the country in 
 helpless anarchy. The last appeal only 
 was wanting to arouse the slumbering 
 patriotism, inspire the thoughts and fill 
 the hearts of the people. That grand 
 idea of loyalty, symbolized in devotion 
 to the flag, was called forth by the can- 
 non fired upon Sumter that hostile 
 voice speaking in thunder tones the de- 
 claration of the South of war against the 
 life of the nation. The future chronicler 
 of these events will rank the challenge 
 and its acceptance with the most dra- 
 matic events in history. 
 
 It is important to understand the 
 position of the Government in reference 
 to this great event, pregnant with such 
 vast and as yet undeveloped consequen- 
 ces. It cannot be better unfolded than 
 in the authoritative statement of the 
 President himself, who, in his subsequent 
 Message to Congress at its meeting in 
 July, gave the following history of the 
 transaction. The reader will find in it 
 an explanation of the rumors current at 
 the time of the surrender of the fort, as 
 well as an exhibition of the principles of 
 the Administration. 
 
 " On the 5th of March, the present 
 incumbent's first full day in office, a let- 
 ter of Major Anderson, commanding at 
 Fort Sumter, written on the 28th day of 
 February, and received at the War De- 
 partment on the 4th of March, was by 
 that department placed in his hands. 
 This letter expressed the professional 
 opinion of the writer, that reinforcements 
 could not be thrown into that fort within 
 the time for his relief, rendered necessary 
 by the limited supply of provisions, and 
 with a view of holding possession of the 
 same, with a force of less than twenty 
 thousand good and well disciplined men. 
 
122 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 This opinion was concurred in by all the 
 officers of his command, and their mem- 
 oranda on the subject were made enclo- 
 sures of Major Anderson's letter. The 
 whole was immediately laid before Lieu- 
 tenant-General Scott, who at once con- 
 curred with Major Anderson in his opinion. 
 On reflection, however, he took full time, 
 consulting with other officers, both of the 
 army and the navy, and at the end of 
 four days came reluctantly but decidedly 
 to the same conclusion as before. He 
 also stated, at the same time, that no such 
 sufficient force was then at the control of 
 the government, or could be raised and 
 brought to the ground within the time 
 when the provisions in the fort would be 
 exhausted. In a purely military point 
 of view, this reduced the duty of the Ad- 
 ministration in the case to the mere mat- 
 ter of getting the garrison safely out of 
 the fort. 
 
 " It was believed, however, that to so 
 abandon that position, under the circum- 
 stances, would be utterly ruinous ; that 
 the necessity under which it was to be 
 done would not be fully understood ; 
 that by many it would be construed as a 
 part of a voluntary policy ; that at home 
 it would discourage the friends of the 
 Union, embolden its adversaries, and go 
 far to insure for the latter a recognition 
 abroad ; that, in fact, it would be our 
 national destruction consummated. This 
 could not be allowed. Starvation was 
 not yet upon the 'garrison, and ere it 
 would be reached, Fort Pickens might be 
 reinforced. This last would be a clear 
 indication of policy, and would better 
 enable the country to accept the evacua- 
 tion of Fort Sumter as a military neces- 
 sity. An order was at once directed to 
 be sent for the landing of the troops from 
 the steamship Brooklyn into Fort Pick- 
 
 ens. This order could not go by land, 
 but must take the longer and slower route 
 by sea. The first return news from the 
 order was received just one week before 
 the fall of Fort Sumter. The news itself 
 was, that the officer commanding the 
 Sabine, to which vessel the troops had 
 been transferred from the Brooklyn, act- 
 ing upon some quasi armistice of the 
 late administration, and of the existence 
 of which the present Administration, up 
 to the time the order was despatched, 
 had only too vague and uncertain rumors 
 to fix attention, had refused to land the 
 troops. To now reinforce Fort Pickens, 
 before a crisis would be reached at Fort 
 Sumter, was impossible, rendered so by 
 the near exhaustion of provisions in the 
 latter named fort. In precaution against 
 such a conjuncture the government had 
 a few days before commenced preparing 
 an expedition, as well" adapted as might 
 be, to relieve Fort Sumter, which expe- 
 dition was intended to 'be ultimately used 
 or not, according to current circumstances. 
 The strongest anticipated case for us- 
 ing it was now presented ; and it was re- 
 solved to send it forward. As had been 
 intended, in this contingency it was also 
 resolved to notify the Governor of South 
 Carolina that he might expect an attempt 
 would be made to provision the fort, and 
 that if the attempt should not be resisted 
 there would be no attempt to throw in 
 men, arms or ammunition, without further 
 notice, or in case of an attack upon the 
 fort. This notice was accordingly given, 
 whereupon the fort was attacked and bom- 
 barded to its fall, without even awaiting 
 the arrival of the provisioning expedition. 
 " It is thus seen that the assault upon 
 and reduction of Fort Sumter was in no 
 sense a matter of self-defence on the part 
 of the assailants. They well knew that 
 
THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT. 
 
 123 
 
 the garrison in the fort could by no pos- 
 sibility commit aggression upon them. 
 They knew they were expressly noti- 
 fied that the giving of bread to the few 
 brave and hungry men of the garrison 
 was all which would on that occasion be 
 attempted, unless themselves, by resist- 
 ing so much, should provoke more. They 
 knew that this government desired to 
 keep the garrison in the fort, not to as- 
 sail them, but merely to maintain visible 
 possession, arid thus to preserve the 
 Union from actual and immediate disso- 
 lution, trusting, as hereinbefore stated, 
 to time, discussion, and the ballot-box, 
 for final adjustment ; and they assailed 
 and reduced the fort for precisely the 
 reverse object, to drive out the visible 
 authority of the federal Union and thus 
 force it to immediate dissolution. That 
 this was their object the Executive well 
 understood ; and having said to them, in 
 the inaugural address, ' You can have 
 no conflict without being yourselves the 
 aggressors,' he took pains, not only to 
 keep this declaration good, but also to 
 keep the case so far from ingenious so- 
 phistry as that the world should not mis- 
 understand it. By the affair at Fort 
 Sumter, with its surrounding circum- 
 stances, that point was reached. Then 
 and thereby the assailants of the govern- 
 ment began the conflict of arms, without 
 a gun in sight or in expectancy to return 
 their fire, save only the few in the fort, 
 sent to that harbor years before, for their 
 own protection, and still ready to give 
 that protection in whatever was lawful. 
 In this act, discarding all else, they have 
 forced upon the country the distinct issue : 
 1 Immediate dissolution or blood.' 
 
 "And this issue embraces more than 
 the fate of these United States. It pre- 
 sents to the whole family of man the 
 
 question whether a constitutional republic 
 or democracy, a government of the peo- 
 ple by the same -people, can or cannot 
 maintain its territorial integrity against 
 its own domestic foes. It presents the 
 question whether discontented individ- 
 uals, too few in number to control ad- 
 ministration according to organic law, in 
 any case, can always, upon the pretences 
 made in this case or any other pretences, 
 or arbitrarily, without any pretence, 
 break up their government, and thus 
 practically put an end to free govern- 
 ment upon the earth. It forces us to 
 ask, ' Is there in all republics this in- 
 herent and fatal weakness ?' ' Must a 
 government of necessity be too strong 
 for the liberties of its own people, or too 
 weak to maintain its own existence ?' 
 So viewing the issue, no choice was 
 left but to call out the war power of the 
 government, and so to resist the force 
 employed for its destruction by force for 
 its preservation." 
 
 Such was the argument of the Presi- 
 dent and the vindication of his policy in 
 language which was but an echo of the 
 common sense of the people. Of all 
 citizens who have recorded their opin- 
 ions of this crisis in our affairs none, 
 perhaps, was listened to with more inter- 
 est than Edward Everett. The dis 
 ciple of a conservative political school 
 identified with the most conciliatory 
 measures in all that related to legislator 
 affecting Southern interests, in his tastes 
 and temper always inclined to modera- 
 tion, he thus, on the same day with the 
 delivery of the Presidential Message just 
 cited, gave expression to his views of the 
 nature and necessity of the struggle in- 
 augurated at Sumter. "We did," he 
 said, " believe in peace ; fondly, credu- 
 lously believed that, cemented by the 
 
124 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 mild umpirage of the Federal Union, it 
 might dwell forever beneath the folds of 
 the Star Spangled Banner and the sacred 
 shield of a common Nationality. That 
 was the great arcanum of policy ; that 
 was the State mystery into which men 
 and angels desired to look ; hidden from 
 ages but revealed to us : 
 
 Which Kings and Prophets waited for, 
 And sought, but never found : 
 
 a family of States independent for local 
 concerns, united under one Government 
 for the management of common interests 
 and the prevention of internal feuds. 
 There was no limit to the possible exten- 
 sion of such a sy stein. It had already 
 comprehended half of North America, 
 and it might, in the course of time, have 
 folded the continent in its peaceful, be- 
 neficent embrace. We fondly dreamed 
 that, in the lapse of ages, it would have 
 been extended till half the Western hemi- 
 sphere had realized the vision of univer- 
 sal, perpetual peace. From that dream 
 we have been rudely startled by the ar- 
 ray of ten thousand armed men in Charles- 
 ton Harbor, and the glare of eleven bat- 
 teries bursting on the torn sky of the 
 Union, like the comet which, at this very 
 moment, burns 
 
 In th' Arctic sky, and from his horrid hair 
 Shakes pestilence and war. 
 
 These batteries rained their storm of iron 
 hail on one poor siege- worn company, 
 because, in obedience to lawful authority, 
 in the performance of sworn duty, the 
 gallant Anderson resolved to keep Ids 
 oath. That brave and faithful band, by 
 remaining at their post, did not hurt a 
 hair of the head of a Carolinian, bond or 
 free. The United States proposed not to 
 reenforce, but to feed them. But the 
 Confederate leaders would not allow them 
 even the poor boor of being starved into 
 
 surrender ; and because sortie lawis hud 
 been passed someivhere, by which it was 
 alleged that the return of some slaves, 
 (not one from Carolina) had been or 
 might be obstructed, South Carolina dis- 
 claiming the protection of courts and of 
 Congress, which had never been withheld 
 from her, has inaugurated a ruthless civil 
 war." 
 
 In conclusion Mr. Everett summed up 
 his admirable review of the historical 
 precedents and present condition of the 
 national question with these reflections : 
 "Such, fellow citizens, as I contem- 
 plate them, are the great issues before 
 the country, nothing less, in a word, than 
 whether the work of our noble fathers of 
 the revolutionary and constitutional age 
 shall perish or endure ; whether this great 
 experiment in national polity, which 
 binds a family of free republics in one 
 united government "the most hopeful 
 plan for combining the homebred bless- 
 ings of a small state with the stability 
 and power of great empire shall be 
 treacherously and shamefully stricken 
 down, in the moment of its most success- 
 ful operation, or whether it shall be brave- 
 ly, patriotically, triumphantly maintained. 
 We wage no war of conquest and subju- 
 gation ; we aim at nothing but to protect 
 our loyal fellow-citizens, who against 
 fearful odds are fighting the battles of the 
 Union in the .disaffected States, and to re- 
 establish, not for ourselves alone, but for 
 our misguided brethren, the mild sway 
 of the constitution and the laws. The 
 result cannot be doubted. Twenty mil- 
 lions of freemen, forgetting their divisions, 
 are rallying as one man in support of the 
 righteous cause- their willing hearts and 
 their strong hands, their fortunes and 
 their lives, are laid upon the altar of the 
 country. We contend for the great in- 
 
"NOT YET. 
 
 125 
 
 heritance of constitutional freedom trans- 
 mitted from our revolutionary fathers. 
 We engage in the struggle forced upon 
 us, with sorrow, as against our misguided 
 brethren, but with high heart and faith, 
 as we war for that Union which our saint- 
 ed Washington commended to our dear- 
 est affections. The sympathy of the civ- 
 ilized world is on our side, and will join 
 us in prayers to Heaven for the success 
 of our arms."* 
 
 Another voice of equal authority, that 
 of the representative poet of the country, 
 the sympathetic interpreter of its harmo- 
 nies of nature and moral life, was heard 
 giving utterance to the instinct leaping in 
 every patriotic heart. The honored Bry- 
 ant in a little poem, pregnant with mean- 
 ing, eloquently expressed the sentiment 
 of the day. It was entitled "Not Yet," 
 and thus read : 
 
 ' Oh country, marvel of the earth ! 
 
 Oh realm to sudden greatness grown 1 
 The age that gloried in thy birth, 
 
 Shall it behold thee overthrown ? 
 Shall traitors lay that greatness low ? 
 No, Land of Hope and Blessing, No 1 
 
 " And we who wear thy glorious name, 
 Shall we, like cravens, stand apart, 
 
 When those whom thou hast trusted aim 
 The death-blow at thy generous heart ? 
 
 Forth goes the battle-cry, and lo ! 
 
 Hosts rise in harness, shouting, No ! 
 
 " And they who founded, in our land, 
 The power that rules from sea to sea, 
 
 Bled they in vain, or vainly planned 
 To leave their country great and free ? 
 
 Their sleeping ashes from below, 
 
 Send up the thrilling murmur, No ! 
 
 " Knit they the gentle ties which long 
 These sister states were proud to wear, 
 
 And forged the kindly links so strong 
 For idle hands in sport to tear 
 
 Foi scornful hands aside to throw ? 
 
 No, by our fathers' memory, No 1 
 
 * The Great Issues now Before the Country. An Ad- 
 dress, by Edward Everett, at the New York Academy of 
 Music. July 4 1861. 
 
 " Our humming marts, our iron ways, 
 
 Our wind-tossed woods on mountain crest 
 
 The hoarse Atlantic, with his bays, 
 The calm, broad Ocean of the West, 
 
 And Mississippi's torrent-flow, 
 
 And loud Niagara, answer, No ! 
 
 " Not yet the hour is nigh, when they 
 
 "Who deep in Eld's dim twilight sit, 
 
 Earth's ancient kings, shall rise and say, 
 
 ' Proud country, welcome to the pit ! 
 
 So soon art thou, like us, brought low ? ' 
 
 No, sullen group of shadows, No I 
 
 " For now, behold, the arm that gave 
 
 The victory in our fathers' day, 
 Strong, as of old, to guard and save 
 
 That mighty arm which none can stay 
 On clouds above and fields below, 
 Writes, in men's sight, the answer, No ! " 
 
 The present generation, indeed, will 
 never forget the breathless anxiety with 
 which the first news of the bombardment 
 of Sumter was received in the North 
 throughout Saturday and Sunday, the 
 last day of the conflict and the day suc- 
 ceeding. The startling and apparently 
 improbable statements received by the 
 telegraph of the danger to the fort, 
 which had been pronounced impregna- 
 ble, and the security of the besiegers 
 who seemed to bear a charmed life in 
 the midst of fiery perils ; the expec- 
 tation of succor from the fleet dashed by 
 the news of the storm which prevented 
 its action ; the successive messages of 
 disaster with the strange, almost incredi- 
 ble, announcement that the fort was in 
 flames, ending with the final word of 
 surrender, produced a strange feeling of 
 perplexity in the minds of the people. 
 There were, in fact, so many seeming 
 contradictions and embarrassments in 
 the story that it was generally discred- 
 ited till Sunday brought its confirma- 
 tion. With the confirmation came the 
 firm steady resolve. 
 
 It found immediate expression in the 
 Proclanation of the President which was 
 
126 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 communicated by the telegraph and pub- 
 lished in the papers of the chief north- 
 ern cities the following morning. It was 
 in these words : 
 
 WHEREAS, the laws of the United 
 States have been for some time past and 
 now are opposed, and the execution 
 thereof obstructed, in the States of South 
 Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, 
 Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by 
 combinations too powerful to be sup- 
 pressed by the ordinary course of judicial 
 proceedings or by the powers vested in 
 the marshals by law : now, therefore, I, 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the 
 United States, in virtue of the power 
 in me vested by the Constitution and 
 the laws, have thought fit to call forth, 
 and hereby do call forth, the militia 
 of the several States of the Union 
 to the aggregate number of 75,000, in 
 order to suppress said combinations and 
 to cause the laws to be duly executed. 
 The details for this object will be immedi- 
 ately communicated to the State authori- 
 ties through the War Department. I 
 appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facili- 
 tate, and aid this effort to maintain the 
 honor, the integrity, and existence of our 
 national Union, and the perpetuity of 
 popular government, and to redress 
 wrongs already long enough endured. I 
 deem it proper to say that the first ser- 
 vice assigned to the forces hereby called 
 forth, will probably be to repossess the 
 forts, places, and property which have 
 been seized from the Union ; and in 
 every event the utmost care will be ob- 
 served, consistently with the objects 
 aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any 
 destruction of, or interference with pro- 
 perty, or any disturbance of peaceful 
 "itizens of any part of the country ; and 
 
 I hereby command the persons composing 
 the combinations aforesaid, to disperse 
 and retire peaceably to their respective 
 abodes, within twenty days from this date. 
 
 Deeming that the present condition 
 of public affairs presents an extraor- 
 dinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue 
 of the power in me vested by the Consti- 
 tution, convene both houses of Congress. 
 The Senators and Eepresentatives are, 
 therefore, summoned to assemble at their 
 respective Chambers at 12 o'clock, noon, 
 on Thursday, the 4th day of July next, 
 then and there to consider and determine 
 such measures as, in their wisdom, the 
 public safety and interest may seem to 
 demand. 
 
 In witness whereof, I have hereunto 
 set my hand, and caused the seal of the 
 United States to be affixed. 
 
 Done at the City of Washington, this 
 15th day of April, in the year of our 
 Lord, one thousand eight hundred and 
 sixty-one, and of the independence of the 
 United States the eighty-fifth. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 By the President. 
 
 WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 
 
 Accompanying the Proclamation came 
 the call of the War Department upon the 
 Governors of twenty-four States, the 
 seven seceding States being of course 
 omitted, and California, Oregon and Kan- 
 sas passed over as too distant. These, 
 in accordance with the provisions of the 
 act of 1795, were required to furnish 
 their quotas of the assigned number of 
 militia men, for three months' service. 
 The three largest apportionments of 
 officers and men were to New York, 
 13,280 ; to Pennsylvania, 12,500 ; to 
 Ohio, 10,153 ; the least, to eleven of the 
 less populated States, was 780. Two 
 Major-Generals were assigned to each of 
 
DISLOYAL REPLIES. 
 
 127 
 
 the States highest on the list and onu to 
 Ohio. The replies of the several Gov- 
 ernors furnished a good general indica- 
 tion of the stand ird of patriotism in the 
 country. From Maine to Wisconsin, 
 throughout all the Northern States, the 
 response of the authorities was immedi- 
 ate. They were one and all ready for 
 the requisition. Their replies, without 
 extravagance, evinced a calm, resolute, 
 patriotic spirit intent upon the work be- 
 fore them. In the border slavehold- 
 ing States, however, to which the call 
 had been addressed, there was a differ- 
 ent sentiment. From Maryland, where 
 great excitement with a strong disposi- 
 tion toward secession prevailed, and 
 where Governor Hicks, with a difficult 
 part to play, was using his "utmost endea- 
 vors of persuasion and policy to keep his 
 people within the Union, a most unsatis- 
 factory answer was given. It appeared 
 to be quite as much as the Governor 
 could accomplish to soothe his own citi- 
 zens and repress their immediate hostili- 
 ties, by assuring them that no troops 
 would be sent from Maryland unless for 
 the defence of the National Capital. " I 
 counsel the people," said he, in a Pro- 
 clamation on the 18th of April, " to ab- 
 stain from all heated controversy upon 
 the subject ; to avoid all things that tend 
 to crimination and recrimination : in 
 order that the origin of our evil day may 
 be forgotten now, by every patriot, in 
 the earnest desire to avert from us its 
 fruit." At the same time he reminded 
 the people that they would shortly " have 
 the opportunity afforded them, in a spe- 
 cial election of Members of Congress of 
 the United States, to express their devo- 
 tion to the Union, or their desire to have 
 it broken up." 
 
 Governor Burton DI Delaware found 
 
 an opportunity for a similar middle 
 course in a plea of want of authority 
 to meet the demand. He, however, 
 recommended the formation of volun- 
 teer companies for the protection of the 
 State, who might, if they felt inclined, 
 offer their services to the Government 
 for the defence of the Capitol and sup- 
 port of the Constitution and the laws. 
 There were patriots in the State who did 
 not hesitate. A regiment was organized 
 and entered the public service. 
 
 While Maryland and Delaware were 
 thus reluctant, the other Border States 
 were positively defiant. Governor John 
 Letcher one of the band of ill-disposed 
 counsellors who had brought Virginia to 
 the eve of actual rebellion, retorted dis- 
 courteously to the Secretary of War, 
 " I have only to say that the militia of 
 Virginia will not be furnished to the 
 powers at Washington for any such use 
 or purpose as they have in view. Your 
 object is to subjugate the Southern States, 
 and a requisition made upon me for such 
 an object an object, in my judgment, 
 not within the purview of the Constitu- 
 tion, or the act of 1795 will not be 
 complied with. You have chosen to in- 
 augurate civil war, and having done so, 
 we will meet it in a spirit as determined 
 as the Administration has exhibited to- 
 ward the South." In this fiery denun- 
 ciation, which was followed up the next 
 day by a vigorous Proclamation order- 
 ing all volunteer regiments or companies 
 within the State to hold themselves in 
 readiness for immediate orders, the Gov- 
 ernor, as will be seen, spoke for but a 
 portion of his people. 
 
 The Governor of Missouri, C. F. Jack- 
 son, used like disloyal language. " There 
 can be. I apprehend, no doubt that these 
 men a*? intended to make war upon the 
 
128 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 seceded States. Your requisition, in my 
 judgment, is illegal, unconstitutional and 
 revolutionary in its objects, inhuman and 
 diabolical, and cannot be complied with. 
 Not one man will the State of Missouri 
 furnish to carry on such an unholy cru- 
 sade." Happily for the United States 
 the authority of Governor Jackson was 
 by no means supreme in his State. Her 
 loyal citizens came to the rescue of the 
 Government and furnished a force of 
 twelve regiments numbering nearly as 
 many thousand men, to sustain the Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 Governor John W. Ellis of North 
 Carolina was equally emphatic, with an 
 expression of surprise bordering on con- 
 tempt : " Your dispatch is received, and, 
 if genuine, which its extraordinarv char- 
 
 o / 
 
 acter leads me to doubt, I have to say, 
 in reply, that I regard the levy of troops 
 made by the Administration, for the pur- 
 pose of subjugating the States of the 
 South, as in violation of the Constitution 
 and a usurpation of power. I can be no 
 party to this wicked violation of the 
 laws of the country, and to this war 
 upon the liberties of a free people. You 
 can get no troops from North Carolina." 
 Two days afterward he issued a Procla- 
 mation summoning the General Assem- 
 bly of the State to meet in special ses- 
 sion at Ealeigh on the 1st of the follow- 
 ing month, with the significant injunc- 
 tion : " United action in defence of the 
 sovereignty of North Carolina and of the 
 rights of the South becomes now the 
 duty of all." In the preamble he inter- 
 preted harshly the call of the President, 
 pronouncing it " a high handed act of ty- 
 rannical outrage, in violation of all con- 
 stitutional law, ir utter disregard of 
 every sentiment of humanity and Chris- 
 tian civilization, conceived in a spirit of 
 
 aggression unparalleled by any act of re- 
 corded history, and a direct step towards 
 the subjugation of the whole South and 
 the conversion of a free Republic inher- 
 ited from our fathers, into a military des- 
 potism, to be established by worse than 
 foreign enemies, on the ruins of the once 
 glorious Constitution of Equal Rights." 
 The violence of this language, would un- 
 der ordinary circumstances, have be- 
 trayed the weakness of the cause, but to 
 the prepared mind of the South such as- 
 sumptions and violent declamation had 
 all the force of reason and eloquence ; 
 and the maddened people went on to 
 create the war which it was alleged was 
 tyrannically brought against them. 
 
 Not to be behind his brethren of the 
 Slaveholding States, Governor Beriah 
 Magomn of Kentucky sent this curt re- 
 fusal : " Your dispatch is received. In 
 answer, I say, emphatically, that Ken- 
 tucky will furnish no troops for the wick- 
 ed purpose of subduing her sister South- 
 ern States." In this response the Gov- 
 ernor exhibited something of the ambig- 
 uity of the ancient oracles. Kentucky, 
 indeed, had no troops for any " wicked 
 purpose " of the kind ; nor was she 
 asked for them. When the question 
 was fairly put before the people re- 
 garding the maintenance of the Govern- 
 ment, they decided, Governor Magoffin to 
 the contrary notwithstanding, that they 
 would rank themselves on the side of the 
 Constitution and the Laws. 
 
 The reply of Governor Henry M. 
 Rector of Arkansas was equally explicit, 
 and not a whit less violent or discourteous 
 in its denunciation of the Government, 
 than that of Governor Magomn. " In 
 answer to your requisition," it read "for 
 troops from Arkansas, to subjugate the 
 Southern States, I have to say that none 
 
A COUNTER PROCLAMATION. 
 
 120 
 
 will be furnished. The demand is only 
 adding insult to injury. The people of 
 this Commonwealth are freemen, not 
 slaves, and will defend to the last ex- 
 tremity their honor, lives and property 
 against Northern mendacity and usurpa- 
 tion.' 7 Governor Isham G. Harris of 
 Tennessee also peremptorily refused to 
 furnish the troops required by the De- 
 partment. There was a strong Union 
 feeling in this State, particularly in its 
 eastern portions, where there was a 
 greater community of interest with the 
 North ; but, what with the interests of 
 the larger western district, the stirring up 
 of prejudices, and a bold policy of coer- 
 cion on the part of its political rulers, its 
 fortunes were presently cast with the 
 Southern Confederacy. 
 
 The voices of the Confederate States 
 were, as might be expected, more authori- 
 tative in proportion to their declared 
 attitude of hostility. Professing to re- 
 gard themselves as the Representatives 
 of sovereign independent powers at war 
 with a foreign nation, the Governors of 
 these States turned their attention di- 
 rectly to the annoyance of the enemy. 
 Governor Thomas 0. Moore of Louisiana 
 issued a chivalric Proclamation. " Rise 
 then." was its language, " people of 
 Louisiana, in your might, in defence of 
 your dearest rights, and driva back this 
 insolent, barbaric foe. Like your brave 
 ancestry, resolve to conquer or perish in 
 the effort, and the flag of usurpation 
 will never fly over Southern soil." 
 
 Governor Brown of Georgia took a 
 practical course, in an attack upon the 
 pockets of his foes, in what he describes 
 a? ' ' the anti -slavery States." He forbade 
 in the most authoritative manner any citi- 
 zen or inhabitant of the State, under any 
 pretext whatever, to " remit, transfer or 
 17 
 
 pay to the Government of the United 
 States, or any one of the States compos- 
 ing said Government, which is known as 
 a free-soil State, including among others 
 the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Is- 
 land, Connecticut, New York, New Jer- 
 sey, Pennsylvania and Ohio ; or to any 
 citizen or inhabitant of any such State, 
 any money, bills, drafts or other things 
 of value, either in payments of any debt 
 due or hereafter to become due, or for, 
 or on account of any other cause what- 
 ever, until the determination of hostili- 
 ties.-" The banks were enjoined to assist 
 in carrying out this injunction ; and that 
 the burden of debt might not rest heavily 
 upon the minds of honorable citizens, a 
 way was pointed out by which their 
 pockets, if not their consciences, might be 
 relieved. They were earnestly recom- 
 mended to pay the amount of their in- 
 debtedness to the North into the hands 
 of the Treasurer of the State, from whom 
 they would receive interest, and thus at 
 the same time distress their enemies, per- 
 form a patriotic duty to the St^te, and 
 make a profitable investment for them- 
 selves.* 
 
 The Confederate States, however, no 
 longer dependent upon the measures of 
 the several Governors had a voice more 
 authoritative at Montgomery. President 
 Jefferson Davis spoke for the whole from 
 his chair of state in an edict of import- 
 ance throughout the world. His answer 
 to the call of the President of the United 
 States was a counter Proclamation 
 promptly issued on the 17th of April, in 
 which he invited " all those who may 
 desire, by service in private armed ves- 
 sels on the high seas, to aid this govern- 
 ment in resisting so wanton and wicked 
 
 * Proclamation of Gov. Joseph E. Brown. April 26, 
 1861. 
 
130 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 an aggression, to make application for 
 commissions or letters of marque and 
 reprisal, to be issued under the seal of 
 these Confederate States." This was met 
 by another Proclamation from President 
 Lincoln, on the 19th, declaring a blockade 
 of the ports of the rebellious States, sub- 
 jecting vessels violating it to the usual 
 penalties under the law of nations, and 
 specially adding, "if any person, under 
 the pretended authority of said States, 
 or under any other pretence, shall molest 
 a vessel of the United States, or the per- 
 sons or cargo on board of her, such per- 
 son will be held amenable to the laws 
 of the United States for the prevention 
 and punishment of piracy." 
 
 The latter declaration, which was after- 
 wards variously discussed and became a 
 subject of much practical interest, was 
 in return commented upon by President 
 Davis in the Message, whicLi he delivered 
 some days later, on the meeting of the 
 Confederate Congress. Affecting the 
 language of surprize, which we have seen 
 employed by the Governor of North 
 Carolina, he said of the threatened treat- 
 ment of the privateers of the Confeder- 
 acy as pirates. " Notwithstanding the 
 authenticity of this proclamation, you 
 will concur with me that it is hard to be- 
 lieve that it could have emanated from a 
 President of the United States. Its an- 
 nouncement of a mere paper blockade is 
 so manifestly a violation of the law of 
 nations, fhat it would seem incredible 
 that it could have been issued by author- 
 ity ; but conceding this to be the case, so 
 far as the Executive is concerned, it will 
 be difficult to satisfy the people of these 
 States that their late confederates will 
 sanction its declarations will determine 
 to ignore the usages of civilized nations, 
 and will inaugurate a war of extermina- 
 
 tion on both sides, by treating as pirates 
 open enemies acting under the authority 
 of commissions issued by an )rganized 
 government. If such proclamation was 
 issued, it could only have been published 
 under the sudden influence of passion, 
 and we may rest assured that mankind 
 will be spared the horrors of the conflict 
 it seems to invite."* 
 
 In this address President Davis stated 
 the Confederate force in the field at 
 Charleston, Pensacola, Forts Morgan, 
 Jackson, St. Philip and Pulaski at nine- 
 teen thousand men, while sixteen thou- 
 sand more were already on their way to 
 Virginia a proof, if one were wanted, 
 of the foregone conclusion in the mind 
 of the South in anticipation of what was 
 termed the inauguration of war at Sum- 
 ter, and of their previous readiness for 
 the field. The North with all its ability 
 had shown no such preparation. But 
 this was not all. " It is proposed," add- 
 ed Davis, " to organize and hold in readi- 
 ness for instant action, in view of the 
 present exigencies of the country, an 
 army of one hundred thousand men." 
 With their cry of " On to Washington," 
 which was now bruited about the land, 
 it was evident that President Lincoln's 
 seventy-five thousand three months' mi- 
 litia men would not long suffice. 
 
 It was in this address that Davis em- 
 ployed an expression which was caught 
 up and much commented upon for its 
 simplicity, which it is perhaps injustice to 
 its author to separate from the context. 
 It was the desire to be let alone, and oc- 
 curs in this concluding passage : " We 
 feel that our cause is just and holy. We 
 protest solemnly, in the face of mankind, 
 that we desire peace at any sacrifice, 
 
 * Message of Jefferson Davis. Montgomery. April 29, 
 1861. 
 
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 131 
 
 save that of honor. In independence 
 we seek no conquest, no aggrandizement, 
 no cession of any kind from the States 
 with which we have lately confederated. 
 All we ask is to be let alone that those 
 who never held power over us shall not 
 now attempt our subjugation by arms. 
 This we will, we must resist, to the di- 
 rest extremity. The moment that this 
 pretension is abandoned, the sword will 
 drop from our grasp and we shall be 
 ready to enter into treaties of amity and 
 commerce that cannot but be mutually 
 
 beneficial. So long as this pretension is 
 maintained, with a firm reliance on that 
 Divine Power which covers with its pro- 
 tection the just cause, we will continue 
 to struggle for our inherent right to 
 freedom, independence and self-govern- 
 ment." 
 
 With such solemn supplications to 
 Heaven the leaders of both parties 
 prepared to enter on what one side as 
 well as the other, as in all great wars, 
 had come to think an inevitable con- 
 flict. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 RESPONSE OF THE NATION. 
 
 IT would be difficult to do justice to 
 the spirit of patriotism which was excited 
 in the hearts of the people by the blow 
 struck at their liberties in the assault 
 upon Sumter. Everywhere, throughout 
 the North, popular gatherings were held 
 with the most striking exhibitions of loy- 
 alty. The national flag, always fondly 
 cherished as the symbol of the State 
 and all which that grand impersonation 
 represents of security and happiness, 
 now seemed to acquire a new signifi- 
 cance when Rebellion was plucking at | 
 its stars. It was brought forth and hung 
 where it had never been seen- before, on 
 dwellings and churches and even at pul- 
 pits and altars, as the guardian of home 
 and religion. But, above all, the people 
 forgetting their divisions and animosi- 
 ties laid aside all political differences to 
 unite in one hearty expression of alle- 
 giance to the Government, and determi- 
 nation to support it in the exercise of its 
 legitimate authority with their lives and 
 
 fortunes. Of these days, it may be 
 truly said, in the words of the song of 
 Deborah, "the people willingly offered 
 themselves." 
 
 Among the many popular demonstra- 
 tions none was more imposing than that 
 of the vast meeting held in the city of 
 New York on the 20th of April, exactly 
 one week from the fall of Sumter. Many 
 circumstances united to give it a memor- 
 able character as a great national event. 
 It was not only an extraordinary mani- 
 festation of the numbers of the largest 
 city in the Union, but was fairly to be 
 considered from the speakers who were 
 present from different portions of the 
 country, as, in some measure, the voice 
 of the whole nation. Among the prom- 
 inent orators of the occasion there were 
 representatives of the East, tie West 
 and even of the South. There was no 
 distinction of party. All shades of po- 
 litical opinion were merged in the blue, 
 white and red, the only colors which 
 
r 
 
 132 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 were thought of that day. No discrimi- 
 nation was made between Democrat and 
 Republican. A notable Romanist and a 
 notable Puritan divine acknowledged the 
 common religion of the State. Patriot; 
 ism ruled the hour. 
 
 The assembly, indeed, had a peculiar 
 significance in the time and place. It 
 was held while the first portentous 
 threats of the Rebellion hung like a 
 cloud over the land, when every hour 
 brought intelligence of some new peril 
 or disaster. The deeds of violence at 
 Baltimore and its vicinity had destroyed 
 communication with the Capital which 
 was in imminent danger of capture and 
 destruction. The national establishments 
 at Harper's Ferry and Gosport were 
 even then attacked, and all that their 
 loyal defenders could attempt to res- 
 cue them from the assailants was to 
 apply the torch to the public property. 
 New York had sent a thousand of her 
 most valued young men to Washington 
 a day or two before, untried and inex- 
 perienced in war, with the prospect be- 
 fore them of fighting their way through 
 a desperate rabble. Several thousand 
 more were on the eve of departure. 
 The city was a camp, and the wharves 
 were alive with the bustle of prepara- 
 tion of the transports which were to 
 carry the men away on the morrow. 
 Many a father was present at the meet- 
 ing at Union Park, who felt that he might 
 be looking upon his son at his side for 
 the last time. 
 
 The scene of this great gathering was 
 also noticeable. In New York, if any- 
 where, there was a just regard and 
 friendly feeling for the people of the 
 Scuth. Connected with that region by 
 various ties of commerce and other inti- 
 mate relationship, there was certainly no 
 
 disposition in the citizens to seek an oc- 
 casion for war, where war would assai] 
 so many vital interests of property and 
 affection. Time and again that had been 
 shown in deference to the wishes or pre- 
 tensions of the South. The cosmopoli- 
 tan character of the city, also, placed it 
 above all suspicion of any desire to in- 
 jure or annoy. What New York, there- 
 fore, should say at such a crisis would 
 be peculiarly entitled to respect. Her 
 prejudices, if she had any, were in favor 
 of the South, and the South had greatly 
 relied upon them to favor her cause. It 
 was now to be determined upon which 
 side she would take her stand whether 
 she would tolerate or assist Rebellion 
 or whether she would resolutely oppose 
 it by giving a cordial support to the 
 Government. 
 
 The opportunity to pronounce the de- 
 cision was now afforded by the invitation 
 of a number of influential citizens sum- 
 moning all persons, " without regard to 
 their previous political opinions or asso- 
 ciations, to meet and express their senti- 
 ments in the present crisis of our nation- 
 al affairs, and their determination to up- 
 hold the Government of their country, 
 and maintain the authority of its Consti- 
 tution and its laws." The call was nobly 
 responded to. On the afternoon of the 
 day appointed, places of business were 
 closed, that all might have an opportu- 
 nity to attend. The meeting was held at 
 Union Square, where the equestrian 
 statue of Washington seemed to afford 
 an appropriate emblem of the proceed- 
 ings of the day. An immense audience 
 the greatest which the city had ever 
 seen assembled gathered in the large, 
 open area surrounding the park, and- the 
 main avenues leading to it. It was esti- 
 mated that a hundred thousand persons 
 
 
THE STATUE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 133 
 
 were present assisting in the ceremonies 
 during the afternoon. Four stands were 
 
 o 
 
 erected, each of which had its presiding 
 officer and series of speakers. The ex- 
 ercises .at each were commenced with 
 prayer by an eminent divine. There 
 were but few badges or mottoes, with 
 little or no attempt to excite emotion by 
 any outward display, unless we except 
 the mute though eloquent appeal of the 
 soiled and tattered flag brought from 
 Sumter, which, mounted on a fragment 
 of its staff, was placed in the hands of 
 the statue of Washington. Major An- 
 derson and several of his brother officers 
 were introduced in the course of the 
 meeting, and welcomed with enthusiasm. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring, the 
 venerable pastor of the Brick Church, 
 opened the meeting. In a few words, 
 preliminary to the prayer which he of- 
 fered, he struck the key-note of the pro- 
 ceedings. Referring to his avowal on 
 other occasions of sentiments not un- 
 friendly to Southern institutions, he de- 
 clared that the question now was not 
 between slavery and anti-slavery, be- 
 tween republicanism and democracy 
 but that it was between law and anarchy, 
 between government and no government ; 
 and on such an issue he prayed that we 
 might be one people, and invoked the 
 blessings of heaven on those who had 
 gone forth to fight the battles of their 
 country. 
 
 Dr. Spring was followed at the main 
 stand by the Hon. John A. Dix, the late 
 patriotic Secretary of the Treasury, who 
 had labored so zealously to stem the tide 
 of corruption, and preserve the falling- 
 state. In a calm, well-considered speech, 
 he simply and clearK set forth the pres- 
 ent position of the country. Having 
 been a member of President Buchanan's 
 
 Cabinet, he could speak with authority 
 of the nature of the contest. "With no 
 provocation whatever from the Federal 
 Government," said he, "unscrupulous 
 men ha4 turned their arms in fraternal 
 hatred against it, even when it was ad- 
 ministered by those who were actuated 
 by the most friendly disposition toward? 
 them." If to that Administration, he 
 said, South Carolina had tendered war, 
 as she had to that of President Lincoln, 
 by a hostile and deadly assault, it would 
 have been unanimously accepted. The 
 present Administration, he maintained, 
 had done no more than its duty, and it 
 was entitled to support. " I believe," 
 said he, " it will act with all the moder- 
 ation and forbearance consistent with the 
 great interests confided to it." Those 
 interests assumed no small proportions 
 in his eyes. " I regard," he added, " the 
 pending contest with the secessionists as 
 a death struggle for constitutional liber- 
 ty and law a contest which, if success- 
 ful on their part, could only end in the 
 establishment of a despotic government, 
 and blot out, whenever they were in the 
 ascendant, every vestige of national free- 
 dom." " Fellow citizens," he eloquently 
 concluded, "we stand before the statue 
 of the Father of his- country. The flag 
 of the Union, which floats over it, hung 
 above him when he presided over the 
 convention by which the Constitution 
 was framed. The great work of his life 
 has been rejected, and the banner by 
 which his labors were consecrated has 
 been trampled in the dust. If the inan- 
 imate bronze in which the sculptor has 
 shaped his image, could be changed for 
 the living form which led the armies of 
 the revolution to victory, he would com- 
 mand us, in the name of the hosts of 
 patriots and political martyrs who have 
 
134 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 gone before, to strike for the defence of 
 the Union and the Constitution." 
 
 Senator Daniel S. Dickinson, of New 
 York, seconded this speech in a few kin- 
 dling words, not untouched witlj regret 
 for the sad conditions of the approaching 
 conflict. " I would not levy war for ag- 
 gression," said he ; "I would levy it for 
 defensive peace. I would arm, and that 
 in a manner becoming this government 
 and people, not for aggression, I repeat, 
 but for defense for the purpose of re- 
 taining our honor and dignity, not only 
 at home, but among the nations of the 
 earth . . We are called upon to act. There 
 is no time for hesitation or indecision- 
 no time for haste and excitement. It is 
 a time when the people should rise in 
 the majesty of their might, stretch forth 
 their strong arm and silence the angry 
 waves of tumult. It is time the people 
 should command peace. It is a question 
 between union and anarchy between 
 law and disorder." 
 
 The speaker who succeeded is entitled 
 to particular attention in our narrative, 
 for he subsequently sealed the fidelity of 
 his words spoken on that occasion with 
 his life. Senator Edward Dickinson 
 Baker of Oregon, who now addressed 
 the assembly, had. just completed his 
 fiftieth year a half century which he 
 had passed in restless energy, rising by 
 his exertions to one of the highest seats 
 of influence in the land. Born in London 
 he had been brought to America in his 
 childhood, and while yet a boy had been 
 carried to the interior of Illinois, where 
 he rose with the expanding fortunes of the 
 West. Beading was his delight, and the 
 passion enabled him to bring to his pro- 
 fession of the law a store of literary il- 
 lustration not always associated with its 
 dry technicalities. It was an inevitable 
 
 step for such a man fertile in speech, 
 warm-hearted, ambitious from the bar 
 to political oratory. His election to 
 Congress followed almost as a matter 
 of course, and from Congress to the head 
 of a regiment in the Mexican war was 
 quite as natural a transition. He was 
 with Scott in his advance to Mexico, 
 and in the record of Cerro Gordo his 
 name is honorably written as one who 
 rendered distinguished service. After 
 the war he returned to Congress, and 
 when his term was completed, we find 
 him, with characteristic enthusiasm and 
 indifference to hardship, a leader in an 
 adventurous enterprize at the isthmus of 
 Panama. That nearly cost him his life ; 
 but the home air of the Prairies restored 
 him, and in 1852 he emigrated to Cali- 
 fornia. There he took a high position at 
 the bar, and became formidable in politics 
 as a supporter of the Tree soil doctrines 
 which were making their way in the 
 State, not without some demands upon 
 the martyr spirit of their advocates. 
 Senator Broderick, the victim ' of the 
 struggle, was his friend, and he was called 
 to pronounce the funeral oration over his 
 murdered body. From this bloody scene 
 of strife he went to Oregon, whence he 
 was sent to the Senate of the United 
 States. There he took his seat in March, 
 1859, and through the sessions of that 
 year and the next his voice was ever to 
 be heard in support of the principles of 
 the Republican party to which he was 
 attached. An old associate of Abraham 
 Lincoln in Illinois in his early struggle, 
 endeared to him by manly sympathies of 
 fortune and character, he hailed his 
 friend's elevation to the Presidency with 
 honest delight. With this rapid glance 
 at his previous history, and with the fatal 
 day on the Potomac on our minds, we 
 
SENATOR BAKER'S SPEECH. 
 
 135 
 
 may listen with interest to his words on 
 that April afternoon in New York. 
 
 " The majesty of the people is here 
 to-day to sustain the Majesty of the Con- 
 stitution/' he exclaimed, " and I come, 
 a wanderer from the far Pacific to record 
 my oath along with yours of the great 
 Empire State. The hour for conciliation 
 has passed, the gathering for battle is at 
 hand ; and the country requires that 
 every man shall do his duty. Fellow 
 citizens, what is that country ? Is it the 
 soil on which we tread ? Is it the gath- 
 ering of familiar faces ? Is it our luxury 
 and pomp and pride ? Nay, more than 
 these, is it power and might and majesty 
 alone ? No : our country is more, far 
 more than all these. The country which 
 demands our love, our courage, our de- 
 votion, our hearts' blood, is more than 
 all these (loud applause) our country 
 is the history of our fathers our coun- 
 try is the tradition of our mothers our 
 country is past renown our country is 
 present pride and power our country is 
 future hope and destiny our country is 
 greatness, glory, truth, constitutional lib- 
 erty above all, freedom forever ! . . 
 
 Young men of New York young men 
 of the United States you are told this 
 is not to be a war of aggression. In one 
 sense that is true ; in another, not. We 
 have committed aggression upon no man. 
 In all the broad land, in their rebel nest, 
 in their traitors' camp, no truthful man 
 can rise and say that he has ever been 
 disturbed, though it be but for a single 
 moment, in life, liberty, estate, character 
 or honor. The day they began this un- 
 natural, false, wicked, rebellious warfare, 
 their lives were more secure, their pro- 
 perty more secure by us not by them- 
 selves, but by us guarded far more 
 securely than any people ever have had 
 
 their lives and property secured from the 
 beginning of the world. We have com- 
 mitted no oppression, have broken no 
 compact, have exercised no unholy 
 power ; have been loyal, moderate, con- 
 stitutional and just. We are a majority 
 of the Union, and we will govern our own 
 Union, within our own Constitution, in 
 our own way. We are all Democrats. 
 We are all Republicans. We acknowl- 
 edge the sovereignt}^ of the people within 
 the rule of the Constitution ; and under 
 that Constitution, and beneath that flag, 
 let traitors beware. In this sense, then, 
 young men of New York, we are not for 
 a .war of aggression. But in another 
 sense, speaking for myself as a man who 
 has been a soldier, and as one who is a 
 Senator, I say, in the same sense, I am 
 for a war of aggression. I propose to do 
 now as we did in Mexico conquer peace. 
 I propose to go to Washington, and be- 
 yond. I do not design to remain silent, 
 supine, inactive nay, fearful until they 
 gather their battalions and advance their 
 hosts upon our borders or in our midst. 
 I would meet them upon the threshold, 
 and there, in the very State of their 
 power, in the very atmosphere of their 
 treason, I propose that the people of this 
 Union dictate to these rebels the terms 
 of peace. It may take thirty millions ; it 
 may take three hundred millions. What 
 then ? We have it. Loyally, nobly, 
 grandly do the merchants of New York 
 respond to the appeals of the Govern- 
 ment. It may cost us seven thousand 
 men ; it may cost us seventy-five thou- 
 sand men in battle ; it may cost us seven 
 hundred and fifty thousand men. What 
 then? We have them. The blood of 
 every loyal citizen of this Government is 
 dear to me. My sons, my kinsmen, the 
 young men who have grown up beneath 
 
136 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 my eye and beneath my care, they are 
 all dear to me ; but if the country's des- 
 tiny, glory, tradition, greatness, freedom, 
 government, written constitutional gov- 
 ernment the only hope of a free people 
 demand it, let them all go. I am not 
 here now to speak timorous words of 
 peace, but to kindle the spirit of manly, 
 determined war. I speak in the midst 
 of the Empire State, amid scenes of past 
 suffering and past glory .; the defences of 
 the Hudson above me ; the battle field 
 of Long Island before me, and the statue 
 of Washington in my very face the 
 battered and conquered flag of Sumter 
 waving in his hands, which I can almost 
 now imagine trembles with the excite- 
 ment of battle. And as I speak, I say 
 my mission here to-day is to kindle the 
 heart of New York for war short, 
 sudden, bold, determined, forward war. 
 The Seventh regiment has gone. Let 
 seventy and seven more follow. Of old, 
 said a great historian, beneath the ban- 
 ner of the cross, Europe precipitated it- 
 self upon Asia. Beneath the banner of 
 the Constitution let the men of the Union 
 precipitate themselves upon disloyal, re- 
 bellious Confederate States. Let no man 
 underrate the dangers of this controversy. 
 Civil war, for the best of reasons upon the 
 one side, and the worst upon the other, 
 is always dangerous to liberty always 
 fearful, always bloody ; but, fellow-citi- 
 zens, there are yet worse things than 
 fear, than doubt and dread, and danger 
 and blood. Dishonor is worse. Per- 
 petual anarchy is worse. States forever 
 commingling and forever severing is 
 worse. Traitors and secessionists are 
 worse. To have star after star blotted 
 out to have stripe after stripe obscured 
 to have glory after glory dimmed to 
 have our women weep and our men blush 
 
 for shame throughout generations yet to 
 come ; that and these are infinitely worse 
 than blood. People of New York, on 
 the eve of battle allow me to speak as a 
 soldier. Few of you know, as my career 
 has been distant and obscure, but I may 
 mention it here to-day, with a generous 
 pride, that it was once my fortune to lead 
 your gallant New York regiment in the 
 very shock of battle. I was their leader, 
 and upon the bloody heights of Cerro 
 Gordo I know well what New York can 
 do when her blood is up. Again, once 
 more, when we march, let us not march 
 for revenge. As yet we have nothing to 
 revenge. It is not much that where that 
 tattered flag waved, guarded by seventy 
 men against ten thousand, it is not much 
 that starvation effected what an enemy 
 could not compel. We have as yet some- 
 thing to punish ; but nothing, or very 
 little, to revenge. The President him- 
 self, a hero without knowing it and I 
 speak from knowledge, having known him 
 from boyhood the President says : 
 ' There are wrongs to be redressed, 
 already long enough endured.' And we 
 march to battle and to victory because 
 we do not choose to endure this wrong 
 any longer. They are wrongs not merely 
 against us ; not against you, Mr. Presi- 
 dent ; not against me, but against our 
 sons and against our grandsons that sur- 
 round us. They are wrongs against our 
 ensign they are wrongs against our 
 Union ; they are wrongs against our 
 Constitution ; they are wrongs against 
 human hope and human freedom ; and 
 thus, if it be avenged, still, as Burke 
 says, 'it is a wild justice at last,' and 
 we will revenge them. While I speak, 
 following in the wake of men so eloquent, 
 so conservative, so eminent, so loyal, so 
 well known even while I speak, the 
 
A VOICE FROM THE SOUTH. 
 
 137 
 
 object of your meeting is accomplished ; 
 upon the wings of the lightning it goes out 
 throughout the world that New York, the 
 very heart of a great city, with her 
 crowded thoroughfares, her merchants, 
 her manufacturers, her artists that New 
 York by one hundred thousand of her 
 people, declares to the country and to the 
 world that she will sustain the Govern- 
 ment to the last dollar in her treasury 
 to the last drop of your blood. The na- 
 tional banners leaning from ten thousand 
 windows in your city to-day proclaim 
 your affection and reverence for the 
 Union. You will gather in battalions, 
 
 Patient of toil, serene amidst alarms, 
 Inflexible in faith, invincible in arms ; 
 
 and as you gather, every omen of pre- 
 sent concord and ultimate peace will sur- 
 round you. The ministers of religion, 
 the priests of literature, the historians 
 of the past, the illustrators of the pre- 
 sent, capital, science, art, invention, dis- 
 coveries, the works of genius all these 
 will attend us in our march and we will 
 conquer. And if, from the far Pacific, a 
 voice more feeble than the feeblest mur- 
 mur upon its shore may be heard to give 
 you courage and hope in the contest, 
 that voice is yours to day ; and if a man 
 whose hair is gray, who is well nigh 
 worn out in the battle and toil of life, 
 may pledge himself on such an occasion 
 and in such an audience, let me say, as 
 my last word, that when, amid sheeted 
 fire and flame, I saw and led the hosts 
 of New York as they charged in contest 
 upon a foreign soil for the honor of your 
 flag ; so again, if Providence shall will 
 it, this feeble hand shall draw a sword, 
 never yet dishonored not to fight for 
 distant honor in a foreign land, but to 
 fight for country, for home, for law, for 
 government, for constitution, for right, 
 18 
 
 for freedom, for humanity, and in the 
 hope that the banner of my country may 
 advance, and wheresoever that banner 
 waves there glory may pursue and free- 
 dom be established.'*' 
 
 The next speaker presented a powerful 
 contrast in manner and matter. What 
 one reached by passion and instinct, the 
 other cautiously approached by calcula- 
 tion ; but the conclusion was the same. 
 A representative of the old Democratic 
 party of the days of Jackson, intimately 
 allied to Southern statesmen and identi- 
 fied with Southern policy by his long 
 residence in Mississippi where he had 
 passed the whole period of early man- 
 hood and middle life, President Polk's 
 chosen Secretary of the Treasury, uni- 
 versally accredited with an intimate 
 knowledge of the national resources and 
 consummate skill in political affairs, the 
 Hon. Robert J. Walker stood forth on 
 this occasion an oracle entitled to no light 
 consideration. Moderate, well weighed 
 and considerate, his deductions strikingly 
 corroborate the enthusiasm of Baker. 
 " The question," said he, " is, shall this 
 Union be maintained and perpetuated, 
 
 ! or shall it be broken and dissolved ? No 
 
 . 
 
 | question so important has ever occurred 
 i in the history of our race. It involves 
 not only the fate of this great country, 
 but the question of free institutions 
 throughout the world. The case of self- 
 I government is now on trial before the 
 I forum of our country and of the world. 
 | If we succeed and maintain the Union, 
 free institutions, under the moral force 
 of our example, will ultimately be estab- 
 lished throughout the world ; but if we 
 fail, and our government is overthrown, 
 popular liberty will have made its last 
 experiment, and despotism will reign 
 triumphant throughout the globe. Our 
 
138 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 lesponsibilities are fearful. We have a 
 solemn duty to perform we are this day 
 making history. "We are writing a book 
 whose pages can never be erased it is 
 the destiny of our country and of man- 
 kind. For more than seventy years this 
 Union has been maintained, and it has 
 advanced our country to a prosperity 
 unparalleled in the history of the world. 
 The past was great ; but the future open- 
 ed upon prospects beyond the power 
 of language to describe. But where are 
 we now ? The world looks on with scorn 
 and derision. We have, it is said, no 
 government a mere voluntary associa- 
 tion of independent States a debating 
 society, or a moot court, without any 
 real power to uphold the laws or main- 
 tain the constitution. We have no coun- 
 try, no flag, no Union ; but each State, 
 at its pleasure, upon its own mere whim 
 or caprice, with or without cause, may 
 secede and dissolve the Union. Seces- 
 sion, we are told, is a constitutional right 
 of each State, and the Constitution has 
 inscribed its own death warrant upon its 
 face. If this be so we have indeed no 
 government, and Europe may well speak 
 of us with contempt and derision. This 
 is the very question we are now to solve 
 have we a government, and has it 
 power to maintain its existence ? " 
 
 He then alluded to the part he had 
 taken when South Carolina, in 1832, had 
 presented this question of the dissolution 
 of the Union to the country. He had 
 then opposed the doctrines of nullifica- 
 tion and secession, and Mississippi had 
 approved his principles by sending him 
 to the United States Senate. The inter- 
 ests of the South, he maintained, were 
 still the same. " Deeply," said he, " as 
 I deplore our present situation, it is my 
 profound conviction that the welfare, se- 
 
 curity and prosperity of the South can 
 only be restored by the reestablishment 
 of the Union. I see in the permanent 
 overthrow of the Union the utter ruin 
 of the South, and the complete prostra- 
 tion of all their interests." " Much as 
 I love my party," he said, in conclusion, 
 " I love my country infinitely more, and 
 must and will sustain it at all hazards. 
 Indeed, it is due to the great occasion 
 here frankly to declare that, notwith- 
 standing my earnest opposition to the 
 election of Mr. Lincoln, and my disposi- 
 tion most closely to scrutinize all his 
 acts, I see thus far nothing to condemn 
 in his efforts to maintain the Union. 
 And now, my countrymen, one word 
 more before I close. I was trained in 
 devotion to the Union by a patriot sire, 
 who fought the battles of liberty during 
 the war of the Revolution. M}^ life has 
 been given to the support of the Union. 
 I never conceived a thought or wrote or 
 uttered a word, except in its defence. 
 And now, let me say, that this Union 
 must, will and shall be perpetuated ; 
 that not a star shall be dimmed or a 
 stripe erased from our banner ; that the 
 integrity of the government shall be pre- 
 served, and that, from the Atlantic to 
 the Pacific, from the lakes of the North 
 to the Gulf of Mexico, never shall, be 
 surrendered a single acre of our soil or 
 a drop of its waters." 
 
 This was well said, and there were 
 other voices that day entitled to equal 
 respect. Frederick Kapp, a citizen of 
 the United States, of German birth, 
 spoke for his countrymen in the Old 
 World and the New. The author of an 
 excellent biography of Baron Steuben, 
 he had studied the spirit of American 
 freedom in the patriotic counsels and 
 self-sacrifice of the Fathers of the Re- 
 
ARCHBISHOP HUGHES. 
 
 139 
 
 public, and he knew by experience and 
 observation the blessings which the seed 
 then sown had produced in the living in- 
 stitutions of the United States. He 
 looked upon the Rebellion not as a 
 question between States, or one in which 
 a single country only was concerned, but 
 in its relation to the hopes of the race. 
 "The internecine war now raging here," 
 he said, " is not only a private affair of 
 America ; it is a question of the highest 
 importance to the whole civilized world, 
 which expects that we will crush anarchy 
 in its inception. We have to prove that 
 civil liberty, with all its blessings, is not 
 only an experiment not a mere passing 
 state of political being, which lasts only 
 so long as it is not assailed either by a 
 military or a slaveholder's despotism, but 
 that it is a power self-sustaining and in- 
 terwoven with our natures and with our 
 whole national existence. Liberty is 
 precarious, and we would not be worthy 
 of it unless we have sense and spirit 
 enough to defend it. Let us prove our- 
 selves adequate to the expectations of 
 the friends of liberty in the Old World 
 as well as in the New, whose eyes are 
 fixed upon us. The two powers which 
 have grown up side by side in the United 
 States from the beginning, self-govern- 
 ment and slavery, stand now face to face 
 against each other. It is now for the 
 first time in the history of the world that 
 slavery, in its worst developments, makes 
 a revolution against the morals and eth- 
 ics of society ; that it tries to found a 
 State on all that is mean, contemptible 
 and unsound in human nature. But such 
 a State cannot and will not last. If jus- 
 tice and liberty do not form its basis, it 
 is doomed from the first day of its exis- 
 tence. But it will not disappear of it- 
 self , it must be swept away by us, and, 
 
 as peaceful means will not do, we must 
 use iron means, and we must send to 
 these sinners against human nature our 
 arguments with 12-pounders and mor- 
 tars. As my eyes are glancing over this 
 majestic assembly, majestic as well by 
 its numbers as its enthusiasm, I perceive 
 at once that every one of you, fellow- 
 citizens, understands his duty and that 
 every one of you will be ready for his 
 country's call. This call will be war 
 and nothing but war until our arms 
 shall have won a glorious triumph and 
 our flag shall float again victorious from 
 the Potomac to the Rio Grande." 
 
 Other speakers spoke as enthusiasti- 
 cally for the Germans, while another 
 large and important class of the people, 
 destined to bear at least an equal share 
 in the approaching conflict the natives 
 of Ireland were represented by Arch- 
 bishop Hughes, who, unable to be pres- 
 ent, had addressed a letter to the chair- 
 man, fully avowing his sympathy with the 
 objects of the meeting. In it he said : 
 "Ministers of religion and ministers of 
 peace, according to the instructions of 
 their Divine Master, have not ceased to 
 hope and pray that peace and union 
 might be preserved in this great and free 
 country. At present, however, that 
 question has been taken out of the hands 
 of the peacemakers, and it is referred to 
 the arbitrament of a sanguinary contest. 
 I am not authorized to speak in the 
 name of any of my fellow-citizens. I 
 think, so far as I can judge, there is the 
 right principle among those whom I 
 know. It is now fifty years since, a 
 foreigner by birth, I took the oath of al- 
 legiance to this country, under its title 
 of the United States of America. As 
 regards conscience, patriotism, or judg- 
 ment, I have no misgiving. Still desir- 
 
140 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ous of peace, when the Providence of 
 God shall have brought it, I may say 
 that since the period of my naturaliza- 
 tion I have known but one country. In 
 reference to my duties as a citizen, no 
 change has come over my mind since 
 then. The 'Government of the United 
 States was then, as it is now, symbolized 
 by a national flag, popularly called ' The 
 Stars and Stripes.' This has been my 
 flag, and shall be to the end. I trust it 
 is still destined to display in the gales 
 that sweep every ocean, and amid the 
 gentle breezes of many a distant shore, 
 as I have seen it in foreign lands, its 
 own peculiar waving lines of beauty. 
 May it live and continue to display these 
 same waving lines of beauty, whether at 
 home or abroad, for a thousand years, 
 and afterwards as long as Heaven per- 
 mits, without limit or duration." 
 
 Following this letter of Archbishop 
 Hughes it was pleasing to hear the loyal 
 declarations of the Mayor of the city, 
 Fernando Wood, whose deferential cor- 
 respondence with the seceding Senator 
 Toombs we have noticed on a previous 
 page.* He did not care, he said, in the 
 discharge of his duty to his flag, what 
 past political associations might be sev- 
 ered. He threw himself entirely into 
 this contest, with all his power and all 
 his might. Next to Washington, he 
 said, the greatest man the country had 
 produced was Jackson, and Jackson had 
 declared " the Union must and shall be 
 preserved peaceably if we can, but 
 forcibly if we must." The late Secre- 
 try of War, he stated, had said that the 
 Confederate flag should wave over the 
 Capital before the 1st of May, and more 
 than that, over Faneuil Hall in Boston. 
 "My friends," he exclaimed, "before 
 
 * Ante p. 59-60 
 
 that banner can fly over Faneuil Hall in 
 Boston it must be carried over the dead 
 body of every citizen of New York." 
 There were no more significant words 
 spoken that day ; they showed that the 
 South had nothing to hope, in her sui- 
 cidal course, from the political opponents 
 of the new Administration, who had been 
 hitherto dominant in the city. 
 
 David S. Coddington, an influential 
 member of the old Democratic party, in 
 words running over with passionate im.- 
 agery, gave vent to the scorn and indig- 
 nation excited in his breast. " This 
 spectre of disunion," said he, "is no 
 new ghost, born of any contemporary 
 agitation. For years it had been skulk- 
 ing semi-officially about the Capitol. 
 Through the whole range of our parlia- 
 mentary history every great question, 
 from a Tariff to a Territory, has felt its 
 clammy touch. Did it not drop its 
 death's head into the tariff scales of '33. 
 hoping to weigh the duties down to a 
 conciliation level ? did it not shoot its 
 ghastly logic into the storm of '20, and 
 frighten our soundest statesmanship into 
 that crude calm called the Missouri Com- 
 promise ? did it not sit grinning upon the 
 deck of all our naval battles, hoping to 
 get a turn at the wheel, that it might 
 run the war of 1812 upon a rock ? did 
 it not stand up upon the floor of the first 
 Congress and shake its bony fingers in 
 the calm face of Washington ? and did 
 not our fathers, who stood unmoved the 
 shock of George the Third's cannon, 
 shudder in the presence of this spectre, 
 when they thought how the infant repub- 
 lic might be cast away upon its bleak 
 and milkless breast ? Then it was a thin 
 skulking, hatchet-faced ghost. At last, 
 fed upon the granaries of Northern 
 and Southern fanaticism, it has come 
 
PROFESSOR MITCHELL. 
 
 141 
 
 to be a rotund, well-fed, corpulent 
 disaster." 
 
 " Talk ol the wise statesmanship of 
 the South," he continued, "Had they 
 allowed Kansas to become a free State 
 they would have been in possession of 
 the national Government at this moment. 
 Although the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
 promise awoke the North from its deep 
 sleep upon the slave question, yet the 
 most economical outlay of prudence would 
 have continued them in possession of the 
 Government for an indefinite future. All 
 the ills of the South could have been 
 remedied within the Constitution all 
 their wrongs righted by the victory of 
 future votes. Shall I tell you what Se- 
 cession means ? It means ambition in 
 the Southern leaders and misapprehension 
 in the Southern people. Its policy is to 
 imperial ize slavery ; and to degrade and 
 destroy the only free republic in the 
 world. It is a fog of the brain and a 
 poison at the heart." Looking at the vast 
 assembly around him and its peculiar 
 significance, he said : "Nothing so dis- 
 appoints Secession as the provoking fidel- 
 ity of New York to the Constitution. 
 From the vaults of Wall street, Jefferson 
 Davis expected to pay his army, riot 
 in all the streets, and in all the towns 
 and cities of the North make their inarch 
 a triumphant one. Fifty thousand men 
 to-day tread on his fallacy." 
 
 One of the most enthusiastic speeches of 
 the meeting was delivered by Professor 
 Ormsby McKnight Mitchell, a gentleman 
 familiarly known to the public by his la- 
 bors and writings in connection with as- 
 tronomy, but destined to a still wider repu- 
 tation by his military services in defence 
 of the Union. A graduate of West Point 
 of the year 1829, he for three years filled 
 the position of Professor of Mathematics 
 
 in that Academy, and served for a 
 short time in the army. Eesigning his 
 commission in 1832, he studied law and 
 opened an office in Cincinnati. Two 
 years afterward we find him again en- 
 gaged as an instructor in mathematics in 
 a college in that city, where, in 1845, he 
 was placed at the head of the Observa- 
 toryan institution founded at his insti- 
 gation, and carried onward under great 
 difficulties by his personal energy. He 
 was also engaged in the West as an en- 
 gineer of the Ohio and Mississippi Rail- 
 road, and was at one time Adjutant- 
 General of Ohio. In 1848 he succeeded 
 to the management of the Dudley Obser- 
 vatory at Albany, New York. ' With 
 these claims to consideration he made his 
 appearance at the meeting. His speech, 
 of which we present a few passages, is 
 of interest, not only for its exhibition of 
 the spirit of the hour, but for its bio- 
 graphical anecdotes of the career of the 
 speaker. From such details we may 
 learn something of the spirit and motives 
 which impelled the defenders of their 
 country freely to offer their lives in her 
 service. 
 
 " I have been announced to you," 
 he said, "as a citizen of Kentucky. 
 Once I was, because I was born there. 
 I love my native State, as you love your 
 native State. I love my adopted State 
 of Ohio, as you love your adopted State, 
 if such you have ; but, my friends, I am 
 not a citizen now of any State. I owe 
 allegiance to no State, and never did, and, 
 God helping me, I never will. I owe 
 allegiance to the Government of the Unit- 
 ed States. A poor boy, working my way 
 with my own hands, at the age of twelve 
 turned out to take care of myself as best 
 I could, and beginning by earning but 
 $4 per month, I worked my way onward 
 
142 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 until this glorious Government gave me 
 a chance at the Military Academy at 
 West Point. There I landed with a 
 knapsack on my back, and I tell you 
 God's truth -just a quarter of a dollar in 
 my pocket. There I swore allegiance to 
 the Government of the United States. 
 I did not abjure the love of my own 
 State, nor of my adopted State, but all 
 over that rose proudly triumphant and 
 predominant my love for our common 
 country. And now to-day that common 
 country is assailed, and, alas ! alas ! that 
 I am compelled to say it, it is assailed in 
 some sense by my own countrymen. My 
 father and my mother were from Old 
 Virginia, and my brothers and sisters 
 from Old Kentucky. I love them all ; I 
 love them dearly. I have my brothers 
 and friends down in the South noAv. 
 united to me by the fondest ties of love 
 and affection. I would take them in my 
 arms to-day with all the love that God 
 has put into this heart, but if I found 
 them in arms I would be compelled to 
 smite them down. You have found of- 
 ficers of the army who have been edu- 
 cated by the Government, who have 
 drawn their support from the Govern- 
 ment for long years, who when called 
 upon by their country to stand for the 
 Constitution and for the right, have basely, 
 ignominiously and traitorously either re- 
 signed their commissions or deserted to 
 traitors, and rebels, and enemies. What 
 means all this ? How can it be possible 
 that men should act in this way ? There 
 is no question but one. If we ever had 
 a Government and Constitution, or if we 
 ever lived under such, have we ever re- 
 cognized the supremacy of right ? I say, 
 in God's name why not recognize it now ? 
 Why not to-day ? Why not forever ? 
 Suppose those friends of ours from old 
 
 Ireland, suppose he who has made him- 
 self one of us, when a war should break 
 out against his own country should say, 
 ' I cannot fight against my own country- 
 men/ is he a citizen of the United States ? 
 They are countrymen no longer when 
 war breaks out. The rebels and the 
 traitors in the South, we must set aside ; 
 they are not our friends. When they 
 come to their senses we will receive them 
 with open arms ; but till that time, while 
 they are trailing our glorious banner in 
 the dust, when they scorn it, condemn it, 
 curse it, and trample it under foot, then 
 I must smite. In God's name I will 
 smite, and as long as I have strength I 
 will do it. 0, listen to me, listen to me ! 
 I know these men ; I know their cour- 
 age ; I have been among them ; I have 
 been with them ; I have been reared 
 with them ; they have courage ; and do 
 not you pretend to think they have not. 
 I tell you what it is, it is no child's play 
 you are entering upon. They will fight, 
 and with a determination and a power 
 which is irresistible. Make up your 
 mind to it. Let every man put his life 
 in his hand and say, ' There is the altar 
 of my country ; there I will sacrifice my 
 life.' I for one will lay my life down. It 
 is not mine any longer. Lead me to the 
 conflict. Place me where I can do my 
 duty. There I am ready to go, I care 
 not where it leads me. . . I am ready. 
 God help me to do my duty. I am ready 
 to fight in the ranks or out of the ranks. 
 Having been educated in the Academy, 
 having been in the army seven years, 
 having served as commander of a volun- 
 teer company for ten years, and having 
 served as an adjutant-general, I feel I am 
 ready for something. I only ask to be 
 permitted to act, and in God's name give 
 nie something to do." When the oppor- 
 
THE NEW YORK RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 143 
 
 timity arrived and he was sent to the 
 field in the face of the enemy, the bulle- 
 tins and dispatches of General Mitchell, 
 following one another in quick succession 
 bearing tidings of victory, proclaimed 
 that the orator was in earnest in this 
 glowing declamation. 
 
 There were other speakers the ad- 
 dresses of more than thirty are reported 
 in the proceedings of the day politi- 
 cians of various shades, representatives 
 of diverse interests ; editors, merchants, 
 wealthy citizens, lawyers, judges, city 
 officials, but the spirit of all was the 
 same a determination to sustain at any 
 cost the honor of the flag and the integ- 
 rity of the country within the national 
 boundaries. The sentiment of one and 
 all was embodied in the words of a Res- 
 olution adopted at the meeting, " That 
 the Declaration of Independence, the 
 War of the Revolution and the Consti- 
 tution of the United States have given 
 origin to this government, the most equal 
 and beneficent hitherto known among 
 men ; that tinder its protection the wide 
 expansion of our territory, the vast de- 
 velopment of our wealth, our population, 
 and our power, have built up a nation 
 able to maintain and defend before the 
 world the principles of liberty and jus- 
 tice upon which it was founded ; that by 
 every sentiment of interest, of honor, of 
 affection and of duty, we are engaged 
 to preserve unbroken for our generation, 
 and to transmit to our posterity, the 
 great heritage we have received from 
 heroic ancestors ; that to the mainte- 
 nance of this sacred trust we devote 
 whatever we possess, and whatever we 
 can do, and in support of that govern- 
 ment under which we are happy and 
 proud to live, we are prepared to shed 
 our blood and lav down our lives." 
 
 There was no rash unthinking enthusi- 
 asm in this, no novel dream of ambition, 
 but rather the reluctant acceptance of a 
 necessity from which a loyal people saw 
 no escape with honor. Even in this mo- 
 ment of excitement, let it be Temember- 
 ed, New York had her word of counsel, 
 her thought of reconciliation in the fu- 
 ture. By the side of the patriotic de- 
 claration which we have cited, it was 
 further resolved, "That when the au- 
 thority of the federal government shall 
 have been reestablished, and peaceful 
 obedience to the constitute and laws 
 prevail, we shall be ready to confer and 
 cooperate with all loyal citizens through- 
 out the Union, in Congress or in Con- 
 vention, for the consideration of all sup- 
 posed grievances, the redress of all 
 wrongs and the protection of every 
 right, yielding ourselves, and expecting 
 all others to yield, to the will of the 
 whole people as constitutionally and 
 lawfully expressed." Thus calmly and 
 resolutely the great city spoke for her- 
 self and the nation. 
 
 The spirit of New York was the 
 spirit of the whole land. Similar pop- 
 ular meetings were held in the cities 
 and towns large and small at Boston, 
 Cincinnati, Chicago and throughout the 
 interior. Many of these demonstrations 
 were of peculiar interest from the char- 
 acter of the assemblies, the place where 
 they were held and the distinguished 
 speakers who took part in them. Citi- 
 zens of foreign birth, immigrants from 
 Ireland and Germany and others vied 
 with native Americans in their devotion 
 to the flag. The clergy of all denomi- 
 nations were largely represented and by 
 their side the professors of Colleges, 
 teachers and others engaged in the 
 work of instruction. It ha i been fre- 
 
144 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 qucntly urged as a great practical defect 
 hi the working of our institutions that 
 the educated men were driven from the 
 field by noisy demagogues, leaving politi- 
 cal action to a particular class of office- 
 seekers ; but if there were any truth in 
 this objection before, it could hardly be 
 urged as a cause of reproach now, when 
 the men of talent and intellect of the 
 country freely came forward and ac- 
 knowledged their obligation to work, 
 for the security of the nation which had 
 protected them in the enjoyment of their 
 honorable t ^sition. The colleges and 
 seminaries of learning, and particularly 
 the public schools, were everywhere 
 prominent in these encouraging displays 
 of patriotism. On the rural lawn or in 
 the city street before these edifices, the 
 students and people of the vicinity as- 
 sembled to listen to brief expositions of 
 the principles of government, and kind- 
 ling appeals to the instinct of patriotism. 
 There were probabl}* few influential 
 persons at the North, accustomed to 
 public speaking, who were not at one 
 time or other called upon to take part in 
 these exercises. The merchants also, as 
 a class, were distinguished by their zeal 
 and liberality in providing for these flag 
 raisings and other popular manifesta- 
 tions. 
 
 Volumes might be filled with abstracts 
 of the eloquent addresses delivered at 
 these patriotic gatherings, which would 
 well reward the attention of the student 
 of this remarkable development of Ame- 
 rican national character. But we cannot 
 further pursue the subject here. We 
 may select one or two, however, from 
 the mass, for the particular interest at- 
 taching to the speakers A large and 
 enthusiastic meeting.at Troy, in the State 
 of New York, after passing resolutions 
 
 sustaining the Government, and pledging 
 the city to raise a regiment of volunteers, 
 adjourned to the residence of the veteran 
 General Wool, the Commander of the 
 Eastern Department of the National 
 Army, whose zeal in the cause had been 
 already manifested in a published cor- 
 respondence. On the last day of the 
 previous December, when there were 
 painful rumors afloat of the withdrawal 
 of Major Anderson from Sumter and the 
 surrender of that fort, he had written to 
 a friend at Washington that he could not 
 entertain the idea that the President 
 would surrender that citadel ; but that 
 if it should be given up to South Caro- 
 lina as she demanded, that " the smother- 
 ed indignation of the free States would 
 be roused beyond control. It would not 
 be in the power of any one to restrain it. 
 In twenty days two hundred thousand 
 men would be in readiness to take ven- 
 geance on all who would betray the 
 Union into the hands of its enemies." 
 No man in that dark hour of weakness 
 and treachery saw more clearly the true 
 nature of the issue, the principles at 
 stake, and the character of the insur- 
 gents ; no one was more eager to uphold 
 the authority of the Government. On 
 the present occasion his convictions were 
 expressed, if possible, with deeper ear- 
 nestness. ' ' We had, " he said in answer to 
 the address of his fellow-citizens, " fought 
 under the old flag, but he had done no 
 more than his duty towards the best 
 Government that ever existed. He had 
 fought under the Stars and Stripes that 
 were carried in triumph by Washington, 
 and under which Jackson closed the 
 second war for independence at New 
 Orleans in a halo of glorj T . Will you 
 permit that flag to be desecrated and 
 trampled in the dust by traitors now * 
 
GENERAL CASS. 
 
 145 
 
 Will you permit our noble Government 
 to be destroyed by rebels, in order that 
 (bey may advance their schemes of po- 
 litical ambition and extend the area of 
 slavery ? No, indeed, it cannot be done. 
 The spirit of the age forbids it. My 
 friends, that flag must be lifted up from 
 the dust into which it has been trampled, 
 placed in its proper position and again 
 set floating in triumph to the breeze. I 
 pledge you my heart, my hand, all my 
 energies to the cause. The Union shall 
 be maintained. I am prepared to devote 
 my life to the work and to lead you in 
 the struggle."* 
 
 A few days later, the veteran states- 
 man and soldier General Cass assured 
 the hearts of his countrymen by like 
 kindling words of patriotic energy. Ad- 
 dressing his fellow-citizens on occasion 
 of the raising the flag over their building 
 by the Board of Trade at Detroit, he 
 contrasted the situation in which he now 
 found himself, with the position in which 
 he had been placed on the same spot fifty 
 years before by the capitulation of Gen- 
 eral Hull. Then, he said, " our contest 
 was a legitimate war waged with a for- 
 eign foe ; our war to-day is a domestic 
 one, commenced by and bringing in its 
 train acts which no right feeling man can 
 contemplate without most painful regret. 
 But a few months since, and we were 
 the first and happiest nation on the face 
 of the globe. In the midst of this pros- 
 perity, without a single foe to assail us, 
 without a single injury at home caused 
 by the operations of the Government to 
 affect us, this glorious Union, acquired 
 by the blood and sacrifices of our fathers, 
 kas been disowned and rejected by a por- 
 tion of the States composing it a Union 
 which has given us more blessings than 
 
 * Speech of General Wool at Troy. AprU 16, 1861. 
 
 19 
 
 any previous government ever conferred 
 upon man. . . You need no one to 
 tell you what are the dangers of your 
 country, nor what are your duties to meet 
 and avert them. There is but one path 
 for every true man to travel, and that is 
 broad and plain. It will conduct us, not 
 indeed without trials and sufferings, to 
 peace and the restoration of the Union. 
 He who is not for his country is against 
 her. There is no neutral position to be 
 occupied. It is the duty of all zealously 
 to support the Government in its efforts 
 to bring this unhappy civil war to a 
 speedy and satisfactory conclusion, by 
 the restoration, in its integrity, df that 
 great charter of freedom bequeathed to 
 us by Washington and his compatriots. 
 His ashes, I humbly trust, will ever con- 
 tinue to repose in the lonely tomb at 
 Mount Vernon and in the United States 
 of America, which he loved so well arid 
 did so much to found and build up. 
 Manifest your regard for his memory by 
 following, each within the compass of his 
 power, his noble example, and restore 
 his work as he left it, by devoting heart, 
 mind and deed to the cause."* In such 
 manly and assuring words, this high- 
 minded patriot, who had honorably re- 
 signed his high position in the late 
 administration rather than countenance 
 its fatal policy, by the simple instinct of the 
 heart penetrated the dark clouds which 
 surrounded him, and led his countrymen 
 on the path of duty and safety. 
 
 These and the like displays of elo- 
 quence were not confined to empty words ; 
 they led directly to liberal, energetic ac- 
 tion to large contributions of money and 
 to an intelligent appreciation of the pub- 
 lic welfare which drew thousands of cul- 
 tivated men as volunteers for the new 
 
 * Speech of General Cass at D Itroit. April 24, 1861. 
 
146 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 army of the Republic. Money and men 
 were everywhere forthcoming. The sub- 
 scriptions of individuals, corporations, 
 banking institutions, towns, cities, and the 
 legislatures of the Northern and Western 
 States, freely offered for the purchase of 
 arms, the raising and equipment of troops 
 and the support of the Government, in 
 a fortnight after the day of the attack 
 upon Sumter, reached a sum estimated 
 at over thirty millions of dollars. The 
 appropriations of the States of Penn- 
 sylvania, New York and Ohio reached 
 the sum of three millions each, and others 
 were quite as liberal in proportion to 
 their wealth, if they did not in some in- 
 stances exceed them. The thrifty State 
 of Connecticut contributed two millions, 
 and Illinois the same ; Indiana, Maine, 
 New Jersey, Vermont, a million each, 
 and the Corporation of the City of New 
 York an equal sum, which was speedily 
 more than doubled by the subscriptions 
 of the citizens. Cincinnati kept pace with 
 New York, and the great West generally 
 throughout its borders was as prodigal of 
 its resources as the wealthy East.* 
 
 The ladies also bore a prominent part 
 in this patriotic work. Female societies 
 were formed everywhere for providing 
 for the wants of the soldiers, in the man- 
 ufacture of articles of clothing, military 
 equipments, and the collection and pre- 
 paration of hospital stores, havelocks for 
 protection from the sun in the summer 
 heats, haversacks for the march, and 
 vast supplies of lint for the wounded and 
 delicacies for the sick ; while many ladies 
 of education and refinement offered their 
 services and were accepted as nurses. 
 It would be difficult to estimate the con- 
 tributions of money, labor, skill, and the 
 
 * Table of Northern Contributions for the W ar. Leslie's 
 Pictorial History, p. 24. 
 
 many acts of personal devotion, which, 
 from the beginning of the war, were so 
 abundantly, methodically, and so quietly 
 and unostentatiously offered for the pub- 
 lic service by the ladies of the country. 
 The Secretary of War, Mr. Cameron, in 
 his first report to Congress gratefully 
 acknowledged the aid to the department 
 rendered in the military hospitals by 
 patriotic women, under the guidance and 
 direction of Miss D. L. Dix, a philan- 
 thropic lady, who, without fee or reward, 
 beyond that arising from the exercise of 
 benevolence, "devoted her whole time 
 to this important subject."* 
 
 The pulpit also, no doubt, at this time 
 exercised an important influence in the 
 formation of opinions, and strengthening 
 the sense of duty by the sanctions of 
 religion. Except on particular occasions, 
 such as a day of thanksgiving, or the na- 
 tional anniversary of independence, it 
 had not been the habit of the preachers 
 of the larger and more influential denom- 
 inations to allude to the state of public 
 affairs. Now, however, the pressing in- 
 terests of the times seemed to demand 
 the aid of all intelligent thinkers ; and 
 political matters, as before in periods of 
 I great anxiety in the country, began to be 
 seriously discussed, with an earnestness 
 proportioned to the importance of the 
 occasion. In the war of the Revolution 
 patriots had been taught their duty in 
 the church, and the clergy stood not far 
 behind the statesmen of those days in 
 moulding the opinions of the people. The 
 published sermons of Davis, Stiles, and 
 others, are among the most valuable and 
 interesting memorials of that age. At a 
 later day also, in the time of the Frenoh 
 Revolution, when questions of party war- 
 fare were thought to involve the interests 
 
 * Report of the Secretary of War. July 1, 1861. 
 
VOICE OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 147 
 
 of religion and morality, the pulpit was 
 loud in its denunciations of the threatened 
 evil. In the more quiet state of public 
 affairs which succeeded, the eloquence 
 which had overrun the secular topics of 
 the hour again returned to its accustomed 
 channel of religious instruction, to the 
 too great neglect, perhaps, of those in- 
 culcations of duty to the State, on the 
 part both of office-holders and the people, 
 without the right understanding and per- 
 formance of which neither government 
 nor religion can exist in safety. 
 
 The first prominent occasion for the 
 voice of the pulpit to be heard in the pre- 
 sent agitation arose with the recommenda- 
 tion of President Buchanan, in view of the 
 distracted and dangerous condition of the 
 country, that the people should assemble 
 on the 4th of January and observe the 
 day as one of humiliation, fasting and 
 prayer throughout the Union. The day 
 was generally kept in the Northern 
 States with the solemnity befitting the 
 injunction, though the opportunity in 
 many instances was turned in rather a 
 different direction, from that apparently 
 intended by the author of the proclama- 
 tion. He had advised a supplication to 
 Heaven " to remove from our hearts that 
 false pride of opinion which would impel 
 us to persevere in wrong for the sake of 
 consistency, rather than yield a just sub- 
 mission to the unforeseen exigencies by 
 which we are now surrounded," a sug- 
 gestion of concession and compromise, 
 which might have been available, if both 
 sides had been disposed to listen to it. 
 The Northern divines, in reply, expressed 
 the kindliest feelings of cordiality and 
 brotherhood, but urged in the most de- 
 cided manner the paramount importance 
 of the maintenance and preservation of 
 the Government Indeed it was gener- 
 
 ally felt that a vigorous proclamation, 
 such as General Jackson might have sent 
 forth, calling the secessionists of the South 
 to return to their allegiance, would have 
 been quite as much in place at the crisis 
 as the appointment of a national fast day 
 in the midst of the festivities of the New 
 Year. 
 
 The ground being thus fairly broken 
 the attack upon Sumter brought with it, 
 as a matter of course, a free and open 
 expression of opinion in the churches 
 generally. The 21st of April, the first 
 Sunday after that event, will long be re- 
 membered as a day of extraordinary 
 earnestness and anxiety. The President's 
 call upon the militia of the several States 
 probably reached every congregation, 
 and parents and children, as they gather- 
 ed for worship that Lord's day, felt their 
 full responsibility in the novel and peril- 
 ous situation of affairs. It was noticed 
 as a striking coincidence that the pre- 
 scribed lesson for the day from the Old 
 Testament in the service of the Episcopal 
 Church embraced the memorable pro- 
 clamation in the book of the Prophet 
 Joel : " Prepare war, wake up the 
 mighty men, let all the men of war draw 
 near ; let them come up. Beat your 
 plough-shares into swords and your prun- 
 ing hooks into spears ; let the weak say 
 I am strong. . . Multitudes, multi- 
 tudes in the valley of decision : for the 
 day of the Lord is near in the valley of 
 decision." Few of the many thousands 
 in whose hearing these words were that 
 day read could have listened to them 
 without emotion. Of the occasion gen- 
 erally it is but little to say that the 
 ministers of religion, conscious of the 
 prospect before them, were true to the 
 great purposes of their vocation in in- 
 spiring the hearts of the people with that 
 
148 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 mingled humility and courage which go 
 hand in hand in the Christian life. 
 
 These were times that tried the tem- 
 per and disposition of men ; but gener- 
 ally there being little choice of action, 
 any differences of judgment were lost 
 in the preponderating local sentiment. 
 Much had been expected on both sides 
 from divisions of opinion. The South 
 looked for aid, or at least acquiescence, 
 in its schemes of revolt, from the divided 
 political councils of the North, and the 
 active sympathy of those hitherto pledg- 
 ed to its interests ; and the North, on 
 the other hand, for a long time relied on 
 the cooperation of what was called " a 
 large Union element " at the South, 
 which at the first opportunity would 
 throw off the authority of the rebel 
 leaders and rise in support of the old 
 nationality. Neither expectation proved 
 well founded. The contest became at 
 once too serious to permit indifference, 
 and whether from interest or sympathy 
 with the prevalent feeling around them, 
 the expected friends of the rebellion and 
 the expected supporters of the flag were 
 silent or drawn into the popular current. 
 In the Border States, however, there 
 was more room for the display of indi- 
 vidual preferences, and there for a time 
 an active rivalry was maintained which 
 realized some of the worst features of 
 civil warfare. The public men of tKe 
 South thus occasionally, in spite of their 
 cherished convictions, as in the case of 
 Stephens and Johnson of Georgia, who 
 both, at the outset, voted against the 
 ordinance of secession, yielding to the 
 necessities of their unhappy position be- 
 came a united body of rebels ; while the 
 old race of Northern politicians with 
 Southern opinions speedily found them- 
 selves in the ranks side by side with the 
 
 Republicans fighting the battles of the 
 Union. In the middle ground there 
 was something of a struggle and some 
 notable defections occurred, among which 
 were those of two of the late candidates 
 for the Presidency, John C. Breckenridge 
 of Kentucky, and John Bell of Tennes- 
 see. The former, though he continued to 
 maintain a responsible relation with the 
 Government for some time, taking his 
 seat as a member of the Senate in the 
 New Congress, early opposed the policy 
 of the Administration. On the 20th of 
 April, in a speech at Louisville, he de- 
 nounced President Lincoln's Proclama- 
 tion as illegal, proposed that Kentucky 
 should protest against the settlement of 
 the present difficulties of the country by 
 the sword, and, that influence failing, as- 
 serted that it was the duty and interest 
 of Kentucky to unite her fortunes with 
 the South. Mr. Bell "in a speech at a 
 public meeting at Nashville, Tennessee, 
 unequivocally gave his adherence to the 
 South. Casting aside the efforts he had 
 recently made and the hopes he had 
 cherished for the preservation of peace, 
 he urged upon all the slaveholding States 
 the policy of uniting together to make 
 common cause against what he called a 
 common foe. Pronouncing his own State 
 of Tennessee already out of the Union, 
 he counselled the most effective and en- 
 ergetic measures for her military organ- 
 ization.* 
 
 The doubtful adherence and final open 
 revolt of Breckenridge were more than 
 compensated by the loyalty of the ven- 
 erable Crittenden. There was, likewise, 
 no one in Tennessee whose loss could 
 offset the unhesitating allegiance to the 
 Union of the energetic Andrew Johnson. 
 
 * Speech of John Bell at Nashville, Tenn., AprU 28 
 1861. 
 
 . | 
 
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. 
 
 149 
 
 The remaining unsuccessful candidate for 
 the Presidency, Senator Douglas, was not 
 the man to be silent or indifferent at 
 such a period. Wisely appreciating his 
 own position and the demands of the 
 times, " the patriot achieved a great but 
 easy conquest over the partisan as he 
 heartily, warmly, and with a zeal befit- 
 ting the momentous cause in which he 
 was engaged, united with those who had 
 heretofore not only opposed but de- 
 nounced him, in a struggle to uphold the 
 Union, sustain the Constitution and vin- 
 
 dicate the claim of the national Govern- 
 ment to the obedience of all its citizens."* 
 The army and navy presented a debat- 
 able ground where the sectional line was 
 less defined. Numbers, misled by the un- 
 happy doctrine of State allegiance aban- 
 doned their commissions in the national 
 service, but there were many, especially 
 in the navy, whom no local jealousies or 
 delusions could alienate from their loy- 
 alty to the old flag. 
 
 * Address of Mr. Browning of Illinois, in the Senate, 
 July 9, 1861. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SEIZURE OP HARPER'S FERRY AND THE NORFOLK NAVY YARD. 
 
 THE first duty of the Government was 
 to protect Washington. The capture of 
 the Capital was evidently the object of 
 the insurgents. Lying between two slave 
 States and largely occupied by sympa- 
 thizers with the rebellion, it was doubt- 
 less expected to fall an easy prey to the 
 Southern leaders. Indeed, so important 
 was its possession to the rebel Govern- 
 ment that it is difficult to suppose, in so 
 comprehensive a scheme of revolt, put 
 in operation by such masters of strata- 
 gem, that its capture was not contem- 
 plated from the very outset. After the 
 attack upon Sumter, which was immedi- 
 ately followed by the secession of Vir- 
 ginia, that State having the honor of be- 
 
 O ' * ' 
 
 ing the first, outside of the original sev- 
 en, to gain admission to the Montgomery 
 Confederacy, and when North Carolina, 
 the intervening barrier, was waiting only 
 the formal act of withdrawal, the path 
 lay open to the Southern armies to ac- 
 complish by force what they had al- 
 
 ready paved the way for by intrigue. 
 There could be no doubt then of the 
 danger when troops were set in motion 
 northward, and the seizure of the Capi- 
 tal was everywhere talked of through 
 the Confederacy without disguise as its 
 inevitable policy. 
 
 There was some disposition shown af- 
 terwards to throw off the responsibility of 
 an intention to attack Washington at the 
 time of which we speak, but there would 
 appear to be quite evidence enough to 
 establish the fact. A collection of ex- 
 pressions on the subject by the Southern 
 press, exhibits a variety of declarations 
 arising in different quarters, and all tend- 
 ing to the same result. We have al- 
 ready noted the threat of the Confeder- 
 ate Secretary of War at Montgomery, to 
 supplant the stars and stripes on the na- 
 tional Capital by the new flag of the 
 rebellion before the 1st of May.* The 
 day after that avowal, on the 13th of 
 
 * Ante p. 118, 
 
150 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 April, the Richmond Enquirer summon- 
 ed to arms the citizens disposed to join 
 " the Southern army as it shall pass 
 through our borders," with the signifi- 
 cant intimation that " nothing was more 
 probable than that President Davis will 
 soon march an army through North Car- 
 olina and Virginia to Washington." The 
 New Orleans Picayune of the 18th de- 
 clared that " the first fruits of a Virginia 
 secession will be the removal of Lin- 
 coln and his Cabinet and whatever he 
 can carry away to the safer neighbor- 
 hood of Harrisburg or Cincinnati per- 
 haps to Buffalo or Cleveland." In Ala- 
 bama and Mississippi the report was cur- 
 rent that Ben. McCullough, the noted 
 Texas chieftain, destined to a conspicu- 
 ous career in the conduct of the war, had 
 thus early organized a force of five thou- 
 sand men for the seizure of the Capital. 
 The Hon. Roger A. Pryor on his arrival 
 at Montgomery, after his escape from the 
 perils of Sumter, publicly announced his 
 desire to march immediately upon Wash- 
 ington. The Eufaula, Alabama, Jtepress, 
 in a few words, described the situation as 
 it presented itself to the minds of thou- 
 sands : " With independent Virginia on 
 one side and the secessionists of Mary- 
 land, who are doubtless in the majority, 
 on the other, our policy at this time 
 should be to seize the old Federal Capi- 
 tal and take old Lincoln and his Cabinet 
 prisoners of war. Once get the Head 
 of the Government in our power and we 
 can demand any terms we see fit, and 
 thus, perhaps, avoid a long and bloody 
 contest." North Carolina journals were 
 equally impressed with the value of the 
 movement, " To' have gained Mary- 
 land," said the Goldsboro' Tribune of 
 the 24th, " is to have gained a host. It 
 ensures Washington City and the igno- 
 
 minious expulsion of Lincoln and his 
 body-guard of Kansas cut-throats from 
 the White House. It makes good the 
 words of Secretary Walker at Montgom- 
 ery in regard to the Federal metropolis. 
 It transfers the lines of battle from the 
 Potomac to the Pennsylvania border." 
 " Washington City," said the Raleigh 
 Standard of the same date, " will soon 
 be too hot to hold Abraham Lincoln and 
 his Government. North Carolina has 
 said it, and she will do all she can to 
 make good her declaration." As we 
 approach the scene of the contemplated 
 robbery the anxiety for the perpetra- 
 tion of the deed is apparently intensified. 
 " The capture of Washington City," says 
 the Richmond Examiner of April 23, 
 " is perfectly within the power of Vir- 
 ginia and Maryland, if Virginia will only 
 make the effort by her constituted au- 
 thority, nor is there a single moment to 
 lose. The entire population pant for the 
 onset. There never was half the una- 
 nimity among the people before, nor a 
 tithe of the zeal upon any subject that is 
 now manifested to take Washington and 
 drive from it every Black Republican 
 who is a dweller there. From the moun- 
 tain tops and valleys to the shores of the 
 sea there is one wild shout of fierce re- 
 solve to capture Washington city at all 
 and every human hazard. The filthy 
 cage of unclean birds must and will as- 
 suredly be purified by fire. The people 
 are determined upon it, and are clamor- 
 ous for a leader to conduct them to the 
 onslaught. That leader will assuredly 
 rise, aye, and that right speedily."* 
 
 Whatever, however, may have been 
 the intentions of the leaders, or the wishes 
 of the people, in this matter, the course 
 of events in Virginia was well calculated 
 
 National Intelligencer, May 9, 1861. 
 
EVENTS IN VIRGINIA. 
 
 151 
 
 to inspire alarm at the Capital. Within 
 four clays after the fall of Sumter a 
 convention of the people, sitting at Rich- 
 mond, resolved upon secession and threw 
 the State nt the feet of the Southern 
 Confederacy. The body which passed 
 this act had been chosen at the suggestion 
 of the Legislature, obviously with the 
 intent on the part of its contrivers to 
 employ it for disunion purposes ; while 
 the understanding of the people who 
 elected the delegates was distinctly that 
 its influence should be exerted on the 
 side of the Union. A majority of the 
 delegates, indeed, were chosen as Union 
 men, and it was moreover, at the same 
 time, expressly provided by an over- 
 whelming direct vote on the subject, that 
 the action of this convention, whatever 
 it might be, should be sent back to the 
 people for their confirmation by a popu- 
 lar vote. Yirginia was in fact attached 
 to the old Union by so many traditions of 
 State pride and patriotism ; the mother 
 of Presidents, she had given so many 
 statesmen and heroes to the nation ; her 
 contiguity to the seat of Government ; 
 the divided opinions of her population 
 on the moral, social and economical con- 
 ditions of slavery ; her imperfect sym- 
 pathies with the South ; the obvious ne- 
 cessity, if she gave ear to the secession 
 outcry of offering her fields and cities as 
 the battle grounds and refuge of the con- 
 tending armies all these were so many 
 loud-tongued appeals to her people to 
 beware of joining their fortunes with the 
 desperate enterprise of the Cotton States. 
 Yet, by the management of her intriguing 
 politicians of the school of Mason, Floyd, 
 Letcher and the rest, the very act, which 
 this State, of all others, had reason to 
 avoid, was consummated. The fall of 
 Sumter was the signal for a portion of the 
 
 so-called and so-esteemed Union mem- 
 bers of the convention to go over to the 
 disunion minority. The necessary num- 
 ber of votes having thus been secured, a 
 secession ordinance was passed in secret 
 on the 17th of April. In accordance 
 with the conditions under which the con- 
 vention had been chosen, it was provided 
 in the act itself that it should take effect 
 when ratified by a majority of the votes 
 of the people of the State cast at a poll 
 to be taken thereon on the fourth Thurs 
 day in the ensuing May. The ordinance, 
 of course, leaving out of view the para- 
 mount question of its legality under the 
 Constitution of the United States, was 
 entirely inoperative until this ratification 
 which was enjoined by the dictation of 
 the people themselves should be made. 
 Yet, in spite of this provision thus for- 
 mally acknowledged, " the Convention 
 and the Legislature, which was also in 
 session at the same time and place, with 
 leading members of the State, not mem- 
 bers of either, immediately commenced 
 acting as if the State were already out 
 of the Union. They pushed military 
 preparations vigorously forward all over 
 the State. They seized the United States 
 armory at Harper's Ferry and the Navy 
 Yard at Gosport, near Norfolk. They 
 received, perhaps invited, into their State 
 large bodies of troops, with their warlike 
 appointments from the so-called seceded 
 States. They formally entered into a 
 treaty of temporary alliance and coope- 
 ration with the so-called Confederate 
 States, and sent members to their Con- 
 gress at Montgomery. Finally, they per- 
 mitted the insurrectionary government 
 to be transferred to their capital at Rich- 
 mond."* All this was done before the 
 
 * Message of Presiden' Lincoln to Congress. July 5, 
 1861. 7 
 
152 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 23d of May, the day appointed for the 
 ratification. The simple fact that an 
 ordinance had been made Vas not an- 
 nounced till the 25th of April, eight days 
 after its passage, when Governor Letcher 
 issued a Proclamation communicating the 
 act, and, accompanying it, a copy of a 
 convention signed the day before at Rich- 
 mond, between Vice President Alexander 
 H. Stephens, Commissioner for the Con- 
 federate States, and a body of Virginia 
 Commissioners, headed by John Tyler, 
 ex-President of the United States. By 
 the terms of this convention " the whole 
 military force and military operations 
 offensive and defensive" of Virginia were 
 placed under the control and direction 
 of Jefferson Davis, President of the Con- 
 federate States, " upon the same prin- 
 ciples, basis and footing as if said com- 
 monwealth (Virginia) were now and 
 during the interval a member of the said 
 Confederacy." In return any expendi- 
 tures of money incurred by the State 
 were to be repaid by the Southern Gov- 
 ernment. When the day of ratification 
 arrived, so effective were the means of 
 intimidation, so complete the perversion 
 of the minds of the people, and so hope- 
 less were the Unionists of resisting the 
 movement, that the vote cast was nomin- 
 ally by a large majority in favor of the 
 Secession ordinance. 
 
 With this outline of political proceed- 
 ings in Virginia in mind, we may the 
 better appreciate the aggressive military 
 movements in the State which followed 
 in quick succession the fall of Sumter. 
 The foremost of these were the seizure 
 on the 18th of April of the Custom 
 house and Post-office at Richmond, and 
 the attack the same day upon the United 
 States Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, the 
 possession of which was obviously a 
 
 matter of prime consequence to the in- 
 surgents, as it had not long before excit- 
 ed the cupidity of the memorable John 
 Brown and become the scene of his mel- 
 ancholy exploits. The placo where this 
 military establishment was situated was 
 of much importance, both from its pecu- 
 liar position and the improvements which 
 had been gathered around it. The re- 
 markable natural features of the spot 
 and the character of its bold landscape 
 uniting the grandeur of mountain scen- 
 ery with extraordinary sylvan beauty, 
 long since commemorated in a well- 
 known passage of description by Jeffer- 
 son, are associated in the minds of trav- 
 ellers with the kindred glories of West 
 Point on the Hudson. There the Poto- 
 mac and the Shenandoah, after travers- 
 ing the northern boundary and central 
 region of the State, join their waters at 
 a right angle, emerge through a gap of 
 the Blue Ridge and make their descent 
 in an irregular course between Virginia 
 and Maryland, passing the city of Wash- 
 ington some sixty miles below on their 
 way to Chesapeake Bay and the Atlan- 
 tic. Harper's Ferry was thus the outer 
 gate to the great valley of Virginia, and 
 offering the readiest mode of approach 
 from the East to Winchester and the re- 
 gion within, had in consequence become 
 one of the chief stations of the Balti- 
 more and Ohio railwaj^, connecting the 
 cities on the sea-coast with the river navi- 
 gation of the West. The town, which ex- 
 tended in two main streets along the riv- 
 ers and in scattered residences on the 
 heights above, had a population of about 
 five thousand. Its chief support, beside 
 that derived from its advantages as a 
 centre of travel, was from the occupa- 
 tion of its inhabitants in the works at the 
 arsenal. This well-furnished establish- 
 
HARPER'S FERRY. 
 
 153 
 
 ment embraced in addition to the arm- 
 or}^ where a large number of weapons 
 were stored, a series of machine-shops 
 for the manufacture of arms. 
 
 At the, time of the attempted seizure 
 the arsenal was in charge of about forty 
 riflemen of the regular army under com- 
 mand of Lieutenant Roger Jones. The 
 attention of the Government had been 
 drawn to the inadequate defence of the 
 post, which it was impossible at the time 
 to remedy, and instructions were accord- 
 ingly given, should the work be attacked, 
 that it should be destroyed rather than 
 surrendered. Lieutenant Jones, fully 
 aware of the danger, had everything 
 prepared for the emergency. On the 
 17th, the very day of the secret passage 
 of the Secession ordinance, he received 
 information that a considerable force was 
 gathering, for the attack, at Winchester 
 and other places in the interior. Upon 
 this he caused the arms in the arsenal, 
 nearly fifteen thousand in number, to be 
 heaped up and surrounded with inflam- 
 mable matter. Materials were placed in 
 order and trains of gunpowder were laid 
 to consume the buildings. All was se- 
 cretly made ready, by his small and 
 trusty force, to apply the torch when it 
 should be necessary. On the night of the 
 18th, about 10 o'clock, word came that 
 some twenty-five hundred or three thou- 
 sand State troops were close at hand, 
 within twenty minutes march. In this 
 brief interval the commander had to 
 save the vast amount of military prop- 
 erty under his keeping, from the enemy, 
 in whose hands it would have been 
 speedily employed against the nation, 
 and rescue his faithful band from captiv- 
 ity as prisoners of war. By great ener- 
 gy both were in a great measure accom- 
 plished. The trains were fired and with- 
 20 
 
 in three minutes the two buildings con- 
 taining the arms, with the carpenters' 
 shop, were in a blaze. The arms and 
 arsenal buildings were totally destroyed. 
 The work-shops were less injured, a 
 considerable number of Minie muskets 
 and other material of war being rescued 
 by the Virginians. By the light of the 
 conflagration Lieutenant Jones with his 
 men, pursued and threatened by a mob 
 of the town, crossed the bridge leading 
 to Maryland, and by a perilous night- 
 march through an unfriendly region suc- 
 ceeded in making his way to Hagers- 
 town. He reached Carlisle Barracks in 
 Pennsylvania the next afternoon. Four 
 of the men were missing on leaving the 
 armory and two deserted during the 
 night.* For his services on this occa- 
 sion Lieutenant Jones was immediately 
 ordered a commission as Assistant Quar- 
 ter-Master General, with the rank of 
 Captain. His " very gallant action, and 
 the handsome and successful manner in 
 which he executed the orders of the 
 Government," were specially mentioned 
 in a subsequent report to Congress by 
 the Secretary of War. 
 
 From the report of a gentleman of 
 Virginia, who was an eye-witness of the 
 affair, we learn that the force actually 
 on their way to capture the property, by 
 private orders from Eichmond, was but 
 two hundred and fifty, though several 
 thousand had been notified of the move- 
 ment. The party was composed of the 
 Jefferson Battalion led by Colonel Allen, 
 with a single piece of artillery and a 
 squad of about twenty mounted men, the 
 Fauquier cavalry, commanded by Captain ' 
 Ashby. Their rendezvous was at Hall- 
 town, a small village between Charles- 
 
 * Lieutenant Jones' Dispatch to the Assistant Adjutant 
 General, April 20, 1861. 
 
154 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 town Court House and Harper's Ferry. 
 The party started at dark to take the 
 place by surprise, but found sentinels 
 posted to give warning of their ap- 
 proach. They arrived before the town 
 in time to witness the first flash from the 
 armory. The sight was most striking, 
 while the moral associations of the scene 
 were mingled in the minds of the spec- 
 tator with the impressions of the sur- 
 rounding grandeur. " To many of us 
 who looked on," says our authority, re- 
 garding the spectacle with feelings of 
 horror and amazement, " the scenes of 
 that night were inexpressibly sad and 
 solemn. The clouds of fire rolled up 
 magnificently from the depths of the ro- 
 mantic gorge, illuminating the confluent 
 rivers and the encircling cliffs for miles 
 around, each rock and pinnacle associat- 
 ed with the name of some one of our 
 great historic founders. In the martial 
 column revealed by the blaze there stood 
 arrayed with deadly ball and bayonet, 
 the first born pride of a hundred hither- 
 to peaceful and happy families. In the 
 town below, between them and their 
 enemy, were neighbors, friends and fel- 
 low-citizens the enemies themselves our 
 late defenders and countrymen." * 
 
 Simultaneously with the attack upon 
 the arsenal at Harper's Ferry measures 
 were in progress to wrest from the Gov- 
 ernment and hold possession of the Navy 
 Yard at Norfolk. This, one of the oldest 
 and the most extensive depots' of the kind 
 in the country, was filled with vast stores 
 of provisions and military materials for 
 the construction and equipment of ships, 
 with an extensive series of dwelling;- 
 
 o 
 
 houses for officers and barracks for the 
 
 * The artist, Mr. D. H. Strother, whose letter describ- 
 ing the scene appears in Harper's Weekly of May 11, 1861, 
 accompanied by several striking sketches from his pencil. 
 
 men, store-houses of various kinds, and 
 shops and manufactories amply supplied 
 with the numerous mechanical contriv- 
 ances employed in naval workman-ship. 
 Situated in a sheltered position at Gros- 
 port, adjoining the town of Portsmouth, 
 on the southern branch of the Elizabeth 
 river, opposite, to and a short distance 
 above Norfolk, it covered an area of 
 about three-fourths of a mile in length 
 and one-fourth in width. It held a dry- 
 dock of granite constructed after the 
 most approved pattern, capable of hold- 
 ing a vessel of the largest class. There 
 were in it two ship houses entire, and 
 another in process of erection. 
 
 There were twelve war vessels at the 
 time at the yard, though but few of 
 them were immediately available for 
 active service, and but one, the sloop-of- 
 war Cumberland, Captain Pendergrast, 
 the flag-ship of the home squadron, was 
 in commission. They were the ship-of- 
 the-line Pennsylvania, of 120 guns, which, 
 at the time of her construction in 1837, had 
 attracted great attention from her enor- 
 mous size, but had never been trusted 
 on any important voyage ; the Columbus, 
 of 80 guns, which had been for many 
 years in ordinary ; the Delaware, 84, a 
 condemned line-of-battle ship ; the un- 
 finished ship-of-the-line New York, on 
 the stocks in one of the ship houses ; the 
 frigates United States, Columbia, and 
 Earitan, lying in ordinary, fifty-gun 
 ships, more or less out of repair ; the 
 sloops-of-war Plymouth and Grerman- 
 town, of 22 guns, which were preparing 
 for sea ; the brig Dolphin, of 4 guns, and 
 most important of all, the Merrimac, a 
 first class steam frigate of 40 guns. 
 The last named vessel, which, by her 
 subsequent fortunes,, was to become 
 memorable in the naval annals of the 
 
THE GOSPORT NAVY YARD. 
 
 155 
 
 world, was built at Charlestown, Massa- 
 chusetts, and launched in 1855. After 
 a voyage to Annapolis, where the 
 members of both houses of Congress, 
 then in session at Washington, flocked to 
 see her as an admired specimen of naval 
 architecture, she had visited Havana 
 and England, and had sailed on a long 
 cruise as the flag-ship of the squadron in 
 the Pacific. Eeturning thence she had 
 reached Norfolk at the beginning of 1860, 
 been slowly again fitted out, and at the 
 present moment of the threatened attack 
 upon the yard, was awaiting her battery 
 and the repair of her engines to proceed 
 to sea. 
 
 The quantity of arms and munitions 
 laid up in the yard was immense. There 
 were, it is calculated by the naval com- 
 mittee of the United States Senate which 
 made a special investigation of the sub- 
 ject, at least two thousand pieces of heavy 
 ordnance, of which about three hundred 
 were new Dahlgren guns, and the re- 
 mainder of old patterns. The Navy De- 
 partment, taking account of less than 
 one-half this number of guns, estimated 
 the various property of the yard, ord- 
 nance, stores and furniture of all sorts, 
 at an aggregate of more than nine and 
 three-quarter millions of dollars. The 
 opportunities for defence against any 
 attack from without were slight. The 
 yard was surrounded on the land side by 
 a low wall, which could offer little resist- 
 ance to cannon, there was no fortress or 
 garrison, and there were not seamen suf- 
 ficient to man one of the larger vessels. 
 Unhappily no active measures were taken 
 by the Government in time to remedy 
 these defects and preserve the property. 
 What with State jealousy or incipient 
 treason on the one side, and a too delicate 
 desire on the other to avoid doing any- 
 
 ] thing which might be attended with em- 
 barrassment or call forth a remonstrance, 
 the golden days, when, the safety of this 
 valuable trust might have been secured 
 were suffered to pass by unimproved 
 So generally was this unhappy system of 
 mistaken conciliation received as the set- 
 tled policy of the day, that it was after- 
 wards spoken of without comment or hesi- 
 tation by the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. 
 Welles, as an admitted principle of ac- 
 tion. "Any attempt," says he in his 
 report to the President, at the opening 
 of the session of Congress in July, " to 
 withdraw "the ships or either of them 
 without a crew, would, in the then sensi- 
 tive and disturbed condition of the public 
 mind, have betrayed alarm and distrust, 
 and been likely to cause difficulty." 
 
 Severely has the Senate Committee 
 censured this lamentable neglect. " Un- 
 doubtedly," is the language of their re- 
 port, "the new officers of the govern- 
 ment found themselves embarrassed by 
 such an unprecedented state of things, 
 and time was required for familiarizing 
 themselves with the situation and de- 
 liberating and determining upon a policy 
 to be pursued ; but that the precious op- 
 portunities afforded by thirty-seven days 
 of time should have been wholly unim- 
 proved is a matter so strange as to sug- 
 gest, if not a failure to appreciate the 
 critical condition of the country, at least 
 a want of vigor and decision in the dis- 
 charge of its duties on the part of the 
 new administration, which can find ex- 
 tenuation only in that insane delusion 
 which seems to have possessed the pub- 
 lic mind, that the portentous clouds that 
 had blackened the heavens for months 
 were charged with no real danger, and 
 were to be dissipated by a continuation 
 of a forbearance which had been con- 
 
 J i 
 
156 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tinued so long that it had ceased to be a 
 virtue, and had become the most dis- 
 graceful weakness and pusillanimity." 
 
 At length, however, the department 
 beginning to entertain increased uneasi- 
 ness, and, in the language of the Secre- 
 tary, "apprehensive that action might 
 be necessary," advised Commodore 
 Charles S. McCauley, the officer in com- 
 mand of the yard, of " this feeling," and 
 cautioned him " to extreme vigilance and 
 circumspection." By an order dated 
 the 10th of April he was ordered "to 
 put the shipping and public property in 
 condition to be moved and placed be- 
 yond danger, should it become neces- 
 sary ; but in doing this he was warned 
 to take no steps that could give needless 
 alarm." Two days after, on the 12th, 
 the Secretary, who had been informed 
 that it would require four weeks to re- 
 pair the engine of the Merrimac, anxious 
 for the safety of the vessel, dispatched 
 the Engineer-in-Chief, Mr. B. F. Isher- 
 wood, to put the machinery in order, 
 with instructions to Commodore McCau- 
 ley to expedite the work. He at the 
 same time sent Commander Alden, of 
 the navy, to take charge of the ship 
 when ready for sea, and bring her 
 around to Philadelphia. Mr. Isherwood 
 arrived at Norfolk on Sunday morning, 
 the 14th, made a survey of the work, 
 which was commenced the next morn- 
 ing and urged on day and night till 
 Wednesday afternoon, the 17th, when 
 the machinery was reported ready for 
 use. At the same time Commodore 
 McCauley received another despatch 
 from the Secretary of the Navy, dated 
 the previous day, brought from Wash- 
 ington by Captain Paulding, directing 
 him " to lose no time in placing armament 
 on board the Merrimac ; to get the 
 
 Plymouth and Dolphin beyond danger ; 
 to have the Germantown in a condition 
 to be towed out, and to pu* the more 
 valuable public property, ordnance, 
 stores, etc., on shipboard, so that they 
 could, at any moment, be moved be- 
 yond danger." He was also further 
 instructed to "defend the vessels and 
 stores under his charge at any hazard, 
 repelling by force, if necessary, any and 
 all attempts to seize them, whether by 
 mob violence, organized effort, or any 
 assumed authority." The same day 
 that this order was received, in accord- 
 ance with the instructions and the coun- 
 sels of Captain Paulding, the Cumber- 
 land, which had been anchored below, 
 "was moved up to a position abreast 
 of one of the ship houses, within one or 
 two hundred yards of the shore and, 
 with a full armament and crew on board, 
 lay in such a position 'as to command the 
 entire harbor, the cities of Norfolk and 
 Portsmouth, the Navy Yard and the 
 approaches to it. Having discharged 
 the duty on which he was sent Captain 
 Paulding returned to Washington. 
 
 The Merrimac being ready for sea, 
 with her firemen and coal-heavers en- 
 gaged and prepared to go on board, Mr. 
 Isherwood asked Commodore McCauley 
 if he should fire up at once, to which h 
 received the reply that the next morning 
 would be in season. At that time (the 
 18th) the fires we're lighted and the 
 engineer's crew on board, when Mr 
 Isherwood was informed by Commodore 
 McCauley that he had not yet decided to 
 send the vessel, but would let him know 
 further in a few hours. Mr. Isherwood 
 urged the peremptory orders of the 
 department, and that the delay would 
 compel the vessel to remain another day, 
 while the obstructions which the enemy 
 
 I 
 
UNFAITHFUL OFFICERS. 
 
 157 
 
 had placed in the river between SewalTa 
 Point arid Crane} 7 Island, as yet present- 
 ing no great difficulty, would probably 
 be increased during the night. The 
 Commodore, in answer to these remon- 
 strances, in the course of the day an- 
 nounced his decision to retain the vessel, 
 and directed the fires to be drawn. 
 Whereupon, Mr. Isherwood, after renew- 
 ing his entreaties without effect, left on 
 his return to Washington. " The cause 
 of this refusal to move the Merrimac," 
 says Secretary Welles, " has no explana- 
 tion other than that of misplaced con- 
 fidence in his junior officers who opposed 
 it," an explanation itself elucidated by 
 the statement of the Senate Committee 
 that " Southern officers in the yard hav- 
 ing accomplished their purposes by re- 
 maining resigned on the 18th of April." 
 Of these persons, Commodore McCau- 
 ley afterwards said : " How could I 
 suspect treachery on their part. The 
 fact of their being Southern men was not 
 surely a sufficient reason for suspecting 
 their fidelity ; those Southern officers who 
 have remained faithful to their allegiance 
 are among the best in the service. No ; I 
 could not believe it possible, that a set of 
 men, whose reputations were so high in 
 the navy, could ever desert their posts 
 and throw off their allegiance to the 
 country they had sworn to defend and 
 protect ; and I had frequently received 
 professions of their loyalty ; for instance, 
 on the occasion of the surrender of the 
 Pensacola Navy Yard they expressed to 
 me their indignation, and observed : ' You 
 have no Pensacola officers here, Commo- 
 dore ; we'll never desert you : we will stand 
 by you to the last, even to the death.' "* 
 
 * Reply of Commodore McCauley to the censure of the 
 Congressional Committee, published in the National In- 
 telligencer, May 5, 1862. 
 
 The resignation of the officers occurred 
 the day after the Virginia Convention, in 
 secret session, had passed the ordinance 
 of Secession. The spirit of revolt, which 
 had been suffered to gain head by months 
 of inaction, was stimulated to overt 
 acts of rebellion by the excitement, con- 
 sequent upon the attack upon Sumter 
 and the call for soldiers by President 
 Lincoln, and the people were ripe for the 
 execution of the plan of their leaders. 
 The possession of the Norfolk Navy Yard 
 was too tempting a prize to be over- 
 looked. The State authorities were on the 
 alert, and the unthinking populace, with 
 too many from whom better counsels 
 might have been expected, were ready 
 to assist in the capture. The people of 
 Norfolk, forgetful of the honor and sup- 
 port their city had derived from the 
 National Government in the location of 
 the yard in their vicinity, recklessly in- 
 sulted the flag under which so many 
 lieroes of the country had sailed from 
 their port to fight the battles and extend 
 the fame of the Eepublic. At Norfolk, 
 particularly, we are told, the public 
 feeling against the Government was in- 
 tensely bitter. The military companies 
 of Portsmouth and Norfolk were called 
 out and paraded under arms ; rumors 
 were circulated of a contemplated attack 
 upon the Navy Yard ; and threats were 
 boisterously made of an immediate as- 
 sault, if the authorities at the yard should 
 make any attempt to defend themselves 
 or to remove any portion of the public 
 property. On the night of the 16th, the 
 obstructions already alluded to, two light 
 boats of about 80 tons each, were sunk 
 in the river. On the 18th, when it was 
 decided to retain the Merrimac, General 
 Taliaferro arrived at Norfolk " to take 
 the command of troops, which it was 
 
158 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 undoubtedly the design of the State 
 authorities to send there for capturing 
 the yard. On the following day (con- 
 tinues the Senate Committee Report) 
 most of the employes absented them- 
 selves from the muster, and it was 
 evident that a crisis was at hand which 
 would call for some decisive action on 
 the part of the commandant of the yard. 
 In this emergency, on the afternoon of 
 that day, Commodore McCauley ordered 
 all the guns in the yard to be spiked. A 
 portion of them were spiked with rat- tail 
 files, but owing to the lack of a sufficient 
 number of them, the work was unskilfully 
 and ineffectually done with cut nails and 
 most of the guns were but partially dis- 
 abled. The murmurs outside of the yard 
 grew louder and louder, and about 4 
 o'clock on the afternoon of the 20th 
 April, Commodore McCauley, apprehen- 
 sive of an immediate attack, and, as he 
 says, believing that to be the only means 
 of preventing them from falling into the 
 hands of the enemy, instead of attempt- 
 ing to send them out, caused all the 
 vessels, except the Cumberland, to be 
 scuttled. This was his last act of com- 
 mand." 
 
 When the " fatal error," as he terms 
 it, of the detention of the Merrimac was 
 made known to the Secretary of the 
 Navy, he immediately, though his ser- 
 vices could ill be spared at Washington, 
 sent Captain Paulding in command of 
 the Pawnee to proceed with that vessel 
 to Norfolk " with such officers and ma- 
 rines as could be obtained, take com- 
 mand of all the vessels afloat on that 
 station ; repel force by force and pre- 
 vent the ships and public property, at 
 all hazards, from passing into the hands 
 of the insurrectionists." Taking with 
 him 100 marines at Washington in ad- 
 
 dition to his crew, Captain Paulding 
 took on board at Fortress Monroe Col- 
 onel Wardrop's regiment of .Massachu- 
 setts volunteers, consisting of three hun- 
 dred and fifty men, which had arrived 
 during the day, and with this force pre- 
 sented himself at Norfolk on the evening 
 of the 20th, just in time to witness the 
 scuttling and sinking of the ships which 
 had been ordered in the afternoon by 
 Commodore McCauley. Taking a rapid 
 view of the situation he concluded, with- 
 in an hour after his arrival, in accord- 
 ance with instructions which had been 
 given him, to render the ships entirely 
 useless to the enemy by burning them 
 and otherwise to destroy the public pro- 
 perty in the yard before abandoning the 
 place. The process of destruction is thus 
 described in the report of the Senate 
 Committee : 
 
 "In the first place an attempt was made 
 to mutilate the guns in the yard by knock- 
 ing off the trunnions. For this purpose 
 one hundred men were detailed from the 
 Cumberland, under the command of Lieu- 
 tenant John H. Russell ; but though they 
 worked for an hour, playing trip-hammer 
 with 18-pound sledges upon the Dahlgren 
 guns, they resisted all their efforts ; and 
 such was the strength and tenacity of the 
 metal that they did not succeed hi break- 
 ing a single trunnion. Many of the old 
 guns, however, were destroyed. The 
 duty of mining and blowing up the dry 
 dock was given in charge to Captain 
 Charles Wilkes, and officers and men 
 were assigned to him for that purpose, 
 and to prepare for burning the build- 
 ings. Commander Rodgers, and Cap- 
 tain Wright, of the engineers, volun- 
 teered to destroy the dry dock, and 
 Commanders Allen and Sands were di- 
 rected to provide for the destruction of 
 
THE WORK OF DESTRUCTION. 
 
 159 
 
 ship-houses, barracks, etc. Lieutenant 
 Henry A. Wise was ordered to lay 
 trains upon the ships, and fire them at 
 a given signal, and perform that duty in 
 the most thorough and effectual manner. 
 
 "At about 2 o'clock all was reported 
 to be ready, and the troops, marines, 
 sailors, and others at the yard were 
 taken on board the Pawnee and Cum- 
 berland, leaving on shore only as many 
 as were required to set the fires. The 
 Pawnee then left the wharf, winded, and 
 and at 4 o'clock on Sunday morning, 
 April 21, took the Cumberland in tow 
 and stood down the harbor. At twenty 
 minutes past 4 the concerted signal was 
 given by a rocket from the Pawnee, the 
 torch was applied simultaneously at many 
 points, and in a few minutes the ships and 
 buildings in the yard were wrapped in 
 flames. The parties left on shore to ap- 
 ply the matches all succeeded in making 
 their escape except Commander Rodgers 
 and Captain Wright, who failed to reach 
 the boats left to bring them off, and were 
 arrested in the morning at Norfolk, and 
 detained by the rebels as prisoners of 
 war. The officers and men in the boats 
 pulled down the harbor in the light of 
 the conflagration, which was illuminating 
 the country and the bay for miles around, 
 overtook the Pawnee at Craney Island, 
 and were taken on board. 
 
 " A singular fatality seems to have at- 
 tended this mad attempt to destroy the 
 public property, which confined its oper- 
 ation principally to ^the vessels, which, 
 before the scuttling, could easily have 
 been saved, while the dry dock, the ma- 
 chine shops, smiths' shops and sheds, 
 carpenters' shops and sheds, timber 
 sheds, ordnance building, founderies, 
 saw-mill, provision-house, spar-house, 
 tools, provisions, dwellings of the com- 
 
 mandant and other officers, and in fact 
 all the buildings in the yard, except the 
 ship-houses, marine barracks, riggers' 
 loft, sail loft, and ordnance loft remain 
 ed uninjured, and have been ever since 
 in the use and possession of the rebels. 
 Indeed, they immediately took posses- 
 sion of all the buildings and machinery, 
 and have ever since been and are now 
 using them for all the usual purposes of 
 a navy yard ; employing them in the 
 manufacture of arms, shot and shell, in 
 building gunboats and iron-cladding ves- 
 sels-of-war to be used against the gov- 
 ernment. The guns have been mounted 
 upon batteries along the Elizabeth river, 
 and distributed among the various forti- 
 fications throughout the seceded States. 
 
 " Of the vessels at the yard, the ship- 
 of-the-line New York in one of the ship- 
 houses, was entirely consumed by fire. 
 The ship-of-the-line Pennsylvania, the 
 frigate Columbia, and the brig Dolphin, 
 were burnt to their floor-heads, the low- 
 er bottom timbers only remaining and 
 being visible at low water. The frigate 
 Earitan was burnt to the water's edge, 
 and disappeared altogether. The steam 
 frigate Merrimac was sunk, and burned 
 to her copper line and down through to 
 her berth-deck, which, with her spar and 
 gun decks, were also burned. A wit- 
 ness who remained at Portsmouth from 
 the 20th of April up to the 15th of No- 
 vember, 1861, states that the Merrimac 
 has been cut down six feet below her 
 copper-line. The sloop Germantown 
 was sunk and burned to her bulwarks 
 on the port side, after two of her masts 
 had been broken away and she had been 
 otherwise much injured by the falling of 
 the shears. The frigate United States, 
 a very old ship, unfit for repairs, was 
 uninjured, and since the evacuation has 
 
160 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 been lying before the yard as a receiv- 
 ing ship, and manned with fifteen 32- 
 pounders. The Plymouth was not burn- 
 ed. She was scuttled and sunk, and has 
 since been raised. The old ships-of-the 
 line Delaware and Columbus were scut- 
 tled and sunk at their moorings. The 
 work of destruction, it is evident, was 
 done upon the vessels most effectually, 
 and it is to be regretted, since the at- 
 tempt was made, that the buildings and 
 other structures in the yard were not 
 destroyed with equal thoroughness." * 
 
 Grave Senatorial Committee men do 
 not generally greatly indulge in pictur- 
 esque description, or supply those acces- 
 sories of so much consequence to the 
 graphic historian. Otherwise the writer 
 might have paused to illuminate this sad 
 page of our naval records with the bril- 
 liancy of the vast midnight conflagra- 
 tion, as the flames poured forth from 
 those huge structures of wood and glass, 
 the ship-houses capable of containing the 
 largest frigate, with the strange spectacle 
 of the ships on fire, their hulls devoured 
 by the flames rolling upward to the lines 
 of living light in the splendid tracery of 
 the spars as if some gorgeous holiday 
 fire-work representing the ship of state 
 were printing in blazing letters against 
 the sky the portent of a dissolving em- 
 pire. 
 
 The importance of these events to 
 both parties in the national struggle can 
 hardly be over-estimated. The United 
 States were not only deprived of a naval 
 station of the utmost value for the fitting 
 
 o 
 
 out of ships and other provision for the 
 onerous Southern blockade, which the 
 
 * Report of the Select Committee of the Senate for in- 
 vestigating the facts relative to the loss of the Navy Yard, 
 <fce., submitted by Mr. Hale of New Hampshire, April 
 18, 1862. 
 
 Government was compelled to main- 
 tain ; there was not only the loss of the 
 vast stores of munitions of war and the 
 public buildings which were destroyed ; 
 but more costly to the country than all 
 the rest, was the gain to the enemy of an 
 important highway of communication, and 
 the most abundant means of protracting 
 the war. In various parts of the land, 
 as the national troops made progress in 
 Yirginia, North Carolina and the West, 
 they were called upon to face the power- 
 ful Dahlgrens and Columbiads abandoned 
 at the Norfolk Navy Yard. " I had pur- 
 posed," says Mr. William H. Peters, a 
 commissioner appointed by the Govern- 
 or of Yirginia to make an inventory 
 of the property thus taken from the 
 United States Government, " some re- 
 marks upon the vast importance to Yir- 
 ginia, and to the entire South, of the 
 timely acquisition of this extensive naval 
 depot, with its immense supplies of mu- 
 nitions of war, and to notice briefly the 
 damaging effects of its loss to the gov- 
 ernment at Washington ; but I deem it 
 unnecessary, since the presence at al- 
 most every exposed point on the whole 
 southern coast, and at numerous inland 
 intrenched camps in the several States, 
 of heavy pieces of ordnance, with their 
 equipments and fixed ammunition, all 
 supplied from this establishment, fully 
 attests the one, while the unwillingness 
 of the enemy to attempt demonstrations 
 at any point, from which he is obviously 
 deterred by the knowledge of its well- 
 fortified condition, abundantly proves the 
 other especially when it is considered 
 that both he and we are wholly indebted 
 for our means of resistance to his loss 
 and our acquisition of the Gosport navy 
 yard." * 
 
 * Richmond Enquirer, February 4, 1862. 
 
A SOUTHERN VIEW. 
 
 161 
 
 This was the sober calculation of a State 
 Commissioner, accompanying an exact 
 estimate of the damage sustained by the 
 General Government, and the benefit 
 derived by the rebel Confederacy. It 
 may interest the reader to peruse along- 
 side of it the peculiar reflections on the 
 same occurrences, from a somewhat dif- 
 ferent point of view, taken by an eminent 
 divine of the Southern States. The ven- 
 erable Bishop Elliott of Georgia, an 
 honored head of the Episcopal Church, 
 in a sermon entitled " God's presence 
 with the Confederate States," preached 
 at Savannah on the 13th of June follow- 
 ing a fast day appointed by President 
 Jefferson Davis saw fit thus to discourse 
 of the capture of Sumter, the unavoidable 
 surrender, brought about by Southern 
 treason, of the national troops in Texas, 
 and especially the great gain to the Con- 
 federacy of the abandonment of the Navy 
 Yard at Norfolk. "If we turn," says 
 he, "from the financial to the military 
 affairs of the Confederate States, we 
 perceive the same visible presence of 
 God in our concerns. In the beginning 
 of this movement we appeared to have 
 no resources wherewith to meet the im- 
 mense preponderance of power that was 
 against us. They had armies, navies, 
 armories, manufactories, every thing that 
 could conduce to their strength for- 
 tresses bristled in our midst, and aimed 
 their guns against the people they had 
 been built to protect a large, well- 
 ordered army stood upon our Texan 
 frontier quite in a condition to have in- 
 vaded and embarrassed us a large arma- 
 ment was fitted out to strike at the heart 
 of South Carolina, which was considered 
 the soul of the rebellion a navy yard 
 of immense resources, filled with arms, 
 and ammunition, and ordnance, supported 
 21 
 
 by the strongest fortress in the Union, 
 and defended by men-of-war armed with 
 guns of the heaviest calibre, lay upon 
 our northeastern frontier. A hastily 
 raised militia was all we had to depend 
 upon in the conflict. But in a moment 
 every thing seemed changed in a way 
 more than natural. Skillful officers sprang 
 from every direction into the arena. 
 Armed men arose as if from the dragon's 
 teeth which the Abolitionists had been 
 sowing for years. And fear seemed to 
 fall upon our enemies unaccountable 
 fear. Officers who had never quailed be- 
 fore any living man soldiers who had 
 borne the old flag to victory wherever it 
 had waved over them navies which had 
 moved defiant over the world all, all 
 seemed paralyzed. That large border 
 army surrendered to militia without a 
 blow that gallant armament, made up 
 of the same fleet which had run in the 
 revolution into the Thames, which had 
 defied the Algerine batteries, which had 
 brought Austria to terms in the Levant, 
 which had spit its fire into the face of the 
 almost impregnable fortress of St. Juan 
 d'Ulloa, stood inert and saw a gallant 
 soldier, who was upholding their own flag, 
 beaten out of his own fortress by sand 
 batteries and volunteers. That immense 
 navy yard, with its vast resources, with its 
 great power of resistance, with its huge 
 fortress at its back, with its magnificent 
 men-of-war all armed and shotted, was 
 deserted in an unaccountable panic be- 
 cause of the threats of a few almost un- 
 armed citizens, and the rolling during the 
 night of well-managed locomotives. And 
 nowhere could this panic have occurred 
 more seasonably for us, because it gave 
 us just what we most needed, arms and 
 ammunition and heavy ordnance in great 
 abundance. All this is unaccountable 
 
162 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 upon any ordinary grounds. But two 
 days before, a naval officer of very high 
 rank had reported to head -quarters at 
 Washington that this navy yard was 
 impregnable. Is not this very like the 
 noise of chariots and the noise of horses, 
 even the noise of a great host, which the 
 Syrians were made to hear when the 
 Lord would deliver Israel ? " And they 
 
 said one to another, Lo. the King of 
 Israel hath hired against us the King of 
 the Hittites and the Kings of the Egyp- 
 tians, to come upon us. Wherefore they 
 arose and fled in the twilight and left 
 their tents and their horses, and their 
 asses, even the camp as it was, and fled 
 for their life." So the South sounded its 
 triumph. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THROUGH BALTIMORE. 
 
 INTERMEDIATE between these two nights 
 of terror and devastation at Harper's 
 Ferry and Gosport, a scene occurred at 
 Baltimore on the forenoon of the 19th, 
 which was regarded as an ominous indi- 
 cation of the impending struggle. In 
 response to the call upon the States by 
 the President, no one had shown greater 
 alacrity than Governor Andrew of Mas- 
 sachusetts. Keen-sighted to discern the 
 approach of the war, and sensitively 
 alive to the danger to which the Capital 
 tfas exposed, he had put the militia of 
 his State in readiness for the service 
 which he felt could not be distant. His 
 men were ready at the first summons, 
 and it was his honorable boast after- 
 wards to the Legislature of his State, 
 that "by nine o'clock on the Sabbath 
 morning following the Monday on which 
 the first telegram was received, the whole 
 number of regiments demanded from 
 Massachusetts were already either in 
 Washington or in Fortress Monroe or on 
 their way to the defence of the National 
 Capital." The first of these detachments 
 which went forward was the Sixth Regi- 
 ment, numbering about 700 men, under 
 
 the command of Colonel Edward F. Jones 
 of Pepperell. Its members were resi- 
 dents of Essex and Middlesex Counties, 
 with its head-quarters at Lowell. Within 
 18 hours after the reception of orders 
 from the Governor it was on its way to 
 Boston. On the morning of the 18th it 
 passed through New York and, contrary 
 to the prophecies of the Southern sym- 
 pathizers, met with a triumphant recep- 
 tion in that city. Instead of the streets 
 flowing with blood in a civil encounter, 
 according to the predictions of the politi- 
 cal croakers who had talked defiantly of 
 the people never permitting Eastern 
 troops to pass through the city to control 
 the Southerners, the men of New Eng- 
 land when they arrived were regarded 
 with respect and admiration for their 
 readiness and energy, while many a 
 heartfelt wish was expressed for their 
 safety and success in their patriotic mis- 
 sion. 
 
 The regiment reached Philadelphia 
 by railway the same day, and early the 
 next morning was forwarded to Balti- 
 more. Here they were met by an out- 
 break of that ill-feeling and active 
 
APPREHENSIONS OF VIOLENCE. 
 
 163 
 
 malevolence, which at one time it had 
 been so confiden tly maintained that such 
 a body would be sure to encounter on its 
 passage through New York. There 
 existed, in fact, in Baltimore much 
 stronger elements of opposition, growing 
 chiefly out of its more intimate relation 
 with the Southern States. The material 
 for a mob is always present in all large 
 cities and, in the present instance, its 
 ordinary spirit of violence was aggra- 
 vated by political animosity and the 
 confidence which it derived from the 
 general spirit of hostility to the policy 
 indicated in the call of the President 
 for troops. The passage of Northern, 
 and particularly of New England troops 
 through the city, was especially obnox- 
 ious to this portion of the inhabitants 
 in its excited state of feeling. The 
 arrival of the train with the Massa- 
 chusetts troops thus became the signal 
 for popular disturbance. 
 
 We have seen the answer to the 
 summons of the President given by 
 Governor Hicks,* in his Proclamation 
 of the 18th of April. " In conse- 
 quence," he then said, u of our pecu- 
 liar position, it is not to be expected 
 that the people of the State can unani- 
 mously agree upon the best mode of pre- 
 serving the honor and integrity of the 
 State, and of maintaining within her limits 
 that peace so earnestly desired by all 
 good citizens. The emergency is great. 
 The consequences of a rash step will be 
 fearful. It is the imperative duty of 
 every true son of Maryland to do all 
 that he can to arrest the threatened evil. 
 I therefore counsel th'e people in all ear- 
 nestness, to withhold their hands from 
 whatever may tend to precipitate us into 
 the gulf of discord and ruin gaping to 
 
 * Ante, p. 127. 
 
 receive us." Fully conscious of the dif- 
 ficulty of his position, he announced his 
 intention in the future, as it had been his 
 endeavor in the past, to preserve the 
 people of Maryland from civil war, and 
 invoked the assistance of every true and 
 loyal citizen to aid him to that end. The 
 mayor of the city of Baltimore, George 
 William Brown, also issued a Proclama- 
 tion, in which he spoke of the great di- 
 vision of opinion existing in relation to 
 " subjects of the gravest political import- 
 ance, and tfee consequent apprehensions 
 which had arisen in the minds of many 
 that violations of the peace might occur, 
 and earnestly invoked all good citizens 
 to refrain from every act leading to out- 
 break or violence, and to render prompt 
 assistance to the public authorities, whose 
 efforts would be exerted to maintain the 
 peace of the city."* 
 
 The occasion for this interference was 
 now at hand. The outbreak at Baltimore 
 which these precautionary addresses evi- 
 dently anticipated, arose on the morning 
 of the 19th, with the arrival of the train 
 from Philadelphia bringing the Massa- 
 chusetts regiment, accompanied by a 
 body of unarmed Pennsylvania troops. 
 The cars reached the President street 
 depot on the northern side of the city 
 about ten o'clock, when its arrival was 
 the signal for the collection of a crowd 
 evidently bent upon opposing the further 
 passage of the troops. To pursue their 
 route to Washington it was necessary 
 that they should traverse a portion of 
 the city from one station to another in 
 cars drawn by horses. As Colonel Jones' 
 regiment was thus passing through Pratt 
 street, the cars were assailed with stones 
 torn from the pavement and other mis- 
 siles, and the way was greatly impeded 
 
 * Proclamation of Mayor Brown. April 17, 1S61. 
 
164 
 
 WAR FOE, THE UNION. 
 
 by tha throng. A number of the cars, 
 however, made their way through, the 
 soldiers remaining quietly within, offer- 
 ing no resistance to the assaults and in- 
 sults of the populace. Four companies 
 were yet left in the cars in the rear, when 
 word was brought to them that the rails 
 were so blocked by heavy anchors, which 
 lay at hand in the neighborhood, being 
 thrown across them, that the passage 
 was no longer practicable. The mob, 
 meanwhile, pleased with its efforts, was 
 " cheering lustily for the South, for Jef- 
 ferson Davis, South Carolina and Seces- 
 sion, with groans for sundry obnoxious 
 parties." In this emergency, the Massa- 
 chusetts men who were left, determined 
 to alight and proceed through the city 
 as best they could and join their com- 
 rades at the Washington depot. A con- 
 sultation was held, and the command as- 
 signed to Captain Albert S. Follansbee 
 of Lowell. " I immediately," says that 
 officer, " informed Captain Pickering 
 of the Lawrence Light Infantry, and we 
 filed out of the cars in regular order. 
 Captain Hart's company of Lowell and 
 Captain Dike's of Stoneham did the same, 
 and formed in a line on the sidewalk. The 
 captains consulted together, and decided 
 that the command should devolve upon 
 me. I immediately took my position at 
 the right, wheeled into column of sec- 
 tions, and requested them to march in 
 close order. Before we had started, the 
 mob was upon us, with a secession flag 
 attached to a pole, and told us we never 
 could march through that city. They 
 would kill every white nigger of us be- 
 fore we could reach the other depot. I 
 paid no attention to them, but after I had 
 wheeled the battalion gave the order to 
 march. As soon as the order was given, 
 the brickbats began to fly into our ranks 
 
 from the mob. I called a policeman, and 
 requested him to lead the way to the 
 other depot. He did so. After we had 
 marched about a hundred yards, we 
 came to a bridge. The rebels had torn 
 up most of the planks. We had to play 
 ' Scotch hop ' to get over it. As soon as 
 we had crossed the bridge they com- 
 menced to fire upon us from the streets 
 and houses. We were loaded but not 
 capped. I ordered the men to cap their 
 rifles and protect themselves ; and then 
 we returned their fire and laid a great 
 many of them away. I saw four fall on 
 the sidewalk at one time. They followed 
 us up, and we fought our way to the 
 other depot about one mile. They 
 kept at us till the cars started. Quite a 
 number of the rascals were shot after 
 we entered the cars. We went very 
 slowly, for we expected the rails were 
 torn up along the road. I do not know 
 how much damage Ve did. Eeport says 
 about forty were killed, but I think this 
 is exaggerated. Still, it may be so. 
 There is any quantity of them wounded. 
 Quite a number of horses were, killed. 
 The mayor of the city met us almost 
 half way. He said that there would be 
 no more trouble, and that we could get 
 through, and kept with us for about a 
 hundred yards ; but the stones and balls 
 whistled too near his head, and he left, 
 took a gun from one of my company, 
 fired and brought his man down. That 
 was the last I saw of him. We fought 
 our way to the cars and joined Colonel 
 Jones and the seven companies that left 
 us at the other end of the city."* Two 
 Massachusetts soldiers were slain on the 
 
 * Letter of Captain Follansbee, dated from Washington, 
 published in the Lowell Courier, Squier's Pictorial llis- 
 tory, p. 22. Colonel Edward F. Jones' official report tc 
 Major Clemence, Adjutant of General Butler. Washington 
 April 22, 1861. 
 
THE BALTIMORE RIOT. 
 
 165 
 
 spot in this murderous and unprovoked 
 assault upon good citizens called to the 
 discharge of an onerous and honorable 
 public duty, and acting in direct obe- 
 dience to the highest authority of the 
 nation. Their names were Addison 0. 
 Whitney and Luther 0. Ladd, from 
 Lowell. Nine others were wounded, 
 one of them, Sumner H. Needham of 
 Lawrence, mortally. Captain Dike re- 
 ceiving a severe wound in the leg was 
 taken up and cared for by some brother 
 Masons. Nine citizens of Baltimore 
 were killed, and an unknown number 
 wounded. On going through the train 
 on its way to Washington, about one 
 hundred and thirty of the Massachu- 
 setts men were found missing. The cars 
 were assailed with stones on leaving, and 
 one of the attacking party was killed by 
 a shot fired by one of the soldiers. 
 
 The Pennsylvania troops arriving after 
 the rest remained at the depot in the cars, 
 and, being unarmed, did not attempt the 
 passage of the city. General Small, the 
 officer in command, was anxious that 
 they should retire from the danger, but 
 before this could be accomplished, the 
 mob, turning from the attack upon the 
 Massachusetts men, assailed them in the 
 cars with missiles, breaking the windows 
 and inflicting considerable personal injury. 
 Numbers of the Pennsylvanians sprang to 
 the ground, and were there set upon by 
 the infuriated populace. Some took ref- 
 uge in the neighboring houses, and others 
 continued the fight, while Marshal Kane 
 assisted by "some noble-hearted and 
 fearless citizens" mdeavored to arrest 
 the combat, which was carried on in the 
 utmost confusion, as the soldiers being 
 ununiformed as well as without arms, it 
 was difficult to distinguish friend from foe. 
 Most of the troops were finally safely 
 
 deposited in thfi cars and sent back to 
 Philadelphia.* 
 
 Immediately on receiving intelligence 
 of these events, Governor Andrew of 
 Massachusetts addressed the following 
 telegraphic message to the Mayor of Balti- 
 more : r"Sir, I pray you to cause the 
 bodies of our Massachusetts soldiers dead 
 in Baltimore to be immediately laid out, 
 preserved in ice and tenderly sent for- 
 ward by express to me. All expenses 
 will be paid by this Commonwealth." 
 To this Mayor Brown replied the same 
 day. " No one," said he, " deplores the 
 sad events of yesterday in this city more 
 deeply than myself, but they were in- 
 evitable. Our people viewed the pas- 
 sage of armed troops of another State 
 through the streets as an invasion of our 
 soil, and could not be restrained. The 
 authorities exerted themselves to the best 
 of their ability, but with only partial 
 success. Governor Hicks was present, 
 and concurs in all my views as to the 
 proceedings now necessary for our pro- 
 tection. When are these scenes to cease ? 
 Are we to have a war of sections ? God 
 forbid ! The bodies of the Massachusetts 
 soldiers could not be sent on to Boston 
 as you requested : all communication be- 
 tween this city and Philadelphia by rail- 
 road, and with Boston by steamers, hav- 
 ing ceased ; but they have been placed 
 in cemented coffins, and will be placed 
 with proper funeral ceremonies in the 
 mausoleum of Green Mount Cemetery, 
 where they shall be retained until further 
 directions are received from you. The 
 wounded are tenderly cared for. I 
 appreciate your offer, but Baltimore will 
 claim it as her right to pay all expenses 
 incurred." The answer of Governor 
 
 * Letter of Geo. P. Kane, Marshal, to Charles Howard 
 President of Board of Police. Baltimore, May S, 1861. 
 
166 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Andrew, the same day, by telegraph, 
 closes this touching correspondence. " I 
 appreciate," he sent word, "your kind 
 attention to our wounded and our dead, 
 and trust that, at the earliest moment, 
 the remains of our fallen will be returned 
 to us. I am overwhelmed with surprise 
 that a peaceful march of American citi- 
 zens over the common highway to the 
 defence of our common Capital should 
 be deemed aggressive to Baltimoreans. 
 Through New York the march was tri- 
 umphal." When communication with 
 the East was restored, the remains " ten- 
 derly cared for" were forwarded to Bos- 
 ton, where, as well as at their resting 
 place at Lowell, they were received with 
 heartfelt public honors. 
 
 " How shall I record," said Governor 
 Andrew of Massachusetts, addressing 
 the Legislature of his State on this event, 
 " the grand and sublime uprising of the 
 people, devoting themselves their lives 
 their all. No creative art has ever 
 woven into song a story more tender in 
 its pathos or more stirring to the martial 
 blood than the scenes just enacted, pass- 
 ing before our eyes in the villages and 
 towns of our dear old Commonwealth. 
 Henceforth be silent, ye shallow cavillers 
 at New England thrift, economy and 
 peaceful toil ! Henceforth let no one 
 dare accuse our northern sky, our icy 
 winters, or our granite hills ! ' Oh, 
 what a glorious morning, 7 was the ex- 
 ulting cry of Samuel Adams, as he, ex- 
 cluded from royal grace, heard the 
 sharp musketry which, on the dawn of 
 the 19th of April, 1775, announced the 
 beginning of the War of Independence. 
 The yeomanry, who in 1775, on Lexing- 
 ton Common and on the banks of the 
 Concord River, first made that day im- 
 mortal in our annals, have found their 
 
 lineal representatives in the historic regi- 
 ment, which on the 19th of April, 1801, 
 in the streets of Baltimore, baptized our 
 flag anew in heroic blood, when Massa- 
 chusetts marched once more ' in the 
 sacred cause of liberty and the rights of 
 mankind.' 7 Rising from the immediate 
 occasion to the height of the great argu- 
 ment before the nation, he added : 
 " Grave responsibilities have fallen, in 
 the Providence of God, upon the Gov- 
 ernment and the people ; and they are 
 welcome. They could not have been 
 safely postponed. They have not ar- 
 rived too soon. They will sift and try 
 this people, all who lead and all who fol- 
 low. But this trial, giving us an heroic 
 present to revive our past, will breathe 
 the inspiration of a new life into our 
 national character and re-assure the des- 
 tiny of the Republic."* 
 
 The afternoon of that same 19th of 
 April, while the town was excited with 
 reports of the mob at Baltimore, there 
 was setting forth from New York a band 
 of young men, among them numerous 
 representatives of the best families in 
 the city, the Seventh Regiment New 
 York State Militia, the admirably drilled 
 and favorite National Guard, a thousand 
 or more in number, all of whom had 
 sprung with alacrity at the first call 
 from the imperilled Capital. The en- 
 thusiasm as they passed down Broad- 
 way was unparalleled. A gentleman of 
 taste and culture in the ranks, whose 
 death in battle shortly after opened to 
 him " a gate of good fame" in the sym- 
 pathy of thousands, Mr. Theodore Win- 
 throp, has left an enduring record of that 
 day. " It was worth," says he, "a life, 
 that march. Only one who passed, as we 
 
 * Governor Andrew's Address to the Legislature. May 
 14, 1861. 
 
THE NEW YORK SEVENTH. 
 
 167 
 
 did through that tempest of cheers, two 
 miles long, can know the terrible enthu- 
 siasm of the occasion. I could hardly 
 hear the rattle of our own gun-carriages, 
 and only once or twice the music of our 
 band came to me muffled and quelled by 
 the uproar. We knew now, if we had 
 not before divined it, that our great city 
 was with us as one man, utterly united 
 in the great cause we were marching to 
 sustain. This grand fact I learned by 
 two senses. If hundreds of thousands 
 roared it into my ears, .thousands slap- 
 ped it into my back. My fellow-citizens 
 smote me on the knapsack, as I went by 
 at the gun-rope, and encouraged me each 
 in his own dialect. ' Bully for you ! ' al- 
 ternated with benedictions, in the pro- 
 portion of two ' bullies ' to one blessing. 
 I was not so fortunate as to receive more 
 substantial tokens of sympathy. But 
 there were parting gifts showered on the 
 regiment, enough to establish a variety- 
 shop. Handkerchiefs, of course, came 
 floating down upon us from the windows, 
 like a snow storm. Pretty little gloves 
 pelted us with love-taps. The sterner sex 
 forced upon us pocket-knives new and 
 jagged, combs, soap, slippers, boxes of 
 matches, cigars by the dozen and the 
 hundred, pipes to smoke shag and pipes 
 to smoke Latakia, fruit, eggs, and sand- 
 wiches. One fellow got a new purse with 
 ten bright quarter-eagles. At the corner 
 of Grand Street, or thereabouts, a 'b'hoy ' 
 in red flannel shirt and black dress pan- 
 taloons, leaning back against the crowd 
 with Herculean shoulders, called me, 
 * Saay, bully ! take my dorg ! he's one of 
 the kind that holds till he draps.' This 
 gentleman, with his animal, was instant- 
 ly shoved back by the police, and the 
 Seventh lost the ' dorg.' These were 
 the comic incidents of the march, but 
 
 underlying all was the tragic sentiment 
 that we might have tragic work present- 
 ly to do. The news of the rascally attack 
 in Baltimore on the Massachusetts Sixth 
 had just come in. Ours might be the 
 same chance. If there were any of us 
 not in earnest before, the story of the 
 day would steady us. So we said good- 
 bye to Broadway, moved down Cortlandt 
 Street under a bower of flags, and at 
 half-past 6 shoved off in the ferry-boat. 
 Everybody has heard how Jersey City 
 turned out and filled up the Railroad 
 Station, like an opera-house, to give God- 
 speed to us as a representative body, a 
 guaranty of the unquestioning loyalty of 
 the ' conservative ' class in New York. 
 Everybody has heard how the State of 
 New Jersey, along the railroad line, 
 stood through the evening and the night 
 to shout their quota of good wishes. At 
 every station the Jerseymen were there, 
 uproarious as Jerseymen, to shake our 
 hands and wish us a happy despatch. I 
 think I did not see a rod of ground with- 
 out its man, from dusk till dawn, from 
 the Hudson to the Delaware." * 
 
 The gallant company met with many 
 hardships on the way, in their severe- 
 night march from Annapolis to Wash- 
 ington, which it was six days from the 
 time they left New York before they 
 reached, for the ordinary railway route 
 was by that time broken up, and they 
 had to proceed from Philadelphia by sea, 
 but there was nothing in all that experi- 
 ence or in their subsequent camp life by 
 the Potomac, guarding the outposts of the 
 Capital, which could compare with the 
 cheerfulness mingled with the solemn en- 
 thusiasm of that New York departure. 
 Many like scenes followed it : old men 
 
 * " New York Seventh Regiment ; Our March to Wash- 
 ington." Atlantic Monthly, June, 1861. 
 
168 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 as venerable accompanied their sons on 
 the march through the streets of the city, 
 prolonging the parting hour ; maidens as 
 beautiful sighed their farewells from the 
 windows ; there came a deeper meaning 
 afterward in these processions as the cry 
 of blood went up from the land ; but this 
 was the first, and it remains in the mem- 
 ory of New York consecrated by youth 
 and chivalrous patriotism. 
 
 We are tempted to linger over the 
 scenes of that journey so darkly sur- 
 rounded with gloomy perils, so cheer- 
 fully lighted within by youth and enthu- 
 siasm. The ' Seventh ' had the good 
 fortune to have a bounteous infusion of 
 literature in its ranks men ready with 
 the pen and, sure of an appreciative au- 
 dience, not afraid to record what they 
 saw, as they saw it, and communicate 
 their unstudied reflections to the public. 
 Winthrop's charming paper has a hun- 
 dred animated sketches by the way, full 
 of life, and here and there touched with 
 the pathos of the occasion, which will be 
 sought for hereafter. 
 
 Philadelphia, of course, became an 
 important landing-place in the transit of 
 the Northern troops in the progress of 
 the war, and the hospitality of its kind 
 inhabitants, often as it was called upon, 
 was never exhausted. Winthrop, like 
 many others, passed through with a 
 pleasing impression of the city. "When 
 are rendezvoused at the train," says he, 
 ' we found that the orders were for every 
 man to provide himself three days' ra- 
 tions in the neighborhood, and be ready 
 for a start at a moment's notice. A 
 mountain of bread was already piled up 
 in the station. I stuck my bayonet 
 through a stout loaf, and, with a dozen 
 comrades armed in the same way, went 
 foraging about for other vivers. It is a 
 
 poor part of Philadelphia ; but whatever 
 they had in the shops or the houses 
 seemed to be at our disposition. I 
 stopped at a corner shop to ask for pork, 
 and was amicably assailed by an earnest 
 dame, Irish, I am pleased to say. She 
 thrust her last loaf upon me, and sighed 
 that it was not baked that morning for 
 my 'honor's service.' A little farther 
 on, two kindly Quaker ladies compelled 
 me to step in. * What could they do? 7 
 they asked eagerly. ' They had no meat 
 in the house j . but could we eat eggs ? 
 They had in the house a dozen and a 
 half, new-laid.' So the pot to the fire, 
 and the eggs boiled, and bagged by my- 
 self and that tall Saxon, my friend E., 
 of the Sixth Company. While the eggs 
 simmered, the two ladies thee-ed us 
 prayerfully and tearfully, hoping that 
 Glod would save our country from blood, 
 unless blood must be shed to preserve 
 Law and Liberty." 
 
 There was another young participant 
 in that expedition of the New York 
 Seventh, a brilliant author likewise, des- 
 tined also to add his name to the honored 
 obituaries of the war, and, like Win- 
 throp, to be borne to his grave by his 
 comrades of the regiment in the great city. 
 This was Fitz James O'Brien. Of English 
 birth, .lively, versatile, an accomplished 
 poet and essayist, eager in the pursuit of 
 social enjoyment, he turned from the de- 
 lights of the metropolis to seek a new 
 happiness in the excitement of the camp. 
 It was a manly resolution, and he cheer- 
 fully bore the hardships he encountered. 
 He, too, has left us an account of that 
 journey of the Seventh, written in the 
 fresh glow of the war when all was novel 
 to actors and observers. Such scenes 
 grew strangely familiar throughout the 
 land ; but it will be long before the first 
 
APPEALS TO THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 169 
 
 striking impressions of these early adven- 
 turers will be forgotten. 
 
 The first effect of the mob in Baltimore 
 was so to infuriate the citizens that the 
 most outrageous acts were done in the 
 blind passion of the moment. The gun 
 shops of the city were plundered at night 
 by the populace. The authorities of the 
 city, Mayor Brown and the Marshal of 
 Police, George P. Kane, the same night, 
 issued an order for the destruction of the 
 railway bridges on the northern routes, 
 as the only means of impeding the arrival 
 of the Pennsylvania troops on their way 
 and preventing a repetition of the conflict 
 of the day, and the order was promptly 
 executed. The greatest excitement and 
 apprehension prevailed throughout the 
 city. The most violent secession sym- 
 pathies were openly avowed, the flag of 
 the Confederate States was seen in all 
 directions, and the exhibition of the old 
 banner of the United States was sup- 
 pressed. On one point there seemed to 
 be a general agreement, that no more 
 troops from the North should be per- 
 mitted to pass through the city. 
 
 Immediately on the occurrence of the 
 riot, on the 19th, the following telegraphic 
 message, signed by the Governor and the 
 Mayor, was sent to President Lincoln : - 
 " Sir, A collision between the citizens 
 and the Northern troops has taken place 
 in Baltimore and the excitement is fear- 
 ful. Send no more troops here. We 
 will endeavor to prevent all bloodshed." 
 At the same time an embassy was sent 
 by an express train, with the concurrence 
 of Governor Hicks, by Mayor Brown to 
 the President, composed of the Honorable 
 II . Lenox Bond, George W. Dobbin and 
 John C. Brune, who were charged to 
 ey plain " the fearful condition of affairs 
 in the city." "The people," was the 
 22 
 
 language of the letter which they bore 
 with them, " are exasperated to the high- 
 est degree by the passage of troops, and 
 the citizens are universally decided in the 
 opinion that no more troops should be 
 ordered to come. The authorities did 
 their best to-day to protect both strangers 
 and citizens, and to prevent a collision, 
 but in vain ; and but for their great 
 efforts a fearful slaughter would have 
 occurred. Under these circumstances it 
 is my solemn duty to inform you that it 
 is not possible for more soldiers to pass 
 through Baltimore, unless they fight their 
 way at every step. I therefore hope and 
 trust, and most earnestly request, that 
 no more troops be permitted or ordered 
 by the Government to pass through the 
 city. If they should attempt it, the re- 
 sponsibility for the bloodshed will not 
 rest upon me ' To this letter the Presi- 
 dent, addressing Governor Hicks and 
 Mayor Brown, the following day, re- 
 plied : " Gentlemen, Your letter by 
 Messrs. Bond, Dobbin and Brune, is re- 
 ceived. I tender you both my sincere 
 thanks for your efforts to keep the peace 
 in the trying situation in which you are 
 placed. For the future troops must be 
 brought here, but I make no point of 
 bringing them through Baltimore. With- 
 out any military knowledge myself, of 
 course I must leave details to General 
 Scott. He hastily said this morning in 
 the presence of these gentlemen, ' March 
 them around Baltimore, and not through 
 it.' I sincerely hope the General, on 
 fuller reflection, will consider this prac- 
 tical and proper, and that yon will not 
 object to it. By this a collision of the 
 people of Baltimore with the troops will 
 be avoided, unless they go out of their 
 way to seek it. I hope you will exert 
 your influence to prevent this. Now 
 
170 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 ever I shall do all in my power for peace, 
 consistently with the maintenance of the 
 Government." 
 
 At 3 o'clock in the morning of the 
 next day, the 21st, Mayor Brown re- 
 ceived a despatch from the President 
 requesting the presence of himself and 
 Governor Hicks at the Capital to confer 
 respecting the preservation of the peace 
 of Maryland. Governor Hicks not be- 
 ing at Baltimore, Mayor Brown, at the 
 further request of the President, pro- 
 ceeded without him, taking with him 
 Messrs. Dobbin, Brune and S. T. Wallis. 
 Having procured a special train they 
 reached Washington about 10 in the 
 forenoon and forthwith repaired to the 
 President's house, where they were ad- 
 mitted to an immediate interview, to 
 which the Cabinet and General Scott 
 were summoned. A Ipng conversation 
 and discussion ensued, of which the fol- 
 lowing statement was prepared by Mayor 
 Brown and his companions immediately 
 after the interview : 
 
 " The President, upon his part, re- 
 cognized the good faith of the city and 
 state authorities, and insisted upon his 
 own. He admitted the excited state of 
 feeling in Baltimore, and his desire and 
 duty to avoid the fatal consequences of a 
 collision with the people. He urged, on 
 tLe other hand, the absolute, irresistible 
 necessity of having a transit through the 
 State for such troops as might be neces- 
 sary for the protection of the federal 
 Capital. The protection of Washington, 
 he asseverated with great earnestness, 
 was the sole object of concentrating 
 troops there, and he protested that none 
 of the troops brought through Maryland 
 were intended for any purpose hostile to 
 the State, or aggressive as against the 
 Southern States. Being now unable to 
 
 bring them up the Potomac in security, 
 the Government must either bring them 
 through Maryland, or abandon the Cap- 
 ital. He called on General Scott for 
 his opinion, which the General gave at 
 length, to the effect that troops might be 
 brought through Maryland without go- 
 ing through Baltimore, by either carry- 
 ing them from Perryville to Annapolis, 
 and thence by rail to Washington, or by 
 bringing them on to the Eelay House on 
 the Northern Central Railroad, and 
 marching them to the Eelay House on 
 the Washington Railroad, and thence by 
 rail to the Capital. If the people would 
 permit them to go by either of these 
 routes uninterruptedly, the necessity of 
 their passing through Baltimore would 
 be avoided. If the people would not 
 permit them a transit thus remote from 
 the city, they must select their own best 
 route, and, if need be, fight their way 
 through Baltimore, a result which the 
 General earnestly deprecated. 
 
 " The President expressed his hearty 
 concurrence in the desire to avoid a 
 collision, and said that no more troops 
 should be ordered through Baltimore, 
 if they were permitted to go uninter- 
 rupted by either of the other routes 
 suggested. In this disposition the Sec- 
 ret' ry of War expressed his participa- 
 tion. Mayor Brown assured the Presi- 
 dent that the city authorities would use 
 all lawful means to prevent their citizens 
 from leaving Baltimore to attack the 
 troops in passing at a distance ; but he 
 urged at the same time, the impossibility 
 of their being able to promise anything 
 more than their best efforts in that di- 
 rection. The excitement was great, he 
 told the President ; the people of all 
 classes were fully aroused, and it was 
 impossible for any one to answer for the 
 
NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 171 
 
 consequences of the presence of North- 
 ern troops anywhere within our borders. 
 He reminded the President also that the 
 jurisdiction of the city authorities was 
 confined to their own population, and 
 that he could give no promises for the 
 people elsewhere, because he would be 
 unable to keep them if given. The 
 President frankly acknowledged this dif- 
 ficulty, and said that the Government 
 would only ask the city authorities to 
 use their best efforts with respect to 
 those under their jurisdiction. The in- 
 terview terminated with the distinct as- 
 surance, on the part of the President, 
 that no more troops would be sent 
 through Baltimore, unless obstructed in 
 their transit in other directions, and 
 with the understanding that the city au- 
 thorities should do their best to restrain 
 their own people. 
 
 " On returning to the cars, and just 
 about to leave, about 2 p. M., the mayor 
 received a dispatch from Mr. Garrett, 
 announcing the approach of troops to 
 Cockeysville, and the excitement conse- 
 quent upon it in the city. Mr. Brown 
 and his companions returned at once to 
 the President, and asked an immediate 
 audience, which was promptly given. 
 The mayor exhibited Mr. Garrett's dis- 
 patch, which gave the President great 
 surprise. He immediately summoned 
 the Secretary of War and General Scott, 
 who soon appeared, with other members 
 of the cabinet. The dispatch was sub- 
 mitted. The President at once, in the 
 most decided way, urged the recall of 
 the troops, saying that he had no idea 
 they would be here to-day, and lest there 
 should be the slightest suspicion of bad 
 faith on his part in summoning the mayor 
 to Washington, and allowing troops to 
 march on the city during his absence, he 
 
 desired that the troops should, if it were 
 practicable, be sent back at once to York 
 or Harrisburg. General Scott adopted 
 the President's views warmly, and an 
 order was accordingly prepared by the 
 Lieutenant-General to that effect, and 
 forwarded by Major Belger of the army, 
 who accompanied the mayor to this city. 
 The troops at Cockeysville, the mayor 
 was assured, were not brought there for 
 transit through the city, but were in- 
 tended to be marched to the Relay 
 House, on the Baltimore and Ohio rail- 
 road. They will proceed to Harrisburg, 
 from there to Philadelphia, and thence 
 by the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, 
 or by Perrysville, as Major-General Pat- 
 terson may direct." 
 
 So little was the excitement at Balti- 
 more allayed by these reasonable replies 
 and kindly concessions, that Governor 
 Hicks, overcome for the moment by the 
 popular tumult, felt compelled on the 
 22d to address this further communica- 
 tion to the President : " I feel it my 
 duty, most respectfully to advise you 
 that no more troops be ordered or al- 
 lowed to pass through Maryland, and 
 that the troops now off Annapolis be 
 sent elsewhere, and I most respectfully 
 urge that a truce be offered by you, so 
 that the effusion of blood may be pre- 
 vented. I respectfully suggest that Lord 
 Lyons be requested to act as mediator 
 between the contending parties of our 
 country." To this the Secretary of State, 
 Mr. Seward, replied in behalf of the 
 President : " The President directs me 
 to acknowledge the receipt of that com- 
 munication, and to assure you that he 
 has weighed the counsels which it con- 
 tains with the respect which he habitually 
 cherishes for the Chief Magistrates of 
 the several States, and especially for 
 
172 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 yourself. He regrets, as deeply as any 
 magistrate or citizen of the country can, 
 that demonstrations against the safety of 
 the United States, with very extensive 
 preparations for the effusion of blood, 
 have made it his . duty to call out the 
 force to which you allude. The force 
 now sought to be brought through Mary- 
 land, is intended for nothing but the de- 
 fence of this Capital. The President has 
 necessarily confided the choice of the 
 national highway which that force shall 
 take in coming to the city, to the Lieu- 
 tenant-General commanding the army of 
 the United States, who, like his only pre- 
 decessor, is not less distinguished for his 
 humanity, than for his loyalty, patriotism 
 and distinguished public service. The 
 President instructs me to add, that the 
 national highway thus selected by the 
 Lieutenant-General has been chosen by 
 him, upon consultation with prominent 
 magistrates and citizens of Maryland, as 
 the one which, while a route is absolute- 
 ly necessary, is furthest removed from 
 the populous cities of the State, and with 
 the expectation that it would, therefore, 
 be the least objectionable one. The 
 President cannot but remember that 
 there has been a time in the history of 
 our country when a general of the Am- 
 erican Union, with forces designed for 
 the defence of its capitol, was not un- 
 welcome anywhere in the State of Mary- 
 land, and certainly not at Annapolis then, 
 as now, the capital of that patriotic State, 
 and then, also, one of the capitals of the 
 Union. If eighty years could have ob- 
 literated all the other noble sentiments 
 of that age in Maryland, the President 
 would be hopeful, nevertheless, that there 
 is one that would forever remain there 
 and everywhere. That sentiment is that 
 no domestic contention whatever, that 
 
 may arise among the parties of this Re- 
 public, ought in any case to be referred 
 to any foreign arbitrament, least of all 
 to the arbitrament of an European mon- 
 archy." It will certainly be looked back 
 upon as one of the most extraordinary 
 assumptions of this most extraordinary 
 war, that the chief authorities of a State 
 not denying its allegiance to the govern- 
 ment, requested the President to forbid 
 the passage of United States troops 
 through its territories when they were 
 summoned to protect the capital against 
 a self-styled foreign enemy openly in 
 arms. 
 
 In addition to these embassies and 
 appeals of the Governor and Mayor, a 
 special delegation from five of the Young 
 Men's Christian Associations of Baltimore 
 proceeded on the 22d to Washington, 
 to intercede with the .President on be- 
 half of a peaceful policy, and to entreat 
 him not to pass troops through Baltimore 
 or Maryland. The Rev. Dr. Fuller of 
 the -Baptist Church accompanied the 
 the party, by invitation, as chairman. A 
 report of the characteristic interview 
 which followed appeared next day in the 
 Baltimore Sun, which, while it is hardly 
 to be taken as a literal report of the 
 words of the conversation, preserves 
 enough of the spirit of the occasion to 
 present it to the reader as a curious me- 
 morial of the times. " Upon the intro- 
 duction of the delegation," says this 
 account, " they were received very cor- 
 dially by Mr. Lincoln, and the conversa- 
 tion opened by Dr. Fuller seeking to 
 impress upon him the vast responsibility 
 of the position he occupied, and that 
 upon him depended the issue of peace or 
 war on one hand, a terrible, fratricidal 
 conflict, and on the other, peace. 'But,' 
 said Mr. Lincoln, 'what am I to do?' 
 
THE YOUNG MEN OF BALTIMORE. 
 
 173 
 
 ' Wli3 r , sir, let the country know that you 
 are disposed to recognize the independ- 
 ence of the Southern States. I say 
 nothing of secession ; recognise the fact 
 that they have formed a government of 
 their own ; that they will never be united 
 again with the North, and peace will in- 
 stantly take the place of anxiety and 
 suspense, and war may be averted.' 
 ' And what is to become of the revenue?' 
 was the reply. ' I shall have no govern- 
 ment no revenues.' Dr. Fuller then 
 expressed the opinion that the Northern 
 States would constitute an imposing gov- 
 ernment and furnish revenue. 
 
 " The conversation next turned upon 
 the passage of troops through Maryland, 
 Dr. Fuller expressing very earnestly the 
 hope that no more would be ordered over 
 the soil of this State. He remarked 
 that Maryland had shed her blood freely 
 in the War for Independence, she was 
 the first to move for the adoption of the 
 Constitution, arid had only yielded her 
 clinging attachment to the Union when 
 the blood of her citizens had been shed 
 by strangers on their way to a conflict 
 with her sisters of the South. Mr. Lin- 
 coln insisted that he wanted the troops 
 only for the defence of the Capital, not 
 for the invasion of the Southern States. 
 'And/ he said, ' I must have the troops, 
 and mathematically the necessity exists 
 that they should come through Maryland. 
 They can't crawl under the earth, and 
 
 they can't fly over it, and mathematically 
 they must come across it. Why, sir, those 
 Carolinians are now crossing Virginia to 
 come here to hang me, and what can I 
 do ?' In some allusion to the importance 
 of a peace policy, Mr. Lincoln remarked 
 that if he adopted it under the circum- 
 stances there ' would be no Washington 
 in that no Jackson in that no spunk 
 in that !' Whereupon Dr. Fuller hoped 
 that Mr. Lincoln would not allow ' spunk' 
 to override patriotism. Mr. Lincoln 
 doubted if he or Congress could recog- 
 nize the Southern Confederacy. With 
 regard to the Government, he said, 'he 
 must run the machine as he found it.' 
 In reference to passing troops through 
 Baltimore or Maryland, he said : ' Now, 
 sir, if you won't hit me, I won't hit 
 you.' As the delegations were leaving, 
 Mr. Lincoln said to one or two of the 
 young men, ' I'll tell you a story. You 
 have heard of the Irishman who, when a 
 fellow was cutting his throat with a blunt 
 razor, complained that he haggled it. 
 Now, if I can't have troops direct through 
 Maryland, and must have them all the 
 way round by water, or marched across 
 out-of-the-way territory, I shall be hig- 
 gled.'" From this idiomatic and suffi- 
 ciently life-like report of the conversa- 
 tion the true position of affairs, we appre- 
 hend, can be quite as readily understood 
 as from the more for.nal diplomatic lan- 
 guage of the Secretary of State. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 GENERAL BUTLER'S DEPARTMENT OF ANNAPOLIS. 
 
 WHILST these various painful inter- 
 views and negotiations respecting the 
 apparently simple matter of a passage 
 of United States troops to the national 
 Capital were forced upon the President, 
 the question under discussion was prac- 
 tically solved, and Maryland saved, by 
 an enterprising Massachusetts Brigadier 
 General of Militia, who opened and held 
 the route by way of Annapolis. Gen- 
 eral Benjamin Franklin Butler, who now 
 first appears upon the stage of the war 
 in which he was to play an important 
 part, was a native New Englander, now 
 forty-three years of age, in the enjoy- 
 ment of considerable reputation as a 
 stirring member of the bar and an ac- 
 tive, influential Democratic politician. 
 As a member of the Charleston Presi- 
 dential Convention and an advocate of 
 the election of the extreme Southern 
 candidate, the fact of his prompt sup- 
 port of the Government of President 
 Lincoln when the issue was made at 
 Sumter was of no little significance of 
 the final success of the cause. It was 
 an indication of the utmost value at the 
 time, that whatever party differences 
 there had been heretofore, there would 
 be but one opinion at the North on the 
 propriety and necessity of using every 
 effort for the preservation of the Union. 
 
 The talents of General Butler were 
 of a kind well-suited for the work, half 
 civil, half military, upon which he was 
 to enter. Quick, sagacious, and 
 
 above all resolute, he was not to be 
 turned aside by unexpected practical 
 obstacles on his route, of which quite 
 enough might be looked for ; nor was he 
 to be perplexed by any of the sophis- 
 tries of rebellion which might be inter- 
 posed to interrupt the straightforward 
 path of his civil duties. He might lack 
 experience for an active campaign in the 
 field, but those who knew him felt that 
 the enemy would not easily get the ad- 
 vantage of him in the diplomacy of war. 
 The man who had commenced his legal 
 career in securing the claim of a female 
 operative by attaching the wheel of the 
 mill of her wealthy manufacturing debt- 
 or, would, it was said, know how and 
 where to strike. There was another 
 story told of him, illustrating his pre- 
 sence of mind, which inspired some con- 
 fidence in his performance of his new 
 military duties. It was in Lowell, Mas- 
 sachusetts, in 1856, during the Presi- 
 dential contest, when the Hon. Rufus 
 Choate had been invited to address the 
 citizens. The largest hall of the town 
 was crowded to overflowing and all were 
 listening delighted to the orator of. the 
 occasion, when suddenly a burst of ap- 
 plause was interrupted by a jar in the 
 building, and the cry that the floor was 
 sinking. General Butler instantly rose 
 and allayed the excitement by assuring 
 the assembly that he did not apprehend 
 the least danger, but as the architect 
 was present, for the greater certainty, 
 
GENERAL BUTLER. 
 
 175 
 
 he would go with him and make an in- 
 stant examination. The investigation at 
 once convinced him of the utter insecu- 
 rity of the edifice and the probability of 
 a fearful disaster to the whole company 
 if there was any disturbance or haste to 
 escape. Making his way through the 
 dense crowd on his return with perfect 
 calmness, he approached the speaker 
 and apparently communicating to him 
 some pleasing intelligence, while he was 
 with startling emphasis actually whisper- 
 ing the terrific sentence in his ear, " Mr. 
 Choate, I must clear this house, or we 
 shall all be in h 1 in five minutes," 
 turned to the audience and blandly 
 remarked, " My friends, there is no pre- 
 sent danger ; but as the house is over- 
 crowded it will be better to quietly ad- 
 journ to the open air ; and I therefore 
 invite you to the front of the Merrimac 
 House." The assembly, in blissful ig- 
 norance of the danger, quietly adopting 
 the suggestion, retired in safety. 
 
 A clever sketch of General Butler 
 written a year or two previously by a 
 member of the New England bar was 
 reproduced at the time of his new mili- 
 tary appointment, pleasantly shows us 
 something of the man. " He was born 
 in New Hampshire. He worked his 
 own way to college, and through it, 
 at Waterville, Maine. It is safe to say 
 that his alma mater never .graduated 
 such another. He supported himself in 
 college by making chairs. Through life 
 he has cut his own way, and a wide, 
 long breadth of swarth has he carried. 
 He has wrung success from men and cir- 
 cumstances, moreover, that were reluc- 
 tant to concede it to him. And in so 
 doing he has indicated his great strength. 
 When he iirst came to the Bar the Courts 
 looked upon him as a sort of portentous 
 
 phenomenon, such as never before came 
 athwart the judicial vision. He had no 
 family influence to aid his young steps. 
 He had no friends to ' blow for him,' as 
 the phrase is. His early days were 
 spent in steady rowing up stream, with a 
 strong wind and the current both dead 
 against him. But he never faltered. 
 He cleared the rapids, and up he con- 
 tinued to sail. He is in calmer water 
 now. He might anchor if he would. 
 But his temperament will never suffer 
 him to rest this side the ' narrow house.' 
 But the fact that all he has and all he is, 
 are the conquest of his own energy, is a 
 fact that indicates this pluck. He may 
 be safely set down as a man of irrepres- 
 sible energy. . . . He is not a fluent nor 
 graceful speaker. His voice is harsh 
 and grating. There is no mistaking his 
 meaning. He uses ' talk words ' with 
 fiery vehemence. He makes awkward 
 work when he undertakes to utter com- 
 pliments. But he smites an adversary 
 with the plainest of Anglo-Saxon epi- 
 thets, as though he had had long prac- 
 tice in their use, as, indeed, he has. The 
 laughs he creates are more apt to be in 
 the rear seats than on the bench or in 
 the bar. . . . He is a faithful and stead- 
 fast friend. His zeal in his client's cause 
 never flags for an instant. His fidelity 
 to his client is never shaken ; and fidel- 
 ity is equally strong in all cases. It 
 isn't at all measured by the fees receiv- 
 ed. Pay or no pay the earnestness 
 and the energy are the same so long as 
 the relation of attorney and client con- j 
 tinues. The General has a memory we 
 think especially" tenacious of friendly 
 acts. He is quite apt not to forget or 
 wholly to forgive injuries, real or fan- 
 cied. But no temptation would cause 
 him to desert or betray a friend. He 
 
176 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 lives in a style anything but Democratic, 
 according to our New England ideas. 
 
 ^j **j 
 
 Scarcely any other lawyer, from the in- 
 come of his profession, could maintain 
 such an establishment as his. But he 
 has earned it by his energy, industry 
 and perseverance. And though we hope 
 he may be unsuccessful in his politics, 
 we hope he may survive through many 
 years of happy life in his elegant resi- 
 dence on the banks of the Merrimac, 
 with its ' shrubbery ' which Shenstone 
 indeed might envy. ' Ability/ quoth 
 the lexicographer, ' means the art of 
 accomplishing.' Then General Butler is 
 as able a man as walks the soil of Mas- 
 sachusetts. He has all the elements 
 necessary for the successful accomplish- 
 ment of whatever he undertakes. He 
 has a resolute will. He is fertile in re- 
 sources. He is ingenious. He is a ge- 
 nial companion. His wit, in conversa- 
 tion, tells better than in formal speeches 
 or arguments. He can set and keep the 
 ' table in a roar.' ' 
 
 Brigadier-General Butler having been 
 appointed by Governor Andrew to com- 
 mand the Massachusetts men sent to 
 Washington, left Boston on the 18th of 
 April, with the 8th State Regiment, 
 and was with it in Philadelphia on the 
 day of the attack upon the advanced 
 portion of his force in the riot at Balti- 
 more. Quickly appreciating the state of 
 affairs in Maryland, and conscious of the 
 obstacles which would be interposed in 
 the way of direct communication with 
 the National Capital, with characteristic 
 promptness and decision he resolved 
 upon opening the way by a path of his 
 own. " I propose," said he, in a de- 
 spatch to Governor Andrew, from Phil- 
 adelphia, written on the morning of the 
 20th, " to take the 1,500 troops to An- 
 
 napolis, arriving there to-morrow about 
 4 o'clock, and occupy the capital of Mary- 
 land, and thus call the State to account 
 for the death of Massachusetts men, my 
 friends and neighbors. . . In pursu- 
 ance of this plan I have detailed Cap- 
 tains Devereux and Briggs with their 
 commands to hold the boat at Havre de 
 Grace. . . If 1 succeed, success will 
 justify me. If I fail, purity of intention 
 will excuse want of judgment or rash- 
 ness."* In accordance with this resolu- 
 tion he travelled that night with the regi- 
 ment by rail to Havre de Grace on the 
 Susquehanna, where, in pursuance of his 
 scheme, he at once took military posses- 
 sion of the powerful steam ferry boat 
 Maryland at the station, and sailed with 
 his troops down the Chesapeake to Anna- 
 polis, from which place there was railway 
 communication with Washington. 
 
 Arriving before the' town he found it 
 in the hands of a body of insurgents, and 
 the United States property at the Na- 
 val Academy stationed there, especially 
 the frigate Constitution, " old Iron- 
 sides," which lay at the dock and was 
 employed as a practice ship by the pupils 
 of the school, in immediate danger of 
 capture. A number of men selected 
 from his command on the deck of the 
 Maryland for their acquaintance with 
 nautical duties, were promptly put on 
 board of the frigate, and by their exer- 
 tions and the aid of the ferry boat, the 
 honored old ship was worked into the 
 stream and placed out of danger. A 
 special order of General Butler, dated on 
 board the Maryland, addressed to his 
 Eighth Regiment, handsomely, and not 
 without a few pardonable patriotic flour- 
 ishes, acknowledged their services. " The 
 
 * Report of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts. 
 December 31, 1861, p. 22. 
 
"OLD IRONSIDES.' 
 
 177 
 
 frigate Constitution," said he, "lias lain 
 lor a long time at this port, substantially 
 at the mercy of the armed mob which 
 sometimes paralyzes the otherwise loyal 
 State ol Maryland. Deeds of daring, 
 successful contests and glorious victories, 
 had rendered ' old Ironsides' so con- 
 spicuous in the naval history of the coun- 
 try, that she was fitly chosen as the 
 school in .which to train the future officers 
 of the Navy to like heroic acts. It was 
 given to Massachusetts and Essex County 
 first to man her ; it was reserved to 
 Massachusetts to have the honor to 
 retain her for the service of the Union 
 and the laws. This is a sufficient triumph 
 of right, a sufficient triumph for us. By 
 this the blood of our friends, shed by the 
 Baltimore mob, is so far avenged. The 
 Eighth Eegiment may hereafter cheer 
 lustily upon all proper occasions, but 
 never without orders. The old Consti- 
 tution, by their efforts, aided untiringly 
 by the United States officers having her 
 in charge, is now 'possessed, occupied 
 and enjoyed' by the Government of the 
 United States, and is safe from all her 
 enemies." We may add, as a sequel to 
 this chapter in the history of the old 
 frigate, so splendidly illuminated by the 
 heroism of Hall, Stewart and Bainbridge, 
 that the Constitution was shortly after 
 brought to New York with the pupils of 
 the Naval Academy on board, and that 
 she thence passed to a permanent station 
 in the harbor of Newport, where with- 
 out delay the usual discipline of the 
 school was resumed. 
 
 While General Butler with his troops 
 was still on board the Maryland, de- 
 tained by the grounding of that vessel 
 on a sand bar, "the steamer Boston, on 
 the morning of the 22d, came into the 
 harbor, bringing the Seventh New York 
 23 
 
 regiment, which, despairing of the com- 
 munication by Baltimore, had taken the 
 ocean route from Philadelphia. The joint 
 forces landed in the afternoon, and took 
 up their quarters at the grounds of the 
 Naval Academy with no more formidable 
 opposition than a protest against the 
 proceeding from Governor Hicks, who, 
 being in the town, had been- engaged 
 from the first arrival of the troops in a 
 correspondence with General Butler on 
 the subject of their reception. " I would 
 most earnestly advise," he wrote, on the 
 appearance of the Maryland, " that you 
 do not land your men at Annapolis. The 
 excitement here is very great, and I 
 think that you should take your men 
 elsewhere." To this the General replied 
 with exceeding moderation, pleading the 
 necessities of his position, the wants of 
 his men and their extreme and unhealthy 
 confinement on a transport not fitted to 
 receive them, and above all, his duty in 
 obedience to the requisitions of the Presi- 
 dent to proceed to Washington. .In 
 amendment of the terms in which the 
 Governor had spoken of his troops, he 
 added, " I beg leave to call your excel- 
 lency's attention to what I hope I may 
 be pardoned for deeming an ill-advised 
 designation of the men under my com- 
 mand. They are not Northern troops ; 
 they are a part of the whole militia of 
 the United States, obeying the call of the 
 President." The commander's resolu- 
 tion was decided, and the Governor 
 yielded, if not to the logic of the law- 
 yer, at least to the equally stubborn 
 arguments of the general. " I content 
 myself," he wrote in reply, " with pro- 
 testing against this movement, which in 
 view of the excited condition of the peo- 
 ple of this State, I cannot but consider 
 an unwise step on the part of the gov- 
 
178 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 eminent." Thus beset with difficulties, 
 at this time, was the execution by its 
 constituted officers of the simplest duties 
 to the nation. 
 
 The landing being now accomplished, 
 the troops began the work of repairing 
 the railway connecting with Washington, 
 which had been broken up within the 
 last few days by the disaffected popula- 
 tion. The Massachusetts soldiers took 
 the lead, and were particularly efficient 
 in this employment, the 8th regiment 
 numbering many skilled artisans accus- 
 tomed to this species of labor. With a 
 keen scent the abstracted rails were 
 quickly discovered where they had been 
 hidden in wood and field, and drew them 
 forth from their lurking-places near, and 
 remote : one enterprising detective, argu- 
 ing from the probabilities of the case, 
 inferred that a missing link of the iron 
 road must be in the bed of the river, 
 plunged in headlong and brought it to 
 the surface. Forges were extemporized, 
 and an engine which had been pur- 
 posely disabled was put in order for 
 its work. Oddly enough, though not 
 without its significance for a contest in 
 which Northern labor was to be so im- 
 portant a principle, the very maker of 
 the now dilapidated machine, Charles 
 Homans of the Beverley Light Guard, 
 stepped forward from the ranks to repair 
 it ; and when it was restored there were 
 Massachusetts engineers ready to carry 
 it forward. In two days' time from the 
 landing, all was in sufficient order to 
 afford means of transit for the sick of the 
 New York " Seventh," their howitzers, 
 ammunition and medical stores on the 
 way to the Junction, from which point, 
 by the vigilant precautions of General 
 Scott, the remainder of the road to 
 Washington was sufficiently protected. 
 
 The march of the Seventh across 
 Maryland was a striking event in the 
 early annals of the war not so for- 
 midable and extraordinary perhaps tc 
 old campaigners as it appeared to the 
 inexperienced youths suddenly removed 
 from the comforts and luxuries of their 
 homes, but sufficiently rigorous under the 
 circumstances, and undoubtedly attended 
 with many unmilitary privations of needed 
 repose and a proper commissariat. After 
 four or five days of excitement and hard- 
 ships, ill supplied with food, and beset 
 with dangers in the midst of a hostile 
 population, word was given at Annapolis 
 to advance and open the route to the 
 Capital. On the morning of the 24th of 
 April, says O'Brien, a member of the 
 regiment, in the narrative already al- 
 luded to, " we started on what after- 
 wards proved to be one of the hardest 
 marches on record. The secessionists of 
 Annapolis and the surrounding district 
 had threatened to cut us off in our march, 
 and even went so far as to say that they 
 would attack our quarters. This, of 
 course, was the drunken Southern ebul- 
 lition. A civilian told me that he met in 
 the streets of Annapolis two cavalry sol- 
 diers who came to cut our throats without 
 delay, but as each brave warrior was 
 endeavoring to hold the other up, my 
 friend did not apprehend much danger. 
 A curious revulsion of feeling took place 
 at Annapolis, and indeed all through 
 Maryland after our arrival. The ad- 
 mirable good conduct which characterizes 
 the regiment, the open liberality which 
 it displays in all pecuniary transactions, 
 and the courteous demeanour which it 
 exhibits to all classes, took the narrow- 
 minded population of this excessively 
 wretched town by surprise. They were 
 prepared for pillage. They thought we 
 
A MIDNIGHT MARCH. 
 
 179 
 
 were going to sack the place. They 
 found, instead, that we were prepared 
 and willing to pay liberal prices for 
 everything, and that even patriotic pre- 
 sentations were steadily refused. While 
 we were in the Navy School, of course 
 all sorts of rumors as to our operations 
 were floating about. It surprised me 
 that no one suggested that we were to go 
 off in a balloon ; however, all surmises 
 were put an end to by our receiving or- 
 ders, the evening of the 23d, to assemble 
 in marching order next morning. The 
 dawn saw us up. Knapsacks, with our 
 blankets and overcoats strapped on them, 
 were piled on the green. A brief and 
 insufficient breakfast was taken, our can- 
 teens filled with vinegar and water, car- 
 tridges distributed to each man, and after 
 mustering and loading, we started on our 
 first march through a hostile country. 
 We marched the first eight miles under 
 a burning sun, in heavy marching order, 
 in less than three hours ; and it is well 
 known that, placing all elementary con- 
 siderations out of the way, marching on 
 a railroad track is the most harassing. 
 We started at about 8 o'clock A. M., and 
 for the first time, saw the town of An- 
 napolis, which, without any disrespect to 
 that place, I may say, looked very much 
 as if some celestial schoolboy, with a box 
 of toys under his arm, had dropped a few 
 houses and men as he was going home 
 from school, and that the accidental set- 
 tlement was called Annapolis. The tracks 
 had been torn up between Annapolis and 
 the Junction, and here it was that the 
 wonderful qualities of the Massachusetts 
 Eighth regiment came out. The locomo- 
 tives had been taken to pieces by the in- 
 habitants, in order to prevent our travel. 
 In steps a Massachusetts volunteer, looks 
 at the piece-meal, and then takes up a 
 
 flange, and says coolly, ' I made this en- 
 gine, and I can put it together again.' 
 Engineers were wanted when the engine 
 was ready. Nineteen stepped out of the 
 ranks. The rails were torn up. Practical 
 railroad makers out of the regiment laid 
 them again, and all this, mind you, with- 
 out care or food. These brave boys, I 
 say, were starving while they were doing 
 all this good work. What their Colonel 
 was doing I can't say. As we marched 
 along the track that they had laid, they 
 greeted us with ranks of smiling but 
 hungry faces. One boy told me, with a 
 laugh on his young lips, that he had not 
 ate anything for thirty hours. There 
 was not, thank God, a haversack in our 
 regiment that was not emptied into the 
 hands of these ill-treated heroes, nor a 
 flask that was not at their disposal. I 
 am glad to pay them tribute here, and 
 mentally doff my cap. 
 
 " Our march lay through an arid, sandr, 
 tobacco-growing country. The sun pour- 
 ed on our heads like hot lava. The Sixth 
 and Second companies were sent on for 
 skirmishing duty, under the command of 
 Captains Clarke and Nevers, the latter 
 commanding as senior officer. A car, on 
 which was placed a howitzer, loaded with 
 grape and canister^ headed the column, 
 manned by the engineer and artillery 
 corps, commanded by Lieutenant Bunt- 
 ing. This was the rallying point of the 
 skirmishing party, on which, in case of 
 difficulty, they could fall back. In the 
 centre of the column came the cars laden 
 with medical stores, and bearing our sick 
 and wounded, while the extreme rear 
 was brought up with a second howitzer, 
 loaded also with grape and canister. 
 The engineer corps, of course, had to do 
 the forwarding work. New York dan- 
 dies, sir but they built bridges, laid 
 
180 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 rails, and headed the regiment through 
 that terrible inarch. After marching 
 about eight miles, during which time 
 several men caved in from exhaustion, 
 and one young gentleman was sunstruck 
 and sent back to New York, we halted, 
 and instantly, with the divine instinct 
 which characterizes the hungry soldier, 
 proceeded to forage. The worst of it 
 was there was no foraging to be done. 
 The only house within reach was inhabit- 
 ed by a lethargic person, who, like most 
 Southern men, had no idea of gaining 
 money by labor. We offered him ex- 
 travagant prices to get us fresh water, 
 and it was with the utmost reluctance we 
 could get him to obtain us a few pailsful. 
 Over the mantel-piece of his miserable 
 shanty I saw a curious coincidence 
 the portrait of Colonel Duryea, of our 
 regiment. 
 
 "After a brief rest of about an hour, 
 we again commenced our march ; a march 
 which lasted until the next morning a 
 march than which in hjstory nothing but 
 those marches in which defeated troops 
 have fled from the enemy can equal. 
 Our Colonel, it seems, determined to 
 march by railroad, in preference to the 
 common road, inasmuch as he had ob- 
 tained such secret information as led him 
 to suppose that we were waited for on 
 the latter route. Events justified his 
 judgment. There were cavalry troops 
 posted in defiles to cut us off. They 
 could not have done it, of course, but 
 they could have harassed us severely. 
 As we went along the railroad, we threw 
 out skirmishing parties from the Second 
 and Sixth companies, to keep the road 
 clear. I know not if I can describe that 
 night's march. I have dim recollections 
 of deep cuts through which we passed, 
 gloomy and treacherous-looking, with the 
 
 moon shining full on our muskets, while 
 the banks were wrapped in shade, and 
 each moment expecting to see the flash 
 and hear the crack of the rifle of the 
 Southern guerilla. The tree frogs and 
 lizards made a mournful music as we 
 passed. The soil on which we travelled 
 was soft and heavy. The sleepers lying 
 at intervals across the track, made the 
 marching terribly fatiguing. On all sides 
 dark, lonely pine woods stretched away, 
 and high over the hooting of owls or the 
 plantive petition of the whip-poor-will 
 rose the bass commands of Halt ! For- 
 ward, march ! and when we came to 
 any ticklish spot, the word would run 
 from the head of the column along the 
 line, 'Holes,' 'Bridge, pass it along/ etc. 
 As the night wore on, the monotony of 
 the march became oppressive. Owing 
 to our having to explore every inch of 
 the way, we did not make more than a 
 mile or mile and a half an hour. "We 
 ran out of stimulants, and almost out of 
 water. Most of us had not slept for four 
 nights, and as the night advanced, our 
 march was almost a stagger. This was 
 not so much fatigue as want of excite- 
 ment. Our fellows were spoiling for a 
 fight, and when a dropping shot was 
 heard in the distance, it was wonderful 
 to see how the languid legs straightened, 
 and the column braced itself for action. 
 If we had had even the smallest kind of 
 a skirmish the men would have been able 
 to walk to Washington. As it was, we 
 went sleepily on. I myself fell asleep 
 walking in the ranks. Numbers, I find, 
 followed my example ; but never before 
 was there shown such indomitable plm k 
 and perseverance as the Seventh showed 
 in that march of twenty miles." * 
 
 * The Seventh Regiment. How it Got from New YorTi 
 to "Washington. New York Times, May 2, 1862. 
 
DEFENCE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 181 
 
 The Seventh found a hearty welcome 
 at Washington. Their presence com- 
 pleted the trio of Pennsylvania, Massa- 
 chusetts and New York regiments quar- 
 tered at the Capital, which with several 
 hundred United States troops at hand, 
 and a few companies of volunteers, con- 
 stituted the defence of the city. The 
 threatening events in Virginia follow- 
 ing so rapidly the fall of Sumter, the 
 secession of the State and the too-well 
 founded rumors of attack upon the na- 
 tional property, naturally produced some- 
 thing like a panic at Washington. We 
 have seen the anticipations by the 
 Southern press of its easy capture, and 
 many an anxious patriot in the metro- 
 polis, no doubt, during the week after the 
 fall of Sumter, trembled to think that a 
 bold hand only was wanted to convert 
 them into realities. Washington, how- 
 ever, had a powerful defender in General 
 Scott, who was fully prepared to dispose of 
 his little force to the best advantage. The 
 entrance to the city by the Long Bridge 
 was doubly guarded and batteries were 
 arranged at convenient points, while of- 
 ficers of the army, navy and marine corps 
 were abandoning the service, notable 
 among them Commodore Buchanan at the 
 Washington Navy Yard and Colonel Ma- 
 gruder of the Flying Artillery. The work 
 of organizing a volunteer force was vigor- 
 ously prosecuted at the War Department 
 and by the well known Cassius M. Clay 
 of Kentucky, who drilled a company of 
 guards, and James H. Lane, who mus- 
 tered a little band of Kansas volunteers 
 at the Presidential mansion. Defections 
 were so numerous, and it was thought in 
 certain quarters so much a matter of 
 course that an officer, whatever his rela- 
 tions to the Government, should follow 
 the fortunes of his State, that it was 
 
 supposed at the South that General Scott 
 would resign his command in the United 
 States Army, and take command in the 
 Confederate service. It is said that an 
 overture of this kind was made him by 
 an old personal friend from Richmond. 
 " I remember," said Secretary Cameron, 
 speaking of those clays, " General Scott 
 came to me, apparently in great tribula- 
 tion. 'I have spent/ said he, 'the most 
 miserable day of my life ; a friend of my 
 boyhood has just told me I am disgrac- 
 ing myself by staying here and serv- 
 ing this fragment of the government in 
 place of going to Virginia and serving 
 under the banner of my native State.' "* 
 In answer to some such ignorant sugges- 
 tion, he telegraphed to Senator Critten- 
 den of Kentucky, on the 21st of April : 
 "I have not changed ; have no thought 
 of changing ; always a Union man." 
 
 The leading spirits of the administra- 
 tion in Washington were actively pro- 
 viding for defence. Mr. Cameron, the 
 Secretary of War, immediately on issuing 
 the call for troops, sent his son into 
 Pennsylvania to expedite the work of 
 recruiting, and within three days, on the 
 afternoon of the 18th of April, had the 
 satisfaction of welcoming at Washington 
 a body of about 500 troops from 
 his native State, the first who arrived 
 in answer to the President's Proclama- 
 tion for the defence of the Capital. 
 They came unarmed and were without 
 experience as soldiers ; but arms were 
 found for them at the arsenal, and they 
 were installed with satisfaction in the 
 House wing of the Capitol. The next 
 day brought Colonel Jones with his 
 Massachusetts men, who escaped the vio- 
 lence of the mob at Baltimore. They 
 
 * Speech of Hon. Simon Cameron at HarrisbirgL, Ponn 
 May 3, 1862. 
 
182 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 were quartered alongside of the Penn- 
 sylvanians in the national Senate Cham- 
 ber, where these New England laborers 
 from the forge, the loom and the plough, 
 enjoyed the patriotic gratification of dat- 
 ing their letters from the late desks of 
 Davis, Toombs, Wigfa\l, Hunter, Mason 
 and other prominent seceders. The 
 Capitol meanwhile was boarded and bar- 
 ricaded as if to withstand a siege. The 
 iron plates intended for the new dome 
 were used for breastworks between the 
 marble columns. Behind them were 
 placed barrels of cement, piles of stone 
 and timber. The statuary in the hall 
 was boxed, and the pictures in the panels 
 covered with a heavy planking to pro- 
 tect them from harm. The basement, 
 where there was shortly established an 
 immense bakery for the army, was as- 
 signed for the culinary department. The 
 Hall of the House of Representatives 
 was made ready for the New York 
 Seventh Regiment and received them on 
 their arrival. 
 
 General Butler meanwhile remained 
 at Annapolis in possession of the heights 
 which commanded the town and of the 
 railway leading to it. Governor Hicks in 
 a communication, dated the 23d of April, 
 objected to his holding the latter, lest it 
 should prevent the members of the Legis- 
 lature from reaching the city, where he 
 had called a session of that body for the 
 26th ; to which the Massachusetts lawyer 
 General astutely replied: "You are 
 credibly informed that I have taken pos- 
 session of the Annapolis and Elk Ridge 
 Railroad. It might have escaped your 
 notice, but at the official meeting which 
 was had between your Excellency and 
 the Mayor of Annapolis and the Com- 
 mittee of the Government and myself, as 
 to the landing of my troops, it was ex- 
 
 pressly stated as the reason why I should 
 not land, that my troeps could not pass 
 the railroad, because the company had 
 taken up the rails and they were private 
 property. It is difficult to see how it can 
 be, that if my troops could not pass over 
 the railroad one way, the members of the 
 Legislature could pass the other way. I 
 have taken possession for the purpose of 
 preventing the execution of the threats 
 of the mob, as officially represented to 
 me by the Master of Transportation of 
 the railroad in this city, ' that if my 
 troops passed over the railroad, the rail- 
 road should be destroyed.' "* The re- 
 sult of the matter was that another place 
 of meeting was found for the Legislature 
 at Frederick. When it assembled its 
 councils were disturbed and uncertain, 
 from the presence of a large number of 
 members deeply tainted with disaffection 
 to the Union ; but happily by the influ- 
 ence of earnest and judicious counsellors 
 and the obvious embarrassments attend- 
 ing a disloyal course, time was gained for 
 reflection and the State was saved the 
 bitter experiences of a professedly rebel 
 administration. The efforts made to 
 bring about that dangerous agency, a 
 convention of the people, which had 
 proved so tyrannical a means of suppres- 
 sing Southern loyalty, and the kindred 
 establishment of a Board of Public Safety 
 to take into its hands the military power 
 of the State, proved alike abortive. 
 The Legislature ungraciously protesting 
 against the unavoidable policy of the na- 
 tional Government, was compelled by the 
 pressure of events to submit to the 
 preservation of the prosperity of the 
 citizens. 
 
 Among those who guided the opinions 
 
 * Brigadier-General B. F. Butler to Governor Thos. H 
 Hicks. Annapolis, April 23, 1861. 
 
SPEECH OF RE VERB Y JOHNSON. 
 
 183 
 
 of the people at this crisis in Maryland, 
 her eminent representative the Hon. 
 Reverdy Johnson was distinguished by 
 his candor and earnestness. " With manly 
 resistance to the prejudices of the hour 
 he vindicated the national Government 
 from the aspersions which had been cast 
 upon it, and warned his fellow-citizens of 
 the abyss upon the edge of which they 
 were treading. " That the end," said he, 
 on an important occasion, in speaking of 
 the plans of the Confederate conspiracy, 
 " must fail, who can doubt ? The recent 
 census furnishes pregnant proof of this. 
 It shows that the Free States have a pop- 
 ulation of males between eighteen and 
 forty-five of 3,778,000 and all the Slave 
 States only 1,655,000, and the seceding 
 States, excluding Virginia, but 531,000 ; 
 and if to this vast difference of men is 
 added that of wealth, inventive skill, 
 habits of industry, and the absence of 
 any element of domestic danger, the dis- 
 parity is infinitely greater." Looking to 
 the welfare of Maryland, the inference 
 from the statement on the score of pol- 
 icy, to say nothing of the higher claims 
 of patriotic duty, was obvious. " Let 
 those," said he, " who have produced 
 the rebellion exclusively share its cer- 
 tain adverse fate. Let them not, by 
 specious promises of assistance and fu- 
 ture prosperity, swerve us from our al- 
 legiance. They are even now promis- 
 ing themselves comparative exemption 
 from the perils of the struggle. A re- 
 cent Secretary, after having used his 
 high position to produce the result, and 
 by his grossly ignorant or faithless meas- 
 ures bankrupt the Treasury, is now ad- 
 dressing the people of his immediate 
 section to persuade them that the com- 
 ing war and its horrors will be kept far 
 from them, and confined to the Border 
 
 States. Let us, as far as ours is con- 
 cerned, be wise enough to frustrate this 
 cowardly policy. If to gain their trai- 
 torous views war is to be waged, let 
 them bear its entire brunt. Let us not 
 be their deluded victims." 
 
 " What is there," he asked with with- 
 ering emphasis, and keen insight into 
 the calculations of the rebellion, " in the 
 modern history of South Carolina which 
 should recommend her teachings to Mary- 
 land ? What is there in the intellects of 
 the Khetts, the Yauceys, the Cobbs, and 
 id genus omne, to make them our lead- 
 ers ? They did all they could to achieve 
 the election of Mr. Lincoln, and hailed 
 its accomplishment with undissembled de- 
 light. They thought they saw in it the 
 realization of their long-cherished hopes 
 the precipitation of the Cotton States 
 into a revolution ; and then fancied ex- 
 emption from the worst of the perils and 
 they now seek to effect it in the inter- 
 vention of the other Slave States be- 
 tween them and the danger. Short- 
 sighted men, they never anticipated the 
 calamities already upon them, and the 
 greater certain to follow. Besides rely- 
 ing on the fact just stated, they also 
 counted securely on a large and influen- 
 tial support in the Free States. Little 
 did they know the true patriotic heart 
 of the land. The first gun fired on the 
 nation's flag raised that feeling in the 
 Northern heart. That gun, fired with- 
 out cause, and upon a noble garrison 
 about to be starved into a surrender, by 
 being, through timidity or a worse cause, 
 left in that condition, caused every man 
 able to bear arms to rush to the support 
 of the Government. Where, in the past, 
 the South could count its friends by thou- 
 sands and hundreds of thousands, not one 
 is now to be found. The cry i the Gov- 
 
184 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 eminent must be sustained the flag must 
 be vindicated. Heaven forbid that the 
 duty of that vindication should be for- 
 gotten by Maryland ! " * 
 
 While General Butler was at Annapo- 
 lis an incident occurred, of interest as 
 the first formal consideration in the war, 
 of an important question of the treat- 
 ment of the negro population. On the 
 morning after his arrival he was inform- 
 ed that the city and its environs were in 
 danger from an insurrection of the slaves. 
 The report proved groundless, but Gener- 
 al Butler, while it was credited, prompt- 
 ly offered the services of his command to 
 Governor Hicks to put down the move- 
 ment. A report of the affair reached 
 Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, 
 who addressed a letter to General But- 
 ler inquiring into the circumstances and 
 expressing the opinion that " the matter 
 of servile insurrection among a commu- 
 nity in arms against the Federal Union 
 is no longer to be regarded by our troops 
 in a political but solely in a military point 
 of view, and is to be contemplated as 
 one of the inherent weaknesses of the 
 enemy, from the disastrous operations of 
 which we are under no obligation of 
 a military character to guard them, in 
 order that they may be enabled to im- 
 prove the security which our arms would 
 afford, so as to prosecute with more en- 
 ergy their traitorous attacks upon the 
 Federal Government and the Capital." 
 To this General Butler replied, that he 
 regarded the State of Maryland as gen- 
 erally friendly to the Union, that the dis- 
 affection was confined to rebellious in- 
 surgents and that consequently it was in 
 the way of his duty to offer aid. In re- 
 gard to the suggestion of the weakness 
 
 * Speech at Frederick, Maryland, May 7, 1861. N<t- 
 tioval Inteliigenr.?.r. May 11. 
 
 of the rebels from their slave popula- ! 
 tion, General Butler deprecated the hor- 
 rors of a servile insurrection, which he 
 presented in vivid terms, and recalled 
 the odium which attached to the British 
 government for their employment of the 
 savages in their war with the colonies. 
 " Shall history," he asked, " teach us in 
 vain ? Could we justify ourselves to our- 
 selves, although with arms in our hands 
 amid the savage wildness of camp and 
 field, we may have blunted many of the 
 finer moral sensibilities, in letting loose 
 four millions of worse than savages upon 
 the homes and hearths of the South." 
 He, however, added this pregnant inti- 
 mation, should dishonorable means be 
 taken by the rebels against the Govern- 
 ment. " If," said he, " as has been done 
 i in a single instance, my men are to be 
 attacked by poison, or as in another, 
 stricken down by 'the assassin's knife, 
 and thus murdered, the community using 
 such weapons may be required to be 
 taught that it holds within it own border 
 a more potent means for deadly purposes 
 and indiscriminate slaughter than any 
 which it can administer to us." * 
 
 On the 5th of May, General Butler, 
 the route from Annapolis to the Capital 
 being effectually guarded, advanced a 
 portion of his command toward Balti- 
 more, and took possession of the impor- 
 tant position of the Kelay House, about 
 ten miles from Baltimore, on the Pataps- 
 co, where the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 road joins the line to Washington. In a 
 special order of the 8th of May he con- 
 gratulated the troops on their prompt- 
 ness and efficiency, and particularly no- 
 ticed several incidents of camp life, 
 among them one which it would be a 
 pleasure to a philanthropist if possible to 
 
 * General Butler to Governor Andrew, May 9, 1861. 
 
THE WINANS' STEAM GUN. 
 
 185 
 
 discredit, "Wishing," he said to his 
 soldiers, " to establish the most friendly 
 relations between you and this neighbor- 
 hood, the General invited all venders of 
 supplies to visit our camp and replenish 
 our somewhat scanty commissariat. But 
 to his disgust and horror he finds well- 
 authenticated evidence that a private in 
 the Sixth Regimen^ has been poisoned by 
 means of strychnine administered in the 
 food brought into the camp by one of 
 these peddlers. I am happy to be in- 
 formed that the man is now out of danger. 
 This act, of course, will render it neces- 
 sary for me to cut off all purchases from 
 unauthorized persons. Are our few in- 
 sane enemies among the loyal men of 
 Maryland, prepared to wage war upon 
 us in this manner? Do they know the 
 terrible lesson of warfare they are teach- 
 ins; us ? Can it be that they realize the 
 fact that we can put an agent with a 
 word into every household armed with 
 this terrible weapon ? In view of the 
 terrible consequences of this mode of 
 warfare, if adopted by us from their 
 teaching, wi|h every sentiment of devo- 
 tional prayer, may we not exclaim, 
 ' Father, forgive them, they know not 
 what they do.' Certain it is that any 
 other such attempt, reasonably authenti- 
 cated as to the person committing it, will 
 be followed by the swiftest, surest, and 
 most condign punishment." 55 
 
 Tales of this kind were frequent at the 
 beginning of the war. For the honor of 
 human nature let us hope that, with other 
 rumors of the camp, they were often ex- 
 aggerated. The fact that a considerable 
 portion of the population of Maryland, 
 then and long after, was embittered and 
 hostile to the citizen soldiery who were 
 ordered thither for the preservation of 
 
 * General Order. Eelay House, May 8, 1861. 
 
 24 
 
 the Union unhappily admits of no ques- 
 tion. 
 
 An exploit which enlivened the uniform 
 duties at the Relay House was the cap- 
 ture by a scouting party from that station 
 of the Winans' steam gun, a formidable 
 looking military apparatus, a species of 
 locomotive, designed by the inventor, a 
 wealthy and enterprising gentleman of 
 Baltimore, of reputation as an engineer, 
 whose name it bore, " to inaugurate a 
 new era in the science of war." Ball- 
 proof, protected by an iron roof, mounted 
 on a four-wheeled carriage, it was con- 
 structed to discharge from an ill-looking 
 mouth at the apex of its projecting cone, 
 a hundred or more balls a minute of any 
 capacity from an ounce to a 24-pound 
 shot. The prospectus in which the ex- 
 traordinary merits of this invention were 
 set forth by the patentee, Mr. Charles 
 S. Dickinson, represented it as capable 
 on the field of battle of " mowing down 
 opposing troops as the scythe mows 
 standing grain," while in sea fights, 
 " mounted on low deck steamers it would 
 be capable of sinking any ordinary war 
 vessel." In fact it was enthusiastically 
 predicted that " the day was not far dis- 
 tant when, through its instrumentality, 
 the new era in the science of war (already 
 alluded to) being inaugurated, it would 
 be generally adopted by the Powers of 
 the Old and New Worlds, and from its 
 very destructiveness prove the means 
 and medium of peace." This ingeniously 
 constructed weapon was taken on the 
 road in course of transportation from 
 Baltimore to Harper's Ferry, whither the 
 rebel citizens were flor-king, carrying aid 
 and comfort to the Virginians in arms. 
 There was some talk of making the en- 
 gine serviceable in the national defence ; 
 but we may presume there were inherent 
 
18b 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 difficulties in the way, else the inventive 
 people into whose hands it fell would 
 have turned it to some account. The 
 '" Winans 7 Steam Gun," after supplying 
 paragraphs to the newspapers till all in- 
 terest in it was exhausted, was transported 
 by way of the Chesapeake and Fortress 
 Monroe as a trophy of war to Boston. 
 
 On the 14th of May, General Butler 
 entered the city of Baltimore, included 
 in the department of Annapolis, with his 
 troops, among them a detachment of the 
 very Massachusetts regiment which had 
 been assailed in the riot, and established 
 his headquarters in a fortified camp on 
 Federal Hill, a position which thoroughly 
 commanded the town. The Proclama- 
 tion which he sent forth on the occasion 
 was business-like and judicious. While 
 it was resolutely set against acts of re- 
 bellion, the administration of the city 
 government was left to the civil authori- 
 ties, a profitable traffic was invited for 
 the supply of the wants of the army, and 
 every assurance given of good will. "A 
 detachment," was its language, "of the 
 forces-ef the Federal Government under 
 my command have occupied the city of 
 Baltimore for the purpose, among other 
 things, of enforcing respect and obedi- 
 ence to the laws, as well of the State 
 if requested thereto, by the civil authori- 
 ties as of the United States laws, which 
 are being violated within its limits by 
 some malignant and traitorous men, and 
 in order to testify the acceptance by the 
 Federal Government of the fact that the 
 city and all the well-intentioned portion 
 of its inhabitants are loyal to the Union 
 and the Constitution, and are to be so 
 regarded and treated by all. To the 
 end, therefore, that all misunderstanding 
 of the purpose of the Government may 
 be prevented, and to set at rest all un- 
 
 founded, false, and seditious rumors ; to 
 relieve all apprehensions, if any are felt, 
 by the well-disposed portion .of the com- 
 munity, and to make it thoroughly un- 
 derstood by all traitors, their aiders and 
 abettors, that rebellious acts must cease : 
 I hereby, by the authority vested in me 
 as commander of the department of An- 
 napolis, of which Baltimore forms a part, 
 do now command and. make known thai 
 no loyal and well-disposed citizen will be 
 disturbed in his lawful occupation or busi- 
 ness, that private property will not be 
 interfered with by the men under my 
 command, or allowed to be interfered 
 with by others, except in so far as it 
 may be used to afford aid and comfort 
 to those in rebellion against the Govern- 
 ment, whether here or elsewhere ; all of 
 which property, munitions of war, and 
 that fitted to aid and support the rebel- 
 lion, will be seized and held subject to 
 confiscation, and, therefore, all manufac- 
 turers of arms and munitions of war are 
 hereby requested to report to me forth- 
 with, so that the lawfulness of their oc- 
 cupation may be known and^understood, 
 and all misconstruction of their doings 
 be avoided. No transportation from the 
 city to the rebels of articles fitted to aid 
 and support troops in the field will be 
 permitted, and the fact of such transpor- 
 tation, after the publication of this pro- 
 clamation, will be taken and received as 
 proof of illegal intention on the part of 
 the consignors, and will render the goods 
 liable to seizure and confiscation. 
 
 " The Government being ready to re- 
 ceive all such stores and supplies, ar- 
 rangements will be made to contract for 
 them immediately, and the owners and 
 manufacturers of such articles of equip- 
 ment and clothing, and munitions of war 
 and provisions, are desired to keep them- 
 
GENERAL BUTLER'S PROCLAMATION. 
 
 187 
 
 selves in communication with the Com- 
 missary-General, in order that their 
 workshops may be. employed for loyal 
 purposes, and the artisans of the city 
 resume and carry on their profitable oc- 
 cupations. The acting Assistant-Quar- 
 termaster and Commissary of Subsist- 
 ence of the United States here stationed, 
 has been instructed to proceed and furn- 
 ish, at fair prices, 40,000 rations for the 
 use of the army of the United States, and 
 further supplies will be drawn from the 
 city to the full extent of its capacity, if 
 the patriotic and loyal men choose so to 
 furnish supplies. All assemblages, ex- 
 cept the ordinary police, of armed bodies 
 of men, other than those regularly organ- 
 ized and commissioned by the State of 
 Maryland, and acting under the orders 
 of the Governor thereof, for drill and 
 other purposes, are forbidden within the 
 department. All officers of the militia 
 of Maryland, having command within 
 the limits of the department, are re- 
 quested to report through their officers 
 forthwith to the General in command, so 
 that he may be able to know and distin- 
 guish the regularly commissioned and 
 loyal troops of Maryland from armed 
 bodies who may claim to be such. The 
 ordinary operations of the corporate 
 government of the city of Baltimore 
 and of the civil authorities will not be 
 interfered with, but, on the contrary, 
 will be aided by all the power at the 
 command of the General, upon proper 
 call being made, and all such authorities 
 are cordially invited to cooperate with 
 the General in command to carry out 
 the purposes set forth in the proclama- 
 tion, so that the city of Baltimore may 
 be shown to the country to be, what she 
 is in fact, patriotic and loyal to the 
 Union, the Constitution, and the laws. 
 
 " No flag, banner, ensign, or device of 
 the oO-called Confederate States or any 
 of them will be permitted to be raised 
 or shown in this department, and the ex- 
 hibition of either of them by evil-dis- 
 posed persons will be deemed, arid taken 
 to be evidence of a design to afford aid 
 and comfort to the enemies of the coun- 
 try. To make it the more apparent that 
 the Government of the United States by 
 far more relies upon the loyalty, patriot- 
 ism, and zeal of the good citizens of Bal- 
 timore and vicinity than upon any exhi- 
 bition of force calculated to intimidate 
 them into that obedience to the laws 
 which the Government doubts not will 
 be paid from inherent respect and love 
 of order, the commanding General has 
 brought to the city with him, of the 
 many thousand troops in the immediate 
 neighborhood, which might be at once 
 concentrated here, scarcely more than 
 an ordinary guard, and until it fails him, 
 he will continue to rely upon that loyalty 
 and patriotism of the citizens of Mary- 
 land, which have never yet been found 
 wanting to the Government in time of 
 need. The General in command desires 
 to greet and treat in this part of his de- 
 partment all the citizens thereof as friends 
 and brothers, having a common purpose, 
 a common loyalty, and a common coun- 
 try. Any infractions of the laws by the 
 troops under his command, or any dis- 
 orderly, unsoldierlike conduct, or any 
 interference with private property, he 
 desires to have immediately reported to 
 him, and pledges himself that if any sol- 
 dier so far forgets himself as to break 
 those laws that he has sworn to defend 
 and enforce, he shall be most rigorously 
 punished. 
 
 " The General believes that if the sug- 
 gestions and requests contained in this 
 
188 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 proclamation are faithfully carried out by 
 the cooperation of all good and Union- 
 loving citizens, and peace and quiet, and 
 certainty of future peace and quiet are 
 thus restored, business will resume its ac- 
 customed channels, trade take the place 
 of dullness and inactivity, efficient labor 
 displace idleness, and Baltimore will be 
 in fact what she is entitled to be, in the 
 front rank of the commercial cities of 
 the nation." 
 
 Thenceforth, under the control and 
 security of these provisions, arms were 
 seized, disorder suppressed and peaceable 
 citizens protected. The route through 
 Baltimore was again open from the North, 
 the trade of the city began to revive, Union 
 men uttered their sentiments with confi- 
 dence, the Confederate flag was proscribed 
 and the Stars and Stripes, the exhibition 
 of which had been forbidden by the muni- 
 cipal authorities, were restored to their 
 old honors ; loyalty was recognized as the 
 rule, and sedition, for unhappily it was 
 not as yet altogether extinguished, be- 
 came the exception. In accordance with 
 the friendly design of the occupation, 
 Governor Hicks the same day issued the 
 following Proclamation, meeting under 
 certain conditions the original requisition 
 of the President : " Whereas, The Presi- 
 dent of the United States, by his Proclama- 
 tion of the 15th of April, 1861, has called 
 upon me, the Governor of Maryland, for 
 four regiments of infantry or riflemen to 
 serve for a period of three months, the 
 said requisition being made in the spirit 
 and in pursuance of the law, and 
 
 Whereas, To the said requisition has 
 been added the written assurance of the 
 Secretary of War, that said four regi- 
 ments shall be detailed to serve within 
 the limits of the State of Maryland, or 
 for the defence of the Capital of the 
 United States and not to serve beyond 
 the limits aforesaid ; Now, therefore, I, 
 Thomas Holliday Hicks, Governor of 
 Maryland, do, by this my proclamation, 
 call upon loyal citizens of Maryland 
 to volunteer their services to the extent 
 of four regiments, as aforesaid, to serve 
 during a period of three months within 
 the limits of Maryland, or for the defence 
 of the Capital of the United States, to be 
 subject under the conditions aforesaid, to 
 the orders of the Commander-in- Chief 
 of the Army of the United States. Given 
 under my hand and the great seal of the 
 State of Maryland, at the city of Fred- 
 erick, this 14th day of May, 1861." 
 
 General Butler having thus by his 
 firm but moderate course, seconding the 
 wishes of the majority of the people 
 whom he came to serve, secured the 
 safety of his district from the violence 
 of the secessionists, was rewarded by 
 the Government with the rank of Major- 
 General and assigned the command of 
 a new military district of Virginia and 
 North and South Carolina with his head- 
 quarters at Fortress Monroe. His new 
 commission was dated the 16th of May, 
 the same day on which General Mc- 
 Clellan was also made a Major-General. 
 General Cadwalader of Philadelphia 
 succeeded to the command at Baltimore. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE ADVANCE ACROSS THE POTOMAC. 
 
 THE month of May found the country 
 everywhere engaged in preparations for 
 active war. The forces called for by the 
 President were mustering into service in 
 the loyal States ; officers were busy at 
 the recruiting stations ; companies were 
 forming ; men were enlisting in favorite 
 regiments ; State and municipal authori- 
 ties were lending their aid ; money in 
 private contributions and legislative loans 
 or grants was liberally placed at the dis- 
 position of the local committees and the 
 government agents. Millions were fur- 
 nished for the war, in the fortnight follow- 
 ing the day of Sumter, of which a large 
 proportion was the voluntary gift of 
 individuals. Within the same time at 
 least one hundred thousand men were 
 in active preparation for the field. Of 
 these about thirty thousand New York, 
 Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Penn- 
 sylvania troops were already at Wash- 
 ington or on their way thither. On one 
 day, Sunday the 21st of April, while 
 the land route was interrupted, more 
 than four thousand men of New York, 
 Rhode Island and Massachusetts left 
 the city of New York for the Capital, 
 by way of the Potomac, in five ocean 
 steamers. The alacrity and efficiency of 
 the Rhode Islanders was the subject of 
 general comment. A meeting of the 
 Legislature of the State, specially sum- 
 moned, was held within a few days of the 
 call of the President, money was liber- 
 ally voted, and before the week was over 
 
 a regiment was in arms and en its way 
 to Washington. " Not only the officers 
 of the regiment," says an enthusiastic 
 chronicler of the day, "but the Governor 
 and Lieutenant-Governor" led the van, 
 bearing with them the sovereignty of the 
 State. With the side-arms of the officers 
 and the shouldered muskets of the pri- 
 vates, came, in the simple blouse of their 
 uniform, the representatives of more than 
 $30,000,000 of wealth. No such event 
 has ever before been recorded in war, 
 nor has there been seen, by the past or 
 present generation, such an impersonation 
 of the muscle and the material aid of a 
 campaign upon its muster and within its 
 roll call." The Massachusetts men were 
 attended to the Capital with similar 
 plaudits. " God save the Commonwealth 
 of Massachusetts !" exclaimed another 
 journalist "the State that compromise 
 was to leave out of the new Confederacy, 
 and blessings be upon the State of Roger 
 Williams, so confidently calculated on as 
 the first of the Northern States that 
 would avow its allegiance to the piratical 
 government of Jeff. Davis." Nor were 
 the other eastern, middle and western 
 States deficient in the work. Under the 
 animating impulse of their several Gov- 
 ernors, all moved quickly and steadily 
 onward according to their several oppor- 
 tunities. New York, under Governor 
 Morgan, assisted by General Wool and 
 the Union Defence Committee, gathered 
 her tens of thousands to the camp ; 
 
190 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Governor Curtin did the same in Penn- 
 sylvania, and Governor Dennison of Ohio 
 speedily laid the foundation of an Army 
 of the West. We shall have occasion 
 hereafter to speak particularly of the 
 services of Governor Yates of Illinois. 
 Nor should the names of Morton of In- 
 diana or Eandall of Wisconsin be here 
 forgotten. In the message which the 
 latter delivered to the State legislature 
 in May he had, with the full sympathy 
 of the people^ urged the energetic prose- 
 cution of the war ; recommending the 
 immediate equipment of six regiments 
 of volunteers, the purchase of rifled can- 
 non, and an appropriation of one million 
 of dollars. In conclusion on that occa- 
 sion he said, with indignant severity, 
 "The people will never consent to any 
 cessation of the war, forced so wickedly 
 upon us, until the traitors are hung or 
 driven into an ignominious exile. This 
 war begun where Charleston iff it should 
 end where Charleston was. The Su- 
 preme Ruler can but smile upon the 
 efforts of the law-loving, government- 
 loving, liberty-loving people of this land, 
 in resisting the disruption of this Union. 
 These gathering armies are instruments 
 of His vengeance, to execute His judg- 
 ments they are His flails, wherewith 
 on God's great southern threshing floor 
 He will pound rebellion for its sins."* 
 In less than eight days after the call 
 of Governor Morton for the quota of 
 troops to be 'furnished by Indiana in 
 accordance with the President's Proc- 
 lamation, more than 12,000 men, about 
 three times the number asked for, 
 tendered their services in eager emula- 
 tion for a place in the ranks. This re- 
 sponse, says the Governor, "has been 
 
 * Message of Governor Alexander W. Randall to the 
 Legislature of Wisconsin, at its extra session May, 1861. 
 
 most gratifying and extraordinary, air 
 furnishes indubitable evidence of the 
 patriotism of Indiana and her entire de- 
 votion to the Union. Without distinc- 
 tion of party, condition or occupation, 
 men have rallied round the nations 
 standard, and in every part of the State 
 may be heard the sound of martial music, 
 and witnessed the mustering of com- 
 panies into the field."* 
 
 On the 3d of May President Lincoln, 
 by a Proclamation, made a second call 
 upon the country for troops. Avoiding 
 the threatened evils of the short three 
 months' enlistment, he made the re- 
 quisition for a period of three years, 
 unless sooner discharged. 42,034 volun- 
 teers were thus called for, while the reg- 
 ular army was directed to be increased 
 by the addition of eight regiments of in- 
 fantry, one of cavalry and one of artillery, 
 making an aggregate of nearly 23,000, 
 officers and men. 18,000 seamen were 
 at the same time ordered to be enlisted 
 for the naval service of the United 
 States. The several proceedings, the 
 Proclamation announced, would be sub- 
 mitted to Congress as soon as it assem- 
 bled. " In the mean time," added the 
 President, " I earnestly invoke the co- 
 operation of all good citizens in the mea- 
 sures hereby adopted for the effectual 
 suppression of unlawful violence, for the 
 impartial enforcement of constitutional 
 laws, and for the speediest possible re- 
 storation of peace and order, and with 
 those, of happiness and prosperity 
 throughout our country. 
 
 While these preparations were being 
 made at the North a similar activity was 
 witnessed at the South. The work of 
 
 * Message of Governor Oliver P. Morton delivered at 
 the called session of the Indiana Legislature. April 25, 
 1861. 
 
NORTH CAKULINA. 
 
 191 
 
 spoliation begun at Charleston, Savannah 
 and New Orleans, was also vigorously 
 carried on in other regions of the coun- 
 try. Within a few days of the fall of 
 Sumter the steam transport Star of the 
 West, loaded with provisions, sent for 
 the relief of the United States troops in 
 Texas, was treacherously seized at In- 
 dianola by a body of insurgents, under 
 Colonel Yan Dorn ; the arsenals at Lib- 
 erty, Missouri, Fayetteville, North Car- 
 olina, Napoleon, Arkansas, with stores 
 of arms and ammunition, were plundered 
 by the rebels ; Fort Smith, Arkansas, 
 was taken possession of by Colonel Solon 
 Borland, the leader of a volunteer band 
 of secessionists. In consequence of the 
 various acts of robbery and violence in 
 Virginia and North Carolina, defeating 
 the exercise of the proper powers of the 
 Federal Government, President Lincoln, 
 on the 27th of April, by proclamation, 
 extended the blockade of the Southern 
 coast to those States. 
 
 The formal work of revolt was going 
 on with great rapidity under the im- 
 pulses of the leading conspirators. Two 
 new States, Arkansas and Tennessee, 
 passed ordinances of secession on the 
 same day, the 6th of May, and fourteen 
 days after, North Carolina followed their 
 example. The proceedings by which the 
 last mentioned State was separated from 
 the Union were of the most unhappy 
 character, conflicting as they evidently 
 did with the better judgment and long 
 settled convictions of the people. The 
 majority at the outset was clearly for the 
 preservation of the national Union, and 
 had the State authorities been disposed 
 to consult the popular will in this matter, 
 there is reason to believe North Carolina 
 might have been saved from her destruc- 
 tive alliance with the Southern Confed- 
 
 eracy. Early in the year, OD the 30th 
 of January, an act was passed by the 
 ^Democratic Legislature referring the 
 question of a State convention to a vote 
 of the people and, taking it for granted 
 that the convention would be authorized, 
 delegates were at the same time directed 
 to be chosen for that body. When the 
 vote was taken on the 28th of February, 
 it stood 46,672 in favor of calling the 
 convention, and 47,333 against it, giving 
 a "no convention" majority of 661 ; 
 while at the same time 84 Union dele- 
 gates were elected to 36 disunion, show- 
 ing on the latter issue a popular Union 
 majority of at least 10,000 voters. The 
 convention, of course, did not meet and 
 matters remained in their old condition 
 till the fall of Sumter. We have seen 
 the irate and intemperate reply which 
 Governor Ellis made to the call of Presi- 
 dent Lincoln for troops to sustain the 
 Government and the terms in which he 
 summoned a special session of the Legis- 
 lature to meet on the 1st of May.* That 
 body when it did assemble, in accordance 
 with its previous inclinations, promptly 
 passed an act directing a new election for 
 a convention to be held on the 13th. It 
 was no time then for an impartial verdict 
 of the people when, as in Virginia, Union 
 men were coerced and proscribed and 
 allegiance to the national Government 
 was denounced as treason to their own 
 State. Under the influence of violence, 
 artfully stimulated prejudices and false 
 political doctrines, the voice of the Union- 
 loving people was so far silenced or their 
 judgments perverted that a majority of 
 secessionists were elected for the conven- 
 tion. This body met a week after on the 
 20th and, without submission of their act 
 to the people for their confirmation, the 
 
 * Ante, p. 128. 
 
192 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 same day passed an ordinance of reces- 
 sion and handed the State over to the 
 Southern Confederacy.* 
 
 In Tennessee, early in May, a virtual 
 act of secession was passed by the Legis- 
 lature in secret session, in direct dis- 
 agreement with a previous expression 
 of the will of the people of the State, 
 who had in February refused to hold a 
 convention for the purpose. By this act 
 a " Declaration of Independence and or- 
 dinance dissolving the Federal relations 
 between the State of Tennessee and the 
 United States of America," was no- 
 minally required to be submitted to a 
 popular vote, to be taken a month after- 
 ward, on the 8th of June ; but the Legis- 
 lature did not wait for this ratification. 
 Already, on the 1st of May, previous 
 even to the passage of the act, the two 
 Houses, following the precedent of Vir- 
 ginia, had taken the preliminary steps 
 for the formation of an intimate alliance 
 with the rebel government at Montgom- 
 ery, by adopting a resolution that coin- 
 .missioners should be appointed on the 
 part of Tennessee " to enter into a mili- 
 tary league with the authorities of the 
 Confederate States, and with the authori- 
 ties of such other slaveholding States as 
 may wish to enter into it ; having in view 
 the protection and defence of the entire 
 South against the war that is now being 
 carried on against it." Governor Har- 
 ris accordingly appointed Gustavus A. 
 Henry, Archibald 0. W. Totten and 
 Washington Barrow commissioners. They 
 were promptly met at Nashville by Henry 
 W. Hilliard, a delegate with similar 
 powers from the Confederate States, with 
 whom a convention was entered into on 
 the 7th of May. By the terms of this 
 
 * N Y. Herald, May 20, 1862. N.Y. Tribune, May 22, 
 1862. 
 
 instrument "the whole military force and 
 military operations, offensive and defen- 
 sive, of the State of Tennessee, in the im- 
 pending conflict with the United States, 
 were placed, to be employed for the com- 
 mon defence under the chief control and 
 direction of the President of the Confed- 
 erate States, upon the same basis, princi- 
 ples and footing as if said State were now, 
 and during the intervals, a member of the 
 said confederacy." The league thus 
 formed was on the same day consum- 
 mated and ratified by a joint resolution of 
 the Senate and General Assembly. In 
 the former the vote stood for the adop- 
 tion ayes 14, nays 6, absent and not vot- 
 ing 5 ; in the latter, ayes 42, nays 15, 
 absent and not voting 18. There was 
 one peculiarity in the language of the 
 Declaration of Independence submitted 
 to the people. It frankly put the pro- 
 ceeding forward as a revolutionary mea- 
 sure. "Waiving an expression of opin- 
 ion," were its words, " as to the abstract 
 doctrine of secession, but asserting the 
 right as a free and independent people to 
 alter, reform or abolish our form of gov- 
 ernment in such manner as we think 
 proper, do ordain and declare that all 
 the laws and ordinances by which the 
 State of Tennessee became a member of 
 the Federal Union of the United States 
 of America are hereby abrogated and 
 annulled, and that all obligations on our 
 part be withdrawn therefrom." We shall 
 see in another chapter how the "act" 
 was received by the people. 
 
 Eleven States were thus enrolled under 
 the government of Jefferson Davis and 
 the Southern Confederacy. Missouri 
 might probably have made a twelfth but 
 for the strong arm of military interference. 
 Kentucky was saved by the energy of 
 her own people. Mindful of Henry Clay, 
 
A FLAG RAISING AT WASHINGTON. 
 
 193 
 
 and with no disposition to follow South- 
 ern dictation, they woull not desert the 
 old flag of the Union. 
 
 The Administration at Washington, 
 meanwhile, impatient of the work of re- 
 volt, and determined, at the hazard of a 
 stretch of prerogative, to arrest if possible 
 the traitorous communications of agents 
 and sympathizers with secession, gave 
 instruction for the seizure at the leading 
 telegraph offices through the northern 
 States of " any despatches that may 
 have been sent or received with pur- 
 poses hostile to the Government or in 
 relation to supplies of arms or provi- 
 sions purchased or forwarded to the 
 Southern rebels."* This was success- 
 fully accomplished by the United States 
 Marshal by a simultaneous movement on 
 the afternoon of the 20th of May. As 
 the despatches which had been sent and 
 received were kept on file at the offices, 
 and the secrecy and suddenness of the 
 descent gave no opportunity for their 
 destruction, much valuable information 
 was gained in this way which was doubt- 
 less employed with effect in repressing 
 the acts of northern " sympathizers,' 7 
 and checking the schemes of the rebel- 
 lion. 
 
 A flag raising over the General Post- 
 Office building at Washington at noon of 
 the 22d of May, was a proceeding of 
 more than ordinary interest among the 
 frequent displays of this kind, attended 
 as it was by the President and several 
 members of the Cabinet who spoke on 
 the occasion. The flag was the gift of 
 the officers and clerks of the Depart- 
 ment, who took this opportunity in the 
 midst of rumors of disaffection prevalent 
 
 * Instructions of E. Delafield Smith, United States Dis- 
 trict Attorney, New York, to the United States Marshal 
 for the Southern District of New York. 
 
 25 
 
 concerning the employes at the public 
 offices, to testify their loyalty to the Ad- 
 ministration. To the President was as- 
 signed the honor of raising the flag to 
 the mast-head. After a few preliminary 
 words suitable to the business in hand, 
 the cords were placed in his hands and 
 the banner ascended to its position. The 
 air happening to be quiet at the moment 
 it at first clung motionless to the staff, 
 when it was caught by a gentle wind 
 rising from the north and fully displayed 
 to the assembly, who hailed the sight 
 with enthusiasm. Pleasantly turning the 
 incident to account, the President said 
 to the multitude, " I had not thought to 
 say a word, but it has occurred to me 
 that a few weeks ago the ' Stars and 
 Stripes ' hung rather languidly about the 
 staff all over the nation. So, too, with 
 this flag, when it was elevated to its 
 place. At first it hung rather languidly 
 but the glorious breeze came and it now 
 floats as it should. And we hope that 
 the same breeze is swelling the glorious 
 flag throughout the whole nation." 
 
 Postmaster-General Blair was then 
 called for, and replied in a few remarks, 
 in which he maintained the national 
 cause still, spite of Southern disunion, 
 represented by the flag. It was the es- 
 pecial emblem, he said, of that popular 
 government so dear to the heart of the 
 nation. "It is for that and that only, 
 that the people of this country are ris- 
 ing, not as a party, for we have ceased to 
 be parties. We are no longer democrats, 
 we are no longer whigs, we are no longer 
 republicans we are Americans stand- 
 ing up for free institutions. And we in- 
 tend to exhibit to the world that in the 
 presence of the great principle of main- 
 taining free institutions we are as one 
 people, devoted unto the end, be that end 
 
194 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 far or near. Do not mistake my own 
 people of the South. I am a Southern 
 man, and the people speaking through 
 my voice, beg you to come and preserve 
 them from a military despotism." 
 
 Mr. Seward also addressed a few perti- 
 nent words to the assembly identifying the 
 cause, as was his wont, with a life-giving 
 principle. "Fellow citizens," said he, 
 "you here have known well the states- 
 men and orators of some of the South- 
 ern States. We have known their cour- 
 age, and the courage, the spirit and the 
 resolution of the people of all the South- 
 ern States. But knowing all these, we 
 know two things which even they cannot 
 do one is to destroy ' Hail Columbia,' 
 and the other is to destroy the Star 
 Spangled Banner. They will fail to do 
 it only because human nature needs that 
 the one shall continue to be so, and that 
 the other shall float over the sea and the 
 land. And what human nature needs, 
 God Almighty, the father of human na- 
 ture decrees." The Hon. Caleb B. Smith, 
 the Secretary of the Interior, in a simi- 
 lar hearty strain declared his conviction 
 that the American people were equal to 
 the work before them, the work of pre- 
 serving the Union which Washington 
 and the men of his day had founded. 
 " I have to-day," he said, " an abiding- 
 faith that treason will be repelled, that 
 rebellion will be crushed out, and that 
 the foundations of this glorious republic 
 will be found firmer, stronger and more 
 enduring when this time of tribulation 
 shall pass than they ever have been." 
 
 A sufficient force being now established 
 at Washington, it was frequently asked 
 why orders were not given for the occu- 
 pation of the commanding positions on 
 the opposite bank of the Potomac. The 
 enemy were represented as hovering with- 
 
 in range of the city, and nothing appeared 
 more probable than that they would per- 
 manently fortify the heights at Arlington. 
 The Secession flag was openly displayed 
 in sight of the Capital. Would the Gov- 
 ernment, it was inquired, respect the ab- 
 surd pretensions of an inviolable soil, 
 urged by men who were in arms against 
 their country ? Should the Capital be 
 endangered for a technical scruple ? 
 Would the hesitation which was the 
 besetting sin of the old Administration 
 be carried into the new? The answer 
 was at length rendered, and the occa- 
 sion shows how scrupulously the respect 
 due the deliberations of a separate State 
 was maintained. It was not till the day 
 on which, by the act of the Convention, 
 the people were to vote on the question 
 of Secession had arrived and was con- 
 cluded, and it was evident that the vot- 
 ing, such as it was, confirmed the ordin- 
 ance, that any invasion of the State was 
 attempted. The moment, however, that 
 fatal act was fully accomplished and Vir- 
 ginia assumed to herself the position of 
 a foreign belligerent power, the Govern- 
 ment hesitated no longer. 
 
 A forward movement into Virginia 
 was resolved upon, and on the night of 
 the 23d of May was carried into effect. 
 The passage across the Potomac under 
 the direction of General Mansfield was 
 highly imposing in the cool, pure atmos- 
 phere and bright moonlight, particularly 
 at the Long Bridge where the largest 
 body of troops crossed. At 2 o'clock 
 in the morning eight thousand infantry, 
 two regular cavalry companies, and two 
 sections of Sherman's artillery battalion 
 were in line on the Washington side. 
 The 12th New York Eegiment, followed 
 by the 25th, led the way. The 1st 
 Michigan regiment succeeded, and then 
 
COLONEL ELLSWORTH. 
 
 195 
 
 the regiments of the New Jersey Bri- 
 gade. The cavalry and artillery next 
 crossed, and the New York 7th, followed 
 by a long train of wagons filled with 
 trenching tools brought up the rear. 
 The transit was rapidly made, the first 
 regiment passing the Long Bridge at 
 twenty- two minutes past 2, and the last 
 a quarter to 4 o'clock. Major-General 
 Sandford and staff of the New York 
 militia then joined the forces and took 
 command in the advance to Arlington. 
 The troops quartered at Georgetown, 
 the 69th and other New York regiments 
 under the command of General McDow- 
 ell, crossed by the Chain Bridge above 
 the Aqueduct and took possession of the 
 heights in that direction. The regiment 
 of Colonel Ellsworth's Fire Zouaves at 
 the same time embarked at their camp 
 at the Navy Yard to proceed to Alex- 
 andria. The 3d Michigan regiment and 
 a portion of Sherman's Battery were to 
 advance by land and cooperate with 
 them ; when it was expected the town 
 would be taken, the railway communica- 
 tion cut off, and the rebel soldiers sta- 
 tioned there captured. As it happened, 
 however, notice of the attack was given 
 in the night to the occupants of Alexan- 
 dria by the commander of the United 
 States steamer Pawnee which was sta- 
 tioned in the river to guard the place. 
 The military fled in consequence, and 
 when the Michigan troops arrived m the 
 morning to cut off their retreat there 
 was but a small detachment of cavalry, 
 which was found at the station, left to 
 conquer. The prisoners taken were a 
 company of Fairfax county, thirty-seven 
 in number, commanded by Captain Ball. 
 Meanwhile Colonel Ellsworth with his 
 Zouaves had arrived by water, and made 
 good his landing in the town. 
 
 We have seen this officer setting forth 
 from Illinois in the train of the President, 
 intent upon military service and occupa- 
 tion. It was his desire to obtain a chief 
 clerkship in the War Department, where 
 he might bring forward his favorite 
 scheme of a uniform organization and 
 equipment of the militia throughout the 
 country ; but finding the pursuit of office 
 too fatiguing for his temper, or the posi- 
 tion already occupied, he received from 
 the President a commission in the army 
 as Lieutenant. With this, in ordinary 
 times he might have been content, rely- 
 ing upon the opportunities he would have 
 secured for proving his usefulness in a 
 capacity for which he seems to have 
 always had an ardent inclination ; but a 
 wider field now presented itself to him 
 than that afforded in the slow promotion 
 of the regular service. The demand for 
 volunteers summoned men of enthusiasm 
 and energy into the field as leaders 
 whose personal influence might enlist 
 their fellow- citizens as combatants in the 
 national cause. Ellsworth was essentially 
 one of these popular and desirable per- 
 sonages. He had already in the previ- 
 ous summer attracted general attention 
 by a triumphant holiday tour through 
 the Atlantic cities from the West, when 
 he had exhibited to the public the extra- 
 ordinary agility and feats of arms of his 
 well-drilled band of Chicago Zouave Ca- 
 dets, a corps which, after the plan of the 
 French service, he had equipped and dis- 
 ciplined and brought to great pe -fection 
 in their military exercises. They had 
 appeared in the public squares, parks 
 and theatres, and had everywhere elicited 
 the public admiration. With his repu- 
 tation thus established, immediately after 
 the fall of Sumter, taking advantage of the 
 first burst of excitement, he presented him- 
 
196 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 self at New York and prepared to carry 
 out a plan of enlistment, which as soon 
 as it was mentioned was received with 
 favor. This was to form a regiment from 
 the New York firemen, a body of men, 
 young, bold and enterprising, who in the 
 pursuit of their voluntary duties in the 
 city were accustomed to encounter with 
 alacrity well nigh every form of fatigue 
 and danger. He saw in their fearless 
 qualities and thoroughly organized em- 
 ployments the proper elements for the 
 camp and the assault. In agreement 
 with his anticipations the regiment quick- 
 ly came at his call, and were immediate- 
 ly well-armed and equipped by the aid 
 of the New York Union Defence Com- 
 mittee, a body of distinguished citizens 
 organized for the public service in ac- 
 cordance with a resolution of the meeting 
 in Union Square on the 20th of April, 
 who had entered upon their duties with 
 praiseworthy devotion to the national 
 cause. Much was expected from the 
 Fire Zouaves, and they were certainly 
 sent on their way when they left New 
 York, on the 29th of April, under the 
 happiest auspices. Three stands of colors 
 were presented to them at different sta- 
 tions of their procession through the city 
 as they were escorted by their brethren 
 of the Fire Department in full uniform ; 
 one the gift of the Corporation and the 
 Fire Department, another from Mrs. 
 Astor, and the third by the ladies of the 
 Astor House. On each of these occa- 
 sions speeches were delivered and the 
 best feeling manifested. On its arrival 
 at Washington the regiment was well re- 
 ceived, and in a few days had an oppor- 
 tunity to distinguish itself and ingratiate 
 itself farther with the inhabitants in a 
 characteristic manner in the line of the 
 old vocation of its members. A fire 
 
 broke out in a building adjoining Wil- 
 lard's Hotel, which threatened the de- 
 struction of that edifice. The Fire Zou- 
 aves, then lodged in the Capitol, nothing 
 loth, were called in, and after perform- 
 ing the most extraordinary feats of agil- 
 ity in their attempts to compensate for 
 the lack of the necessary apparatus, suc- 
 ceeded to the admiration of the towns- 
 people in saving the structure. They 
 were presently provided with tents and 
 settled down in their encampment on the 
 Potomac. From this they were now 
 aroused to advance into the hostile terri- 
 tory. 
 
 Colonel Ellsworth reached Alexandria 
 by steamboat with his force about half- 
 past 5 in the morning, and landed in 
 safety. In fact the town being com- 
 manded by the guns of the Pawnee in 
 the river, however belligerent might have 
 been the disposition" of its inhabitants, 
 was not disposed to make much resist- 
 ance, and having received warning, as 
 we have seen, from the commander of 
 that vessel, its military occupants were 
 anxious only to secure their departure. 
 At this early hour of the morning the 
 streets were seemingly in their usual 
 quiet. Giving some directions for the 
 destruction of the railway to prevent the 
 passage of the Virginia troops, Ellsworth 
 himself hastened forward to take posses- 
 sion of the telegraph office, to break up 
 the rebel communication with the inte- 
 rior. He was accompanied by three 
 persons, two correspondents of New 
 York daily papers, Mr. A. J. Winser of 
 the Times, Mr. E. M. House of the Tri- 
 bune, and the Rev. E. W. Dodge the 
 Chaplain of the Eegiment. What fol- 
 lowed may be best told in the nar- 
 rative of one of these eye witnesses of the 
 transaction. " At first, 77 says Mr. House 
 
DEATH OF ELLSWORTH. 
 
 197 
 
 in his graphic report of the affair, " Colo- 
 nel Ellsworth summoned no guard to fol- 
 low him, but he afterward turned and 
 called forward a single squad, with a 
 sergeant from the first company. We 
 passed quickly through the streets, meet- 
 ing a few bewildered travellers issuing 
 from the principal hotel, which seemed 
 to be slowly coming to its daily senses, 
 and were about to turn toward the tele- 
 graph office, when the Colonel, first of 
 all, caught sight of the secession flag, 
 which has so long swung insolently in 
 full view of the President's House. He 
 immediately sent back the sergeant, with 
 an order for the advance of the entire 
 first company, and leaving the matter of 
 the telegraph office for a while, pushed 
 on to the hotel, which proved to be the 
 Marshall House, a second-class inn. On 
 entering the open door, the Colonel met 
 a man in his shirt and trowsers, of whom 
 he demanded what sort of flag it was 
 that hung above the roof. The stranger, 
 who seemed greatly alarmed, declared 
 he knew nothing of it, and that he was 
 only a boarder there. Without question- 
 ing him further the Colonel sprang up 
 stairs, and we all followed to the topmost 
 story, whence, by means of a ladder, he 
 clambered to the roof, cut down the flag 
 with Winser's knife, and brought it from 
 its staff. There were two men in bed in 
 the garret whom we had not observed at 
 all when we entered, their position being 
 somewhat concealed, but who now rose 
 in great apparent amazement, although 
 I observed that they were more than half 
 dressed. We at once turned to descend, 
 Private Brownell leading the way, and 
 Colonel Ellsworth immediately following 
 him with the flag. As Brownell reached 
 the first landing-place, or entry, after a 
 descent of some dozen steps, a man 
 
 jumped from a dark passage, and hardly 
 noticing the private, leveled a double- 
 barreled gun square at the Colonel's 
 breast. Brownell made a quick pass to 
 turn the weapon aside, but the fellow's 
 hand was firm, and he discharged one 
 barrel straight to its aim, the slugs or 
 buckshot with which it was loaded enter- 
 ing the Colonel's heart, and killing him 
 at the instant. I think my arm was rest- 
 ing on poor Ellsworth's shoulder at the 
 moment. At any rate he seemed to fall 
 almost from my own grasp. He was on 
 the second or third step from the landing, 
 and he dropped forward with that heavy, 
 horrible, headlong weight which always 
 comes of sudden death inflicted in this 
 manner. His assailant had turned like 
 a flash to give the contents of the other 
 barrel to Brownell, but either he could 
 not command his aim or the Zouave was 
 too quick with him, for the slugs went 
 over his head, and passed through the 
 panels and wainscot of a door which 
 sheltered some sleeping lodgers. Simul- 
 taneously with this second shot, and 
 sounding like the echo of the first, Brown- 
 ell's rifle was heard, and the assassin 
 staggered backward. He was hit exactly 
 in the middle of the face, and the wound, 
 as I afterward saw it, was the most fright- 
 ful I ever witnessed. Of course Brown- 
 ell did not know how fatal his shot had 
 been, and so before the man dropped, he 
 thrust his sabre-bayonet through and 
 through the body, the force of the blow 
 sending the dead man violently down the 
 upper section of the second flight of 
 stairs, at the foot of which he lay with 
 his face to the floor. Winser ran from 
 above crying, ' Who is hit ?' but as he 
 glanced downward by our feet, he needed 
 no answer. 
 
 "Bewildered for an instant by the 
 
198 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 suddenness of this attack, and not knowing 
 what more might be in store, we forbore 
 to proceed, and gathered together defen- 
 sively. There were but seven of us 
 altogether, and one was without a weapon 
 of any kind. Brownell instantly reload- 
 ed, and while doing so perceived the 
 door through which the assailant's shot 
 had passed, beginning to open. He 
 brought his rifle to the shoulder, and 
 menaced the occupants, two travellers, 
 with immediate death if they stirred. 
 The three other privates guarded the pas- 
 sages, of which there were quite a number 
 converging to the point where we stood, 
 while the Chaplain and Winser looked to 
 the stair-case by which we had descend- 
 ed, and the adjoining chambers. I ran 
 down stairs to see if anything was threat- 
 ened from the story below, but it soon 
 appeared there was no danger from that 
 quarter. However, we were not at all 
 disposed to move from our position. 
 From the opening doors, and through the 
 passages, we discerned a sufficient num- 
 ber of forms to assure us that we were 
 dreadfully in the minority. I think now 
 that there was no danger, and that the 
 single assailant acted without concert 
 with anybody ; but it is impossible to 
 know accurately, and it was certainly a 
 doubtful question then. The first thing 
 to be done was to look to our dead friend 
 and leader. He had fallen on his face, 
 and the streams of blood that flowed from 
 his wound had literally flooded the way. 
 The Chaplain turned him gently over, 
 and I stooped and called his name aloud, 
 at which I thought then he murmured in- 
 articulately. . I presume I was mistaken, 
 and I am not sure that he spoke a word 
 after being struck, although in my dis- 
 patch I repeated a single exclamation 
 which I had believed he uttered. It 
 
 might have been Brownell, or the Chap- 
 lain, who was close behind me. Winser 
 and I lifted the body with all the care 
 we could apply, and laid it upon a bed in 
 a room near by. The rebel flag, stained 
 with his blood, and purified by this con- 
 tact from the baseness of its former mean- 
 ing, we laid about his feet. It was at 
 first difficult to discover the precise local- 
 ity of his wound, for all parts of his coat 
 were equally saturated with blood. By 
 cautiously loosening his belt and unbut- 
 toning his coat, we found where the shot 
 had penetrated. None of us had any 
 medical knowledge, but we saw that all 
 hope must be resigned. Nevertheless, it 
 seemed proper to summon the surgeon 
 as speedily as possible. This could not 
 easily be done, for, secluded as we were 
 in that part of the town, and uncertain 
 whether an ambush might not be await- 
 ing us also, no man could volunteer to 
 venture forth alone, and to go together, 
 and leave the Colonel's body behind, was 
 out of the question. We wondered at 
 the long delay of the first company, for 
 the advance of which the Colonel had 
 sent back before approaching the hotel, 
 but we subsequently learned that they 
 had mistaken a street, and gone a little 
 out of their way. Before they arrived 
 we had removed some of the unsightly 
 stains from the Colonel's features, and 
 composed his limbs. His expression in 
 death was beautifully natural. The Col- 
 onel was a singularly handsome man, and, 
 excepting the pallor, there was nothing 
 different in his countenance now from 
 what all his friends had so lately been 
 accustomed to gladly recognize. The 
 detachment was heard approaching at 
 last, a reinforcement was easily called 
 up, and the surgeon was sent for. His 
 arrival, not long after, of course sealed 
 
SCENE AT THE MARSHALL HOUSE. 
 
 199 
 
 our own unhappy belief. A sufficient 
 guard was presently distributed over the 
 house, but meanwhile I had remembered 
 the Colonel's earnestness about the tele- 
 graph seizure, and obtained permission 
 to guide a squad of Zouaves to the office, 
 which was found to be entirely open, 
 with all the doors ajar, yet apparently 
 deserted. It looked a little like another 
 chance of a surprise. The men remained 
 in charge. I presume it was not wholly 
 in order for me, a civilian, to start upon 
 this mission, but I was the only person 
 who knew the whereabouts of the office, 
 and the Colonel had been very positive 
 about the matter. When I returned to 
 the hotel, there was a terrible scene en- 
 acting. A woman had run from a lower 
 room to the stairway where the body of 
 the defender of the secession flag lay, and 
 recognizing it, cried aloud with an agony 
 so heart-rending that no person could 
 witness it without emotion. She flung 
 her arms in the air, struck her brow 
 madly, and seemed in every way utter- 
 ly abandoned to desolation and frenzy. 
 She offered no reproaches appeared in- 
 deed almost regardless of our presence, 
 and yielded only to her own frantic de- 
 spair. It was her husband that had been 
 shot. He was the proprietor of the ho- 
 tel. His name was James T. Jackson. 
 Winser was confident it was the same 
 man who met us at the door when we 
 entered, and told us he was a boarder. 
 His wife, as I said, was wild almost to 
 insanity. Yet she listened when spoken 
 to, and although no consolation could be 
 offered her by us for what she had lost, 
 she seemed sensible to the assurance that 
 the safety of her children, for whom she 
 expressed fears, could not possibly be 
 endangered. 
 
 "It is not from any wish to fasten 
 
 obloquy upon the slayer of Colonel Ells- 
 worth, but simply because it struck me 
 as a frightful fact, that I say the face of 
 the dead man wore the most revolting 
 expression of rage and hatred that I 
 ever saw. Perhaps the nature of his 
 wound added to this effect, and the 
 wound was something so appalling that I 
 shall not attempt to describe it, as it im- 
 pressed me. It is probable that such a 
 result from a bullet-wound could riot en- 
 sue once in a thousand times. Either 
 of Brownell's onslaughts would have been 
 instantaneously fatal. The sabre-wound 
 was not less effective than that of the 
 ball. The gun which Jackson had fired 
 lay beneath him, clasped in his arms, and 
 as we did not at first all know that both 
 barrels had been discharged, it was 
 thought necessary to remove it, lest it 
 should be suddenly seized and made use 
 of from below. In doing this his coun- 
 tenance was revealed. 
 
 "As the morning advanced, the towns- 
 people began to gather in the vicinity, 
 and a guard was fixed, preventing ingress 
 and egress. This was done to keep all 
 parties from knowing what had occurred, 
 for the Zouaves were so devoted to their 
 Colonel that it was feared if they all were 
 made acquainted with the real fact, they 
 would sack the house. On the other 
 hand, it was not thought wise to let the 
 Alexandrians know thus early the fate 
 of their townsman. The Zouaves were 
 the only regiment that had arrived, and 
 their head and soul was gone. Besides, 
 the duties which the Colonel had hurried- 
 ly assigned before leaving them had scat- 
 tered some companies in various quarters 
 of the town. Several persons sought 
 admission to the Marshall House, among 
 them a sister of the dead man, who had 
 heard the rumor, but who was not allowed 
 
200 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 to know the true state of the case. It 
 was painM to hear her remark, as she 
 went away, that ' of course they wouldn't 
 shoot a man dead in his own house about 
 a bit of old bunting.' Many of the lod- 
 gers were anxious to go forth, but they 
 were detained until after I left. All sorts 
 of arguments and persuasions were em- 
 ployed, but the Zouave guards were in- 
 exorable. 
 
 " At about 7 o'clock, a mounted officer 
 rode up, and informed us that the Michi- 
 gan First had arrived, and had captured a 
 troop of rebels, who had at first demanded 
 time for reflection, but who afterward 
 concluded to yield at discretion. Not 
 long after this, the surgeon made arrange- 
 ments for the conveyance of Colonel 
 Ellsworth's body to Washington. It was 
 properly vailed from sight, and, with 
 great tenderness, taken by a detachment 
 of the Zouaves and the 71st New York 
 Regiment (a small number of whom em- 
 barked in the morning at the Navy Yard, 
 and came down with us), to the steam- 
 boat, by which it was brought to the 
 Navy Yard."* 
 
 The remains of Ellsworth were borne 
 to the Navy Yard at Washington and 
 thence to the President's mansion, where 
 the funeral services were performed. On 
 their arrival in New York they were re- 
 ceived at the City Hall and carried in an 
 imposing public procession through the 
 city. In the military orders directing 
 the funeral rites issued by Major-General 
 Dix, then in command of the 1st division 
 New York Volunteers, that officer thus 
 spoke of the deceased and the circum- 
 stances attending his death : " Three 
 weeks ago, strong in health and in hope, 
 he led his command through our streets 
 to the place of embarkation, followed by 
 
 * New York Tribune, May 26, 1861. 
 
 five thousand of the gallant and self-sac- 
 rificing firemen of the city to greet the 
 departure of their associates with their 
 good wishes and prayers. To-morrow 
 his lifeless remains will be borne through 
 the same streets, followed by a hundred 
 thousand of his sorrowing countrymen 
 and friends. *Had he met his fate in bat- 
 tle, in the face of honorable adversaries 
 no feeling of bitterness would mingle 
 with the tears which will be shed for 
 him. But it has pleased God, for pur- 
 poses inscrutable to us, that he should be 
 the victim of a double perfidy ; that he 
 should be struck down by the hand of an 
 assassin and a conspirator against the 
 Government of his country illustrating 
 the painful truth that the career of Se- 
 cession, which began in public treachery, 
 is to be carried out in a spirit of blood- 
 thirstiness and private revenge." From 
 New York the remains were taken to 
 Mechanics ville, the native place of Ells- 
 worth and the residence of his parents, 
 on the banks of the Hudson near Tt >y, 
 where they were interred with military 
 honors. 
 
 Much has been said of the conduct of 
 Jackson in taking the life of Ellsworth. 
 The act certainly exhibited a rough spe- 
 cies of heroism, however misguided and 
 brutal we may think it, for it was per- 
 formed deliberately in defence of the 
 cherished symbol which he had publicly 
 pledged himself to maintain, and with 
 little, if any, prospect of escaping with 
 his life. On the other hand, the town 
 having virtually surrendered, the mur- 
 derous assault upon the unsuspecting 
 officer may be regarded as a simple act 
 of assassination. It was so regarded at 
 the North, and not without reason. At 
 the South, of course, a very different 
 temper prevailed. The deed of Jackson 
 
TOUCHING IMPRESSIONS. 
 
 201 
 
 was everywhere proclaimed as /hat of a 
 hero ; his praises were sung and record- 
 ed and his example put forward as an 
 incentive to all defenders of their homes, 
 and an instructive warning to all North- 
 ern invaders. Sums of money were sub- 
 scribed and collections taken up even in 
 churches for a fund for his family. 
 
 " The deed of patriotism," was the 
 language of an article in the Charleston 
 Mercury, written in that tone of exag- 
 geration which seemed to be an element 
 of the Southern cause, "performed by 
 Jackson has stained, for the first time, 
 the ' Stars and Bars ' of the Confederate 
 flag with blood and that blood worthy 
 of a true Southern heart the blood of a 
 hero. Upon his own hearth he fell, 
 arms in hand, dealing death to the in- 
 sulter of that flag one man against a 
 thousand murderers. He fell hewed to 
 pieces by the rabble horde. But his 
 spirit will live will live upon the storm 
 -and like the hurricanes of the South, 
 will sweep from the uttermost shores of 
 the Grulf to the rugged mountain peaks 
 of the North. It will soar over the field 
 of bloody battle to come and shriek aloud 
 for vengeance amid carnage. It shall 
 rush forth in the booming of every can- 
 non, and shall gleam in the flash of every 
 Southern blade. And it will live, too, 
 in times to come, when the smoke of bat- 
 tle shall have passed away, and the mem- 
 ory of blood shall have almost been for- 
 gotten. The name of Jackson shall be 
 enshrined in the heart of Virginia as 
 the name of Jasper in South Carolina, 
 and recorded upon the brightest pages 
 of her history. His death is a victory 
 won, and his name should be inscribed, 
 in monumental marble, by the side of 
 Virginia's worthiest sons." 
 
 Th> injudicious act, for such it must 
 26 
 
 be regarded in any proper military esti- 
 mate of the unnecessary exposure, by 
 which Ellsworth thus lost his life, was 
 forgotten in the impressions of his youth, 
 his strength and beauty, his enthusiasm 
 and devotion to the cause of his country. 
 The resolution with which he had over- 
 come the obstacles of fortune and raised 
 himself, thus early, to an honored posi- 
 tion, the purity of his character, the 
 friendship of the President which he en- 
 joyed, the welfare and conduct of his 
 corps so immediately and wholly depend- 
 ing on his personal influence, all, with 
 the circumstances of his foremost place 
 among the martyrs of the war, enhanced 
 the appreciation of his loss. His chiv- 
 alric enthusiasm was called to mind, 
 while the account of his last midnight 
 hours in the camp added a touch of per- 
 sonal feeling and pathos to the story of 
 his brief career. In those silent hours, 
 seemingly more silent, in anticipation of 
 the coming tumult, after arranging the 
 details of his command he wrote two 
 letters, one addressed to a lad}^ in the 
 West to whom he was betrothed, the 
 other to his parents. The latter has 
 been published. It is sadly in earnest, 
 yet cheerful in its reliance on Provi- 
 dence. We can offer no better tribute 
 to the memory of the gallant young offi- 
 cer whom " the Fates but showed to the 
 earth," than to recite it. It reads, " My 
 dear father and mother The regiment 
 is ordered to move across the river to- 
 night. We have no means of knowing 
 what reception we are to meet with. I 
 am inclined to the opinion that our en- 
 trance to the city of Alexandria will be 
 hotly contested, as I am just informed a 
 large force has arrived there to-day. 
 Should this happen, my dear parents, it 
 may be my lot to be injured in some 
 
202 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 manner. Whatever may happen, cher- 
 ish the consolation that I was engaged in 
 the performance of a sacred duty ; and, 
 to-night, thinking over the probabilities 
 of to-morrow, and the occurrences of the 
 
 past, I am perfectly content to accept bless, protect and care for you." 
 
 that He who noteth even the fall of a 
 sparrow, will have some purpose even 
 in the fate of one like me. My darling 
 and ever-loved parents, good-bye. God 
 
 CHAPTER XI Y. 
 
 AFFAIRS ON THE POTOMAC. 
 
 MILITARY possession having thus been 
 taken of the positions in Yirginia front- 
 ing the Capital, the main avenues to the 
 city between Georgetown and Alex- 
 andria guarded, the railway approaches 
 from the interior cut off and intrench- 
 ments thrown up for protection, Major- 
 General Charles W. Sandford of the New 
 York militia established his headquarters 
 at Arlington House, the well-known seat 
 of the Custis family, which had been a 
 few days before vacated by its owner 
 and occupant, General Robert E. Lee, 
 formerly of the United States army, and 
 of late commander of the insurgent forces 
 in the vicinity. As an indication of the 
 courteous spirit in which these novel 
 military proceedings were commenced, 
 it may be mentioned that on presenting 
 himself before the mansion General 
 Sandford sent to inquire if the family - of 
 the rebel officer remained, and if so that 
 he would place a guard for their protec- 
 tion. On being assured that they had 
 left a fortnight before, he sent to General 
 Lee to say that he was obliged to make 
 Arlington House his quarters, and would 
 see that the premises received no dam- 
 age.* 
 
 * Special Dispatch to the New York Tribune, May 26, 
 1861. 
 
 Immediately on his arrival at these 
 desirable headquarters, General Sand- 
 ford issued the following proclamation : 
 " Fairfax County being occupied by the 
 troops under my command, I deem it 
 proper to repeat publicly the assurances 
 I have personally given to many of the 
 good citizens about me that all of its in- 
 habitants may return to or remain in 
 their homes and usual pacific occupations 
 in peace and confidence, and with as- 
 sured protection to their persons and 
 property, as the United States forces in 
 Yirginia will be employed for no other 
 purpose than that of suppressing unlaw- 
 ful combinations against the constituted 
 authorities of the Union, and of causing 
 the laws thereof to be duly respected 
 and executed."* 
 
 Colonel 0. B. Wilcox, of the 1st 
 Regiment Michigan Yolunteers, was at 
 the same time in command of the Union 
 forces in and about Alexandria. In a 
 proclamation of the 26th he announced 
 the moderate course of policy he would 
 pursue towards the city. "The peace 
 of the city," he promised, "will be pre- 
 served unless attacked by the enemy. 
 Private property will be respected and 
 
 * Proclamation of Major-General Sandford, May 28 
 1861. 
 
THE TOMB OP WASHINGTON. 
 
 203 
 
 protected by the officers and men of 
 the whole commanL Peaceable citizens 
 will be held inviolate in the persons 
 of themselves, their families and serv- 
 ants." 
 
 Colonel Wilcox was presently suc- 
 ceeded in command of the brigade at 
 Alexandria by Colonel Charles P. Stone 
 of the 14th regular infantry, a native of 
 Massachusetts, whose experience in the 
 Mexican war and in other responsible 
 relations had commended him to General 
 Scott to take charge of the early military 
 preparations for the defence of Wash- 
 ington at the close of President Bu- 
 chanan's administration, a service which 
 he had performed with efficiency. Colo- 
 nel Stone held his new position but a 
 few days, being recalled to Washington 
 to resume command of the District mi- 
 litia. He was succeeded at Alexandria 
 by Colonel Samuel P. Heintzelman of 
 the 17th regular infantry. This officer, 
 who was presently raised to the rank of 
 Brigadier-General, was born at Man- 
 heim, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 
 in 1806, became a graduate of West 
 Point of the year 1826, when he was 
 appointed to a 2d Lieutenancy in the 3d 
 Infantry, and had since been engaged in 
 every active duty which had fallen to 
 the army. He had served in Florida 
 and Mexico, and particularly distin- 
 guished himself in Southern California 
 and Texas, where independent commands 
 had been assigned to him, and he had exe- 
 cuted some brilliant military manoeuvres 
 with energy and success. Foreseeing the 
 difficulties at hand, he had at the begin- 
 ning of the year obtained leave of absence 
 from General Twiggs, in whose depart- 
 ment of the Southwest he was stationed, 
 and reporting himself at Washington, 
 had been employed in the recruiting 
 
 service, and within the last mouth as 
 acting Inspector-General on General 
 Mansfield's staff. 
 
 One of the agreeable results of the 
 occupation of Alexandria, was to give 
 the public assurance of the safety of the 
 remains of Washington in the cemetery 
 at the neighboring Mount Yernon. It 
 had been currently reported, with some 
 show of probability, that the tomb had 
 been violated and the remains removed 
 to some secret place in the interior, lest 
 they should fall under Northern pro- 
 tection and afford a certain prestige to 
 the cause of the Union. The rumor was 
 connected with the circumstance of the 
 former owner of the estate, Colonel John 
 A. Washington, who had retained a 
 right of guardianship of the sepulchre, 
 having joined the Confederate Army. 
 There appeared, however, on exami- 
 nation, to be no authority for the 
 report, the tomb being found in its usual 
 condition. As it was some time before 
 the lines of our army were extended in 
 that direction, reports arose from time 
 to time of the occupation of the grounds 
 of Mount Yernon by the rebel troops, 
 and fears were entertained of injury to 
 the premises, which had come to be re- 
 garded as the property of the nation. 
 General Scott, subsequently, when the 
 war was assuming greater intensity, and 
 rumors were again current of acts of 
 spoliation, made the protection of the 
 spot a subject of his especial concern in 
 a general order from the Capital. "It 
 has been," he proclaimed, "the prayer 
 of every patriot that the tramp and din 
 of civil war might at least spare the 
 precincts within which repose the sacred 
 remains of the Father of his Country ; 
 but this pious hope is disappointed. 
 Mount Yernon, so recently consecrated 
 
r~ 
 
 204 
 
 WAS, FOR THE UNION. 
 
 anew to the immortal Washington by the 
 ladies of America, has already been over- 
 run by bands of rebels, who, having 
 trampled under foot the Constitution of 
 the United States the ark of our free- 
 dom and prosperity are prepared to 
 trample on the ashes of him to whom we 
 are all mainly indebted for those mighty 
 blessings. Should the operations of war 
 take the United States troops in that 
 direction, the General-in-Chief does not 
 doubt that each and every man will ap- 
 proach with due reverence and leave un- 
 injured, not only the Tomb, but also the 
 House, the Groves and Walks which 
 were so loved by the best and greatest 
 of men."* 
 
 On the 27th May, Brigadier-General 
 Irvin McDowell of the regular army took 
 command of the Union forces in Virginia, 
 succeeding General Sandford in his head- 
 quarters at Arlington House. General 
 McDowell, a native of Ohio, was a grad- 
 uate of the West Point Military Academy 
 of the year 1838, when he was promoted 
 to the rank of Brevet 2d Lieutenant. 
 He was assistant instructor in infantry 
 tactics at West Point in 1841, and Ad- 
 jutant from that year to 1845. For the 
 next two years he was aid-de-camp to 
 General Wool, serving with him through- 
 out the Mexican war. He was engaged 
 in the battle of Buena Yista, and for his 
 gallant services on that field received the 
 rank of Brevet Captain in February, 
 1847. In the following May he was pro- 
 moted to the rank of Assistant Adjutant- 
 General with the rank of Captain. In 
 1856 he became Assistant Adjutant- 
 General with the rank of Major. His 
 recent appointment of Brevet Brigadier- 
 General bore date the 17th of May. 
 
 * General Order. Head-quarters of the Army, Wash- 
 ington, July 81, 1861. 
 
 Previously to that time he had been 
 actively engaged at Washington in his 
 department by the side of General 
 Scott in the organization of the army. 
 Thoroughly accomplished in military af- 
 fairs, of an unusually manly and vigorous 
 frame, strengthened by habits of strict 
 temperance, associating rare candor and 
 modesty with the patient, steadfast per- 
 formance of duty, he was eminently 
 qualified for the peculiar position to 
 which he was now advanced. 
 
 The month of June opened with a 
 spirited dash on one of the outposts of 
 the line of the enemy, which in fact, with 
 the exception of the short distance be- 
 tween Georgetown and Alexandria, close- 
 ly encompassed the whole course of the 
 Potomac from its lower waters to Har- 
 per's Ferry and the confines of North- 
 western Yirginia, where the Union army, 
 whose proceedings we shall trace in a 
 subsequent chapter, already held the 
 country under control. The military 
 positions of the enemy immediately be- 
 fore Washington were at Manassas Junc- 
 tion, an important station commanding 
 the railway communication with Bich- 
 mond and the South and the central val- 
 ley of the State ; thence sweeping round 
 the Union encampments by Fairfax Court 
 House and Yienna to Leesburg on the 
 north. Manassas Junction, where the 
 rebel army was reported assembling in 
 force and throwing up earthworks for 
 permanent defence, lies in a south-west- 
 erly direction 27 miles from Alexandria. 
 Fairfax Court House, intermediate be- 
 tween Alexandria and Georgetown, is 
 about 18 miles distant from Washington. 
 It was at the latter place that the first 
 serious skirmish between the two forces 
 arrayed against each other in front of the 
 Capital occurred. On the night of the 
 
LIEUTENANT TOMPKINS' CAVALRY CHARGE. 
 
 205 
 
 31st of May, Lieutenant Charles H. 
 Tompkins of the 3d U. S. Cavalry, in 
 pursuance of instructions from Colonel 
 David Hunter commanding, set out from 
 Camp Union, before Washington, in com- 
 mand of company B of the regiment, 47 
 in number, for the purpose of reconnoitre- 
 ing the country in the vicinity of Fairfax 
 Court House. On approaching that lo- 
 cality he fell in with a picket guard of 
 the eneni} r , which he surprised and cap- 
 tured. He then rode onward with his 
 men, entering the town at early dawn, 
 when his command was fired upon by 
 rebel troops from the windows and house 
 tops. He was also opposed by a body of 
 mounted men, upon whom he promptly 
 charged, driving them from the town. 
 Immediately, however, two or three addi- 
 tional companies came up to their relief 
 and opened fire, which was returned. 
 Finding that he was largely outnumbered, 
 Lieutenant Tompkins then ordered a re- 
 treat, which he accomplished in good 
 order, bringing off with him as trophies of 
 the encounter five prisoners fully armed 
 and equipped and two horses. The loss 
 of the rebels was estimated by Lieutenant 
 Tompkins in his dispatch at 20 to 25 
 killed and wounded. Of his own men, 
 three were missing and three slightly 
 wounded. He also lost six horses.* 
 Captain John Q. Marr, whose company 
 of the Warrenton Rifles took part in the 
 engagement, was killed at the beginning 
 of the fight. He was a person of note in 
 Virginia, and his death was much la- 
 mented. He had been a member of the 
 recent State convention, and was a mem- 
 ber elect of the Legislature from Fau- 
 
 * Charles H. Tompkins, 1st Lieutenant, Commanding 
 Co. B, 3d Cavalry, to Colonel D. Hunter, 3d Cavalry, Com- 
 manding 1st Brigade, Dept. Eastern Virginia. Camp Union, 
 Va., June 1, 1861. 
 
 quier County. Among the prisoners 
 taken by Lieutenant Tompkins on this 
 occasion was Captain John B. Washing- 
 ton, a son of the late Colonel John A. 
 Washington of the regular army. A 
 trooper, it is said, in the onset caught 
 him by the hair, lifted him on the pom- 
 mel of his saddle, and holding him in this 
 position charged twice through the town. 
 After an interview with General Scott, 
 the rebel prisoner accepted the more na- 
 tional views of duty of that eminent offi- 
 cer, took the oath of allegiance and was 
 released. On the night following the gal- 
 lant charge of Lieutenant Tompkins, word 
 having been brought that two of the miss- 
 ing dragoons captured by the rebels wen 
 about being hung, the company was agnin 
 summoned from their quarters, made a 
 dashing descent upon the Court House, 
 where their companions were imprisoned, 
 rescued them and brought them back to 
 the camp at daybreak.* 
 
 The next military incident of general 
 interest in this quarter was an unhappy 
 " reconnoissance " in the direction of Vi- 
 enna, which occurring a few days after 
 the melancholy affair at Bethel in Gen- 
 eral Butler's new department, of which 
 an account will be found in another 
 chapter, called' forth many unpleasant 
 comments from the public in association 
 with that disaster. It was an important 
 object for the Union troops in their ad- 
 vance into Virginia to secure possession 
 of the Loudon and Hampshire railway, 
 which, following the Potomac within a 
 few miles of the stream, extended from 
 Alexandria to Leesburg. The lower 
 end being already in their possession, 
 repairs had been made of the adjoining 
 portion which had been broken up by 
 the insurgents, and on the 16th of June 
 
 * N. Y. Tribune, June 3, 1861. 
 
206 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the track was in good running order a 
 distance of some fifteen miles to Yienna. 
 As there was some danger of the railway 
 communication being again interrupted, 
 General McDowell ordered Brigadier- 
 General Schenck of Ohio, who was in 
 camp with his -men about three miles 
 beyond Alexandria, to go over the line 
 and station a sufficient body of men at 
 different points for its protection. In 
 pursuance of these directions General 
 Schenck early in the afternoon of the 
 17th set forth on the track with about 
 700 officers and men of the 1st Ohio 
 regiment, under the immediate com- 
 mand of Colonel McCook. As the train 
 advanced several detachments were set 
 down at various stations where the road 
 seemed easy of access to the enemy, 
 leaving four companies in the cars, num- 
 bering in all 275 men, who were to be 
 stationed at Yienna. As the same train 
 had passed over the route the day be- 
 fore, carrying General Tyler and his 
 staff beyond the town, and no enemy 
 had been reported in the neighborhood, 
 there were no particular steps taken on 
 the present occasion to guard against 
 surprise. The omission was the more 
 important as the road at the immediate 
 approach to Yienna passed through a 
 deep cut succeeded by a curve. It was 
 about 6 o'clock when the train was 
 driven slowly forward at this point by 
 the engine in the rear, the forward cars 
 in which the troops were sitting being 
 open and without protection. As the 
 curve was turned a raking fire of shells, ' 
 round shot and grape from an unsus- 
 pected "battery was directed upon the 
 foremost cars, killing and wounding a 
 number of the men. The train was 
 instantly stopped, and the engineer was 
 ordered to carry it out of range. There 
 
 was some difficulty about this, in conse- 
 quence, as he alleged, of the brakes 
 being down, and when that was reme- 
 died the engine with the rear car was 
 found to be detached from the rest. 
 The engineer was then directed to take 
 his station a little below and await 
 further orders. The troops had mean- 
 while left the remaining cars, and retired 
 for safety to the adjoining woods. When 
 the services of the engine and single car 
 were required to carry back the wound- 
 ed, it was found that the terrified en- 
 gineer had deserted the command, and 
 had gone off in full speed for Alexan- 
 dria. The wounded had in consequence 
 to be carried on litters and in blankets, 
 and, what added to their misfortune, the 
 surgeon who was with them was with- 
 out the use of his instruments, which 
 had been taken away by the absconding 
 engineer. Six maimed and mutilated 
 men were thus without relief till the 
 next morning. Five were known to be 
 killed by the enemy's fire, and nine were 
 missing. The remainder were brought 
 off in safety along the line of the road. 
 The enemy's force in this affair, accord- 
 ing to a statement in the Louisville 
 Courier, was composed chiefly of a body 
 of 600 South Carolinians, with an artil- 
 lery company under the command of 
 Colonel Gregg, who was out on a recon- 
 noitering expedition in the neighbor- 
 hood, when the distant sound of the 
 slowly advancing locomotive led him to 
 plant his battery on the spot. He had 
 also, it is said, two companies of cavalry 
 with him. Notwithstanding these ad- 
 vantages, however, he made no pursuit. 
 Had our men been followed up their 
 loss probably would have been very 
 great, That they were not pursued 
 was the only item of consolation in this 
 
NAVIGATION OF THE POTOMAC. 
 
 207 
 
 unhappy affair. It was said that the 
 enemy were confident only when they 
 had every advantage of position, and 
 would risk nothing in the open field. 
 Much WAS also talked about "masked 
 batteries," but the public, tiring of the 
 phrase, began to think that all batteries 
 are masked to the inexperienced.* 
 
 The condition of the navigation of the 
 Potomac, from which quarter there had 
 been reports for some time past of the 
 enemy's occupation and the erection of 
 hostile batteries on the banks, now began 
 to attract serious attention. The public 
 was, as usual, impatient at the apparent 
 inaction of the Government, which gave 
 confidence to the rebels to carry out their 
 plans of annoyance and threaten perma- 
 nently to arrest the navigation, though 
 there was little fear but that, when the 
 navy was called to put forth its strength, 
 it would speedily remove all obstacles of 
 this kind in its path. The earliest at- 
 tempt of consequence to clear these im- 
 pediments was made by Captain James 
 Harman Ward, of the navy, an officer 
 of great activity and intelligence, whose 
 fate, as the first martyr of note in this 
 branch of the service, renders some ac- 
 count of his previous career of interest. 
 Born in the city of Hartford, Connecti- 
 cut, in the year 1806, he was now at the 
 height of his powers in his fifty-fifth 
 year. Entering the navy at the age of 
 seventeen, he had made his first cruise 
 under Commodore Macdonough in the 
 Constitution, and, rising in rank, had 
 been employed in various service, parti- 
 cularly on the coast of Africa, where he 
 suffered a severe attack of fever which 
 threatened to put an end to his career. 
 
 * Report of Brigadier-General Robert C. Schenck to 
 Lieutenant-General Scott. Lieutenant Raynor's Defence 
 of General Schenck. 
 
 He subsequently returned to the sickly 
 station as a commander in the squadron, 
 to render good service in repressing the 
 slave trade, and was afterward in com- 
 mand of the Yixen in the Gulf of Mexi- 
 co. Besides this active employment at 
 sea, which occupied the greater portion 
 of his career, he had discharged an im- 
 portant duty on shore as Professor in the 
 Naval School at Annapolis ; and, having 
 also paid particular attention to the sci- 
 entific part of his profession, had written 
 several books on naval tactics, the appli- 
 cation of steam to naval purposes, and 
 an elementary treatise on ordnance and 
 gunnery. For the last few years he had 
 been in command of the receiving ship 
 North Carolina at the Brooklyn Navy 
 Yard. Longing for active duty, and anx- 
 ious to be employed in support of the 
 Government when the impending strug- 
 gle became imminent, he engaged the at- 
 tention of his fellow-townsman, the Secre- 
 tary of the Navy, Mr. Welles, in a plan 
 for fitting out a steam flotilla of light 
 draught, suitable for service in the river 
 navigation in and about the Potomac. 
 Four small propellers were accordingly 
 purchased and equipped as gunboats. 
 The flotilla was commissioned and Cap- 
 tain Ward placed in command in the 
 middle of May. Sailing immediately to 
 join the squadron in the Chesapeake, on 
 his arrival on the 18th, before reporting 
 himself to Commodore Stringham, he was 
 in action exchanging shots with the rebel 
 batteries at Sewall's Point in Hampton 
 Eoads. He was then sent to Washing- 
 ton, and on his way captured two prizes, 
 with fifty prisoners, whom he carried 
 with him. 
 
 His first action of note on the Poto- 
 mac was in an attack upon the batteries 
 placed by the enemy at the mouth of 
 
208 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Acquia Creek, about forty miles below 
 Washington, commanding the terminus 
 at this point of the railway extending 
 from Richmond through Fredericksburg. 
 Captain Ward, supported by the gun- 
 boat propellers Anacostia and Resolute, 
 opened the bombardment with vigor from 
 his two 32 -pounders, on the Thomas 
 Freeborn, the flag-ship of his little flo- 
 tilla.- "After an incessant discharge," 
 says he in his dispaeh, " kept up for two 
 hours, and the expenditure of all the am- 
 munition suitable for distant firing, and 
 silencing completely the three batteries 
 at the railroad terminus, the firing hav- 
 ing been rapidly kept up by them until so 
 silenced, and having been recommenced 
 from the new batteries from the heights 
 back, which reached us in volleys, drop- 
 ping the shot on board and about us like 
 hail for nearly an hour, but fortunately 
 wounding but one man, I hauled the 
 vessel off, as the heights proved wholly 
 above the reach of our elevation."* It 
 was an especial cause of congratulation 
 to Captain Ward that the gun carriages 
 emplo3 r ed on the Freeborn, being of a 
 new construction devised by himself, 
 worked with such ease that the crews 
 came out of action wholly unfatigued." 
 
 The value of this practice was not in 
 its results upon the enemy so much as in 
 the early proof it afforded of the courage 
 of the men taken to man the national 
 ships. Of the officers and men thus 
 freely exposed to fire, Captain Ward 
 was the only one belonging to the regu- 
 lar navy. All the rest had volunteered 
 from civil life. The enemy in the mean- 
 time having reversed their works on the 
 shore, the bombardment was resumed by 
 Captain Ward the following day, in com- 
 
 * Commander J. H. Ward to the Hon. Gideon Welles, 
 May 31, Is61. 
 
 pany with the screw sloop-of-war Paw- 
 nee, of 8 guns, S. C. Rowan, commander. 
 For five hours a storm of shot and shell 
 was poured upon the works from the two 
 vessels. " More than one hundred shots " 
 writes Captain Ward, " have fallen 
 aboard and around us, any one of which 
 would have struck a frigate. We had 
 more than a thousand shots discharged 
 at us within range, and we have ourselves 
 fired upwards of three hundred shots 
 and shells, with seventeen hundred 
 pounds of powder." Yet there were 
 neither killed nor wounded to report. 
 The Pawnee being more heavily armed 
 and the larger vessel was the chief ob- 
 ject of the fire of the batteries, which 
 were well and effectively mounted. But 
 though the ship was under a very heavy 
 fire of rifled shot and was struck nine 
 times, four times in the hull, one of the 
 shots passing through the bulwarks, tear- 
 ing up the deck and glancing overboard, 
 the men were uninjured. As the bom- 
 barding vessels came up " the enemy set 
 fire to the large passenger and freight 
 depot on the end of the long pier, pro- 
 bably to remove it as an obstruction to 
 their aim, but were not permitted to 
 extinguish the flames during the whole 
 cannonade ; consequently, nearly the 
 whole pier was destroyed, only the char- 
 red piles remaining above the water to 
 mark its former position."* 
 
 The part borne in the action by the 
 Pawnee is well described by Commander 
 Rowan. "Finding," says he, " my 15- 
 second shell fell short, with all the eleva- 
 tion the ports admitted of, I ranged 
 ahead of the Freeborn and edged in as 
 near as I could, feeling the way with the 
 lead, till I got within range of the forts 
 
 * Commander Ward to Hon. Gideon Welles. June 1, 
 1861. 
 
ENGAGEMENT AT MATTHIAS POINT. 
 
 209 
 
 with the 15-second shell, when we opened 
 a heavy fire. I held this position as long 
 as possible, when the ship fell off against 
 our exertions to keep her steady and 
 became necessary to round out into the 
 river and approach a second time on the 
 same tack. Having got the ship nearer 
 than the first position, and as near as was 
 safe, with but two feet of water to spare, 
 and to the northward and westward of 
 the Freeborn, we opened a terrible fire 
 frqjn five 9 -inch guns. The batteries 
 were twice silenced under the weight of 
 our fire, but resumed again when our fire 
 had ceased."* 
 
 The result of this engagement, while 
 it fully proved the courage of the assail- 
 ants, showed also the resources of the 
 rebel defences on the shore. They were 
 in fact amply supplied with the best mili- 
 tary material, and if their gunnery was 
 not perfect, there was certainly no lack 
 of men to continue the fight. The advan- 
 tage of course, according to the old mili- 
 tary maxims, was largely with the party 
 on shore. If but little, however, was 
 gained by the assault, nothing more was 
 effected by the enemy in injury to the 
 assailants. It. was perhaps owing to this 
 immunity that on the next occasion the 
 attack was conducted with greater temer- 
 ity, and cost the gallant commander his 
 life. 
 
 The action to which we allude took 
 place on the 27th June, some ten miles 
 lower down the river, off Matthias Point, 
 a promontory of King George County, 
 Ya., boldly projecting into the stream, 
 which here pursues a northerly course 
 previous to making its final descent into 
 the waters of the Chesapeake. The 
 point, well shielded by a forest, was a 
 
 * Commander Rowan to the Hon. Gideon 1 T elles. 
 Steamer Pawnee, June 2, 1861. 
 
 27 
 
 U.S. 
 
 formidable position for the enemy, as it 
 readily commanded the channel, and its 
 hostile occupation then and long after was 
 the occasion of serious uneasiness to the 
 numerous merchant vessels traversing 
 the river. Captain Ward was not the 
 man patiently to witness the standing 
 menace without seeking to destroy it. 
 Accordingly, having ascertained that the 
 enemy were about erecting a battery on 
 the point, he resolved to make a landing 
 and destroy the woods which afforded a 
 covert to their sharp-shooters. In pur- 
 suance of this intention, on the evening 
 of the 26th, while below the Point, he 
 dispatched from his flag-ship, the Free- 
 born, an order to Commander Rowan, on 
 board the Pawnee, lying above Acquia 
 Creek, to send him two boats armed 
 and equipped, in command of Lieutenant 
 J. C. Chaplin, attached to that vessel 
 an officer upon whom, as the event 
 proved, he might rely in any emergency. 
 He also sent for such equipments as were 
 necessary to cut down the trees on the 
 point and burn them. The order was 
 promptly executed, and the party left the 
 ship in tow of one of the gunboat pro- 
 pellers of the flotilla early the next 
 morning. Immediately on receiving the 
 force the Freeborn weighed anchor and, 
 accompanied by the cutters, ran up the 
 river. As the main part of the action 
 which ensued was conducted by Lieute- 
 nant Chaplin, we may here take up his 
 narrative of the transactions of the day. 
 " On arriving," says he at Matthias 
 Point, "the Freeborn threw shot, shell, 
 and grape. into the woods near where we 
 were to land. About 10 the landing was 
 effected, my party under the charge of 
 Commander Ward, who landed with me. 
 I threw my men out as skirmishers, and, 
 on getting about three hundred yards from 
 
210 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the boats, discovered the enemy's pickets, 
 who fired and retreated. My men fol- 
 lowed them for a short distance and fired 
 on them. I then discovered the enemy 
 coming towards me over the brow of a 
 hill, and judged there were some four or 
 five hundred men. I went back to Com- 
 mander Ward and reported, when he 
 ordered me to take to the boats and lay 
 off while he went on board of his vessel 
 and fired into the brush again. After 
 some fifteen minutes firing, I was ordered 
 to land again and throw up a breastwork 
 of sand-bags. I sent out four men as 
 pickets and commenced the work, and at 
 5 had nearly completed it, when the sig- 
 nal was made for me to return. I sent 
 everything to the boats, and with seven 
 or eight men covered the bags with 
 limbs, that the enemy might not distin- 
 guish it from the dense thicket near, and 
 was about leaving, when the enemy 
 opened on us with muskets at a distance 
 of two hundred and fifty yards, and for 
 some reason the Freeborn did not open 
 on the place with her heavy guns to cover 
 my retreat. I sent all my men in the 
 boats, and stayed until I had counted and 
 found they were all safe. Bj r this time 
 the boats had drifted some distance out, 
 and rather than bring the men any nearer, 
 swam to the 3d cutter, and pulled off to 
 the Freeborn. My boat was riddled 
 with shot, the flag-staff shot away, and 
 nineteen holes through the flag."* 
 
 The conduct of Lieutenant Chaplin in 
 this affair was truly heroic, and was 
 worthily commended by his superior 
 officer, Commander Eowan, who called 
 the attention of the Department to his 
 gallantry, coolness and presence of mind. 
 " He remained steady and cool amongst 
 
 * Lieutenant J. C. Chaplin to Commander Rowan. " June 
 28, 1861 
 
 a perfect hail of musketry from hundreds 
 of men, while he collected his own peo- 
 ple and made good his retreat without 
 leaving the enemy a trophy beyond a 
 few sand-bags and some axes, and, so 
 far as I can ascertain, the muskets of the 
 wounded men. The last man left the 
 shore with him, and, not being able to 
 swim to the boat with his musket, Lieu- 
 tenant Chaplin took him on his shoulders, 
 musket and all, and safely reached the 
 boat without a scratch, save a musket 
 hole through the top of his cap." Com- 
 mander Eowari also appropriately com- 
 memorated "the bravery of John Wil- 
 liams, captain maintop, of the Pawnee, 
 who told his men, while lying off in the 
 boat, that every man must die on his 
 thwart sooner than leave a man behind ; 
 and when the flag-staff of his boal was 
 shot away, and the ensign fell, he (al- 
 though suffering from a gunshot wound 
 in the thigh) seized it in his hand and 
 bravely waved it over his head."* The 
 only other casualty to the party, 23 
 in number, from the boats, was in the 
 case of an ordinary seaman of the Paw- 
 nee, William J. Best, who was wounded 
 in four places the hand, the arm, the 
 leg and body. 
 
 While Lieutenant Chaplin and his 
 party were thus gallantly retreating un- 
 der the sharp firing of the enemy, a well- 
 aimed shot from the shore struck down 
 Captain Ward on the deck of the Free- 
 born. The scene on board the vessel is 
 thus described by an eye-witness, a cor- 
 respondent of the New York Herald, 
 who accompanied the expedition : " On 
 board the Freeborn, when the enemy 
 opened fire, Captain Ward came down 
 from the gallows frame and seized a rifle, 
 
 * Commander Rowan to the Hon. Gideon Welles, June 
 27. 1861. 
 
DEATH OF CAPTAIN WARD. 
 
 2H 
 
 which he fired at the enemy, as did pilot 
 Pierson and myself. We fired several 
 shots, when the captain ran down to the 
 forecastle deck and began to sight the 
 gun, first ordering it to be loaded with a 
 round shot. He had got the sight and 
 was about to withdraw and give the 
 word to fire, when he was struck by a 
 bullet, saying to Harry Churchill, the 
 boatswain's mate, ' Churchill, I am kill- 
 ed.' He fell into one of his arms, while 
 Churchill pulled the string with the other, 
 throwing the shot clear among the ene- 
 my. A 5 -second shell and two rounds of 
 grape were then fired from the bow-gun, 
 while the after-gun fired about the same 
 quantity. ' Slip the cable and start her,' 
 was now Lieutenant Lee's order on as- 
 suming the command. It was done, and 
 soon the Freeborn and all the boats were 
 out of range of the deadly rifles and 
 muskets. Dr. Moore, on examination, 
 pronounced Captain Ward's wound mor- 
 tal. The ball had entered the abdomen 
 and come out on the right side near the 
 back, passing through the liver and other 
 vitals. The captain was first laid on the 
 quarter-deck, but subsequently removed 
 to a more convenient position. In re- 
 moving him he said, ' Why remove me ? 
 I am quite comfortable.' Lieutenant Lee 
 asked if he could do anything for him. 
 He only said, ' Raise my head a little 
 higher.' To Dr. Moore he once said, 
 'Doctor, the wound is here,' pointing to 
 the pit of his stomach. The captain lin- 
 gered for about three-quarters of an hour, 
 when he expired after a few gasps. When 
 it was known that the captain was mor- 
 tally wounded, G-eorge Conch, captain of 
 the after-gun, exclaimed ' Boys, let us 
 have our revenge ! ' The gun was then 
 pointed true, and the 5-seconds burst 
 right in the midst of the enemy. He 
 
 was about to fire again, when the doctor 
 forbade the disturbance of the captain's 
 last moments, and Conch desisted."* 
 Two of the men on board the Freeborn 
 also suffered gunshot wounds. Captain 
 Ward was the only one on the Union 
 side killed during the action. The loss 
 experienced by the enemy is unknown. 
 
 The remains of Captain Ward were 
 brought to the Navy Yard at Washing- 
 ton, and thence to New York, where they 
 lay in solemn state at the Navy Yard at 
 Brooklyn, on the deck of the North Car- 
 olina, which was fitted up to receive them 
 according to the rites of the Roma'n Cath- 
 olic Church, of which the deceased was 
 a member. An imposing procession of 
 the officers and men at the Yard, Captain 
 Ward's recent comrades among others, 
 his successor in command of the North 
 Carolina, Captain Meade, the commander 
 of the Yard, Captain Foote, shortly to 
 be famed by his eminent successes on the 
 Mississippi and a few personal friends 
 from the city, and, not least noticeable in 
 the company, a band of seven sailors, a 
 portion of the crew of the Freeborn, ac- 
 companied the remains to a steamer on 
 the Sound, on the way to a final resting- 
 place at the family cemetery at Hartford. 
 
 The result of those attacks on the 
 rebel batteries on the Potomac showed 
 that it was hardly to be expected that 
 they could be permanently silenced with- 
 out a cooperating land Lrce, and the 
 naval operations on the river were con- 
 sequently thereafter mostly confined to 
 holding them in check. For months, 
 however, the river was kept clear for 
 commercial purposes, and the communi- 
 cation between the insurgents on the 
 opposite shores to a great extent prevent- 
 ed only by the frequent passage of vessels 
 
 * Correspondence of the New York Herald, June 29, 1861 
 
212 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 of the navy. It was not till the military 
 movements attending the evacuation of 
 Manassas occurred, nearly a year after 
 the events we have just related, that the 
 rebel batteries on the banks were desert- 
 ed by the enemy or taken possession of 
 by the Union forces, and the navigation 
 of the river was once more entirely 
 without impediment. 
 
 With these notices of affairs in the 
 immediate vicinity of Washington we 
 may conveniently associate the move- 
 ments going on at the right extremity 
 of the line of defence at Harper's Ferry. 
 An important division of the national 
 army, chiefly composed of regiments from 
 Pennsylvania, early assembled at Cham- 
 bersburg, in that State, a position from 
 which there was an easy approach 
 through Maryland, by way of Hagers- 
 town, to the Potomac. They were under 
 the command of Major-General Patter- 
 son, to whom the Department of Penn- 
 sylvania had been assigned by the Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 This officer, born in Ireland, had been 
 brought in his boyhood to America by 
 his father, who came with his family to 
 Pennsylvania in consequence of his 
 implication in the rebellion of 1798. In 
 1811 the parent further emigrated to 
 Tennessee, leaving his son in the count- 
 ing-house of a wealthy East India mer- 
 chant at Philadelphia. The war with 
 England breaking out the following year, 
 young Patterson entered the army as a 
 lieutenant of the 22d Infantry, and re- 
 tiring on its close with the rank of cap- 
 tain, resumed his occupation in the count- 
 ing house. He did not abandon, how- 
 ever, his military pursuits, but devoting 
 himself to the volunteer service rose to 
 the rank of a major-general of militia. 
 On the breaking out of the Mexican war 
 
 he was appointed a major-general of 
 volunteers by President Polk, and served 
 with General Taylor in his advance on 
 the Rio Grande, and led an important 
 expedition against Tampico. He then 
 joined the line of General Scott and 
 landed with that officer at Vera Cruz, 
 when he rendered material service at the 
 head of his volunteer division in the re- 
 duction of the city. The term of enlist- 
 ment of his men having expired, he 
 accompanied them home, but soon re- 
 turned to Mexico, taking command of the 
 volunteer division at the capital, where 
 he remained till the establishment of 
 peace. After the war he again resumed 
 his mercantile pursuits. At the out- 
 break of the rebellion he was summoned 
 by Governor Curtin to the service of the 
 Government, and in a patriotic spirit 
 immediately entered upon his new duties. 
 On the 3d of June we find General 
 Patterson in command of the Departmenl 
 of Pennsylvania issuing the following 
 order to his troops from his head-quar- 
 ters at Chambersburg, on the eve of his 
 advance into Maryland : " The restraint 
 which has necessarily been imposed upon 
 you, impatient to overcome those who 
 have raised their parricidal hands against 
 our country, is about to be removed. 
 You will soon meet the insurgents. You 
 are not the aggressors. A turbulent 
 faction, misled by ambitious rulers, in 
 a time of profound peace and national 
 prosperity, have occupied your forts, and 
 turned the guns against you ; have seized 
 your arsenals and armories and appro- 
 priated to themselves government sup- 
 plies ; have arrested and held prisoners 
 your companions marching to their homes 
 under State pledge of security ; have 
 captured vessels and provisions volun- 
 tarily assured by State legislation from 
 
GENERAL PATTERSON'S ADVANCE. 
 
 213 
 
 molestation, and now seek to perpetuate 
 a reign of terror over loyal citizens. 
 They have invaded a loyal State and 
 entrenched themselves within its bound- 
 aries in defiance of its constituted author- 
 ities. You are going on American soil 
 to sustain the civil power, to relieve the 
 oppressed, and to retake that which is 
 unlawfully held. You must bear in mind 
 you are going for the good of the whole 
 country, and that, while it is your duty 
 to punish sedition, you must protect the 
 lo} T al, and, should occasion offer, at once 
 suppress servile insurrection. Success 
 will crown your efforts ; a grateful coun- 
 try and a happy people will reward 
 you." 
 
 The advance of the Union army into 
 Virginia, at the end of May, found the 
 rebels in possession of the important 
 position of Harper's Ferry, which they 
 had held since its evacuation and the 
 partial destruction of the government 
 building by Lieutenant Jones. Various 
 defensive works were erected by them on 
 the hills adjoining the town, and the 
 opposite heights in Maryland were occu- 
 pied by a camp of Kentuckians. The 
 line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
 which crosses the river at this point and 
 traverses a portion of Virginia, was thus 
 under their control and communication 
 between its eastern and western portions 
 cut off. Affairs remained in this situa- 
 tion till the middle of June when, in view 
 of the armies gathering on all sides, the 
 rapid accumulation of troops in Western 
 Virginia, the advance of the Pennsyl- 
 vania division, under General Patterson, 
 in front and a movement from the camps 
 at Washington, under Colonel Stone, on 
 his flank, threatening the safety of the 
 force at Harper's Ferry, and its commun- 
 ication with the main army at Manassas, 
 
 General Joseph E. Johnston, the Con- 
 federate commander, prudently resolved 
 to abandon the position. On the 14th 
 accordingly he withdrew his troops in 
 the direction of Winchester, after a com- 
 plete destruction of the Baltimore and 
 Ohio railway bridge over the Potomac, 
 a portion of the track and other property 
 belonging to the company. The piers 
 only were left standing a ghastly me- 
 morial of the fine and costly work. Two 
 other bridges at Martinsburg and Shep- 
 herdstown, commanding the approaches 
 from the west, were likewise destroyed. 
 What had been left of the machinery at 
 the national manufactories which could 
 be transported was removed, and the 
 arsenal buildings, which had hitherto 
 escaped, were burnt. Not content with 
 this work of devastation, a few days after 
 a party of the insurgent army returned 
 and set fire to the bridge crossing the 
 Shenandoah and continued the injuries to 
 the railway company, throwing into the 
 river a valuable locomotive engine which 
 had been left on the iron span of the 
 Potomac bridge nearest the town. 
 
 General Patterson meanwhile having 
 advanced his forces above to Williams- 
 port, remained in that vicinity till the 
 2d of July, when he crossed the river 
 with his command, numbering some 
 15,000 men, mostly Pennsylvanians, 
 with one Wisconsin regiment, Colonel 
 Thomas 7 United States cavalry, and twc 
 batteries of artillery. The advance of 
 this army, consisting of- the Wisconsin 
 and two Pennsylvania regiments, with 
 McMullen's Rangers, the Philadelphia 
 City Troop, and Perkins 7 Battery, im- 
 mediately fell in with a considerable 
 body of the enemy under Colonel Jack- 
 son, estimated at four regiments of in- 
 fantry and one of horse, with four guns, 
 
214 
 
 WAE FOE THE CTN10N. 
 
 when the Union artillery opened fire 
 and a skirmishing fight ensued, ending 
 in the retreat of the rebels. This en- 
 counter was in the neighborhood of Fall- 
 ing Waters, near the Potomac, on the 
 road to Martinsburg. The union loss 
 was reported by General Patterson at 
 three killed and ten wounded. On the 
 9th he was joined by General Sandford 
 with the New York 5th and 12th regi- 
 ments. 
 
 The main force of General Johnston 
 was now established at Winchester, with 
 their outposts towards Martinsburg, 
 whither they were followed by General 
 Patterson on the 16th, a fortnight after 
 he had crossed the Potomac, as far as 
 
 Bunker Hill, where there was some slight 
 skirmishing within twelve miles of their 
 position. Unhappily they were pressed 
 no further. Had they been vigorously 
 pushed and brought to action, we might 
 perhaps have been spared the recital of 
 the disastrous event which immediately 
 ensued in front of Washington. As it 
 was, General Patterson, turning from 
 Winchester, withdrew his forces the next 
 day, the 17th, to Charlestown, in commu- 
 nication with Harper's Ferry, while Gen- 
 eral Johnston rapidly conducted a large 
 portion of his army to the line of the rail- 
 way communicating by way of Manassas 
 Gap with the camp at Manassas Junc- 
 tion. 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 MOVEMENTS OF THE CONFEDERATES. 
 
 FROM these scenes before Washington 
 we turn to the movements of the Confed- 
 erate Government, which, a few days 
 before the advance of the Union troops 
 across the Potomac, by a resolution of 
 the Congress at Montgomery, was trans- 
 ferred to Richmond, Yirginia. Of the 
 proceedings of that second session, con- 
 ducted as they were, for the most part, 
 in secrecy, we have but imperfect ac- 
 counts. It was called by President Davis 
 t,o meet on the 29th of April, in conse- 
 quence of the events growing out of the 
 attack upon Sumter, in advance of the 
 day to which it had been adjourned, and 
 its deliberations were doubtless mainly, 
 if not altogether, confined to devising 
 the means of carrying on the long and 
 serious war with the North in prospect. 
 In the Message which he delivered at the 
 
 opening of the session, President Davi? 
 began by presenting a formal declaration 
 of the political circumstances and princi- 
 ples which constituted, in his mind, a jus- 
 tification of the course pursued in the 
 formation of the Confederate Govern- 
 ment. As a manifesto to the world, this 
 portion of the document became of con- 
 siderable importance. It was undoubt- 
 edly greatly influential in creating in 
 many quarters in Europe opinions in 
 favor of the pretensions of the new gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 " The occasion," said he, " is indeed an 
 extraordinary one. It justifies me in giv- 
 ing a brief review of the relations here- 
 tofore existing between us and the States 
 which now unite in warfare against us, 
 and a succinct statement of the events 
 which have resulted to the end, thai 
 
MESSAGE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 
 
 215 
 
 mankind may pass intelligent and impar- 
 tial judgment on our motives and objects. 
 During the war waged against Great Bri- 
 tain by her colonies on this continent, a 
 common danger impelled them to a close 
 alliance, and to the formation of a Con- 
 federation by the terms of which the col- 
 onies, styling themselves States, entered 
 severally into a firm league of friend- 
 ship with each other for their common 
 defence, the security of their liberties, 
 and their mutual and general welfare, 
 binding themselves to assist each other 
 against all force offered to, or attacks 
 made upon them, or any of them, on ac- 
 count of religion, sovereignty, trade, or 
 any other pretence whatever. In order 
 to guard against any misconstruction of 
 their compact, the several States made 
 an explicit declaration in a distinct arti- 
 cle that each State retain its sovereign- 
 ty, freedom and independence, and every 
 power of jurisdiction and right which is 
 not by this said Confederation expressly 
 delegated to the United States in Con- 
 gress assembled under this contract of 
 alliance. The war of the Revolution was 
 successfully waged, and resulted in the 
 treaty of peace with Great Britain in 
 1783, by the terms of which the several 
 States were each by name recognized to 
 be independent. The articles of confed- 
 eration contained a clause whereby all 
 alterations were prohibited, unless con- 
 firmed by the Legislatures of every State 
 after being agreed to by the Congress ; 
 and in obedience to this provision, under 
 the resolution of Congress of the 21st of 
 February, 1787, the several States ap- 
 pointed delegates for the purpose of re- 
 vising the articles of confederation, and 
 reporting to Congress and the several 
 Legislatures such alterations and provi- 
 sions therein as shall, when agreed to in 
 
 Congress, and confirmed by the States, 
 render the Federal Constitution adequate 
 to the exigencies of the Government and 
 the preservation of the Union. It was 
 by the delegates chosen by the several 
 States under the resolution just quoted, 
 that the Constitution of the United States 
 was formed in 1787, and submitted to the 
 several States for ratification, as shown 
 by the seventh article, which is in these 
 words : ' The ratification of the conven- 
 tions of nine States shall be sufficient for 
 the establishment of this Constitution be- 
 tween the States so ratifying the same.' 
 I have italicised certain words in the re- 
 solutions just made for the purpose of at- 
 tracting attention to the singular and 
 marked caution with which the States en- 
 deavored in every possible form to ex- 
 clude the idea that the separate and in- 
 dependent sovereignty of each State was 
 merged into one common government or 
 nation ; and the earnest desire they 
 evinced to impress on the Constitution 
 its true character that of a compact 
 between independent States the Consti- 
 tution of 1787, however, admitting the 
 clause already recited from the articles 
 of confederation, which provided in ex- 
 plicit terms that each State reclaimed its 
 sovereignty and independence. Some 
 alarm \vas felt in the States, when invited 
 to ratify the Constitution, lest this omis- 
 sion should be construed into an aban- 
 donment of their cherished principles, 
 and they refused to be satisfied until 
 amendments were added to the Consti- 
 tution placing beyond any pretence of 
 doubt the reservation by the States of 
 their sovereign rights and powers not 
 expressly delegated to the United States 
 by the Constitution. 
 
 " Strange, indeed, must it appear lo 
 the impartial observer, but it is none the 
 
216 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 less true that all these carefully worded 
 clauses proved unavailing to prevent the 
 rise and growth in the Northern States 
 of a political school which has persist- 
 ently claimed that the Government set 
 above and over the States, an organiza- 
 tion created by the States, to secure the 
 blessings of liberty and independence 
 against foreign aggression, has been gra- 
 dually perverted into a machine for their 
 control in their domestic affairs. The 
 creature has been exalted above its Cre- 
 ator- the principals have been made 
 subordinate to the agent appointed by 
 themselves. The people of the Southern 
 States, whose almost exclusive occupa- 
 tion was agriculture, early perceived a 
 tendency in the Northern States to ren- 
 der a common government subservient 
 to their own purposes by imposing bur- 
 dens on commerce as protection to their 
 manufacturing and shipping interests. 
 Long and angry controversies grew out 
 of these attempts, often successful, to 
 benefit one section of the country at the 
 expense of the other, and the danger of 
 disruption arising from this cause was 
 enhanced by the fact that the Northern 
 population was increasing, by emigration 
 and other causes, more than the popula- 
 tion of the South. By degrees, as the 
 Northern States gained preponderance 
 in the National Congress, self-interest 
 taught their people to yield ready assent 
 to any plausible advocacy of their right 
 as majority to govern the minority. 
 Without control, they learn to listen with 
 impatience to the suggestion of any con- 
 stitutional impediment to the exercise of 
 their will, and so utterly have the prin- 
 ciples of the Constitution been corrupted 
 in the Northern mind that, in the inau- 
 gural address delivered by President 
 Lincoln in March last, he asserts a max- 
 
 im which he plainly deems to be undeni- 
 able, that the theory of the Constitution 
 requires, in all cases, that the majority 
 shall govern. And in another memora- 
 ble instance the same Chief Magistrate 
 did not hesitate to liken the relations be- 
 tween States and the United States to 
 those which exist between the county 
 and the State in wbich it is situated, and 
 by which it was created. This is the la- 
 mentable and fundamental error in which 
 rests the policy that has culminated in 
 his declaration of war against these Con- 
 federate States. 
 
 "In addition to the long-continued 
 and deep-seated resentment felt by the 
 Southern States at the persistent abuse 
 of the powers they had delegated to the 
 Congress for the purpose of enriching the 
 manufacturing and shipping classes of the 
 North at the expense of the South, there 
 has existed for nearly half a century an- 
 other subject of discord, involving inter- 
 ests of such transcendent magnitude as 
 at all times to create apprehension in the 
 minds of many devoted lovers of the 
 Union that its permanence was impossi- 
 ble. When the several States delegated 
 certain powers to the United States Con- 
 gress, a large portion of the laboring 
 population were imported into the colo- 
 nies by the mother country. In twelve 
 out of the fifteen States, negro slavery 
 existed, and the right of property exist- 
 ing in slaves was protected by law ; this 
 property was recognized in the Constitu- 
 tion, and provision was made against its 
 loss by the escape of the slave. The in- 
 crease in the number of slaves by foreign 
 importation from Africa was also secured 
 by a clause forbidding Congress to pro- 
 hibit the slave trade anterior to a certain 
 date, and in no clause can there be found 
 any delegation of power to the Congress 
 
SOUTHERN REPRESENTATIONS. 
 
 217 
 
 to authorize it in any manner to legislate 
 to the prejudice, detriment or discourage- 
 ment of the owners of that species of 
 property, or excluding it from the pro- 
 tection of the Government. The climate 
 arid soil of the Northern States soon 
 proved uupropitious to the continuance 
 of slave labor, while the reverse being 
 the case at the South, made unrestricted 
 free intercourse between the two sections 
 unfriendly. The Northern States con- 
 sulted their own interests by selling their 
 slaves to the South and prohibiting slav- 
 ery between their limits. The South 
 were willing purchasers of property suit- 
 able to their wants, and paid the price 
 of the acquisition, without harboring a 
 suspicion that their quiet possession was 
 to be disturbed by those who were not 
 only in want of constitutional authority, 
 but by good faith as vendors, from dis- 
 quieting a title emanating from them- 
 selves. 
 
 ''As soon, however, as the Northern 
 States, that prohibited African slavery 
 within their limits, had reached a num- 
 ber sufficient to give their representation 
 a controlling vote in the Congress, a per- 
 sistent and organized system of hostile 
 measures against the rights of the own- 
 ers of slaves in the Southern States was 
 inaugurated and gradually extended. A 
 series of measures was devised and pros- 
 ecuted for the purpose of rendering in- 
 secure the tenure of property in slaves. 
 Fanatical organizations, supplied with 
 money by voluntary subscriptions, were 
 assiduously engaged in exciting amongst 
 the slaves a spirit of discontent and re- 
 volt. Means were furnished for their 
 escape from their o vners, and agents se- 
 cretly employed to entice them to ab- 
 scond. The constitutional provision for 
 their rendition to their owners was first 
 28 
 
 evaded, then openly denounced as a vio- 
 lation of conscientious obligation and re- 
 ligious duty. Men were taught that it 
 was ,a merit to elude, disobey, and vio- 
 lently oppose the execution of the laws 
 enacted to secure the performance of the 
 promise contained in the constitutional 
 compact. Often owners of slaves were 
 mobbed and even murdered in open day 
 solely for applying to a magistrate for the 
 arrest of a fugitive slave. 
 
 "The dogmas of the voluntary organi- 
 zation soon obtained control of the Leg- 
 islatures of many of the Northern States, 
 and laws were passed for the punishment, 
 by Tuirious fines, and long-continued im- 
 prisonment in gaols and penitentiaries, 
 of citizens of the Southern States who 
 should dare ask of the officers of the law 
 for the recovery of their property. Em- 
 boldened by success, on the theatre of 
 agitation and aggression, against the 
 clearly expressed constitutional rights of 
 the Congress, Senators and Representa- 
 tives were sent to the common councils 
 of the nation, whose chief title to this 
 distinction consisted in the display of a 
 spirit of ultra fanaticism, and whose bu- 
 siness was not to promote the general 
 welfare, or ensure domestic tranquility 
 but awaken the bitterest hatred against 
 the citizens of sister States by violent 
 denunciations of their institutions. The 
 transaction of public affairs was impeded 
 by repeated efforts to usurp powers not 
 delegated by the Constitution, for the 
 purpose of impairing the security of 
 property in slaves, and reducing those 
 States which held slaves to a condition 
 of inferiority. Finally, a great party 
 was organized for the purpose of obtain- 
 ing the administration of the Govern- 
 ment, with the avowed object of using its 
 power for the total exclusion of the slave 
 
218 
 
 WAR FOR, THE UNION. 
 
 States fron all participation in the bene- 
 fits of the public domain acquired by all 
 the States in common, whether by con- 
 quest or purchase, surrounded them en- 
 tirely by States in which slavery should 
 be prohibited, thus rendering the prop- 
 erty in slaves so insecure as to be com- 
 paratively worthless, and thereby anni- 
 hilating in effect property worth thou- 
 sands of millions of dollars. This party, 
 thus organized, succeeded in the month 
 of November last in the election of its 
 candidate for the Presidency of the 
 United States. 
 
 " In the meantime, under the mild and 
 genial climate of the Southern States, 
 and the increasing care for the well-being 
 and comfort of the laboring classes, dic- 
 tated alike by interest and humanity, the 
 African slaves had augmented in number 
 from about six hundred thousand, at the 
 date of the adoption of the constitutional 
 compact, to upwards of four millions. In 
 a moral and social condition they had 
 been elevated from brutal savages into 
 docile, intelligent, and civilized agricul- 
 tural laborers, and supplied not only with 
 bodily comforts, but with careful reli- 
 gious instruction, under the supervision 
 of a superior race. Their labor had been 
 so directed as not only to allow a grad- 
 ual and marked amelioration of their own 
 condition, but to convert hundreds of 
 thousands of square miles of the wilder- 
 ness into cultivated lands covered with a 
 prosperous people. Towns and cities 
 had sprung into existence, and it rapidly 
 increased!, in wealth and population under 
 the social system of the South. The 
 white population of the Southern slave- 
 holding States had augmented from about 
 1,250,000, at the date of the adoption of 
 the Constitution, to more than 8,500,000 
 in 1860, and the productions of the South 
 
 in cotton, rice, sugar and tobacco, for the 
 full development and continuance of 
 which the labor of African slaves was 
 and is indispensable, had swollen to an 
 amount which formed nearly three-fourths 
 of the export of the whole United States, 
 and had become absolutely necessary to 
 the wants of civilized man. With inter- 
 ests of such overwhelming magnitude 
 imperiled, the people of the Southern 
 States were driven by the conduct of the 
 North to the adoption of some course of 
 action to avoid the dangers with which 
 they were openly menaced. With this 
 view, the Legislatures of the several 
 States invited the people to select dele- 
 gates to conventions to be held for the 
 purpose of determining for themselves 
 what measures were best to be adopted 
 to meet so alarming a crisis in their his- 
 tory. 
 
 " Here it may be proper to observe 
 that, from a period as early as 1798, 
 there had existed in all the States of the 
 Union a party almost uninterruptedly in 
 the majority, based upon the creed that 
 each State was, in the last resort, the sole 
 judge as well of its wrongs as of the 
 mode and measures of redress. Indeed 
 it is obvious that under the law of na- 
 tions this principle is an axiom as applied 
 to the relations of independent sovereign 
 States, such as those which had united 
 themselves under the constitutional com- 
 pact. The Democratic party of the 
 United States repeated, in its successful 
 canvass in 1836, the deduction made in 
 numerous previous political contests, that 
 it would faithfully abide by, and uphold 
 the principles laid down in the Kentucky 
 and Virginia Legislatures of 1799, and 
 that it adopts those principles as consti- 
 tuting one of the main foundations of its 
 political creed. The principles thus em- 
 
THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS. 
 
 219 
 
 phatically announced embrace that to 
 which I have already adverted the 
 right of each State to judge of and re- 
 dress the wrongs of which it complains. 
 Their principles were maintained by 
 overwhelming majorities of the people of 
 all the States of the Union at different 
 elections, especially in the election of 
 Mr. Jefferson in 1805, Mr. Madison in 
 1809, and Mr. Pierce in 1852. In the 
 exercise of a right so ancient, so well es- 
 tablished, and so necessary for self-pres- 
 ervation, the people of the Confederate 
 States in their conventions determined 
 that the wrongs which they had suffered, 
 and the evils with which they were men- 
 aced, required that they should revoke 
 the delegation of powers to the Federal 
 Government which they had ratified in 
 their several conventions. They conse- 
 quently passed ordinances resuming all 
 their rights as sovereign and independ- 
 ent States, and dissolved their connection 
 with the other States of the Union. Hav- 
 ing done this, they proceeded to form a 
 new compact among themselves by new 
 articles of confederation, which have 
 been also ratified by conventions of the 
 several States, with an approach to unan- 
 imity far exceeding that of the conven- 
 tions which adopted the Constitutions of 
 1787. They have organized their new 
 government in all its departments. The 
 functions of the executive, legislative and 
 judicial magistrates are performed in. ac- 
 cordance with the will of the people, as 
 displayed not merely in a cheerful acqui- 
 escence, but in the enthusiastic support 
 of the government thus established by 
 themselves ; and but for the interference 
 of the Government of the United States, 
 this legitimate exercise of a people to 
 self-government has been manifested in 
 every possible form." 
 
 We have seen President Davis, in ad- 
 vance of the meeting of the Confederate 
 Congress, issuing a proclamation calling 
 for privateers, as an effectual means of 
 resistance to the warlike measures of the 
 North, taken after the fall of Sumter. 
 The Congress at Montgomery now gave 
 its sanction to the proceedings by one of 
 its earliest acts, published on the 6th 
 of May, formally declaring war against 
 the United. States as a foreign power. 
 The preamble recited that the efforts 
 which had been made " to settle all ques- 
 tions of disagreement between the two 
 governments upon principles of right, 
 justice, equity and good faith, having 
 proved unavailing by reason of the re- 
 fusal of the Government of the United 
 States to hold any intercourse with the 
 commissioners appointed by this govern- 
 ment for the purposes aforesaid, or to 
 listen to any proposal they had to make 
 for the peaceful solution of all causes of 
 difficulties between the two governments," 
 that " the President of the United States 
 of America has issued his proclamation, 
 making requisition upon the States of the 
 American Union for 75,000 men, for the 
 purpose, as therein indicated, of capturing 
 forts and other strongholds within the 
 jurisdiction of, and belonging to, the Con- 
 federate States of America, and has de- 
 tailed naval armaments upon the coasts 
 of the Confederate States of America, 
 and raised, organized and equipped a 
 large military force to execute the pur- 
 pose aforesaid, and has issued his other 
 proclamation, announcing his purpose to 
 set on foot a blockade of the ports of the 
 Confederate States," that " the State 
 of Virginia has seceded from the Federal 
 Union and entered into a convention of 
 alliance, offensive and defensive, with the 
 Confederate States, and has adopted 
 
220 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNIO^. 
 
 the Provisional Constitution of the said 
 States, and the States of Maryland, North 
 Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkan- 
 sas and Missouri have refused, and it is 
 believed that the State of Delaware and 
 the inhabitants of the Territories of Ari- 
 zona and New Mexico and the Indian 
 Territory south of Kansas, will refuse to 
 cooperate with the Government of the 
 United States in these acts of hostilities 
 and wanton aggression, which are plainly 
 intended to overawe, oppress and finally 
 subjugate the people of the Confederate 
 States," and " that by the acts and means 
 aforesaid war exists between the Con- 
 federate States and the Government of 
 the United States and the States and 
 Territories thereof, excepting the States 
 of Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, 
 Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri and Dela- 
 ware and the Territories of Arizona and 
 New Mexico and the Indian Territory 
 south of Kansas." The first provision of 
 the act, which followed this declaration, 
 authorized President Davis " to use the 
 whole land and naval force of the Con- 
 federate States to meet the war thus 
 commenced, and to issue to private armed 
 vessels commissions or letters of marque 
 and general reprisal in such form as he 
 shall think proper under the seal of the 
 Confederate States, against the vessels, 
 goods and effects of the Government of 
 the United States and of the citizens or 
 inhabitants of the States and Territories 
 thereof, except the States and Territor- 
 ies hereinbefore named." Among other 
 provisions, a bounty was offered of $20 
 "for each person on board any armed 
 ship or vessel belonging to the United 
 States at the commencement of an en- 
 gagement, which shall be burnt, sunk or 
 destroyed by any vessel commissioned 
 as aforesaid, which shall be of equal or 
 
 inferior force, and a bounty of $25 to the 
 owners, officers and crew of the private 
 armed vessels, commissioned as aforesaid. 
 for each and every prisoner by then: 
 captured and brought into port and de- 
 livered to an agent authorized to receive 
 them, in any port of the Confederate 
 States." 
 
 A few days after, the Congress passed 
 an unlimited enlistment act, authorizing 
 the President " to accept the services of 
 volunteers who may offer, without re- 
 gard to the place of enlistment, either as 
 cavalry, mounted riflemen, artillery or 
 infantry, in such proportion of these sev- 
 eral arms as he may deem expedient, to 
 serve for and during the existing war, 
 unless sooner discharged." A subse- 
 quent act authorized the issue of a paper 
 currency of $50,000,000 treasury notes. 
 Supplementary to this, in some measure, 
 was an act passed May 21st, prohibiting 
 debtors to individuals or corporations in 
 what were termed the United States of 
 America, excepting Delaware, Maryland, 
 Kentucky, Missouri and the District of 
 Columbia, from making payments to 
 their creditors, their agents or assignees, 
 "pending the existing war waged by 
 that Government against the Confederate 
 States, or any of the slaveholding States 
 before named." Any person thus in- 
 debted was authorized to pay the amount 
 of his indebtedness into the Treasury of 
 the Confederate States, and receive in 
 return a certificate " bearing like interest 
 with the original contract, redeemable 
 at the close of the war and the restora- 
 tion of peace, in specie or its equivalent." 
 By an act of the same date the exporta- 
 tion of raw cotton or cotton yarn was 
 prohibited, under heavy penalties of fine, 
 imprisonment and confiscation, except 
 through the seaports of the Confederate 
 
FAST DAY PROCLAMATION. 
 
 221 
 
 States. This deprived the North of the 
 trade which, checked on the seaboard, 
 was seeking a new channel on the Mis- 
 sissippi, and was retaliatory to the order 
 issued by Secretary Chase on the 2d of 
 May from the Treasury Department, ad- 
 dressed to collectors, surveyors, and 
 other officers of the customs on the 
 northern and northwestern waters of 
 the United States, enjoining them to 
 seize and detain all arms, munitions of 
 war, provisions, or other supplies on 
 their way to any port or place under 
 the control of insurrectionary parties. 
 This order established a blockade of the 
 Mississippi, and of the railway communi- 
 cations from Kentucky southward. The 
 arrest of the United States postal service 
 in the seceded States was delayed by 
 Postmaster-General Blair till the 31st 
 of May, when in fact it was formally 
 suspended b}^ the action of the Confed- 
 erates. By an order issued by Post- 
 master-General John H. Eeagan, on the 
 part of the rebel government, announcing 
 the suspension, the southern postmasters 
 acting under the authority of the United 
 States were directed, on and after the 
 1st day of June, to retain in their pos- 
 session, subject to the further orders of 
 his department, "for the benefit of the 
 Confederate States, all mail bags, locks 
 and keys, marking and other stamps, 
 blanks for quarterly returns, and all 
 other property belonging to or connected 
 with the postal service." 
 
 In addition to the measures of the 
 Confederate Congress bearing upon the 
 material prosecution of the war, a reso- 
 lution was introduced requesting Presi- 
 dent Davis to appoint "a day of fasting 
 and prayer, in the observance of which 
 all shall be invited to join who recognize 
 our dependence upon God, and who de- 
 
 sire the happiness and security of that 
 people ' whose God is the Lord.' " In 
 compliance with this recommendation, 
 President Davis issued the following pro- 
 clamation to the people of the Confeder- 
 ate States : 
 
 "When a people who recognize their 
 dependence upon God, feel themselves 
 surrounded by peril and difficulty, it 
 becomes them to humble themselves 
 under the dispensation of Divine Provi- 
 dence, to recognize His righteous govern- 
 ment, to acknowledge His goodness in 
 times past, and supplicate His merciful 
 protection for the future. The manifest 
 proofs of the Divine blessing hitherto 
 extended to the efforts of the people of 
 the Confederate States of America, to 
 maintain and perpetuate public liberty, 
 individual rights, and national independ- 
 ence, demand their devout and heartfelt 
 gratitude. It becomes them to give pub- 
 lic manifestation of this gratitude, and of 
 their dependence upon the Judge of all 
 the earth, and to invoke the continuance 
 of his favor. Knowing that none but a 
 just and righteous cause can gain the 
 Divine favor, we would implore the Lord 
 of Hosts to guide and direct our polic}^ 
 in the paths of right, duty, justice and 
 mercy, to unite our heart and our efforts 
 for the defence of our dearest rights ; to 
 strengthen our weakness, crown our arms 
 with success, and enable us to secure a 
 speedy, just, and honorable peace. To 
 these ends, and in conformity with the 
 request of Congress, I invite the people 
 of the Confederate States to the observ- 
 ance of a day of fasting and prayer by 
 such religious services as may be suitable 
 for the occasion, and I recommend Thurs- 
 day, the 13th day of June next, for that 
 purpose, and that we may all, on that 
 day, with on e accord, join m humble and 
 
222 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 reverential approach to Him in whose 
 hands we are, invoking Him to inspire 
 us with a proper spirit and temper of 
 heart and mind to bear our evils, to bless 
 us with His favor and protection, and to 
 bestow His gracious benediction upon 
 our government and country." 
 
 Having thus invoked a religious sanc- 
 tion upon its proceedings, the Congress 
 ended its second session at Montgomery 
 on the 21st May, by an act of adjourn- 
 ment to meet on the 20th of July at 
 Eichmond, which was henceforth to be 
 the capital of the Confederacy. 
 
 A few days after the adjournment we 
 find President Davis inditing a notable 
 epistle to a certain committee of the 
 Maryland Legislature who had addressed 
 a communication to the rebel government 
 in a " sympathizing" spirit. To this 
 friendly overture Davis made the follow- 
 ing smooth reply, asserting his disposi- 
 tion for peace, but abating nothing of the 
 pretensions of the Confederate States to 
 independence as a foreign nation. " I 
 receive," says he, "with pleasure the 
 assurance that the State of Maryland 
 sympathizes with the people of the Con- 
 federate States in their determined vin- 
 dication of the right of self-government, 
 and that the people of Maryland are en- 
 listed with their whole hearts on the side 
 of reconciliation and peace. The people 
 of these Confederate States, notwith- 
 standing their separation from their late 
 sister, have not ceased to feel deep solici- 
 tude in her welfare, and to hope that at 
 no distant day that State, whose people, 
 habits, and institutions are so closely re- 
 lated and assimilated with theirs, will 
 seek to unite her fate and fortunes with 
 those of this Confederacy. The govern- 
 ment of the Confederate States receives 
 with respect the suggestion of the State 
 
 of Maryland, that there should be a ces- 
 sation of the hostilities now impending 
 until the meeting of Congress in July 
 next, in order that said body may, if pos- 
 sible, arrange for an adjustment of the 
 existing troubles by means of negotia- 
 tions rather than the sword. But it is at 
 a loss how to reply without a repetition 
 of the language it has used on every 
 possible occasion that has presented itself, 
 since the establishment of its independ- 
 ence. In deference to the State of Mary- 
 land, however, it again asserts in the 
 most emphatic terms, that its sincere and 
 earnest desire is for peace, and that while 
 the government would readily entertain 
 any proposition from the Government of 
 the United States, tending to a peaceful 
 solution of the present difficulties^ the 
 recent attempts of this government to 
 enter into negotiations with that of the 
 United States were attended with results 
 which forbid any renewal of the pro- 
 posals from it to that government. If any 
 further assurance of the desire of this 
 government for peace were necessary, it 
 would be sufficient to observe that being 
 formed of a confederation of sovereign 
 States, each acting and deciding for itself, 
 the right of every other sovereign State 
 to assume self-action and self-government 
 is necessarily acknowledged. Hence con- 
 quests of other States are wholly incon- 
 sistent with the fundamental principles 
 and subversive of the very organization 
 of this government. Its policy cannot 
 but be peace peace with all nations and 
 people."* 
 
 Sunday, the 26th of Ma}^, the day fol- 
 lowing the date of this epistle, President 
 Davis, accompanied by his aid, Colonel 
 
 * Jefferson Davis to Messrs. McKaig, Yellott and Hard 
 ing, Committee of the Maryland Legislature. Montgomery 
 Ala., May 25, 1861. 
 
PRESIDENT DAVIS'S JOURNEY TO RICHMOND. 
 
 223 
 
 Wigfall, and by Robert Toombs, the 
 Secretary of State, set out by railway 
 for the new seat of the rebel govern- 
 ment at Richmond. Having recently 
 suffered from a severe illness, it was de- 
 sirable that his trip should be private, 
 but the President was quite too distin- 
 guished a person at this season of popu- 
 lar anxiety and enthusiasm to be al- 
 lowed to travel in quiet. " At each sta- 
 tion," as we are informed by an enthusi- 
 astic chronicler who presents us with 
 many curious particulars of the journey, 
 "his friends endeavored to convey this 
 information of the desire for privacy to 
 the citizens, but it was really to no pur- 
 pose. No matter where the cars stopped, 
 even though it was only for wood or for 
 water, throngs of men, women and chil- 
 dren would gather around the cars, ask- 
 ing, in loud shouts, l Where is President 
 Davis?' 'Jeff. Davis, the old hero!' and 
 he was forced to make his appearance, 
 and frequently to address them. Then 
 we could see handkerchiefs waving, and 
 gay flags and bouquets. When the flute- 
 like voice of Davis arose upon the air, 
 hushed to stillness by the profound re- 
 spect of his auditors, it was not long be- 
 fore there was an outburst of feeling 
 which gave vent to a tornado of voices ; 
 these would break forth in constant suc- 
 cession to the end of his address. Every 
 sentiment he uttered seemed to well up 
 from his heart, and was received with 
 the wildest enthusiasm. When he con- 
 cluded, three hearty cheers went up 
 from the multitude. The crowd then 
 shouted for Wigfall, and no excuse was 
 tolerated. In vain he would seek some 
 remote part of the cars ; the crowd 
 hunted him up, and the welkin rang 
 with rejoicings, as he addressed them in 
 his emphatic and fervent style of ora- 
 
 tory. Next would be heard a cry for 
 'Toombs!' He, too, sought to avoid 
 the call, but the echo would ring with 
 the name of ' Toombs !' ' Toombs !' and 
 the sturdy Georgian statesman had to 
 respond. His frank and open manner 
 came home to the hearts of all. Whether 
 in his own State, in South Carolina, in 
 Alabama, or North Carolina, ' Bob 
 Toombs,' as they familiarly called him 
 in Georgia, was always welcome when 
 he addressed the people. 
 
 " In Atlanta, Augusta, Wilmington 
 and Goldsborough, the crowds assembled 
 were very large, and the enthusiasm 
 unbounded. At Goldsborough, while 
 President Davis was partaking of his 
 supper in the hall of the hotel, the table 
 was thronged with beautiful girls, and 
 many were bedecking him with garlands 
 of flowers, while others fanned him. It 
 was a most interesting occasion. The 
 military had formed into squares to re- 
 ceive him from the cars ; guns were 
 fired, and the band struck up inspiriting 
 martial airs during the interval of supper. 
 
 " The whole country is a camp. On 
 every hand we see soldiers, and every 
 day the cars were crowded with them. 
 From appearances, they are the flower 
 of the South. The journey of President 
 Davis from Montgomery to the capital 
 was one continuous ovation. The whole 
 soul of the South is in this war ; and the 
 confidence manifested in 'ur President, 
 in the many scenes which transpired on 
 the trip, shows that the mantle of Wash- 
 ington falls gracefully upon his shoul- 
 ders. Never were a people more en- 
 raptured with their Chief Magistrate 
 than ours are with President Davis, and 
 the trip from Montgomery to Richmond 
 will ever be remembered with delight 
 by all who witnessed it. The eagerness 
 
224 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 of young and old and of all classes to 
 catch a glimpse of him, or take him by 
 the hand, is beyond description. This 
 trip has infused a martial feeling in our 
 people that knows no bounds. While, 
 however, there is a rush to the battle- 
 field in our older States, which threatens 
 to fill up all the ranks in our army, we 
 must have a thought for the far distant 
 West, and give our young sister States 
 an opportunity to unite their names in 
 the history of our war on the borders of 
 Virginia. The President and suite were 
 welcomed to Virginia by a deputation 
 of the Governor of the State and the 
 Mayor of Richmond. These gentlemen 
 reached the party at Petersburg, and 
 accompanied them to the city."* 
 
 Upon his arrival at Richmond, on the 
 28th, President Davis, accompanied by 
 an eager crowd of soldiers and civilians, 
 was attended to the new Fair Grounds, 
 where, addressing the multitude, he 
 pledged himself to their service to the 
 end. "My friends and fellow-citizens," 
 said he, "I am deeply impressed with 
 the kindness of your manifestation. I 
 look upon you as the last best hope of 
 liberty ; and in our liberty alone is our 
 constitutional government to be pre- 
 served. Upon your strong right arm 
 depends the success of our country, and 
 in asserting the birthright to which you 
 were born, you are to remember that life 
 and blood are nothing as compared with 
 the immense interests you have at stake. 
 It may be that you have not long been 
 trained, and that you have much to learn 
 of the art of war, but I know that there 
 beats in the breasts of Southern sons a 
 determination never to surrender a de- 
 termination never to go home but to tell 
 a tale of honor. Though great may be 
 
 * Richmond Enquirer, May 28, 1861. 
 
 the disparity of numbers, give us a fair 
 field and a free fight, and the Southern 
 banner will float in triumph everywhere. 
 The country relies upon you. Upon you 
 rests the hope of our people ; and I have 
 only to say, my friends, that to the last 
 breath of my life I am wholly your own." 
 A day or two after he was serenaded, 
 and again addressed the assembled crowd. 
 Several of his remarks were strikingly 
 significant of the situation of affairs, for 
 even on a chance occasion, he was not 
 the man to content himself with plati- 
 tudes. Contempt and revenge animated 
 his thoughts with a remarkable degree of 
 self-complacency as he uttered sentences 
 like the following : " Upon us is de- 
 volved the high and holy responsibility 
 of preserving the constitutional liberty 
 of a free government. Those with whom 
 we have lately associated have shown 
 themselves so incapable of appreciating 
 the blessings of the glorious institutions 
 they inherited, that they are to-day 
 stripped of the liberty to which they were 
 born. They have allowed an ignorant 
 usurper to trample upon all the preroga- 
 tives of citizenship, and to exercise 
 powers never delegated to him ; and it 
 has been reserved to your own State, so 
 lately one of the original thirteen, but 
 now, thank God, fully separated from 
 them, to become the theatre of a great 
 central camp, from which will pour forth 
 thousands of brave hearts to roll back 
 the tide of this despotism. Apart from 
 that gratification we may well feel at 
 being separated from such a connection, 
 is the pride that upon you devolves the 
 task of maintaining and defending our 
 new government. I believe that we 
 shall be able to achieve this noble work, 
 and that the institutions of our fathers 
 will go to our children is safely as they 
 
GENERAL BEAUREGARD. 
 
 225 
 
 have descended to us. In these Confed- 
 erate States we observe those relations 
 which have been poetically ascribed to 
 the United States, but which never there 
 had the same reality States so distinct 
 that each existed as a Sovereign, yet so 
 united that each was bound with the 
 other to constitute a whole ; or, as more 
 beautifully expressed, "Distinct as the 
 billows, yet one as the sea." Upon every 
 hill which now overlooks Richmond you 
 have had, and will continue to have 
 camps containing soldiers from every 
 State in the Confederacy ; and to its re- 
 motest limits every proud heart beats 
 high with indignation at the thought that 
 the foot of the invader has been set upon 
 the soil of old Virginia. There is not 
 one true son of the South who is not 
 ready to shoulder his musket, to bleed, 
 to die, or to conquer in the cause of lib- 
 erty here. 
 
 " Beginning under many embarrass- 
 ments, the result of seventy years of tax- 
 ation being in the hands of our enemies, 
 we must at first move cautiously. It 
 may be that we shall have to encounter 
 sacrifices ; but, my friends, under the 
 smiles of the God of the Just, and filled 
 with the same spirit that animated our 
 fathers, success shall perch on our banners. 
 I am sure you do not expect me to go 
 into any argument upon those questions 
 which, for twenty-five years, have agitated 
 the country. We have now reached the 
 points where, arguments being exhausted, 
 it only remains for us to stand by our 
 weapons. When the time and occasion 
 serve, we shall smite the smiter with 
 manly arms, as did our fathers before us, 
 and as becomes their sons. To the ene- 
 my we leave the base acts of the assassin 
 and incendiary, to them we leave it to 
 insult helpless women ; to us belongs 
 29 
 
 vengeance upon man. Now, my friends, 
 I thank you again for this gratifying 
 manifestation. (A voice. ' Tell us some- 
 thing of Buena Vista.') Well, my friends, 
 I can only say we will make the battle- 
 fields in Virginia another Buena Vista, 
 and drenched with blood more precious 
 than that which flowed there. We will 
 make a history for ourselves. We do 
 not ask that the past shall shed our 
 lustre upon us, bright as our past has 
 been, for we can achieve our own destiny. 
 We may point to many a field, over 
 which has floated the flag of our country 
 when we were of the United States 
 upon which Southern soldiers and South- 
 ern officers reflected their brave spirits 
 in their deeds of daring ; and without in- 
 tending to cast a shadow upon the cour- 
 age of any portion of the United States, 
 let me call it to your remembrance, that 
 no man who went from these Confederate 
 States has ever yet, as a general officer, 
 surrendered to an enemy." 
 
 On the 1st of June, General Beaure- 
 gard, having a few days previously re- 
 linquished his command of the forces 
 around Charleston, arrived at Eichmond, 
 on his way to command a division of the 
 Confederate army in the vicinity of the 
 Potomac. Previously to leaving Charles- 
 ton he addressed to General Martin, of 
 that city, the following letter, from which 
 it would appear that some other disposal 
 of his services was at first intended. It 
 is said that he was talked of for the com- 
 mand of the army in the West, with its 
 headquarters then at Corinth, Missis- 
 sippi, his occupation of which afterwards 
 became so celebrated. The epistle, though 
 unscrupulous in its terms, was none the 
 less on that account characteristic of the 
 writer's military zeal and determination. 
 The reference to General Scott as the 
 
226 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 "octogenarian," did not pass unnoticed 
 at the time. " I sincerely regret," wrote 
 General Beauregard, "leaving Charles- 
 ton, where the inhabitants have given me 
 such a welcome that I now consider it as 
 my second home. I had hoped that when 
 relieved from here it would have been to 
 go to Virginia, in command of the gal- 
 lant Carolinians, whose courage, patience 
 and zeal I had learned to appreciate and 
 admire. But it seems my services are 
 required elsewhere, and thither I shall 
 go, not with joy, but with the firm deter- 
 mination to do more than my duty, if I 
 can, and to leave as strong a mark as 
 possible on the enemies of our beloved 
 country, should they pollute its soil with 
 their dastardly feet. But rest assured, 
 my dear sir, that whatever happens at 
 first, we are certain to have triumph at 
 last, even if we had for arms only pitch- 
 forks and flint-lock muskets, for every 
 bush and hay-stack will become an am- 
 bush and every barn a fortress. The 
 history of nations proves that a gallant 
 and free people, fighting for their inde- 
 pendence and firesides, are invincible 
 against even disciplined mercenaries at a 
 few dollars per month. What, then, 
 must be the result when its enemies are 
 little more than an armed rabble, gather- 
 ed together hastily on a false pretence and 
 for an unholy purpose, with an octogen- 
 arian at its head? None but the de- 
 mented can doubt the issue."* 
 
 It was about this time that General 
 Beauregard presented to the volunteer 
 battalion of Orleans Guard at New Or- 
 leans, of which he was a member, a token 
 of his first achievement at Sumter, with 
 the following note, addressed to the com- 
 manding officer of the battalion : " I 
 
 * General Beauregard to General Martin, Charleston, 
 3. C., May 27. 1861. Published in the Charleston Courier, 
 
 send you, through Mr. T. K. Wharton, a 
 piece of the flag-staff of Fort Sumter, 
 which was struck nine times by the balls 
 and shells of our batteries, and finally 
 came down with the flag attached to it. 
 The piece sent you is intended as the 
 staff of your battalion colors, and I have 
 no doubt that when thus honored and 
 under the protection of our gallant com- 
 rades, it will meet with better success."* 
 A few days after this epistle was writ- 
 ten the following proclamation appeared 
 from General Beauregard, dated at his 
 headquarters, Department of Alexandria, 
 Camp Pickens, June 5, and addressed to 
 the people of the counties of Loudon, 
 Fairfax and Prince William : " A reck- 
 less and unprincipled tyrant has invaded 
 your soil. Abraham Lincoln, regardless 
 of all moral, legal and constitutional re- 
 straints has thrown .his Abolition hosts 
 among you, who are murdering and im- 
 prisoning your citizens, confiscating and 
 destroying your property, and commit- 
 ting other acts of violence and outrage, too 
 shocking and revolting to humanity to be 
 enumerated. All rules of civilized war- 
 fare are abandoned, and they proclaim by 
 their acts, if not on their banners, that 
 their war cry is 'Beauty and Booty.' 
 All that is dear to man your honor and 
 that of your wives and daughters your 
 fortunes and your lives, are involved in 
 this momentous contest. In the name, 
 therefore, of the constituted authorities 
 of the Confederate States in the sacred 
 cause of constitutional liberty and self- 
 government, for which we are contend- 
 ing in behalf of civilization itself. I. G. 
 T. Beauregard, Brigadier-General of the 
 
 * Brigadier-General P. G. T. Beauregard to Major Numa 
 Augusten, commanding New Orleans Battalion, New Or- 
 leans. Headquarters Provisional Army C. S. A., Charles 
 ton, S.C., May 22, 1831. itTi 
 
UNHANDSOME EXPRESSIONS. 
 
 227 
 
 Confederate States, commanding at Camp 
 Pickens, Manassas Junction, do make 
 this my proclamation, and invite and 
 enjoin you by every consideration dear 
 to the hearts of freemen and patriots, by 
 the name and memory of your Eevolu- 
 tionary fathers, and by the purity and 
 sanctity of your domestic firesides, to 
 rally to the standard of your State and 
 country ; and, by every means in your 
 power, compatible with honorable war- 
 fare, to drive back and expel the invad- 
 ers from your land. I conjure you to be 
 true and loyal to your country and her 
 legal and constitutional authorities, and 
 especially to be vigilant of the move- 
 ments and acts of the enemy, so as to 
 enable you to give the earliest authentic 
 information at these headquarters, or to 
 officers under his command. I desire to 
 assure you that the utmost protection in 
 my power will be given to you all." 
 
 The atrocious terms of this proclama- 
 tion, in such striking contrast with the con- 
 ciliatory addresses of the Union officers, 
 were much commented upon as an indi- 
 cation of the manner in which the war 
 was to be conducted on the part of the 
 rebels. Was this the coming man, the 
 "leader" for whom the- Virginia seces- 
 sionists were clamorous, and whose arriv- 
 al for the capture of Washington the 
 Richmond Examiner, a short time be- 
 fore, had announced with similar violence 
 and indecency as immediately at hand ? 
 " Our people can take it they will take 
 it," was the language of that fanatical 
 jourual, " and Scott the arch-traitor, and 
 Lincoln, the beast, combined, cannot pre- 
 vent it. The just indignation of an out- 
 raged and deeply injured people will 
 teach the Illinois Ape to repeat his race, 
 and retrace his journey across the bor- 
 ders of the free-negro States still more 
 
 rapidly than he came ; and Scott, the 
 traitor, will be given an opportunity at 
 the same time to try the difference be- 
 tween ' Scott's tactics ' and the Shanghai 
 drill for quick movements. Great cleans- 
 ing -and purification are needed, and will 
 be given, to that festering sink of iniqui- 
 ty, that wallow of Lincoln and Scott 
 the desecrated city of Washington ; and 
 many indeed will be the carcasses of 
 dogs and caitiffs that will blacken the aii 
 upon the gallows before the great work 
 is accomplished. So let it be."* This 
 was a characteristic specimen of much of 
 the literature of the Southern secession 
 press, particularly in the early period 
 of the war. A few months later, when 
 hard blows succeeded to hard words, 
 such effusions of Billingsgate grew some- 
 what rare. Even foul-mouthed editors 
 had less to say of Lincoln as an ape 
 and Scott as a traitor. We would not 
 sully our page with these ridiculous ebul- 
 litions were they not an essential portion 
 of the history of the times. The attempt 
 to degrade the person and character of 
 the Chief Magistrate in the opinion of 
 the less informed people of the South, 
 was by no means an unimportant part 
 of the vile machinery of the rebellion. 
 Such puerilities and absurdities, gross as 
 they were, undoubtedly had their effect in 
 alienating the citizens from the Govern- 
 ment ; especially as they were supported 
 by the affected cool contempt of the up- 
 per classes. 
 
 If these unhandsome expressions were 
 to be regarded as belonging to the vul- 
 gar depreciation common to all commun- 
 ities engaged in actual warfare, there 
 were other more serious declarations of 
 the motives or impressions of the com- 
 batants and their view of the principles 
 
 * Richmond Examiner, April 23, 1861 ; ante, p. 150. 
 
228 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 at stake, from which it might be antici- 
 pated that the coming struggle on the 
 part of the South would be maintained 
 with earnestness and severity. An in- 
 dication of the feeling with which the 
 Southern troops were sent from their 
 homes for the North at this time, may be 
 gathered from the language of an address 
 delivered from the portico of the City 
 Hall at New Orleans, to the Washington 
 Artillery, on their departure for the new 
 seat of war in Virginia. It was spoken 
 by the Eev. Dr. B. M. Palmer, an emi- 
 nent Presbyterian clergyman of that city, 
 and is of course entitled to be considered 
 a fair expression of the opinions and sen- 
 timents of the citizens. Dr. Palmer will 
 be remembered as the preacher of a dis- 
 course on President Buchanan's Fast-day 
 in November, in the First Presbyterian 
 Church of New Orleans, entitled "Slav- 
 ery a Divine Trust the Duty of the 
 South to preserve and perpetuate it," in 
 which he not only enjoined that the "in- 
 stitution " should be maintained as it ex- 
 isted, but asserted that the South, "as its 
 constituted guardian, can demand nothing 
 less than that it should be left open to 
 expansion, subject to no limitations save 
 those imposed by God and nature." In 
 the same discourse, he made this compar- 
 ison of the social systems of the two 
 portions of the country, which he evi- 
 dently then regarded as about to be per- 
 manently disunited. "The argument," 
 said he, " which enforces the solemnity 
 of this providential trust is simple and 
 condensed. It is bound upon us, then, 
 by the principle of -self -preservation, that 
 ' first law ' which is continually asserting 
 its supremacy over others. Need I pause 
 to show how this system of servitude un- 
 derlies and supports our material inter- 
 ests? That our wealth consists in our 
 
 lands, and in the serfs who till them? 
 That from the nature of our products 
 they can only be cultivated by labor 
 which must be controlled in order to be 
 certain ? That any other but a tropical 
 race must faint and wither beneath a 
 tropical sun ? Need I pause to show how 
 this system is interwoven with our entire 
 social fabric ? That these slaves form 
 parts of our households, even as our 
 children ; and that, too, through a rela- 
 tionship recognized and sanctioned in the 
 Scriptures of God even as the other? 
 Must I pause to show how it has fashion- 
 ed our modes of life, and determined all 
 our habits of thought and feeling, and 
 moulded the very type of our civiliza- 
 tion ? How, then, can the hand of vio- 
 lence be laid upon it without involving 
 our existence ? The so-called free States 
 of this country are working out the so- 
 cial problem under conditions peculiar to 
 themselves. These conditions are suffi- 
 ciently hard, and their success is too un- 
 certain, to excite in us the least jealousy 
 of their lot. With a teeming population, 
 which the soil cannot support with their 
 wealth depending upon arts, created by 
 artificial wants '-with an eternal friction 
 between the grades of their society 
 with their labor and their capital grind- 
 ing against each other like the upper and 
 nether millstones with labor cheapened 
 and displaced by new mechanical inven- 
 tions, bursting more asunder the bonds 
 of brotherhood ; amid these intricate 
 perils we have ever given them our sym- 
 pathy and our prayers, and have never 
 sought to weaken the foundation of their 
 social order. God grant them complete 
 success in the solution of all their per- 
 plexities ! We, too, have our responsi- 
 bilities and our trials ; but they are all 
 bound up in this one institution, which 
 
A SOUTHERN DIVINE. 
 
 229 
 
 has been the object of such unrighteous 
 assault through five and twenty years. 
 If we are true to ourselves we shall, at 
 this critical juncture, stand by it and 
 work out our destiny." 
 
 The conflict which Dr. Palmer in No- 
 vember regarded as imminent had in 
 May become a reality, though it was 
 not undertaken by the North on the 
 issue set forth by the Southern divine. 
 If the rebellion grew out of slavery, and 
 "was, as it was often popularly termed, 
 " the slaveholder's rebellion," the war 
 undertaken by the North, it should not 
 be forgotten, was not for the suppression 
 of the peculiar institution, but for the 
 suppression of the rebellion and the 
 preservation of the Union, a national 
 question overriding all local interests. 
 With this reference to the opinions of 
 the speaker, we may the better appre- 
 ciate his address to the members of the 
 Washington Artillery. It was custom- 
 ary at the North, at the beginning and in 
 the course of this struggle, to place great 
 reliance on the justice and sanctity of the 
 cause which it was defending, to the neg- 
 lect at times of more practical suggestions. 
 Here, it may be observed, the same ap- 
 peals were made and the same religious 
 sanctions invoked. " Soldiers," said this 
 reverend divine, "history reads to us 
 of wars which have been baptized as 
 holy ; but she enters upon her records 
 none that is holier than this in which 
 you have embarked. It is a war of de- 
 fence against wicked and cruel aggression 
 a war of civilization against a ruthless 
 barbarism which would dishonor the 
 dark ages a war of religion against a 
 blind and bloody fanaticism. It is a 
 war for your homes and firesides for 
 your wives and children for the land 
 which the Lord has given us for a herit- 
 
 age. It is a war for the maintenance 
 of the broadest principle for which a free 
 people can contend the right of self- 
 government. Eighty-five years ago our 
 fathers fought in defence of the char- 
 tered right of Englishmen, that taxation 
 and representation are correlative. ; We, 
 their sons, contend to-day for the great 
 American principle that all just govern- 
 ment derives its powers from the will of 
 the governed. It is the corner-stone of 
 the great temple which, on this conti- 
 nent, has been reared to civil freedom ; 
 and its denial leads, as the events of the 
 past two months have clearly shown, to 
 despotism, the most absolute and intol- 
 erable, a despotism more grinding than 
 that of the Turk or Russian, because it 
 is the despotism of the mob, unregulated 
 by principle or precedent, drifting at 
 the will of an unscrupulous and irre- 
 sponsible majority. The alternative 
 which the North has laid before her 
 people is the subjugation of the South, 
 or what they are pleased to call abso- 
 lute anarchy. The alternative before 
 us is, the independence of the South or 
 a despotism which will put its iron heel 
 upon all that the human heart can hold 
 dear. This mighty issue is to be sub- 
 mitted to the ordeal of battle, with the 
 nations of the earth as spectators, and 
 with the God of Heaven as umpire. 
 The theatre appointed for the struggle 
 is the soil of Virginia, beneath the 
 shadow of her own Alleghanies. Com- 
 prehending the import of this great con- 
 troversy from the first, Virginia sought 
 to stand between the combatants, and 
 pleaded for such an adjustment as both 
 the civilization and the religion of the 
 age demanded. When this became hope- 
 less, obeying the instincts of that nature 
 which has ever made her the Mother of 
 
230 
 
 WAR FOIl THE UNION. 
 
 Statesmen and of States, she has opened 
 her broad bosom to the blows of a ty- 
 rant's hand. Upon such a theatre, with 
 such an issue pending before such a tri- 
 bunal, we have no doubt of the part 
 which will be assigned you to play ; and 
 when we hear the thunders of your can- 
 
 non echoing from the mountain passes of 
 Yirginia, will understand that you mean, 
 in the language of Cromwell at tne cap- 
 tie of Drogheda, ' to cut this war to the 
 heart.' "* 
 
 * Address of the Rev. Dr. Palmer to the Washington 
 Artillery, New Orleans, May 27, 1861. 
 
 CHAPTEE XYI. 
 
 THE DEATH OF SENATOR DOUGLAS. 
 
 IN the midst of the anxieties attending 
 the now inevitable recognition of the 
 state of civil conflict into which the na- 
 tion had been plunged, the public was 
 suddenly startled by intelligence of the 
 dangerous illness, terminating in a few 
 days in the death of one of the foremost 
 political actors in the great drama. 
 Stephen Arnold Douglas, in the maturity 
 of his mental and physical powers, died 
 of an attack of fever at the City of Chi- 
 cago, June 3, 1861. Justly considered 
 of national importance at a critical period 
 of affairs, this event was made the follow- 
 ing da) 7 " the subject of a special circular 
 from the office of the Secretary of War 
 at Washington. " The death of a great 
 statesman in this hour of peril," was the 
 language of Mr. Cameron in this docu- 
 ment, " cannot be regarded otherwise 
 than as a national calamity Stephen A. 
 Douglas expired in the commercial capi- 
 tal of Illinois, yesterday morning, at 9 
 o'clock. A representative of the over- 
 powering sentiment enlisted in the cause 
 in which they are engaged ; a man who 
 nobly discarded party for country ; a 
 senator who forgot all prejudices in an 
 earnest desire to serve the public ; a 
 statesman who lately received for the 
 
 chief magistracy of the United States a 
 vote second only to that by which the Pre- 
 sident was elected, and who had every 
 reason to look forward to a long career 
 of usefulness and honor ; a patriot who 
 defended with equal zeal and ability the 
 Constitution as it came to us from our 
 fathers, and whose last mission upon 
 earth was that of rallying the people of 
 his own State of Illinois as one man 
 around the glorious flag of the Union, 
 has been called from the scenes of life and 
 the field of his labors. This department 
 recognizing in his decease a loss in com- 
 mon with the whole country, and pro- 
 foundly sensible of the grief it will excite 
 among millions of men, hereby advises 
 the colonels of the different regiments to 
 have this order read to-morrow to their 
 respective commands, and suggests that 
 the colors of the republic be draped in 
 mourning in honor of the illustrious 
 dead." 
 
 The career of the statesman whose loss 
 the country was thus called upon to de- 
 plore would be pronounced an extra- 
 ordinary one in any other country than 
 America, where similar instances of tri- 
 umph over poverty in youth and early 
 employment with rapid promotion in 
 
- . /' 
 
 '/u? kiStt',' ', /fa^ /7V7K, 2JSF. 
 
STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS. 
 
 231 
 
 political life are not uncommon. Born 
 at Brandon, Vermont, in 1813, the son 
 of a physician of good repute, he was 
 left in his infancy, by the death of that 
 parent, to the care of his mother, whose 
 fortunes did not allow him any other 
 opportunities for education, eager as the 
 boy became for knowledge, beyond the 
 instruction of the common schools of the 
 neighborhood. Unable to gratify his de- 
 sire to prepare for college, he appren- 
 ticed himself to a cabinet-maker and 
 worked at the trade for 18 months. He 
 then extricated himself from this employ- 
 ment, entered the academy at Brandon, 
 at the age of 17, pursued his studies 
 there with diligence for more than a year, 
 when the family removing to Canandai- 
 gua, New York, he attended the academy 
 at that place, and began the study of the 
 law in the office of a lawyer of the town. 
 With this mental stock in trade, at the 
 age of 20, he determined to seek his for- 
 tunes in the West. Traversing various 
 cities Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville, 
 St. Louis he finally alighted upon the 
 small town of Winchester, in the vicinity 
 of Jacksonville, Illinois, where he opened 
 a school, gave the day to the pupils and 
 the night to the law, and in 1834 was 
 admitted to the bar. Of ready talents, 
 sagacious and resolute, his success was 
 immediate. There, too, was inflamed that 
 passion for political life which inspired 
 his whole course to his latest moments. 
 Illinois adopted him at once as her repre- 
 sentative. Before he had completed his 
 22d year, he was chosen attorne} r -general 
 of the State ; two years afterward he re- 
 signed that office to become a member of 
 the Legislature, the year following he 
 was appointed by President Van Buren 
 register of the land-office at Springfield, 
 and in 1838, but a few months after at- 
 
 taining the requisite age, was a candidate 
 of the democratic party for the national 
 House of Representatives, losing his 
 election only by five votes. At the en- 
 suing Presidential election, in 1840, be 
 threw himself vigorously into the cam- 
 paign on the side of Yan Buren, address- 
 ing meetings of the people in all parts 
 of the State. He was the same year 
 appointed Secretary of State of Illinois, 
 and in 1841, at the age of 27, was elected 
 by the legislature a judge of the supreme 
 court of the State. Three years after- 
 ward he was sent to Congress, and was 
 twice reflected, being withdrawn from 
 his third term in the House to take a 
 seat in 1847 in the United States Senate. 
 In that position he remained till his 
 death, so that for 27 years, during 18 of 
 which he served continuously in the na- 
 tional legislature, he was constantly be* 
 fore the public in connection with political 
 interests. He was thrice a candidate in 
 the democratic conventions for the Presi- 
 dency : in 1852, in opposition to Gen- 
 eral Pierce ; in 1856 to Mr. Buchanan, 
 and in 1860, when his successful nomin- 
 ation, as we have seen, was attended by 
 that division of the party which se- 
 cured the election of President Lincoln. 
 Adopting generally the principles and 
 advocating the policy of the democratic 
 party during his career in Washington, a 
 supporter of the ultra Oregon claim, of the 
 annexation of Texas, of the application 
 of the Monroe Doctrine, of the peaceful 
 acquisition of Cuba and the like measures, 
 Senator Douglas struck out a path for 
 himself in his advocacy of his favorite 
 doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, a theory 
 by which he sought V> solve the pressing 
 difficulties of slavery m the Territories, 
 and for the practical adoption of which 
 he attempted to prepare the way by the 
 
232 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 introduction of the Kansas and Nebraska 
 Bill. The passage of that act in 1854, by 
 its abolition of the Missouri Compromise, 
 restricting slavery, with the exception of 
 Missouri, to the territory south of 36' 30" 
 the northern line of Arkansas, was the 
 prelude to the fearful contest which im- 
 mediately ensued in Kansas, and un- 
 doubtedly opened the way for the adverse 
 political issues which preceded the pre- 
 sent rebellion. How far Mr. Douglas 
 was responsible for letting loose upon the 
 public this angry strife, it is not necessary 
 here to inquire. Suffice it to say that 
 his theory of Popular Sovereignty, beset 
 with difficulties of the most formidable 
 character, failed to work well in practice 
 and was not only rejected by a great 
 body of his countrymen of a different 
 school of politics, but embarrassed him 
 greatly with the members of his own 
 party, whose ultra pretensions he was 
 compelled to oppose in his resistance to 
 the Lecompton Pro-slavery Constitution, 
 when an attempt was made to force that 
 measure upon Congress. 
 
 We have already called attention to the 
 manly support which Senator Douglas, 
 after his defeat in the Presidential elec- 
 tion of 1860, gave to the administration 
 of his successful rival. The patriotic 
 course which he pursued at this crisis 
 was the crowning glory of his life. Finis 
 coronat opus. In the kindling addresses 
 which he delivered to the people of the 
 West in the brief interval between his 
 final departure from Washington and his 
 death, his words were impressed with a 
 warmth and eloquence denied to his most 
 ingenious and elaborate efforts in the 
 partisan conflicts to which he had devot- 
 ed so much of his life. On his journey, 
 in April, from the capital to Illinois, he 
 was arrested on several occasions by the 
 
 enthusiasm of the people, and summoned 
 to respond to their earnest appeals for 
 sympathy and counsel. Ever ready for 
 the occasion, he spoke to the citizens of 
 Ohio and Virginia in the neighborhood 
 of Wheeling, was again called upon at 
 Columbus, addressed the Legislature of 
 Illinois at Springfield, and on his arrival 
 at Chicago, on the evening of the 1st of 
 May, was received by an immense as- 
 semblage of the citizens, who had just 
 been raised to a high pitch of excitement 
 by the departure of their volunteer sol- 
 diery. It was but a fortnight after 
 the fall of Sumter, and the State was 
 straining every nerve for the support of 
 the Government. The speech of Senator 
 Douglas on this occasion, o^ that West- 
 ern soil whose interests it was his pride 
 to promote and with which his fame is 
 identified, was the last which he deliver- 
 ed, and is thus impressed with a peculiar 
 value, while its testimony as to the origin 
 and nature of the rebellion is of especial 
 significance, coming from one so intimate- 
 ly acquainted with the authors of the 
 evil and the course of public events dur- 
 ing its development. The place, it may be 
 mentioned, in which the address was de- 
 livered, was the spacious Eepublican wig- 
 wam which, having performed its work 
 in the election of President Lincoln, was 
 now, in the spirit of the occasion all 
 party distinctions being for the time laid 
 aside named the National Hall. This 
 was happily stated by the chairman of 
 the meeting, Mr. Thomas B. Bryan, who 
 in a few eloquent and patriotic remarks, 
 welcomed the orator of the evening. 
 
 Mr. Douglas then rose. " I thank 
 you," said he, "for the kind terms in 
 which you have been pleased to welcome 
 me. I thank the Committee and citizens 
 of Chicago for this grand and imposing 
 
SPEECH OF SENATOR DOUGLAS. 
 
 283 
 
 reception. I beg you to believe that I 
 will not do you nor myself the injustice 
 to believe this magnificent ovation is per- 
 sonal homage to myself. I rejoice to 
 know that it expresses your devotion to 
 the Constitution, the Union, and the flag 
 of our country. I will not conceal grat- 
 ification at the uncontrovertible test this 
 vast audience presents that what polit- 
 ical differences or party questions may 
 have divided us, yet you all had a con- 
 viction that when the country should be 
 in danger, my loyalty could be relied on. 
 That the present danger is imminent, no 
 jian can conceal. If war must come 
 if the bayonet must be used to maintain 
 the Constitution I can say before Glod 
 iniy conscience is clean. I have struggled 
 long for a peaceful solution of the diffi- 
 culty. I have not only tendered those 
 States what was theirs of right, but I 
 have gone to the very extreme of mag- 
 nanimity. The return we receive is war, 
 armies marched upon our Capital, ob- 
 structions and dangers to our navigation, 
 letters of marque to invite pirates to 
 prey upon our commerce, a concerted 
 movement to blot out the United States 
 of America from the map of the globe. 
 The question is, are we to maintain the 
 country of our fathers, or allow it to be 
 stricken down by those who, when they 
 can no longer govern, threaten to de- 
 stroy ? 
 
 "What cause, what excuse do Dis- 
 unionists give us for breaking up the 
 best Government on which the sun of 
 heaven ever shed its rays ? They are 
 dissatisfied with the result of a Presiden- 
 tial election. Did they never get beaten 
 before; ? Are we to resort to the sword 
 when we get defeated at the ballot-box ? 
 I understand it that the voice of the peo- 
 ple, expressed in the mode appointed by 
 20 
 
 the Constitution, must command the obe- 
 dience of every citizen. They assume, 
 on the election of a particular candidate, 
 that their rights are not safe in the Union. 
 What evidence do they present of this ? 
 I defy any man to show any act on which 
 it is based. What act has been omitted to 
 be done ? I appeal to these assembled 
 thousands that, so far as the constitution- 
 al rights of the Southern States I will 
 say the constitutional rights of slavehold- 
 ers are concerned, nothing has been 
 done, and nothing omitted, of which they 
 can complain. There has never been a 
 time, from the day that Washington was 
 inaugurated first President of these Unit- 
 ed States, when the rights of the South- 
 ern States stood firmer under the laws 
 of the land than they do now ; there 
 never was a time when they had not as 
 good a cause for disunion as they have 
 to-day. What good cause have they now 
 that has not existed under every admin- 
 istration ? If they say the "Territorial 
 question now, for the first time, there 
 is no act of Congress prohibiting slavery 
 anywhere. If it be the non-enforcement 
 of the laws, the only complaints that I 
 have heard have been of the too vigorous 
 and faithful fulfilment of the Fugitive 
 Slave Law. Then what reason have 
 they ? The Slavery question is a mere 
 excuse. The election of Lincoln is a 
 mere pretext. The present secession 
 movement is the result of an enormous 
 conspiracy formed more than a year since 
 -formed by leaders in the Southern 
 Confederacy more than twelve months 
 ago. They use the Slavery question as 
 a means to aid the accomplishment of 
 their ends. They desired the election of 
 a Northern candidate by a sectional vote, 
 in order to show that the two sections 
 cannot live together. When the history 
 
234 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 of the two yeai, from the Lecompton 
 charter down to the Presidential election, 
 shall be written, it will be shown that the 
 scheme was deliberately made to break 
 up this Union. They desired a North- 
 ern Republican to be elected by a purely 
 Northern vote, and then assign this fact 
 as a reason why the sections may not 
 longer live together. If the Disunion 
 candidate in the late Presidential contest 
 had carried the united South, their 
 scheme was the Northern candidate 
 successful to seize the Capital last 
 spring, and, by a United South and di- 
 vided North, hold it. That scheme was 
 defeated in the defeat of the Disunion 
 candidate in several of the Southern 
 States. 
 
 " But this is no time for a detail of 
 causes. The conspiracy is now known. 
 Armies have been raised, war is levied 
 to accomplish it. There are only two 
 sides to the question. Every man must 
 be for the*United States or against it. 
 There can be no neutrals in this war 
 mly patriot's or traitors. Thank God, 
 Illinois is not divided on this question. 
 I know they expected to present a united 
 South against a divided North. They 
 hoped in the Northern States party ques- 
 tions would bring civil war between De- 
 mocrats and Republicans, when the South 
 would step in with her cohorts, aid one 
 party to conquer the other, and then 
 make easy prey of the victors. Their 
 scheme was carnage and civil war in the 
 North. There is but one way to defeat this. 
 In Illinois it is being so defeated by clos- 
 ing up the ranks. "War will thus be pre- 
 vented on our own soil. While there was 
 a h ope of peace I was ready for any rea- 
 sonable sacrifice or compromise to main- 
 tain it. But when the question comes 
 of war in the cotton-fields of the South 
 
 or the corn-fields of Illinois, I say the 
 farther off the better. We cannot close 
 our eyes to the sad and solemn fact that 
 war does exist. The Government must 
 be maintained, its enemies overthrown, 
 and the more stupendous our prepara- 
 tions, the less the bloodshed and the 
 shorter the struggle. But we must re- 
 member certain restraints on our action 
 even in time of war. We are a Chris- 
 tian people, and the war must be prose- 
 cuted in a manner as recognized by 
 Christian nations. We must not invade 
 Constitutional rights. The innocent must 
 not suffer, nor women and children be 
 the victims. Savages must not be let 
 loose. But while I sanction no war on 
 the rights of others, I will implore my 
 countrymen not to lay down their arms 
 until our own rights are recognized. 
 
 " The Constitution and its guarantees 
 are our birth-right, and I am ready to 
 enforce that inalienable right to the last 
 extent. We cannot recognize secession. 
 Recognize it once, and you have not only 
 dissolved government, but you have de- 
 stroyed social order, upturned the foun- 
 dations of society. You have inaugurat- 
 ed anarchy in its worst form, and will 
 shortly experience all the horrors of the 
 French Revolution. Then we have a sol- 
 emn duty to maintain the Government. 
 The greater our unanimity the speedier 
 the day of peace. We have prejudices 
 to overcome from the few short months 
 since of a fierce party contest. Yet these 
 must be allayed. Let us lay aside all 
 criminations and recriminations as to the 
 origin of these difficulties. When we 
 shall have again a country with the Unit- 
 ed States flag floating over it and respect- 
 ed on every inch of American soil, it 
 will then be time enough to ask who and 
 what brought all this upon us. I have 
 
ONE PATH OF DUTY. 
 
 235 
 
 said more than I intended to say. It is 
 a sad task to discuss questions so fearful 
 as civil war, but sad as it is, bloody and 
 disastrous as I expect it will be, I express 
 it as my conviction before God, that it is 
 the duty of every American citizen to 
 rally round the flag of his country. I 
 thank you again for this magnificent de- 
 monstration. By it you show you have 
 laid aside party strife. Illinois has a 
 proud position. United, firm, determin- 
 ed never to permit the Government to 
 be destroyed." 
 
 A few days after this address was de- 
 livered we find Senator Douglas confined 
 to his room, deprived of the use of his 
 hand, by a severe attack of rheumatism, 
 dictating to an amanuensis his last public 
 letter, enjoining upon a committee of the 
 democratic party who had written to him 
 for advice, the policy and duty of render- 
 ing a cordial support to the government. 
 " It seems," says he in this epistle, " that 
 some of my friends are unable to compre- 
 hend the difference between arguments 
 used in favor of an equitable compromise, 
 with the hope of averting the horrors of 
 war, and those urged in support of the 
 government and flag of our country, 
 when war is being waged against the 
 United States with the avowed purpose 
 of producing a permanent disruption of 
 the Union and a total destruction of its 
 government. All hope of compromise 
 with the Cotton States was abandoned 
 when they assumed the position that the 
 separation of the Union was complete 
 and final, and that they would never 
 consent to a reconstruction in any contin- 
 gency- -not even if we would furnish 
 them with a blank sheet of paper and 
 permit them to inscribe their own terms. 
 Still the hope was cherished that reason- 
 able t?nd satisfactory terms of adjustment 
 
 could be agreed upon with Tennessee, 
 North Carolina, and the Border States, 
 and that whatever terms would prove 
 satisfactory to these loyal States would 
 create a Union party in the Cotton States 
 which would be powerful enough at the 
 ballot-box to destroy the Revolutionary 
 government, and bring those States back 
 into the Union by the voice of their own 
 people. This hope was cherished by 
 Union men North and South, and was 
 never abandoned until actual war was 
 levied at Charleston, and the authorita- 
 tive announcement made by the Revolu- 
 tionary government at Montgomery, that 
 the secession flag should be planted upon 
 the walls of the Capitol at Washington, 
 and a proclamation issued inviting the 
 pirates of the world to prey upon the 
 commerce of the United States. These 
 startling facts, taken in connection with 
 the boastful announcement that the rav- 
 ages of war and carnage should be 
 quickly transferred from the cotton fields 
 of the South to the wheat fields and corn 
 fields of the North, furnish conclusive 
 evidence that it was the fixed purpose of 
 the secessionists utterly to destroy the 
 government of our fathers and obliterate 
 the United States from the map of the 
 world. In view of this state of facts 
 there was but one path of duty left to 
 patriotic men. It was not a party ques- 
 tion, nor a question involving partisan 
 policy ; it was a question of government 
 or no government ; country or no coun- 
 try ; and hence it became the imperative 
 duty of Union men, every friend of con- 
 stitutional liberty, to rally to the support 
 of our common country, its government 
 and flag, as the only means of checking 
 the progress of revolution and of pre- 
 serving the Union of the States. 
 
 " I am unable to answer your questions 
 
236 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 in respect to the policy of Mr. Lincoln 
 and his Cabinet. I am not in their con- 
 fidence, as you and the whole country 
 ought to be aware. I am neither the 
 supporter of the partisan policy nor the 
 apologist for the errors of the Adminis- 
 tration. My previous relations to them 
 remain unchanged ; but I trust the time 
 will never come when I shall not be will- 
 ing to make any needful sacrifice of per- 
 sonal feeling and party policy for the 
 honor and integrity of my country. I 
 know of no mode by which a loyal citi- 
 zen may so well demonstrate his devotion 
 to his country as by sustaining the Flag, 
 the Constitution, and the Union, under 
 all circumstances, and under every ad- 
 ministration (regardless of party politics), 
 against all assailants, at home and abroad. 
 The course of Clay and Webster toward 
 the administration of General Jackson, in 
 the days of Nullification, presents a noble 
 and worthy example for all true patriots. 
 At the very moment when that fearful 
 crisis was precipitated upon the country, 
 partisan strife between whigs and demo- 
 crats was quite as bitter and relentless as 
 now between democrats and republicans. 
 The gulf which separated party leaders 
 in those days was quite as broad and 
 deep as that which now separates the 
 democracy from the republicans. But 
 the moment an enemy rose in our midst, 
 plotting the dismemberment of the Union 
 and the destruction of the government, 
 the voice of partisan strife was hushed 
 in patriotic silence. One of the brightest 
 chapters in the history of our country 
 will record the fact that during this 
 eventful period the great leaders of the 
 Opposition, sinking the partisan into the 
 patriot, rushed to the support of the 
 government, and became its ablest and 
 bravest defenders against all assailants 
 
 until the conspiracy was crushed and 
 abandoned, when they resumed their 
 former positions as party leaders upon 
 political issues. These acts of patriotic 
 devotion have never been deemed evi- 
 dences of infidelity or political treachery 
 on the part of Clay and Webster, to the 
 principles and organization of the old 
 whig party. Nor have I any apprehen- 
 sion that the firm and unanimous support 
 which the democratic leaders and masses 
 are now giving to the Constitution and 
 the Union will ever be deemed evidences 
 of infidelity to democratic principles, or 
 a want of loyalty to the organization and 
 creed of the democratic party. If we 
 hope to regain and perpetuate the ascend- 
 ency of pur party, we should never for- 
 get that a man cannot be a true democrat 
 unless he is a loyal patriot."* 
 
 In accordance with these patriotic in- 
 junctions were his last words, a parting 
 legacy of advice to his children, as his 
 wife leaned over him in his dying mo- 
 ments : " Tell them to support the 
 Constitution and the Laws." 
 
 When Congress met in extra session 
 in July, according to the custom of that 
 body a day was set apart for the ex- 
 pression of sentiments of respect to the 
 memory of the deceased senator. Eulo- 
 gies were pronounced in the Senate by 
 his colleague Mr. Trumbull, by his suc- 
 cessor Mr. Browning, by Mr. McDougall 
 of California, Mr. Nesmith of Oregon, 
 Mr. Coliamer of Vermont, Mr. Anthony 
 of Rhode Island ; and in the House by 
 Messrs. Richardson, McClernand, Arnold 
 and Fouke of Illinois, Messrs. Critten- 
 den and Wickliffe of Kentucky, Mr. Cox 
 of Ohio, Mr. Lane of Indiana, and others. 
 Many things were said in honor of the 
 
 * Letter of Stephen A. Douglas, Chicago, May 10, 1861, 
 to Virgil Hicox, Chairman State Democrat!-} Committee. 
 
SENATOR DOUGLAS AND PRESIDENT LINCOJuN. 
 
 237 
 
 departed senator's career, his energy, his 
 public services, his patriotism, his su- 
 periority to party in the last months of 
 his life. From the collection of these 
 obituary addresses published by Con- 
 gress we select a passage from the re- 
 marks offered by a Eepublican member 
 of the House of Representatives, for its 
 bearing on the topics of this narrative. 
 The following enumeration of the emi- 
 nent men furnished by Illinois to the 
 annals of the country in the present gen- 
 eration is certainly noticeable, embracing 
 as it does several of the distinguished 
 actors of the present war. "About 
 twenty years," said Mr. Isaac N. Arnold 
 of Illinois, "there practiced at the same 
 bar, in the small town of Springfield, Il- 
 linois, a very remarkable combination of 
 men. Among them Abraham Lincoln, 
 President of the United States ; Stephen 
 A. Douglas not less distinguished ; Ly- 
 man Truinbull, the eminent colleague of 
 Douglas ; James Shields, who won a high 
 reputation on the battle fields of Mexico, 
 and in this Capitol ; E. D. Baker, Sena- 
 tor from Oregon ; John J. Hardin, who 
 fell upon the bloody field of Buena 
 Vista ; James A. McDougall, Senator 
 from California ; 0. H. Browning, the 
 successor of Judge Douglas. Besides 
 these, there was the late Governor Bis- 
 sell, whose eloquence, in vindication of 
 the bravery of the Illinois volunteers 
 against the aspersions of the traitor 
 Davis, is still remembered in this House ; 
 and there was also Richard Yates, the 
 present Governor of Illinois, and my dis- 
 tinguished friends and colleagues, Colo- 
 nels Richardson and McClernand." 
 
 Of the personal relations between Sen- 
 ator Douglas and President Lincoln he 
 said, ''Among the many incidents in the 
 life of Douglas, upon which the people 
 
 will linger with pleasure, are events 
 growing out of the relations between 
 him and the President of the United 
 States. Those relations were, in my 
 opinion, alike honorable to the departed 
 Senator and the living President. The 
 country knows they had long been rivals, 
 the acknowledged leaders of their respec- 
 tive parties. They passed through the 
 senatorial contest of 1858, (a contest 
 which was really a battle of giants,) 
 with their personal relations cordial and 
 friendly. The great presidential contest 
 of 1860, in which victory changed from 
 Douglas to Lincoln, left them still friends. 
 You, Mr. Speaker, and most of the mem- 
 bers of this House, witnessed the grace- 
 ful courtesies extended by the distin- 
 guished Senator to the President elect 
 on his N arrival here in February last. 
 The conduct and bearing of Douglas were 
 certainly in the highest degree graceful 
 and magnanimous. None who witnessed 
 it can ever forget the scene on the east- 
 ern portico of this Capitol, when Mr. 
 Lincoln, in the presence of the Repre- 
 sentatives of the people, assumed the 
 sublime prerogatives of Government, 
 and swore by the eternal God that he 
 would faithfully support the Constitution 
 and enforce the laws of his country. 
 Douglas, not by accident, stood by his 
 side ; and, in the midst of scowling trait- 
 ors, whispered in the ear of the Presi- 
 dent that, come what might in the dark 
 and cloudy future' darkening before him, 
 he would stand by the Government and 
 strengthen its arm to crush treason and 
 rebellion." 
 
 In conclusion said he, "Douglas died 
 at a moment when he had the ability 
 and the disposition to have rendered the 
 greatest services to his country. He 
 died on the eve of this gi apple between 
 
238 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 government and anarchy between law 
 and lawlessness between liberty and 
 slavery between civilization and bar- 
 barism ; the result of which is to shape 
 the destiny of this continent. Had he 
 lived he would have led this grand, 
 sublime uprising of the people this ma- 
 jestic popular movement now sweeping 
 onward like the deep and resistless vol- 
 
 ume of waters of the great lakes over 
 Niagara ; he would have led it onward 
 to crush and overthrow this wicked re- 
 bellion. Yes, Mr. Speaker, had he lived 
 until this day, there would have been 
 heard in these Halls no voice louder, 
 clearer, more emphatic than his, de- 
 manding action action prompt, vigor 
 ous, decisive action.' 1 '' 
 
 CHAPTER XYII. 
 
 AFFAIRS AT BALTIMORE. 
 
 TURNING our attention from the occur- 
 rences in front of the Capital to the im- 
 portant city in the rear, we find the 
 military administration of General Cad- 
 walader, at Baltimore, conducted with 
 the prudence and moderation which had 
 marked the policy of the Government 
 from the outset. The object was, from 
 the beginning, while proper protection 
 was given to the Union interests, and the 
 insurrectionary tendencies of a portion 
 of the inhabitants were firmly held in 
 check, that the city should feel as little 
 as possible the interference of a foreign 
 authority. The successive appointments 
 of military rulers afforded proofs of this 
 disposition on the part of the Govern- 
 ment. The officers chosen were known 
 for their moderation. They were pru- 
 dent and conciliatory, and their power 
 when it was displayed, being obviously 
 exerted for the preservation of peace 
 and the maintenance of the common wel- 
 fare, and strictly limited to the necessities 
 of the occasion, a majority of the citizens 
 sustained their action. As the authority, 
 however, was an unusual one, abhorrent 
 to the habits and cherished ideas of the 
 
 people of the country, who had known 
 no other regulations of their conduct than 
 those incident to a state of peace, it is 
 not to be wondered at that its exercise 
 was looked upon in many quarters with 
 alarm. This was especially shown in 
 regard to the arrests which at this time 
 began to be made of suspected persons, 
 and the suspension of the privilege of the 
 writ of habeas corpus, which became a 
 necessary part of the system. The con- 
 flict of military and civil law in these 
 proceedings called forth considerable dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 One case in particular became of 
 especial note, as the occasion of a strong- 
 ly pronounced judicial opinion from Chief 
 Justice Taney, who resolutely opposed 
 the action of the Administration. John 
 Merryman, a wealthy and influential 
 citizen of Maryland, residing in Balti- 
 more County, was, at 2 o'clock on the 
 morning of the 25th May, arrested on 
 general charges of treason and rebellion, 
 by an armed force under orders of Gen- 
 eral Keiin of Pennsylvania, and lodged 
 as a prisoner in Fort McHenry, in custody 
 of General Cadwalader. Under these 
 
THE HABEAS CORPUS PRIVILEGE. 
 
 239 
 
 circumstances ; Chief Justice Taney was 
 applied to for a writ oihaleas corpus, to 
 bring the prisoner before a Justice of the 
 Supreme Court, to test the legality of the 
 arrest. The writ was granted, and duly 
 served upon General Cadwalader, who 
 declined obedience to it, alleging, in a 
 written communication to the Chief Jus- 
 tice, that the prisoner was charged with 
 various acts of treason, such as holding 
 a commission as lieutenant in a company 
 in possession of arms belonging to the 
 United States and avowing his purpose 
 of armed hostility against the Govern- 
 ment, and in such cases he was author- 
 ized by President Lincoln to suspend the 
 writ of habeas corpus, for the public 
 safety. " This is a high and delicate 
 trust," he added, "and it has been en- 
 joined upon him that it should be exer- 
 cised with judgment and discretion, but 
 he is nevertheless also instructed, that in 
 times of civil strife, errors, if any, should 
 be on the side of safety to the country. 
 He most respectfully submits to your 
 consideration that those who should co- 
 operate in the present trying and painful 
 position in which our country is placed, 
 should not by reason of any unnecessary 
 want of confidence in each other, increase 
 our embarrassments." He concluded by 
 requesting the postponement of further 
 action till he could receive instructions 
 from the President.* 
 
 President Lincoln had in fact already 
 in a somewhat similar case publicly an- 
 nounced the suspension of the privilege 
 of the writ in his Proclamation of the 
 10th of May, when, for the better pre- 
 servation of the portion of Florida still 
 remaining under the national control, he 
 
 * Major-General Geo. Cadwalader to Hon. Roger B. Ta- 
 ney, Chief Justice. Headquarters Department of Anna- 
 polis, Fort McHenry, May 25, 1861. 
 
 had directed the commander of the forces 
 of the United States on the coast of that 
 State, " to permit no person to exercise 
 any office or authority upon the islands 
 of Key West, the Tortugas and Santa 
 Rosa, which may be inconsistent with the 
 Laws and Constitution of the United 
 States, authorizing him at the same time 
 if he shall find it necessary, to suspend 
 there the writ of habeas corpus, and to 
 remove from the vicinity of the United 
 States fortresses all dangerous or sus- 
 pected persons." 
 
 On receiving the answer of General 
 Cadwalader to the writ, Chief Justice 
 Taney, on the 27th May, ordered an 
 attachment against that military com- 
 mander of the department, for contempt 
 of court, to which the marshal returned, 
 on the following day, that on going to 
 Fort McHenry to serve the writ, he was 
 refused admittance. Upon this the Chief 
 Justice read in court a statement declar- 
 ing that " the President under the Con- 
 stitution and Laws of the United States 
 cannot suspend the privilege of the writ 
 of habeas corpus, nor authorize any of- 
 ficer to do so. And that a military 
 officer has no right to arrest and detain 
 a person, nor subject him to the rules 
 and articles of war for an offence against 
 the laws of the United States, except in 
 aid of the judicial authority and subject 
 to its control, and if the party is arrested 
 by the military, it is the duty of the 
 officer to deliver him over immediately 
 to the civil authority to be dealt with 
 according to law." Under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances he said, it would be the duty 
 of the marshal to proceed with posse 
 comitatus and bring the party into court, 
 but as this was impossible from the 
 superior force he would meet, that officer 
 in the present instance had done all in 
 
240 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 his power to discharge his duty. He 
 himself would during the week prepare 
 his opinion in the premises and submit it 
 to the President, calling upon him to 
 perform his constitutional duty and see 
 that the laws be faithfully executed and 
 enforce the decree of the court. 
 
 In the written " decision" which he sub- 
 sequently rendered, Chief Justice Taney 
 supported the opinion which he had given 
 by a review of the provisions of the Con- 
 stitution for the protection of liberty, 
 "life and property," an examination of 
 the limited powers expressly conferred 
 upon the President, a deduction from 
 the analogies between the English and 
 American Governments, and the cita- 
 tion of several eminent judicial authori- 
 ties, including Marshall and Story. Hav- 
 ing thus argued that the power to sus- 
 pend the writ resided in Congress, and 
 not in the Executive, he presented in 
 conclusion the following view of the 
 particular circumstances attending the 
 Merryman arrest : " The documents be- 
 fore me show that the military authority 
 in this case has gone beyond the mere 
 suspension of the privilege of the writ 
 of habeas corpus. It has, by force of 
 arms, thrust aside the judicial authori- 
 ties and officers to whom the Constitu- 
 tion has confided the power and duty of 
 interpreting and administering the laws, 
 and substituted a military government 
 in its place, to be administered and exe- 
 cuted by military officers, for at the 
 time these proceedings were had against 
 John Merryman, the District Judge of 
 Maryland, the Commissioner appointed 
 under the act of Congress, the District 
 Attorney and the Marshal, all resided 
 in the city of Baltimore, a few miles 
 only from the home of the prisoner. 
 Up to that time there had never been 
 
 the slightest resistance or obstruction to 
 the process of any court or judicial offi- 
 cer of the United States in Maryland, 
 except by the military authority. And 
 if a military officer, or any other person, 
 had reason to believe that the prisoner 
 had committed any offence against the 
 laws of the United States, it was his 
 duty to give information of the fact, and 
 the evidence to support it, to the District 
 Attorney ; and it would then have be- 
 come the duty of that officer to bring 
 the matter before the District Judge or 
 Commissioner, and if there was sufficient 
 legal evidence to justify his arrest, the 
 Judge or Commissioner would have is- 
 sued his warrant to the Marshal to arrest 
 him j and upon the hearing of the party 
 would have held him to bail, or com- 
 mitted him for trial, according to the 
 character of the offence, as it appeared 
 in the testimony, or would have dis- 
 charged him immediately, if there was 
 not sufficient evidence to support the 
 accusation. There was no danger of any 
 obstruction or resistance to the action 
 of the civil authorities, and therefore no 
 reason whatever for the interposition of 
 the military. And yet, under these cir- 
 cumstances, a military officer, stationed 
 in Pennsylvania, without giving any in- 
 formation to the District Attorney, and 
 without any application to the judicial 
 authorities, assumes to himself the ju- 
 dicial power in the District of Mary- 
 land ; undertakes to decide what con- 
 stitutes the crime of treason or rebellion 
 what evidence (if, indeed, he required 
 any) is sufficient to support the accusa- 
 tion and justify the commitment ; and 
 commits the party, without having a 
 hearing even before himself, to close 
 custody in a strongly garrisoned fort, 
 to be there held, it would seem, during 
 
JUDGE PARSONS ON MARTIAL LAW. 
 
 241 
 
 the pleasure of those who committed 
 him. 
 
 " The Constitution provides, as I have 
 before said, that ' no person shall be de- 
 prived of life, liberty or property, with- 
 out due process of law.' It declares 
 that ' the right of the people to be se- 
 cure in their persons, houses, papers and 
 effects against unreasonable searches and 
 seizures, shall not be violated, and no 
 warrant- shall issue, but upon probable 
 cause, supported by oath or affirmation, 
 and particularly describing the place to 
 be searched, and the persons or things 
 to be seized.' It provides that the party 
 accused shall be entitled to a speedy 
 trial in a court of justice. And these 
 great and fundamental laws which Con- 
 gress itself could not suspend, have been 
 disregarded and suspended, like the writ 
 of habeas corpus, by a military officer, 
 supported by force of arms. Such is the 
 case now before me, and I can only say 
 that if the authority which the Constitu- 
 tion has confided to the Judiciary De- 
 partment, and judicial offices may thus 
 upon any pretext and under any circum- 
 stances be usurped by the military power 
 at its discretion, the people of the United 
 States are no longer living under a Gov- 
 ernment of laws, but every citizen holds 
 life, liberty and property at the will and 
 pleasure of the army officer in whose 
 military district he may happen to be 
 found." 
 
 The obvious explanation and justifica- 
 tion of the act of the President, and un- 
 doubtedly the one which was accepted 
 by the majority of the people of the 
 country who looked into the matter, was 
 presented by Judge Theophilus Parsons, 
 the Dane Professor of the Law School at 
 Harvard, in a lecture on martial law, de- 
 livered just previous to the time when 
 31 
 
 the Merryman case arose. Defining the 
 authority as the creature of a state of 
 war, and as wholly arbitrary in its na- 
 ture, he found its exercise justifiable by 
 adequate necessity, of which the govern- 
 ing power was obviously the judge. 
 Though necessarily undefined in its prin- 
 ciples, extent and operation, " practical- 
 ly," said he, " the very essence and sub- 
 stance of martial law is, in England and 
 the United States, the suspension of the 
 right to the writ of habeas corpus" and 
 consequently its supremacy, for the time, 
 over the civil law. Citing next the pro- 
 vision of the Constitution that " the priv- 
 ilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall 
 not be suspended unless when, in cases 
 of rebellion and invasion, the public 
 safety may require it," he fairly inter- 
 preted it as a declaration that, when the 
 conditions spoken of arose, the writ 
 might be suspended. He thus in a few 
 sentences, with great clearness, sets forth 
 his interpretation of the mode of exer- 
 cising the authority conferred or allowed. 
 " The first and most important question 
 is, who may decide when the exigency 
 occurs, and who may, if it occurs, declare 
 martial law ? On this point I have my- 
 self no doubt. The clause on this sub- 
 ject is contained in the first article of the 
 Constitution, and this article relates prin- 
 cipally to Congress. Nor can there be 
 any doubt that Congress may, when the 
 necessity occurs, suspend the right to the 
 writ of habeas corpus, or, which is the 
 same thing, declare or authorize martial 
 law. The question is, has the President 
 this power ? The Constitution does not 
 expressly give this power to any depart- 
 ment of Government, nor does it express- 
 ly reserve it to Congress, although, in the 
 same article, it does make this express 
 reservation as to some of tho provisions 
 
242 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 contained in the article. This may be a 
 mere accidental omission, but it seems to 
 me more reasonable, and more consonant 
 with the principles of legal interpretation, 
 to infer from it an absence of intention 
 to confine it to Congress. And I am 
 confirmed in this opinion by the nature 
 of the case. The very instances speci- 
 fied as those in which the right to habeas 
 corpus may be suspended (invasion and 
 rebellion), are precisely those in which 
 the reason for doing so may come sud- 
 denly, the necessity of determination be 
 immediate, and a certainty exist that the 
 suspension shall be useless, and the whole 
 mischief which the suspension might pre- 
 vent, take place if there be any delay. 
 To guard against the suspension by lim- 
 iting the 3ases, as is done, seems to me 
 wise ; to obstruct it by requiring the de- 
 lay necessarily arising from legislative 
 action, would seem to be unreasonable. 
 It is true that my construction gives to 
 the President, in the two cases of rebel- 
 lion and invasion, a vast power ; but so 
 is all military power. It is a vast power 
 to send into a rebellious district fifteen 
 thousand soldiers, as Washington did, 
 whose duty it would be to meet the reb- 
 els, and, if necessary, kill as many as 
 they could. But it was a power which 
 belonged to him, of necessity, as Presi- 
 dent ; and so, I think, did the power of 
 martial law. If it did not, then when his 
 troops had captured the armed rebels 
 whom they were sent to subdue, the near- 
 est magistrate who could issue a writ of 
 habeas corpus might have summoned the 
 officer having them in charge to bring 
 them before him, and might have liber- 
 ated them at once to fight again, and this 
 as often as they were captured, until a 
 law could be passed by Congress. If the 
 ] ower belongs to the President, he may 
 
 exercise it at his discretion, when either 
 invasion or rebellion occurs, subject, how- 
 ever, to two qualifications. One a uni- 
 versal one applicable to his exercise of 
 every power. If he abuses it, or exer- 
 cises it wrongfully, he is. liable to im- 
 peachment. The other is more a matter 
 of discretion or propriety. I suppose 
 that he would, of course, report his do- 
 ings in such a matter to Congress when 
 he could, and be governed by their ac- 
 tion. My conclusion is, therefore, that 
 in case of invasion from abroad or rebel- 
 lion at home, the President may declare 
 or exercise, or authorize martial law, sJ 
 his discretion." 
 
 Another high authority in questions 
 of civil law and polity, Mr. Horace 
 Binney of Philadelphia, in an elaborate 
 pamphlet discussing " The privilege of 
 the writ of habeas corpus under the 
 Constitution," differing from Chief Justice 
 Taney, unhesitatingly assigned the exer- 
 cise of the power of suspension to the 
 President. An idea of the range of his 
 argument may be gathered from the final 
 paragraph of his essay. "The conclu- 
 sion," says he "of the whole matter is 
 this : that the Constitution itself is the 
 law of the privilege, and of the excep- 
 tion to it ; that the exception is expressed 
 in the Constitution, and that the Consti- 
 tution gives effect to the act of suspen- 
 sion when the conditions ocgur : that the 
 conditions consist of two matters of fact, 
 one a naked matter of fact, and the other 
 a matter-of-fact conclusion from facts, that 
 is to say, rebellion and the public dan- 
 ger, or the requirement of public safety. 
 Whichever power of the constituted gov- 
 ernment can most properly decide these 
 facts, is master of the exception, and 
 competent to apply it. Whether it be 
 Congress or the President, the power 
 
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S STATEMENT. 
 
 243 
 
 can only be derived by implication, as 
 there is no express delegation of the 
 power in the Constitution ; and it must 
 be derived to that department whose 
 functions are the most appropriate to it. 
 Congress cannot executively suspend. 
 All that a Legislative body can do, is to 
 authorize suspension, by giving that effect 
 to an Executive act ; and the Constitu- 
 tion having authorized that, there is no 
 room for the exercise of Legislative 
 power. The Constitution intended, that 
 for the defence of the nation against re- 
 bellion and invasion, the power should 
 always be kept open in either of these 
 events, to be used by that department, 
 which is the most competent in the same 
 events to say what the public safety re- 
 quires in this behalf. The President 
 being the properest and the safest de- 
 positary of the power, and being the only 
 power which can exercise it under real 
 and effective responsibilities to the peo- 
 ple, it is both constitutional and safe to 
 argue, that the Constitution has placed it 
 with him." 
 
 The positions taken by Chief Justice 
 Taney were also ably reviewed, with 
 some important additional illustrations 
 of the subject, by the Hon. Eeverdy 
 Johnson of Maryland, in an elaborate 
 essay on the power of the President to 
 suspend the habeas corpus writ. He 
 maintained the constitutionality of the 
 proceedings of the President as the direct 
 and necessary discharge of his duty as 
 the Executive, according to established 
 principles and precedents, instancing in 
 particular the authority of Hamilton in 
 reference to the interpretation of the 
 powers of the President, when the ques- 
 tion arose in General Washington's Ad- 
 ministration out of his Proclamation of 
 Neutrality in 1793, and the position laid 
 
 down by President Jackson in 1834, in 
 regard to the constitutional independence 
 of the Executive department. 
 
 It was evidently in reply to tht re- 
 monstrance of Chief Justice Taney that 
 President Lincoln in his message to Con- 
 gress, at its session in July, presented 
 the following explanation of his course. 
 "Soon after the first call for militia," 
 says he, "it was considered a duty to 
 authorize the commanding general, in 
 proper cases, according to his discretion 
 to suspend the privilege of the writ of 
 habeas corpus, or, in other words, to 
 arrest and detain, without resort to the 
 ordinary processes and forms of law, 
 such individuals as he might deem dan- 
 gerous to the public safety. This author- 
 ity has purposely been exercised but 
 very sparingly. Nevertheless, the legal- 
 ity and propriety of what has been done 
 under it are questioned, and the attention 
 of the country has been called to the 
 proposition that one who is sworn to ' take 
 care that the laws be faithfully executed,' 
 should not himself violate them. Of course 
 some consideration was given to the 
 questions of power, and propriety, before 
 this matter was acted upon. The whole of 
 the laws which were required to be faith- 
 fully executed, were being resisted, and 
 failing of execution in nearly one-third of 
 of the States. Must they be allowed to 
 finally fail of execution, even had it been 
 perfectly clear, that by the use of the means 
 necessary to their execution, some single 
 law, .made in such extreme tenderness of 
 the citizen's liberty, that practically, it 
 relieves more of the guilty than of the 
 innocentj should, to a very limited extent, 
 be violated ? To state the question more 
 directly, are all the laws but one to go 
 unexecuted, and the government itself to 
 go to pieces, lest that one be violated ? 
 
244 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Even in such a case, would not the official 
 oath be broken, if the government should 
 be overthrown, when it was believed that 
 disregarding the single law, would tend 
 to preserve it? But it was not believed 
 that this question was presented. It was 
 not believed that any law was violated. 
 The provision of the Constitution that 
 the privilege of the writ of licibeas cor- 
 pus shall not be suspended unless when, 
 in cases of rebellion or invasion, the 
 public safety may require it,' is equiva- 
 lent to a provision is a provision that 
 such privilege may be suspended when, 
 in cases of rebellion or invasion, the 
 public safety does require it. It was 
 decided that we have a case of rebellion, 
 and that the public safety does require 
 the qualified suspension of the privilege 
 of the writ which was authorized to be 
 made. Now it is insisted that Congress, 
 and not the Executive, is vested with this 
 power. But the Constitution itself is 
 silent as to which, or who, is to exercise 
 the power ; and as the provision was 
 plainly made for a dangerous emergency, 
 it cannot be believed that the framers of 
 the instrument intended that, in every 
 case, the danger should run its course, 
 until Congress could be called together ; 
 the very assembling of which might be 
 prevented, as was intended in this case, 
 by the rebellion." 
 
 On the 10th of June General Cadwal- 
 ader, having been ordered to active ser- 
 vice on the line of the Potomac in co- 
 operation with General Patterson, was 
 succeeded in the command of the military 
 department, including Baltimore, by Ma- 
 jor-General Nathaniel Prentiss* Banks. 
 The career of this officer, who brought 
 from civil life an eminent reputation for 
 high moral, and mental qualities, is of 
 peculiar interest as an illustration of the 
 
 facility with which, freed from the imped- 
 iments which obstruct the way in other 
 lands and older states of society, the in- 
 dividual, relying upon integrity, industry 
 and ability, may, under the protection 
 of the free institutions of America, rise 
 from a humble position to offices in the 
 State of the highest trust and honor. 
 Born at the manufacturing town of Wal- 
 tham, in Massachusetts, in 1816, the son 
 of an overseer of a cotton mill, he was 
 placed as a boy in the same factory, 
 where he was employed in cleaning bob- 
 bins. But " the bobbin boy," as he was 
 called, was not content to rest there. 
 Like all New England youth of any 
 spirit, however poor, he managed to di- 
 vide his time between his daily labor and 
 the village school, where he acquired 
 those elements of knowledge which, after 
 all, are the greatest acquisitions we ever 
 obtain from our instructors so much 
 does the rest depend upon ourselves and 
 experience of the world and affairs. The 
 boy was apt to learn, and, it is said, was 
 such a proficient in recitation, as a mem- 
 ber of a dramatic company formed by 
 his associates, that he was offered induce- 
 ments to become a professional actor. 
 If there is any importance to be attached 
 to the anecdote, it was something in evi- 
 dence of the boy's character that he turn- 
 ed from a temptation so agreeable to 
 youthful vanity, to the sober labors of a 
 machinist, learning the trade and working 
 at it as a journeyman in Boston. He 
 also, we are told, taught an evening school 
 some time, and edited a newspaper at 
 Waltham, meantime occasionally lectur- 
 ing before Lyceums, temperance meet- 
 ings, and political gatherings, all which 
 prepared him for public life on a larger 
 scene. Presenting himself to his towns- 
 people of Waltham as a Democratic can- 
 
s from, a- recent fh0tffpraz>7i, fr.'wri. 7ife 
 
 Johnson. Fiy & Co.-Pailisliers. "NewYon-k. 
 
MA JOE GENERAL BANKS. 
 
 215 
 
 didate for the State Legislature, he was 
 six times defeated. At the next election, 
 in 1849, he was successful. Previously, 
 under President Polk's administration, he 
 held an office in the Boston Custom- 
 House. In 1850, we find him admitted 
 a member of the Suffolk bar. He was, 
 the following year, chosen Speaker of the 
 lower House of the Massachusetts Legis- 
 lature ; and in 1852, by a coalition of 
 the Free-Soil and Democratic parties, 
 which he had done much to assist, was 
 elected a Eepresentative to Congress. In 
 1853 he presided over the Massachusetts 
 Convention held to revise the State Con- 
 stitution. During his first term in Con- 
 gress he separated himself from the Dem- 
 ocratic party of that day by his vote in 
 opposition to the passage of the Kansas- 
 Nebraska Bill. He was returned to the 
 next Congress by a combination of the 
 Native Americans with the Republicans, 
 and being put forward by the latter par- 
 ty for Speaker of the House, was elected 
 by a plurality vote, after an unprece- 
 dented contest of two months' duration, 
 
 j i 
 
 in the course of which more than a hun- 
 dred ballots were taken. From Congress 
 he was called, in 1857, to be Governor 
 of Massachusetts, to which high office he 
 was reflected the succeeding term. At 
 the end of this period, in 1860, retiring 
 from political life, he removed to Chicago, 
 having accepted the lucrative position of 
 General Superintendent of the Illinois 
 Central Railroad. Like McClellan, Burn- 
 side and others, who held similar engage- 
 ments, he left this post at the beginning 
 of the war to offer his services to the 
 Government. His abilities were too well 
 appreciated by the Administration for 
 the offer to be neglected, and on the 30th 
 May, 1861, he was created a Major-Gen- 
 eral of Yolunteers. Though heretofore 
 
 mainly engaged in civil life, his duties as 
 Governor of Massachusetts had neces- 
 sarily made him familiar, to a certain ex- 
 tent, with the routine of military affairs. 
 The most important acts of General 
 Banks's administration of his department 
 of Annapolis were connected with the 
 breaking up of the Board of Police in 
 Baltimore, an organization which had 
 shown from the beginning an active and 
 dangerous sympathy with the rebellior 
 The motives which influenced him in this 
 matter, the nature of the obstacles he 
 had to encounter, and the extent to 
 which he. was willing to carry his au- 
 thority, are fully exhibited in the proc- 
 lamation which he set forth on the occa- 
 sion of the arrest, which he ordered on 
 the 27th of June, of Mr. George P. Kane 
 the Chief of Police. " I deem it proper 
 at this the moment of arrest," says he, in 
 that document, " to make formal and 
 public declaration of the motive by which 
 I have been governed in this proceeding. 
 It is not iny purpose, neither is it in con- 
 sonance with my instructions, to interfere 
 in any manner whatever with the legiti- 
 mate government of the people of Balti- 
 more or Maryland. I desire to support 
 the public authorities in all appropriate 
 duties ; in preserving peace, protecting 
 property and the rights of persons, in 
 obeying and upholding every municipal 
 regulation and public statute, consistent 
 with the Constitution and laws of the 
 United States and of Maryland. But 
 unlawful combinations of men, organized 
 for resistance to such laws, that provide 
 hidden deposits of arms and ammunition, 
 encourage contraband traffic with men at 
 war with the Government, and while 
 enjoying its protection and privileges, 
 stealthily wait opportunity to combine 
 their means and forces with those in 
 
246 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 rebellion against its authority, are not 
 among the recognized or legal rights of 
 any class of men, and cannot be per- 
 mitted under any form of government 
 whatever. Such combinations are well 
 known to exist in this Department. The 
 mass of citizens of Baltimore and of Mary- 
 land, loyal to the Constitution and the 
 Union, are neither parties to, nor re- 
 sponsible for them. But the Chief of 
 Police is not only believed to be cog- 
 nizant of these facts, but, in contraven- 
 tion of his duty, and in violation of law, 
 he is, by direction or indirection, both 
 witness and protector to the transactions 
 and the parties engaged therein. Under 
 such circumstances the Government can- 
 not regard him otherwise than as the 
 head of an armed force, hostile to its 
 authority and acting in concert with its 
 avowed enemies. For this reason, su- 
 perseding his official authority and that 
 of the Commissioners of Police, I have 
 arrested and do now detain him in cus- 
 tody of the United States ; and in further 
 pursuance of my instructions, I have ap- 
 pointed for the time being Colonel Kenly 
 of the 1st Eegiment of Maryland Volun- 
 teers, Provost Marshal, in and for the 
 City of Baltimore, ' to superintend and 
 cause to be executed the Police laws 
 provided by the Legislature of Mary- 
 land,' with the aid and assistance of the 
 subordinate officers of the Police Depart- 
 ment. And he will be respected ac- 
 cordingly. Whenever a loyal citizen 
 shall be otherwise named for the per- 
 formance of this duty, who will execute 
 these laws impartially and in good faith 
 to the Government of the United States, 
 the military force of this department will 
 render tc him that instant and willing 
 obedience which is due from every good 
 citizen to his Government." 
 
 A second proclamation of General 
 Banks, on the 1st of July, exhibits the 
 efforts of the superseded members of the 
 old Board to defeat his new regulations, 
 and the effective measures which he was 
 instructed by the Government to take for 
 the safety of the State. "In pursuance." 
 says he, " of orders issued from the head- 
 quarters of the army at Washington for 
 the preservation of the public peace in 
 this department, I have arrested, and 
 now detain in the custody of the United 
 States, the late members of the Board of 
 Police, Messrs. Charles Howard, William 
 Getchell, John Hincks, and John W. 
 Davis. The incidents of the past week 
 have afforded justification of this order. 
 The headquarters under the charge of 
 the Board, when abandoned by their offi- 
 cers, resembled in some respects a con- 
 cealed arsenal. After a public recogni- 
 tion and protest against the suspension 
 of their functions, they continued their 
 sessions daily. Upon a forced and un- 
 warrantable interpretation of my procla- 
 mation of the 28th ult., they declared 
 that the police law was suspended, and 
 that the police officers and men were put 
 off duty for the present, intending to 
 leave the city without any police protec- 
 tion whatever. They refused to recog- 
 nize the officers and men necessarily se- 
 lected by the Provost Marshal for its 
 protection, and hold subject to their or- 
 ders, now and hereafter, the old police 
 force, a large body of armed men for 
 some purpose not known to the Govern- 
 ment, and inconsistent with its peace and 
 security. To anticipate any intentions or 
 orders on their part, I have placed tem- 
 porarily a portion of the force under my 
 command within the city. I disclaim, on 
 the part of the Government I represent, 
 all desire, intention and purpose to inter- 
 
SPEECH OF SENATOR MASON. 
 
 247 
 
 fore in any manner with the ordinary 
 municipal affairs of the city of Baltimore. 
 Whenever a loyal citizen can be named 
 who will execute its police laws with im- 
 partiality and good faith to the United 
 States, the military force will be with- 
 drawn from the principal portions of said 
 city. No soldiers will be permitted in 
 the city, except under regulations to the 
 marshal ; and if any so admitted violate 
 the municipal laws and regulations, they 
 shall be punished by the civil law and by 
 the civil tribunals." 
 
 By these vigorous measures Maryland 
 was rescued from what, there is every 
 reason to believe, would have proved an 
 active complicity with the rebels in the 
 work of insurrection ; for though a large 
 majority of the people of the State, as 
 had been exhibited by the recent elec- 
 tions for Congress, were decidedly in fa- 
 vor of the preservation of the Union- 
 yet, as was shown by the example of 
 Virginia and North Carolina, there was 
 no little danger from the secession minor- 
 ity, especially with the constituted au- 
 thorities working in its favor. The Gov- 
 ernor, indeed, was loyal ; but his efforts 
 for the safety and honor of Maryland 
 were constantly thwarted by a factious 
 majority of the Legislature, who kept up 
 the meetings of that body with the evi- 
 dent design, if possible, of delivering the 
 State into the hands of Jefferson Davis, 
 whose Confederate army was threatening 
 its frontier, and for a time held possession 
 of a portion of its territory. 
 
 We have seen the "sympathizing" 
 correspondence of a legislative committee 
 with Jefferson Davis at the end of May. 
 In a speech delivered by Senator Mason 
 at Richmond, on the 8th of June, we 
 have an equally authoritative exposition 
 of the calculations made upon Maryland 
 
 by the rebel leaders. The occasion was 
 a most discreditable one to the people of 
 the latter State, who, enjoying the pro- 
 tection of their legitimate government, 
 were complimenting a band of traitors 
 who had stealthily crossed the frontier 
 to make war upon their brethren at Lome, 
 and the horror naturally felt at the trans- 
 action is augmented when we find the la- 
 dies of Baltimore " wives and daughters" 
 they styled themselves prominently en- 
 gaged in the affair. A number of seces- 
 sionist refugees from Maryland, it seems, 
 on their arrival in Virginia had organi- 
 zed themselves into a "Maryland Guard," 
 and offered their services to the Confeder- 
 ate Army. They were, of course, promptly 
 accepted ; and, to give eclat to the occa- 
 sion of their admission, they were honor- 
 ed with a public presentation at Rich- 
 mond of their new Confederate flag. To 
 make the ceremony more striking, it took 
 place before the national monument which 
 the State had erected to the memory of 
 Washington and the Virginia founders 
 of the Republic. To increase still fur- 
 ther the interest of the scene, the flag to 
 be presented was the gift of " the ladies 
 of Baltimore," and as such an article was 
 of course contraband of war and not to be 
 allowed to pass the lines of the Potomac, 
 we are informed by the Richmond journal 
 which chronicles the incident, of the meth- 
 od of its transmission. "Mrs. Augustus 
 McLaughlen, the wife of one of the of- 
 ficers of the late United States Navy, who 
 brought the flag from Baltimore, con- 
 cealed as only a lady knows how, was 
 present and received the compliments of 
 a large number of ladies and gentlemen 
 who surrounded her upon the steps of 
 the monument."* The flag itself was 
 
 * Richmond Dispatch, June 10, 1861. Moore's Rebel 
 lion Record, I. D. 96. 
 
248 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 accompanied by the inscription, " The 
 ladies of Baltimore present this flag of 
 the Confederate States of America to 
 the soldiers composing the Maryland 
 Regiment now serving in Virginia, as a 
 slight testimonial of the esteem in which 
 their* valor, their love of right, and de- 
 termination to uphold true constitutional 
 liberty are approved , applauded and ap- 
 preciated by the wives and daughters of 
 the monumental city." 
 
 Yet more ; the orator of the day was 
 no less a person than the distinguished 
 seceding senator of the United States the 
 Hon. J. M. Mason, who thus stated the 
 anticipates which he had formed of the 
 disloyalty of Maryland. " Your own 
 honored State," said he, "is with us 
 heart and soul in this great controversy. 
 By your enterprise, your bravery and 
 determined will, you have escaped from 
 the thraldom of tyranny which envelopes 
 that State ;' and you know, I know for 
 I have been among its people we all 
 know, that the same spirit which brought 
 you here, actuates thousands who remain 
 at home." He then proceeded to pay a 
 compliment to Chief Justice Taney, for 
 his recent decision in the habeas corpus 
 Case adverse to the action of the Presi- 
 dent. " In after ages," said he, with 
 apparent forgetfulness of the position he 
 had assumed toward the federal govern- 
 ment as he spoke of " our liberties" and 
 "our nation," "when history records 
 the transactions of this epoch when 
 the passions of men shall have subsided, 
 and the historian can take a calm and 
 philosophical view of the events which 
 have led to the present collision be- 
 tween the two sections, he will write 
 that the people of the Southern States 
 understood and protected civil liberty, 
 and that the misguided North either 
 
 did not comprehend, or abandoned it? 
 For what have we witnessed ? The 
 spectacle of the Chief Justice of the 
 United States, the man who stands at the 
 head of the principal department of the 
 Federal Government the man who has 
 illustrated in his life, for more than four 
 generations, all that adorns honor, virtue 
 and patriotism a native-born citizen of 
 your own State of Maryland Roger B. 
 Taney that man has put the judicial fiat 
 of condemnation upon the Government 
 of the- United States for its shameless 
 abandonment of the very corner-stone of 
 our liberties. A native Marylander, he 
 remains at home to defend the last re- 
 fuge of civil liberty against the atrocious 
 aggressions of a remorseless tyranny. I 
 honor him for it ; the world will honor 
 him, posterity will honor him ; and there 
 will be inscribed on his monument the 
 highest tribute ever paid to a man. He 
 has stood bravely in the breach, and in- 
 terposed the unspotted arm of justice 
 between the right of the South and the 
 malignant usurpation of power by the 
 North. There he still remains ' a cloud 
 by day and a pillar of fire by night,' to 
 direct the welfare of our nation in this 
 atrocious aggression upon our liberty." 
 
 Returning to the position of Maryland 
 at the moment, he said, "My own home 
 is upon the confines of your State. I 
 went there four weeks ago, immediately 
 after Virginia had denounced the uulioly 
 movements in the North, to learn the 
 spirit of your people. I went to Fred- 
 erickstown, where the Legislature were 
 assembled, anxious to ascertain whether 
 Virginia could rely upon you in the hour 
 of trial. I knew the political incubus by 
 which your people were crushed to the 
 earth ; but such were the indications I 
 perceived on every side, that when I re- 
 
REBEL CALCULATIONS. 
 
 249 
 
 turned to Virginia I unhesitatingly re- 
 ported that Maryland is with the South. 
 I staked my word upon it as a man of 
 principle and a man of truth. The giant 
 arm of the oppressor has been too strong 
 for the time being, but the spirit is still 
 alive, unsubdued and unrepressed." 
 
 Comparing the defenders of the Union 
 with its assailants, he said, "They are 
 mercenaries fighting for pay ; you are 
 men fighting for your homes and rights. 
 All you require is subsistence. ' G-ive 
 us,' you say, ' the means of living, the 
 arms to fight with, and show us the. ene- 
 my.' .It may be, that in the providences 
 of war, not one among all those who are 
 before me will return. You have come 
 here, if necessary, to lay your lives upon 
 the altar of your country, and I feel as- 
 sured that every man will do his duty. 
 I will tell you an incident connected 
 with the Alabama troops. They were 
 attended by a minister of the gospel, 
 who was a guest at my house. He told 
 me that he had with him a purse of gold, 
 which had been given to him by the pa- 
 rents of two young men in the ranks, 
 with the injunction that it should be sa- 
 credly preserved during the war, unless 
 his sons should fall upon the field of bat- 
 tle. Then, said the father, ' Give them 
 a Christian burial.' There was a patriot 
 father, who had devoted his sons to the 
 service of his country, and that man does 
 not stand alone." 
 
 In conclusion he thus alluded to the 
 new star which he already saw gracing 
 the banner of the rebel Confederacy. 
 " I will not detain you longer, except to 
 discharge the grateful duty which re- 
 mains, of presenting to you in behalf of 
 the ladies of Baltimore this beautiful 
 banner.. There it is unfurled before you 
 for the first time. There are emblazoned 
 32 
 
 the fifteen stars of the Southern States, 
 looking prospectively to the day when 
 they will all be with us ! The star of 
 Maryland is among them, and the women 
 of your State have put it there, confiding 
 it to your safe keeping. Look upon it 
 as a sacred trust. In passing through 
 the storm of battle, it may be tattered 
 and soiled, but I believe I can say that 
 you will bring it back without a spot of 
 dishonor upon it. But you are not only 
 to return that flag here you are to take 
 it back to Baltimore. It came here in 
 the hands of the fair lady who stands by 
 my side, who brought it through the 
 camp of the enemy, with a woman's for- 
 titude, courage, and devotion to our 
 cause ; and you are to take it back to 
 Baltimore, unfurl it in your streets, and 
 challenge the applause of your citizens." 
 Nor were these expectations, from the 
 disloyal faction in Maryland, confined to 
 Senator Mason and the oratorical dis- 
 play at a moment of popular excitement. 
 If we may trust a Richmond correspond- 
 ent of the Charleston Courier, the belief 
 was confidently entertained at the rebel 
 capital on the 4th of July, the date of his 
 letter, that a civil conflict at Baltimore 
 was imminent, in cooperation with the 
 advancing army of General Johnston, 
 and that the result would undoubtedly be 
 the separation of Maryland from the 
 Union. "Should a fight result," said 
 this writer, "we shall hear of scenes 
 that only find a parallel in the bloody 
 records of the French Revolution, when 
 the people fought and conquered the 
 trained soldiers of their king behind bar- 
 ricades. The blow may be precipitated 
 in less than a week. Everything depends 
 upon the success and movements of Gen- 
 eral Johnston. If he has orders from the 
 President (Davis) to march into Marv 
 
250 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 land and towards Baltimore, the game 
 commences at once. Lincoln will find 
 himself encompassed by forces in front 
 and rear. Cut off from the North and 
 West, Washington will be destroyed, 
 and the footsteps of the retreating army, 
 though tracked in blood across the soil 
 of Maryland as they assuredly will be 
 in such an event may possibly pave 
 the way to an honorable peace."* It was 
 to prevent the occurrence of scenes like 
 these that the military authority of the 
 Government was interposed at Baltimore, 
 that the city was occupied by troops, the 
 officials imprisoned, and a quantity of se- 
 creted arms taken possession of. On the 
 10th of July, the peace of the city hav- 
 ing been secured, Colonel John R. Kenly 
 was relieved of the duties of Provost 
 Marshal, and George R. Dodge, a loyal 
 citizen, appointed Chief of Police, and at 
 the same time the troops which had been 
 stationed in the centre of the city resum- 
 ed their former position in the suburbs. 
 Colonel Kenly returned to the charge of 
 his 1st Eegiment of faithful Marylanders, 
 at whose head we shall hereafter find him 
 "in the ranks of death," nobly resisting 
 to the last one of the most ruthless at- 
 tacks of the enemy. He was a lawyer 
 by profession, and had served with cred- 
 it as an officer in the Maryland regiment 
 through the Mexican war. 
 
 Among the incidents of this period 
 about Baltimore, a piratical adventure of 
 a ludicrous character exhibits the desper- 
 ate straits to which the rebels in Mary- 
 land were driven to accomplish their 
 treasonable intentions. There was a 
 steamer named the St. Nicholas, one of 
 
 See the debate in Congress July 18, 1861, between 
 Messrs. May and Thomas, Representatives from Maryland, 
 in which the arrest of the Police Commissioners and the 
 policy of General Banks were discussed. 
 
 the vessels plying the waters of the Ches- 
 apeake, from Baltimore to the extremity 
 of the State on the Potomac, which it 
 was contrived should be seized and hand- 
 ed over to the service of the Virginians. 
 The plan was thus carried out : On the 
 28th of June, the steamer left Baltimore 
 on her usual trip to Point Lookout, at 
 the mouth of the Potomac, with about 
 forty-five passengers, including several 
 ladies and a party of some twenty-five 
 persons, apparently mechanics, with their 
 carpenter's, blacksmith's and other tools, 
 One of the passengers was a ''French 
 lady," amply enveloped in crinoline, who," 
 professing herself indisposed, was, on 
 coming aboard, immediately shown to 
 her state-room. Everything went on sat- 
 isfactorily, as the boat made her custom- 
 ary landings, till her arrival the next 
 morning near Point Lookout, when the 
 officers on deck were confronted by the 
 appearance of the French lady, her fe- 
 male garb being laid aside, in the new and 
 undoubted character of a stalwart young 
 man. There was no mistaking the situa- 
 tion, as the resolute Captain Thomas, the 
 son of a prominent citizen of St. Mary's 
 County for such the lady proved to 
 be surrounded by his band of con- 
 spirators the pretended mechanics 
 stepped up to Captain Kirwan, and 
 politely imformed him that he intended 
 to take command of his vessel. Resist- 
 ance under the circumstances was out of 
 the question and the captain submitted. 
 The boat was then steered for Cone 
 Point on the Virginia shore and received 
 on board a hundred and fifty armed men, 
 who were there by concert. The pas- 
 sengers were landed, Captain Kirwan 
 and his crew were retained as prisoners 
 and the armed vessel went on to the 
 mouth of the Eappahannock, where cap- 
 
"THE FRENCH LADY." 
 
 251 
 
 ture was made of three brigs, respective- 
 ly laden with coffee, ice and coal, a highly 
 acceptable prize under the privations of 
 the blockade to the people of Fredericks- 
 burg, whither the whole was transported. 
 The winners, of course, laughed as the 
 vessels were sold and the prize money 
 distributed, and the purchasers munched 
 the longed-for ice in their cobblers and 
 scented the unaccustomed flavor of the 
 3offee. Indeed the joke was thought so 
 good a one that the people of Fredericks- 
 burg gave a dinner to the captors, when, 
 at a proper moment of the festivities, the 
 exhilaration of the occasion was immense- 
 ly heightened by the appearance of Cap- 
 tain Thomas, in unbounded female attire, 
 in his original part of "The French 
 Lady." In the absence of more active 
 proceedings of the war, the newspapers on 
 both sides, of course, liberally entertained 
 their readers with the incident. Present- 
 ly, however, the tables were turned. The 
 nine days' wonder over this valorous 
 affair had barely expired when news 
 came of the accidental capture of the re- 
 doubtable Captain Thomas, and his safe 
 delivery to the guardianship of Fort 
 McHenry. On the 8th of July, officers 
 Carmichael and Horner of the Baltimore 
 Police were on a visit down the Chesa- 
 peake, at Fair Haven, to arrest an of- 
 fending barber, charged with participa- 
 tion in the street riot and assault on the 
 Massachusetts soldiers. They secured the 
 culprit and took the up river boat, the 
 Mary Washington, on their return. It 
 so happened that on board the steamer 
 were the released officers of the St. 
 Nicholas and several of their captors, 
 including Captain Thomas, the " French 
 
 lady," who was supposed to be bent on 
 some repetition of his previous adven- 
 ture. Lieutenant Carmichael of the po- 
 lice, becoming aware of the presence of 
 these distinguished personages, directed 
 Captain Mason L. "Weems to land his 
 passengers at Fort McHenry. Captain 
 Thomas loudly questioned the propriety 
 of the order, when he was informed that 
 it was by authority from the Provost- 
 Marshal of Baltimore. Upon this he 
 drew his pistol, called his comrades 
 around him, and threatened to throw the 
 officers overboard. The latter drew 
 their revolvers and invited them to try 
 it. The ladies screamed, the male 
 passengers supported the police, and 
 order was maintained till the arrival at 
 McHenry, when the lieutenant informed 
 General Banks of the capture. A com- 
 pany of infantry was sent on board and 
 arrested the rebel party, with the excep- 
 tion of the main actor, Thomas, who had 
 disappeared. At length, still true to the 
 millinery associations of the French lady, 
 he was found hidden away in the drawer 
 of a bureau in the ladies' cabin, when he 
 was unpacked and, without further re- 
 sistance, lodged a prisoner in the Fort. 
 An explanation of his attempted return 
 to Baltimore was afforded in certain 
 mysterious approaches which had been 
 made to another steamer of the Bay, 
 which it was supposed it might have 
 been his purpose to " convey" somewhat 
 after the fashion of the St. Nicholas. 
 
 On the 19th July, General Banks suc- 
 ceeded General Patterson in his command 
 on the Potomac, and the vacated De- 
 partment of Annapolis was conferred on 
 General Dix. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 GENERAL BUTLER AT FORTRESS MONROE. 
 
 ON the 22d of May, two days before 
 the advance across the Potomac, General 
 Butler entered upon his command at 
 Fortress Monroe, and immediately began 
 preparations forjthe occupation of points 
 of military importance in the vicinity 
 upon the mainland. Up to that time the 
 Government authority had been confined 
 to the narrow peninsula, mostly occupied 
 by the fort itself, an ample area, however, 
 for the small force gathered at the spot. 
 With barely three hundred regulars, 
 Colonel Justin Dimick of the 1st Artil- 
 lery, the . commander of the post, had at 
 the outset of the rebellion held the work 
 free from assault of the surrounding con- 
 spirators, not indeed without certain en- 
 vious glances of Governor Letcher and 
 his associates. The Governor who, doubt- 
 less, was compelled to listen to many 
 complaints of his neglect in this matter, 
 afterward publicly expressed his regret 
 that Fortress Monroe was not in his pos- 
 session, and that it had not been as easily 
 captured as the Navy Yard at Norfolk and 
 the arsenal at Harper's Ferry. It would 
 certainly have completed the trio very 
 handsomely, and been the most important 
 acquisition of the three. "As far back 
 as the 8th of January last," said Gover- 
 nor Letcher in his message to the Senate 
 and House of Delegates of Yirginia, at 
 the close of the year, " I consulted with 
 a gentleman, whose position enabled him 
 to know the strength of that fortress, and 
 whose experience in military matters en- 
 
 abled him to form an opinion as to the 
 number of men that would be required to 
 capture it. He represented it to be one of 
 the strongest fortifications in the world, 
 and expressed his doubts whether it could 
 be taken, unless assailed by water as well 
 as by land, and simultaneously. He stated, 
 emphatically and distinctly, that with the 
 force then in the fortress, it would be 
 useless to attempt its capture without a 
 large force, thoroughly equipped and well 
 appointed. At no time previous to the 
 secession of Yirginia, had we a military 
 organization sufficient to justify an attempt 
 to take it, and events since that occur- 
 rence demonstrate very clearly that with 
 our military organization since, and now 
 existing, it has not been deemed prudent 
 to make the attempt."* 
 
 So it was owing to no good will on the 
 part of Governor Letcher that the valu- 
 able possession of Fortress Monroe was 
 delivered in safety by President Buchanan 
 to the keeping of his successor. It owed 
 that immunity from the withering touch 
 of treason to the strength of its defences 
 and the equally unapproachable loyal 
 officers who had it in charge. " Three 
 hundred men to guard a mile and a half 
 of ramparts !" wrote Theodore Winthrop 
 on his arrival shortly after General But- 
 ler. " Three hundred to protect some 
 sixty-five broad acres within the walls. 
 But the place was a Thermopylae, and 
 there was a fine old Leonidas at the head 
 
 * Message of Governor Letcher, Dec. 2, 1861. 
 
FORTRESS MONROE. 
 
 253 
 
 of its three hundred. He was enough 
 to make Spartans of them. Colonel 
 Dimick was the man, a quiet, modest, 
 shrewd, faithful, Christian gentleman ; 
 and he held all Virginia at bay. The 
 traitors knew, that, so long as the Colo- 
 nel was here, these black muzzles with 
 their white tompions, like a black eye 
 with a white pupil, meant mischief. To 
 him and his guns, flanking the approaches 
 and ready to pile the moat full of seced- 
 ers, the country owes the safety of For- 
 tress Monroe." 
 
 As the key to the waters of Virginia 
 and Maryland ; the great Chesapeake 
 Bay with its numerous affluents from the 
 Susquehannah to Hampton Roads ; the 
 approaches to the national Capital, to 
 Baltimore, to Fredericksburg, Yorktown, 
 Richmond and Norfolk by the vast series 
 of river communication of the Potomac, 
 the Patapsco, the Rappahannock, the 
 York, the James and the Elizabeth, the 
 fortress was of inestimable advantage. 
 Its possession immediately controlled a 
 great part of the Confederate territory, 
 secured the blockade of some of its most 
 important products, and as a base of 
 operations might at any time be turned 
 to the most profitable account in the sup- 
 pression of the rebellion. As a defensive 
 work it was second to none in the coun- 
 try. Commenced in 1819, under the 
 direction of the eminent French engineer, 
 G-eneral Bernard, it had been an object 
 of attention with successive administra- 
 tions, at a cost to the country of nearly 
 $2,500,000. The walls, thirty-five feet 
 in height, montly built of granite, case- 
 mated below, were surmounted on the 
 ramparts by a formidable series of heavy 
 ordnance. The armament numbered 
 nearly four hundred guns of all descrip- 
 tions, columbiads, mortars, 42-pounders, 
 
 32's, and lower denominations. Outside 
 of the walls were the work-shoje, found- 
 ery and machine-shops, for the manufac- 
 ture of shot and shell ; the Hygeia 
 Hotel, kept by permission of the Govern- 
 ment, for the convenience of summer 
 visitors to Old Point Comfort ; and on the 
 beach was mounted the famous experi- 
 mental 15 -inch columbiad the Constitu- 
 tion, sometimes called after the late Sec- 
 retary of War, the Floyd. Within the 
 fortress, the officers were lodged in the 
 casemates and separate residences, which, 
 with their gardens and foliage and the 
 finely shaded parade ground of twenty- 
 five acres, with a neat Episcopal chapel, 
 gave the interior the appearance of a 
 rural village. The water battery, the 
 most substantial part of the work, facing 
 the sea, mounted the heaviest guns in its 
 forty-two embrasures. The inner side 
 was less protected, but a deep and wide 
 moat, communicating with the sea, sur- 
 rounding the work on all sides, gave 
 security to the whole. Even toward the 
 mainland, however, the fort was nearly 
 isolated by the waters of the bay, a nar- 
 row dyke or causeway, about half a mile 
 in length, terminating in a wooden bridge 
 of some three hundred feet, being the 
 only communication by land with the 
 neighboring region. Beyond the bridge 
 the country extended mostly in a dead 
 level, broken at a distance of about two 
 miles to the northwest by an inlet of the 
 bay, where the traveller from the fort, 
 crossing a second bridge, entered the 
 village of Hampton. 
 
 The first reinforcement of Fortress 
 Monroe, when it was threatened by the 
 rebellion, was immediately after the af- 
 fair at Sumter, when the garrison was 
 strengthened by the 3d and 4th Massa- 
 chusetts Regiments, a portion of whom, 
 
254 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 it will be remembered, were immediately 
 on their arrival embarked with Captain 
 Paulding in his hurried expedition to 
 save the public property at the Gosport 
 Navy Yard. It was not till three weeks 
 after this event, on the 13th of May, that 
 the pickets of the rebel guard, who 
 flaunted their Confederate flag within 
 sight of the fortress, were driven from 
 the bridge by Colonel Dimick, and the 
 Government authority thus established 
 over the whole of its property at the 
 Point. The same day Colonel Phelps' 1st 
 Vermont Regiment was added to the force, 
 and within the next fortnight the arrival 
 of other troops, including Colonel Dur- 
 yee's Advance Guard, 5th Regiment New 
 York Volunteers, gave General Butler, 
 upon entering on his new department of 
 Virginia, a body of about 6,000 men, to 
 carry out a system cf operations on the 
 mainland, which, though they were at- 
 tended with one memorable repulse, se- 
 cured most important advantages for the 
 ultimate prosecution of the war. 
 
 On the 23d of May, the day after 
 his arrival, General Butler ordered a 
 reconnoissance of the neighboring coun- 
 try by Colonel Phelps, who advanced 
 towards Hampton, when an attempt was 
 made by the rebels to burn the bridge 
 leading to the village. The Vermonters, 
 however, were too quick for them. They 
 arrested the conflagration, saved the 
 bridge, and passed over it into the town, 
 where they met with no further serious 
 opposition. A place for an encampment 
 was marked out, between the fort and 
 the village, on the Segar farm, and the 
 next day Camp Hamilton was regularly 
 established there, occupied by Colonel 
 Carr's Troy, New York, and Colonel 
 Phelps' Vermont regiments. On the 
 27th, Colonel Phelps was sent with a de- 
 
 tachment of several of the regiments to 
 occupy Newport News, the promontory 
 some twelve miles distant, commanding 
 the entrance to James River. The place 
 was successfully taken possession of, en- 
 trenchments were thrown up, and a 
 permanent occupation effected. Colonel 
 Phelps, the energetic officer placed in 
 charge of the expedition, and who for 
 some months held command of the camp, 
 was a graduate of West Point, who had 
 long served with distinction in the army, 
 and having resigned his position about 
 two years before, was living at Brattle- 
 boro, when the call for volunteers again 
 rammoned him to the field. He was 
 early appointed a Brigadier - General. 
 We shall find him hereafter again in in- 
 timate military relations with General 
 Butler, as second in command in the ope- 
 rations leading to the capture of New 
 Orleans. 
 
 To Colonel Duryee was assigned the 
 command, as Acting Brigadier-General, 
 of the camp before Hampton. This offi- 
 cer, a native of New York, had shown 
 an early fondness for military life, having 
 risen through the various grades of the 
 militia service of the State to the Colo- 
 nelcy of the 7th Regiment, which he held 
 for ten years. He was in command the 
 night of the Astor Place Riots in New 
 York, and had, with a portion of the re- 
 giment, escorted the remains of President 
 Monroe to Richmond. Colonel Duryee 
 remained in command of Camp Hamilton 
 till the arrival of Brigadier - General 
 Pierce, when he returned to his regiment. 
 We shall meet with him presently in ac- 
 tion at Great Bethel. Shortly after that 
 event his regiment was removed to 
 Washington. On the 31st of August he 
 was promoted to the rank of Brigadier- 
 General, and placed in command of a 
 
THE "CONTRABANDS." 
 
 255 
 
 reserve corps in the vicinity of Balti- 
 more. 
 
 Colonel Duryee, on taking command 
 of Camp Hamilton, issued a proclamation 
 to the inhabitants of Hampton and its vi- 
 cinity, marked by the moderate, earnest 
 tone of friendly expostulation which the 
 army had adopted in proceedings of this 
 kind as its settled policy. "Having 
 been placed," said he, "by order of Ma- 
 jor-General Butler, in command of the 
 troops in this vicinity, outside of the walls 
 of Fortress Monroe : I hereby notify all, 
 that their rights of person and property 
 will be entirely respected ; that their co- 
 operation in maintaining law and order is 
 expected, both by reporting every viola- 
 tion of them, when committed by any 
 one attached to the camp, and by pre- 
 serving local order and restraining such 
 of their fellow-citizens as may entertain 
 perverted intentions. You can rely that 
 all offences against you will be severely 
 punished ; that no effort will be spared 
 to detect the guilty, and that you, as a 
 community, will also be held responsible 
 for every act committed by any one of 
 your numbers, where the particular of- 
 fender is not surrendered. Be assured 
 that we are here in no war against you, 
 your liberty, your property, or even 
 your local customs ; but to keep on high 
 that flag of which your own great son 
 was the bearer ; to sustain those institu- 
 tions and those laws made by our ances- 
 tors and defended by their common blood. 
 Remember all these things, and if there 
 be those among you who, maddened by 
 party feeling, misled by wilful falsehoods, 
 or a mistaken sense of duty, have thought 
 to obliterate the national existence, let 
 them at least pause till they learn the 
 true value of what they have imperilled, 
 and the nature of that into which they 
 
 are asked to plunge. We have all confi- 
 dence that, in Yirginians in arms against 
 us, we have honorable foes, \\hom we 
 hope yet to make our friends." 
 
 These military demonstrations on the 
 part of General Butler, were attended 
 with a circumstance which considerably 
 taxed his ingenuity, fertile as it was in 
 expedients. The advance upon Hamp- 
 ton, while it repelled the white popula- 
 tion brought back into the camp a con- 
 siderable number of negroes, whose ar- 
 rival occasioned no little perplexity. 
 How should they be treated ? Many 
 men of General Butler's political antece- 
 dents would have been content to an- 
 swer the question by sending them back 
 to their masters. But our Boston mili- 
 tary lawyer was of too astute and prac- 
 tical a turn for that. He saw that in 
 the hands of their owners those nonde- 
 script personages, whether regarded as 
 human beings or chattels, were very im- 
 portant aids in carrying on the war, and 
 very dangerous instruments to be em- 
 ployed against the advancing armies of 
 the Union. He had, indeed, a hint on the 
 subject in the shots fired at his transports 
 from the batteries at Sewell's Point, on 
 the opposite side of the Roads, when 
 they were making their way from the 
 Fortress to Newport News. The shots 
 were ineffectual, indeed, but the batteries 
 were there with evil intent, and it was 
 known to General Butler that they were 
 largely indebted for their construction to 
 slave labor. This unpleasant reflection, 
 disheartening to his schemes of military 
 progress, brought his mind to a speedy 
 conclusion. He resolved to consider the 
 slave property contraband of war, an in- 
 genious, if not conclusive, solution of the 
 difficulty. 
 
 The first application of the new doc- 
 
256 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 trine was on the appearance at the 
 Fort of three colored fugitives seeking 
 protection, the property of Colonel Mai- 
 lory, a lawyer of Hampton, who had 
 taken command in the rebel service. 
 They were promptly demanded by Major 
 Gary, another rebel officer, late principal 
 of an academy in Hampton, a delegate 
 to the Charleston Convention, and a se- 
 ceder with General Butler from the Con- 
 vention at Baltimore, who came as the 
 representative of Colonel Mallory, bear- 
 ing a flag of truce, and rather illogically 
 asked the surrender of the negroes under 
 the Fugitive Slave law. To this General 
 Butler replied that he considered them 
 "contraband of war," adding, however, 
 in reference to the claim under the Con- 
 stitution, that it could hardly be urged 
 by a member of a foreign State, which 
 Virginia pretended to be ; but that if their 
 owner would report himself at the Fort- 
 ress and take the oath of allegiance to 
 the United States he should have them. 
 The General then took an early oppor- 
 tunity to bring his view of the matter to 
 Jie notice of the authorities at Washing- 
 ton. 
 
 "The question in regard to slave pro- 
 perty," he wrote to General Scott, the 
 Commander-in-Chief, on the 27th May, 
 four days after assuming the command at 
 Fortress Monroe, "is becoming one of 
 very serious magnitude. The inhabit- 
 ants of Virginia are using their negroes 
 in the batteries, and are preparing to 
 send the women and children South. 
 The escapes from them are very numer- 
 ous, and a squad has come in this morn- 
 ing to my pickets, bringing their women 
 and children. Of course these can- 
 not be dealt with upon the theory on 
 which I designed to treat the services of 
 able-bodied men and women who might 
 
 come within my lines. I am in the ut- 
 most doubt what to do with this species 
 of property. Up to this time I have had 
 come within my lines men and women 
 with their children, in entire families, 
 each family belonging to the same owner. 
 I have therefore determined to employ, 
 as I can do very profitably, the able-bod- 
 ied persons in the party, issuing proper 
 food for the support of all, and charging 
 against their services the expense of care 
 and sustenance of the non-laborers, keep- 
 ing a strict and accurate account, as well 
 of the services as the expenditures, hav- 
 ing the worth of the services and the cost 
 of the expenditure determined by a board . 
 of survey, hereafter to be detailed. I 
 know of no other manner in which to dis- 
 pose of this subject and the questions 
 connected herewith. As a matter of 
 property to the insurgents, it will be of 
 very great moment the number that I 
 now have amounting, as I am informed, 
 to what in good times would be of the 
 value of $60,000. Twelve of these ne- 
 groes, I am informed, have escaped from 
 the erection of the batteries on Sewell's 
 Point, which this morning fired upon my 
 expedition as it passed by out of range. 
 As a means of offence, therefore, in the 
 enemy's hands, these negroes, when able- 
 bodied, are of the last importance. With- 
 out them the batteries could not have 
 been erected, at least for many weeks. 
 As a military question, it would seem to 
 be a measure of necessity to deprive 
 their masters of their services. How can 
 this be done ? As a political question 
 and a question of humanity, can I receive 
 the services of a father and a mother, 
 and not take the children ? Of the hu- 
 manitarian aspect there is no doubt ; 
 of the political one, I have no right to 
 judge. I therefore submit all this to 
 
NAYAL RECONNOISSANCES. 
 
 257 
 
 your better judgment. As these ques- 
 tions have a political aspect, I have ven- 
 tured, and I trust I am not wrong in so 
 doing, to duplicate the parts of my des- 
 patch relating to this subject, and forward 
 them to the Secretary of War." 
 
 The subject, doubtless, was considered 
 with care, according to the importance 
 of the precedent about to be established. 
 Some days were taken for reflection, and 
 on the 30th Mr. Cameron, the Secretary 
 of War, replied as follows, admitting the 
 propriety of the course pursued by Gen- 
 eral Butler, forbidding in certain cases 
 the return of the fugitives, but avoiding 
 any positive statement as to their future 
 position: "Your action in respect to 
 the negroes who came within your lines, 
 from the service of the rebels, is approv- 
 ed. The department is sensible of the 
 embarrassments which must surround offi- 
 cers conducting military operations in a 
 Stale by the laws of which slavery is 
 sanctioned. The Government cannot re- 
 cognize the rejection by any State of its 
 Federal obligation, resting upon itself, 
 among these Federal obligations. How- 
 ever, no one can be more important than 
 that of suppressing and dispersing any 
 combination of the former for the pur- 
 pose of overthrowing its whole constitu- 
 tional authority. While, therefore, you 
 will permit no interference, by persons 
 under your command, with the relations 
 of persons held to service under the laws 
 of any State, you will, on the other hand, 
 so long as any State within which your 
 military operations are conducted, remain 
 under the control of such armed combi- 
 nations, refrain from surrendering to al- 
 leged masters any persons who come 
 within your lines. You will employ such 
 persons in the services to which they 
 will be best adapted, keeping an account 
 33 
 
 of the labor by them performed, of the ' 
 value of it, and the expense of their 
 maintenance. The question of their final 
 disposition will be reserved for fiiture 
 determination." 
 
 On the 5th of- June, Captain John 
 Faunce, in command of the United States 
 steamer Harriet Lane, in obedience to 
 orders from General Butler, made a 
 spirited reconnoissance of Pig Point, a 
 promontory south of Newport News, 
 on the opposite side of the Roads, at 
 the entrance to James River. Ap- 
 proaching the rebel battery, which he 
 observed on the shore, he opened fire at 
 a distance of about 1,800 yards, as near 
 as the flats would allow, throwing thirty 
 rounds of shot and shell, some of which 
 struck within the enemy's works, but 
 most of which fell short. The rebel bat- 
 tery was more effective, the vessel being 
 twice hit, and five of her men were 
 wounded. The engagement began at 
 half-past 8 in the forenoon, and lasted 
 45 minutes, when the Harriet Lane, hav- 
 ing succeeded in her purpose of testing 
 the strength of the enemy's position, 
 drew off out of range."* A similar 
 spirited naval reconnoissance of Sewell's 
 Point, at the entrance to Elizabeth River, 
 on the 18th and 19th of May, a few days 
 previous to General Butler's arrival, con- 
 ducted by Commander Eagle, in the gun- 
 boat Star, late Monticello, in which Cap- 
 tain Ward, in the Freeborn, took a part, 
 had established the fact of the rebel pre- 
 parations in that quarter, and as authori- 
 tatively proved the readiness and skill 
 of our naval officers in grasping every 
 opportunity for distinction in the service. 
 But little injury appears to have been 
 
 * Captain John Faunce to Flag Officer G. J. Pendergrast, 
 Commanding the Cumberland. Hampton Roads, June 5, 
 1861. 
 
258 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 received on either side ; though, as the 
 first conflict between the land and naval 
 forces at this important station, the de- 
 tails of the affair, variously represented, 
 occupied at the time a considerable share 
 of the public attention. The rebels who 
 had every facility for manning their 
 works, from the store of heavy guns 
 which they had taken possession of at 
 Gosport, presently strengthened their 
 positions at Craney Island, Sewell's Point 
 and other approaches to Norfolk, and 
 continued to hold them with effect during 
 the ensuing year, till the movements con- 
 sequent upon the grand attack upon 
 Yorktown compelled their abandonment. 
 The first military expedition in the 
 vicinity of Fortress Monroe was directed 
 against the positions of the rebels at Little 
 and Great Bethel. " Having learned," 
 says General Butler in his official report 
 01 the affair, " that the enemy had estab- 
 lished an outpost of some strength at a 
 place called Little Bethel, a small church, 
 about eight miles from Newport News,' 
 and the same distance from Hampton, 
 from whence they were accustomed night- 
 ly to advance both on Newport News 
 and the picket guards of Hampton, to 
 annoy them, and also from whence they 
 had come down in small squads of cavalry 
 and taken a number of Union men, some 
 of whom had the safeguard and protec- 
 tion of the troops of the United States, 
 and forced them into the rebel ranks, and 
 that they were also gathering up the 
 slaves of citizens who had moved away 
 and left their farms in charge of their 
 negroes, carrying them to work in en- 
 trenchments, at Williamsburg and York- 
 town, I had determined to send up a 
 force to drive them back and destroy 
 their camp, the headquarters of which 
 was this small church. I had also learn- 
 
 ed that at a place a short distance further 
 on, on the road to Yorktown, was an 
 outwork of the rebels, on the Hampton 
 side of a place called Big Bethel, a large 
 church, near the head of Back River, and 
 that here was a very considerable ren- 
 dezvous, with works of more or less 
 strength in process of erection, and from 
 this point the whole country was laid 
 under contribution." 
 
 Under these circumstances the expedi- 
 tion was projected at Fortress Monroe on 
 Sunday morning the 9th of June, in 
 general accordance with a plan, of which 
 the outlines are presented in a private 
 memorandum drawn up by Major Theo- 
 dore Winthrop, military secretary of 
 General Butler, " partly made up from 
 the General's hints and partly from 
 his own fancies." This document, which 
 afterwards became of peculiar interest, 
 read as follows : " Notes of the plan of 
 attack by two detachments upon Little 
 Bethel and Big Bethel. A regiment or 
 a battalion to march from Newport, and 
 a regiment or a battalion to march from 
 Camp Hamilton, Duryee's. Each regi- 
 ment to be supported by sufficient re- 
 serves under arms in camp, and with ad- 
 vanced guards out on the road of march. 
 Duryee to push out two pickets at 10 
 p. M., one two and a half miles beyond 
 Hampton, on the county road, but not so 
 far as to alarm the enemy. This is im- 
 portant. Second picket half as far as the 
 first. Both pickets to keep as much out 
 of sight as possible. No one whatever 
 to be allowed to pass out through their 
 lines. Persons to be allowed to pass in- 
 ward towards Hampton, unless it appears 
 that they intend to go round about and 
 dodge through to the front. At 12 mid- 
 night, Colonel Duryee will march his 
 regiment, with fifteen rounds cartridges, 
 
LITTLE BETHEL. 
 
 259 
 
 on the county road toward Little Bethel. 
 Scows will be provided to ferry them 
 across Hampton Creek. March will be 
 rapid, but not hurried. A howitzer with 
 canister and shrapnell to go. A wagon 
 with planks and material to repair the 
 New Market bridge. Duryee to have 
 the two hundred rifles (Sharpe's rifles) 
 purchased the day previous. He will 
 pick the men to whom to intrust them. 
 Rocket to be thrown up from Newport 
 News. Notify Commodore Pendergrast 
 (flag officer) of this to prevent general 
 alarm. Newport News movement to be 
 made somewhat later than this, as the 
 distance is less. If we find and surprise 
 them, we will fire one volley, if desirable 
 not reload, and go ahead with the 
 bayonet. As the attack is to be by night, 
 or dusk of morning and in detachments, 
 our people should have some token, say 
 a white rag on the left arm. Perhaps 
 the detachments which are to do the job 
 should be smaller than a regiment ; three 
 or five hundred on the right and left of 
 the attack would be more easily handled. 
 If we bag the Little Bethel men, push on 
 to Big Bethel and similarly bag them. 
 Burn both the Bethels or blow up if brick. 
 To protect our rear, in case we take the 
 field pieces and the enemy should inarch 
 his main body (if he has any) to recover 
 them, it would be well to have a squad 
 of competent artillerists, regular or other, 
 to handle the captured guns on the re- 
 tirement of our main body. Also, to 
 spike them if retaken. George Scott 
 (colored guide) to have a shooting iron. 
 Perhaps Duryee's men would be awk- 
 ward with a new arm in a night or early 
 dawn attack, where -there will be little 
 marksman duty to perform. Most of the 
 work will be done with the bayonet, and 
 they are already handy with the old ones." 
 
 The troops detached for the perform- 
 ance of this service, placed under com 
 mand of Brigadier- General E. W. Pierce, 
 of Massachusetts, who had been appoint- 
 ed by Governor Andrew to succeed Gen- 
 eral Butler, on the promotion of the lat- 
 ter to the rank of Major-General, con- 
 sisted of Colonel Duryee's 5th Regiment 
 of New York Volunteers, Colonel Towns- 
 end's Albany 3d Regiment of New York 
 Yolunteers, a battalion of Yermont and 
 Massachusetts troops under Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Washburn, from Colonel Phelps' 
 command at Newport News, and Colonel 
 Bendix's German Seventh Steuben Regi- 
 ment of New York Yolunteers. To these 
 were added a battery of three light 
 pieces, commanded by Lieutenant Greble 
 of the United States Second artillery. 
 
 The movements of the several regi- 
 ments were thus conducted : At midnight 
 of the 9th of June, Colonel Duryee, pre- 
 ceded by two companies of skirmishers, 
 advanced with his regiment of Zouaves 
 j from Camp Hamilton, at Hampton, to- 
 ward Little Bethel. Crossing the Hamp- 
 ton River, after some delay in the surf- 
 boats manned by seamen from the Naval 
 Brigade at the station, the force moved 
 rapidly onward, and at four in the morn- 
 ing had accomplished its march of thir- 
 teen miles to Little Bethel. A picket- 
 guard was discovered and surprised, and 
 a mounted officer, with four or five men 
 on foot, taken prisoners. The further 
 direct attack upon the position was to be 
 made by Lieutenant-Colonel Washburn's 
 command, which was approaching from 
 Newport News. Colonel Duryee, mean- 
 while, according to instructions, was 
 pushing on to put his force in a position 
 to cut off the retreat of the rebels at Lit- 
 tle Bethel, when he suddenly heard a 
 heavy fire of musketry and cannon in 
 
 L 
 
260 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 his rear, indicating a severe engagement. 
 "Supposing it to be an attempt of the 
 enemy to cut off our reserve, we imme- 
 diately," says Colonel Duryee in his re- 
 port, " countermanded in quick and dou- 
 ble-quick time, when, having proceeded 
 about five miles, we came upon two of 
 our regiments, and learned that, in the 
 darkness of the night, they had mistaken 
 each other for enemies, and that an un- 
 fortunate engagement had taken place." 
 These regiments were those of Colonel 
 Townsend and Colonel Bendix, which 
 had been sent forward respectively from 
 Camp Hamilton and Newport News with 
 the intention of forming a junction at a 
 point where the two roads leading from 
 their respective camps met. The Ger- 
 mans, having the shorter distance to go, 
 were first on the ground. As the Alba- 
 ny men came up, in the uncertain light 
 of early morning, by a singular fatality, 
 under the circumstances for express di- 
 rections had been given by General But- 
 ler to prevent any confusion in the dark- 
 ness by requiring that no attack should 
 be made until the watchword (Boston) 
 should be given by the attacking regi- 
 ment, and that the members of Colonel 
 Townsend's regiment should be known, 
 if in daylight, by something white worn 
 on the arm they were yet mistaken by 
 the Germans for the enemy. Fire was 
 opened upon the head of the advancing 
 column with artillery and musketry, at a 
 distance of a hundred yards, and was re- 
 turned by some of the Albany men, who 
 were under the impression that they had 
 fallen into an ambuscade. Colonel Towns- 
 end then withdrew his men to a neigh- 
 boring eminence, and the disaster was 
 checked. Yarious explanations were af- 
 terwards offered in extenuation of this 
 affair. It was stated that Colonel Bendix 
 
 had received no intimation of the white 
 badges to be worn by Colonel Townsend's 
 men, and that if he had, it would have 
 been impossible to distinguish them in 
 the darkness of the morning ; that the 
 dress of the Albany regiment resembled 
 that usually worn by the rebel soldiers ; 
 and that, as General Pierce and General 
 Townsend rode in advance of their forces, 
 they were mistaken for the enemj^'s cav- 
 alry. An advance guard, it was fairly 
 alleged should, under any circumstances, 
 have been thrown out. The evil effects 
 of the disaster, however, remained incon- 
 trovertible, whatever may have been its 
 cause. The loss by this unhappy encoun- 
 ter two killed and nineteen wounded 
 was considerable ; but its destruction of 
 the entire plan of the attack was a great- 
 er injury. Lieutenant - Colonel Wash- 
 burn, like Colonel Duryee, had reversed 
 his forward movement, and the enemy, 
 warned by the noise of the artilleiy, 
 made their retreat in safety from Little 
 Bethel. When the Union forces present- 
 ly reached the place, it was found de- 
 serted. Colonel Duryee then destroyed 
 the camp which he found there. 
 
 Here the affair might well have ended, 
 leaving the further attack upon the ene- 
 my in their position at Great Bethel to 
 a better opportunity. Officers and men, 
 however, were sanguine of their ability 
 to carry out the original programme, 
 and had no disposition to return to their 
 comrades with the simple story of an 
 unfortunate blunder. Holding a con- 
 sultation with his colonels, General 
 Pierce, with their advice, resolved to 
 go forward and "attempt to carry the 
 works of the enemy at Big Bethel." 
 The whole force was accordingly ad- 
 vanced, Colonel Duryee, as before, keep- 
 ing the lead. A correspondent of the 
 
BATTLE AT GREAT BETHEL. 
 
 261 
 
 New York Daily Times, who was with 
 the column, may here take up the story. 
 "It was ten o'clock," he writes, "and 
 the soldiers, wjth their long and rapid 
 march and want of sleep, were marching 
 listlessly at the route step, when the 
 scouts brought word that the enemy, 
 3,000 strong, were entrenched behind 
 sand batteries, right in front, and that 
 without waiting for an attack they were 
 about to sally forth. It put a new spirit 
 into the men as the word passed down 
 the line. They were no longer tired 
 and sleepy. Each freshened up to his 
 place in the ranks, and closed up in 
 column. Each regiment deployed into 
 the adjoining fields, right and left, and 
 drew up in order of battle. 
 
 "Over a small stream twelve miles 
 from Hampton, a bridge called County 
 Bridge crosses on the road to Yorktown. 
 On the opposite bank, at the bridge and 
 on the right of it, the enemy was posted 
 behind sand batteries. In front of their 
 batteries was a broad open field, and 
 this side of that, on our right, was a 
 wood, and in front*and to the left a corn 
 field. Between the wood and the corn* 
 field ran a road connected with that by 
 which we had advanced. Over the fence 
 into the corn field Colonel Duryee's regi- 
 ment advanced, and then down the road 
 right in the teeth of the enemy's bat- 
 teries. Two 12-pound howitzers, and 
 one 6-pounder which our troops carried 
 with them, were posted in the open field 
 on the left of the wood. As the Zouaves 
 advanced, both batteries opened. Eight 
 onward at a double-quick step the regi- 
 ment ran, exposed to a murderous fire. 
 Colonel Duryee himself led the van, and 
 after proceeding a quarter of the distance 
 to the enemy's batteries, he commanded 
 the men to take to the woods. There 
 
 they remained for two hours and twenty 
 minutes, under an incessant fire which 
 raked the position, and finally, after a 
 gallant charge by Captain Kilpatrick, 
 (of the Duryee Zouaves,) which drove 
 the secessionists from one of their guns, 
 after our artillerists had exhausted all 
 their ammunition, and their command- 
 ant, Lieutenant Greble of the regular 
 army, and many others, had been killed, 
 General Pierce ordered a retreat. Colo- 
 nel Bendix, with three companies of rifle- 
 men, did good service on the right of our 
 position, and Colonel Townsend's regi- 
 ment on the left performed its part well 
 A barn near the enemy's line was seized, 
 and from it many of the enemy were 
 picked oft 7 . The action commenced at 
 twenty minutes before ten in the fore- 
 noon, and ended at twenty minutes past 
 twelve. The retreat was conducted in 
 perfect order. Some of the enemy's 
 cavalry hung on our rear, but they were 
 repulsed with loss." General Pierce 
 having called upon General Butler for 
 reinforcements, Colonel Allen's and Colo- 
 nel Carr's, 1st and 2d New York regi- 
 ments, were sent to his aid. They ar- 
 rived at the close of the battle, and, 
 drawn up in line, were of essential ser- 
 vice in holding the enemy in check while 
 the Union troops which had been engaged 
 in the action retired from the field. Gen- 
 eral Butler himself would have taken the 
 field, had not his services been required 
 at Hampton, at first in forwarding the 
 reinforcements, and afterwards in making 
 dispositions for the care of the wounded 
 and the safety of the retreat. 
 
 The official reports of the day add va- 
 rious details of the battle highly credita- 
 ble to the valor of the several regiments 
 engaged in it. The officers, generally, 
 were enthusiastic in the p( rformarice of 
 
262 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 their dut}^ Lieutenant-Colonel Warren, 
 of the Zouaves, is mentioned by his su- 
 perior officer in command of the regi- 
 ment Colonel Duryee as deserving of 
 particular honor for his assistance in 
 planning the operations of the day, and 
 for his heroic performance of duty. He 
 was among the last to leave the field, 
 bringing away with him the body of Lieu- 
 tenant Greble, borne on the gun that 
 officer was serving when he fell. He had 
 been instantly killed by a cannon-shot of 
 the enemy striking his head. His bat- 
 tery was stationed in an open field, with- 
 in two hundred yards of the covered 
 works of the enemy, from which they 
 mercilessly played upon his position. 
 Without support, with his few brave 
 cannoneers, he manfully stood by his 
 gun, refusing any shelter or effort at pro- 
 tection. Asked to take care of himself 
 as the rest did, he replied, "I never 
 dodge, and when I hear the notes of the 
 bugle calling to retreat I shall retreat, 
 and not before." Throughout the firing, 
 it is said he sighted every gun himself, 
 and examined every shot with his glass. 
 His last words, when he was struck, 
 were, " Oh ! my gun !"* 
 
 Lieutenant John Trout Greble, who 
 died thus heroically, was a native of Phil- 
 adelphia, descended from ancestors who, 
 both on the father and mother's side, had 
 fought in the war of the Revolution. 
 Born in 1834, he was but twenty-seven 
 at the time of his death. From boyhood 
 " he had been remarkable for innocence 
 and purity of life an almost feminine 
 character, blended, however, with great 
 firmness and courage not the result of 
 a robust physical constitution, but spring- 
 ing from the action of principle and hon- 
 
 * Anecdotes furnished by a friend of Lieutenant Greble 
 to the Philadelphia Inquirer. 
 
 or." Educated at the Central High 
 School of his native city, at sixteen he 
 entered the West Point Academy as a 
 cadet, and graduated with distinction in 
 1854, when he was commissioned Brevet 
 2d Lieutenant in the 2d Artillery. He 
 served with honor in the war in Florida 
 for two years, when he was appointed to 
 the assistant Professorship of Ethics at 
 West Point, embracing instruction in no 
 less a series of the liberal studies than 
 grammar, geography, history, rhetoric, 
 elocution, international and constitution- 
 al law, the Constitution of the United 
 States, and logic. He continued to dis- 
 charge the duties of this position till Oc- 
 tober, 1860, when, " having repeatedly 
 solicited active service, he was ordered 
 to Fortress Monroe, and was one of the 
 handful of gallant men who preserved 
 that important post to the country, when, 
 but for the respect inspired by Colonel 
 Dimick and his little band of three hun- 
 dred, the rebels might at any moment 
 have taken it." To these notices of the 
 life of a gallant officer, we may add an 
 endearing memorial of his private char- 
 ^icter in the few last words "scrawled 
 evidently on the field," on a paper which 
 was found in his pocket. They were ad- 
 dressed to his wife, the daughter of his 
 senior professor at West Point the Rev. 
 John W. French : " May God bless you, 
 my darling, and grant you a happy and 
 peaceful life. May the good Father pro- 
 tect you and me, and grant that we may 
 live happily together long lives. God 
 give me strength, wisdom, and courage. 
 If I die, let me die as a brave and honor- 
 able man ; let no stain of dishonor hang 
 over me or you. Devotedly, and with 
 my whole heart your husband."* 
 
 * Memoir of Lt. Greble, in Mr. Shea's excellent " Biograpb, 
 ical Memorial of Officers killed in Defence of the Union." 
 
THEODORE WINTHROP. 
 
 263 
 
 There was another victim of the war, 
 that day, alike youthful, ingenuous and 
 self-sacrificing, for whose untimely fate 
 much sympathy was felt. Theodore Win- 
 throp, a young man of rare cultivation 
 and attainments, whom we have already 
 noticed, bright with enthusiasm, in his 
 march with the New York Seventh, at 
 the opening of the war, was at this time 
 attached to the staff of General Butler at 
 Fortress Monroe. He had been, as we 
 have seen, in the councils and drawn up 
 the memoranda for the expedition. No 
 one had entered more eagerly into the 
 battle, or borne his part through those 
 long forenoon hours with more bravery. 
 "After the melancholy events of the 
 earlier part of the day," writes one, a 
 friend who has paid a noble tribute to 
 his memory, " he saw that its fortunes 
 could be retrieved only by a dash of 
 heroic enthusiasm. Fired himself, he 
 sought to kindle others. For one moment 
 that brave, inspiring form is plainly visi- 
 ble to his whole country, wrapt and calm, 
 standing upon the log nearest the enemy's 
 battery, the mark of their sharp-shooters, 
 the admiration of their leaders, waving 
 his sword, cheering his fellow-soldiers 
 with his bugle voice of victory, young, 
 brave, beautiful, for one moment erect 
 and glowing in the wild whirl of battle, 
 the next falling forward toward the foe, 
 dead but triumphant."* 
 
 Born in New Haven in 1828, a de- 
 scendant of the first Governor of Con- 
 necticut, on the father's side, and of 
 Jonathan Edwards, on the mother's, 
 Winthrop's "grave, delicate, rather pre- 
 cocious childhood," had ripened with his 
 growth, and borne him triumphantly 
 
 * A highly appreciative biographical sketch of Theodore 
 Winthrop by Geo. W. Curtis in the Atlantic Magazine for 
 August, 1861. 
 
 through the liberal studies at Yale. Fee- 
 ble health drove him to foreign travel, 
 when he made the acquaintance in Europe 
 of Mr. W. H. Aspinwall, the eminent 
 merchant of New York, who, appreciat- 
 ing his character and attainments, en- 
 gaged him as a tutor for his son, and 
 afterwards received him into his count- 
 ing-house. Employment at Panama as 
 an agent of the Pacific Steamship Com- 
 pany followed, with journeys in Califor- 
 nia and Oregon. His love of adventure 
 then made him a sharer in Lieutenant 
 Strain's unfortunate Darien expedition. 
 Escaping that peril with impaired health 
 he studied law ; was admitted to the bar 
 and engaged eagerly in political life, 
 taking the field as a speaker in the Fre- 
 mont Presidential campaign. Literature, 
 during these changes of occupation ap- 
 pears, however, from the unpublished 
 books he left behind him, to have been 
 his real pursuit. Several romances have 
 been published since his death, fresh, 
 rapid, vigorous, inspiring sketches of life 
 and manners. "Cecil Dreeme," "John 
 Brent," "Edwin Brothertoft," and all 
 have been received with favor. It is not 
 a little singular that one who wrote so 
 much and so well should not have found 
 his way to the public as an author in his 
 life time ; but with the exception of the 
 sketches of camp life furnished to the 
 Atlantic Magazine, we are not aware 
 of anything of consequence published 
 before his death from his pen. The 
 impressions with which he entered the 
 contest are given in a passage of his 
 correspondence from Washington, writ- 
 ten after he had joined the army : " I 
 see," he wrote, " no present end to this 
 business. We must conquer the South. 
 Afterward we must be prepared to do its 
 police in its own behalf, and in behalf of 
 
WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 its black population, whom this war must, 
 without precipitation, emancipate. We 
 must hold the South as the metropolitan 
 police holds New York. All this is in- 
 evitable. Now I wish to enroll myself 
 at once iii the Police of the Nation, and 
 for life, if the nation will take me. I do 
 not see that I can put myself experi- 
 ence and character to any more useful 
 use. . . My experience in this short 
 campaign with the Seventh assures .me 
 that volunteers are for one purpose and 
 regular soldiers entirely another. We 
 want regular soldiers for the cause of 
 order in these anarchical countries, and 
 we want men to command who, though 
 they may be valuable as temporary sa- 
 traps or proconsuls to make liberty pos- 
 sible where it is now impossible, will 
 never under any circumstances be dis- 
 loyal to Liberty, will always oppose any 
 scheme of any one to constitute a mili- 
 tary government, and will be ready, when 
 the time comes, to imitate Washington. 
 We must think of these things, and pre- 
 pare for them." 
 
 The number of the Union men in the 
 engagement at Great Bethel was esti- 
 mated at about three thousand, and that 
 of the enemy, commanded by Colonel Ma- 
 gruder, late of the United States service ; 
 was set down at the time as at least as 
 large ; but the report of Colonel Hill of 
 the North Carolina Volunteers makes the 
 rebel force only eight hundred of his own 
 regiment and three hundred and sixty 
 Virginians. He reports one North Car- 
 olinian killed and seven wounded, while 
 he " safely estimates" the Union loss at 
 two hundred and fifty. " Our regiment 
 behaved most gallantly," writes this offi- 
 cer. " Not one man shrunk from his post 
 or showed symptoms of fear. Our Heav- 
 enly Father has most wonderfully inter- 
 
 posed to shield our hearts in the day of 
 battle ; unto His .great name be all the 
 praise for our success."* In honor of 
 this achievement the North Carolina con- 
 vention authorized the regiment to in- 
 scribe on their colors the word " Bethel." 
 General Butler, writing before the returns 
 were in, mentions his loss at perhaps forty 
 to fifty. It was afterwards ascertain- 
 ed to be fourteen killed and forty-five 
 wounded and missing. The rebels, we 
 have seen it stated, admitted a loss of 
 seventeen killed. On the night after the 
 battle they abandoned Great Bethel and 
 retired to Yorktown. 
 
 In his summing up of the affair, Gen- 
 eral Butler certainly put the best face 
 upon the matter in the assertion : "I 
 think, in the unfortunate combination 
 of circumstances, and the result which 
 we experienced, we. have gained more 
 than we lost. Our troops have learned 
 to have confidence in themselves under 
 fire, the enemy have shown that they 
 will not meet us in the open field, and 
 our officers have learned wherein their 
 organization and drill are inefficient." 
 If the last, indeed, had been thoroughly 
 taught the day of Great Bethel, dear as 
 it was, would have had its consolations ; 
 but other lessons of that kind must share 
 with it the uncomplimentary ad vantage^'f 
 
 The affair at Great Bethel, of course, 
 checked any further immediate advance 
 into the country from the neighborhood 
 
 * D. H. Hill, Colonel 1st Regiment North Carolina Vol- 
 unteers, to Governor J. W. Ellis. Yorktown, Va., Juno 
 11, 1861. 
 
 \ General Butler to Lieutenant-General Scott, June 10, 
 1861. Brigadier-General Fierce's orders, June 9, 1861. 
 Colonel Duryee's report to General Pierce, June 11, 1861. 
 Captain Fitzpatrick's report to Colonel Duryee, June 11, 
 1861. Letter of Henry J. Raymond to the New York 
 Times, Fortress Monroe, July 1, 1861. General Pierce's let- 
 ter to the editor of the. Boston Journal, Freetown, Mass., 
 Aug. 3, 1861. 
 
RETIREMENT FROM HAMPTON. 
 
 265 
 
 of Fortress Monroe. It was necessary 
 to wait for reinforcements and proceed 
 with a due respect for the resources of the 
 enemy, which from inexperience of the 
 art of war, or an unwillingness to realize 
 the thoroughly hostile position of the foe, 
 there had been a disposition to lose sight 
 of or depreciate. It began now to be 
 seen that the contest must be pursued 
 on military principles, and that, so far as 
 the operations on the field were concern- 
 ed, we were to all intents and purposes 
 dealing with a foreign enemy. As the 
 struggle, too, assumed a greater magni- 
 tude it became evident that the strength 
 of our forces must be reserved for com- 
 bined movements of importance produc- 
 tive of proportionate results. The ad- 
 vance of small parties into a hostile 
 country, always hazardous, could be at- 
 tended with little benefit, even if suc- 
 cessful, unless there were a force at hand 
 to occupy the territory and follow up the 
 advantage. The public, looking at the 
 matter in detail were disposed to com- 
 plain of the sufferance of annoyances and 
 ask why one neighboring position and 
 another of the enemy which seemed with- 
 in our grasp was not occupied ; but it 
 was soon understood that the war to be 
 successful must be planned and pursued 
 on a large scale, and that we must be 
 content with inconveniences for a time 
 for victory in the end. So the troops at 
 Fortress Monroe were content to hold 
 their ground and strengthen their posi- 
 tions, until the time when the position 
 should become the base of important 
 operations. 
 
 On the 1st of July the village of 
 Hampton which, since the first advance 
 of General Butler from the Fort, had 
 been under the control of his forces, was 
 formally taken possession of and an en- 
 34 
 
 cainpment formed there, commanded by 
 Brigadier-General Pierce. Entrench- 
 ments were thrown up, the " contra- 
 bands" who had come within the lines for 
 protection busily engaging in the work, 
 and everything looked to the permanent 
 occupation of the town. Before the end 
 of the month, a heavy draft having been 
 made upon the troops of the department 
 by General Scott for the military opera- 
 tions about Washington, General Butler 
 was compelled to weaken the garrison at 
 Newport News, and entirely withdraw 
 the force at Hampton. The immediate 
 effect of this evacuation of the town was 
 to throw upon his hands within the lines 
 around the Fort the large body of negro 
 fugitives who had escaped from theii 
 rebel masters and, as we have just stated, 
 been employed in accordance with the 
 decision of the Secretary of War upon 
 the works. The departure of the negroes 
 following the retiring regiments is de- 
 scribed a.s a singular spectacle. A rumor 
 of the near approach of the enemy and 
 the sight of the removal of the govern- 
 ment stores had created an alarm among 
 them, sending them in a mass out of the 
 town in a precipitate flight. An eye 
 witness thus pictures that scene of the 
 evening of the 26th of July. "An in- 
 describable panic ensued among the col- 
 ored population, which all at once ap- 
 peared to swell beyond all previous cal- 
 culation. The streets swarmed with the 
 terrified people. In less than half an 
 hour the exodus commenced. The tide 
 for hours poured over Hampton Bridge 
 toward the Fortress. The moon made 
 the night almost as light as day. Be- 
 tween 8 and 9 o'clock, the long wagon 
 train of the Albany regiment turned into 
 the main road leading from the Fortress 
 to Hampton, which already swarmed 
 
266 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 with fugitives. They were principally 
 on foot, the men and the women, the 
 latter greatly preponderating, carrying 
 bundles big as hogsheads, containing the 
 entire household effects of a family. Some 
 with wheel-barrows containing a wagon 
 load. Children were straggling ; those 
 that were capable of carrying anything 
 had some article or other of economic 
 housekeeping ; all fleeing as if from in- 
 stant peril. Women were shouting to 
 men heavily laden to hurry up, and men 
 urging women similarly encumbered not 
 to lag behind the grotesque cavalcade 
 that stretched the entire distance from 
 Hampton to the Fortress, their place of 
 refuge."* 
 
 The scene made a strong impression 
 upon General Butler. Reciting the ser- 
 vices that had been rendered by these 
 people in the work of the entrenchments, 
 and the relief they had afforded to the 
 soldiers, who would without their assist- 
 ance have been required to perform this 
 labor under a burning summer sun, he 
 says in a letter to the Secretary of 
 War : " Indeed it was a most interest- 
 ing sight to see these poor creatures who 
 trusted to the protection of the arms of 
 the United States, and who aided the 
 troops of the United States in their en- 
 terprise, to be thus obliged to flee from 
 their homes, and the homes of the mas- 
 ters who had deserted them, and become 
 fugitives from fear of the return of the 
 rebel soldiery, who had threatened to 
 shoot the men who had wrought for us, 
 and to carry off the women who had 
 served us, to a worse than Egyptian 
 bondage." 
 
 An interesting sketch of the labors 
 performed by the negroes at Hampton 
 
 * Fortress Monroe Correspondent N. Y. Tribune, July 
 27, 1861. 
 
 was subsequently published by Mr. Ed- 
 ward L. Pierce, entitled "The Contra- 
 bands at Fortress Monroe." Mr. Pierce, 
 who afterward became widely known to 
 the community by his official duties in 
 charge of the black population in South 
 Carolina, came to Fortress Monroe a 
 private in the 3d Massachusetts regi- 
 ment, and was, on the occupation of 
 Hampton, appointed by General Butler 
 " to collect the contrabands, record their 
 names, ages, and the names of their mas- 
 ters, provide their tools, superintend 
 their labor, and procure their rations." 
 He entered upon the work in a pains- 
 taking, conscientious spirit, and pursued 
 it with firmness and kindness. The re- 
 sult of the experiment was that with sys- 
 tematic arrangement, cheerful encourage- 
 ment, and the prospect of a moderate 
 reward, in this case at least, a vast deal 
 of solid substantial work was performed 
 thoroughly and without reluctance. The 
 negroes were assembled to work on the 
 entrenchments at half-past 4 in the 
 morning, toiled till 7 ; resumed their 
 task at 8, continued it till 11, when they 
 were dismissed till 3, and then were em- 
 ployed till 6, when they were released 
 till the morrow, having given 8 hours 
 labor to the State a sufficient share of 
 any man's day for heavy labor, especially 
 under the summer sun of Southern Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 " The contrabands," says Mr. Pierce, 
 " worked well, and in no instance was it 
 found necessary for the superintendents 
 to urge them. There was a public opin- 
 ion among them against idleness, which 
 answered for discipline. Some days 
 they worked with our soldiers, and it 
 was found that they did more work, and 
 did the nicer parts the facings and 
 dressings better. Colonels Packard 
 
THE "CONTRABANDS" AT WORK. 
 
 267 
 
 and Wardrop, under whose direction the 
 breastworks were constructed, and Gen- 
 eral Butler, who visited them, expressed 
 satisfaction at the work which the con- 
 trabands had done. On the 14th of 
 July, Mr. Russell, of the London Times, 
 and Dr. Bellows, of the Sanitary Com- 
 mission, came to Hampton and mani- 
 fested much interest at the success of the 
 experiment. The result was, indeed, 
 pleasing. A subaltern officer, to whom 
 I had insisted that the contrabands 
 should be treated with kindness, had 
 sneered at the idea of applying philan- 
 thropic notions in time of war. It was 
 found then, as always, that decent per- 
 sons will accomplish more when treated 
 at least like human beings. The same 
 principle, if we will but credit our own 
 experience and Mr. Rarey, too, may 
 with advantage be extended to our rela- 
 tions with the beasts that serve us."* 
 
 On the 30th of July General Butler 
 reported within the peninsula, this side 
 of Hampton Court, 900 negroes, 300 of 
 whom were able-bodied men, 30 of whom 
 were men substantially past hard labor, 
 175 women, 225 children under the age 
 of 10 years, and 1*70 between 10 and 18 
 years, and many more coming in. Here 
 was a new state of facts going quite be- 
 yond the handful of refugee laborers for 
 whom he had invented the term "con- 
 trabands." How should it be met ? The 
 proposition, with his views of its solu- 
 tion, was thus presented by General But- 
 ler to* the Secretary of War : ^ First, 
 What shall be done with them? and, 
 Second, What is their state and condi- 
 tion? Upon these questions I desire 
 the instructions of the Department. The 
 first question, however, may perhaps be 
 
 * The Contrabands at Fortress Monroe. Atlantic Month- 
 ly, November, 1861. 
 
 answered by considering the last. Are 
 these men, women, and children, slaves ? 
 Are they free ? Is their condition that 
 of men, women, and children, or of prop- 
 erty, or is it a mixed relation ? What 
 their status was under the Constitution 
 and laws, we all know. What has been 
 the effect of rebellion and a state of war 
 upon that status ? When I adopted the 
 theory of treating the able-bodied negro 
 fit to work in the trenches as property 
 liable to be used in aid of rebellion, and 
 so contraband of war, that condition of 
 things was in so far met, as I then and 
 still believe, on a legal and constitutional 
 basis. But now a new series of ques- 
 tions arises. Passing by women, the 
 children, certainly, cannot be treated on 
 that basis ; .if property, they must be 
 considered the incumbrance rather that 
 the auxiliary of an army, and, of course, 
 in no possible legal relation could be 
 treated as contraband. Are they prop- 
 erty ? If they were so, they have been 
 left by their masters and owners, de- 
 serted, thrown away, abandoned, like 
 the wrecked vessel upon the ocean. 
 Their former possessors and owners 
 have causelessly, traitorously, rebellious- 
 ly, and, to carry out the figure, practi- 
 cally abandoned them to be swallowed 
 up by the winter storm of starvation. 
 If property, do they not become the 
 property of the salvors? but we, their 
 salvors, do not need and will not hold 
 such property, and will assume no such 
 ownership : has not, therefore, all pro- 
 prietary relation ceased ? Have they 
 not become, thereupon, men, women 
 and children ? No longer under owner- 
 ship of any kind, the fearful relicts of 
 fugitive masters, have they not by their 
 masters' acts, and the state of war, as- 
 sumed the condition, which we hold to 
 
268 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 be the normal one, of those made in 
 God's image. It is not every constitu- 
 tional, legal, and moral requirement, as 
 well to the runaway master as their re- 
 linquished slaves, thus answered ? I 
 confess that my own mind is compelled 
 by this reasoning to look upon them as 
 men and women. If not free born, yet 
 free, manumitted, sent forth from the 
 hand that held them never to be re- 
 , claimed. 
 
 " Of course, if this reasoning, thus im- 
 perfectly set forth, is correct, my duty, 
 as a humane man, is very plain. I should 
 take the same care of these men, women 
 and children, houseless, homeless, and 
 unprovided for, as I would of the same 
 number of men, women and children, 
 who, for their attachment to the Union, 
 had been driven or allowed to flee from 
 the Confederate States. I should have 
 no doubt on this question, had I not seen 
 it stated that an order had been issued 
 by General McDowell in his department, 
 substantially forbidding all fugitive slaves 
 from coming within his lines, or being 
 harbored there. Is that order to be en- 
 forced in all the military departments ? 
 If so, who are to be considered fugitive 
 slaves ? Is a slave to be considered fu- 
 gitive whose master runs away and leaves 
 him ? Is it forbidden to the troops to 
 aid or harbor within their lines the negro 
 children who are found therein, or is the 
 soldier, when his march has destroyed 
 their means of subsistence, to allow them 
 to starve because he has driven off the 
 rebel masters? Now, shall the com- 
 mander of a regiment or battalion sit in 
 judgment upon the question, whether any 
 given black man has fled from his master, 
 or his master fled from him? Indeed, 
 how are the free born to be distinguished ? 
 Is any one more or less a fugitive slave 
 
 because he has labored upon the rebel 
 intrenchments ? If he has so labored, if 
 I understand it, he is to be harbored. 
 By the reception of which, are the rebels 
 most to be distressed, by taking those 
 who have wrought all their rebel masters 
 desired, masked their battery, or those 
 who have refused to labor and left the 
 battery unmasked ? <*t n 
 
 "I have very decided opinions upon 
 the subject of this order. It does not 
 become me to criticise it, and I write it 
 in no spirit of criticism, but simply to 
 explain the full difficulties that surround 
 the enforcing it. If the enforcement of 
 that order becomes the policy of the 
 Government, I, as a soldier, shall be 
 bound to enforce it steadfastly, if not 
 cheerfully. But if left to my own dis- 
 cretion, as you may have gathered from 
 my reasoning, I should take a widely 
 different course from that which it indi- 
 cates. In a loyal State I would put down 
 a servile insurrection. In a state of re- 
 bellion I would confiscate that which was 
 used to oppose my arms, and take all 
 that property, which constituted the 
 wealth of that State, and furnished the 
 means by which the war was prosecuted, 
 beside being the cause of the war ; and 
 if, in so doing it should be objected that 
 human beings were brought to the free 
 enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit 
 of happiness, such objection might not 
 require much consideration." 
 
 The reply of Secretary Cameron to 
 these pertinent interrogatories, still avoid- 
 ing the general considerations so forcibly 
 presented, showed the continued dispo- 
 sition of the Government to adhere as 
 closely as possible to the preservation of 
 the old Constitutional rights of the Slates, 
 notwithstanding their attitude of rebel- 
 lion. "The important question," he 
 
SECRETARY CAMERON TO GENERAL BUTLER. 
 
 269 
 
 wrote, "of the proper disposition to be 
 made of fugitives from service in the 
 States in insurrection against the Federal 
 Government, to which you have again 
 directed my attention, in your letter of 
 July 20, has received my most attentive 
 consideration. It is the desire of the 
 President that all existing rights in all 
 the- States be fully respected and main- 
 tained. The war now prosecuted on the 
 part of the Federal Government is a war 
 for the Union, for the preservation of all 
 the constitutional rights of the States and 
 the citizens of the States in the Union ; 
 hence no question can arise as to fugi- 
 tives from service within the States and 
 Territories in which the authority of the 
 Union is fully acknowledged. The ordi- 
 nary forms of judicial proceedings must 
 be respected by the military and civil 
 authorities alike for the enforcement of 
 legal forms. But in the States wholly or 
 in part under insurrectionary control, 
 where the laws of the United States are 
 so far opposed and resisted that they can- 
 not be effectually enforced, it is obvious 
 that the rights dependent upon the exe- 
 cution of these laws must temporarily 
 fail, and it is equally obvious that the 
 rights dependent on the laws of the 
 States within which military operations 
 are conducted must necessarily be subor- 
 dinate to the military exigencies created 
 by the insurrection, if not wholly forfeit- 
 ed by the treasonable conduct of the 
 parties claiming them. To this the gen- 
 eral rule of the right to service forms an 
 exception. The act of Congress approv- 
 ed August 6, 1861, declares that if per- 
 sons held to service shall be employed in 
 hostility to the United States, the right 
 to their services shall be discharged 
 therefrom. It follows of necessity, that 
 no claim can be recognized by the mili- 
 
 tary authority of the Union to the serv- 
 ices of such persons when fugitives. 
 
 " A more difficult question is presented 
 in respect to persons escaping from the 
 service of loyal masters. It is quite ap- 
 parent that the laws of the State under 
 which only the service of such fugitives 
 can be claimed must needs be wholly or 
 almost wholly superseded, as to the rem- 
 edies, by the insurrection and the milita- 
 ry measures necessitated by it ; arid it is 
 equally apparent that the substitution of 
 military for judicial measures for the en- 
 forcement of such claims must be attend- 
 ed by great inconvenience, embarrass- 
 ments and injuries. Under these circum- 
 stances, it seems quite clear that the sub- 
 stantial rights of loyal masters are still 
 best protected by receiving such fugi- 
 tives, as well as fugitives from disloyal 
 masters, into the service of the United 
 States, and employing them under such 
 organizations and in such occupations as 
 circumstances may suggest or require. 
 Of course a record should be kept show- 
 ing the names and descriptions of the fu- 
 gitives, the names and characters, as loy- 
 al or disloyal, of the masters, and such 
 facts as may be necessary to a correct 
 understanding of the circumstances of 
 each case. 
 
 "After tranquillity shall have been 
 restored upon the return of peace, Con- 
 gress will doubtless properly provide for 
 all the persons thus received into the 
 service of the Union, and for a just com- 
 pensation to loyal masters. In this way 
 only, it would seem, can the duty and 
 safety of the Government and just rights 
 of all be fully reconciled and harmonized. 
 You will therefore consider yourself in- 
 structed to. govern youF future action in 
 respect to fugitives from service by the 
 premises herein stated, and will report 
 
270 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 from time to time, and at least twice in 
 each month, jour action in the premises 
 to this Department. You will, however, 
 neither authorize nor permit any inter- 
 ference by the troops under your com- 
 mand with the servants of peaceable cit- 
 izens in a house or field, nor will you in 
 any manner encourage such citizens to 
 leave the lawful service of their masters, 
 nor will you, except in cases where the 
 public good may seem to require it. pre- 
 vent the voluntary return of any fugitive 
 to the service from which he may have 
 escaped."* 
 
 On the 2d of August, to check an in- 
 creasing evil, which was feared at the 
 outset as one of the greatest dangers of 
 the service, General Butler issued a strin- 
 gent order regulating, or rather forbid- 
 ding, the introduction of intoxicating li- 
 quors into his department. The charac- 
 teristic phraseology of the writer, and 
 certain peculiarities of the edict in its 
 thoroughness, and the impress which it 
 bore, in the unusual application to the 
 officers of a "self-denying ordinance," 
 render the document an interesting me- 
 morial of its author's rule in Virginia. 
 The order read thus: "The General 
 commanding was informed on the first 
 day of the month, from the books of an 
 unlicensed liquor-dealer near this post, 
 and by the effect on the officers and sol- 
 diers under his command, that use of intox- 
 icating liquors prevailed to an alarming 
 extent among the officers of his command. 
 He had already taken measures to pre- 
 vent its use among the men, but had pre- 
 sumed that officers and gentlemen might 
 be trusted ; but he finds that, as a rule, in 
 some regiments that assumption is ill- 
 
 * Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, to Major-General 
 Butler, commanding Department of Virginia, August 8, 
 1861. 
 
 founded, while there are many honorable 
 exceptions to this unhappy state of facts , 
 yet, for the good of all, some stringent 
 measures upon the subject are necessary. 
 Hereafter, all packages brought into this 
 department for any officer, of whatever 
 grade, will be subjected to the most rigid 
 inspection, and all spirituous and intoxi- 
 cating liquors therein will be taken and 
 turned over to the use of the medical de- 
 partment. Any officer who desires may 
 be present at the inspection of his own 
 packages. No sale of intoxicating liquor 
 will be allowed in this department, and 
 any citizen selling it will be immediately 
 sent out. If any officer finds the use of 
 intoxicating liquor necessary for his 
 health, or the health of any of his men, 
 a written application to the medical di- 
 rector will be answered ; and the Gener- 
 al is confident that there is a sufficient 
 store for all necessary purposes. The 
 medical director will keep a record of all 
 such applications, the name of the appli- 
 cant, date of application, amount and kind 
 of liquor delivered, to be open at all 
 times for public inspection. In view of 
 the alarming increase in the use of this 
 deleterious article, the General earnestly 
 exhorts all officers and soldiers to use 
 their utmost exertions, both of influence 
 and example, to prevent the wasting 
 effects of this scourge of all armies. The 
 General commanding does not desire to 
 conceal the fact that he has been accus- 
 tomed to the use of wine and liquors in 
 his own quarters, and to furnish them to 
 his friends ; but as he desires never to 
 ask either officers or men to undergo any 
 privation which he will not share with 
 them, he will not exempt himself from 
 the operation of this order, but will not 
 use it in his own quarters, as he would 
 discourage its use in the quarters of any 
 
 L 
 
THE BURNING OF HAMPTON. 
 
 271 
 
 other officer. Amid the many sacrifices 
 of time, property, health, and life which 
 the officers and soldiers of his command 
 are making in the service of their coun- 
 try, the General commanding feels confi- 
 dent that this, so slight, but so necessary 
 a sacrifice of a luxury and pandering to 
 appetite, will be borne most cheerfully, 
 now that its evil is seen and appreciated. 
 This order will be published by reading 
 at the head of every battalion at their 
 several evening parades." 
 
 The next incident of interest in Gene- 
 ral Butler's department was the destruc- 
 tion of Hampton by a marauding expe- 
 dition of the rebels, led by General Ma- 
 gruder. The town, after its evacuation 
 by the Union forces, was not occupied by 
 the enemy, though they were free to visit 
 it, and occasionally came in parties, har- 
 assing the few negro inhabitants who 
 lingered about the place. The Union 
 position, meanwhile, was strongly main- 
 tained at Newport News, and the lines 
 extended from Fortress Monroe to the 
 vicinity of Hampton. In this state of 
 affairs, when General Butler was expect- 
 ing reinforcements for further operations, 
 word was brought, on the 7th of August, 
 of the appearance, in the neighborhood 
 of the town, of a considerable body of 
 troops from Yorktown. The rumors were 
 confirmed in the afternoon by an intelli- 
 gent deserter from the rebels, Mr. Ma- 
 hew, a native of Maine, who had been 
 impressed into the service in Georgia, 
 who reported at the Fortress that Gener- 
 al Magruder was at Back Eiver, three 
 miles from Hampton, in command of sev- 
 eral regiments of Tennesseeans, Georgi- 
 ans, and Alibamians, with two hundred 
 cavalry, and eight pieces of artillery a 
 force in all of five or six thousand men, 
 which he had brought out with the view 
 
 of attacking the Union position. Meas- 
 ures were immediately taken to prepare 
 the camps for the conflict. General 
 Phelps, at Newport News, was put on 
 his guard, and Colonel Max Weber's 
 German regiment at Camp Hamilton, 
 between the Fortress and Hampton, sup- 
 plied with extra ammunition, and charged 
 with the repulse of the enemy should 
 he present himself. The bridge across 
 Hampton River was* protected midway 
 by a barricade of boards, at which a 
 picket was stationed, a portion of the 
 timbers from the further end having been 
 removed. About midnight, a party of 
 several hundred of the rebels made their 
 appearance at Hampton, surrounded and 
 entered the town, and without notice to 
 the inhabitants, immediately began to 
 set fire to the buildings. A high wind 
 from the south prevailing at the time, 
 and the houses being generally of wood 
 the conflagration spread with rapidity. 
 At its height, the line of flame extended 
 a distance of two miles, illuminating the 
 country round about with its brilliancy. 
 It was a spectacle watched with fearful 
 interest by the anxious observers at 
 Newport News and Fortress Monroe, 
 who may well have regarded the desper- 
 ate act as the prelude to a further ruth- 
 less onset of the enemy. Before morn- 
 ing the whole town, with the exception 
 of a few buildings on the creek, was in 
 smoking ruins. St. John's Episcopal 
 Church, the second oldest church in the 
 State a venerable relic of the past, dat- 
 ing from the early part of the last cen- 
 tury the Court-House, the Presbyte- 
 rian and Baptist churches, the military 
 academy, post-office, and all the public 
 buildings of this town of 1,500 inhabit- 
 ants were consumed. 
 
 Most of the buildings being empty, in 
 
272 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 consequence of the abandonment of the 
 town, there were comparatively few per- 
 sons left to experience the horrors of this 
 barbarous act of destruction. There were 
 some, however, who lingered in their old 
 homes, a score or so of whites and a 
 larger number of negroes, upon whom 
 the calamity fell with all its terrors. 
 Hastily roused from their beds, these 
 remaining occupants were driven out to 
 wander through the night r seeking a 
 place of safety, or, spell bound and un- 
 able to escape, remained to witness the 
 burning of their property. To add to 
 the dangers and alarm of the scene, a 
 sharp firing was going on between the 
 Union defenders of the bridge and the 
 rebels on the shore. 
 
 The correspondent of the New York 
 Tribune at Fortress Monroe, writing the 
 next day, mentions several cases of pecu- 
 liar hardship. " One old, half-dying, 
 speechless, and utterly helpless man, Mr. 
 George L. Massenberg, one of the oldest 
 inhabitants of the place, surrounded by 
 a few devoted servants, was taken by 
 them from his house, near the bridge, 
 and, while the fight was going on, the 
 flames raging, the stifling smoke surging, 
 and bullets whizzing all around, was re- 
 moved on a wheelbarrow to a point on 
 the creek, where a small boat was found, 
 in which he was taken in safety to our 
 side. To-day he found security and at- 
 tention in the fortress hospital. He is 
 an undisguised secessionist, and, though 
 the fact was as well known as any other, 
 he received neither mercy nor the mani- 
 festation of human feelings from the reb- 
 els. But for the devotion of his servants 
 he, no doubt, would have perished in the 
 flames that were the legitimate conse- 
 quences of his own doctrines. 
 
 " Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Jones, two old 
 
 and highly respectable people, known to 
 sympathize with the rebellion, and about 
 the only couple who could but did not 
 flee when Hampton was deserted three 
 months since, and who, notwithstanding 
 the well-understood views of Mr. Jones, 
 lived in undisturbed quiet, were roused 
 from their slumbers and scarcely given 
 time to dress. They did take out a very 
 few things that were sacred in the house- 
 hold so long maintained, and now so 
 rudely and suddenly set in flames, and 
 retreated to the rear of the yard ; and 
 there they stood all night silent, solitary 
 spectators amid the glare of conflagra- 
 tion, barely escaping the flames that al- 
 most lapped them in their folds. This 
 morning, two gentlemen, old acquaint- 
 ances, solicitous for their fate, set out 
 from the fortress, and, at their own risk, 
 went into the village and found the aged 
 couple standing there still under the rays 
 of the sun that were scarcely less scorch- 
 ing than the flames that all night had 
 raged around them. The protection 
 which was due to them from the rebels, 
 but was worse than denied them, was 
 given by the two loyal citizens, who by 
 their acts evinced that fidelity to the 
 Government was but humanity to man. 
 Certain features of Mr. Jones 7 case are 
 peculiarly aggravating. In the after- 
 noon, a relative, holding an office in the 
 Secession army, came to his house, and 
 after enjoying his hospitalities, informed 
 him that the order was out to burn the 
 village. So absurd was the statement 
 that he did not credit it. In the evening 
 he went into the streets, where all was 
 quiet, and no evidence of such a purpose. 
 Rebel guards were stationed ; besides 
 this, there was nothing unusual. About 
 ten o'clock he returned to his house and 
 retired. Scarcely had the aged couple 
 
-Frvm, tha onainaZ pai^itin^ fry Chappd, 
 
 Johnson, Pry fe C? Publishers, ITerwTbfk. 
 
 AC'viDu. c&ib* offlaofl**ibjfmcourtciftj'r. svuAem. diftrusc tr 
 
THE REBEL ACCOUNT. 
 
 273 
 
 fallen asleep when they were aroused by 
 a knock at the door, where a former 
 neighbor, and, I believe, relative of Mr. 
 Jones, awaited him, and informed Jiim 
 that he had been detailed speciall^ to 
 set fire to his dwelling. Hurrying back 
 to the chamber of his wife and informing 
 her of the message, they had barely time 
 to dress themselves and flee to the yard 
 with a few articles, when the flames burst 
 through the house." 
 
 It was at first thought that the town 
 had been burnt under some military ne- 
 cessity by the orders of General Butler, 
 since it could hardly be supposed that 
 the enemy would thus destroy their own 
 homes and property. But the fact was 
 soon established on their own avowal. 
 "The town," said the Eichmond Exam- 
 iner of the 12th, in an account of the 
 movement, "was burned to the ground 
 by the order of General Magruder. The 
 expedition for its destruction was com- 
 posed of the Mecklenburg Cavalry, Cap- 
 tain Goode ; Old Dominion Dragoons, 
 Captain Phillips ; York Rangers, Cap- 
 tain Sinclair ; Warwick Beauregards; 
 Captain Custis ; and six companies of 
 the 14th Virginia regiment, the whole 
 force being under the command of Colo- 
 nel James J. Hodges, of the 14th. The 
 town was most effectually fired. But a 
 single house was left standing. The vil- 
 lage church was intended to be spared, 
 but caught fire accidentally, and was 
 consumed to the ground. Many of the 
 members of the companies were citizens 
 of Hampton, and set fire to their own 
 houses among others, Captain Sinclair 
 fired his own home. It was supposed 
 that a man of the name of Paschal Lati- 
 mer had perished in one of the burnt 
 35 
 
 houses of Hampton. There was no other 
 casualty known to have occurred." 
 
 The only explanation given by the 
 perpetrators of this wanton act was that 
 the place might be occupied by the 
 Union troops, who were understood to 
 be on the way, and that it was best to 
 destroy it to deprive them of such a 
 convenience. If there was any signifi- 
 cance to be attached to the proceeding 
 other than as an unaccountable military 
 blunder, it was to be found in the risinp" 
 
 CD 
 
 spirit of fanaticism of which it might be 
 taken as an indication a fanaticism en- 
 couraged by the more violent of the rebel 
 leaders and the secession journalists, with 
 the same motives with which they after- 
 wards incited their deluded followers 
 to the burning of cotton and other pro- 
 ducts of the Southern soil. Courting ruin 
 as a means of gaining independence, it 
 would appear that the conspirators were 
 impressed with the idea that the more 
 desperate the cause was rendered the 
 more persistent would be the rebellion ; 
 that the less their dupes had to lose the 
 more regardless would they be of final 
 consequences. 
 
 A few days after the destruction of 
 Hampton, General "Wool was ordered 
 to the command of the South Eastern 
 District of Yirginia, with his headquar- 
 ters at Fortress Monroe. Immediately 
 after his arrival at that place, on the 
 18th of August, he assigned the com- 
 mand of the volunteer forces in the De- 
 partment outside the fortress to General 
 Butler, who presently embarked, with a 
 detachment from the regiments in the 
 joint naval and military expedition, to 
 Hatteras, the incidents of which will be 
 related in a future chapter. 
 
CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 WESTERN VIRGINIA. 
 
 THE vote for secession cast in the 
 Virginia State Convention was 88 in 
 favor of the measure, 55 against it. 
 After the confirmation of the act by the 
 people, the Convention again assembled 
 formally to complete the work of dis- 
 union, when there were but 91 of the 
 previous 143 members present to sign 
 the ordinance. The recusants in the 
 first instance, the missing names after- 
 ward, represented the dissent of the 
 western part of the State. The divided 
 vote answered generally to the propor- 
 tions of the separate portions of the 
 country, whether by the number of coun- 
 ties or their population the western 
 having about one-third of the whole. 
 There was, however, one important ex- 
 ception to be made in comparing the 
 number of inhabitants. Whilst the slaves 
 in the 50 western counties were counted 
 at 15,000, in the remaining 98 middle 
 and eastern counties they numbered more 
 than 480,000 ; and of the last, nine-tenths 
 were east of the Blue Eidge. It was no- 
 ticed also that of the increase of white 
 population in the whole State in the ten 
 years, from 1850 to 1860, more than 
 one-half belonged to the western region, 
 a striking evidence of the advances mak- 
 ing in that district in the development 
 of its agricultural and industrial resources 
 in comparison with the stagnation in the 
 counties more favored in many respects 
 on the seaboard. That extensive west- 
 ern region, bounded by the Alleghany 
 
 mountains and the Ohio river, and bor- 
 dering on the north upon Pennsylvania, 
 had little indeed in common with the 
 slaveholding, slavetrading interests and 
 Southern s3 T mpathies of the eastern di- 
 vision. Thus socially and industrially, 
 as well as geographically, separated from 
 their brethren, and complaining morn- 
 over of an unequal burden of taxation, 
 which, in consequence of the immunities 
 secured in the legislature by the slave- 
 holders, they were compelled to bear for 
 the great works of improvement under- 
 taken for the benefit of the other portions 
 of the State,* it was hardly to be expect- 
 ed that when the paramount question 
 was raised of union or disunion they 
 would patiently submit to an evil which 
 would throw all others into the shade, in 
 the severance of the State from that na- 
 tional government under the protection 
 of which they had their greatest hopes 
 of prosperity. 
 
 Accordingly, when by the act of the 
 17th of April the State Convention had 
 declared its purpose of disunion, and the 
 western members, unable to stem the 
 torrent, had fled or were driven igno- 
 miniously from the capital, it required 
 but little agitation to array Virginia on 
 the other side of the Alleghanies, in op- 
 position to the usurping authority at 
 Eichmond. The people consulted to- 
 
 * See Henry C. Carey's letter to an English economist 
 on the Rights of Southern Freemen, Philadelphia, Auguat 
 12, 1861. 
 
THE CONVENTION RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 275 
 
 gether, assemblies were held in the coun- 
 ties, and the course taken by. Governor 
 Letcher and the seceding members of the 
 Convention was generally condemned. 
 At a meeting at Clarksburg, an import- 
 ant central position in Harrison county, 
 on the 22d of April, when the country 
 was in the first flush of popular excite- 
 ment consequent on the fall of Sumter, 
 the initial step was taken for the separa- 
 tion of Western Virginia from the evil 
 counsels which prevailed in the govern- 
 ment of the State. With a full deter- 
 mination of maintaining their old alle- 
 giance to the Union, delegates were on 
 that occasion appointed to meet others 
 recommended to be chosen by the north- 
 western counties, in a Convention at 
 Wheeling on the 13th May, to take such 
 action as might be thought necessary at 
 this imminent crisis. The suggestion 
 was generally adopted, and on the desig- 
 nated day the representatives of 35 
 counties assembled at the appointed 
 place. A strong disposition was mani- 
 fested by a number of its members, 
 among whom John S. Carlile, who had 
 resolutely withstood the secession move- 
 ment in the Richmond Convention was 
 prominent, to dissolve all political con- 
 nection with the State, and adopt a new 
 organization under the title of the State 
 of New Virginia. There were obstacles, 
 however, in the way of so simple a solu- 
 tion of the difficulty, both in principle 
 and practice. The separation project 
 seemed to favor the Southern doctrine 
 of secession, and it would not be easy to 
 adjust the boundaries or responsibilities 
 of the new State. 
 
 For the present the Convention con- 
 tented itself with declaring the ordinance 
 of secession " unconstitutional, null and 
 void ;" the agreement which had been 
 
 made at Richmond, placing the whole 
 military power of the Slate under the 
 direction of the confederate President 
 Jefferson Davis, " a plain and palpable 
 violation of the Constitution of our State, 
 and utterly subversive of the rights and 
 liberties of the good people thereof," 
 whilst it was earnestly recommended to 
 their fellow citizens of the State at the 
 approaching election " to vindicate their 
 rights as Virginia freemen, by voting 
 against said ordinance of secession, and 
 all other measures of like character, so 
 far as they may be made known to them." 
 The people were also urged to vote for 
 members of Congress of the United States 
 in their several districts, in the exercise 
 of the rights secured to them by the 
 Constitution of the United States and of 
 Virginia, the prohibition of such election 
 attached to the secession ordinance being 
 pronounced " a manifest usurpation of 
 power, to which we as Virginia freemen 
 ought not, cannot, and will not submit." 
 Members, it was advised, should be 
 elected as usual to the Virginia House 
 of Delegates. In deference to the desire 
 for an independent administration of their 
 affairs, and with an eye perhaps to the 
 professions of the confederate constitu- 
 tion in its lax theory of secession, it was 
 resolved, " that inasmuch as it is a con- 
 ceded political axiom that government is 
 founded on the consent of the governed, 
 and is instituted for their good, and it 
 cannot be denied that the course pur- 
 sued by the ruling power in the State is 
 utterly subversive and destructive of our 
 interests, we believe we may rightfully 
 and successfully appeal to the proper au- 
 thorities of B Virginia to permit us peace- 
 fully and lawfully to separate from the 
 residue of the State, and form ourselves 
 into a government to give effect to the 
 
276 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 wishes, views and interests of our con- 
 stituents." Adopting the language of 
 Washington, it was resolved to "keep 
 steadily in our view that which appears 
 to us the greatest interest of every true 
 American, the consolidation of our Union, 
 in which is involved our property, felici- 
 ty, safety, and perhaps our national ex- 
 istence." As a practical illustration of 
 this far-seeing injunction of the Father 
 of his Country, it was declared that "in 
 view of the geographical, social, com- 
 mercial and industrial interests of north- 
 western Virginia, the Virginia Conven- 
 tion,, in assuming to change the relations 
 of the State of Virginia to the Federal 
 Government, have not only acted un- 
 wisely and unconstitutionally, but have 
 adopted a policy utterly ruinous to our 
 section, severing all our social ties and 
 drying up all the channels of our trade 
 and prosperity." In case the ordinance 
 of secession, which it will be remembered 
 was to be submitted to the people on the 
 23d May,* should be ratified by a vote, 
 the people were recommended to send 
 delegates to a general Convention to be 
 held on the llth of June, "to devise 
 such measures and take such action as 
 the safety and welfare of the people they 
 represent may demand." 
 
 These resolutions of their representa- 
 tives were recommended to the people 
 by a well enforced appeal, prepared by 
 a special committee of the Convention, 
 of which Mr. Carlile was placed at the 
 head. The address presented the inter- 
 ests at stake in a manner admirably cal- 
 culated to arrest attention, as it dwelt 
 upon the heartless efforts of the conspira- 
 tors to drag a people content with their 
 liberties and their prosperity into a re- 
 bellion which would deprive them of " a 
 
 * Ante, p. 151-2. 
 
 title more honored, respected and re- 
 vered, than that of king or potentate 
 the title of American citizen." The 
 darkness and secrecy with which the 
 work of secession was arrayed and con- 
 summated, were pointed out as just 
 proofs of its iniquity, and the inevitable 
 consequences of the act to its perpetrators 
 were exhibited in " bankruptcy, ruin, 
 civil war, ending in military despotism." 
 Virginians were appealed to while yet it 
 was in their power to rescue themselves 
 from a tyranny " worse many times than 
 that from which the war of '76 delivered 
 us not the tyranny of one man but of 
 many." A point was made in a spirited 
 reply to the more candid than judicious 
 declaration of Howell Cobb, late of Presi- 
 dent Buchanan's cabinet, now president 
 of the rebel Congress, in one of his South- 
 ern speeches, that "the people of the 
 Grulf States need have no apprehensions ; 
 they might go on with their planting and 
 other business as usual ; the war would 
 not come to their section ; its theatre 
 would be along the borders of the Ohio 
 river and in Virginia." By the side of 
 this not altogether prudent anticipation, 
 as it turned out, was placed the more 
 thoughtful appeal of Daniel Webster to 
 the citizens of Virginia, uttered at the 
 laying of the corner-stone of the addition 
 to the capitol in 1851. "Ye men of 
 the Blue Eidge," said the far-seeing 
 statesman on that occasion, " many thou- 
 sands of whom are nearer to this capital 
 than the seat of government of your own 
 State, what dp you think of breaking up 
 this great association into fragments of 
 States and of people ? I know that some 
 of you and I believe that you all would 
 be almost as much shocked at the an- 
 nouncement of such a catastrophe as if 
 you were informed that the Blue Ridge 
 
SENATOR MASON'S LETTER. 
 
 277 
 
 itself would soon totter from its base 
 and ye, men of Western Virginia, who 
 occupy the slope from the Alleghanies to 
 Ohio and Kentucky, what benefit do you 
 propose to yourselves by disunion ? If 
 you secede, what do you ' secede ' from, 
 and what do you ' secede ' to ? Do you 
 look for the current of the Ohio to change 
 and to bring you and your commerce to 
 the tide-waters of eastern rivers ? What 
 man in his senses can suppose that one 
 would remain part and parcel of Vir- 
 ginia in a month after Virginia had 
 ceased to be a part and parcel of the 
 United States ?" Thus ten years before 
 the event, when the word ' secede ' was 
 so new to our every-day language that 
 it was printed with quotation marks, did 
 Webster in this truly remarkable proph- 
 ecy, arguing from the testimony of the 
 mountains and rivers, predict the neces- 
 sity thrown upon Western Virginia in 
 1861. 
 
 The occasion for the assembly of the 
 new Convention of the people of that 
 region arose as was foreseen. The ef- 
 forts of the Union people to gain a hear- 
 ing for their cause previous to the ratify- 
 ing secession vote ordered on the 23d of 
 May were futile. When the actual vote 
 was announced it stood 128,884 for se- 
 cession, to 32,134 against. How that 
 melancholy result, so discreditable to the 
 honor of Virginia as a State once the 
 keystone of the Union, was in some 
 measure at least, spite of the prevailing 
 Southern fanaticism, brought about, we 
 may gather from an extraordinary letter 
 written a few days before the vote was 
 taken, by Senator Mason a document 
 quite too significant ever to be omitted 
 from the history of Virginia. It was a 
 species of circular reply to the pressing 
 interrogatories of the day, and was ad- 
 
 dressed to the editor of the Winchester 
 Virginian, May 16, ai.d read as fol- 
 lows : " The question has been fre- 
 quently put to me, What position will 
 Virginia occupy, should the ordinance of 
 secession be rejected by the people at 
 the approaching election ? And the fre- 
 quency of the question may be an excuse 
 for giving publicity to the answer. The 
 ordinance of secession withdrew the State 
 of Virginia from the Union, with all the 
 consequences resulting from the separa- 
 tion. It annulled the Constitution and 
 the laws of the United States within the 
 limits of this State, and absolved the citi- 
 zens of Virginia from all obligations and 
 obedience to them. "Hence it follows, if 
 this ordinance be rejected by the people, 
 the State of Virginia will remain in the 
 Union, and the people of the State will 
 remain bound by the Constitution of the 
 United States, and obedience to the Gov- 
 ernment and the laws of the United 
 States will be fully and rightfully en- 
 forced against them. It follows, of course, 
 that in this war now carried on by the 
 Government of the United States against 
 the seceding States, Virginia must imme- 
 diately change sides, and, under the or- 
 ders of that Government, turn her arms 
 against her Southern sisters. From this 
 there can be no escape. As a member 
 of the Union, all her resources of men 
 and money will be at once at the com- 
 mand of the Government of the Union. 
 Again : For mutual defence, immediately 
 after the Ordinance of Secession passed, 
 a treaty, or ' military league ' was formed 
 by the Convention, in the name of the 
 people of Virginia, with the Confederate 
 States of the South, by which the latter 
 were bound to march to tho aid of our 
 State, against the invasion of the Federal 
 Government, And we have now in Vir- 
 
278 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ginia, at Harper's Ferry, and at Norfolk, 
 in face of the common foe, several thou- 
 sand of the gallant sons of South Caro- 
 lina, of Alabama, of Louisiana, Georgia, 
 and Mississippi, who hastened to fulfil 
 the covenant they made, and are ready 
 and eager to lay down .their lives, side 
 by side, with our sons in defence of the 
 soil of Yirginia. If the Ordinance of Se- 
 cession is rejected, not only will this 
 ' military league ' be annulled, but it will 
 have been made a trap to inveigle our 
 generous defenders into the hands of 
 their enemies. Virginia remaining in 
 the Union, duty and loyalty to her obli- 
 gations to the Union will require that 
 those Southern forces shall not be per- 
 mitted to leave the State, but shall be 
 delivered up to the Government of the 
 Union ; and those who refuse to do so, 
 will be guilty of treason, and be justly 
 dealt with as traitors. Treason against 
 the United States consists, as well ' in 
 adhering to its enemies and giving them 
 aid, 7 as in levying war. If it be asked, 
 what are those to do who in their con- 
 sciences cannot vote to separate Virginia 
 from the United States, the answer is 
 simple and plain : honor and duty alike 
 require that they should not vote on the 
 question ; if they retain such opinions, 
 they must leave the State. None can 
 doubt or question the truth of what I 
 have written, and none can vote against 
 the Ordinance of Secession who do not 
 thereby (whether ignorantly or other- 
 wise) vote to place himself and his State 
 in the position I have indicated." 
 
 Thus, under the false plea of honor, 
 one who should have been the guardian 
 of the welfare of the State, used his 
 position and influence to draw her on to 
 inevitable ruin. It is not to be denied, 
 however, that, under the prevailing in- 
 
 fluences of the day of pride, prejudice, 
 misconception, love of independence, or 
 whatever may have been the motive of 
 action, there were calmer voices in Vir- 
 ginia than those of the politicians of the 
 school of Mason, in favor of the separa- 
 tion movement. The venerable Bishop 
 Meade, of the Episcopal Church, in the 
 fullness of years, beloved and respected 
 through a long and amiable career of 
 ministerial duty, in a charge to the Con- 
 vention of his church, sitting at Rich- 
 mond in May the last which he was 
 destined thus to address uttered this 
 word of adhesion to the cause of dis- 
 union and prophecy of its final success. 
 " It has pleased God," said he, "to permit 
 a great calamity to come upon us. Our 
 whole country is preparing for war. Our 
 own State, after failing in her earnest 
 effort for the promotion of peace, is, per- 
 haps, more actively engaged in all need- 
 ful measures for maintaining the position 
 which she has, after much consideration, 
 deliberately assumed, than any portion 
 of the land. A deeper and more honest 
 conviction that, if war should actually 
 come upon us, it will be, on our part, 
 one of self-defence, and therefore justi- 
 fiable before God, seldom if ever ani- 
 mated the breasts of those who appealed 
 to arms. From this consideration, and 
 from my knowledge of the character of 
 our people, I believe that the object 
 sought for will be most perseveringly pur- 
 sued, whatever sacrifice of life, and com- 
 fort, and treasure may be required. Nor 
 do I entertain any doubt as to the final 
 result, though I shudder at the thought 
 of what may intervene before that result 
 is secured. May God, in his great mercy 
 and with his mighty power, interpose, and 
 grant us speedy peace instead of pro- 
 tracted war. But can it be, that at this 
 
SENTIMENTS OF BISHOP MEADE. 
 
 279 
 
 period of the world, when so many 
 prayers are offered up for the establish- 
 ment of Christ's kingdom in all the earth, 
 and such high hopes are entertained that 
 the zealous efforts put forth will be suc- 
 cessful, and our country be one of the 
 most effective and honored instruments 
 for producing the same, that the great 
 work shall be arrested by such a fratri- 
 cidal war as that which is now so seri- 
 ously threatened? Is there not room 
 enough for us all to dwell together in 
 peace in this widely extended country, 
 so large a portion of which is not yet 
 settled, and may not be until the world 
 that now is shall be no more ? The fam- 
 ilies or nations which sprung from two 
 venerable patriarchs of old, could find 
 room enough in the little pent up land 
 of Judea to live in peace, by going the 
 one to one hand, and the other to the 
 opposite. At a later period, when Israel 
 and Judah separated, and the latter, 
 having the city and temple in possession, 
 and the supremacy according to prophe- 
 cy, was preparing to go up against the 
 former, and reduce the people to sub- 
 mission and bjring them back to Union, 
 the Lord himself came down and forbade 
 it, saying, ' Thou shalt not go up, nor 
 fight against your brethren, the children 
 of Israel. Return every man to his 
 house, for this thing is of me.' And 
 they hearkened unto the Lord, and ever 
 after the history of the two kingdoms is 
 written in the same sacred volume in 
 which are also recorded the evidence of 
 God's favor to both, and though some- 
 times at controversy, yet how often were 
 they found side -by side defending the 
 ancient boundaries of Judea against sur- 
 rounding nations. God grant that our 
 country may learn a lesson from this 
 sacred narrative. Let none think that I 
 
 am unmindful of law and order, and of 
 the blessings of Union. I was trained in 
 a different school. I have clung with 
 tenacity to the hope of preserving the 
 Union to the last moment. If I know 
 my own heart, could the sacrifice of the 
 poor remnant of my life have contributed 
 in any degree to its maintenance, such 
 sacrifice would have been cheerfully 
 made. But the developments of public 
 feeling and the course of our rulers have 
 brought me slowly, reluctantly, sorrow- 
 fully, yet most decidedly, to the painful 
 conviction that, notwithstanding attend- 
 ant dangers and evils, we shall consult 
 the welfare and happiness of the whole 
 land by separation. And who can de- 
 sire to retain a Union which has now 
 become so hateful, and by the application 
 of armed force, which, if successful, 
 would make it tenfold more hateful, and 
 soon lead to the repetition of the same 
 bloody contests ? I trust, therefore, that 
 the present actual separation of so many 
 and such important portions of our coun- 
 try may take place without further col- 
 lision, which might greatly hinder the 
 establishment of the most friendly and 
 intimate relations which can consist with 
 separate establishments. I trust that 
 our friends at a distance, and now in 
 opposition to us, will most seriously re- 
 view their judgment, and inquire whether 
 the evils resulting from a war to sustain 
 their wishes and opinions as to a single 
 Confederacy, will not far exceed those 
 apprehended from the establishment of a 
 second an event far more certain than 
 the result of the American Revolution at 
 the time of its occurrence." 
 
 On the llth June, delegates from forty 
 counties of Virginia thirty-five to the 
 west and five to the east of the Allegha- 
 nies, met pursuant to the recomrnenda- 
 
280 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tion which had been issued, at Wheeling. 
 In the deliberations which ensued, the 
 separation theory of the previous con- 
 vention was dropped, and another of a 
 more plausible and less objectionable 
 character adopted in its place. It was 
 now maintained that the government at 
 Richmond, having violated the Constitu- 
 tion of the State, its authority was there- 
 by annulled, and that the offices of all 
 who adhered to the usurping convention 
 and executive were, ipso facto, vacant. 
 After a few days' discussion, this view 
 was found to prevail, and a Declaration, 
 setting forth the motives of the decision, 
 and an Ordinance for the Reorganization 
 of the State Government were passed by 
 a nearly unanimous vote. The Declara- 
 tion, brief and well-written, in simple 
 and forcible words, exhibited the situa- 
 tion to which the State had been brought 
 and which seemed fully to demand this 
 extraordinary action. It read as follows : 
 "The true purpose of all government 
 is to promote the welfare and provide for 
 the protection and security of the gov- 
 erned, and when any form of organization 
 of government proves inadequate for, or 
 subversive of this purpose, it is the right, 
 it is the duty of the latter to alter or 
 abolish it. The Bill of Rights of Virgi- 
 nia, framed in 1776, reaffirmed in 1830, 
 and again in 1851, expressly reserves 
 this right to the majority of her people, 
 and the existing Constitution does not 
 confer upon the General Assembly the 
 power to call a Convention to alter its 
 provisions, or to change the relations of 
 the Commonwealth, without the pre- 
 viously expressed consent of such a 
 majority. The act of the General As- 
 sembly, calling the Convention which 
 assembled at Richmond in February last, 
 was therefore a usurpation ; a/id the Con- 
 
 vention thus called has not only abused 
 the powers nominally entrusted to it, 
 but, with the connivance and active aid 
 of the Executive, has usurped and exer- 
 cised other powers, to the manifest injury 
 of the people, which, if permitted, will 
 inevitably subject them to a military 
 despotism. 
 
 "The Convention, by its pretended 
 ordinances, has required the people of 
 Virginia to separate from and to wage 
 war against the Government of the Unit- 
 ed States, and against the citizens of the 
 neighboring States, with whom they have 
 heretofore maintained friendly, social, 
 and business relations. It has attempted 
 to subvert the Union founded by Wash- 
 ington and his co-patriots in the purer 
 days of the Republic, which has confer- 
 red unexampled prosperity upon every 
 class of citizens and upon every section 
 of the country. It has attempted to 
 transfer the allegiance of the people to an 
 illegal confederacy of rebellious States, 
 and required their submission-to its pre- 
 tended edicts and decrees. It has at- 
 tempted to place the whole military 
 force and military operations of the 
 Commonwealth under the control and 
 direction of such Confederacy, for offen- 
 sive as well as defensive purposes. It 
 has, in conjunction with the State Execu- 
 tive, instituted wherever their usurped 
 power extends, a reign of terror, intend- 
 ed to suppress the free expression of the 
 will of the people, making elections a 
 mockery and a fraud. The same combi- 
 nation, even before the passage of the 
 pretended Ordinance of Secession, insti- 
 tuted war by the seizure and appropria- 
 tion of the property of the Federal 
 Government, and by organizing and 
 mobilizing armies, with the avowed pur- 
 pose of capturing or destroying the 
 
GOVERNOR PIERPONTS ADDRESS. 
 
 281 
 
 Capital of the Union. They have at- 
 tempted to bring the allegiance of the 
 United States into direct conflict with 
 their subordinate allegiance to the State, 
 thereby making obedience to their pre- 
 tended Ordinance treason against the 
 former. 
 
 " We, therefore, the delegates here 
 assembled in Convention to devise such 
 measures and take such action as the 
 safety and welfare of the loyal citizens 
 of Virginia may demand, having mutual- 
 ly considered the premises, and viewing 
 with great concern the deplorable condi- 
 tion to which this once happy Common- 
 wealth must be reduced, unless some 
 regular adequate remedy is speedily 
 adopted, and appealing to the Supreme 
 Ruler of the Universe for the rectitude 
 of our intentions, do hereby in the name 
 and on behalf of the good people of Vir- 
 ginia, solemnly declare, that the preser- 
 vation of their dearest rights and liber- 
 ties, and their security in person and 
 property, imperatively demand the reor- 
 ganization of the Government of the 
 Commonwealth, and that all acts of said 
 Convention and Executive, tending to 
 separate this Commonwealth from the 
 United States, or to levy or carry on 
 war against them, are without authority 
 and void ; and the offices of all who ad- 
 here to the said Convention and Execu- 
 tive, whether legislative, executive, or 
 judicial, are vacated." 
 
 The ordinance for the reorganization 
 of the State government, carrying out 
 the intentions of the Declaration, pro- 
 vided for the appointment by the present 
 Convention of a Governor and Lieuten- 
 ant-Governor for the State of Virginia, 
 in place of the disloyal functionaries at 
 Richmond, an Executive Council, and a 
 Legislature composed of the delegates to 
 36 
 
 the General Assembly chosen in May, 
 and the Senators entitled under existing 
 laws to seats in the next General As- 
 sembly who should qualify themselves 
 by taking a prescribed oath pledging 
 their support to the Constitution of the 
 United States and the laws made in pur- 
 suance thereof as the supreme law of the 
 land, anything in the ordinances of the 
 Richmond Convention to the contrary 
 notwithstanding, and to uphold and de- 
 fend the government ordained by the 
 Convention at Wheeling. On the 20th 
 June, the day after the passage of the 
 ordinance, the Convention elected under 
 its sanction Francis H. Pierpont, of Marion 
 County, Provisional Governor, and Dan- 
 iel Paesly, of the same county, Lieutenant 
 Governor of the State of Virginia. 
 
 In the remarks delivered by Governoi 
 Pierpont to the Convention in accepting 
 the office which had been thus conferred 
 upon him, a passage occurs evidently in- 
 dicating a prevailing state of feeling in 
 the people of the north-western region, 
 in reference to the character of the re- 
 bellion in its relations to the democracy 
 of the country. "A new doctrine," said 
 he, " has been introduced by those who 
 are at the head of the revolution in our 
 Southern States that the people are not 
 the source of all power. Those promul- 
 gating this doctrine have tried to divide 
 the people into two classes ; one they 
 call the laboring class, the other the 
 capital class. They have for several 
 years been industriously propagating 
 the idea that the capital of the country 
 ought to represent the legislation of the 
 country, and guide it and direct it ; 
 maintaining that it is dangerous for the 
 labor of the country to enter into the 
 legislation of the country. This is the 
 principle that has characterized the revo- 
 
282 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 lution that has been inaugurated in the 
 South ; they maintaining that those who 
 are to have the privilege of voting ought 
 to be of the educated class, and that the 
 legislation ought not to be represented 
 by the laboring classes. We in Western 
 Virginia, and, as I suppose, in the whole 
 of Virginia, adopted the great doctrine 
 of the fathers of the Republic, that in 
 the people resides all power ; and that 
 embraced all people. This revolution 
 has been inaugurated upon the principle 
 of making a distinction upon the princi- 
 ples that I have indicated. We of West- 
 ern Virginia have not been consulted 
 upon that subject. The large body of 
 your citizens in the eastern part of the 
 State have not been consulted upon that 
 subject. American institutions lie near 
 to the breast of the masses of the people 
 all over this country, from one end of it 
 to the other, though not as nearly per- 
 haps in Louisiana, Georgia and Texas, 
 as in some of the western and northern 
 States. This idea has been advanced 
 only in portions of Virginia. She has 
 stood firm by the doctrines of the Fath- 
 ers of the Revolution, up to within a 
 very short period. Its propagators have 
 attempted to force it upon us by terror, 
 and at the point of the bayonet. We 
 have been driven into the position we 
 occupy to-day, by the usurpers at the 
 South, who have inaugurated this war 
 upon the soil of Virginia, and have made 
 it the great Crimea of this contest. We, 
 representing the loyal citizens of Vir- 
 ginia, have been bound to assume the 
 position we have assumed to-day, for 
 the protection of ourselves, our wives, 
 our children and our property. We, I 
 repeat, have been driven to assume this 
 position ; and now we are but recurring 
 to the great fundamental principle of 
 
 our fathers, that to the loyal people of a 
 State belongs the law-making power of 
 that State. The loyal people are en- 
 titled to the government and govern- 
 mental authority of the State. And, 
 fellow-citizens, it is the assumption of 
 that authority upon which we are now 
 about to enter. It will be for us by 
 firmness and by prudence, by wisdom, 
 by discretion in all our acts, to inaugur- 
 ate every step we take for the purpose 
 of restoring law and order to this an- 
 cient Commonwealth ; to mark well our 
 steps, and to implore the divine wisdom 
 and direction of Him that ruleth above, 
 who has every hair of our heads num- 
 bered, and who suffereth not a sparrow 
 to fall unnoticed to the ground, and His 
 guidance and direction in enabling us to 
 carry out the great work we have under- 
 taken here, in humility, but with deci- 
 sion and determination." 
 
 The Wheeling Convention having done 
 its work adjourned. It had, as was 
 claimed by Governor Pierpont, in a sub- 
 sequent message to the Legislature, "at- 
 tempted no change of the fundamental 
 law of the State, for light and transient 
 causes. The alterations adopted were 
 such only as were imperatively required 
 by the necessity of the case, to give vi- 
 tality and force to the Constitution of the 
 State and enable it to operate in the cir- 
 cumstances under which we are placed. 
 It attempted no revolution. Whatever 
 others may have done, we remain, as we 
 were, citizens of Virginia, citizens of the 
 United States, recognizing and obeying 
 the Constitution and laws of both."* 
 The wheels of the new government being 
 thus set in motion, according to the direc- 
 tion of the reorganization ordinance, 
 Governor Pierpont called the Delegates 
 
 * Message of Governor Pierpont, July, 1861. 
 
REPLY OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 283 
 
 to the General Assembly and the Sena- 
 tors who had been chosen under the laws 
 in May, to meet as the new Legislature 
 on the first of July. The new govern- 
 ment was recognized by the President of 
 the United States, an election was held 
 for members of Congress, according to 
 the apportionment under the recent Cen- 
 sus, and two senators, John S. Carlile 
 and Waitman T. Willey, were chosen by 
 the Legislature, at its meeting, to take 
 the places of the seceding James M. 
 Mason and Robert M. T. Hunter. 
 
 One of the first official acts of Gover- 
 nor Pierpont was to announce to the 
 President of the United States, on the 
 21st of June, that large numbers of evil- 
 minded persons have banded together in 
 military organization, with intent to over- 
 throw the Government of the State, and 
 for that purpose have called to their aid 
 like-minded persons from other States, 
 who, in pursuance of such call have in- 
 vaded this commonwealth. They are 
 now making war on the loyal people of 
 the State. They are pressing citizens 
 against their consent into their military 
 organization, and seizing and appropriat- 
 ing their property to aid in the rebellion. 
 I have not at my command sufficient 
 military force to suppress this rebellion 
 and violence. The Legislature cannot be 
 convened in time to act in the premises ; 
 it therefore becomes my duty as Gover- 
 nor of this Commonwealth to call on the 
 Government of the United States for aid 
 to repress such rebellion and violence. 
 I therefore earnestly request that you 
 will furnish a military force to aid in 
 suppressing the rebellion and to protect 
 the good people of this Commonwealth 
 from domestic violence." To this com- 
 munication the Secretary of War sent 
 the following answer, dated the 25th : 
 
 " In reply to your application for the aid 
 of the Federal Government to repel from 
 Virginia the lawless invaders now per- 
 petrating every species of outrage upon 
 persons and property, throughout a large 
 portion of the State, the President directs 
 me to say that a large additional force 
 will soon be sent to your relief. The 
 full extent of the conspiracy against pop- 
 ular rights, which has culminated in the 
 atrocities to which you refer, was not 
 known when its outbreak took place at 
 Charleston. It now appears that it was 
 matured for many years by secret organ- 
 izations throughout the country, especial- 
 ly in the slave States. By this means, 
 when the President called upon Virginia, 
 in April, for its quota of troops then 
 deemed necessary to put down in the 
 States in which it had shown itself in 
 arms, the call was responded to by an 
 order from the chief confederate in Vir- 
 ginia to his armed followers, to seize the 
 Navy Yard of Gosport ; and the author- 
 ities of the State, who had till then shown 
 repugnance to the plot, found themselves 
 stripped of all actual power, and after- 
 wards were manifestly permitted to retain 
 the empty forms of office only because 
 they consented to use them at the bid- 
 ding of the invaders. The President, 
 however, never supposed that a brave 
 and free people, though surprised and 
 unarmed, could long be subjugated by a 
 class of political adventurers always ad- 
 verse to them ; and the fact that they 
 have already rallied, reorganized their 
 government and checked the march of 
 these invaders, demonstrates how justly 
 he appreciated them. The failure, hith- 
 erto, of the State authorities, in conse- 
 quence of the circumstances to which I 
 have adverted, to organize its quota of 
 troops called for by the President, im- 
 
284 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 posed upon him the necessity of provid- 
 ing himself for their organization ; and 
 this has been done to some extent. But 
 instructions have now been given to the 
 agents of the Federal Government to 
 proceed hereafter under your directions, 
 and the company and field officers will 
 be commissioned by you." 
 
 The proceedings in Northwestern Vir- 
 ginia were not allowed to pass without a 
 Proclamation on the part of Governor 
 Letcher addressed to the people of that 
 region, appealing to them by various 
 considerations of the vote in favor of se- 
 cession, to which, as good citizens, they 
 should submit, and to their pride to 
 maintain their State against the attempts 
 of the Government at Washington " to 
 coerce our people to abject submission to 
 their authority." With these persuasions 
 were also insinuated an unmistakable 
 hint of his military preparations for the 
 occupation of the region. " Virginia, " 
 said he, " has asserted her independence. 
 She will maintain it at every hazard. 
 She is sustained by the power of ten of 
 her sister Southern States, ready and 
 willing to uphold her cause. Can any 
 true Virginian refuse to render assistance. 
 Men of the Northwest, I appeal to you, 
 by all the considerations which have 
 drawn us together as one people hereto- 
 fore, to rally to the standard of the Old 
 Dominion. By all the sacred ties of con- 
 sanguinity, by the intermixtures of the 
 blood of East and West, by common pa- 
 ternity, by friendships hallowed by a 
 thousand cherished recollections and me- 
 mories 'of the past, by the relics of the 
 great men of other days, come to Vir- 
 ginia's banner, and drive the invader 
 from your soil. There may be traitors 
 in the midst of you, who, for selfish ends, 
 have turned against their mother, and 
 
 would permit her to be ignommiously 
 oppressed and degraded. But I cannot, 
 will not, believe that a majority of you 
 are not true sons, who will not give your 
 blood and your treasure for Virginia's 
 defence. I have sent for your protection 
 such troops as the emergency enabled me 
 to collect, in charge of a competent com- 
 mander. I have ordered a large force to 
 go to your aid, but I rely with the ut- 
 most confidence upon your own strong 
 arms to rescue your firesides 'and altars 
 from the pollution of a reckless and ruth- 
 less enemy. The State is invaded at 
 several points, but ample forces have 
 been collected to defend her." 
 
 The war was in fact already com- 
 menced in Western Virginia. Simul- 
 taneously with the first advance of the 
 United States troops across the Potomac 
 on the formal ratification of the act 
 of secession, Major-General George B. 
 McClellan, who had only a few days 
 before been appointed to that high rank, 
 and who was then in command of the 
 Department of the Ohio, was ordered to 
 take charge of the military operations 
 west of the Alleghanies. As this is the 
 first prominent appearance upon the 
 stage of the war of this General, who 
 was destined to play so conspicuous a 
 part in the national drama, we may 
 pause to notice his earlier history. He 
 was born in Philadelphia at the close of 
 the year 1826, and was consequently 
 now only in his thirty-fifth year, the 
 youngest officer of his rank in the ser- 
 vice. His father, an eminent surgeon, 
 was noted for the boldness and success 
 of his operations, and it was confidently 
 predicted that the son would carry a 
 similar energy into the field. He was 
 educated at West Point and graduated 
 with honor in 1846, with the rank of 
 
GENERAL McCLELLAN. 
 
 285 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant of Engineers. 
 In the Mexican war he was distinguished 
 in the battles of Contreras and Churu- 
 busco, of Molino del Rey, and for his 
 services at the battle of Chapultepec was 
 breveted to a captaincy, and assigned 
 the command of a company of sappers and 
 miners. When the army returned home 
 we find him at West Point diligently 
 employed in the study of military tactics, 
 the results of which he embodied in a 
 manual, which was adopted in the service. 
 In the next few years he was engaged in 
 the multifarious duties of engineering and 
 military command, which give to the 
 officers of the American service so large 
 a practical experience. He superintend- 
 ed the construction of Fort Delaware, 
 was with Major Marcy in the expedition 
 for the exploration of the Red River, 
 took part in the river and harbor survey 
 in Texas, and in 1853, in cooperation 
 with Governor Stevens, commanded the 
 western division of the North Pacific 
 Railroad route. In 1855, holding the 
 rank of Captain in the First Regiment 
 of Cavalry, he was selected by the War 
 Department, one of the three commis- 
 sioners who were sent to Europe to 
 investigate the extended field of military 
 operations and devices opened by the 
 Crimean war. His coadjutors were Ma- 
 jor Richard Delafield and Major A. Mor- 
 decai of the Ordnance Department. The 
 commission was signed and the direc- 
 tions were drawn up by Jefferson Davis, 
 at that time Secretary of War. Cap- 
 tain McClellan presented to the Depart- 
 ment the results of his observations abroad 
 in an elaborate quarto volume on the " Or- 
 ganization of European Armies and the 
 Operations of the War," which was 
 printed by order of Congress, and which 
 has been accepted in a new popular edi- 
 
 tion as a standard authority on the sub- 
 jects of which it treats. 
 
 The army now presenting no active 
 field of duty to the engineering ability of 
 Captain McClellan, in 1857 he resigned his 
 military rank to enter into the more pro- 
 fitable service of the great corporation 
 the Illinois Central Railroad, of which he 
 was created Vice President and Engin- 
 eer. At the end of three years he left 
 this position for the Presidency of the 
 Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, being at 
 the same time General Superintend- 
 ent. He was still engaged in these occu- 
 pations when the rebellion of the South 
 turned the eyes of the authorities of the 
 North upon him as one who could not be 
 spared from the national service. He 
 was appointed at once by the Governor 
 of Ohio a Major-General of the Yolunteer 
 forces of that State, and had barely en- 
 tered upon his new duties when he was 
 recalled to the United States Army, 
 his new commission as Major-General 
 bearing date May 14, 1861. The mili- 
 tary department of the Ohio to which he 
 was assigned comprised all of the States 
 of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio and that 
 part of Virginia north of the Kanawha 
 river and the Maryland line, with part 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 His appearance on the field in Vir- 
 ginia was heralded by a stirring procla- 
 mation to the people of Western Virginia, 
 dated at Cincinnati, May 26th. " Virgin- 
 ians," was its language, " the General 
 Government has long enough endured 
 the machinations of a few factious rebels 
 in your midst ! Armed traitors have in 
 vain endeavored to deter you from ex- 
 pressing your loyalty at the polls. Hav- 
 ing failed in this infamous attempt to 
 deprive you of the exercise of your dear- 
 est rights, they now seek to inaugurate a 
 
286 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 reign of terror, and thus force you to 
 yield to their schemes and submit to the 
 yoke of the traitorous conspiracy, digni- 
 fied by the name of Southern Confeder- 
 acy. They are destroying the property 
 of citizens of your State, and ruining your 
 magnificent railways. The General Gov- 
 ernment has heretofore carefully abstain- 
 ed from sending troops across the Ohio, 
 or even from posting them along its 
 banks, although frequently urged by many 
 of your prominent citizens to do so. It 
 determined to await the result of the 
 State election, desirous that no one might 
 be able to say that the slightest effort 
 had been made from this side to influence 
 the expression of your opinion, although 
 the many agencies brought to bear upon 
 you by the rebels were well kaown. You 
 have now shown under the most adverse 
 circumstances, that the great mass of the 
 people of Western Virginia are true and 
 loyal to the beneficent Government 
 under which we and our fathers have 
 lived so long. As soon as the result of 
 the election was known, the traitors com- 
 menced their work of destruction. The 
 General Government cannot close its 
 ears to the demand you have made for 
 assistance. I have ordered troops to 
 cross the river. They come as your 
 friends and brothers as enemies only to 
 the armed rebels who are preying upon 
 you. Your homes, your families and 
 property are safe under our protection. 
 All your rights shall be religiously pro- 
 tected. Notwithstanding all that has been 
 said by the traitors to induce you to be- 
 lieve that our advent among you will be 
 signalized by interference with your 
 slaves, understand one thing clearly : 
 not only will we abstain from all inter- 
 ference, but we will, on the contrary, 
 with an iron hand, crush any attempt at 
 
 insurrection on their part. Now that we 
 are in your midst, I call upon you to fly 
 to arms and support the General Govern- 
 ment ; sever the connection that binds 
 you to traitors ; proclaim to the world 
 that the faith and loyalty so long boasted 
 of by the Old Dominion are still pre- 
 served in Western Virginia, and that you 
 remain true to the Stars and Stripes." 
 
 In similar energetic phrase was his ad- 
 dress to the soldiers of the advancing 
 column : " You are ordered to cross the 
 frontier and enter upon the soil of Vir- 
 ginia. Your mission is to restore peace 
 and confidence, to protect the majesty of 
 the law and to rescue our brethren from 
 the grasp of armed traitors. You are to 
 act in concert with the Virginia troops 
 and support their advance. I place under 
 the safeguard of your honor the persons 
 and property of the Virginians. I know 
 that you will respect their feelings and 
 all their rights. Preserve the strictest 
 discipline remember that each one of 
 you holds in his keeping the honor of 
 Ohio and the Union. If you are called 
 upon to overcome armed opposition, I 
 know that your courage is equal to the 
 task, but remember that your only foes 
 are the armed traitors and show mercy 
 even to them when they are in your 
 power, for many of them are misguided. 
 When under your protection the loyal 
 men of Western Virginia have been en- 
 abled to organize and arm, they can pro- 
 tect themselves, and you can then return 
 to your homes with the proud satisfaction 
 of having preserved a gallant people from 
 destruction." The respect inculcated for 
 " the peculiar institution" of the South is 
 very noticeable in both these manifestoes. 
 Nothing could be clearer or more explicit 
 than the strong language which was em- 
 ployed. It might have satisfied the 
 
COLONEL KELLEY'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 287 
 
 South, if indeed it had been inclined to 
 accept any assurances or facts, that the 
 insane cry of an abolition crusade, which 
 had been raised with such deadly effect 
 against the Administration, was utterly 
 groundless , for no voice from Wash- 
 
 o * 
 
 ington checked the unsparing denuncia- 
 tions on this subject of the new General. 
 The first active military movement in 
 this western region of Virginia was di- 
 rected against a number of armed insur- 
 gents who had made their appearance on 
 the line of the Baltimore and Ohio road 
 at Grafton. Some injuries had been in- 
 flicted on the track in the burning of 
 bridges over Buffalo Creek, and the well 
 disposed inhabitants were obliged to pro- 
 tect themselves from the aggressions of 
 gangs of secessionists who threatened the 
 destruction of their property. In fact, 
 Colonel Porterfield, who was in command 
 of the rebels at Grafton, was especially 
 charged at this time by Governor Letcher 
 with cutting off the telegraph and break- 
 ing up the railroad, to prevent communi- 
 cation and the passage of troops between 
 Wheeling and Washington.* It was ne- 
 cessary that the friends of the Union in 
 the country should have military pro- 
 tection. This service was entrusted to 
 Colonel Benjamin Franklin Kelley, a na- 
 tive of New Hampshire, who had been 
 called from civil life to command the 
 1st Regiment of Virginia volunteers at 
 Wheeling. Setting out with the regiment 
 from the latter place on the 27th of May 
 he was received at the different stations 
 of the railroad with the utmost enthusi- 
 asm, as he alighted in the midst of a 
 population hourly in fear of an attack 
 from the enemy. One incident related 
 by a reporter who accompanied the 
 
 * John Letcher to Col G-. A. Porterfield. Richmond, 
 May 26, 1861. 
 
 troops may serve as an indication of the 
 spirit of the time. At Cameron, a station 
 in Marshall County, says.he, " we found 
 a crowd assembled of three hundred, 
 perhaps, who insisted in standing out in 
 a pelting rain and cheering the soldiers. 
 The report of the advance of Southern 
 troops had been received the night before, 
 and a hundred riflemen had been under 
 arms guarding the town all night ; and 
 at this time men with rifles were coming 
 in from all directions. It really looks 
 just like what we read of as having taken 
 place in the days of '76, when men left 
 the plough standing in the furrow, drop- 
 ped the uplifted hammer, and rushed to 
 the defence of their country." A regi- 
 ment of Ohio troops, which followed, was 
 received with even greater demonstra- 
 tions, as the people assembled on the way 
 to hail their deliverers. Here and there 
 bridge -burners and secessionists were 
 hunted out and became prisoners or freed 
 themselves by taking the oath of allegi- 
 ance. Warned by these proceedings, the 
 rebels at Grafton fled at Colonel Kelley's 
 approach, holding their next position at 
 Philippi, the chief town of Barbour 
 County, twenty-two miles to the south- 
 ward. 
 
 There, on the 30th May, Colonel Por- 
 terfield issued a proclamation to the peo- 
 ple of north-western Virginia, which reads 
 very much like the appeals of the com- 
 manders on the other side. In fact, with 
 the important substitution of State rights 
 and Virginia for national loyalty and 
 Washington, there was little difference 
 in the spirit or the terms. " Virginians," 
 was its language, "allow me to appeal 
 to you, in the name of our common 
 mother, to stand by the voice of your 
 State, and to defend her against all ene- 
 mies, and especially to repel invasion 
 
283 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 from any and every quarter. Those 
 who reside within the State, who invite 
 invasion, or who in any manner assist, 
 aid or abet invaders, will be treated as 
 enemies to Virginia. I trust that no 
 Virginian, whether native-born or adopt- 
 ed, will refuse to defend his State and 
 .his brothers against invasion and injury. 
 Virginians! be true, and in due time 
 your common mother will come to your 
 relief. Already many of you have ral- 
 lied to the support of the honor of your 
 State and the maintenance of your liber- 
 ties. Will you continue to be freemen, 
 or will you submit to be slaves ? Are 
 you capable of governing yourselves ? 
 Will you allow the people of other States 
 to govern you ? Have you forgotten the 
 precepts of Madison and Jefferson ? Re- 
 member that the price of liberty is ' eter- 
 nal vigilance.' Virginia has not made 
 war ! War has been made upon her 
 and the time-honored principles. Shall 
 she be vindicated in her efforts to main- 
 tain the liberties of her people, or shall 
 she bow her head in submission to tyran- 
 ny and oppression ? It seems to me that 
 the true friend of national liberty cannot 
 hesitate. Strike for your State ! Strike 
 for your liberties ! Rally ! rally at once 
 in defence of your mother!" 
 
 An attack upon these forces at Philippi 
 was resolved upon. At this time Gen- 
 eral T. A. Morris, a distinguished gradu- 
 ate of West Point, arrived at G-rafton, 
 having been ordered by General Mc- 
 Clellan to the command in Western Vir- 
 ginia.' There were now assembled at 
 Grafton and its vicinity, beside the Vir- 
 ginia troops, several Ohio and Indiana 
 regiments. At Philippi Colonel Porter- 
 field was understood to be at the head 
 of a force of twelve to fifteen hundred 
 insurgents. General Morris at once or- 
 
 ganized an expedition to attack them. 
 This was arranged in two columns, the 
 larger under the command of Colonel 
 Kelley, consisting of the 1st Virginia, 
 9th and 16th Ohio, to move co the left 
 on the morning of the 2d of June ; the 
 other under the command of Colonel E. 
 Dumont, with Colonel F. W. Lander, 
 acting aid of General McClellan, com- 
 posed of portions of Colonel Crittend^n's 
 6th and Dumont's own 7th Indiana and 
 Colonel Steednmn's 14th Ohio, to leave 
 on the evening of the same day, that 
 both might unite at the town the follow- 
 ing morning. The night proved very 
 dark and stormy, and the heavy rain 
 added greatly to the difficulty of the 
 long forced march. Colonel Dumont, 
 leaving the line of the railway at Web- 
 ster, brought his column first on the spot 
 at daybreak, when, unwilling that the 
 enemy, whose pickets were warned of 
 his approach, should have the opportu- 
 nity of escape, he promptly advanced 
 and took up a position on a hill com- 
 manding the camp on the opposite side 
 of the Valley river, a branch of the 
 Monongahela, on which the town is situ- 
 ated. Colonel Kelley, with his Virginia 
 regiment, having the longer march, and 
 
 O ' CJ *-J ' 
 
 having been misled by his guide, who 
 had mistaken the road, was a little later, 
 but arrived from beyond the town to cut 
 off the retreat as the battery of Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel Sturgis, attached to Dumont's 
 command, opened fire. The rebels hav- 
 ing no entrenchments, and with no artil- 
 lery with them but a swivel, were una- 
 ble to withstand the well directed double 
 attack, and fled in confusion. Colonel 
 Dumont's descent from the heights, cap- 
 ture of the bridge entering the town, a 
 narrow structure some three or four hun- 
 dred feet in length, where serious resist- 
 
ROUT OF THE REBELS AT PHILIPPI. 
 
 289 
 
 ance was naturally apprehended, and 
 pursuit of the enemy through its streets, 
 were conducted with great gallantry. 
 " Both parties," says Colonel Dumont, 
 " being upon the full run, and the dis- 
 tance between them being quite consid- 
 erable, but little execution could be 
 done. I pursued the enemy from the 
 bridge through the town, and for several 
 miles beyond. At one time I thought I 
 should be able to capture his entire bag- 
 gage train ; but the horses, to prevent 
 this, were cut from many of the wagons 
 and mounted, and the wagons and con- 
 tents left as our booty. The wagons 
 were filled with munitions of war, blank- 
 ets, knapsacks, clothing, baggage of offi- 
 cers and men, and with a considerable 
 amount of flour and forage." Colonel 
 Steedman captured a large amount of 
 tents, and a number of muskets and 
 rifles. A few prisoners were taken, 
 among them Captain J. W. Willey of the 
 rebel army. Colonel Dumont states that 
 the enemy's loss in killed and wounded 
 was "not certainly known, as he succeed- 
 ed in carrying oft many of his dead. It 
 was inconsiderable, perhaps not to ex- 
 ceed forty ;" but this may have been an 
 exaggerated estimate. The Union loss, 
 he tells us, was two missing and two 
 wounded.* Unhappily, one of the latter 
 was Colonel Kelley, who, in the pursuit 
 at the close of the engagement, was 
 struck by a pistol ball in the breast ; it 
 was thought at the time fatally. The 
 first impression among Colonel Kelley's 
 men was, that he had been treacherously 
 shot, and a determination had been 
 evinced to execute summary vengeance 
 upon the suspected person one Simms, 
 a clerk of the rebel quartermaster. Cap- 
 
 * CoL E. Dumont's Report to Brig.-General Thomas A. 
 Morris. Philippi, June 4, 1861. 
 
 37 
 
 tain Benham of the Engineers, who, on 
 the reception of the news at Grafton by 
 Colonel Lander, who returned in the 
 afternoon, had been sent forward by 
 General Morris, to take the command at 
 Philippi, on his arrival made a dispas- 
 sionate examination of the attack upon 
 Colonel Kelley, which satisfied him that, 
 while it was probable Simms had inflicted 
 the wound, it had been done in fair and 
 open fight. Among the property cap- 
 tured, including six hundred rifles, Cap- 
 tain Benham found a portion of the bag- 
 gage of Colonel Porterfield and his field 
 and staff, which he returned to that 
 officer. Colonel Porterfield had former- 
 ly been in the employ of the United 
 States Coast Survey, and in that capacity 
 it had happened that he had served un- 
 der Captain Benham at Washington. 
 
 When word of the victory and the 
 disaster to Colonel Kelley was brought 
 to 1 General McClellan, at Cincinnati, he 
 sent the following dispatch, which was 
 read to the apparently dying, man, who 
 awaited his expected fate with patriotic 
 resignation. "I expect I shall have to 
 die," said he, "I would be glad to live, 
 if it might be that I might do something 
 for my country ; but if it cannot be, I 
 shall have at least the consolation of 
 knowing that I fell in a just cause."* 
 Under these circumstances came General 
 McClellan 's cheering word: "Say to 
 Colonel Kelley that I cannot believe it 
 possible that one who has opened his 
 career so brilliantly can be mortally 
 wounded. In the name of the country 
 I thank him for his conduct, which has 
 been the most brilliant episode of the war 
 thus far. If it can cheer him in his last 
 moments, tell him I cannot repair his 
 loss, and that I only regret that I cannot 
 
 * Wheeling Intelligencer, June 6, 1861. 
 
290 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 be by his side to thank him in person. 
 God blest him."* Happily the opening- 
 augury of the message was realized. 
 The formidable wound was healed and, 
 after a few months' retirement, the pa- 
 tient, promoted by a grateful country, 
 was again enabled to lead his troops to 
 victory. 
 
 Brigadier-General Morris, from his 
 headquarters at Grafton, announced the 
 rout at Philippi, in a proclamation. 
 "Virginians, the secessionist forces are 
 demoralized, desertions are numerous 
 and the panic-stricken remnant has taken 
 refuge in the passes of the mountains. 
 Western Virginia is free from enemies to 
 her freedom and peace. In full confi- 
 dence of your ability and desire to pro- 
 tect yourselves, I now call upon you to 
 come to the support of your constitutional 
 government. I am empowered to mus- 
 ter you into the service of the United 
 States, to serve only in defence of your 
 own soil." There was, notwithstanding 
 this hopeful declaration in reference to 
 the peace of Western Virginia, some 
 work before the defenders of the Union 
 in that quarter, more serious than the 
 easy victory at Philippi, work which it 
 happened to be the lot of the forces of 
 General Morris to have their full share 
 of performing. 
 
 The next military incident in Virginia 
 west of the Blue Ridge, was a spirited 
 dash of the llth Indiana Zouave Regi- 
 ment, 800 in number, led by Colonel 
 Lewis Wallace, in a rapid march across 
 Hampshire County, to disperse a consid- 
 erable body of secessionists who were 
 assembled at Romney. The expedition 
 set out from Cumberland on the after- 
 noon of the llth of June, taking the 
 
 * G. B. McClellan to Gen. T. A. Morris. Cincinnati, 
 June 3. 1861. 
 
 route by railway to New Creek Station, 
 and then by a forced night march of 
 twenty-three miles to their place of des- 
 tination. The road being "very fatigu- 
 ing and rough, leading along high bluffs 
 and narrow passes, which required great 
 caution in passing," it was with " the ut- 
 most industry that the regiment reached 
 Romney at 8 o'clock in the morning. 
 " In a pass a mile and a half this side of 
 the town," continues Colonel Wallace, in 
 his interesting official report of the affair 
 to the commander of the department, 
 Major-General Patterson, at Chambers- 
 burg, " my advance guard was fired 
 upon by a mounted picket of the enemy, 
 who dashed ahead and alarmed the reb- 
 els. In fact, I afterwards learned that 
 they had notice of my coming full an 
 hour before my arrival. In approaching 
 the place it was necessary for me to cross 
 a bridge over the South Branch of the 
 Potomac. A reconnoissance satisfied me 
 that the passage of the bridge would be 
 the chief obstacle in my way, although I 
 could distinctly see the enemy drawn up on 
 the bluff, which is the town site, supporting 
 a battery of two guns, planted so as to 
 sweep the road completely. I directed 
 my advance guard to cross the bridge on 
 a run, leap down the embankment at 
 the further entrance, and observe the 
 windows of a large brick house not fur- 
 ther off than seventy-five yards. Their 
 appearance was the signal for an assault. 
 A warm fire opened from the house, 
 which the guard returned, with no other 
 loss than the wounding of a sergeant. 
 The firing continued several minutes. I 
 led a second company across the bridge, 
 and by following up a ravine got them 
 into a position that soon drove the enemy 
 from the house and into a mountain to its 
 rear. My attention was then turned to 
 
COLONEL WALLACE AT ROMNEY. 
 
 291 
 
 the battery over the hill. Instead of fol- 
 lowing the road, as the rebels expected, 
 I pushed five companies in skirmishing 
 order, and at double-quick time up a hill 
 to the right, intending to get around the 
 left flank of the enemy, and cut off their 
 retreat. Hardly had my companies de- 
 ployed and started forward, and got 
 within rifle's range, before the rebels 
 limbered up and got off over the bluffs 
 in the hottest haste. Between their po- 
 sition and that of my men was a deep, 
 precipitous gorge, the crossing of which 
 occupied about ten minutes. When the 
 opposite ridge was gained, we discovered 
 the rebels, indiscriminately blent with a 
 mass of women and children, flying as for 
 life from the town. Having no horse, 
 pursuit of the cannoniers was out of the 
 question, as the}'- went off under whip 
 and spur. After that I quietly marched 
 into the place, and took possession of the 
 empty houses and a legion of negroes, 
 who alone seemed unscared at our pres- 
 ence. After searching the town for 
 arms, camp equippage, etc., I returned 
 to Cumberland by the same road, reach- 
 ing camp at 11 o'clock at night. My re- 
 turn was forced, owing to the fact that 
 there was not a mile on the road that did 
 not offer half a dozen positions for the 
 ruin or rout of my regiment by a much 
 smaller force. 
 
 " The loss of the rebels we have not 
 been able to accurately ascertain. A 
 citizen of Eomney admitted two killed ; 
 my own surgeon dressed the wound of 
 one man. A number of tents were taken ; 
 quite a number of guns were destroyed ; 
 and, among others, we have a major, 
 Isaac Yandever, prisoner a gentleman 
 who, from accounts, has been very active 
 in exciting rebellion, organizing troops, 
 and impressing loyal citizens. I have 
 
 also an excellent assortment of surgical 
 stores, which, with the tents, I have 
 taken the liberty to convert. My regi- 
 ment behaved admirably, attacking cool- 
 ly and in excellent order. When all 
 behaved gallantly, I cannot single out 
 officers for praise. Sufficient to say, 
 they conducted themselves like veterans, 
 and in such a manner as to entitle them 
 to your confidence in any field. I beg 
 to call your attention to the length of 
 our inarch, 87 miles in all, 46 of which 
 was on foot, over a continuous succession 
 of mountains, made in 24 hours, without 
 rest, and varied by a brisk engagement, 
 without leaving a man behind ; and what 
 is more, my men are ready to repeat it 
 to-morrow. I have already received 
 your approval of my enterprise, for 
 which I am very much obliged. One 
 good result has come of it. The loyal 
 men in that region have taken heart. 
 Very shortly, I think, you will hear of 
 another Union company from that dis- 
 trict. Moreover, it has brought home to 
 the insolent 'chivalry' a wholesome re- 
 spect for Northern prowess." 
 
 This success was followed up a fort- 
 night afterwards by a brilliant raid into 
 Virginia by a small detachment of the 
 same Indiana regiment, who in these ac- 
 tions were gallantly redeeming the prom- 
 ise alluded to in the inscription on their 
 flag, "Remember Buena Vista!" to ob- 
 literate the memory of a retreat of Indi- 
 anians on that battle field. The contest, 
 in itself a remarkable one, became more 
 memorable from the subsequent fortunes 
 of the parties engaged. Ashby's rebel 
 cavalry, then for the first time brought 
 into view, were often heard of in the 
 progress of the war. " I have been ac- 
 customed," wrote Colonel Wallace on 
 the 27th of Jun? *he day after the skir- 
 
292 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 mish, in his official report, "to sending 
 my mounted pickets, thirteen men in all, 
 to different posts along the several ap- 
 proaches to Cumberland. Finding it 
 next to impossible to get reliable inform- 
 ation of the enemy yesterday, I united 
 the thirteen, and directed them, if possi- 
 ble, to proceed to Frankfort, a town 
 midway between this place and Romney, 
 to see if there were rebel troops there. 
 They went within a quarter of a mile of 
 the place, and found it full of cavalry. 
 Returning they overtook forty horsemen, 
 and at once charged on them, routing 
 and driving them back more than a mile, 
 killing eight of them, and securing seven- 
 teen horses. Corporal Hayes, in com- 
 mand of my men, was desperately wound- 
 ed with sabre cuts and bullets. Taking 
 him back they halted about an hour, and 
 were then attacked by the enemy, who 
 were reinforced to about seventy-five 
 men. The attack was so sudden that 
 they abandoned the horses and crossed 
 to a small island at the mouth of Patter- 
 son's Creek. The charge of the rebels 
 was bold and confident, yet twenty-three 
 fell under the fire of my pickets, close 
 about and on the island. My fellows 
 were finally driven off, and, scattering 
 each man for himself, they are all in 
 camp now. One. Corporal Hayes, 'of 
 Company A, was wounded, but is re- 
 covering. One, John C. Holdingbrook, 
 of Company B, is dead. The last was 
 taken prisoner, and brutally murdered. 
 
 Three companies went to the ground this 
 morning, and recovered every thing be- 
 longing to my picket, except a few of the 
 horses. The enemy were engaged all 
 night long in boxing up their dead. 
 Two of their officers were killed. They 
 laid out twenty-three on the porch of a 
 neighboring farm house. I will bury my 
 poor fellow to-morrow. The report of 
 the skirmish sounds like fiction, but it is 
 not exaggerated. The fight was really 
 one of the most desperate on record, and 
 abounds with instances of wonderful dar- 
 ing and coolness."* 
 
 From a letter written from the rebel 
 camp at Romney to Senator Mason, it 
 would appear that the party met by 
 Hayes in the first encounter was a de- 
 tachment from Captain Ashby's com- 
 pany, led by his brother Dick Ashby, 
 who is represented as " terribly cut up, 
 one of his eyes being shot out and his 
 head and neck badly cut by balls." 
 Captain Ashby, it is also stated, "had 
 40 shots fired at him, and his escape 
 was miraculous. His horse was shot 
 twice and killed under him, and he was 
 wounded slightly in the leg, which has 
 not prevented him from pursuing the 
 enemy." This, adds the writer, " is a 
 fighting regiment, the chaplain and sur- 
 geon fighting first and praying and doc- 
 toring afterwards.^f 
 
 * Colonel Lewis Wallace to Major-General McClellan, 
 June 27, 1861. General Order of Major-General Patter 
 son, Hagerstown, June 30, 1861 
 
 f Moore's Rebellion Record, I* , 242, 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 EASTERN TENNESSEE. 
 
 EASTERN TENNESSEE, it was confident- 
 ly expected, would rank herself by the 
 side of Western Virginia in opposition to 
 the measures taken to alienate the State 
 from the Union. There was a certain 
 similarity in the position and interests of 
 the two districts which would place them 
 in the same relation to the other por- 
 tions of their respective States and to 
 the Southern Confederacy. In both the 
 influences of the same mountain range 
 of the Alleghanies were impressed upon 
 the character and fortunes of the inhab- 
 itants. For the most part a simple, in- 
 dustrioug; agricultural people, owning 
 the lands which they cultivated, with 
 comparatively few slaves among them, 
 the dwellers on the Holston like the 
 Virginians on the Ohio, were ardently 
 attached to the democratic privileges 
 and institutions which had been guaran- 
 teed to them by the Federal Govern- 
 ment. While both regions had to con- 
 tend with a hostile dominant power in 
 their States, and while both were in like 
 manner betrayed by the arts and treach- 
 ery of their local rulers, the situation of 
 Eastern Tennessee was in some important 
 respects less advantageous for the pre- 
 servation of the liberties of the people 
 than that of her northern neighbor. 
 Each had that foe to loyalty to contend 
 with, a bold, unscrupulous, intriguing 
 Governor and an inimical legislature, 
 ready to deliver the State bound hand 
 and foot to the cruel purposes of the 
 
 Southern Confederacy. If one had a 
 Letcher in the chair versed in all the 
 dangerous arts of political intrigue, the 
 other had an equally reckless conspirator 
 in Harris "King Harris," as he was 
 popularly called, in consequence of his 
 assumption of authority and tyrannical 
 proceedings. In both States there was 
 indeed a show of submitting the ^question 
 of secession to a popular vote, but in 
 both instances a treaty was formed with 
 the rebel government, and the military 
 resources of the State were placed at 
 the command of Jefferson Davis before 
 the vote was taken. Of course coercion 
 and terrorism prevailed alike, with a 
 deeper shade of malignity however in 
 Tennessee, in proportion to the nearness 
 of that State to the seat of the rebel gov- 
 ernment. The ties of Eastern Virginia 
 to the South were those of imperfect- 
 sympathy and doubtful interests ; for 
 though a great portion of her wealth 
 was derived from raising and selling 
 slaves to the cotton planters, yet the 
 great capacities of the country demanded 
 northern skill and labor for their devel- 
 opment j while Western Tennessee was 
 not simply related to the South in man- 
 ners and culture, but might be consid- 
 ered an integral part of the South itself. 
 It was consequently a much harder task 
 for the mountaineers of the Cumberland 
 to contend with the wealthy slave pro- 
 prietors on the Mississippi, tha.i for a 
 vigorous rural population bordering on 
 
294 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Pennsylvania to hold their own against 
 the occupants of the worn out, delapidated 
 estates on the James and the Bappahan- 
 nock. If the chances in both cases had 
 been equal within their borders, the con-' 
 tiguity of the more Southern State to the 
 desperadoes of Alabama, Mississippi, 
 Arkansas and Louisiana, to say nothing 
 of the refugee enemies of the Union in 
 Kentucky, wo aid have turned the scale 
 against the efforts of the patriots of East 
 Tennessee. 
 
 The Act of the General Assembly of 
 Tennessee to submit to the people of the 
 State the so-called Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, passed on the 6th of May, 
 named Jhe 8th day of June for the vote 
 to be taken.* The loyal citizens of East 
 Tennessee, fully impressed with the dan- 
 ger of the impending calamity to their 
 political privileges, and disapproving of 
 ' ' the hasty and inconsiderate action " of 
 the legislature, immediately called a 
 Convention of delegates of the people 
 of that region to assemble at Knoxville, 
 the metropolis of the district, on the 30th 
 of May, to take such counsels as might 
 protect the liberties of the population, 
 and promote peace and harmony among 
 them. At the appointed day, so great 
 was the interest manifested that more 
 than a thousand representatives assem- 
 bled, of the counties from the western 
 declivities of the Cumberland mountains 
 to the ascending range of the Alleghanies 
 bordering on North Carolina ; from the 
 whole extent of the valley watered by 
 the Holston and its numerous tributaries, 
 and the sources of the Tennessee from 
 Kentucky and Virginia to Georgfa. The 
 Hon. Thomas A. R. Nelson, a represent- 
 ative from the extreme north-eastern 
 part of the State to the recent 36th 
 
 * Ante, p. 192. 
 
 Congress, was chosen President of the 
 Convention, addresses were delivered by 
 General T. D. Arnold and Senator An- 
 drew Johnson, and an address and series 
 of resolutions submitted to the people, 
 denouncing the ruinous and heretical 
 doctrine of secession as the parent of the 
 evils afflicting the country, and condemn- 
 ing in particular the "pertinacity with 
 which those in authority have labored to 
 override the judgment of the people," 
 and the inconsiderate and unconstitu- 
 tional legislation of the State Assembly 
 in entering into the military league with 
 the Confederate States, and the accom- 
 panying proceedings in raising and equip- 
 ping troops, thereby burdening the peo- 
 ple with increased and insupportable 
 taxation. " In the spirit of freemen," 
 was the language of one of the resolu- 
 tions, "with an anxious desire to avoid 
 the waste of the blood and the treasure 
 of our State, we appeal to the people of 
 Tennessee, while it is yet in their power, 
 to come up in the majesty of their strength 
 and restore Tennessee to her true posi- 
 tion." 
 
 These moderate resolves were second- 
 ed by the glowing popular appeal of the 
 President of the Convention. "It is 
 said," were his words, "this is a war 
 between the North and the South, arid 
 we are compelled to take sides. I do 
 not so regard it. It is a war between 
 the Government of the United States and 
 rebellious citizens who have committed 
 treason against that government. Neither 
 is it a war between Lincoln and the South. 
 It is a war between the Constitution and 
 those who have violated it ; a war be- 
 tween law and no law between order 
 and anarchy between freedom and des- 
 potism between right and wrong. It 
 is a war in which the odds are fearfully 
 
SECESSION IN TENNESSEE. 
 
 295 
 
 against us ; but this should have no 
 weight were justice on our side. It is a 
 war the end of which no man can foresee. 
 Thus far the South has bragged and 
 boasted and bantered. The sluggish 
 North has at last aroused, and difficulties 
 and dangers beset us on every hand. In 
 the depreciation of property, the en- 
 hanced prices of goods, increased taxa- 
 tion, lawless violence, the threats against 
 free speech and a free press, a military 
 array in every civil district, a wild, reck- 
 less end unprincipled legislation, we ca-n 
 scarcely see the beginning of the end. 
 ' The end is not yet. 7 
 
 " Freemen of Tennessee ! if you are 
 allowed to vote on the 8th of June, it is 
 yet in your power to arrest the despot- 
 ism of ' King Harris' and retrieve the 
 blunders of a misguided legislature. It is 
 yet in your power to prevent a war in 
 our midst ; to save the lives of our citi- 
 zens ; to preserve our cities, towns and 
 villages, and to secure the blessings which 
 heaven has promised to the peacemaker. 
 It may be yet in your power to rescue 
 the Union itself, and preserve the Stars 
 and Stripes as a priceless legacy to pos- 
 terity. If a fair election is held and 
 Tennessee is voted out of the Union, it 
 behooves us all to act together to avoid 
 civil war among ourselves. If the elec- 
 tion is carried by force or fraud, then let 
 every friend of the Union throughout the 
 State cry ' Every man to ..his tents, 
 Israel !' Should that dreadful alternative 
 be forced upon you, 
 
 " Snatch from the ashes of your sires 
 The embers of their former fires, 
 And he who in the strife expires, 
 Will add to theirs a name of fear, 
 That Tyranny will quake to hear." 
 
 When the vote ratifying the act of se- 
 cession was taken, it was found that the 
 people of the eastern counties, at least, 
 
 had not disregarded the appeal. Spite 
 of the hostile legions encamped upon her 
 soil and all attempts at intimidation, East 
 Tennessee stood manfully to her princi- 
 ples. In February she had given 34,000 
 votes against calling ' a convention ; in 
 June, when the rest of the State had fallen 
 off from a like devotion to the Union, the 
 vote of her 29 counties reached 32,923. 
 The secession vote, which had stood in 
 that region in February 7,550, in June 
 was raised to 14,780, but the difference 
 was accounted for by half of that number 
 being rebel troops, having no authority 
 under the Constitution to vote at any 
 election.* The vote of the entire State, 
 as proclaimed by Governor Harris, stood 
 104,019 for separation ; 47,238, against. 
 In the larger number were included ii. 
 this official return 6,241 voting in the 
 camps. The entire vote in February 
 had been for no convention 70,000, 
 against 50,000, and but three secession- 
 ists had been elected in the State. Such, 
 in four months, was the change brought 
 about in Tennessee, against the better 
 judgment of the people, by the acts of 
 designing politicians, and the excitement 
 consequent on the aggressive measures of 
 the cotton States, at Sumter and else- 
 where, stirring up prejudices and strife, 
 and precipitating the country into ruin- 
 ous, devastating war. 
 
 The loyal men of East Tennessee were 
 not to endure this result with complacen- 
 cy. The Knoxville Convention, which 
 had adjourned subject to the call of its 
 officers, after the decision of the State 
 had been pronounced by the popular 
 vote, was summoned to meet at the north- 
 eastern frontier town of Greenville, on 
 the 17th June. The delegates assembled 
 
 * Brownlow's "Rise, Progress and Decline of Seces- 
 sion," p. 222. 
 
296 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 at the appointed place and, on the fourth 
 day of the session, adopted as the result 
 of their deliberations a Declaration of 
 Grievances, followed by a series of reso- 
 lutions, looking to the separation of East- 
 ern Tennessee as an independent political 
 power, from the civil conflict into which 
 the State was throwing itself. No more 
 instructive memorial will be handed down 
 to posterity of the grounds and proceed- 
 ings of the rebellion in the border States 
 won over to participate in the fatal strife 
 than this document. Reviewing the re- 
 cent election and the manner in which it 
 was conducted, it was pronounced free, 
 with but few exceptions, in no part of the 
 State other than East Tennessee. In the 
 larger parts of the Middle and West 
 Tennessee, no speeches or discussions in 
 favor of the Union were permitted. 
 Union papers were not allowed to circu- 
 late. Measures were taken in some parts 
 of West Tennessee, in defiance of the 
 Constitution and laws, which allow folded 
 tickets, to have the ballot numbered in 
 such manner as to mark and expose the 
 Union votes. A disunion paper, The 
 Nashville Gazette, in urging the people 
 to vote an open ticket, declared that ' a 
 thief takes a pocket-book or effects an 
 entrance into forbidden places by stealthy 
 means a Tory, in voting, usually adopts 
 pretty much the same course of proced- 
 ure. Disunionists, in many places, had 
 charge of the polls, and Union men, when 
 voting, were denounced as Lincolnites 
 and Abolitionists. The unanimity of the- 
 votes in many large counties where, but 
 a few weeks ago, the Union sentiment 
 was so strong, proves beyond doubt that 
 Union men were overawed by the tyranny 
 of the military power and the still greater 
 tyranny of a corrupt and subsidized press. 
 Tn the City of Memphis, where 5,613 votes 
 
 were cast, but five freemen had the cour- 
 age to vote for the Union, and these were 
 stigmatized in the public press as ' igno- 
 rant traitors, who opposed the popular 
 edict.' Our earnest appeal to our brethren 
 in the other divisions of the State was pub- 
 lished then only to a small extent, and the 
 members and names of those who com- 
 posed our Convention, as well as the 
 counties they represented, were suppress- 
 ed, and the effort made to impress the 
 minds of the people that East Tennessee 
 was favorable to secession. The Mem- 
 phis Appeal, a prominent disunion paper, 
 published a false account of our proceed- 
 ings, under the head, ' The Traitors in 
 Council,' and styled us, who represented 
 every county but two in East Tennessee, 
 1 the little batch of disaffected traitors 
 who hover round the noxious atmosphere 
 of Andrew Johnson's home.' Our meet- 
 ing was telegraphed to The Neiv Orleans 
 Delta, and it was falsely said that we 
 had passed a resolution recommending 
 submission if 70,000 votes were not cast 
 against secession. The despatch adds 
 that ' The Southern Eights men are de- 
 termined to hold possession of the State, 
 though they should "be in a minority.' 
 Volunteers are allowed to vote in and 
 out of the State in flagrant violation of 
 the Constitution. From the moment the 
 election was over, and before any detail- 
 ed statement of the vote in the different 
 counties had been published, and before 
 it was possible to ascertain the result, it 
 was exultingly proclaimed that separa- 
 tion had been carried by from 50,000 to 
 70,000 votes. This was to prepare the 
 public mind to enable ' the secessionists 
 to hold possession of the State, though 
 they should be in a minority.' The final 
 result is to be announced by a disunion 
 Governor, whose existence depends upon 
 
DECLARATION OP GRIEVANCES. 
 
 297 
 
 the success of secession, and- no provision 
 is made by law for an examination of the 
 vote by disinterested persons, or even for 
 contesting the election. 
 
 " For these and other causes," the 
 Declaration continued, "we do not re- 
 gard the result of the election as ex- 
 pressive of the will of a majority of 
 the freemen of Tennessee. Had the elec- 
 tion everywhere been conducted as it 
 was in East Tennessee we would enter- 
 tain a different opinion. Here no effort 
 was made to suppress secession papers, 
 or prevent secession speeches or votes, 
 although an overwhelming majority of 
 the people were against secession. Here 
 no effort has been made to prevent the 
 formation of military companies, or ob- 
 struct the transportation of armies, or 
 to prosecute those who violated the laws 
 of the United States and of Tennessee 
 against treason. The Union men of 
 East Tennessee, anxious to be neutral 
 in the contest, were content to enjoy 
 their own opinions, and allow the utmost 
 latitude of opinion and action to those 
 who differed from them. Had the same 
 toleration prevailed in other parts of the 
 State, we have no doubt that a majority 
 of our people would have voted to remain 
 in the Union. But, if this view is errone- 
 ous, we have the same (and, as we think, 
 a much better) right to remain in the 
 Government of the United States than 
 the other divisions of Tennessee have to 
 secede from it. 
 
 " We prefer to remain attached to the 
 Government of our fathers. The Con- 
 stitution of the United States has done 
 us no wrong. The Congress of the United 
 States has passed no law to oppress us. 
 The President of the United States has 
 made no threat against the law-abiding 
 people of Tennessee. Under the Govern- 
 38 
 
 ment of the United States we have en- 
 joyed, as a nation, more of civil and 
 religious freedom than any other people 
 under the whole heaven. We believe 
 there is no cause for rebellion or seces- 
 sion on the part of the people of Tennes- 
 see. None was assigned by the Legislature 
 in their miscalled Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence. No adequate cause can be as- 
 signed. The Select Committee of that 
 body asserted a gross and inexcusable 
 falsehood in their address to the people 
 of Tennessee, when they declared that the 
 Government of the United States had 
 made war upon them. The secession 
 cause has thus far been sustained by de- 
 ception and falsehood ; by falsehoods as 
 to the action of Congress ; by false de- 
 spatches as to the battles that were never 
 fought, and victories that were never 
 won ; by false accounts as to the pur- 
 poses of the President ; by false repre- 
 sentations as to the views of Union men ; 
 and by false pretences as to the facility 
 with which the secession troops would 
 take possession of the capital and capture 
 the highest officers of the Government. 
 The cause of secession or rebellion has 
 no charms for us, and its progress has 
 been marked by the most alarming and 
 dangerous attacks upon the public liber- 
 ty. In other States as well as our own, 
 its whole course threatens to annihilate 
 the last vestige of freedom." 
 
 The enumeration of the results of the 
 rebellion, which had even then followed 
 in the infancy of its career, is sufficiently 
 striking : " While peace and prosperity 
 have blessed us in the Government of the 
 United States, the following may be 
 enumerated as some of the fruits of seces- 
 sion : It was urged forward by members 
 of Congress, who were sworn to support 
 the Constitution of the United States, and 
 
298 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 were themselves supported by the Gov- 
 ernment. It was effected without con- 
 sultation with all the States interested in 
 the Slavery question, and without ex- 
 hausting peaceable remedies. It has 
 plunged the country into civil war, par- 
 alyzed our commerce, interfered with the 
 whole trade and business of our country, 
 lessened the value of our property, de- 
 stroyed many of the pursuits of life, and 
 bids fair to involve the whole nation in 
 irretrievable bankruptcy and ruin. It 
 has changed the entire relations of States, 
 and adopted constitutions without sub- 
 mitting them to a vote of the people, and 
 where suok a vote has been authorized, 
 it has been upon the condition prescribed 
 by Senator Mason of Virginia, that those 
 who voted the Union ticket ' must leave 
 the State.' It has advocated a constitu- 
 tional monarchy, a king and a dictator, 
 and is, through The Richmond Press, 
 at this moment, recommending to the 
 Convention in Virginia a restriction of 
 the right of suffrage, and ' in severing 
 connection with the Yankees to abolish 
 every vestige of resemblance to the in- 
 stitutions of that detested race.' It has 
 formed military leagues, passed military 
 bills, and opened the door for oppressive 
 taxation, without consulting the people, 
 and then, in mockery of a free election, 
 has required them, by their votes, to 
 sanction its usurpations under the penal- 
 ties of moral proscription, or at the point 
 of the bayonet. It has offered a pre- 
 mium for crime, in directing the discharge 
 of volunteers from criminal prosecutions, 
 and in recommending the Judges not to 
 hold their courts. It has stained our 
 statute-book with the repudiation of 
 Northern debts, and has greatly violated 
 the Constitution by attempting, through 
 its unlawful extension, to destroy the 
 
 right of suffrage. It has called upon the 
 people in the State of Georgia, and may 
 soon require the people of Tennessee, to 
 contribute all their surplus cotton, corn, 
 wheat, bacon, beef, etc., to the support 
 of pretended Governments, alike desti- 
 tute of money and credit. It has at- 
 tempted to destroy the accountability of 
 public servants to the people by secret 
 legislation, and has set the obligation of 
 an oath at defiance. It has passed laws 
 declaring it treason to say or do any 
 thing in the favor of the Government of 
 the United States, and such a law is now 
 before, and we apprehend will soon be 
 passed by, the Legislature of Tennessee. 
 It has attempted to destroy, and we fear 
 soon utterly prostrate, the freedom of 
 speech and of the press. It has involved 
 the Southern States in a war whose suc- 
 cess is hopeless, and which must ultimate- 
 ly lead to the ruin of the people. Its 
 bigoted, overbearing, and intolerant spirit 
 has already subjected the people of East 
 Tennessee to many petty grievances ; our 
 people have been insulted ; our flags have 
 been fired upon and torn down ; our houses 
 have been rudely entered ; our families 
 subjected to insult ; our peaceable meet- 
 ings interrupted ; our women and children 
 shot at by a merciless soldiery ; our towns 
 pillaged ; our citizens robbed, and some 
 of them assassinated and murdered. No 
 effort has been spared to deter the Union 
 men of East Tennessee from the expres- 
 sion of their free thoughts. The penalties 
 of treason have been threatened against 
 them, and murder and assassination have 
 been openly encouraged by leading se- 
 cession journals. As secession has been 
 thus overbearing and intolerant, while in 
 the minority in East Tennessee, nothing 
 better can be expected of the pretended 
 majority than wild, unconstitutional and 
 
ANDREW JOHNSON. 
 
 299 
 
 oppressive legislation ; an utter contempt 
 and disregard of law ; a determination to 
 force every Union man in the State to 
 swear to the support of a constitution he 
 abhors to yield his money and property 
 to aid a cause he detests, and to become 
 the object of scorn and derision, as well 
 as the victim of intolerable and relentless 
 oppression." 
 
 In view of these considerations, it was 
 resolved to appoint 0. P. Temple of 
 Knox, John Netherland of Hawkins, and 
 James P. McDowell of Greene, Commis- 
 sioners to prepare a memorial and cause 
 the same to be presented to the General 
 Assembly of Tennessee, asking its con- 
 sent that the counties comprising East 
 Tennessee, and such counties in Middle 
 Tennessee as desire to cooperate with 
 them, may form and erect a separate 
 State. A resolution was also adopted 
 providing for the choice of delegates to 
 a new General Convention, to be held 
 in the town of Kingston, and called to- 
 gether when the President or officers of 
 the present Convention might deem ex- 
 pedient. Whatever, under other circum- 
 stances, might have been the fate of 
 these efforts to maintain an independent 
 course, but little could now be expected 
 from them. In fact, it was too late for 
 consideration or forbearance. The State 
 had abandoned reason for the work of 
 violence, and had drifted into a vortex 
 from which nothing could rescue it but 
 the strong interposition of the despised 
 and rejected Old Government. So far 
 from upholding the independence of 
 their mountain region, the loyal men of 
 Eastern Tennessee, after an ineffectual 
 struggle betrayed, hunted, imprisoned, 
 driven into exile, and oppressed by a 
 foreign soldiery were compelled to wait 
 in sorrow and anguish the slow progress 
 
 of the months, while treason was work- 
 ing out its evil destiny, till the day of 
 deliverance came. Thousands crossed 
 the mountains by stealth to serve in the 
 ranks of the Union army, that they 
 might return to their homes under the 
 flag of the Republic, to rescue their fam- 
 ilies and friends from the intolerable 
 tyranny which oppressed them. 
 
 But though proscribed and under a 
 baleful interdict for a time, Eastern Ten- 
 nessee, through her representative men, 
 was never silent in the affairs of the 
 country. Driven from their mountain 
 homes, they found themselves introduced 
 to a larger theatre of action, and, from 
 the advisers of a country or a district, 
 became the eloquent and powerful sup- 
 porters of the nation. Thousands to 
 whom Eastern Tennessee had been an 
 unknown land, hidden away in the unso- 
 cial seclusion of the Alleghanies, now 
 for the first time became acquainted with 
 her natural advantages, her resources, 
 her opportunities for the culture and 
 protection of an industrious, liberty-lov- 
 ing people, as her Johnsons, Nelsons, 
 Maynards, Brownlows, and others, loud- 
 ly and resolutely raised their voices for 
 the preservation of the Union. Of these, 
 among the foremost was Andrew John- 
 son, who, continuing to hold his seat in 
 the United States Senate as the staunch 
 vindicator of the old loyalty of Tennes- 
 see, not only spoke for her interests, but 
 stood forth a pillar of strength in uphold^ 
 ing the cause of the nation. His simple 
 history has some striking points of inter- 
 est, exhibiting him as the representative 
 of a new element of industrial progress 
 in the culture and development of the 
 South. His career, indeed, was struck 
 out on a different path from that of the 
 self-styled social aristocracy of which so 
 
300 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 much was said in its relation to the re- 
 bellion. Born in North Carolina about 
 1812, the son ;>f poor parents, he had in 
 early life been denied the opportunities 
 of education, and without even knowing 
 how to read, had been apprenticed to a 
 tailor. His wife, it is said, first taught 
 him his letters. Pursuing the trade 
 which he had acquired, he crossed the 
 mountains to Tennessee, where he estab- 
 lished himself in his home at Greenville, 
 where, having secured a competency by 
 his industry, he was led by his natural 
 vigor and strength of mind, to take part 
 in public affairs as a politician and 
 speaker. He was elected to the State 
 Legislature, then to Congress, was chosen 
 Governor of Tennessee, and, in 1857, 
 became Senator of the United States. 
 His patriotic course in that body, in the 
 midst of the seceding members, in the 
 last session of Mr. Buchanan's adminis- 
 tration, is not likely soon to be forgotten. 
 To him and to Judge Holt of Kentucky, 
 the cause of the Union certainly owed 
 much in those dark days of faithlessness 
 and defection. He was the expounder 
 of a sound nationality to the people, who 
 recognized in his straightforward, manly 
 utterance and home-felt arguments the 
 true interpretation of their sympathies 
 and interests. So lively an impression 
 did his course make upon the people of 
 the border States, that, on his passage to 
 Tennessee after the adjournment of Con- 
 gress, he was mobbed and insulted by a 
 band of secession sympathizers, at a rail- 
 way station, on his way through Virginia. 
 The sagacity of these men went some 
 way to relieve their brutality. They 
 knew the danger to their infamous cause 
 of the words and influence of the patriot- 
 ic man whom they assaulted. 
 
 When Congress again met in extra 
 
 session, and the acts of the President in 
 the work of arresting the rebellion, were 
 passed in review, by no one were they 
 more warmly upheld than by Senator 
 Johnson, whose speech of the 27th of 
 July, in the Senate, is one of the endur- 
 ing records of the season. Whatever 
 doubts there might be of others for it 
 was not always easy to define the opin- 
 ions of border State Democrats there 
 could be no mistaking his position, as he 
 dwelt upon the elements of the rebellion 
 and the means necessary to be taken for 
 its suppression. The key-note of his 
 speech was the assertion of the right of 
 the people to the enjoyment of the gov- 
 ernment which they had founded. " It 
 is a contest," said he, " for the existence 
 of the Government against internal foes 
 and traitors. It is a contest whether a 
 people are capable of governing them- 
 selves or not. We have reached that 
 crisis in our country's history, and the 
 time has arrived when, if the Govern- 
 ment has the power, if the people are 
 capable of self-government, and can 
 establish this great truth, that it should 
 be done." In pursuance of this train of 
 thought, he reviewed the indications 
 which had made their appearance in the 
 South, in the progress of the rebellion, 
 of a desire or intention to change the 
 form of that Republican government 
 which the Constitution had guaranteed 
 to all the States. He cited the declara- 
 tions of Southern editors 1 of Toombs 
 of Georgia, of the social circles of 
 Charleston, as reported by the Times' 
 correspondent, Mr. Russell, of an ar- 
 dent admiration or decided preference 
 for monarchical institutions in compari- 
 son with the simple democracy of the 
 United States. Coming, in the course of 
 these citations, upon a passage of the 
 
UNHALLOWED AMBITION. 
 
 301 
 
 Memphis Bulletin suggesting the neces- 
 sity of a powerful dictatorship to keep 
 the State in the interest of the rebellion, 
 and ending with the round assertion, 
 only saved from ridicuie by the tragedy 
 behind it, " Let Governor Harris be 
 a king, if need be, and Baugh a despot," 
 he exclaimed, " Who is Baugh ? The 
 Mayor of Memphis. The mock reign of 
 terror gotten up under this doctrine of 
 secession is so great, that we find that 
 they are appealing to the one-man pow- 
 er. They are even willing to make the 
 Mayor of the city a despot, and Isham 
 G. Harris, a little petty Governor of 
 Tennessee, a king. He is to be made 
 king over the State that contains the 
 bones of the immortal, the illustrious 
 Jackson. Isham G. Harris a king ! Or 
 Jeff. Da-vis a Dictator, and Isham G. 
 Harris one of his satraps. He a king 
 over tfce free and patriotic people of 
 Tennessee ! Isham G. Harris to be my 
 king ? Yes, sir, my king ! I know the 
 man. I know his elements. I know the 
 ingredients that constitute the compound 
 called Isham G. Harris. King Harris 
 to be my master and the master of the 
 people that I have the proud and con- 
 scious satisfaction of representing on this 
 floor ! Mr. President, he should not be 
 my slave '" 
 
 It is not necessary that we should here 
 pursue Senator Johnson's animated ex- 
 posure of the intrigues in which the con- 
 spiracy was born, and of the desperate 
 designs which had been avowed and 
 acted upon by the rebel leaders in its 
 prosecution. One passage, however, may 
 be given as a striking example of his 
 manner. Speaking of the conspirators 
 and their motives, he asked, " What is 
 the real cause? Disappointed ambition; 
 an unhallowed ambition. Certain men 
 
 could not wait any longer, and they 
 seized this occasion to do what they had 
 been wanting to do for a long time 
 break up the Government. If they could 
 not rule a large country, they thought 
 they might rule a small one. Hence one 
 of the prime movers in the Senate ceased 
 to be a Senator, and passed out to be 
 President of the Southern Confederacy. 
 Another, that was bold enough on this 
 floor to proclaim himself a rebel, retired 
 as a Senator, and became Secretary of 
 State. All perfectly disinterested, no 
 ambition about it ! Another, Mr, Ben- 
 jamin of Louisiana one that understands 
 something about the idea of dividing 
 garments ; who belongs to that tribe that 
 parted the garments of our Saviour, and 
 for his vesture cast lots went out of this 
 body and was made Attorney-General, 
 to show his patriotism and disinterested- 
 ness nothing else ! . Mr. Slidell, disin- 
 terested altogether, is to go as minister 
 to France. I might enumerate many 
 such instances. This is all patriotism, 
 pure disinterestedness ! Do we not see 
 where it all ends ? Disappointed, impa- 
 tient, unhallowed ambition. There has 
 been no cause for breaking up this Gov- 
 ernment ; there have been no rights 
 denied, no privileges trampled upon 
 under the Constitution and Union, that 
 might not have been remedied more 
 effectually in the Union than outside of 
 it. What rights are to be attained out- 
 side of the Union ? The seceders have 
 violated the Constitution, trampled it 
 under foot ; and what is their condition 
 now ? Upon the abstract idea that they 
 had a right to secede, they have gone 
 out ; and what is the consequence ? Op- 
 pression, taxation, blood 'and civil war. 
 They reasoned upon the principle of a 
 madman, who happened to discover 
 
302 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 somehow that man had dominion over 
 the beasts of the forest ; .and because he 
 had, he said he had a right to shear a 
 wolf. A friend remonstrated with him, 
 and asked him if he had considered the 
 danger and the difficulty of the attempt 
 to shear a wolf ; and after the shearing 
 was over, what would it be worth ? ' Oh 
 no,' Baid he, in the midst of his frenzy 
 and madness, ' I have a right to shear a 
 wolf, and therefore I will shear a wolf.' 
 Yes, they have sheared the wolf, and 
 what has come ? They have gone out of 
 the Union ; and, I repeat again, they 
 have got taxes, usurpations, blood and 
 civil war." 
 
 In reference to his own State, and 
 especially to that portion of it, Eastern 
 Tennessee, which looked more immedi- 
 ately to his protection, he said of the 
 wrongs endured by his .people at the 
 hands of the rebels : "Since I left my 
 home, having only one way to leave the 
 State through two or three passes coming 
 out through Cumberland Gap, I have been 
 advised that they had even sent their 
 armies to blockade these passes in the 
 mountains, as they say, to prevent John- 
 son from returning with arms and muni- 
 tions to place in the hands of the people 
 to vindicate their rights, repel invasion, 
 and put down domestic insurrection and 
 rebellion. Yes, sir, there they stand in 
 arms environing a population of three 
 hundred and twenty-five thousand loyal, 
 brave, patriotic, and unsubdued people ; 
 but yet powerless, and not in a condition 
 to vindicate their rights. Hence I come 
 to the Government, and I do not ask it as 
 a suppliant, but I demand it as a consti- 
 tutional right, that you give us protection, 
 give us arms arid munitions '; and if they 
 cannot be got there in any other way, to 
 them there with an invading army, 
 
 and deliver the people from the oppres- 
 sion to which they are now subjected. 
 We claim to be the State. The other 
 divisions may have seceded and gone 
 off; and if this Government will stand 
 by and permit those portions of the State 
 to go off, and not enforce the laws and 
 protect the loyal citizens there, we can- 
 not help it ; but we still claim to be the 
 State, and if two-thirds have fallen off, 
 or have been sunk by an earthquake, it 
 does not change our relation to this 
 Government. If the Government will 
 let them go, and not give us protection 
 the fault is not ours ; but if you will give 
 us protection we intend to stand as a 
 State, as a part of this Confederacy, hold- 
 ing to the flag that was borne by Wash- 
 
 o / 
 
 ington through a seven years' struggle for 
 independence and separation from the 
 mother country. We demand it accord- 
 ing to law ; we demand it upon the guar- 
 antees of the Constitution. You are 
 bound to guaranty to us a republican 
 form of government, and we ask it as a 
 constitutional right. We do not ask you 
 
 <_? / 
 
 to interfere as a party, as your feelings 
 or prejudices may be one way or other 
 in reference to the parties of the coun- 
 try ; but we ask you to interfere as a 
 Government according to the Constitu- 
 tion. Of course we want your sympathy, 
 and your regard, and your respect ; but 
 we ask your interference on constitutional 
 grounds. 
 
 " The amendments to the Constitution, 
 which constitute the bill of rights, declare 
 that ' a well regulated militia being ne- 
 cessary to the security of a free State, the 
 right of the people to keep and bear arms 
 shall not be infringed.' Our people are 
 denied this right secured to them in their 
 own constitution and the Constitution of 
 the United States ; yet we hear no com- 
 
A PLEA FOR TENNESSEE. 
 
 303 
 
 plaints here of violations of the Constitu- 
 tion in this respect. We ask the Gov- 
 ernment to interpose to secure us this 
 constitutional right. We want the passes 
 in our mountains opened, we want de- 
 liverance and protection for a downtrod- 
 den and oppressed people who are strug- 
 gling for their independence without 
 arms. If we had had ten thousand stand 
 of arms and ammunition when the con- 
 test commenced, we should have asked 
 no further assistance. We have not got 
 them. We are a rural people ; we have 
 villages and small towns no large cities. 
 Our population is homogenous, industri- 
 ous, frugal, brave, independent ; but 
 harmless and powerless, and rode over 
 by usurpers. You may be too late in 
 coming to our relief ; or you may not come 
 at all, though I do not doubt that you 
 will come ; they may trample us under 
 foot ; they may convert our plains into 
 graveyards, and the caves of our moun- 
 tains into sepulchres ; but they will never 
 take us out of this Union, or make us a 
 land of slaves no, never. We intend 
 to stand as firm as adamant, and as un- 
 yielding as our own majestic mountains 
 that surround us. Yes, we will profit by 
 their example, resting immovably upon 
 their basis. We will stand as long as 
 we can ; and if we are overpowered, and 
 liberty shall be driven from the land, we 
 intend before she departs, to take the 
 flag of our country, with a stalwart arm, 
 and a patriotic heart, and an honest 
 tread, and place it upon the summit of 
 the loftiest and most majestic mountain. 
 We intend to plant it there, and leave it, 
 to indicate to the inquirer who may come 
 in after times, the spot where the Goddess 
 of Liberty lingered and wept for the last 
 time, before she took her flight from a 
 people once prosperous, free and happy. 
 
 We ask the Government to come to our 
 aid. We love the Constitution as made 
 by our fathers. We have confidence in 
 the integrity and capacity of the people 
 to govern themselves. We have lived 
 entertaining these opinions ; we intend to 
 die entertaining them. The battle has 
 commenced. The President has placed 
 it upon the true ground. It is an issue 
 on the one hand for the people's Govern- 
 ment, and its overthrow on the other. 
 We have commenced the battle of free- 
 dom. It is freedom's cause. We are 
 resisting usurpation and oppression. We 
 will triumph ; we must triumph. Right 
 is with us. A great and fundamental 
 principle of right, that lies at the found- 
 ation of all things, is with us. We may 
 meet with impediments, and may meet 
 with disasters, and here and there a de- 
 feat ; but ultimately freedom's cause must 
 triumph, for 
 
 ' Freedom's battle once begun, 
 Bequeathed from bleeding sire tc sou, 
 Though baffled oft, is ever won.' 
 
 Yes, we must triumph. Though some- 
 times I cannot see my way clear in mat- 
 ters of this kind, as in matters of religion, 
 when my facts give out, when my reason 
 fails me, I draw largely upon my faith. 
 My faith is strong, based on the eternal 
 principles of right, that a thing so mon- 
 strously wrong as this rebellion is, cannot 
 triumph. Can we submit to it ? Can 
 bleeding justice submit to it? Is the 
 Senate, are the American people, pre- 
 pared to give up the graves of Washing- 
 ton and Jackson, to be encircled and 
 governed and controlled by a combina- 
 tion of traitors and rebels ? I say let the 
 battle go on it is freedom's cause un - 
 til the Stars and Stripes (God bless them) 
 shall again be unfurled upon every cross 
 road, and from every house top through- 
 
WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 out the Confederacy, North and South. 
 Let the Union be reinstated ; let the law 
 be enforced ; let the Constitution be su- 
 preme. If the Congress of the United 
 States were to give up the tombs of 
 Washington and Jackson, we should have 
 rising in our midst another Peter the 
 Hermit, in a much more righteous cause 
 for ours is true, while his was a delusion 
 who would appeal to the American 
 people and point to the tombs of Wash- 
 ington and Jackson, in the possession of 
 those who are worse than the infidel and 
 the Turk who held the Holy Sepulchre. 
 I believe the American people would 
 start of their own accord, when appealed 
 to, to redeem the graves of Washington 
 and Jackson and Jefferson, and all the 
 other patriots who are lying within the 
 limits of the Southern Confederacy. I do 
 not believe they would stop the march, 
 until again the flag of this Union would 
 be placed over the graves of those dis- 
 tinguished men. There will be an up- 
 rising. Do not talk about Republicans 
 now ; do not talk about Democrats now ; 
 do not talk about Whigs or Americans 
 now ; talk about your country and the 
 Constitution and the Union. Save that ; 
 preserve the integrity of the Govern- 
 ment ; once more place it erect among 
 the nations of the earth and then if we 
 want to divide about questions that may 
 arise in our midst, we have a Govern- 
 ment to divide it." 
 
 Another figure of some interest in the 
 annals of Eastern Tennessee, at this time, 
 was the Rev. William G. Brownlow, fa- 
 miliarly known to the public as Parson 
 Brownlow, a bold, vigorous controver- 
 sialist, who, in the columns of his weekly 
 newspaper, the Knoxville Whig, launched 
 the fiercest thunders of his rhetoric and 
 personal invective against the secession- 
 
 ists who beset him. Privileged by his 
 profession as a Methodist clergyman, 
 though there were regions in the South 
 where that would have been of but little 
 avail, and probably more by the influ- 
 ence of his press and his intimacy with* 
 the public men of the region, his loudest 
 denunciations of the disunionists were for 
 a long time suffered to pass without in- 
 terruption other than the threats of the 
 faction he opposed ; but at length with 
 other patriots he was persecuted and 
 prescribed, compelled to hide himself 
 from the storm, to discontinue his news- 
 paper, and then to undergo a cruel im- 
 prisonment, the story of which, and of 
 the sufferings of his associates, as it is 
 recorded in the diary of these dark 
 hours, which he has given to the public, 
 recalls some of the bloodiest scenes *)f 
 the proscription in the French Revolu- 
 tion. Mr. Brownlow, with many other 
 occupants of Eastern Tennessee, was a 
 native of Virginia. His parents were 
 poor, and dying when the son was about 
 ten years of age, he was left to a life of 
 hard labor in his youth, completing this 
 first stage of his education in an appren- 
 ticeship to the trade of a house carpen- 
 ter. He then applied himself to study, 
 and entered the Methodist Travelling 
 Ministry a school of the world by no 
 means ill adapted to develop the quali- 
 ties of an earnest manly nature. He 
 travelled ten years in this profession 
 without intermission. Among his cir- 
 cuits at this period was a ministerial 
 journey through South Carolina at the 
 height of the nullification discussion, in 
 which he took a part, bearing strong 
 and decided testimony to his sense of 
 the value of the services of General 
 Jackson in suppressing that incipient re- 
 bellion. " South Carolina," he wrote 
 
MISSOURI. 
 
 305 
 
 and published in a pamphlet in 1832, in 
 the midst of the nullifiers, " is looking to 
 the formation of an independent Prov- 
 ince, but will not be allowed any such 
 privilege, as her leading men will infer 
 from the proclamation of Old Hickory. 
 * * This attempt by mob-law to nullify 
 the laws of the General Government is 
 but the development of a well-planned 
 scheme for the ulterior wicked purpose 
 of destroying our Government. It is a 
 wild, visionary and supremely ridiculous 
 scheme, and will be put down, at all 
 hazards, by General Jackson. In fact, 
 he has now crushed it out, and I rejoice 
 in its overthrow, though it may starve 
 me out and drive me from your limits. 
 I shall fall back into Tennessee, where 
 the people appreciate the blessings of 
 the best Government in the world, and 
 where the gospel is likely to produce 
 some other effect than that of arraying 
 the people against the legal and consti- 
 tuted authorities of the land." The man 
 
 who wrote thus in 1832 was not to be 
 taken off his guard by the rebellion of 
 1861, the full-grown treason which he 
 had known in its cradle. He commenced 
 the editorship of the Knoxville Whig 
 about 1840, and had since that time been 
 a devoted advocate of the political prin- 
 ciples which the name of the paper implied. 
 Of course in that period he had been in 
 opposition to the democrat Andrew John- 
 son, but the present rebellion, by the sym- 
 pathy of a common persecution, had re- 
 moved all disagreement on that score. As 
 he took occasion to say in one of the 
 speeches in his triumphal progress to the 
 North after his liberation, " I have fought 
 that man for twenty-five long and terrible 
 years ; I fought him systematically, per- 
 severingly and untiringly ; but it was up- 
 on the old issues of whiggery and democ- 
 racy ; and now we will fight for one 
 another. We have merged in Tennessee 
 all other parties and predilections in this 
 great question of the Union." 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN MISSOURI. 
 
 NEXT to the situation of affairs on the 
 Potomac, the condition of Missouri be- 
 came a subject of anxious solicitude at 
 the outbreak of the rebellion. The posi- 
 tion of this rich State, prosperous and 
 everywhere abounding in elements of 
 wealth, controlling the great highways 
 of western travel, influencing Illinois 
 and Kentucky on the east, bordered on 
 the south by Arkansas, a bulwark and 
 protection to Kansas on the west, ren- 
 dered its possession of the foremost im- 
 portance to the contending parties. In 
 39 
 
 a national point of view, to relinquish 
 Missouri to the rebellion would be to 
 make the Mississippi the western bound- 
 ary of the United States, abandon at 
 once the vast region of the Territories, 
 and surrender the very principle of the 
 struggle. There were other States which 
 might be left to their folly to reap the 
 fruits of the war and repent at leisure, 
 but there could be no such indifference 
 toward Missouri. To give up the State 
 would be fatal to the cause of Union and 
 the Government. It must be held at all 
 
306 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 hazards and by every effort. The task 
 thus imperative, it very soon became 
 evident, was attended with no slight dif- 
 ficulties. A large portion of the popu- 
 lation, hardened in the rough manners 
 of frontier life, had already shown them- 
 selves, in their participation in the af- 
 fairs of Kansas, ready for any deed of 
 violence or usurpation undertaken in be- 
 half of slavery. The sympathies also of 
 many wealthy slaveholders throughout 
 the State were with the South. The 
 Governor, Claiborne F. Jackson, fully 
 represented the old democratic proslave- 
 ry party, strongly imbued with Southern 
 sympathies and in alliance with Southern 
 leaders, which had long held the State in 
 subjection. On the other hand, through- 
 out the State north of the Missouri river, 
 and particularly in the large German 
 population of St. Louis, there was a nu- 
 merous body of intelligent freemen, de- 
 voted to the free soil principles of the 
 administration, animated with a love of 
 the Union, and ready to defend the 
 heritage for their children with their 
 lives. Nor were many of the slave- 
 holders themselves indifferent to the 
 blessings of the national government 
 under the old flag of the Republic, as 
 was fully shown in the result of the elec- 
 tion of representatives to the Convention 
 which had been ordered by the Legis- 
 lature. When the vote was taken the 
 unconditional Union ticket was every- 
 where in the ascendant. 
 
 Unhappily, the Governor was thor- 
 oughly disaffected to the Government. 
 We have seen his harsh and disloyal re- 
 ply to the Secretary of War in answer 
 to the call for troops for the National 
 defence.* A fortnight after, on the 3d 
 of May, in a message to the Legislature 
 
 * Ante, p. 128. 
 
 of Missouri, he denounced the Proclama* 
 tion of the President as unconstitutional, 
 and while avoiding a direct recommen- 
 dation of the secession of the State, de 
 clared its " interest and sympathies iden- 
 tical with those of the slaveholding States, 
 and necessarily uniting its destiny with 
 theirs." With a strange disregard of 
 the northern geographical position of the 
 State, and the character of its neighbor? 
 on the north, east and west, and the 
 avowed diversity of opinion of its citi- 
 zens on its domestic policy, he had the 
 hardihood to add that " the similarity of 
 our social and political institutions, our 
 industrial interests, our sympathies, hab- 
 its and tastes, our common origin, terri- 
 torial contiguity, all concur in pointing 
 out our duty in regard to the separation 
 now taking place between the States of 
 the old Federal Union." He therefore 
 recommended the arming the State im- 
 mediately, enjoining obedience to the 
 constituted authorities, meaning himself 
 and not the Government of the Union, 
 and invited an "endeavor ultimately to 
 unite all our citizens in a cordial coope- 
 ration for the preservation of our honor, 
 the security of our property and the per- 
 formance of all those high duties imposed 
 upon us by our obligations to our fami- 
 lies, our country, and our God." The 
 design or tendency of all these piously 
 and patriotically worded inculcations was 
 evidently to manage the affairs of the 
 State in the interests of the Southern 
 Confederacy. Meanwhile he set forth 
 a policy of armed neutrality a danger- 
 ous proceeding for the liberties of the 
 country when the use of that army 
 depended upon his own treasonable in- 
 clinations. The efforts of the Legisla- 
 ture were directly bent to hold mili- 
 tary possession of the State, which was 
 
NATHANIEL LYON. 
 
 307 
 
 divided into districts, in which camps 
 of instruction were to be formed. The 
 city of St. Louis, the stronghold of loyalty 
 to the national authorities, was placed 
 under the control of the Governor, by 
 assigning to him the appointment of po- 
 lice, who were to take the place of the 
 Union Republican officers. The latter 
 #ere discharged and their places filled 
 by secessionists.* While these and the 
 like preparations were being made under 
 the legislative sanction, the popular con- 
 vention had met and adjourned, after 
 passing an ordinance or declaration of 
 the adherence of Missouri to the. Union. 
 The protection of the cause was left to 
 the National Government. A President 
 from Illinois was not likely to be insen- 
 sible to the merits of the situation. We 
 accordingly find him alert from the be- 
 ginning, intent upon the preservation of 
 the national property and ready to take 
 such measures as might be required for 
 the safety of the State. .uoo 
 
 Fortunately, there were two persons 
 of commanding genius and in positions 
 of influence at St. Louis, to second his 
 policy one the eminent politician, Fran- 
 cis P. Blair, Jr., the other an officer of 
 the army, Captain Lyon, in charge of 
 the arsenal, and, in the absence of Gen- 
 eral Harney, the commander of the de- 
 partment, the chief military authority at 
 the place. No men better understood 
 the demands of the times and the pecu- 
 liar exigencies of the State. Son of the 
 eminent editor of the Globe newspaper, 
 brother to a member of the cabinet, a 
 disciple of that keen-sighted statesman 
 and true prophet of events, Senator Ben- 
 ton, a member of Congress, Mr. Blair 
 stood forward eminently the bulwark of 
 
 * Sketch of the War in Missouri. Continental Monthly, 
 April, 1862. 
 
 the national cause in Missouri. Aware 
 of the dangers which threatened the loy- 
 alty of the State, he had early turned 
 his attention to thwart the schemes of 
 Governor Jackson and his fellow seces- 
 sionists. Previously to the action of the 
 Legislature and the formation of the hos- 
 tile camps, he had bent his efforts to the 
 organization of a voluntary military 
 guard, ready at call to defend the lib- 
 erties of the State. These men, citizens 
 of St. Louis, largely drawn from the Ger- 
 man population, became the nucleus of 
 the new national army on the soil of St. 
 Louis. 
 
 Captain Nathaniel Lyon, of the 2d 
 United States Infantry, in command at 
 the arsenal, was a true soldier of the 
 Republic, single-hearted in his efforts for 
 the public good, solely animated by a 
 love of country. A native of Ashford, 
 Connecticut, and descendant on the moth- 
 er's side from Colonel Knowlton, of Rev- 
 olutionary fame at Bunker Hill and 
 Harlaem Plains, he was by instinct and 
 culture the model of an American soldier. 
 Brought up in boyhood, the son of a 
 farmer, in the simple rural life of New 
 England, he had received a military edu- 
 cation at West Point, and been sent 
 forth, 2d Lieutenant in the 2d Infantry, 
 to illustrate that institution in the Indian 
 war in Florida, and the Mexican cam- 
 paigns of General Scott, in which he 
 greatly distinguished himself. He was 
 at the siege of Yera Cruz and at the bat- 
 tle of Cerro Gordo, charged and captured 
 at the head of his company a battery of 
 three cannon. He also distinguished him- 
 self by his valor at Contreras and Chur- 
 ubusco, for which he was brevetted Cap- 
 tain, and was wounded in the assault 
 upon the city of Mexico. Subsequently 
 employed in California, and particularly 
 
308 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 in Kansas, during the season of its in- 
 fant trials, he had learnt in the school 
 of experience the lesson of freedom. In 
 the canvass for the Presidency, he had 
 served the Republican cause by his pen, 
 advocating the election of Mr. Lincoln as 
 emphatically a man of and for the peo- 
 ple. 
 
 The first active proceeding at St. 
 Louis, under instructions from the Gov- 
 ernment at Washington, was the remov- 
 al, on the 25th of April, by a party from 
 Illinois, of a large quantity of arms from 
 the United States arsenal- an important 
 establishment, amply stored with the 
 various munitions of war. With the 
 examples in mind of the robbery of the 
 public property in Virginia, North Car- 
 olina and other States, and the obvious 
 purposes of the Missouri Legislature to 
 control all military movements in her 
 borders, the delivery of the arms in the 
 presence of the secession authorities .of 
 St. Louis was considered, at the time, 
 a feat of some nicety, as the reader may 
 gather from an animated account of the 
 affair communicated from Springfield to 
 the Chicago Tribune a few days after. 
 
 " I am now," says the writer, " able to 
 give a complete and accurate narrative 
 of the transfer of the 21,000 stand of 
 arms from St. Louis to Springfield. Cap- 
 tain James H. Stokes of Chicago, late of 
 the regular army, volunteered to under- 
 take the perilous mission, and Governor 
 Yates placed in his hands the requisition 
 of the Secretary of War for 10,000 mus- 
 kets. Captain Stokes went to St. Louis 
 and made his way as rapidly as possible 
 to the arsenal. He found it surrounded 
 by an immense mob, and the postern 
 gates all closed. His utmost efforts to 
 penetrate the crowd were for a long time 
 unavailing. The requisition was shown. 
 
 Captain Lyon doubted the possibility of 
 executing it. He said the arsenal was 
 surrounded by a thousand spies, and 
 every movement was watched and re- 
 ported at the headquarters of the seces- 
 sionists, who could throw an overwhelm- 
 ing force upon them at any moment. 
 Captain Stokes represented that every 
 hour's delay was rendering the capture 
 of the arsenal more certain ; and the 
 arms must be removed to Illinois now or 
 never. Major Callender agreed with 
 him, and told him to take them at his 
 own time and in his own way. This was 
 Wednesday night. Captain Stokes, had 
 a spy in the camp, whom he met at inter- 
 vals in a certain place in the city. On 
 Thursday he received information thai 
 Governor Jackson had ordered two thou- 
 sand armed men down from Jefferson City, 
 whose movements could only contemplate 
 a seizure of the arsenal, by occupying 
 the heights around it, and planting bat- 
 teries thereon. The job would have 
 been an easy one. They had already 
 planted one battery on the St. Louis 
 levee, and another at Powder Point, a 
 short distance below the arsenal. Cap- 
 tain Stokes immediately telegraphed to 
 Alton to have the steamer City of Alton 
 drop down to the arsenal, landing about 
 midnight. He then returned to the ar- 
 senal and commenced moving the boxes 
 of guns, weighing some three hundred 
 pounds each, down to the lower floor. 
 About TOO men were employed in the 
 work. He then took 500 Kentucky 
 flint-lock muskets, which had been sent 
 there to be altered, and sent them to be 
 placed on a steamer as a blind to cover 
 his real movements. The secessionists 
 nabbed them at once, and raised a per- 
 fect Bedlam over the capture. A large 
 portion of the outside crowd left the ar- 
 
JiEMOVAL OF MUSKETS. 
 
 309 
 
 senal when this movement was executed ; 
 and Captain Lyou took the remainder, 
 who were lying around as spies, and 
 locked them up in his guard-house. 
 About 11 o'clock the steamer City of 
 Alton came alongside, planks were shov- 
 ed out from the windows to the main- 
 deck, and the boxes slid down. When 
 the 10,000 were safely on board, Captain 
 Stokes went to Captain Lyon and Major 
 Callender and urged them, by the most 
 pressing appeals, to let him empty the 
 arsenal. They told him to go ahead and 
 take whatever he wanted. Accordingly, 
 he took 11,000 more muskets, 500 new 
 rifle carbines, 500 revolvers, 110,000 
 musket cartridges, to say nothing of the 
 cannon and a large quantity of miscella- 
 neous accoutrements, leaving only 7,000 
 muskets in the arsenal to arm the St. 
 Louis Volunteers. When the whole 
 were on board, about 2 o'clock on Fri- 
 day morning, the order was given by the 
 captain of the steamer to cast off. Judge 
 of the consternation of all hands when it 
 was found that she would not move. The 
 arms had been piled in great quantities 
 around the engines, to protect them 
 against the battery on the levee, and the 
 great weight had fastened the bows of 
 the boat firmly on a rock, which was 
 tearing a hole through the bottom at 
 every turn of the wheels. A man of 
 less nerve than Captain Stokes would 
 have gone crazy on the spot. He called 
 the arsenal men on board, and com- 
 menced moving the boxes to the stern. 
 Fortunately, when about 200 boxes had 
 been shifted, the boat fell away from the 
 shore and floated in deep water. ' Which 
 way ?' said Captain Mitchell of the steam- 
 er. ' Straight to Alton in the regular 
 channel,' replied Captain Stokes. ' What 
 if we are attacked ?' said Captain Mitch- 
 
 ell. 'Then we will fight!' said Captain 
 Stokes. ' What if we are overpowered ?' 
 said Captain Mitchell. ' Run her to the 
 deepest part of the river and sink her/ 
 replied Captain Stokes. ' I'll do it," was 
 the heroic answer of Captain Mitchell, 
 and away they went past the secession 
 battery, past the entire St. Louis leve"e, 
 and on to Alton in the regular channel, 
 where they arrived at 5 o'clock in the 
 morning. When the boat touched the 
 landing, Captain Stokes, fearing pursuit 
 by some two or three of the secession 
 military companies by which the city of 
 St. Louis is disgraced, ran to the market- 
 house and rang the fire-bell. The cit- 
 izens came flocking pell-mell to the river, 
 in all sorts of habiliments. Captain 
 Stokes informed them of the situation of 
 things, and pointed out the freighted 
 cars. Instantly men, women and chil- 
 dren boarded the steamer, seized the 
 freight, and clambered up the levees to 
 the cars. Rich and poor tugged together 
 with might and main for two hours, 
 when the cargo was all deposited in the 
 cars, and the train moved off, amid their 
 enthusiastic cheers, for Springfield." 
 
 A portion of the State militia, for 
 whose organization provision had been 
 made by the Legislature, was presently 
 on the 6th of May assembled in camp, 
 on the western outskirts of St. Louis, 
 under command of General D. M. Frost, 
 and an active system of drilling com- 
 menced. The encampment bore the name 
 Camp Jackson, in honor of the Governor, 
 while the secession purposes of its in- 
 mates was unmistakably declared by the 
 titles pretentiously given to its streets 
 from the names of the Confederate lead- 
 ers. On the 9th, a quantity of small 
 arms and several pieces of cannon, a 
 part of the spoil of the United States 
 
310 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 arsenal at Baton Rouge, which had been 
 brought by the river to St. Louis, having 
 been represented to the inspectors at 
 Cairo as packages of marble slabs, were 
 smuggled ashore, conveyed to the camp, 
 and there received in triumph. Threats 
 were meanwhile thrown out of a speedy 
 attack upon the arsenal. 
 
 Captain Lyon knew too well the color 
 and habits of treason, in its various dis- 
 guises, to wait till the enemy before his 
 eyes, every day gaining in confidence 
 and resources, should grow too powerful 
 to be opposed by the men at his com- 
 mand. He determined to anticipate the 
 blow intended for him. He had been 
 armed with authority, by official instruc- 
 tions from President Lincoln, through the 
 war department, dated April 30, to enrol 
 in the military service of the United 
 States the loyal citizens of St. Louis and 
 vicinity, not exceeding with those here- 
 tofore enlisted, 10,000 in number, for the 
 purpose of maintaining the authority of 
 the United States and for the protection 
 of the peaceable inhabitants of Missouri ; 
 and if deemed necessary for that pur- 
 pose, he was directed to proclaim mar- 
 tial law in the city of St. Louis. It was 
 an important trust to be committed to a 
 captain of infantry this control of the 
 military and civil power of a great city 
 and in common with the suspension of 
 the habeas corpus writ in Maryland, by 
 the Executive, became, in certain quar- 
 ters the subject of animadversion ;* but 
 the President knew to whom he entrusted 
 the power and the necessity for its exer- 
 cise. It was to avoid such disasters as 
 the seizure of Norfolk and its navy yard 
 that the authority was given, and the 
 result showed that it was neither mis- 
 
 * See in particular the speech of Trusten Polk of Mis- 
 souri, in the United States Senate, July 11, 1861. 
 
 timed nor misplaced. That the power, 
 moreover, might be diligently guarded in 
 its use by the exercise of a sound dis- 
 cretion, the President in his orders had 
 named six loyal and discreet citizens of 
 St. Louis, prominent among whom was 
 Colonel F. P. Blair, as a commission to 
 be consulted by Captain Lyon in the 
 course to be taken in the management of 
 public affairs and the proclamation of 
 martial law. In the multitude of coun- 
 sellors, however, spite of the proverb, 
 there is weakness as well as safety, and, 
 as we learn from Colonel Blair's narra- 
 tive, it was by his advice as Captain 
 Lyon's " confidential and constant com- 
 panion comrades in arms and a unit in 
 counsel" and, contrary to the opinions 
 of the remaining five, that the decision 
 was formed to attack and break up Camp 
 Jackson. The entire night preceding the 
 movement of the 10th May was spent in 
 these deliberations, but the solid purpose 
 of Captain Lyon was unalterable. The 
 incipient treason in arms at Camp Jack- 
 son, he had determined, must be sup- 
 pressed. 
 
 With Captain Lyon to resolve was to 
 act. Accordingly, having formed his re- 
 solution, he lost no time in carrying it 
 into effect. The midnight conference was 
 succeeded by the assembly of troops at 
 the arsenal. Colonel Blair's regiment at 
 Jefferson Barracks, ten miles below, was 
 ordered up, and about noon on that me- 
 morable Friday, Captain Lyon quietly left 
 the arsenal gate at the head of 6,000 
 troops, of whom 450 were regulars, the 
 remainder United States Reserve Corps 
 or Home Guards, marched in two col- 
 umns to Camp Jackson, and before the 
 troops could recover from the amazement 
 into which the appearance of the advanc- 
 ing army threw them, surrounded the 
 
SURRENDER OF CAMP JACKSON. 
 
 311 
 
 camp, planted his battories upon the 
 elevations around, at a distance of five 
 hundred yards, and stationing his infan- 
 try in the roads leading from the grove 
 wherein their tents were pitched. The 
 State troops were taken completely by 
 surprise ; for, although there had been 
 vague reports current in camp of an in- 
 tended attack from the arsenal, the cry 
 of the visitors at the grove, ' They're 
 coming !' ' they're coming !' raised just 
 as the first .column appeared in sight, 
 found them strutting leisurely under the 
 trees, chatting with their friends from the 
 city, or stretched upon the thick grass, 
 smoking and reading."* 
 
 Having thus surrounded the camp, 
 Captain Lyon sent the following summons 
 to General Frost for its surrender : 
 " Sir, your command is regarded as evi- 
 dently hostile toward the Government 
 of the United States. It is, for the most 
 part, made up of those secessionists who 
 have openly avowed their hostility to the 
 General Government, and have been 
 plotting at the seizure of its property and 
 the overthrow of its authority. You are 
 openly in communication with the so- 
 called Southern Confederacy, which is 
 now at war with the United States, and 
 you are receiving at your camp, from the 
 said confederacy and under its flag, large 
 supplies of the material of war, most of 
 which is known to be the property of the 
 United States. Those extraordinary pre- 
 parations plainly indicate none other but 
 the well-known purpose of the Governor 
 of the State, under whose orders you are 
 acting, and whose purpose, recently com- 
 municated to the Legislature, has just 
 been responded to by that body in the 
 most unparalleled legislation, having in 
 
 * The War in Missouri The Continental Monthly, 
 April, 1862. 
 
 direct view hostilities to the General 
 Government, and cooperation with its 
 enemies. In view of these considerations, 
 and of your failure to disperse in obedi- 
 ence to the proclamation of the President, 
 and of the imminent necessities of State 
 policy and welfare, and the obligations 
 imposed upon me by instructions from 
 Washington, it is my duty to demand, 
 and I do hereby demand of you an im- 
 mediate surrender of your command, 
 with no other condition than that all per- 
 sons surrendering under this demand 
 shall be humanely and kindly treated. 
 Believing myself prepared to enforce this 
 demand, one half hour's time before do- 
 in'g so, will be allowed for your com- 
 pliance therewith." 
 
 The demand was answered in the sur- 
 render of the camp with its force of 
 militia and various material of war, in- 
 cluding several large howitzers, 10-inch 
 mortars, a large number of shells and a 
 large number of United States muskets, 
 supposed to be a portion of those which 
 had been brought from the Baton Rouge 
 arsenal. The captured militia were of- 
 fered their release on taking the oath of 
 allegiance to the United States. The 
 proposition was submitted to the men, 
 but was accepted by very few, when pre- 
 parations were made to conduct the re- 
 mainder, about eight hundred, as prison- 
 ers to the arsenal. A column was formed 
 and the march commenced, when an 
 assault was made upon the troops by 
 some persons in the crowd which had 
 gathered to witness the proceedings. At 
 first the mob was very abusive, then 
 stones and dirt were thrown by them and 
 finally a revolver was discharged at the 
 soldiers in front. Upon this several shots 
 were fired in return, the people in the 
 vicinity were scattered and the assault in 
 
312 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 that quarter was suppressed. Presently, 
 however, a similar scene of greater vio- 
 lence occurred in the rear. Several 
 shots from a revolver were discharged at 
 Lieutenant Saxton of the regular army, 
 when the assailant was thrust through 
 with a bayonet and shot down. Other 
 shots were tired at the soldiers, who fired 
 in return, putting the mob to flight, when 
 Captain Lyon promptly arrested the con- 
 flict. In this disastrous encounter seven 
 of the townspeople were killed and a 
 number wounded. Senator Polk of Mis- 
 souri subsequently, in his seat in the 
 Senate, stated the number of deaths at 
 forty to fifty, the wounds by the Minie 
 ball proving particularly fatal. As usual, 
 in a promiscuous throng, under such cir- 
 cumstances, the innocent suffered with 
 the guilty. 
 
 The greatest excitement, 'of course, 
 prevailed in the city and fears were had 
 of a general riot, as a tumultuous crowd 
 bearing banners of various devices and 
 loud in their imprecations upon the Ger- 
 man soldiers who had fired upon the un- 
 offending population, roamed through the 
 streets. A gun store was broken open 
 and a number of guns removed before 
 the police could assemble to arrest the 
 proceedings. Various speakers address- 
 ed the crowd in front of the Planters' 
 House and in other parts of the city, and 
 by this sedative, and the more authori- 
 tative presence of an armed police, the 
 night passed without further disturbance. 
 Unhappily, however, the scene of tumult 
 was renewed the following night, when a 
 body of the German Home Guards, re- 
 turning from the arsenal, where they had 
 been reviewed 'during the day and fur- 
 nished with arms, were encountered in 
 the city with hisses from a crowd and 
 other more violent demonstrations. Sev- 
 
 eral shots were fired into the ranks, when 
 the head of the column turned and fired 
 promiscuously down the street, wounding 
 alike their own rear ranks and the spec- 
 tators on the side walk. Six persons 
 were killed in this discharge and several 
 wounded ; four of the former belonging t( 
 the regiment. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the day 
 following the occurrence just mentioned, 
 General William Selby Harney returned 
 to his command at St. Louis. A native 
 of Louisiana, born in 1798, he had been 
 commissioned a 2d Lieutenant of the 1st 
 Infantry in the year 1818, and having 
 been constantly engaged in the service, 
 was now one of the oldest officers of the 
 army the defection of General Twiggs 
 placing him third on the list Generals 
 Scott and Wool being his only superiors 
 in rank. Having se.rved as a captain in 
 the Black Hawk war, he was appointed 
 Lieutenant- Colonel of the 2d Dragoons 
 in 1836, and brevetted Colonel in 1840 
 for gallant and meritorious conduct in 
 several successive engagements in Flor- 
 ida. In the Mexican war he was bre- 
 vetted Brigadier-General for gallant ser- 
 vices at Cerro-Gordo. He had of late 
 played a conspicuous part in public 
 affairs in the bold stand which he had 
 taken in 1858, in his department of the 
 Pacific, in the occupation of the island of 
 San Juan, in Vancouver's Bay, in oppo- 
 sition to the claims of Great Britain a 
 course which seemed at one time to 
 threaten hostilities between the two na- 
 tions. The interposition, however, of 
 General Scott, happily relieved the situ- 
 ation of its immediate embarrassment, 
 and General Harney was recalled to the 
 Atlantic States. 
 
 The outbreak of the rebellion found 
 General Harney in command of the mill- 
 
GENERAL BARNEY'S LETTER. 
 
 313 
 
 tary department of the West, with his 
 headquarters at St. Louis. Thence he 
 had been called to Washington, in April, 
 to consult with the Secretary of War, 
 and while on his way from Wheeling to 
 the capital, by the Baltimore and Ohio 
 road, on the 25th of the month, was 
 arrested on the train by the secessionists 
 at Harper's Ferry, and carried a prison- 
 er to Richmond. He was speedily, how- 
 ever, released by Governor Letcher. 
 Some doubts having been expressed in 
 the newspapers of his devotion to the 
 Union, and the intimation having been 
 thrown out that he was a willing prisoner 
 in Virginia with an intention of throwing 
 off his allegiance to the Federal Govern- 
 ment and joining the Confederate States, 
 on his arrival, on the 1st of May, at 
 Washington, he took occasion to disa- 
 buse the public mind of these impressions 
 in a letter declaratory of his sentiments, 
 addressed to his personal friend, Colonel 
 John 0. Fallon, of St. Louis. In this he 
 patriotically cast aside the charge of dis- 
 loyalty, argued the cause of the Union 
 against the secessionists, and especially 
 addressed himself to the people of Mis- 
 souri, urging upon them the injury to 
 their interests should they adopt the 
 fatal doctrine of separation. " Forty-two 
 years," said he, "I have been in the mil- 
 itary service of the United States, and 
 have followed during all that time but 
 one flag the flag of the Union. I have 
 seen it protecting our frontiers and 
 guarding our coasts from Maine to Flor- 
 ida ; I have witnessed it in the smoke o f 
 battle, stained with the blood of gpllant 
 men, leading on to victory ; planted 
 upon the strongholds and waving in tri- 
 umph over the capital of a foreign foe. 
 My eyes have beheld that flag waving 
 protection to our States and Territories 
 _.. 40 
 
 on the Pacific, and commanding rever- 
 ence and respect from hostile fleets and 
 squadrons and from foreign governments, 
 never exhibited to any banner on the 
 globe. Twenty stars, each representing 
 a State, have been added to that banner 
 during my service, and under its folds I 
 have advanced from the rank of Lieu- 
 tenant to that which I now hold. The 
 Government whose honors have been 
 bestowed upon me I shall serve for the 
 remainder of my days. The flag, whose 
 glories I have witnessed, shall never be 
 forsaken by me while I can strike a blow 
 for its defence. I shall be ready to serve 
 the Government of the United States, 
 and be its faithful, loyal soldier." 
 , He had, he said, been in favor of a 
 peaceful, conciliatory adjustment of the 
 matters at issue between the North and 
 the South ; "but when the Confederate 
 States, with seven thousand men, under 
 cover of strong fortifications or impreg- 
 nable batteries, assailed a starving gar- 
 rison of seventy men in Fort Surnter, 
 compelled the banner of the United 
 States to be lowered, and boasted of its 
 dishonor before the world, the state of 
 the question was immediately changed. 
 Instead of the government - coercing 
 States demanding redress of grievances 
 by constitutional means, the case was 
 presented of revolutionists waging war 
 against their government, seeking its 
 overthrow by force of arms, assailing 
 public property by overwhelming force, 
 laboring to destroy the lives of gallant 
 officers and soldiers, and dishonoring the 
 national flag. The question now before 
 us is, whether the Government of the 
 United States, with its many blessings 
 and past glories, shall be overthrown by 
 the military dictatorship lately planted 
 and bearing sway in the Confederate 
 
314 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 States ? My hand cannot aid that 
 work." 
 
 Referring immediately to the interests 
 of Missouri, where he was a resident and 
 property-owner, he said: "The only 
 special interest of Missouri in common 
 with the Confederate States is slavery. 
 Her interest in that institution is now pro- 
 tected by the Federal Constitution. But 
 if Missouri secedes, that protection is 
 gone. Surrounded on three sides by 
 free States which might soon become 
 hostile, it would not be long until a slave 
 could not be found within her borders. 
 What interest could Missouri, then, have 
 with the Cotton States or a Confederacy 
 founded on slavery and its extension ? 
 The protection of her property, if noth- 
 ing else, admonishes her never to give 
 up the Union. Other interests of vast 
 magnitude can only be preserved by a 
 steadfast adherence and support of the 
 United States Government. All hope 
 of a Pacific railroad, so deeply interest- 
 ing to St. Louis and the whole State, 
 must vanish with the Federal Govern- 
 ment. Great manufacturing and com- 
 mercial interests, with which the cotton 
 States can have no sympathy, must per- 
 ish in case of secession, and from her 
 present proud condition of a powerful, 
 thriving State, rapidly developing every 
 element of wealth and social prosperity, 
 Missouri would dwindle to a mere ap- 
 pendage and convenience for the military 
 aristocracy established in the cotton 
 States." 
 
 With such an understanding of the 
 claims of his country and the interests 
 of his adopted State, General Harney 
 was now suddenly thrown into the midst 
 of the conflict at St. Louis, precipitated 
 by the course of the Legislature and 
 Gorernor Jackson. Accepting the situ- 
 
 ation as he found it, he promptly an- 
 nounced his position in two proclamations. 
 In the first, dated the 12th May, he en- 
 joined upon the citizens the preservation 
 of peace, and declared that he would 
 interpose with his military authority onh r 
 in the last resort, when he would not 
 shrink from his obligations ; in the second, 
 dated two days later, he took occasion to 
 review more particularly the recent trans- 
 actions. Calling attention to the Military 
 Bill which had been adopted by the Gen- 
 eral Assembly, he said that it could be 
 regarded " in no other light than an in- 
 direct secession ordinance, ignoring even 
 the forms resorted to by other States ;" 
 that its material provisions were in con- 
 flict with the Constitution and Laws of 
 the United States, and that consequently 
 " it ought not to be upheld or regarded 
 by the good citizens of Missouri." An- 
 nouncing directly to the people what he 
 had already expressed in the letter to his 
 friend, he proclaimed that "whatever 
 might be the destiny of the so-called 
 cotton States, Missouri must share the 
 destiny of the Union. Her geographical 
 position her soil, productions, and in 
 short all her material interests point to 
 this result. We cannot shut our eyes 
 against this controlling fact. It is seen 
 and its force is felt throughout the nation. 
 So important is this regarded to the great 
 interests of the country, that I venture 
 to express the opinion that the whole 
 power of the Government of the United 
 States, if necessary, will be exerted to 
 maintain Missouri in her present position 
 in the Union." 
 
 In regard to the proceedings taken by 
 Captain Lyon in the breaking up of the 
 militia encampment, while deprecating 
 any intention to comment uj on the official 
 conduct of his predecessor in the com- 
 
EXPEDITION TO POTOSI. 
 
 315 
 
 mand, he thought it "but right and pro- 
 per for the people of Missouri to know 
 that the main avenue of>Camp Jackson, 
 recently under command of General 
 Frost, had the name of Davis, and a 
 principal street of the same camp that of 
 Beauregard ; and 'that a body of men 
 had been received into that camp by its 
 commander, which had been notoriously 
 organized in the interests of the seces- 
 sionists, the men openly wearing the 
 dress and badge distinguishing the army 
 of the so-called Southern Confederacy. 
 It is also a notorious fact that a quantity 
 of arms had been received into the camp, 
 which were unlawfully taken from the 
 United States arsenal at Baton Rouge, 
 and surreptitiously passed up the river 
 in boxes marked marble. Upon facts 
 like these, and having in view what oc- 
 curred at Liberty 7 ' a town in the western 
 part of the State bordering on Kansas 
 where, on the 20th April, the United 
 States arsenal had been seized, with a 
 quantity of arms and materials of war, 
 by a body of insurgents " the people," 
 continued General Harney, " can draw 
 their own inferences, and it cannot be 
 difficult for any one to arrive at a correct 
 conclusion as to the character and ulti- 
 mate purpose of that encampment. No 
 government in the world would be en- 
 titled to respect that would tolerate for 
 a moment such openly treasonable pre- 
 parations." 
 
 This certainly was a sufficient answer 
 to the inquiries of General Frost, who, 
 previously to the suppression of his camp, 
 had written to Captain Lyon stating that 
 he had heard rumors of an intention 
 looking to that result, and expressing 
 himself "greatly at a loss to know what 
 could justify an attack upon citizens of 
 the United States who are in the lawful 
 
 performance of duties devolving upon 
 them under the Constitution, in organiz- 
 ing and instructing the militia of the 
 State in obedience to her laws." Nor 
 was the course of Captain Lyon less ap- 
 proved of by the Department at Wash- 
 ington. On the 17th May he was raised 
 to the rank of Beadier-General of Yol- 
 unteers, being already in command of 
 the regiments enlisted into the service in 
 Missouri. 
 
 The first military expedition ordered 
 by General Lyon, was a detachment of 
 some 150 men, under Captain Cole, sent 
 by railway to Potosi, .in .Washington 
 County, to check the movements of the 
 secessionists and protect the Unionists in 
 that quarter. Leaving at 10 o'clock on the 
 night of the 14th May, they took the 
 town by surprise at the hour of 3 the 
 following morning, placing a guard at the 
 houses of the prominent secessionists, and 
 shortly after daylight marched off about 
 one hundred and fifty of the citizens to 
 the Court House. A general sifting then 
 took place, the Union men were recog- 
 nized and discharged, the greater portion 
 of the secessionists released on their 
 parole and oath of allegiance, and nine 
 of the leaders retained as prisoners. A 
 quantity of lead was seized at a manu- 
 factory, which was furnishing supplies to 
 the Southern rebels. On their return 
 Captain Cole's party stopped at De Soto, 
 in Jefferson County, where an adventure 
 occurred, characteristic of these early 
 scenes of the war. "Here," says the 
 St. Louis Democrat describing the af- 
 fair, " where there was to bfi a grand 
 secession ' love feast' or flag raising, they 
 found a company of secession cavalry 
 drilling for the occasion, which took to 
 their heels as soon as they got a sight of 
 the United States troop. In their flight, 
 
316 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the cavalry left some thirty of their 
 horses, which were captured by the 
 troops and placed under guard. The 
 pole, one hundred feet high, on which 
 the rebels were going to fly the secession 
 flag, was soon graced with the Stars and 
 Stripes, amid the wildest enthusiasm of 
 the Union men and Government troops. 
 The next move was to capture the rebel 
 flag, which was known to be in the town, 
 and for this agreeable duty, Captain Cole 
 detailed a guard of six men, under com- 
 mand of Sergeant Walker, accompanied 
 by Dr. Franklin, Surgeon of ttie 'Fifth 
 Regiment. The guard surrounded the 
 house supposed to contain the flag, and 
 Dr. Franklin and Sergeant Walker en- 
 tered. After searching in vain for some 
 time, the Doctor thought he observed the 
 lady of the house sitting in rather an un- 
 easy position, and he very politely asked 
 her to rise. At first the lady hesitated, 
 but finding the Doctor's persuasive suav- 
 ity irresistible, she rose slowly, and lo ! 
 the blood red stripe of the rebel ensign 
 appeared below the lady's hoops. The 
 Doctor bowing a graceful ' beg pardon, 
 madam,' stooped and quietly catching 
 hold of the gaudy color, carefully deliv- 
 ered the lady of a secession flag, thirty 
 feet long and nine feet wide. The Doc- 
 tor bore off his prize in triumph to the 
 camp, where the troops greeted him with 
 wild shouts, and characterized his feat as 
 the crowning glory of the occasion. Here 
 the troops captured another rebel leader, 
 and after placing thirty men under Lieu- 
 tenant Murphy, to guard the Union flag, 
 and the thirty horses, Captain Cole's 
 command started on their way. At Yic- 
 toria, the train stopped a moment, when 
 another secessionist came up hurrahing 
 for Jeff. Davis, and quick as thought the 
 ardent rebel was surrounded by a half 
 
 dozen bayonets, and marched into the 
 cars a prisoner of war, and the train 
 moved on. They arrived at the Arsenal 
 about 6 o'clock p. M., where a crowd 
 of soldiers and visitors awaited them. 
 The spoils were unloaded, and the pris- 
 oners marched to safe and comfortable 
 quarters. General Lyon received them 
 in the spirit of a true soldier, and the 
 troops gave three cheers for General 
 Lyon, three for Colonel Blair, and three 
 for the Stars and Stripes, and then caught 
 the secession flag and tore it into shreds 
 in a twinkling." 
 
 A week later, the military movements 
 in progress on the part of the United 
 States forces, were partially arrested by 
 the publication of a joint declaration or 
 agreement between General Harney and 
 General Sterling Price, who had been 
 placed in command of the Missouri Mili- 
 tia, to the following effect : " The un- 
 dersigned, officers of the United States 
 Government and of the government of 
 the State of Missouri, for the purpose of 
 removing misapprehensions and allaying 
 public excitement, have this day had a 
 personal interview in this city, in which 
 it has been mutually understood, without 
 the semblance of dissent on either part, 
 that each of them has no other than a 
 common object, equally interesting and 
 important to every citizen of Missouri 
 that of restoring peace and good order 
 to the people of the State, in subordina- 
 tion to the laws of the general and State 
 Governments. It being thus understood, 
 there seems no reason why every citizen 
 should not confide in the proper officers 
 of the general and State Governments 
 to restore quiet ; and, as the best means 
 of offering no counter influences, we mu- 
 tually recommend to all persons to re- 
 spect each other's rights throughout (he 
 
GENERAL PRICE. 
 
 317 
 
 State, making no attempt to exercise 
 unauthorized powers, as it is the deter- 
 mination of the proper authorities to 
 suppress all unlawful proceedings, which 
 can only disiurb the public peace. Gen- 
 eral Price having, by commission, full 
 authority over the militia of the State of 
 Missouri, undertakes, with the sanction 
 of the Governor of the State, already 
 declared, to direct the whole power of 
 the State officers to maintain order with- 
 in the State among the people thereof ; 
 and General Harney publicly declares 
 that this object being thus assured, he 
 can have no occasion, as he has no 
 wish, to make military movements which 
 might otherwise create excitements and 
 jealousies which he most earnestly de- 
 sires to avoid. We do, therefore, mutu- 
 ally enjoin upon the people of the State 
 to attend to their civil business, of what- 
 soever sort it may be ; and it is to be 
 hoped that the unquiet elements which 
 have threatened so seriously to disturb 
 the public peace, may soon subside, and 
 be remembered only to be deplored." 
 
 General Sterling Price, of whom we 
 shall hear much in the subsequent Mis- 
 souri campaigns, was a native of Vir- 
 ginia. He had made his residence for 
 the last twenty years in Missouri, engaged 
 in the profession of the law, and taking 
 an active part in politics. He had re- 
 presented the 'State in Congress, and 
 occupied its Governor's chair. He joined 
 the volunteer forces in the Mexican war, 
 as Colonel of a Missouri regiment of cav- 
 alry, and rose to the rank of Brigadier- 
 General of Volunteers. He was wound- 
 ed in an engagement at Canada, New 
 Mexico, and was in command at the bat- 
 tle of Santa Cruz de Resales. At the 
 outbreak of the rebellion he took sides 
 with the secessioi ists, and was appointed 
 
 by Governor Jackson Major-General of 
 the State Militia. He undoubtedly pos- 
 sessed great energy and resolution in 
 turning a considerable portion of the pop- 
 ulation and resources of Missouri to the 
 service of the rebellion. Notwithstand- 
 ing, however, these fair professions, pass- 
 ing between him and General Harney, 
 it was thought by those who had studied 
 the nature of the rebellion, that this was 
 but a hollow truce on the part of the 
 State authorities, calculated only to give 
 them time to promote the interests of 
 secession. This, at least, was the view 
 taken of the matter by the department 
 at Washington. On the last day of the 
 month General Harney was, in conse- 
 quence, recalled, and General Lyon, who 
 had meanwhile continued the seizure of 
 military property intended for the rebels, 
 was left in command of the department. 
 
 General Lyon became now more busi- 
 ly engaged than ever in checking the 
 work of treason. General Price, plead- 
 ing the engagement of General Harney, 
 sought to arrest his efforts. He urged 
 that the agreement which had been made 
 should be carried out in good faith, and 
 in particular protested against an inten- 
 tion of which he had heard, to disarm 
 " those of our citizens who do not agree 
 in opinion with the administration &t 
 Washington, and put arms in the hands 
 of those who, in some localities of 
 the State, are supposed to sympathize 
 with the views of the Federal Govern- 
 ment." General Lyon, in concert with 
 Colonel Blair, listened to the protest 
 observed the signs of the times, and pur- 
 sued the course he had resolved upon, 
 in striking resolutely at the rebellion. 
 
 On the llth of June, in a further 
 effort to arrest the procec dings, Gover- 
 nor Jackson and General Price, leaving 
 
318 
 
 WAE FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Jefferson City where the Legislature 
 in session, sought an interview with 
 General Lyon and Colonel Blair at St. 
 Louis, when the Governor proposed to 
 them that he would disband the State 
 Guard and break up its organization, 
 disarm all the companies which had been 
 armed by the State, pledge himself not 
 to attempt to organize the militia under 
 the military bill, that no arms should be 
 brought into the State, that he would 
 protect all citizens equally in all their 
 rights, regardless of their political opin- 
 ions, repress all insurrectionary move- 
 ments within the State, repel all attempts 
 to invade it, from whatever quarter and 
 by whomsoever made, and, if need be, 
 invoke the assistance of the United 
 States troops to maintain these pledges. 
 In return for all this, he asked that the 
 Federal Government should disarm the 
 Home Guards and promise not to occupy 
 with its troops any localities in the State 
 not already occupied by them. To this 
 General Lyon would not consent. He 
 had no faith that the integrity of Missou- 
 ri could be preserved as a member of the 
 Union under any other guardianship than 
 that of the general Government, and had 
 he entertained no doubts of the sincerity 
 of the offer, and of the ability of those 
 who made it to carry it out, he would 
 doubtless still have hesitated to put it 
 out of the power of his government with 
 its own strong arm to repress or ward 
 off rebellion from the State. It was too 
 important a trust to be committed to any 
 other hands. He therefore demanded 
 the disarming of the State militia and 
 the rejection of the obnoxious militia bill, 
 and insisted upon the enjoyment by the 
 Government of the " unrestricted right 
 to move and station its troops through- 
 out the State, whenever and wherever 
 
 that might, in the opinion of its officers, 
 be necessary either for the protection of 
 loyal subjects of the Federal Govern- 
 ment, or for the repelling of invasion." 
 Governor Jackson thinking, as he said, 
 that his " acceptance of those degrading 
 terms," as he chose to call them, " would 
 not only have sullied the honor of Mis- 
 souri, but would have aroused the indig- 
 nation of every brave citizen, and pre- 
 cipitated the conflict which it had been 
 his aim to prevent," refused to accede to 
 them, and the conference was broken up. 
 " Fellow-citizens," continued Governor 
 Jackson, in the proclamation in which he 
 recited the particulars of the interview 
 we have just given, "all our efforts 
 toward conciliation have failed. We can 
 hope nothing from the justice or modera- 
 tion of the agents of the Federal Gov- 
 ernment in this State. They are ener- 
 getically hastening the execution of their 
 bloody and revolutionary schemes for the 
 inauguration of civil war in your midst ; 
 for the military occupation of your State 
 by armed bands of lawless invaders for 
 the overthrow of your State government ; 
 and for the subversion of those liberties 
 which that government has always sought 
 to protect ; and they intend to exert their 
 whole power to subjugate you, if possible, 
 to the military despotism which has 
 usurped the powers of the Federal Gov- 
 ernment. Now, therefore I, 0. F. Jack- 
 son, Governor of the State of Missouri, 
 do, in view of the foregoing facts, and 
 by virtue of the powers vested in me by 
 the Constitution and Laws of this Com- 
 monwealth, issue this proclamation, call- 
 ing the. militia of this State to the number 
 of 50,000 into the active service of the 
 State, for the purpose of repelling said 
 invasion and for the protection of the 
 lives, liberty and property of the citizens 
 
RIVAL PROCLAMATIONS. 
 
 319 
 
 of this' State. And I earnestly exhort 
 all good citizens of Missouri to rally 
 under the flag of their State for the pro- 
 tection of their endangered homes and 
 firesides and for the defence of their most 
 sacred rights and dearest liberties. In 
 issuing this Proclamation, I hold it to be 
 my solemn duty to remind you that Mis- 
 souri is still one of the United States ; 
 that the Executive department of the 
 State government does not arrogate to 
 itself the power to disturb that relation ; 
 that that power has been wisely vested 
 in a convention which will, at the proper 
 time, express your sovereign will ; and 
 that, meanwhile, it is your duty to 
 obey all the constitutional requirements 
 of the Federal Government. But it is 
 equally my duty to advise you that your 
 first allegiance is due to your own State, 
 and that you are under no obligation 
 whatever to obey the unconstitutional 
 edicts of the military despotism, which 
 has enthroned itself at Washington, nor 
 to submit to the infamous and degrading 
 sway of its wicked minions in this State. 
 No brave and true-hearted Missourian 
 will obey the one or submit to the other. 
 Rise, then and drive out ignominiously 
 the invaders who have dared to dese- 
 crate the soil which your labors have 
 made fruitful, and which is consecrated 
 by your homes." How far the tone and 
 temper of this proclamation suited the 
 character of a loyal citizen anxious to 
 preserve the State in the Union, the 
 reader may judge for himself. In fact, 
 its declaration of war would seem from 
 the haste with which it was issued to 
 have been, if not actually prepared in 
 advance, at least a foregone conclusion in 
 the writer's mind. 
 
 In a counter Proclamation, issued a 
 few days afterward, General Lyon, in 
 
 justification of the course he was pursu- 
 ing, reviewed the conduct of the Gover- 
 nor and Legislature, in reference to the 
 enlistments of avowed secessionists, and 
 the prosecution of the Military Bill to the 
 injury of Union -citizens, without regard 
 10 the agreement with General Hartley. 
 He also recited the instructions sent 
 to General Harney by the War De- 
 partment, on the 27th May, which, after 
 stating the outrages to loyal citizens, 
 who were still driven from their homes, 
 notwithstanding the pledges of the State 
 authorities to cooperate in preserving 
 the peace, pronounced those "profes- 
 sions of loyalty to the Union not to 
 be relied upon," adding, " they have 
 already falsified their professions too 
 often, and are too far committed to se- 
 cession to be admitted to your confidence, 
 and you can only be sure of their de- 
 sisting from their wicked purposes when 
 it is not in their power to prosecute 
 them. You will, therefore, be unceasing- 
 ly watchful of their movements and not 
 permit the clamors of their partizans and 
 the opponents of the wise measures al- 
 ready taken, to prevent you from check- 
 ing every movement against the Govern- 
 ment, however disguised, under the pre- 
 tended State authorities. The authority 
 of the United States is paramount, and 
 whenever it is apparent that a movement 
 whether by order of State authorities 
 or not is hostile, you will not hesitate 
 to put it down." 
 
 " It is my design," continued General 
 Lyon, " to carry out these instructions 
 in their letter and spirit. Their justness 
 and propriety will be appreciated by 
 whoever takes an enlightened view of 
 the relations of the citizens of Missouri 
 to the general Government, nor can such 
 policy be construed as at all disparaging 
 
320 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 to the rights or dignity of the State of 
 Missouri, or as infringing in any sense 
 upon the individual liberty of its citizens. 
 The recent proclamation of Governor 
 Jackson, by which he has set at defiance 
 the authorities of the United States, and 
 urged you to make war upon them, is 
 but a consummation of his treasonable 
 purposes, long indicated by his acts and 
 expressed opinions, and now made man- 
 ifest. If, in suppressing these treasona- 
 ble projects, carrying out the policy of 
 the Government, and maintaining its 
 dignity, as above indicated, hostilities 
 should unfortunately occur, and unhappy 
 consequences should follow, I would hope 
 that all aggravation of these events may 
 be avoided, and that they may be di- 
 verted from the innocent, and may fall 
 only on the heads of those by whom they 
 have b'een provoked. In the discharge 
 of these plain but onerous duties, I shall 
 look for the countenance and active co- 
 operation of all good citizens, and I shall 
 expect them to discountenance all illegal 
 combinations or organizations, and sup- 
 port and uphold by every lawful means 
 the Federal Government, upon the main- 
 tenance of which depend their liberties 
 and the perfect enjoyment of all their 
 rights." 
 
 With this authority and clear under- 
 standing of his duty to the country, 
 General Lyon met Governor Jackson's 
 proclamation of hostility to the Govern- 
 ment by an immediate movement of his 
 troops to Jefferson City to arrest the- 
 rebel authorities and break up their mil- 
 itary preparations. On reaching that 
 city, on the 15th, he found that Gover- 
 nor Jackson had anticipated his proceed- 
 ing, and removed his forces forty miles 
 above to Booneville, cutting off the tele- 
 graph and destroying the bridges on the 
 
 railway as he proceeded. Thither Gen- 
 eral Lyon at once determined to follow 
 him. Leaving Colonel Boernstein, of the 
 2d Missouri Volunteers, with several 
 companies of his regiment, in command 
 at the capital, he embarked his force in 
 three steamers on the afternoon of the 
 16th June, and ascended the Missouri 
 that night to the vicinity of Providence. 
 Resuming the voyage early in the morn- 
 ing, the expedition reached Rockport 
 before 6 o'clock, where a pause was made 
 to gain information of the enemy above. 
 The people were surly, and not disposed 
 to be communicative. It was ascertain- 
 ed, however, that the rebels were in 
 force a few miles below Booneville, arid 
 that a formidable resistance might be 
 expected. " Leaving this place, and tak- 
 ing the steam ferry-boat Paul Wilcox 
 with us," continues the writer in the $t. 
 Louis Democrat, to whom we are indebt- 
 ed for an account of the engagement 
 which ensued, "we ran up steadily till 
 we had passed the foot of the island eight 
 miles below Booneville, when seeing a 
 battery on the bluffs, and scouts hasten- 
 ing to report our arrival, we fell back to 
 a point opposite to the foot of the island, 
 and at 7 o'clock A. M., disembarked on the 
 south shore, where the bottom land be- 
 tween the river and bluffs is some mile 
 and a half wide. No traitors were visi- 
 ble there, and the troops at once took 
 the river road for Booneville. Follow- 
 ing the road somewhat over a mile and 
 a half to where it ascends the bluffs, sev- 
 eral shots from our scouts announced the 
 driving in of the enemy's pickets. We 
 continued to ascend a gently undulating 
 slope for nearly half a mile, when the 
 enemy were reported in full force near 
 the summit of *he next swell of ground, 
 about three hundred yards from our 
 
BATTLE OF BOONEVILLE. 
 
 321 
 
 front. The enemy were exceedingly 
 well posted, having every advantage in 
 the selection of their ground. Arriving 
 at the brow of the ascent, Captain Totten 
 opened the engagement by throwing a 
 few 9 - pounder explosives into their 
 ranks, while the infantry filed oblique 
 right and left, and commenced a terrible 
 volley of musketry, which was for a 
 short time well replied to, the balls fly- 
 ing thick and fast about our ears, and 
 occasionally wounding a man on our side. 
 The enemy were posted in a lane run- 
 ning towards the river from the road 
 along which the grand army of the Unit- 
 ed States were advancing, and in a brick 
 house on the north-east corner of the 
 junction of the two roads. A couple of 
 bombs were thrown through the east 
 wall of that house, scattering the enemy 
 in all directions. The well-directed fire 
 of the German infantry, Lieutenant-Col- 
 onel Schaeffer, on the right, and General 
 Lyon's company of regulars, and part of 
 Colonel Blair's regiment on the left of 
 the road, soon compelled the enemy to 
 present an inglorious aspect. They 
 clambered over the fence into a field of 
 wheat, and again formed in line just on 
 the brow of the hill. They then ad- 
 vanced some twenty steps to meet us, 
 and for a short time the cannons were 
 worked with great rapidity and effect. 
 Just at this time the enemy opened a 
 galling fire from a grove just on the left 
 of our centre, and from a shed beyond 
 and still further to the left. 
 
 "The skirmish now assumed the mag- 
 nitude of a battle. The commander, 
 General Lyon, exhibited the most 
 remarkable coolness, and preserved 
 throughout that undisturbed presence of 
 mind shown by him alike in the camp, 
 in private life, and on the field of battle. 
 41 
 
 " Forward on the extreme right ; " 
 " Give them another shot, Captain Tot- 
 ten," echoed above the roar of musketry 
 clear and distinct, from the lips of the 
 general, who led the advancing column. 
 Our force was 2,000 in all, but not over 
 500 participated at any one time in the 
 battle. The enemy, as we have since 
 been reliably informed, were over 4,000 
 strong, and yet, twenty minutes from the 
 time when the first gun was fired, the 
 rebels were in full retreat, and our 
 troops occupying the ground on which 
 they first stood in line. The consum- 
 mate cowardice displayed by the " se- 
 ceshers " will be more fully understood 
 when I add that the spurs or successive 
 elevations now become more abrupt, 
 steep and rugged, the enemy being fully 
 acquainted with their ground, and strong 
 positions behind natural defences, orch- 
 ards and clumps of trees offering them- 
 selves every few yards. Nothing more, 
 however, was seen of the flying fugitives 
 until about one mile west of the house of 
 William M. Adams, where they were 
 first posted. Just there was Camp Vest, 
 and a considerable force seemed prepared 
 to defend the approaches to it. Mean- 
 while, a shot from the iron howitzer on 
 the McDowell announced to us that Cap- 
 tain Yoester, with his artillery men, and 
 Captain Richardson's company of infan- 
 try, who were left in charge of the boats, 
 were commencing operations on the bat- 
 tery over a mile below Camp Vest. This 
 but increased the panic among the invin- 
 cible (?) traitors, and Captain Totten had 
 but to give them a few rounds before 
 their heels were again in requisition, and 
 Captains Cole and Miller, at the head of 
 their companies, ente.*ed and took pos- 
 session of the enemy's deserted breakfast 
 tables. About twenty horses had by 
 
322 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 this time arrived within our lines with 
 vacant saddles, and the corps reportorial 
 were successfully mounted on chosen 
 steeds. The amount of plunder secured 
 in Camp Vest, or Bacon, as the citizens 
 here call it, from the name of the gentle- 
 man owning a fine house close by, was 
 very large. One thousand two hundred 
 shoes, twenty or thirty tents, quantities 
 of ammunition, some fifty guns of various 
 patterns, blankets, coats, carpet sacks, 
 and two secession flags were included in 
 the sum total. 
 
 "Leaving Captain Cole in command of 
 the camp, we pushed on towards Boone- 
 ville, chasing the cowardly wretches who 
 outmanned us two to one. The McDow- 
 ell now came along up in the rear, and 
 off to the right from our troops, and hav- 
 ing a more distinct view of the enemy 
 from the river, and observing their in- 
 tention to make another stand at the 
 Fair Grounds, one mile east of Boone- 
 ville, where the State has an armory 
 extemporized, Captain Yoester again 
 sent them his compliments from the old 
 howitzer's mouth, which, with a couple 
 of shots from Captain Totten, and a vol- 
 ley from Lothrop's detachment of rifles, 
 scattered the now thoroughly alarmed 
 enemy in all directions. Their flight 
 through the village commenced soon 
 after 8 o'clock, and continued until after 
 11 o'clock. Some three hundred crossed 
 the river, many went south, but the bulk 
 kept on westwardly. A good many per- 
 sons were taken at the different points 
 of battle, but it is believed the enemy 
 secured none of ours. Captain Eichard- 
 son had landed below, and, with the sup- 
 port of the howitzer from the steamer 
 McDowell, captured their battery, con- 
 sisting of two 6-pounders, (with which 
 they intended to sink our fleet,) twenty 
 
 prisoners, one caisson, and eight horses 
 with military saddles. The enemy did 
 not fire a shot from their cannon. 
 Speaking of prizes, the brilliant achieve- 
 ment in that line was by our reverend 
 friend, W. A. Pill, chaplain of the 1st 
 regiment. He had charge of a party of 
 four men, two mounted and two on foot, 
 with which to take charge of the wound- 
 ed. Ascending the brow of a hill, he 
 suddenly came upon a company of twen- 
 ty-four rebels, armed with revolvers, and 
 fully bent upon securing a place of safety 
 for their carcasses. Their intentions, 
 however, were considerably modified, 
 when the parson ordered them to halt, 
 which they did, surrendering their arms. 
 Surrounded by the squad of five men, 
 they were then marched on board the 
 Louisiana, prisoners of war. The par- 
 son also captured two other secessionists 
 during the day, and at one time, needing 
 a wagon and horses for the wounded, 
 and finding friendly suggestions wasted 
 on a stubborn old rebel, placed a revolv- 
 er at his head, and the desired articles 
 were forthcoming. In time of peace the 
 preacher had prepared for war. After 
 passing the Fair Grounds, our troops came 
 slowly towards the town. They were met 
 on the east side of the creek by Judge 
 Miller of the District Court, and other 
 prominent citizens, bearing a flag of 
 truce, in order to assure our troops of 
 friendly feelings sustained by three- 
 fourths of the inhabitants, and if possible 
 prevent the shedding of innocent blood. 
 They were met cordially by General 
 Lyon and Colonel Blair, who promised, 
 if no resistance was made to their en- 
 trance, that no harm need be feared. 
 Major O'Brien soon joined the party 
 from the city, and formally surrendered 
 it to the Federal forces. The troops 
 
GENERAL LYON'S PROCLAMATION. 
 
 323 
 
 then advanced, headed by the Major and 
 General Lyon, and were met at the prin- 
 cipal corner of the street by a party 
 bearing and waving that beautiful em- 
 blem under which our armies gather and 
 march forth conquering and to conquer. 
 The flag party cheered the troops, who 
 lustily returned the compliment. Amer- 
 ican flags are now quite thick in the 
 street, and secessionists are nowhere." 
 
 Colonel J. S. Marmaduke commanded 
 the State troops on this occasion, Gener- 
 al Price having left in ill health the day 
 before. Governor Jackson was on the 
 ground in the forenoon, and made good 
 his escape with the rest. Two men were 
 killed on the Union side and nine wound- 
 ed ; the rebel loss was set down at fifty 
 in killed and wounded. Many prisoners 
 were taken, who were kindly treated 
 and generously released by General 
 Lyon, who, as will be seen by the proc- 
 lamation which he issued on the follow- 
 ing day (June 18th), pursued a most lib- 
 eral and conciliatory policy in his en- 
 deavor to preserve the peace of the 
 country. 
 
 "Upon leaving St. Louis," said he 
 in this document, " in consequence of war 
 made by the Governor of this State 
 against the Government of the United 
 States, because I would not assume on 
 its behalf to relinquish its duties, and ab- 
 dicate its rights of protecting loyal citi- 
 zens from the oppression and cruelty of 
 the secessionists in this State, I published 
 an address to the people, in which I de- 
 clared my intention to use the force 
 under my command for no other purpose 
 than the maintenance of the authority of 
 the general Government, and the pro- 
 tection of the lives and property of all 
 law-abiding citizens. The State author- 
 ities, in violation of an agreement with 
 
 General Harney on the 2d of May last, 
 had drawn together and organized upon 
 a large scale the means of warfare, and, 
 having made a declaration of war, they 
 abandoned the Capital, issued orders for 
 the destruction of the railroad and tele- 
 graph lines, and proceeded to this point 
 to put into execution their hostile pur- 
 poses toward the general Government. 
 This devolved upon me the necessity of 
 meeting this issue to the best of my abil- 
 ity, and accordingly I moved to this 
 point with a portion of the force under 
 my command, attacked and dispersed the 
 hostile forces gathered here by the Gov- 
 ernor, and took possession of the camp- 
 equipage left, and a considerable number 
 of prisoners, most of them young and of 
 immature age, and who represent that 
 they have been misled by frauds, inge- 
 niously devised and industriously incul- 
 cated by designing leaders, who seek to 
 devolve upon unreflecting and deluded 
 followers the task of securing the object 
 of their own false ambition. 
 
 " Out of compassion for these misguided 
 youths, and to correct the impression cre- 
 ated by unscrupulous calumniators, I lib- 
 erated them upon the condition that they 
 will not serve in the impending hostilities 
 against the United States Government. 
 I have done this in spite of the well- 
 known facts that the leaders in the pres- 
 ent rebellion, having long experienced 
 the mildness of the general Government, 
 still feel confident that this mildness can- 
 not be overtasked even by factious hos- 
 tilities, having in view its overthrow ; 
 but lest, as in the case of the late Camp 
 Jackson affair, this clemency shall still 
 be misconstrued, it is proper to give 
 warning that the Government cannot 
 always be expected to indulge in it to the 
 compromise of its evid mt welfare. Hear- 
 
324 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ing that those plotting against the Gov- 
 ernment have falsely represented that 
 the Government troops intended a forci- 
 ble and violent invasion of Missouri for 
 purposes of military despotism and tyr- 
 anny, I hereby give notice to the people 
 of this State that I shall scrupulously 
 avoid all interference with the business, 
 right, and property of every description 
 recognized by the laws of the State, and 
 belonging to law-abiding citizens. But 
 it is equally my duty to maintain the 
 paramount authority of the United States 
 with such force as I have at my com- 
 
 mand, which will be retained only so 
 long as opposition makes it necessary, 
 and that it is my wish, and shall be my 
 purpose, to visit any unavoidable rigor 
 arising in this issue upon those only who 
 provoke it. All persons who, under the 
 misapprehensions above mentioned, have 
 taken up arms, or who are preparing to 
 do so, are invited to return to their 
 homes and relinquish their hostilities 
 towards the Federal Government, and 
 are assured that they may do so with- 
 out being molested for past occur- 
 rences." 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 THE POSITION OP KENTUCKY. 
 
 WHAT course, it was anxiously in- 
 quired, would Kentucky pursue, in the 
 impending conflict between the North and 
 the South. As one of the Border States, 
 it might have been expected that she 
 would cast in her lot with her brethren, 
 and follow the fortunes of Virginia, North 
 Carolina, Missouri, and the rest ; but she 
 was distinguished in many respects from 
 these accidental associates, and the ques- 
 tion, it was evident, would be answered 
 by her own people on principles of their 
 own. There were various shades of dif- 
 ference in the political opinions of her 
 citizens. In the Presidential election in 
 the autumn of 1860, her popular vote 
 was given, 66,058 for the Bell and Ev- 
 erett ticket ; 53,143 for Breckenridge ; 
 25,651 for Douglas ; and 1,364 for Lin- 
 coln ; from which it may be readily gath- 
 ered that, while the decided principles 
 of the Republican party had as yet met 
 with but little favor in her eyes, on the 
 
 other hand she was by no means disposed 
 to acquiesce in the Southern dictation 
 which had so long been the governing- 
 spirit of the Democratic party. But 
 whatever the vote may have indicated 
 in other respects, in one thing it was 
 clear, it was an emphatic declaration 
 that the voice of Kentucky was for the 
 maintenance and preservation of the 
 Union. To this, indeed, she was pledged 
 by her traditional policy, by the long 
 course of her eminent statesman, Henry 
 Clay, and by the interests which bound 
 her to the great Northwest in preference 
 to the sectional pretensions of the States 
 bordering on the Gulf. It is to her 
 honor that, above all the other Border 
 States, the perception of her people was 
 clear, intelligent, and assured on this 
 great creed of loyalty and nationality. 
 In spite of cunning exhortations from 
 without, artfully appealing to her sympa- 
 thies with Southern society, in spite of 
 
POSITION OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 325 
 
 treason within plotting its evil work, in 
 spite of that treason arrayed in arms to 
 wrest by force and violence what could 
 not be gained by sophistry, the State 
 firmly stood to its own invincible resolu- 
 tion, once and forever a member of 
 the United States. Her heart was sound 
 on this matter, her head was clear, and 
 her arm was strong. No arts of her 
 politicians not even the talent and au- 
 thority of her Breckenridge in the Vice 
 Presidency and the Senate, or the persis- 
 tent effort and influence of her Gover- 
 nor could induce her to sacrifice her 
 principles of attachment to the Union, 
 her rights and privileges in and under 
 the protection of that august confederacy. 
 It was not a partizan question in her 
 eyes of North or South, but of her own 
 claim to exist, to enjoy and perpetuate the 
 life and prosperity, the name and fame 
 won for her by the heroic deeds of her 
 fathers. She would perform everything 
 that kindness and affection could dictate 
 for the South ; she would stand between 
 the two contending parties as a great me- 
 diator till mediation became no longer 
 possible, and then, when all the arts of 
 peace were exhausted, she would as a 
 State arm herself for war against South- 
 ern aggression for the protection of her 
 rights under the Constitution. She Well 
 knew that her own honor and prosperity 
 were indissolubly united with the glory 
 and welfare of the nation, that patriotic 
 devotion, at wl^tever cost, was the 
 truest self-interest. That her ultimate 
 course was not reached without a strug- 
 gle within her own borders, where the 
 spirit of rebellion, indeed, found but too 
 abundant nutriment, detracts nothing 
 from, but on the contrary enhances the 
 value of her resolve. Loyalty was not 
 a cheap and easy virtue in Kentucky. 
 
 Though animated by a lofty instinct, it 
 was a victory over prejudice, intrigue, 
 and even violence. It required an ef- 
 fort, and the effort was made. Happily 
 there was prudence and virtue to render 
 it successful. 
 
 The difficulties and embarrassments 
 which beset the course of patriotism in 
 Kentucky will appear, as we briefly re- 
 view some of the more important public 
 events. The first disposition of her pol- 
 iticians was to the work of conciliation 
 and adjustment, in which her distin- 
 guished representative, Mr. Crittenden, 
 led the way, in his resolutions of com- 
 promise and slavery extension, in the 
 Senate in those last, melancholy days of 
 President Buchanan's administration. It 
 was too late then to revive the offices of 
 Henry Clay. Even his skillful manage- 
 ment and persuasive eloquence, sorely 
 tried in his last labors in this cause, would 
 have proved ineffectual in the work when, 
 whatever his persuasions, one side would 
 listen to no arguments or reason what- 
 ever ; when in fact the Southern mem- 
 bers, delegation after delegation, Senator 
 following Senator, were vacating their 
 seats to join their brethren in arms 
 against the Government, utterly despis- 
 ing and rejecting every appeal to reason 
 and patriotism. No persuasion of ora- 
 tory could reach the "dull, cold ear," 
 the stony heart of treason. 
 
 Whilst these things were going on at 
 Washington, Governor Magoffin, in Jan- 
 uary, 1860, was holding a special session 
 of the State Legislature at Frankfort. 
 His opening address to that body exhib- 
 its at length, with great clearness and 
 equal candor, the peculiar views which 
 he entertained of the relations of his 
 State to the general Government. Be- 
 ginning with a glowing sketch of the 
 
326 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 prosperity of the United States, as the 
 country stood but a few months before, 
 he contrasted this felicity with the paral- 
 ysis of credit, and the fears and anxieties 
 attending the immediate prospect of a 
 revolution attended by a bloody civil 
 war. These "unfortunate political com- 
 plications," as he termed them, were ow- 
 ing, he said, to the ascendancy, in the 
 election of Abraham Lincoln, of a polit- 
 ical organization " based upon the one 
 idea of hostility to the institution of Af- 
 rican slavery, embodying as one of its 
 material elements of strength an intoler- 
 ant sectional fanaticism. By virtue of 
 that election, the Federal Government 
 would be committed to the control of the 
 Republican party, and administered up- 
 on a platform of principles destructive 
 to our rightful equality as States and cit- 
 izens, and fatal to the stability and secur- 
 ity of our whole social organization." 
 With these impressions, several of the 
 Southern States had taken measures to 
 separate themselves from the general 
 Government, while in other quarters pa- 
 triotic efforts had not been wanting to 
 restore the old relations. In this latter 
 work he had himself borne a part. " My 
 humble endeavors," he said, " have been 
 earnestly addressed to the work of bring- 
 ing about a convention of the slavehold- 
 ing States, believing that their united 
 voice, in demanding just and reasonable 
 guarantees against the future invasion of 
 their constitutional rights by the domi- 
 nant party, would achieve the object and 
 reunite the States." The proposition, 
 he added, had met with but little favor 
 in Kentucky, and it was now too late. 
 "The revolution," as he was pleased 
 even then to call it, " had progressed be- 
 yond that point." " Kentucky," he said, 
 " would not submit to the degradation 
 
 of inequality in the Union. In my 
 opinion, her people will never consent to 
 remain in this confederacy, now aban- 
 doned by a large portion of the slave- 
 holding members, with no guarantee of 
 protection from the anti-slavery power 
 now dominant. Kentucky will not, and 
 ought not to submit to the principles and 
 policy avowed by the Republican party, 
 but will resist, and resist to the death, if 
 necessary." 
 
 With these impressions, in view of ex- 
 isting circumstances, Governor Magoffin 
 recommended that the course pursued by 
 the neighboring States be followed in the 
 call of one of those " sovereignty conven- 
 tions " of the people, to assemble at an 
 early day, and determine fully and finally 
 the future Federal and inter-state rela- 
 tions of Kentucky. As a last effort " to 
 save the old ship," he proposed also that 
 a conference of Tennessee and North 
 Carolina, with such other States as may 
 choose to join them, be invited to assem- 
 ble at Baltimore to recommend the Crit- 
 tenden compromise, and in any event by 
 their cooperation promote their own fu- 
 ture safety and peace. 
 
 To one thing he was decidedly op- 
 posed, and that was the preservation of 
 the Union by force. " I had hoped," he 
 said, " that when the secession movement 
 or the revolution had assumed its present 
 aspect, when four sovereign States, by 
 the almost unanimous vote of their peo- 
 ple, had announced J:heir purpose to 
 close their past federal relations, and 
 likely soon to be joined by four others, 
 there would be found none so mad, none 
 so blind to the dire results, as to advise 
 or countenance the employment of mili- 
 tary force in futile resistance to their 
 action. Such a proposition, whether it 
 be called plainly coercion and subjuga- 
 
THE IDEA OF COERCION. 
 
 327 
 
 tion, or be disguised under the specious 
 phrases of ' enforcing the laws ' and ' pro- 
 tecting public property,' means civil war, 
 and war of the most frightful and abhor- 
 rent character. I can but regard the ac- 
 tion of the Federal Government in re- 
 fusing to recognize the fact of secession, 
 and its proposed attempt to maintain the 
 supremacy of its laws within the borders 
 of the seceding States, as a policy more 
 utterly barren of good result, and more 
 certainly fraught with calamity, than any 
 step yet taken in the drama. This gov- 
 ernment stands upon the consent of the 
 governed : its internal strength springs 
 from the voluntary allegiance of the citi- 
 zens ; it is sustained by the common af- 
 fection, the mutual confidence, and fra- 
 ternal feelings of the people. It cannot 
 be held together by force, and the at- 
 tempt so to sustain it will not only fail, 
 and fail in blood, but will destroy the 
 last hope of reconstruction. Kentucky 
 cannot and will not be an indifferent 
 observer of the ' force policy.' The se- 
 ceding States have not in their hasty and 
 inconsiderate action our approval ; but 
 their cause is our rights, and they have 
 our sympathies. The people of Ken- 
 tucky will never stand by with arms 
 folded while those States struggling for 
 their constitutional rights and resisting 
 oppression are being subjugated to an 
 anti-slavery Government. Thousands 
 of our gallant citizens would fly to the 
 conflict. Moreover, the idea of coercion, 
 when applied to great political commu- 
 nities, is revolting to a free people, con- 
 trary to the spirit of our institutions, and 
 if successfully prosecuted, would endan- 
 ger the liberties of the people." 
 
 If such opinions of the course to be 
 pursued towards the revolted States and 
 the duties of the Government, were gen- 
 
 erally held in Kentucky, it was evident 
 that the call of a convention would be 
 but an onward step in the march to se- 
 cession as it had proved in the hands 
 of the political tricksters of the Gulf 
 States in bringing the people to an atti- 
 tude of direct hostility to one of the 
 lightest and most beneficial governments 
 the world had ever seen. There was an- 
 other step which had proved equally 
 dangerous to the loyalty of the seceding 
 States and that was the arming of the 
 people to be ready for the supposed 
 emergency. This had not escaped the 
 attention of Governor Magoffin, who an- 
 nounced an organization of the State 
 militia, for which he said he was " pe- 
 culiarly fortunate in securing the ser- 
 vices of General S. B. Buckner, a native 
 Kentuckian, in the responsible position 
 of Inspector-General." The " experi- 
 ence, ability, and patriotic labor " of this 
 gentleman were warmly commended. To 
 what end that "patriotic labor" was 
 directed, the subsequent history of the 
 war bears abundant testimony. Not- 
 withstanding the fervor of Governor 
 Magoffin 's address, the Legislature did 
 not see fit to adopt the suggestion of call- 
 ing a State Convention. 
 
 The remaining months of the Buchan- 
 an administration dragged their weari- 
 some length along, President Lincoln was 
 inaugurated, and still Governor Magoffin 
 had no reason to be displeased with the 
 moderation of the Government in its 
 treatment of rebellion in arms. He might 
 have had some faint misgivings, perhaps, 
 in the honest devotion of Major Ander- 
 son to the national flag at Suinter, but 
 he may have taken a ju&'t pride in the 
 confidence which that officer in the 
 North, and among all patriotic people, 
 inspired from the simple fact that he was 
 
328 
 
 WAE FOR THE UN10JN. 
 
 a Kentuckian. When loyal men, driven 
 almost to despair by the tidings of naval 
 and military desertions, of the loss of 
 forts and public property, asked fearfully, 
 Is Sumter safe ? it was deemed enough 
 to say that its commander was a Ken- 
 tuckian. There was a chivalrous sound 
 in that word Kentuckian, which seemed 
 to admit of no association with the base 
 epithet of treasonable. It was expected, 
 both by friend and foe, that Major An- 
 derson of Kentucky would hold the fort 
 and he did while man could. 
 
 That example must have kindled to 
 new life the fire of patriotism in many a 
 Kentuckian, and caused a longing to re- 
 buke the dishonor ostentatiously vaunted 
 by South Carolina to the old flag. So we 
 presume it did, and we may, perhaps, 
 alongside of the memory of Clay, the 
 faithfulness of Crittenden and Holt, rank 
 the example of Anderson as a leading 
 instrument in the salvation of the State. 
 Unhappily, the voice which should have 
 been foremost with them was sadly want- 
 ing in appreciation of the position which 
 was the due of Kentucky at such a crisis. 
 We have already given the reply of Gov- 
 ernor Magoffin* to the call of the Presi- 
 dent for aid to the imperilled govern- 
 ment. It was a call to stir the heart of 
 Henry Clay in death itself. Governor 
 Magoffin lost this golden opportunity, 
 and would have thrown sad discredit 
 upon the State had the message which he 
 sent to Washington that fifteenth of April, 
 when the echoes of the cannon fired on 
 Sumter were yet ringing in men's ears, 
 not been contradicted by the subsequent 
 action of the people. He said " emphat- 
 ically, that Kentucky would furnish no 
 troops " ; when the proper time came 
 it might have been sooner and better for 
 
 Ante, p. 128. 
 
 the welfare of the State, had it not been 
 for such counsellors thirty thousand of 
 the people answered for themselves by 
 joining the army of the Republic. 
 
 Governor Magoffin's curt and condem- 
 natory telegram to the Secretary of War, 
 fell heavily upon the ears of the friends 
 of the Union, who had hoped much from 
 Kentucky ; but there was one portion of 
 the country where its harshness was 
 music itself. Mr. L. Pope Walker, the 
 Secretary of War of the Confederate 
 States, at Montgomery, hailed it as an 
 earnest of the rich prize about to fall 
 into the hands of the rebellion. His 
 message to Governor Magoffin, of the 
 22d April, is, taking all the circum- 
 stances into account, one of the coolest, 
 if not the very coolest, of the many im- 
 pudent assumptions of that unblushing 
 Administration. It commenced in these 
 words: "Hon. B. Magoffin : Sir, Your 
 patriotic response to the requisition of the 
 President of the United States for troops 
 to coerce the Confederate States, justifies 
 the belief that your people are prepared 
 to unite with us in repelling the common 
 enemy of the South. Virginia needs 
 our aid. I therefore request you to fur- 
 nish one regiment of infantry without 
 delay, to rendezvous at Harper's Ferry, 
 Virginia." He then proceeded to inform 
 the Governor of the composition of the 
 regiment, its equipment, and so forth, as 
 if he were transmitting some ordinary 
 order from his office to a county in Ala- 
 bama. We do not know what answer 
 Mr. Walker received, but there were 
 men in Kentucky whose blood would 
 have boiled with indignation if the mes- 
 sage had been sent to them who would 
 have replied in words befitting the dig- 
 nity of the insulted State. 
 
 What one, at least, would have writ- 
 
ATTITUDE OF THE LEGISLATUEE. 
 
 329 
 
 ten, we know from the subsequent re- 
 marks in public, at Louisville, of the 
 Hon. Joseph Holt. Commenting upon 
 the position of Governor Magoffin to the 
 Government, he said : "In his reply to 
 the requisition made upon him for volun- 
 teers under the proclamation of the Pres- 
 ident, he has, in my judgment, written 
 and finished his own history, his epitaph 
 included, and it is probable that in future 
 the world will little concern itself as to 
 what his Excellency may propose to do, 
 or as to what he may propose not to do. 
 That response has made for Kentucky a 
 record that has already brought a burn- 
 ing blush to the cheek of many of her 
 sons, and is destined to bring it to the 
 cheek of many more in the years which 
 are to come. It is a shame, indeed a 
 crying shame, that a State with so illus- 
 trious a past, should have written for 
 her, by her own Chief Magistrate, a 
 page of history so utterly humiliating as 
 this." 
 
 A convenient and summary process 
 was that of Mr. Walker, of adding to 
 the stars of his rebel flag and filling the 
 ranks of his rebel confederacy. The 
 people of the State, however, had some- 
 thing to say in the matter. They were 
 not willing to sell their birthright of 
 honor and liberty on such cheap and 
 easy terms. The intrigue of the Jeffer- 
 son Davis Confederacy, so bunglingly 
 commenced, was long kept up. Months 
 after, when that modest government or- 
 dered the confiscation of the debts due 
 from their citizens to those of loyal 
 States, the debts due to the people of 
 Kentucky were expressly excepted. The 
 invitation was kept open, there was a 
 plate and a chair vacant for Kentucky 
 at the rebel table, but she had no in- 
 clination to partake of " the funeral 
 42 
 
 baked meats " and banquet upon the 
 ruins of the Nation. 
 
 Having delivered himself of his un- 
 happy reply to the President's Proclama- 
 tion, Governor Magoffm proceeded to 
 call on the special meeting of the Legis- 
 lature, which he greeted when it assem- 
 bled on the 6th of May with a portentous 
 Message commenting harshly on the pro- 
 ceedings of the Administration. The 
 President, he said, "without the advice 
 or sanction of either branch of Congress, 
 had declared a war of subjugation or 
 extermination against the people of ten 
 or more sovereign States, and was 
 with extraordinary energy gathering his 
 strength for the unnatural conflict." He 
 reviewed the position of the Border 
 States, representing some as ready, all 
 as desirous of joining the Southern Con- 
 federacy, which he recognized as a fully 
 organized government separate arid in- 
 dependent. It was idle, he said, " long- 
 er to refuse to recognize the fact that the 
 late American Union is dissolved." It 
 remained for Kentucky to determine 
 "what attitude she shall occupy in this 
 deplorable conflict. Shall she continue 
 her alliance with the Northern States, 
 adhere to the United States Govern- 
 ment, and assume her portion of the 
 enormous war debt being incurred ? Shall 
 she declare her own independence, and 
 prepare single handed to maintain it? 
 Shall she ally herself with the remaining 
 slave States, and make common cause 
 with them ?" He did not propose to 
 discuss these questions himself, nor that 
 the body whom he addressed should de- 
 cide them, but anxiously urged that 
 they should be submitted to the " sove- 
 reign arbitrament "of the people. " We 
 were elected two years ago," said he in 
 self-denying words, " at a time when no 
 
330 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 such subjects as those now under con- 
 sideration were revolved in the public 
 mind. Let us not attempt to employ 
 our official power thus acquired to con- 
 trol this mighty question." He saw " no 
 other path of domestic peace and safety 
 than through a reference of the question 
 to the people," and accordingly renewed 
 the recommendation of his previous Mes- 
 sage for the call of a Convention. 
 
 As an illustration of the unhappy po- 
 sition in which the Governor had placed 
 himself, we may mention his correspond- 
 ence with the Governors of Ohio and In- 
 diana in reference to a proposal which 
 he made them as late as the 30th April, 
 to cooperate with him in an effort "to 
 bring about a truce between the General 
 Government and the seceded States un- 
 til the meeting of Congress in extraordi- 
 nary session, in the hope that the action 
 of that body may point out the way to 
 peaceful solution of our national trou- 
 bles," certainly an extraordinary sug- 
 gestion to come from one who saw so 
 clearly the motives, and admitted so 
 freely the independent and sovereign 
 authority "of the foreign confederacy 
 which had just so hopefully commenced 
 its military career in the harbor of 
 Charleston. The Governor, while trans- 
 mitting the replies of his western breth- 
 ren, candidly admitted to the Legislature 
 that he " met with no success " in that 
 mission. Indeed, he was very hand- 
 somely rebuked by his more patriotic 
 neighbors. "In reply I have to re- 
 mark," wrote Governor Dennison of 
 Ohio from Columbus, " that believing 
 the general Government to be wholly 
 in the right, I can see no reason for the 
 interposition suggested. If it be desired 
 by Governor Magoffin, I will cordially 
 unite with him in an appeal to the se- 
 
 ceded States at once to return to their 
 allegiance to the government of the 
 Union, and thus terminate the difficul- 
 ties which their conduct has brought 
 upon the country. Any other peaceful 
 solution is impossible. A truce would 
 only aggravate the impending evils." 
 Nor was the response of Governor Mor- 
 ton of Indiana less decided. "It be- 
 comes my duty to state," he wrote from 
 the Executive Department at Indianapo- 
 lis, " that I do not recognize the right of 
 any State to act as mediator between 
 the Federal Government and a rebel- 
 lious State. I hold that Indiana and 
 Kentucky are but integral parts of the 
 nation, and as such, are subject to the 
 Government of the United States ; and 
 bound to obey the requisitions of the 
 President, issued in pursuance of his 
 constitutional authority ; that it is the 
 duty of every State Government to pro- 
 hibit, by all means in its power, the 
 transportation from within its own limits 
 of arms, military stores, and provisions 
 to any State in open rebellion and hos- 
 tility to the Government of the United 
 States, and to restrain her citizens from 
 all acts giving aid and comfort to the 
 enemy ; that there is no ground in the 
 Constitution midway between the Fede- 
 ral Government and a rebellious State, 
 upon which another State can stand, 
 holding both in check ; that a State 
 must take a stand upon the one side or 
 upon the other ; and I invoke the State 
 of Kentucky, by all the sacred ties that 
 bind us together, to take her stand with 
 Indiana, promptly and efficiently, on the 
 side of the Union. The action of the 
 Federal Government in the present con- 
 test being strictly in accordance with the 
 Constitution and the law of the land, and 
 entertaining the views above indicated, I 
 
THE NEUTRALITY POLICY. 
 
 331 
 
 am compelled to decline the cooperation 
 solicited by you." 
 
 The Kentucky Legislature was not 
 disposed at the session in May, any more 
 than at the session in January, to listen 
 to the persuasions of the Governor in 
 that cardinal matter of the convention. 
 They would not call it, and they acted 
 wisely. The lesson deserves to be re- 
 membered. Nothing is more dangerous 
 to the liberties of a people, at times, than 
 that liberty itself. It is a plausible the- 
 ory of ultra-democracy to refer every- 
 thing on the instant to the people ; but a 
 moment's reflection will show that the 
 people are not always ready, at such 
 short notice, to express that opinion in 
 accordance with their honest convictions 
 and true interests. They need time to 
 reflect and determine. If they act in 
 passion as a mass, there is no more safe- 
 ty for them, there is even less, than for 
 individuals in the same unfavorable con- 
 dition. Hence the wisdom of our Gov- 
 ernments, both Federal and State, in 
 their variety of checks and wholesome 
 delays, their modes of election and rep- 
 resentation, which the people themselves 
 devised and sanctioned as securities 
 against hasty legislation. To resort to 
 popular convention is to lose the benefit 
 of the profoundest and wisest results of 
 modern civilization. Let it be remem- 
 bered as a prominent warning in the his- 
 tory of this Great Rebellion, that one of 
 the first instruments of its unhallowed 
 tyranny was the call of popular conven- 
 tions. Kentucky was fortunately spared 
 that trial of the temper and discretion 
 of her inhabitants. There is reason to be- 
 lieve that she might have passed through 
 it scatheless, that her loyalty would 
 have endured even that test, that the 
 judgment of her citizens would have 
 
 proved superior to the arts of dema- 
 gogues, and the treacherous appeals to 
 her warm-hearted generosity of Southern 
 sentiment. In other ways she survived 
 the ordeal, and came out of the fiery pur- 
 gation triumphant. 
 
 The next danger to which the State was 
 exposed, was in the sanction of her rul- 
 ers given to a medium policy of neutral- 
 ity a hazardous experiment to her lib- 
 erties and safety. What this was, and 
 how Governor Magoffin stood in regard 
 to the affairs of the State and the Gene- 
 ral Government, the reader may form 
 some idea from his proclamation of May 
 20th : Whereas, many good citizens re- 
 quested him to forbid the march of any 
 forces over Kentucky to attack Cairo, or 
 otherwise disturb the peaceful attitude 
 of Kentucky with reference to the de- 
 plorable war now waging between the 
 United and Confederate States ; also 
 stating that the same citizens requested 
 him to forbid the march of any United 
 States force over Kentucky soil for the 
 occupation of any post or place within 
 Kentucky ; and whereas, every indica- 
 tion of public sentiment shows a deter- 
 mined purpose of the people to maintain 
 a fixed position of self-defence, propos- 
 ing and intending no invasion or aggres- 
 sion towards any other State or States, 
 forbidding the quartering of troops upon 
 her soil by either hostile section, but 
 simply standing aloof from an unnatural, 
 horrid, and lamentable strife, for tho 
 existence whereof Kentucky, neither by 
 thought, word, nor act is in anywise 
 responsible ; and whereas this policy is 
 in judgment wise, peaceful, safe and 
 honorable, the most likely to preserve 
 the peace and amity between the neigh- 
 boring border States on both shores of 
 the Ohio, and protect Kentucky from 
 
332 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 deplorable civil war ; and whereas, the 
 arms distributed to the Home Guard are 
 not to be used against the Federal or 
 Confederate States but to resist and pre- 
 vent encroachment on her soil, rights, 
 honor and sovereignty by either of the 
 belligerent parties, and hoping Kentucky 
 may become a successful mediator be- 
 tween them, and in order to remove a 
 founded distrust and suspicion of pur- 
 poses to force Kentucky out of the Union 
 at the point of the bayonet, which may 
 have been strongly and wickedly engen- 
 dered in the public mind in regard to 
 my own position and that of the State 
 Guard 
 
 "Now, therefore, I hereby notify and 
 warn all other States, separated or unit- 
 ed, especially the United and Confeder- 
 ate States, that I solemnly forbid any 
 movement upon Kentucky soil, or occu- 
 pation of any post or place therein for 
 any purpose whatever, until authorized 
 by invitation or permission of the legis- 
 lative and executive authorities. I espe- 
 cially forbid all citizens of Kentucky, 
 whether incorporated in the State Guard 
 or otherwise, making any hostile demon- 
 strations against any of the aforesaid 
 sovereignties, to be obedient to the or- 
 ders of lawful authorities, to remain 
 quietly and peaceably at home, when off 
 military duty, and refrain from all words 
 and acts likely to provoke a collision, 
 and so otherwise conduct themselves that 
 the deplorable calamity of invasion may 
 be averted ; but meanwhile to make 
 prompt and efficient preparation to as- 
 sume the paramount and supreme law of 
 self-defence, and strictly of self-defence 
 alone." 
 
 It is a proud spectacle Governor 
 Magoffin thus "solemnly" dictating to 
 " all States, separated or united, especial- 
 
 ly the United and Confederate States," 
 with such a lofty impartiality. It is but 
 justice to add that the Legislature 
 promptly refused to endorse this procla- 
 mation as expressive of the true policy 
 of Kentucky.* This declared policy of 
 neutrality was better suited to the wishes 
 of Southern secessionists than to the 
 good sense of many intelligent loyal cit 
 izens of Kentucky her orators and 
 statesmen who stood forth in this crisis 
 for her defence. The day following the 
 date of Governor Magoffin's proclama- 
 tion, a staunch supporter of the national 
 integrity, whose military energy was 
 afterwards greatly instrumental in sav- 
 ing Kentucky to the Union Lovell H. 
 Rousseau in his place in the Senate 
 took occasion to review the attitude of 
 the State to the general Government. 
 His healthy, vigorous patriotism was to 
 be diverted by no fallacies or sophistry, 
 "I say," said he, "the laws should be 
 enforced if we have any. If we have a 
 government, let it be maintained and 
 obeyed. And if a wicked, factious minor- 
 ity, without cause, undertakes to override 
 the will of the majority, and rob us of our 
 constitutional and vested rights, let that 
 factious and wicked minority, be put 
 down peaceably if we can, but forcibly 
 if we must. If you don't, they will put 
 you down as certain as fate. Make your 
 election. Don't stand passively by and 
 see your own laws violated, your own 
 Government destroyed, and your liberty 
 swallowed up in tyranny, for fear of a 
 ' fratricidal war.' If your fellow-citizen 
 turns out to rob and murder you and 
 yours, stop him. If you have to hang 
 him, why stop him in that way. But 
 when he commits a murder, and you 
 would execute the law on him, he says, 
 
 * Joseph Holt's Letter to J. F. Speed, May 81, 1861. 
 
SENATOR ROUSSEAU'S SPEECH. 
 
 333 
 
 ' 0, none of that no coercion ; I am 
 your brother ; you must not hurt me ;' 
 and for fear of hurting your ' brother,' as 
 he calls himself, you would permit him to 
 go on in his work of crime. Let the will 
 of the sovereign people be respected and 
 obeyed. Let the laws of the land be en- 
 forced on all alike. If they are obeyed 
 peaceably, so much the better ; but let 
 them le obeyed. Then you will have 
 peace and security at home, and power 
 and respectability abroad. Unless you 
 do this, you will have neither." 
 
 Kentucky, he said, was in a false po- 
 sition ; no State had a greater interest in 
 the Union, and none loved it more de- 
 votedly ; why should she stand idly by, 
 and await the rewards of victory which 
 others should earn, or if the secessionists 
 should claim her as their prize, then call, 
 as call she would, upon a government 
 which she had failed to support ? " The 
 truth is," said he, " our duty at first was 
 to stand by our Government, and protect 
 and defend it. If fit to live under, it 
 was entitled to our respect and confi- 
 dence and allegiance. If unfit, it should 
 have been abandoned at once, and an- 
 other formed more" perfect. But while 
 we owe our allegiance to it, let us ac- 
 knowledge it like true men, and not turn 
 our backs upon its greatest peril. We 
 should not do this if we desire its preser- 
 vation. We should stand by it like men, 
 or pull it down at once. But we should 
 not stand by and see others pull it down 
 over our heads against our will, to the 
 destruction of our liberties, and say, ' we 
 oppose you. We love the Government. 
 It is the Government of our fathers ; 
 bought with their blood, and bequeathed 
 to us. It is the best Government on 
 earth, and in its destruction we see ruin 
 to us and ours ; but as you and we live 
 
 in slave States, go on and do as you please. 
 We will not resist you. Euin us if you 
 will.' And so never lift a hand to save us 
 and our children the blessings of liberty. 
 In my heart I do not approve of this 
 course, and what I do not approve, no 
 power on earth shall make me say. I 
 am for the old Constitution of Washing- 
 ton and his compeers. For the old flag, 
 the Stars and Stripes. God bless them ; 
 and I am against all factions that would 
 take them from me. It matters not who 
 they are or whence they come. Whether 
 they come from England, France, Mas- 
 sachusetts or South Carolina. If they 
 would destroy the Government of our 
 fathers, I am against them. No matter 
 what may be the pretext. No, sir, I am 
 for the Union, and I am willing to defend 
 it by any and all proper means. Our 
 Government is the best in the world. It 
 has answered well all the ends for whicn 
 governments are made. We all know 
 this. It has oppressed no man, nor has 
 it burdened us a feather's weight. It has 
 brought us nothing but blessings. Under 
 it we have been happy, prosperous and 
 free. What more can we ask. All that 
 government can do, our Government has 
 done for us. We have been free, as no 
 nation was ever free before ; we have 
 prospered as no nation ever prospered 
 before, and we have rested in peace and 
 security." 
 
 His explanation of the motive of the 
 conspiracy which sought to overthrow 
 this beneficent instrument, is notewor- 
 thy, for information on this point be- 
 comes of value with the decrease of 
 latitude in the region whence it is deriv- 
 ed. The testimony of a Kentuckian is 
 worth much more than that of a native 
 of Wisconsin. Rousseau is a better wit- 
 ness than Hale or Everett. To what 
 
334 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 does he attribute the rebellion ? This is 
 his simple elucidation of the mystery 
 which has perplexed so many profound 
 thinkers of the Old World and the New : 
 " Mr. Lincoln was elected, and corrupt 
 politicians lost their places. They had 
 controlled the Government in their own 
 way for years. When they lost their 
 power they declared that the Govern- 
 ment was corrupt and oppressive, and 
 that they would destroy it. They robbed 
 it of its arms and munitions of war, send- 
 ing them South ; they involved the Gov- 
 ernment in a debt of nearly a hundred 
 millions of dollars ; robbed the treasury ; 
 and thus leaving the Government impov- 
 erished and distressed, they commenced 
 the atrocious business of secession. They 
 had lost the offices, and they had thought 
 it necessary to create new ones for the 
 benefit of the defunct politicians, and 
 they did it. This is the grand secret of 
 the whole affair." 
 
 With equal directness he pictured the 
 woes of rebellion, and brought home his 
 appeal to his political antagonists in a 
 series of vigorous home thrusts, not the 
 less powerful for a touch of irony and 
 humor. " Behold," said he, " the result 
 of secession. Distress and ruin stare 
 men in the face ; strong men, honest and 
 industrious men, cannot get bread for 
 their wives and children ; the widow and 
 the orphan, helpless and destitute, are 
 starving ; in all the large cities the suf- 
 fering is intense ; work is not to be 
 obtained, and those who live by their 
 labor get no money ; property of every 
 description has depreciated until it is 
 almost worthless ; in the seceded States, 
 Union men are driven penniless from 
 their homes, or hanged ; and all this, Mr. 
 Senator from McCracken, that peaceable 
 secession may go on, and that politicians 
 
 may fill offices. And after you, gentle- 
 men, bring all these calamities upon us. 
 you falsely say that 'Lincoln did it,' and 
 that we Union men are abolitionists and 
 aid him. But I tell you that Lincoln 
 has not done it. He was elected Presi- 
 dent by your help. You ran a candidate 
 for the Presidency that the Democratic 
 party might be divided, and Lincoln 
 elected. That was your purpose, and 
 you accomplished it ; and now you have 
 elected Lincoln thus, you must break up 
 the Government because he is elected. 
 Nothing can satisfy you but secession. 
 To talk of compromise irritates secession 
 gentlemen it irritates them to talk of 
 the rights of anybody but themselves 
 they are indeed a very irritable set of 
 people. If you speak of enforcing the 
 laws of the land, why it's coercion, and 
 at this word they forthwith go into 
 spasms. They can't stand it at all. It is 
 subjugation of tTie South by the North. 
 If they threaten to hang you when they 
 get the power because you are true to 
 the old Constitution and the old flag of 
 Washington and you get arms to defend 
 yourself, why, it irritates them, and they 
 won't stand it. 
 
 " The Union men of Kentucky, seeing 
 the condition of Union men in the seced- 
 ed States, and seeing that they had to be 
 hanged or be silent, and still wishing to 
 be free as of yore, have lately purchased 
 arms with which to defend themselves. 
 This act is pronounced as a crime a 
 great crime. And how it irritates them. 
 Garrett Davis received 1,200 stand of 
 arms the other day, and a young gentle- 
 man of the secession persuasion became so 
 irritated that he could not stand it at all ; 
 that the ' States' -Rights men would not 
 submit to it no, never.' ' Well,' said I, 
 * I would not put up with it, if I were in 
 
HOME THRUSTS. 
 
 335 
 
 your place. I tell you what I would do, 
 [ would go and take Garrett's guns away 
 from him.' But he didn't. South Caro- 
 lina was irritated at the presence of 
 Mnjor Anderson and fifty-five men at 
 Fort Sumter, so irritated that she could 
 not bear it. She tried to starve him to 
 death ; she tried to knock his head off 
 and burn him up. She bombarded the 
 people's fort, shot into the flag of our 
 Government, and drove our soldiers 
 from the place. It was not Mr. Lincoln's 
 fort, not his flag nor his soldiers, but ours. 
 Yet after all these outrages and atroci- 
 ties, South Carolina comes with embraces 
 for us, saying : ' Well, we tried ; we in- 
 tended to kill that brother Kentuckian 
 of yours ; tried to storm him, knock his 
 brains out, and burn him up. Don't you 
 love us for it ? Won't you fight with us 
 and for us, and help us to overthrow 
 3^our Government ?' Was ever a request 
 so outrageously unnatural so degrading 
 to our patriotism ? And yet, Mr. Speak- 
 er, there were those among us who re- 
 joiced at the result, and termed the 
 assault upon their own fort, and the cap- 
 ture of their own flag, and their own 
 soldiers a heroic victory ! 
 
 "Mr. Speaker, I am sick and tired of 
 all this gabble about irritation over the 
 exercise by others of their undoubted 
 right, and I say once for all to you, 
 secession gentlemen, that we Union men 
 know our rights, and intend to maintain 
 them ; and if you get irritated about it, 
 why get irritated. Snuff and snort 
 yourselves into a rage ; go into spasms 
 if you will ; die if you want to, and can't 
 stand it who cares ? What right have 
 you to get irritated because we claim equal 
 rights and equality with you ? We are 
 for peace ; we desire no war, and depre- 
 cate collision. All we ask is peace. We 
 
 don't intend you any harm. We don't 
 want to hurt you, and don't intend you 
 shall injure us if we can help it. We 
 beg of you to let us live in peace under 
 the good old Government of our fathers. 
 We only ask that. Why keep us ever 
 on the alert watching you, to prevent 
 you from enslaving us by a destruction 
 of that Government ?" Senator JOHNSON 
 "It is already destroyed." M. ROUS- 
 SEAU "Not a bit of it. The Union will 
 never be dissolved. I know you say it 
 is ; but, believe me, it will never be dis- 
 solved. We may have much suffering ; 
 we may endure many calamities. War, 
 pestilence and famine may befall us ; our 
 own good old Kentucky may be overrun 
 and trodden under foot, and her soil may 
 be drenched in blood, but the Union will 
 never, never be dissolved. I have never 
 had a doubt on this subject, never. I 
 know we must suffer, but we must pre- 
 serve the Union." You, Mr. Senator 
 from McCracken, are a sanguine man. 
 You think the Union is destroyed. Well, 
 you sometimes err. I believe you had 
 a correspondence with ' Uncle Abe,' in 
 which you committed a glaring error. 
 But that was only a semi-official corres- 
 pondence, and perhaps should not be 
 alluded to here." Senator JOHNSON (good- 
 humoredly) " Oh ! yes; tell." Mr. 
 ROUSSEAU " I thank you. Well, as one 
 of the Senators of Kentucky, you made 
 your most solemn protest against the 
 stationing of troops at Cairo, Illinois. 
 The protest was very elegant, as is gen- 
 erally what comes from you a little 
 highfalutin, it is true. You forwarded 
 your protest to ' Uncle Abe,' and in due 
 time received a reply, which was too 
 good a joke for a good-natured gentleman 
 like yourself to keep all to yourself, and 
 so disclosed it. Uncle Abe replied to 
 
336 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 you th'at your letter had been received, 
 duly considered, and in reply he had to 
 say to you, (one of the Senators of Ken- 
 tucky,) that if he had known that Cairo, 
 Illinois, was in your Senatorial District, 
 he would not have sent any soldiers 
 within a hundred miles of that point." 
 
 " Mr. Speaker let me tell you sir, 
 Kentucky will not 'go out.' She will 
 not stampede. That has been tried. 
 Secessionists must invent something new 
 in the way of secession appliances before 
 they can either frighten or ' drag ' Ken- 
 tucky out of the Union. I tell you, sen- 
 sation gentlemen, that your exciting 
 events have ceased to affect us. Try 
 something else. Get up a fight at Cairo, 
 that you may get us to side with you. 
 That is your game, and you will play it 
 whenever you think you can succeed in 
 it. You tried to scare us, but you failed 
 in your purpose. And if you legally and 
 against right assault Cairo, I hope every 
 man of you will get his head knocked, or 
 be taken prisoner, and that the Cairo 
 folks will never permit you to come to 
 Kentucky again. That's what I wish, 
 and what I believe would happen in such 
 an event. 
 
 "But we won't 'go out' have not 
 the least notion of it in the world. You 
 must take us out according to law and 
 right, or take us dead. Believe this, and 
 act accordingly. It would be better for 
 all of us. We shall be but too happy to 
 keep peace, but we cannot leave the 
 Union of our fathers. When Kentucky 
 goes down, it will be in blood. Let that 
 be understood. She will not go as other 
 States have gone. Let the responsibility 
 rest on you where it belongs. It is all 
 your work, and whatever happens will 
 be your work. We have more right to 
 defend our Government than you have to 
 
 overturn it. Many of us are sworn to 
 support it. 
 
 " Let our good Union brethren of the 
 South stand their ground. I know that 
 many patriotic hearts in the seceded 
 States still beat warmly for the old 
 Union the old flag. The time will come 
 when we shall be together again. The 
 politicians are having their day. The 
 people will yet have theirs. I have an 
 abiding confidence in the right, and I 
 know that this secession movement is all 
 w r rong. There is, in fact, not a single 
 substantial reason for it. If there is, I 
 should be glad to hear it ; our Govern- 
 ment has never oppressed us with a fea- 
 ther's weight. The direst oppression 
 alone could justify what has brought all 
 our present sufferings upon us." 
 
 It had been a favorite project of the 
 sympathizers with the South, when more 
 general projects of the kind had failed, 
 as we have seen in the recommendation 
 of Governor Magofnn to call a Conven- 
 tion of the Border States to devise some 
 plan of adjustment. Virginia had origi- 
 nated the idea, and it had been intended 
 to hold the meeting at Baltimore in Feb- 
 ruary. Nothing, however, was then 
 done, and it was not till May that the 
 scheme was revived. The Convention 
 then met on the 29th at Frankfort, Ken- 
 tucky. The people of three States only 
 were in any way represented. Ken- 
 tucky and Missouri sent several dele- 
 gates, and Tennessee but one member 
 from two of her eastern counties. The 
 assembly, therefore, fell far short of its 
 intended proportions ; but it had its im- 
 portance as a local index, and especially 
 of the affairs of Kentucky, where the 
 choice of its members gave the people 
 an opportunitjr of showing their decided 
 preference of Unionists over secession- 
 
JOSEPH HOLT. 
 
 337 
 
 isis. Mr. J. J. Crittenden was chosen 
 President of the Convention, which in- 
 cluded several of the well-known public 
 men of the State Mr. James Guthrie, 
 former Secretary of the Treasury, Archi- 
 bald Dixon, C. A. Wickliffe and others. 
 Two addresses emanated from this body, 
 one to the people of the United States, 
 the other to the people of Kentucky. 
 The former recommended conciliation by 
 Congress and voluntary peace conven- 
 tions of the people . the latter supported 
 the State in her neutrality policy but 
 both documents were decided in their 
 opposition to secession, and both sustain- 
 ed the cause of the Government. 
 
 While the multitude of counsellors in 
 Kentucky, in her Legislature and the 
 Convention, were thus seeking to balance 
 the State as a central immovable pivot 
 between opposing principles, there was 
 one among the most eloquent of her cit- 
 izens who, seeing that they were at- 
 tempting an impossibility, boldly and 
 resolutely, and with his best powers, 
 exhibited the fallacy of neutrality. The 
 Hon. Joseph Holt, whose services as a 
 member of the Cabinet, in the preserva- 
 tion of Washington, and the rescue of a 
 falling State from the hands of traitors 
 and conspirators in the last days of Pres- 
 ident Buchanan's administration, should 
 never be forgotten, now concentrated 
 his efforts for the safety of his State. His 
 letter, dated the last day of May, on the 
 affairs of Kentucky, addressed to J. F, 
 Speed, Esq., is a masterpiece of political 
 eloquence, recalling the philosophy of 
 Burke and the kindling, patriotic enthu- 
 siasm of Henry Clay. 
 
 "The Legislature it seems," he wrote, 
 
 "has determined by resolution that the 
 
 State, pending the present unhappy war, 
 
 shall occupy neutral ground. T must 
 
 43 
 
 say, in all frankness, and without desir- 
 ing to reflect upon the course or senti- 
 ments of any, that, in this struggle for 
 the existence of our government, I can 
 neither practice, nor profess, nor feel 
 neutrality. I would as soon think of 
 being neutral in a contest between an 
 officer of justice and an incendiary ar- 
 rested in an attempt to fire the dwelling 
 over my head ; for the Government 
 whose overthrow is sought, is for me the 
 shelter not only of home, kindred and 
 friends, but of every earthly blessing 
 which I can hope to enjoy on this side 
 of the grave." To warn off from the 
 State the national army, he pronounced 
 " not a neutral step, but one of aggress- 
 ive hostility." The course of the Presi- 
 dent in summoning that army, the men 
 of which it was composed, the gathering 
 of the mighty host, and its friendly mis- 
 sion, were described with glowing elo- 
 quence. "For more than a month,'' 
 said he, " after the inauguration of Pres- 
 ident Lincoln, the manifestations seemed 
 unequivocal that his administration would 
 seek a peaceful solution of our unhappy 
 political troubles, and would look to time 
 and amendments of the Federal Consti- 
 tution, adopted in accordance with its 
 provisions, to bring back the revolted 
 States to their allegiance. So marked 
 was the effect of these manifestations in 
 tranquilizing the border States and in 
 reassuring their loyalty, that the conspir- 
 ators who had set this revolution on foot 
 took the alarm. While affecting to des- 
 pise these States as not sufficiently inten- 
 sified in their devotion to African servi- 
 tude, they knew they could never suc- 
 ceed in their treasonable enterprise with- 
 out their support. Hence it was resolved 
 to precipitate a collision of arms with the 
 Federal authorities, in the hope that, 
 
338 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tinder the panic and exasperation inci- 
 dent to the commencement of a civil war, 
 the border States, following the natural 
 bent of their sympathies, would array 
 themselves against the Government. . . . 
 They sought the clash of arms and the 
 effusion of blood as an instrumentality 
 of impressing the border States, and they 
 sought the humiliation of the Govern- 
 ment and the dishonor of its flag as a 
 means of giving prestige to their own 
 cause. ... A more wanton and wicked 
 \var was never commenced on any gov- 
 ernment whose history has been written. 
 " In view of these events and threat- 
 enings, what was the duty of the Chief 
 Magistrate of the Republic ? He might 
 have taken counsel of the revolutionists 
 and trembled under their menaces ; he 
 might, upon the fall of Sumter, have 
 directed that Fort Pickens should be 
 surrendered without firing a gun in its 
 defence, and proceeding yet further, and 
 meeting fully the requirements of the 
 1 let us alone ' policy insisted on in the 
 South, he might have ordered that the 
 Stars and Stripes should be laid in the 
 dust in the presence of every bit of rebel 
 bunting that might appear. But he did 
 none of these things, nor could he have 
 done them without forfeiting his oath and 
 betraying the most sublime trust that has 
 ever been confided to the hands of man. 
 With a heroic fidelity to his constitution- 
 al obligations, feeling justly that these 
 obligations charged him with the protec- 
 tion of the Republic and its Capital 
 against the assaults alike of foreign and 
 domestic enemies, he threw himself on 
 the loyalty of the country for support in 
 the struggle upon which he was about to 
 enter, and nobly has that appeal been 
 responded to. States containing an ag- 
 0'i-eirate population of nineteen millions 
 
 have answered to the appeal as with the 
 voice of one man, offering soldiers with- 
 out number, and treasure without limita- 
 tion for the service of the Government. 
 In these States, fifteen hundred thousand 
 freemen cast their votes in favor of can- 
 didates supporting the rights of the 
 South, at the last Presidential election, 
 and yet everywhere, alike in popular as- 
 semblies and upon the tented field, this 
 million and a half of voters are found 
 yielding to none in the zeal with which 
 they rally to their country's flag. They 
 are not less the friends of the South than 
 before ; but they realize that the question 
 now presented is not one of administra- 
 tive policy, nor of the claims of the 
 North, the South, the East or the West, 
 but is simply whether nineteen millions 
 of people shall tamely and ignobly per- 
 mit five or six millions to overthrow and 
 destroy institutions which are the com- 
 mon property, and have been the com- 
 mon blessings and glory of all. The 
 great thoroughfares of the North, the 
 East and the West are luminous with the 
 banners and glistening with the bayonets 
 of citizen soldiers marching to the Capi- 
 tal, or to the other points of rendezvous ; 
 but they come in no hostile spirit to the 
 South. If called to press her soil, they 
 will not ruffle a flower of her gardens, 
 nor a blade of grass of her fields in un- 
 kindness. No excesses will mark the 
 footsteps of the armies of the Republic : 
 no institution of the State will be invad- 
 ed or tampered with, no rights of per- 
 sons or of property will be violated. The 
 known purposes of the administration, 
 and the high character of the troops em- 
 ployed, alike guarantee the truthfulness 
 of this statement. When an insurrection 
 was apprehended a few weeks since in 
 Maryland, the Massachusetts regiment at 
 
APPEAL TO KENTUCKY. 
 
 339 
 
 once offered their services to suppress it. 
 These volunteers have been denounced 
 by the press of the South as ' knaves 
 and vagrants/ ' the dregs and offscour- 
 ings of the populace,' who would ' rather 
 filch a handkerchief than fight an enemy 
 in manly combat ;' yet we know here 
 that their discipline and bearing are 
 most admirable, and I presume it may be 
 safely affirmed that a larger amount of 
 social position, culture, fortune and ele- 
 vation of character has never been found 
 in so large an army in any age or coun- 
 try. If they go to the South, it will be 
 as friends and protectors, to relieve the 
 Union sentiment of the seceded States 
 from the cruel domination by which it is 
 oppressed and silenced, to unfurl the 
 Stars and Stripes in the midst of those 
 who long to look upon them, and to re- 
 store the flag that bears them to the forts 
 and arsenals from which disloyal hands 
 have torn it. Their mission will be one 
 of peace, unless wicked and blood-thirsty 
 men shall unsheath the sword across 
 their pathway." 
 
 He, too, attributed the Rebellion not to 
 any burdens the South had to endure, 
 but to the unhallowed ambition of a band 
 of lawless conspirators. "The roots of 
 the revolution," were his words, "may 
 be traced back for more than a quarter 
 of a century, and an unholy lust for 
 power is the soil out of which it sprang. 
 A prominent member of the band of agi- 
 tators declared in one of his speeches at 
 Charleston, last November or December, 
 that they had been occupied for thirty 
 years in the work of severing South 
 Carolina from the Union. When Gen- 
 eral Jackson crushed Nullification, he 
 said it would revive again under the 
 form of the slavery agitation : and we 
 have lived to see his prediction veri- 
 
 fied.* Indeed, that agitation, during the 
 last fifteen or twenty years, has been al- 
 most the entire stock in trade of Southern 
 politicians." 
 
 His special appeal to Kentucky to 
 avoid the gulf into which her pretended 
 friends would precipitate her, was urged 
 by every consideration which political 
 wisdom, rendered more acute by patri- 
 otic motives, could suggest. He ex- 
 hibited the deeds of violence and rob- 
 bery of the seceding States, advancing 
 the work of revolution and placing an 
 inseparable barrier between themselves 
 and the States of the Union which were 
 laboring to secure to them the guaran- 
 tees of which they professed fears that 
 they should be deprived. "All these 
 lawless proceedings," he said, "were 
 well understood to have been prompted 
 and directed by men occupying seats in 
 the capitol, some of whom were frank 
 enough to declare that they could not 
 and would not, though in a minority, 
 live under a government which they 
 could not control. In this declaration is 
 found the key which unlocks the whole 
 of the complicated machinery of this 
 revolution. The profligate ambition of 
 public men in all ages and lands has 
 been the rock on which republics have 
 been split. Such men have arisen in 
 our midst men who, because unable 
 permanently to grasp the helm of the 
 ship, are willing to destroy it in the 
 hope to command some one of the rafts 
 that may float away from the wreck. 
 The effect is to degrade us to a level 
 with the military bandits of Mexico and 
 South America, who, when beaten at an 
 election, fly to arms, and seek to master 
 by the sword what they have been un- 
 able to control by the ballot-box. 
 
 * See Ante, p. 18. 
 
340 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 " The atrocious acts enumerated were 
 acts of war, and might all have been 
 treated as such by the late administra- 
 tion ; but the President patriotically cul- 
 tivated peace how anxiously and how 
 patiently the country well knows. While, 
 however, the revolutionary leaders greet- 
 ed him with all hails to his face, they did 
 not the less diligently continue to whet 
 their swords behind his back. Immense 
 military preparations were made, so that 
 when the moment for striking at the gov- 
 ernment of the United States arrived, 
 the revolutionary States leaped into the 
 contest clad in full armor. 
 
 "Kentucky," he continued, exposing 
 the selfishness of the Southern arguments 
 which had brought ruin upon Virginia, 
 "occupying a central position in the 
 Union, is now protected from the scourge 
 of a foreign war, however much its rav- 
 ages may waste the towns and cities 
 upon our coasts, or the commerce upon 
 our seas ; but as a member of the South- 
 ern Confederacy, she would be a fron- 
 tier State, and necessarily the victim of 
 those border feuds and conflicts which 
 have become proverbial in history alike 
 for their fierceness and frequency. The 
 people of the South now sleep quietly in 
 their beds, while there is not a home in 
 infatuated and misguided Virginia that 
 is not filled with the alarms and op- 
 pressed by the terrors of war. In the 
 fate of the ancient commonwealth, drag- 
 ed to the altar of sacrifice by those who 
 should have stood between her bosom 
 and every foe, Kentucky may read her 
 own. No wonder, therefore, that she 
 has been so coaxingly besought to unite 
 her fortunes with those of the South, and 
 to lay down the bodies of her chivalric 
 sons as a breastwork, behind which the 
 Southern people may be sheltered." 
 
 Nor were his remarks less noticeable 
 in the inevitable development of the pe- 
 culiar institution which had brought this 
 fearful trial upon the country : "Ken- 
 tucky, in her soul, abhors the African 
 slave-trade, and turns away with un- 
 speakable horror and loathing from the 
 red altars of King Dahomey. But al- 
 though this traffic has been temporarily 
 interdicted by the seceded States, it is 
 well understood that this step has been 
 taken as a mere measure of policy for the 
 purpose of impressing the border States, 
 and of conciliating the European powers. 
 The ultimate legalization of this trade, 
 by a republic professing to be based 
 upon African servitude, must follow as 
 certainly as does the conclusion from the 
 premises of a mathematical proposition. 
 Is Kentucky prepared to see the hand 
 upon the dial-plate, of her civilization 
 rudely thrust back a century, and to 
 stand before the world the confessed 
 champion of the African slave-hunter? 
 Is she, with her unsullied fame, ready to 
 become a pander to the rapacity of the 
 African slave-trader, who burdens the 
 very winds of the sea with the moans of 
 the wretched captives whose limbs he 
 has loaded with chains, and whose hearts 
 he has broken ? I do not, I cannot, be- 
 lieve it." 
 
 Nearly two months later, in July, the 
 same distinguished orator impressed his 
 views still more emphatically upon the 
 minds of his fellow-citizens, in a public 
 Address at Louisville, one of the most 
 powerful of the many eloquent orations 
 with which he cheered, informed and 
 strengthened the patriotic convictions of 
 his countrymen. He took away every 
 prop which tended to countenance the 
 miserable delusion of neutrality. His 
 lawyer's argument alone fully met the 
 
THE CHOICE DISPLAYED. 
 
 341 
 
 case: "Strictly and legally speaking, 
 Kentucky must go out of the Union be- 
 fore she can be neutral. Within it she 
 is necessarily either faithful to the gov- 
 ernment of the United States or she is 
 disloj^al to it." But more powerful than 
 any cold, legal argument, however con- 
 clusive, was his appeal to the generous 
 sensibilities of the people. 
 
 " Within the last few weeks," said he, 
 " how many of those gallant volunteers 
 who have left home and kindred and all 
 that is dear to them, and are now under 
 a Southern sun, exposing themselves to 
 death from disease and to death from 
 battle, and are accounting their lives as 
 nothing in the erfort they are making for 
 the deliverance of your government and 
 theirs ; how many of them have said to 
 me in sadness and in longing, ' Will not 
 Kentucky help me ?' How my soul 
 would have leaped could I have an- 
 swered promptly, confidently, exulting- 
 ly, ' Yes, she will.' But when I thought 
 of this neutrality my heart sank within 
 me, and I did not and I could not look 
 those brave men in the face. And yet I 
 could not answer, 'No.' I could not 
 crush myself to the earth under the self- 
 abasement of such a reply. I therefore 
 said and may my country sustain me 
 'I hope, I trust, I pray, nay, I believe 
 Kentucky will yet do her duty.' If this 
 Government is to be destroyed, ask 
 yourselves, are you willing it should be 
 recorded in history that Kentucky stood 
 by in the greatness of her strength and 
 lifted not a hand to stay the catastrophe ? 
 If it is to be saved, as I verily believe it 
 is, are you willing that it shall be written 
 that, in the immeasurable glory which 
 must attend the achievement, Kentucky 
 had no part ? I will only add, if Ken- 
 tucky wishes the waters of her beautiful 
 
 Ohio to be dyed in blood if she wishes 
 her harvest-fields, now waving in their 
 abundance, to be trampled beneath the 
 feet of hostile soldiery, as a flower-gar- 
 den is trampled beneath the threshings 
 of the tempest if she wishes the homes 
 where her loved ones are now gathered 
 in peace, invaded by the prescriptive 
 fury of a military despotism, sparing 
 neither life nor property if she wishes 
 the streets of her towns and cities grown 
 with grass, and the steamboats of her 
 rivers to lie rotting at her wharves, then 
 let her join the Southern Confederacy; 
 but if she would have the bright waters 
 of that river flow on in their gladness 
 if she would have her harvests peacefully 
 gathered in her garners if she would 
 have the lullabies of her cradles and the 
 songs of her homes uninvaded by the 
 cries and terrors of battle if she would 
 have the streets of her towns and cities 
 agairi filled with the hum and throngs of 
 busy trade, and her rivers and her shores 
 once more vocal with the steamer's whis- 
 tle, the anthem of a free and prosperous 
 commerce, then let her stand fast by the 
 Stars and Stripes, and do her duty and 
 her whole duty as a member of this 
 Union. Let her brave people say to the 
 President of the United States, ' You are 
 our Chief Magistrate ; the Government 
 you have in charge, and are striving to 
 save from dishonor and dismemberment, 
 is our Government ; your cause is indeed 
 our cause ; your battles are our battles ; 
 make room for us, therefore, in the ranks 
 of your armies, that your triumph may 
 be our triumph also.' Even as with the 
 Father of us all I would plead for salva- 
 tion, so my countrymen, as upon my 
 knees, would I plead with you for the 
 life, aye for the life, of our great and be- 
 neficent institutions. But if the traitor's 
 
342 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 knife, now at the throat of the Republic, 
 is to do its work, and this Government is 
 fated to add yet another to that long line 
 of sepulchres which whiten the highway 
 of the past, then my heartfelt prayer to 
 
 God is, that it may be written in history, 
 that the blood of its life was not found 
 upon the skirts of Kentucky."* 
 
 * Address of the Hon. Joseph Holt to the People of 
 Kentucky, at Louisville, July 13, 1861. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 GENERAL McCLELLAN IN WESTERN VIRGINIA. 
 
 ON the 23d of June, Major-General 
 McClellan, from the headquarters of his 
 department of the Ohio, at Grafton, Vir- 
 ginia, issued a second proclamation "To 
 the Inhabitants of Western Virginia," in 
 which he took occasion to denounce 
 various barbarities of the war on the 
 part of the rebels, of which much had 
 been heard from the banks of the Potom- 
 ac. "The army of this department," 
 said he, "headed by Virginia trotfps, is 
 rapidly occupying all Western Virginia. 
 This is done in cooperation with, and in 
 support of such civil authorities of the 
 State as are faithful to the Constitution 
 and laws of the United States. The pro- 
 clamation issued by me, under date of 
 May 26th, 1861, will be strictly main- 
 tained. Your houses, families, property 
 and all your rights will be religiously 
 respected. We are enemies to none but 
 armed rebels and those voluntarily giv- 
 ing them aid. All officers of this army 
 will be held responsible for the most 
 prompt and vigorous action in repressing 
 disorder and punishing aggression by 
 those under their command. To my 
 great regret, I find that the enemies of the 
 United States continue to carry on a sys- 
 tem of hostilities prohibited by the laws 
 of war among belligerent nations, and of 
 course far more wicked and intolerable 
 
 when directed against loyal citizens en- 
 gaged in the defence of the common Gov- 
 ernment of all. Individuals and maraud- 
 ing parties are pursuing a guerrilla war- 
 fare, firing upon sentinels and pickets, 
 burning bridges, insulting and even kill- 
 ing citizens because of their Union senti- 
 ments, and committing many kindred 
 acts. I do now, therefore, make procla- 
 mation, and warn all persons that indi- 
 viduals or parties engaged in this species 
 of warfare, irregular in every view that 
 can be taken of it, thus attacking sen- 
 tries, pickets, or other soldiers, destroy- 
 ing public or private property, or com- 
 mitting injuries against any of the inhabit- 
 ants because of Union sentiments or con- 
 duct, will be dealt with in their persons 
 and property according to the severest 
 rules of military law. All persons giv- 
 ing information or aid to the public ene- 
 mies will be arrested and kept in close 
 custody ; and all persons found bearing 
 arms, unless of known loyalty, will be 
 arrested and held for examination." 
 
 In a further address " To the Soldiers 
 of the Army of the West," he reminded 
 them of the delicate nature of the ser- 
 vice in which they were engaged, and of 
 the high principles of courage and for- 
 bearance which should govern them in 
 their mission to preserve and not to de- 
 
McCLELLAN'S PROCLAMATION. 
 
 343 
 
 stioy. "You are here," said he, "to 
 support the Government of your coun- 
 try, and to protect the lives and liberties 
 of your brethren, threatened by a rebel- 
 lious and traitorous foe. No higher or 
 nobler duty could devolve on you, and I 
 expect you to bring to its performance 
 the highest and noblest qualities of sol- 
 diers' discipline, courage and mercy. I 
 call upon the officers of every grade to 
 enforce the highest discipline, and I know 
 that those of all grades, privates and offi- 
 cers, will display in battle cool, heroic 
 courage, and will know how to show 
 mercy to a disarmed enemy. Bear in 
 mind that you are in the country of 
 friends, not of enemies that you are 
 here to protect, not to destroy. Take 
 nothing, destroy nothing, unless you are 
 ordered to do so by your general officers. 
 Remember that I have pledged my word 
 to the people of Western Virginia that 
 their rights in person and property shall 
 be respected. I ask every one of you to 
 make good this promise in its broadest 
 sense. We have come here to save, not 
 to upturn. I do not appeal to the fear 
 of punishment, but to your appreciation 
 of the sacredness of the cause in which 
 we are engaged. Carry into battle the 
 conviction that } r ou are right and that 
 God is on our side. Your enemies have 
 violated every moral law ; neither God 
 nor man can sustain them. They 
 have, without cause, rebelled against a 
 mild and paternal Government ; they 
 have seized upon public and private 
 property ; they have outraged the per- 
 sons of Northern men, merely because 
 they came from the North, and of South- 
 ern Union men merely because they 
 loved the Union ; they have placed 
 themselves beneath contempt unless they 
 can retrieve some honor on the field of 
 
 battle. You will pursue a different 
 course ; you will be honest, brave and 
 merciful ; you will respect the right of 
 private opinion ; you will punish no man 
 for opinion's sake. Show to the world 
 that you differ from our enemies in these 
 points of honor, honesty and respect for 
 private opinion, and that we inaugurate 
 no reign of terror wherever we go. Sol- 
 diers, I have heard that there was dan- 
 ger here. I have come to place myself 
 at your head and share it with you. I 
 fear now but one thing, that you will not 
 find foemen worthy of your steel. I 
 know that I can rely upon you." 
 
 The soldiers to whom this language 
 was addressed, were soon to have an 
 opportunity to practice its precepts and 
 test its predictions in face of the enemy 
 We have seen the insurgents routed at 
 Philippi, with the hope that Western 
 Virginia would be left free from inva- 
 sion. The expectation, however, was 
 premature, while the force, of which that 
 of Philippi was but a detachment, was 
 gathering in the central region above. 
 The headquarters of this division of the 
 Confederate army were in Randolph 
 county, at Beverly, a town situated at 
 the entrance of a valley, bounded by 
 two parallel outlying ridges of the Alle- 
 ghanies, through which a road ran com- 
 municating with Eastern Virginia on the 
 North, by way of St. George and West 
 Union, in the neighborhood of the Balti- 
 more and Ohio Railway, and on the 
 southeast by the nearer Cheat Mountain 
 Pass, leading by a circuitous route to- 
 ward Staunton. From the west and 
 northwest, where McClellan's Union 
 troops were collected, the immediate ap- 
 proaches were by two converging roads 
 from Buekhdnnon and Philippi. The 
 Confederate force was some ten or twelve 
 
344 
 
 WAR FOE, THE UNION. 
 
 thousand in number, consisting of'Vir- 
 ginia volunteers, with the addition of 
 several regiments from the South, includ- 
 ing Mississippians and Georgians, the 
 whole under the command of General 
 Eobert S. Garnett, a native of Virginia, 
 who had been educated at West Point, 
 seen honorable service in Mexico, and 
 attained the rank of Major in the United 
 States army. On the breaking out of 
 the rebellion he had abandoned the na- 
 tional service and accepted his present 
 position with the Confederates. His 
 camp, embracing a force of from five to 
 six thousand men, was established at 
 Laurel Hill or mountain, on its north- 
 western declivity. It was about fifteen 
 miles north of Beverly and the same dis- 
 tance from Philippi, where three or four 
 thousand of the Union troops were still 
 kept in advance, under the command of 
 Captain Benhara. In the immediate 
 vicinity, on the west, Beverly was pro- 
 tected by the line of the Rich Mountain, 
 the road from Buckhannon passing in a 
 hollow between two of its elevations. 
 This defile was held by Colonel Pegram, 
 a native of Virginia, late of the United 
 States service, with a force of about 
 2,000 insurgents, who were strongly in- 
 trenched on both sides of the road. To 
 defeat and capture the enemy in these 
 strongholds, General McClellan sent for- 
 ward a column of nearly 4,000 men, 
 under General Morris, from Philippi to 
 Bealington, to prevent the escape of the 
 enemy to the northward at Laurel Hill, 
 while he himself advanced from Clarks- 
 burg, by way of Buckhannon, from the 
 west, to attack the enemy's left at Rich 
 Mountain, and take General Garnett in 
 the rear, between Beverly and Laurel 
 Mountain. The command of General 
 McClellan numbered about 10,000. On 
 
 his arrival at Buckhannon. on the 1st of 
 July, some skirmishing ensued by com- 
 mands sent to break up parties of insur- 
 gents in the vicinity. From the 8th to 
 the 12th, there were frequent encounters, 
 with a loss of several killed each day on 
 either side, between a portion of the 
 Ohio and Indiana regiments of Morris' 
 command, assisted by Colonel Barrett's 
 Ohio battery, stationed at Bealington, 
 and the Georgian regiment with Garnett 
 at Laurel Hill, in which the advantage 
 was with the former. On the llth of 
 July, General McClellan, making his 
 way toward Beverly, was encamped 
 with his forces a short distance to the 
 west of Rich Mountain, in front of the 
 rebel intrenchments on the road. So 
 well was the enemy's position defended 
 by art and natural advantages, that a 
 simple direct attack was considered im- 
 practicable without the certainty of great 
 loss. To lighten the risk or sacrifice, it 
 was determined by General McClellan 
 that, cooperating with the assault in 
 front, an attack should be made by a cir- 
 cuitous movement around and over the 
 mountain. This was entrusted to Col- 
 onel William Starke Rosecrans, a young 
 officer formerly of the regular army, who 
 had passed from West Point to the dis- 
 charge of the most important services en- 
 trusted to the engineer corps in the 
 superintendence of the construction of 
 public works and fortifications, and who 
 had of late been engaged in civil life in 
 pursuits to which he was drawn by his 
 scientific studies and accomplishments. 
 The rebellion had found him in Cincin- 
 nati, where he returned to the service, 
 at first with the appointment of Colonel 
 of Volunteers, and afterwards of Briga- 
 dier - General of the army. Colonel 
 Rosecrans was now placed in command 
 
fev- 
 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 
BATTLE OF RICH MOUNTAIN. 
 
 345 
 
 of four regiments of Volunteers the 8th, 
 10 tli and 15th Indiana, and the 19th 
 Ohio and a company of Cincinnati cav- 
 alry, with instructions to make his way 
 over the hills in a southeasterly direc- 
 tion, turning the enemy's camp and at- 
 tacking it from the road in the rear, while 
 General McClellan should, on learning 
 of his success, assail it from the other 
 side in front. Accompanied by Colonel 
 Lander, General Rosecrans started at 
 daylight on the morning of the llth, 
 forcing his way for eight miles over the 
 rocks and through the pathless woods, 
 i which were wet with rain, till they came 
 at noon upon a detachment of the enemy, 
 occupying an open space above the iii- 
 trenchmunts, at a farm-house on the moun- 
 tain. It is said the latter were apprised 
 of the movements against them by the 
 capture of a courier sent from the Union 
 headquarters, who had by mistake ap- 
 proached the camp on the road. 
 
 An account of the sharp skirmishing 
 which ensued, given by Mr. David L. 
 Hart, the guide to the Union forces, is, 
 perhaps, as characteristic a report of the 
 affair as we are likely to receive. "The 
 enemy intrenched themselves," says he, 
 " with earthworks on my father's farm, 
 just where we were to come into the 
 road. We did not know they were there 
 until we came on their pickets and their 
 cannon opened fire upon us. We were 
 then about a quarter of a mile from the 
 - house, and skirmishing began. I left the 
 advance and went into the main body 
 of the army. I had no arms of any 
 kind. The rain began pouring down in 
 torrents while the enemy fired his can- 
 non, cutting off the tree-tops over our 
 heads quite lively. They fired rapidly. 
 I thought from .the firing they had twen- 
 ty-five or thirty pieces. We had no 
 
 I , . 
 
 cannon with us. Our boys stood still in 
 the rain about half an hour. The 8th 
 and 10th then led off, bearing to the left 
 of our position. The bushes were so 
 thick we could not see out, nor could the 
 enemy see us. The enemy's musket- 
 balls could not reach us. Our boys, 
 keeping up a fire, got down within sight 
 and then pretended to run, but thej r only 
 fell down in the bushes and behind 
 rocks. This drew the enemy from their 
 intrenchments, when our boys let into 
 them with their Enfield and Minie rifles, 
 and I never heard such screaming in my 
 life. The 19th (Ohio) in the meantime 
 advanced to a fence, in a line with the 
 breastworks, and fired one round. They 
 then gave the Indiana boys a tremendous 
 cheer, and the enemy broke from their 
 intrenchments, in every way they could. 
 The Indiana boys had previously been 
 ordered to ' fix bayonets.' We could 
 hear the rattle of the iron very plainly 
 as the order was obeyed. ' Charge bay- 
 onets ' was then ordered, and away went 
 our boys after the enemy. One man 
 alone stood his ground and fired a can- 
 non until shot by a revolver. A general 
 race for about three hundred yards fol- 
 lowed through the bush, when our men 
 were recalled and re-formed in line of 
 battle, to receive the enemy from the 
 intrenchments at the foot of the moun- 
 tain, as we supposed they would certainly 
 attack us from that point ; but it seems 
 that as soon as they no longer heard the 
 firing of the cannon they gave up all for 
 lost." While all this was being accom- 
 plished by Colonel Rosecrans and his 
 gallant force, which was greatly aided 
 by the presence of Colonel F. W. Lander, 
 General McClellan, unacquainted with 
 the advantage which had been gained, 
 was making active preparations for the 
 
346 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 attack from his side. A road was cut 
 through the woods " by splendid axemen 
 from the 4th Ohio regiment," along 
 which artillery was to be transported to 
 a position commanding the rebel camp. 
 The road was held by the 4th and 9th 
 Ohio, and all was ready for mounting the 
 guns the next morning ; but the retreat 
 of the enemy in the night saved the 
 trouble of the movement. At nine o'clock 
 on the 12th, General McClellan telegraph- 
 ed to Colonel Townsend, the assist- 
 ant Adjutant-General at Washington : 
 " We are in possession of all the enemy's 
 works up to a point on the right of Bev- 
 erty. I have taken all his guns, a very 
 large amount of wagons, tents, etc. 
 everything he had a large number of 
 prisoners, many of whom were wounded, 
 and several officers prisoners. They lost 
 many killed. We have lost, in all, per- 
 haps twenty killed and fifty wounded, of 
 whom all but two or three were in the 
 column under Rosecrans, which turned 
 the position. The mass of the enemy 
 escaped through the woods, entirely dis- 
 organized. Among the prisoners is Dr. 
 Ta} r lor, formerly of the army. Colonel 
 Pegratn was in command. Colonel Rose- 
 crans' column left camp yesterday morn- 
 ing and marched some eight miles 
 through the mountains, reaching the 
 turnpike some two or three miles in rear 
 of the enemy, defeating an advanced 
 post and taking a couple of guns. I had 
 a position ready for twelve guns near the 
 main camp, and as the guns were moving 
 up, I ascertained that the enemy had 
 retreated. I am now pushing on to Bev- 
 erly, a part of Colonel Rosecrans' troops 
 being now within three miles of it. Our 
 success is complete and almost bloodless. 
 I doubt whether Wise and Johnson will 
 unite and overpower me. The behav- 
 
 ior of the troops in the action and toward 
 the prisoners was admirable." 
 
 This is the official language of the 
 General relating his honorably won tri- 
 umphs we may even say the humane 
 result of his admirable strategy in saving 
 the wholesale slaughter else inevitable. 
 But let us lift the curtain a moment and 
 learn what the mercy of war is. The 
 narrator, a correspondent at the camp, 
 is describing the scene at Rich Mountain 
 after the battle: "Our own and the 
 rebel wounded lay strewn together in 
 blankets on the floor of Hart's house. 
 Every available space was covered with 
 their convulsive and quivering bodies. 
 Down under the porch there was another 
 line of wounded. There was no differ- 
 ence in the treatment of the sufferers. 
 The severely wounded of the eneni}- 
 were attended to before the slightly 
 wounded of our own army. Most of 
 them suffered in silence, a few slept 
 soundly, but some moaned with intense 
 agony. One poor fellow, an Indiana 
 man, shot through the head, who could 
 even yet stand on his feet with assist- 
 ance, suffered great agony. Now and 
 then a rebel would stare sullenly at our 
 people, but the majority appeared grate- 
 fully surprised at the kindness with which 
 they were treated. Indeed, everything 
 possible was done to mitigate their suffer- 
 ings. When General McClellan rode 
 up to the battle-field he visited the hos- 
 pital, and spoke cheerfully to the suffer- 
 ers, making many kind inquiries. When 
 he came out at the door, a rough soldier 
 exclaimed to a comrade, "Why, the 
 General is crying.' It had never occur- 
 red to him that it was a scene to draw 
 tears from a soldier. As brilliantly as 
 General Rosecrans shone -in the field, his 
 ! lustre in the hospital had a brighter 
 
VICTORIOUS DISPATCH. 
 
 347 
 
 glow. He did all that a General and a 
 generous-hearted man could do to miti- 
 gate the sufferings of his gallant troops. 77 * 
 But the cries of the wounded and dy- 
 ing are lost in the trumpet-notes of vic- 
 tory. The next day General McClellan 
 forwarded another dispatch, heaping vic- 
 tory upon victory. "The success of the 
 day, 77 he wrote, "is all that I could de- 
 sire. We captured six brass cannons, 
 of which one is rifled, all the enemy 7 s 
 camp equipage and transportation, even 
 to his cups. The number of tents will 
 probably reach two hundred, and more 
 than sixty wagons. Their killed and 
 wounded will amount to fully one hun- 
 dred and fifty, with one hundred pr-ison- 
 ers, and more coming in constantly. I 
 know already of ten officers killed and 
 prisoners. Their retreat is complete. I 
 occupied Beverly by a rapid march. 
 Garnett abandoned his camp early in 
 the morning, leaving much of his equip- 
 age. He came within a few miles of 
 Beverly, but our rapid march turned 
 him back in great confusion, and he is 
 now retreating on the road to St. George. 
 I have ordered General Morris to follow 
 him up closely. I have telegraphed for 
 the two Pennsylvania regiments at Cum- 
 berland to join General Hill at Rowles- 
 burg. The General is concentrating all 
 his troops there, and will cut off Garnett 7 s 
 retreat near West Union, or, if possible, 
 at St. George. I may say that we have 
 driven out some ten thousand troops, 
 strongly entrenched, with the loss of 
 eleven killed and thirty-five wounded. 
 The provisions returns here show Gar- 
 net i's force to have been ten thousand 
 men. They were Eastern Virginians, 
 Tennesseeans, Georgians, and I think 
 
 * Correspondence, Beverly, July 14th, of the Cincinnati 
 Uoinnercial. 
 
 Carolinians. I trust that General Cox 
 has by this time driven Wise out of the 
 Kanawha valley. In that case I shall 
 have accomplished the object of liberat- 
 ing Western Virginia. I hope the Gen- 
 eral-in-Chief will approve of my opera- 
 tions. 77 
 
 The retreat of General Garnett from 
 his camp at Laurel Hill on the night of 
 the llth toward Beverly was possibly 
 with the intention of joining Pegram 7 s 
 force, and, if necessary, making his es- 
 cape by the southern Cheat Mountain 
 Pass ; but finding that officer routed, 
 and the Pass closed against him, he 
 beat, as has just been stated, a hasty 
 retreat north-eastward from Leedsville. 
 On the morning of the 12th, as soon as 
 the escape was discovered, the forces of 
 General Morris were moved rapidly for- 
 ward in pursuit. They crossed the 
 Laurel Mountain on the track of Gar- 
 nett to Leedsville, halting that night by 
 order of General Morris two or three 
 miles to the east of Leedsville, a due- 
 report being made that afternoon to 
 General McClellan at Beverly, who at 
 once ordered the pursuit by Morris, and 
 telegraphed to General Hill at Grafton 
 to move forward by railway to Oatland, 
 and from there intercept the fugitives 
 from St. George 7 s. The active pursuit 
 commenced before daylight the next 
 morning, July 13, under command of 
 Captain Benham, whose report to his 
 superior officer succinctly presents a clear 
 and impressive account of the memora- 
 ble incidents of the day. "In accord- 
 ance with your directions this morning, 77 
 he addresses General Morris, " I took 
 command of the advance troops of your 
 column, consisting of the 14th Ohio regi- 
 ment, Steedman, with one section of Colo- 
 nel Barnett 7 s battery, the 7th Indiana 
 
348 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 regiment, under Colonel Dumont, the 
 9th Indiana regiment, under Colonel Mil- 
 roy in all about 1800 men and with 
 this force, as instructed, started from 
 near Leedsville, at about four o'clock 
 A. M., to pursue the army of General 
 Garnett, which consisted, as we learned, 
 of from 4,000 to 5,000 men, and from 4 
 to 6 cannon, and had retreated from the 
 north side of Laurel Mountain, near 
 Bealington, on yesterday. It being as- 
 certained that the enemy had retired 
 toward the village of New Interest, and 
 thence, as was supposed, over a moun- 
 tain road leading by the Shafer Branch, 
 or main Cheat River, to St. George's, 
 the troops were brought rapidly forward 
 on their route, so as to reach the en- 
 trance of the mountain road at about six 
 o'clock. A short distance after entering 
 this path, the passage was found to be 
 obstructed with large trees, recently 
 felled, in about twelve to fifteen places, 
 and in nearly every defile for three or 
 four miles. But the information which 
 was from time to time received that this 
 force, which had some fifteen hours the 
 start of us from Bealington, were only 
 four or five miles in advance, encour- 
 aged our efforts, and, though for nearly 
 the whole time the rain was pouring in 
 torrents, and the clayey mud was almost 
 impassable in many places, the spirit of 
 our troops, without exception as it came 
 under my eye, was such as to bear them 
 most rapidly onward under all these 
 trials, superadded to that of hunger with 
 the greater part of them, for the previous 
 fifteen 01 twenty hours. 
 
 "At a'oout noon we reached Kalers or 
 the first ford of the Shafer Branch, or 
 main Cheat River, having within the 
 previous two or three miles fired at and 
 driven in several pickets, protecting those 
 
 who were forming the barricades, and at 
 one place we broke up a camp where 
 meals were being cooked. At the ford 
 near 'Kalers, 7 and at about one-half the 
 distance to another ford which we met 
 with about one mile further on, we saw 
 the baggage train of the enemy, appa- 
 rently at rest. This I proposed to at- 
 tack as soon as strengthened by the ar- 
 rival of Steedman's 2d Battalion, with 
 Dumont's regiment, when the thought- 
 less firing <3f a musket at our ford set 
 the train rapidly in motion, and long 
 lines of infantry were formed in order 
 of battle to protect it. In a few min- 
 utes, however, the arrival of Barnett's 
 artillery, with Dumont close upon it, 
 enabled the command to push forward 
 in its original order. But the train and 
 its guard had retired, leaving only a few 
 skirmishers to meet us at the second ford, 
 where, however, quite a brisk firing was 
 kept up by the advance regiments, and 
 the artillery opened for some minutes to 
 clear the adjacent wood the more com- 
 pletely of the enemy. We then con- 
 tinued our march rapidly to this ford, 
 and as we approached it we came upon 
 their train, the last half of it just cross- 
 ing the river. The enemy was found to 
 have taken a strong position, with his 
 forces upon a precipitous bank of some 
 fifty to eighty feet in height, upon the 
 opposite side of the river ; while our 
 own troops were upon the low land, 
 nearly level with the river. Steedman's 
 regiment in the advance opened its fire 
 most gallantly upon them, which was im- 
 mediately returned by their strong force 
 of infantry and by their cannon ; upon 
 which Barnett's artillery was ordered 
 up, and opened upon them with excel- 
 lent effect. As I soon perceived a posi- 
 tion by which their left could be turned, 
 
BATTLE AT CORRACK'S FORD. 
 
 349 
 
 six companies of Dumont's regiment were 
 ordered to cross the river about three 
 hundred yards above them, to pass up 
 the hill obliquely from our right to their 
 left, and take them in the rear. By 
 some mistake, (possibly in the transmis- 
 sion of the order,) this command crossed 
 at about double this distance, and turned 
 at first to their right, which delayed the 
 effect of this movement. After fifteen 
 minutes, however, this error was recti- 
 fied, and the hill being reported as im- 
 practicable, this command, now increased 
 to the whole regiment, was ordered down 
 to the ford under close cover of the hill 
 on their side, and then to take them di- 
 rectly in front and right at the road. 
 The firing of Steedman's regiment and 
 of Milroy's, now well up and in action, 
 with repeated and rapid discharges of 
 the artillery during the movement, de- 
 cided the action at once. As Dumont 
 reached the road, having passed along 
 and under their whole front, the firing 
 
 7 O 
 
 ceased and the enemy fled in great con- 
 fusion, Dumont's regiment pursuing them 
 about one mile further, having a brisk 
 skirmishing with their rear for the first 
 half of that distance, during which Gen- 
 eral Garnett was killed; 
 
 " The enemy would still have been 
 followed up most closely, and probably 
 to the capture of a large portion of their 
 scattered army, but this was absolutely 
 impossible with our fatigued and ex- 
 hausted troops, who had already march- 
 ed some eighteen miles or more, in an 
 almost incessant and violent rain, and 
 the greater part of them without food 
 since the evening, and a portion of them 
 even from the noon of yesterday, so 
 warm had been the pursuit on their 
 hasty retreat fiom Laurel Mountain, 
 twenty-seven miles distant. The troops 
 
 were, therefore, halted for food and rest 
 at about two o'clock p. M. 
 
 " The result proves to be, the capture 
 of about forty loaded wagons and teams, 
 being nearly all their baggage train, as 
 we learn, and including a large portion 
 of new clothing, camp equipage, and 
 other stores ; their headquarter papers, 
 and military chest ; also two stands of 
 colors ; also a third flag, since taken, 
 and one fine rifled piece of artillery ; 
 while the commanding General, Robert 
 S. Garnett, is killed his bod} T being now 
 cared for by us and fifteen or twenty 
 more of the enemy are killed, and nearly 
 fifty prisoners. Our own loss is two 
 killed and six wounded, one dangerously. 
 In concluding this report, I feel it my 
 duty to state that, just as the action was 
 closing, the head regiment of the body 
 of troops under yourself, though starting, 
 as I learn, some three hours later, the 
 6th Indiana, under Colonel Crittenden, 
 came up to the field in excellent order, 
 but unfortunately too late to aid us in 
 the battle. The conduct of those gallant 
 officers, Colonels Barnett, Steedman, Du- 
 mont, and Milroy, with the steady perse- 
 verance of their officers, in their long and 
 arduous march, suffering from hunger, 
 rain, and cold, with their gallantry in 
 action, was most heroic and beyond all 
 praise of mine. Their country only can 
 appreciate and reward their services." 
 
 Such was the battle of Corrack's Ford, 
 as the passage of the stream was called 
 from the name of the farmer occupying 
 the place. General Garnett fell, killed 
 on the instant by a musket shot, with no 
 one near him at the moment, it is said, 
 but a youth of apparently humble sta- 
 tion in life, wearing the uniform and but- 
 ton of the Georgia troops, who died by 
 his side. The remains of General Gar- 
 
350 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 nett were forwarded to Grafton and ten- 
 derly cared for till they could be received 
 by his friends, while the sword and watch 
 which he wore at his death and other per- 
 sonal effects were carefully preserved and 
 sent to his family by Captain Benham. 
 The boy who fell by General Garnett's 
 side was buried by the loyal Virginians, 
 and the inscription placed at his head, 
 11 Name unknown. A brave fellow who 
 shared his General's fate, and fell fight- 
 ing b}^ his side, while his companions 
 fled."* 
 
 The credit of this pursuit was mainly 
 due to Captain Benham, who pushed on 
 in spite of orders from General Morris 
 for his recall. The latter had no dispo- 
 sition to let the foe escape, but he was 
 not unnaturally influenced by a desire 
 to spare the men, numbers of whom he 
 met with fallen and exhausted in the 
 rear, the perils of further suffering. 
 Fifty-five loaded wagons, among other 
 spoils, valued in all at two hundred thou- 
 sand dollars, fell to the victors as the re- 
 sults of the pursuit. Among the trophies 
 were two flags of Georgia regiments, and 
 the standard of Colonel Taliaferro's Vir- 
 ginia regiment. One of the former, above 
 the arms of Georgia, bore the inscription 
 " Cotton is King." 
 
 Colonel Pegram meanwhile, on the 
 morning of the eventful 12th, had con- 
 ducted his men, on their retreat, a few 
 miles north of Beverly, near the Tygart's 
 Valley River, when he felt it incumbent, 
 in consequence of the retreat of General 
 Garnett and " the jaded and reduced 
 condition " of his command, to surrender 
 the entire force " prisoners of war " to 
 General McClellan. The surrender was 
 accepted, with the understanding, how- 
 ever, that while all were received with 
 
 * Cincinnati Gazette. 
 
 the kindness due to prisoners of war, it 
 was not in the power of the commanding 
 officer to relieve them from any liabilities 
 they had incurred. They were soon re- 
 leased, however, on oath not to take up 
 arms against the United States. 
 
 A week later General McClellan sum- 
 med up the results of the campaign in a 
 glowing Proclamation to his troops : 
 " Soldiers of the Army of the West I 
 am more than satisfied with you. You 
 have annihilated two armies, commanded 
 by educated and experienced soldiers, 
 intrenched in mountain fastnesses and 
 fortified at their leisure. You have 
 taken five guns, twelve colors, fifteen 
 hundred stand of arms, one thousand 
 prisoners, including more than forty of- 
 ficers. One of the two commanders of 
 the rebels is a prisoner, the other lost 
 his life on the field of battle. You have 
 killed more than two hundred and fifty 
 of the enemy, who has lost all his bag- 
 gage and camp equipage. All this has 
 been accomplished with the loss of twenty 
 brave men killed and sixty wounded on 
 your part. You have proved that Union 
 men fighting for the preservation of our 
 Government are more than a match for 
 our misguided and erring brothers. More 
 than this, you have shown mercy to the 
 vanquished. You have made long and 
 arduous marches, with insufficient food, 
 frequently exposed to the inclemency of 
 the weather. I have not hesitated to 
 demand this of you, feeling that I could 
 rely on* your endurance, patriotism and 
 courage. In the future I may have still 
 greater demands to make upon you 
 still greater sacrifices for you to offer. 
 It shall be my care to provide for you 
 to the extent of my ability ; but I know 
 now that by your valor and endurance 
 you will accomplish all that is asked. 
 
EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS. 
 
 351 
 
 Soldiers, I have confidence in you, and 
 I trust you have learned to confide in 
 me. Remember that discipline and sub- 
 ordination are qualities of equal value 
 with courage. I am proud to say that 
 you have gained the highest reward that 
 American troops can receive the thanks 
 of Congress and the applause of your fel- 
 low-citizens." 
 
 A few days after, General McClellan 
 was called to Washington to succeed 
 General McDowell on the Potomac, and 
 die command of the Department of the 
 
 Ohio and the army of occupation in 
 Western Virginia was assigned to Brig- 
 adier-General Rosecrans. By his gen- 
 eral orders of the 25th of July his en- 
 tire force was divided ijito four brigades. 
 One of these was entrusted to Colonel 
 Robert L. McCook of the 9th Ohio regi- 
 ment, a resolute officer who will be found 
 hereafter actively engaged in some of 
 the most perilous encounters of the 
 war. The brigade of the Kanawha re- 
 mained under the command of General 
 Cox. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI Y. 
 
 MEETING OF THE NATIONAL CONGRESS IN JULY. 
 
 IN accordance with the Proclamation 
 by President Lincoln of the 15th April, 
 the 37th National Congress met in special 
 session at Washington on the 4th of July. 
 Members from twenty-three out of the 
 thirty-four States took their seats in the 
 Senate. Kansas was not as yet repre- 
 sented, but the number of the loyal 
 States was made good on the floor by 
 the presence of that resolute defender 
 of the Union, Senator Johnson from 
 Tennessee. In the House of Representa- 
 tives a quorum was also present. In the 
 first ballot for Speaker the republican 
 vote was divided between Galusha A. 
 Grow of Pennsylvania, who had been 
 second on the list of candidates for the 
 same office in the previous Congress, and 
 Francis P. Blair of Missouri. Out of the 
 159 votes cast, Mr. Grow received 71 ; 
 Mr. Blair 40, 12 of the remainder being 
 given to Mr. Crittenden. The largest 
 vote falling short of a majority, Mr. 
 Blair withdrew in favo~ of Mr. Grow, 
 
 when the latter on a second ballot was 
 elected by 99 votes. 
 
 Mr. Grow's address on taking his seat 
 as Speaker, proved characteristic of the 
 temper of the House. Appropriately 
 referring to the foundation of the Gov- 
 ernment in the Act of Independence 
 which had given the day on which the 
 present Congress had met its peculiar 
 significance, he proceeded in a few words 
 to depict the extraordinary position in 
 which the country was now placed. "A 
 rebellion," said he, "the most causeless 
 in the history of the race, has developed 
 a conspiracy of long-standing to destroy 
 the Constitution formed by the wisdom 
 of our fathers, and the Union cemented 
 by their blood. This conspiracy, nur- 
 tured for long years in secret councils, 
 first develops itself openly in acts of 
 spoliation and plunder of public proper- 
 ty, with the connivance or under the 
 protection of treason enthroned in all the 
 high places of the Government, and at 
 
352 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 last in armed rebellion for the overthrow 
 of the best Government ever devised by 
 man. Without an effort in the mode 
 prescribed by the organic law for a re- 
 dress of all grievances, the malcontents 
 appeal only to the arbitrament of the 
 sword, insult the nation's honor, trample 
 upon its flag, and inaugurate a revolution 
 which, if successful, would end in estab- 
 lishing petty, jarring confederacies, or 
 despotism and anarchy, upon the ruins 
 of the republic, and the destruction of its 
 liberties." Of the prompt response of 
 the people of the country to the call of 
 the Executive, and of the nature of the 
 struggle upon which they were entering, 
 he said, " The 19th of April, canonized 
 in the first struggle for American nation- 
 ality, has been reconsecrated in martyr 
 blood. Warren has his counterpart in 
 Ellsworth, and the heroic deeds and pa- 
 triotic sacrifices of the struggle for the 
 establishment of the republic are being 
 reproduced upon the battle-fields for its 
 maintenance. Every race and tongue 
 almost is represented in the grand legion 
 of the Union : their standards proclaim 
 in language more impressive than words, 
 that here indeed is the home of the emi- 
 grant and the asylum of the exile. No 
 matter where was his birth-place, or in 
 what clime his infancy was cradled, he 
 devotes his life to the defence of his 
 adopted land, the vindication of its hon- 
 or, and the protection of its flag, with 
 the same zeal with which he would guard 
 his hearthstone or his fireside. All par- 
 ties, sects, and conditions of men not cor- 
 rupted by the institutions of human bond- 
 age, forgetting bygone rancors or preju- 
 dices, blend in one united phalanx for 
 the integrity of the Union and the per- 
 petuity of the republic. Long years of 
 peace, in the pursuit of sordid gain, in- 
 
 stead of blunting the patriotic devotion 
 of loyal citizens, seem but to have inten- 
 sified its development when the exist- 
 ence of the Government is threatened 
 and its honor assailed. The merchant, 
 the banker, and the tradesman, with an 
 alacrity unparalleled, proffer their all at 
 the altar of their country, while from the 
 counter, the workshop, and the plow, 
 brave hearts and stout arms, leaving 
 their tasks unfinished, rush to the tented 
 field. The air vibrates with martial 
 strains, and the earth shakes with the 
 tread of armed men. In view of this 
 grandest demonstration for self-preser- 
 vation in the history of nationalities, de- 
 sponding patriotism may be assured that 
 the foundations of our national greatness 
 still stand strong, and that the sentiment 
 which to-day beats responsive in every 
 loyal heart will for the future be realized. 
 No flag alien to the sources of the Mis- 
 sissippi river will ever float permanently 
 over its mouths till its waters are crim- 
 soned in human gore ; and not one foot 
 of American soil can ever be wrenched 
 from the jurisdiction of the Constitution 
 of the United States until it is baptized 
 in fire and blood." 
 
 On the 5th, President Lincoln having 
 been, according to custom, informed of 
 the organization of Congress, transmitted 
 the usual Message. Like his previous 
 inaugural, it was marked by individual 
 traits of style, and an equal candor and 
 earnestness. It began with a brief re- 
 capitulation of the circumstances under 
 which he had entered upon the Presi- 
 dency. At the beginning of his term, 
 four months before, the functions of the 
 Federal Government, excepting the 
 Post-Office Department, were generally 
 suspended in South Carolina, Georgia, 
 Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and 
 
THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. 
 
 358 
 
 Florida. All the forts, arsenals, dock- 
 yards, custom-houses and the like, with 
 the property belonging to them, were 
 then seized and held in open hostility to 
 the Government, excepting only Forts 
 Pickens, Taylor and Jefferson on and 
 near the Florida coast, and Fort Sumter 
 in Charleston harbor. The forts which 
 had been seized were filled with hostile 
 garrisons ; others, in or near the disaf- 
 fected States, were menaced ; new ones 
 were built and armed against the Gov- 
 ernment. " A disproportionate share of 
 the Federal muskets and rifles had some- 
 how found their way into these States, 
 and had been seized to be used against 
 the Government. Accumulations of the 
 public revenue, tying within them, had 
 been seized for the same object. The 
 navy was scattered in distant seas, leav- 
 ing but a very small part of it within the 
 immediate reach of the Government. 
 Officers of the Federal army and navy 
 had resigned in great numbers ; and of 
 those resigning, a large proportion had 
 taken up arms against the Government. 
 Simultaneously, and in connection with 
 all this, the purpose to sever the Federal 
 Union was openly avowed. In accord- 
 ance with this purpose, an ordinance had 
 been adopted in each of these States, 
 declaring the States, respectively, to be 
 separated from the National Union. A 
 formula for instituting a combined gov- 
 ernment of these States had been pro- 
 mulgated ; and this illegal organization, 
 in the character of Confederate States, 
 was already invoking recognition, aid 
 and intervention from foreign Powers. 
 Finding this condition of things, and be- 
 lieving it to be an imperative duty upon 
 the incoming Executive to prevent, if 
 possible, the consummation of such at- 
 tempt to destroy the Federal Union, a 
 45 
 
 choice of means to that end became in- 
 dispensable. This choice was made, and 
 was declared in the Inaugural Address. 
 The policy chosen looked to the exhaus- 
 tion of all peaceful measures, before a 
 resort to any stronger ones. It sought 
 only to hold the public places and prop- 
 erty not already wrested from the Gov- 
 ernment ; and to collect the revenue ; 
 relying for the rest on time, discussion, 
 and the ballot-box. It promised a con- 
 tinuance of the mails, at Government 
 expense, to the very people who were 
 resisting the Government ; and it gave 
 repeated pledges against any disturb- 
 ance to any of the people, or any of their 
 rights. Of all that which a President 
 might constitutionally and justifiably do 
 in such a case, everything was forborne, 
 without which it was believed possible 
 to keep the Government on foot." 
 
 The measures taken in pursuance of 
 this resolution the attempts made for 
 the relief of Sumter, the call, under the 
 war power, for defenders of the Union, 
 the gathering of troops, and the suspen- 
 sion of the privilege of the writ of habeas 
 corpus have already passed under our 
 notice, with the President's explanation 
 or justification of them offered on this 
 occasion.* He now further recommend- 
 ed that Congress "give the legal means 
 for making this contest a short and a 
 decisive one, that it place at the control 
 of the Government for the work, at least 
 four hundred thousand men and four 
 hundred millions of dollars. "That 
 number of men," he urged, "is about 
 one-tenth of those of proper ages within 
 the regions where, apparently, all are 
 willing to engage ; and the sum is less 
 than a twenty-third part of the money 
 value owned by the men who seem ready 
 
 * Ante, p. 121-3; 243-4. 
 
354 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 to devote the whole. A debt of six 
 hundred millions of dollars now, is a less 
 sum per head than was the debt of our 
 Revolution when we came out of that 
 struggle ; and the money value in the 
 country now bears even a greater pro- 
 portion to what it was then, than does 
 the population. Surely each man has as 
 strong a motive now, to preserve our 
 liberties, as each had then to establish 
 them. A right result at this time will 
 be worth more to the world than ten 
 times the men and ten times the money. 
 The evidence reaching us from the coun- 
 try leaves no doubt that the material for 
 the work is abundant ; and that it needs 
 only the hand of legislation to give it 
 legal sanction, an.l the hand of the Exe- 
 cutive to give it practical shape and 
 efficiency. One of the greatest perplex- 
 ities of the Government is to avoid re- 
 ceiving troops faster than it can provide 
 for them. In a word, the people will 
 save their Government, if the Govern- 
 ment itself will do its part only indiffer- 
 ently well." 
 
 The remainder of the Message was 
 mainly occupied with an argument on 
 the legality of the ground assumed by 
 the Southern States in their revolt, the 
 President apparently being anxious, at 
 the expense even of reviewing a matter 
 on which the public was already con- 
 vinced, to state, once for all, clearly and 
 fully the principles which would govern 
 him in his future action for the preserva- 
 tion of the Government. He would 
 have the world know that, not as a dog- 
 matist or a blind follower of other's 
 authority, he would exercise the power 
 intrusted to his hands, but that he would 
 bring to the work every effort of his 
 judgment to arrive at a sound conclu- 
 sion. This exercise of the reasoning 
 
 faculty, a trait perhaps derived from his 
 legal experience, appears, throughout, a 
 characteristic of the President's proceed- 
 ings. He was often afterward called to 
 employ it in the midst of opposing ap- 
 peals of prejudice, interest and other 
 motives ; and though his decision might 
 be fallible, the confidence of the people 
 that it was laboriously and honestly 
 formed, was, in consequence, freely given 
 to sustain him in many trying difficulties 
 and embarrassments of his situation. 
 
 " It would seem, at first thought," 
 says he, in this argumentative portion of 
 his Message, "to be of little difference 
 whether the present movement at the 
 South be called ' secession 'or ' rebel- 
 lion.' The movers, however, well un- 
 derstood the difference. At the begin- 
 ning, they knew they could never raise 
 their treason to any respectable magni- 
 tude by any name which implies violation 
 of law. They knew their people possess- 
 ed as much of moral sense, as much of 
 devotion to law and order, and as much 
 pride in, and reverence for, the history 
 and government of their common coun- 
 try as any other civilized and patriotic 
 people. They knew they could make no 
 advancement directly in the teeth of these 
 strong and noble sentiments. Accord- 
 ingly they commenced by an insidious 
 debauching of the public mind. They 
 invented an ingenious sophism, which, if 
 conceded, was followed by perfectly logi- 
 cal steps, through all the incidents to the 
 complete destruction of the Union. The 
 sophism itself is, that any State of the 
 Union may, consistently with the nation 
 al Constitution, and therefore lawfully 
 and peaceably, withdraw from the Union, 
 without the consent of the Union or of 
 any other State. The little disguise 
 that the supposed right is to.be exercised 
 
AN ARGUMENT BY THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 355 
 
 only for just cause, themselves to be 
 the sole judge of its justice, is too thin to 
 merit any notice. With rebellion thus 
 sugar-coated, they have been drugging 
 the public mind of their section for more 
 than thirty years ; and until at length 
 they have brought many good men to a 
 willingness to take up arms against the 
 Government the day after some assem- 
 blage of men have enacted the farcical 
 pretence of taking their State out of the 
 Union, who could have been brought to 
 no such thing the day before. 
 
 "This sophism derives much, perhaps 
 the whole, of its currency from the 
 assumption that there is some omnipotent 
 and sacred supremacy pertaining to a 
 State to each State of our Federal 
 Union. Our States have neither more 
 nor less power than that reserved to 
 them in the Union by the Constitution- 
 no one of them ever having been a State 
 out of the Union. The original ones 
 passed into the Union before they cast 
 off their British colonial dependence ; 
 and the new ones each came into the 
 Union directly from a condition of de- 
 pendence, excepting Texas. And even 
 Texas, in its temporary independence, 
 was never designated a 'State. The new 
 ones only took the designation of States 
 on coming into the Union, while that 
 name was first adopted for the old ones, 
 in and by the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence. Therein the ' United Colonies ' 
 were declared to be ' free and independ- 
 ent States ;' but, even then, the object 
 plainly was not to declare their independ- 
 ence of one another, or of the Union, 
 but directly the contrary, as their mutual 
 pledge and their mutual action before, at 
 the time, and afterwards, abundantly 
 show . The express plighting of faith by 
 each and all of the original thirteen, in 
 
 the Articles of Confederation, two years 
 later, that the Union shall be perpetual, 
 is most conclusive. Having never been 
 States, neither in substance nor in name, 
 outside of the Union, whence this magi- 
 cal omnipotence of 'State rights,' as- 
 serting a claim of power to lawfully 
 destroy the Union itself? Much is said 
 about the ' sovereignty ' of the States ; 
 but the word, even, is not in the national 
 Constitution ; nor, as is believed, in any 
 of the State Constitutions. What is a 
 ' sovereignty,' in the political sense of 
 the term ? Would it be far wrong to 
 define it, ' A political community without 
 a political superior? 7 Tested by this, 
 no one of our States, except Texas, ever 
 was a sovereignty. And even Texas 
 gave up the character on coming intc 
 the Union ; by which act, she acknowl- 
 edged the Constitution of the United 
 States, and the laws and treaties of the 
 United States made in pursuance of the 
 Constitution, to be, for her, the supreme 
 law of the land. The States .have their 
 status IN the Union, and they have no 
 other legal status. If they break from 
 this, they can only do so against law, and 
 by revolution. The Union, and not them- 
 selves separately", procured their inde- 
 pendence and their liberty. By con- 
 quest, or purchase, the Union gave each 
 of them whatever of independence and 
 liberty it has. The Union is older than 
 any of the States, and, in fact, it created 
 them as States. Originally some depend- 
 ent colonies made the Union, and, in 
 turn, the Union threw off their old de- 
 pendence for them, and made them States 
 such as they are. Not one of them evei 
 had a State Constitution independent of 
 the Union. Of course it is not forgotten 
 that all the new States framed their con- 
 stitutions before they entered the Union ; 
 
356 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 nevertheless, dependent upon, and pre- 
 paratory to, coming into the Union. 
 
 " Unquestionably the States have the 
 powers and rights reserved to them in 
 and by the national Constitution ; but 
 among these surely are not included all 
 conceivable powers, however mischiev- 
 ous or destructive ; but, at most, such 
 only as were known in the world, at the 
 time, as governmental powers ; and cer- 
 tainly a power to destroy the govern- 
 ment itself had never been known as a 
 governmental as a merely administra- 
 tive power. This relative matter of na- 
 tional power and State rights, as a prin- 
 ciple, is no other than the principle of 
 generality and locality. Whatever con- 
 cerns the whole should be confided to 
 the whole to the general Government ; 
 while whatever concerns only the State 
 should be left exclusively to the State. 
 This is all there is of original principle 
 about it. Whether the national Consti- 
 tution, in defining boundaries between 
 the two, ljas applied the principle with 
 exact accuracy, is not to be questioned. 
 We are all bound to that defining, with- 
 out question. What is now cornbatted, 
 is the position that secession is consistent 
 with the Constitution is lawful and 
 peaceful. It is not contended that there 
 is any express law for it ; and nothing 
 should ever be implied as law which 
 leads to unjust or absurd consequences. 
 The nation purchased, with money, the 
 countries out of which several of these 
 States were formed. Is it just that they 
 shall go off without leave, and without 
 refunding ? The nation paid very large 
 sums, (in the aggregate, I believe, nearly 
 a hundred millions,) to relieve Florida 
 of the aboriginal tribes. Is it just that 
 she shall now be off without consent, or 
 without making any return ? The nation 
 
 is now in debt for money applied to the 
 benefit of these so-called seceding States, 
 in common with the rest. Is it just 
 either that creditors shall go unpaid, 01 
 the remaining States pay the whole ? A 
 part of the present national debt was 
 contracted to pay the old debts of Texas. 
 Is it just that she shall leave, and pay no 
 part of this herself ? Again, if one State 
 may secede, so may another ; and when 
 all shall have seceded, none is left to pay 
 the debts. Is this quite just to credit- 
 ors? Did we notify them of this sage 
 view of ours when we borrowed their 
 money ? If we now recognize this doc- 
 trine by allowing the seceders to go in 
 peace, it is difficult to see what we can 
 do if others choose to go, or to extort 
 terms upon which they will promise to 
 remain. 
 
 "The seceders insist that our Consti- 
 tution admits of secession. They have 
 assumed to make a national Constitution 
 of their own, in which, of necessity, they 
 have either discarded or retained the 
 right of secession, as, they insist, it exists 
 in ours. If they have discarded it, they 
 thereby admit that, on principle, it 
 ought not to be in ours. If they have re- 
 tained it. by their own construction of 
 ours they show that, to be consistent, 
 they must secede from one another when- 
 ever they shall find it the easiest way of 
 settling their debts, or effecting any 
 other selfish or unjust object. The prin- 
 ciple itself is one of disintegration, and 
 upon which no government can possibly 
 endure. If all the States, save one, 
 should assert the power to drive that one 
 out of the Union, it is presumed the 
 whole class of seceder politicians would 
 at once deny the power, and denounce 
 the act as the greatest outrage upon 
 State rights. But suppose that precisely 
 
A PEOPLE'S CONTEST. 
 
 357 
 
 the same act, instead of being called 
 ' driving the one out,' should be called 
 ' the seceding of the others from that 
 one,' it would be exactly what the seced- 
 ers claim to do ; unless, indeed, they 
 make the point that the one, because it 
 is a minority, may rightfully do what 
 the others, because they are a majority, 
 may not rightfully do. These politicians 
 are subtle and profound on the rights of 
 minorities. They are not partial to that 
 power which made the Constitution, and 
 speaks from the preamble, calling itself 
 ' We, the People.' It may well be ques- 
 tioned whether there is to-day a major- 
 ity of the legally qualified voters of any 
 State, except perhaps South Carolina, in 
 favor of disunion. There is much reason 
 to believe that the Union men are the 
 majority in many, if not in every other 
 one, of the so-called seceded States. The 
 contrary has not been demonstrated in 
 any one of them. It is ventured to 
 affirm this even of Virginia and Tennes- 
 see ; for the result of an election, held in 
 military camps, where the bayonets are 
 all on one side of the question voted 
 upon, can scarcely be considered as 
 demonstrating popular sentiment. At 
 such an election all that large class who 
 are at once for the Union, and against 
 coercion, would be coerced to vote 
 against the Union." 
 
 Having thus disposed of the legal ar- 
 gument as it presented itself to his mind, 
 he drew as a practical inference from the 
 whole, an actual test of the value of the 
 theory, a picture of the fruits of the sys- 
 tem in the end of all good government, 
 the welfare of the people. As a cardinal 
 principle of his action which might be 
 required to guide him through great per- 
 plexities lying dark and threatening in 
 the concealed future, he evidently laid 
 
 particular stress upon this topic. "It 
 may be affirmed," he said, " without ex- 
 travagance, that the free institutions we 
 enjoy have developed the powers, and 
 improved the condition, of our whole 
 people, beyond any example in the 
 world. .Of this we now have a striking 
 and an impressive illustration. So large 
 an army as the government has now on 
 foot was never before known, without a 
 soldier in it, but who had taken his place 
 there of his own free choice. But more 
 than this : there are many single regi- 
 ments whose members, one and another, 
 possess full practical knowledge of all the 
 arts, sciences, professions, and whatever 
 else, whether useful or elegant, is known 
 in the world ; and there is scarcely one 
 from which there could not be selected a 
 President, a Cabinet, a Congress, and 
 perhaps a Court, abundantly competent 
 to administer the government itself! Nor 
 do I say that this is not true also in the 
 army of our late friends, now adversa- 
 ries, in this contest ; but if it is, so much 
 better the reason why the government, 
 which has conferred such benefits on 
 both them and us, should not be broken 
 up. Whoever, in any section, proposes 
 to abandon such a government, would do 
 well to consider, in deference to what 
 principle it is that he does it what 
 better he is likely to get in its stead 
 whether the substitute will give, or be 
 intended to give, so much of good to the 
 people. There are some foreshadowings 
 on this subject. Our adversaries have 
 adopted some declarations of independ- 
 ence, in which, unlike the good old one 
 penned by Jefferson, they omit the words 
 ' all men are created equal.' Why ? They 
 have adopted a temporary national con- 
 stitution,- in the preamble of which, un- 
 like our good old one signed by Wash 
 
358 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ington, they omit ' We, the people,' and 
 substitute ' We, the deputies of the sove- 
 reign and independent States.' Why ? 
 Why this deliberate pressing out of view 
 the rights of men and the authority of 
 the people ? 
 
 " This is essentially a People's con- 
 test. On the side of the Union it is a 
 struggle for maintaining in the world 
 that form and substance of government 
 whose leading object is to elevate the 
 condition of men to lift artificial weights 
 from all shoulders ; to clear the paths of 
 laudable pursuit for all ; to afford all an 
 unfettered start, and a fair chance in the 
 race of life. Yielding to partial and 
 temporary departures, from necessity, 
 this is the leading object of the govern- 
 ment for whose existence we contend. 
 I am most happy to believe that the 
 plain people understand and appreciate 
 this. It is worthy of note, that while in 
 this, the government's hour of trial, large 
 numbers of those in the army and navy 
 who have been favored with the offices, 
 have resigned, and proved false to the 
 hand which had pampered them, not one 
 common soldier, or common sailor, is 
 known to have deserted his flag. Great 
 honor is due to those officers who re- 
 mained true, despite the example of 
 their treacherous associates ; but the 
 greatest honor, and most important fact 
 of all, is the unanimous firmness of the 
 common soldiers and common sailors. 
 To the last man, so far as known, they 
 have successfully resisted the traitorous 
 efforts of those whose commands, but an 
 hour before, they obeyed as absolute 
 law. This is the patriotic instinct of 
 plain people. They understand, with- 
 out an argument, that the destroying 
 the government which was made by 
 Washington means no good to them." 
 
 President Lincoln concluded his mes- 
 sage with evident feeling of the weight 
 of responsibility cast upon him, as he 
 gave utterance to this declaration of the 
 motives and principles of his future ac- 
 tion. " Our popular government," he 
 said, "has often been called an experi- 
 ment. Two points in it our people have 
 already settled the successful establish- 
 ing and the successful administering of 
 it. One still remains its successful 
 maintenance against a formidable inter- 
 nal attempt to overthrow it. It is now 
 for them to demonstrate to the world 
 that those who can fairly carry an elec- 
 tion can also suppress a rebellion ; that 
 ballots are the rightful and peaceful suc- 
 cessors of bullets ; and that when ballots 
 have fairly and constitutionally decided, 
 there can be no successful appeal back 
 to bullets ; that there can be no success- 
 ful appeal except to ballots themselves, 
 at succeeding elections. Such will be a 
 great lesson of peace ; teaching men that 
 what they cannot take by an election, 
 neither can they take it by a war ; 
 teaching all the folly of being the be- 
 ginners of a war. 
 
 " Lest there be some uneasiness in 
 the minds of candid men, as to what is 
 to be the course of the government to- 
 wards the southern States after the re- 
 bellion shall have been suppressed, the 
 Executive deems it proper to say it will 
 be his purpose then, as ever, to be guided 
 by the Constitution and the laws ; and 
 that he probably will have no different 
 understanding of the powers and duties 
 of the federal government relatively to 
 the rights of the States and the people, 
 under the Constitution, than that ex- 
 pressed in the inaugural address. He 
 desires to preserve the government, that 
 it may be administered for all, as it was 
 
GATHERING OF THE ARMY. 
 
 359 
 
 administered by the men who made it. 
 Loyal citizens everywhere have the right 
 to claim this of their government ; and 
 the government has no right to withhold 
 or neglect it. It is not perceived that, 
 in giving it, there is any coercion, any 
 conquest, or any subjugation, in any just 
 sense of those terms. The Constitution 
 provides, and all the States have ac- 
 cepted the provision, that ' The United 
 States shall guarantee to every State in 
 this Union a republican form of govern- 
 ment.' But if a State may lawfully go 
 out of the Union, having done so, it may 
 also discard the republican form of gov- 
 ernment ; so that to prevent its going 
 out is an indispensable means, to the 
 end, of maintaining the guaranty men- 
 tioned ; and when an end is lawful and 
 obligatory, the indispensable means to it 
 are alsc lawful and obligatory. 
 
 " It was with the deepest regret that 
 the Executive found the duty of em- 
 ploying the war-power, in defence of the 
 government, forced upon him. He could 
 but perform this duty, or surrender the 
 existence of the government. No com- 
 promise, by public servants, could, in 
 this case, be a cure ; not that compro- 
 mises are not often proper, but that no 
 popular government can long survive a 
 marked precedent, that those who carry 
 an election can only save the government 
 from immediate destruction by giving up 
 the main point upon which the people 
 gave the election. The people them- 
 selves, and not their servants, can safely 
 reverse their own deliberate decisions. 
 As a private citizen, the Executive could 
 not have consented that these institutions 
 shall perish ; much less could he, in be- 
 trayal of so vast and so sacred a trust as 
 these free people had confided to him. 
 He felt that he had no moral right to 
 
 shrink, nor even to count the chances of 
 his own life in what might follow. In 
 full view of his great responsibility, he 
 has, so far, done what he has deemed 
 his duty. You will now, according to 
 your own judgment, perform yours. He 
 sincerely hopes that your views, and 
 your action, may so accord with his as 
 to assure all faithful citizens, who have 
 been disturbed in their rights, of a cer- 
 tain and speedy restoration to them 
 under the Constitution and the laws. 
 And having thus chosen our course, 
 without guile and with pure purpose, 
 let us renew our trust in God, and go 
 forward without fear and with manly 
 hearts." 
 
 The Cabinet reports accompanying 
 the President's Message exhibited in 
 gratifying terms the unanimity of the 
 loyal States, and their sympathy with 
 and support of the efforts of the Admin- 
 istration. In answer to the first call of 
 the Executive for 75,000 men, notwith- 
 standing the disaffection of the authori- 
 ties of several of the States appealed to, 
 a greater number came forward and 
 were actualty in service. Delaware and 
 Virginia had thus furnished each a regi- 
 ment, and the loyal citizens of Missouri 
 had contributed twelve regiments to sus- 
 tain the government. The District of 
 Columbia had sent four full regiments 
 into the field. Under the second call 
 of the 4th of May for volunteers during 
 the war, 208 regiments had been already 
 accepted, all infantry and riflemen with 
 the exception of 2 battalions of artillery 
 and 4 regiments of cavalry. Of these 
 153 were already in active service. The 
 entire force was thus computed : regu- 
 lars and volunteers for three months and 
 the war, 235,000 ; regiments of volun- 
 teers accepted and not yet in service 
 
360 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 50,000 ; new regiments of the regular 
 army, 25,000 ; making a total of 310,- 
 000. Deducting the 80,000 three months 
 volunteers, 230,000 would be left for the 
 effective national army for the war. 
 
 Pleased with the alacrity with which 
 the call for troops had been answered by 
 the people, and the excellent appearance 
 in general of the recruits, Secretary Cam- 
 eron eulogized the volunteer system which 
 had borne such fruits. "A government," 
 said he, " whose every citizen stands 
 ready to march to its defence can never 
 be overthrown ; for none is so strong as 
 that whose foundations rest immovably 
 in the hearts of the people. The spec- 
 tacle of more than a quarter of a million 
 of citizens rushing to the field in defence 
 of the Constitution must ever take rank 
 among the most extraordinary facts of 
 history. Its interest is vastly height- 
 ened by the lavish outpouring, from 
 States and individuals, of voluntary con- 
 tributions of money, reaching an aggre- 
 gate thus far of more than ten millions 
 of dollars. But a few weeks since the 
 men composing this great army were 
 pursuing the avocations of peace. They 
 gathered from the farm, from the work- 
 shop, from the factory, from the mine. 
 The minister came from his pulpit, the 
 merchant from his counting-room, the 
 professor and student from the college, 
 the teacher and pupil from the common 
 schools. Young men of fortune left lux- 
 urious homes for the tent and the camp. 
 Native and foreign born alike came for- 
 ward with a kindred enthusiasm. That 
 a well-disciplined, homogeneous, and ef- 
 ficient force should be formed out of such 
 a seemingly heterogeneous mass appears 
 almost incredible. But what is the ac- 
 tual fact ? Experienced men, who have 
 had ample opportunity to familiarize 
 
 themselves with the condition of Euro- 
 pean armies, concede that, in point of 
 personnel, this patriot army is fully 
 equal to the finest regular troops of the 
 Old World. A more intelligent body 
 of men, or one actuated by purer mo- 
 tives, was never before marshalled in 
 the field." 
 
 The Secretary of the Navy, Gideon 
 Welles, could hardly as yet be expected 
 to report so satisfactory an increase in 
 his Department. A ship could not be 
 constructed as soon or as readily as a 
 brigade could be got together. His tri- 
 umphs were to come hereafter, as the 
 result of naval appropriations by Con- 
 gress. On the 4th of March the navy 
 of the United States, excluding vessels 
 on the stocks unfinished, those used as 
 stationary storeships and receiving ships, 
 and those considered inexpedient to re- 
 pair, numbered, of all classes, an availa- 
 ble force of 69, mounting 1,346 guns j and 
 of these, 24 only, mounting 555 guns, 
 were in commission. From this "avail- 
 able" force of 69 were speedily to be 
 deducted the sloop Levant, given up as 
 lost in the Pacific ; the steamer Fulton, 
 seized at Pensacola ; and one frigate, 
 two sloops, and a brig burnt at Norfolk. 
 The vessels in commission had a com- 
 plement, exclusive of officers and ma- 
 rines, of about 7,600 men, and nearly 
 all of them were on foreign stations. 
 The home squadron consisted of twelve 
 vessels carrying 187 guns and about 
 2,000 men. Of this squadron only four 
 small vessels carrying 25 guns and about 
 280 men were in northern ports. " With 
 so few vessels," continues Mr. Welles, 
 "in commission on our coast, and our 
 crews in distant seas, the department 
 was very indifferently prepared to meet 
 the exigency that was rising. Every 
 
PROGRESS OF THE NAVY. 
 
 361 
 
 movement was closely watched by the 
 disaffected, and threatened to precipitate 
 measures that the country seemed anx- 
 ious to avoid. Demoralization prevailed 
 among the officers, many of whom, occu- 
 pying the most responsible positions, be- 
 trayed symptoms of that infidelity which 
 lias dishonored the service. But while 
 so many officers were unfaithful, the 
 crews, to their honor be it recorded, 
 were true and reliable, and have main- 
 tained, through every trial and under 
 all circumstances, their devotion to the 
 Union and the flag. Unfortunately, 
 however, few comparatively of these 
 gallant men were within the call of the 
 department at that eventful period. 
 They, as well as the ships, were abroad." 
 When it is added that, between the 4th 
 of March and the 4th of July, 259 offi- 
 cers of the navy had resigned their com- 
 missions or been dismissed the service 
 from sympathy or complicity with the 
 rebellion, we may estimate the position 
 of the Secretary when he was called 
 upon by the Presidential proclamations 
 of April 19th and 27th, to provide ves- 
 sels for the blockade of a sea-coast line 
 of nearly three thousand miles, with va- 
 rious inlets and harbors, from the capes 
 of Virginia along the Atlantic and the 
 Gulf of Mexico to the Rio Grande at the 
 extremity of Texas. 
 
 The first duty, in anticipation of this 
 demand was, of course, to recall the 
 ships on foreign service, and as they 
 came in one after the other, they were 
 at once hurried Southward to enforce the 
 blockade. The administration of the 
 oath of allegiance to the officers, purged 
 the service of friends to the rebellion. 
 Other means were, however, necessary 
 to strengthen this arm of the public 
 defence, and they were taken in anticipa- 
 46 
 
 tion of the meeting of Congress, the 
 authority being found " in the necessities 
 and condition of the country and the 
 times." Transport steamers were at 
 first secured ; contracts were given out 
 for the building of twenty-three gunboats, 
 each of about 500 tons burden, and other 
 larger and fleeter vessels were bargained 
 for. Eight sloops of war were also put 
 in forwardness at the four Navy Yards. 
 The supply of seamen for this enlarged 
 force had kept pace with the prompt re- 
 cruiting for the army. "At no period 
 of our history," says Mr. Welles, "has 
 the naval force had so great and rapid 
 an increase, and never have our seamen 
 come forward with more alacrity and 
 zeal to serve the country." The effect- 
 ive force in service on the 4th of July 
 consisted of the squadron in the Atlantic 
 coast, under the command of Flag-Officer 
 S. H. Stringham, consisting of 22 vessels, 
 296 guns, and 3,300 men and the 
 squadron in the Gulf of Mexico, under 
 the command of Flag-Officer William 
 Mervine, consisting of 21 vessels, 282 
 guns, and 3,500 men. 
 
 Such an increase of the army and 
 navy as has been indicated, with the 
 vast attendant outlays for various mate- 
 rials of war, equipment, construction and 
 supplies, it was evident would require an 
 enormous outlay an expectation which 
 was not disappointed in the gigantic fig- 
 ures of the report of the Secretary of the 
 Treasury. From about $60,000,000 per 
 annum, a rough estimate "or the expen- 
 ditures of the year under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances, the calculation for the outlay 
 of the new fiscal year ending June, 
 1862, was suddenly inflated to about 
 $300,000,000, or five times the sum. To 
 provide for this was the question. Mr. 
 Chase's proposition was two-fold by 
 
362 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 taxation and loan. Setting aside 
 $80,000,000 as the regular expenditure 
 of the year, he suggested that sum should 
 be met by the usual custom-house pay- 
 ments, which he calculated, by the in- 
 crease of the tariff on certain articles of 
 general consumption, as sugar, and the 
 imposition of a duty on others, as tea 
 and coffee, at present wholly exempt, 
 might produce $57,000,000. To this 
 might be added $3,000,000 from the sale 
 of the public lands and various sources, 
 leaving the round sum of $20,000,000 to 
 be provided by direct taxes, or from in- 
 ternal duties or excises, or both. How 
 lightly such a direct tax would fall upon 
 the property of the country he exhibited 
 in the following estimate. The value of 
 the real and personal property of the peo- 
 ple of the United States he found, accord- 
 ing to the census of 1860, to be about 
 $16,000,000,000, of which something 
 over two-thirds belonged to the States 
 not included in the rebellion, and of this 
 last sum, about seven and a half billions 
 represented the value of the real, and 
 about three billions the value of the per- 
 sonal property. A rate of one-eighth of 
 one per cent, ad valorem on the whole 
 real and personal property of the coun- 
 try would thus produce a sum of about 
 twenty millions of dollars ; a rate one- 
 fifth of one per cent, on the real and 
 personal property of the States not under 
 insurrection, would produce nearly twen- 
 ty-two millions, and a rate of three- tenths 
 of one per cent, on the real property 
 alone in these States would produce 
 nearly twenty-three millions ; either sum 
 being in excess of the amount required. 
 In this scheme of the ways and means 
 of taxation, Mr. Chase's recommendation 
 of internal duties brought up the sugges- 
 tion an entirely novel one at the time, 
 
 for the people of the nation had yet to 
 learn the nature of burdens of this kind 
 of "moderate charges on stills and dis- 
 tilled liquors, on ale and beer, on tobac- 
 co, on bank notes, on spring carriages, 
 on silverware and jewelry, and on lega- 
 cies." Startling as this brief inventory 
 then seemed, the public soon became 
 familiar with these unpleasant details on 
 a much more extended scale and in 
 grander proportions. Mr. Chase's mod- 
 est paragraph was an innocent-looking 
 prelude to the portentous schedule of the 
 Tax Bill enacted the following year. " It 
 will not, perhaps," added the Secretary, 
 "be thought out of place if the Secretary 
 suggests here that- the property of those 
 engaged in insurrection or in giving aid 
 and comfort to insurgents, may properly 
 be made to contribute to the expendi- 
 tures made necessary " by their criminal 
 misconduct as a part of the punishment 
 due to the guilt of involving the nation 
 in the calamities of civil war, and thereby 
 bringing distress upon so many innocent 
 citizens. Congress may justly provide 
 for the forfeiture of the whole or part of 
 the estates of offenders, and for the pay- 
 ment of the proceeds into the public 
 Treasury." 
 
 There yet remained, according to Mr. 
 Chase's calculation, some $240,000,000 
 to be provided for ; and this he proposed 
 to manage by loan in triple form. Dis- 
 carding the usual confined operations 
 through the banking-houses, he devised 
 a plan of directly reaching the public at 
 large by the issue of $100,000,000 of 
 Treasury notes, payable three years 
 after date, bearing 7-ft per cent, interest 
 a rate chosen "because it is liberal to 
 the subscriber, convenient for calculation, 
 and, under existing circumstances, fair 
 for the Government. ... It is beneficial 
 
FINANCIAL RESOURCES. 
 
 363 
 
 to the whole people that a loan distrib- 
 uted among themselves should be made 
 so advantageous to the takers as to in- 
 spire satisfaction and hopes of profit ra- 
 ther than anno} T ance and fears of loss ; 
 and if the rate of interest proposed be 
 somewhat higher than that allowed in 
 ordinary times, it will not be grudged to 
 the subscribers when it is remembered 
 that the interest on the loan will go into 
 the channels of home circulation, and is 
 to reward those who come forward in the 
 hour of peril to place their means at the 
 disposal of their country. The conveni- 
 ence of calculation incident to the rate 
 proposed is quite obvious ; for, the inter- 
 est being equal to one cent a day on fifty 
 dollars, it is only necessary to know the 
 number of days since the date of a note 
 or of the last payment of interest to de- 
 termine, at a glance, the amount due 
 upon it. To increase still further this 
 facility of calculation, it is proposed also 
 to issue the Treasury notes of this loan 
 in sums of fifty, one hundred, five hun- 
 dred, one thousand and five thousand 
 dollars, with the amount of interest for 
 specified periods engraved on the back 
 of each note. The facility thus secured 
 to the holder of determining the exact 
 amount of the note and interest, without 
 any trouble of computation, will materi- 
 al^ enhance its value for all purposes of 
 investment and payment." A. further 
 issue of a hundred millions of seven per 
 cent, thirty year bonds was recommend- 
 ed a bid for foreign capitalists the in- 
 terest being payable in London or at the 
 Treasury of the United States, with ex- 
 change at such rate as will make the 
 payment equivalent to the payment in 
 London. An issue of .$50,000,000 of 
 Treasury notes, of ten or twenty dollars 
 each, exchangeable for the 7tk notes, or 
 
 paj^able in coin on demand, completed 
 the recommendations of Mr. Chase's 
 financial budget, which certainly had the 
 merit of presenting a difficult subject 
 with equal ingenuity and clearness. His 
 report, reviewing the difficulties of the 
 situation, concluded with a few words of 
 hopeful augury. "The energies of a 
 great people," he wrote, " will, as he 
 firmly believes, surmount all the troubles 
 and calamities of the present time, and, 
 under the good hand of the God of our 
 fathers, out of these very troubles and 
 difficulties build a future which shall sur- 
 pass the whole glorious past in the rich- 
 ness of its blessings and benefits." 
 
 The temper of the new Congress was, 
 with the exception of a few of the mem- 
 bers, decidedly warlike. After the mani- 
 fold experience of the previous session in 
 that direction, there was little disposition 
 to look into the grounds of political ac- 
 tion or contrive profitless schemes of con- 
 ciliation or adjustment. Sumter had 
 changed all that. The representatives 
 of the people now met to deal practically 
 with rebellion in arms, and they prompt- 
 ly devoted themselves to the business 
 before them. There were not, however, 
 wanting occasional discussions which 
 gave the opportunity for free criticism 
 on both sides of the cause and conduct 
 of the war. A running debate on the 
 joint resolution of approval of the Presi- 
 dential acts, such as the proclamation 
 calling out the troops, declaring the 
 blockade, and his orders suspending the 
 privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, 
 which were thought to require a certain 
 sanction or absolution at the hands of 
 Congress, brought up many interesting 
 matters of discussion which will well 
 repay the reader in a study of the re- 
 ports. Senator Baker of -Oregon, spoke 
 
364 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 on several of these occasions. His 
 speech of the 10th of July is noticeable 
 for its unhesitating confidence in the ap- 
 peal to arms. "I approve," said he, 
 "as a personal and political friend of the 
 President, of every measure of his ad- 
 ministration in relation to the rebellion 
 at present raging in this country. I 
 propose to ratify whatever needs ratifi- 
 cation. I propose to render my clear 
 and distinct approval not only of the 
 measure, but of the motive which 
 prompted it. I propose to lend the 
 whole power of the country arms, men, 
 money and place them in his hands, 
 with authority almost unlimited, until the 
 conclusion of this struggle. He has ask- 
 ed for $400,000,000. We propose to 
 give him $500,000,000. He has asked 
 for 400,000 men. We propose to give 
 him half a million ; and for my part, 
 if, as I do not apprehend, the emer- 
 gency should be still greater, I will 
 cheerfully add a cypher to either of these 
 figures. But, sir, while I do that, I de- 
 sire, by my word and my vote, to have 
 it clearly understood that I do that as a 
 measure of war. As I had occasion to 
 say, in a very early discussion of this 
 question, I want sudden, bold, forward, 
 determined war ; and I not think any- 
 body can conduct war of that kind as 
 well as a dictator. But, as a Senator, I 
 deem it my duty to look forward to re- 
 turning peace. I do not believe that it 
 will be longer than next February 
 
 " Till danger's troubled night is o'er, 
 And the star of peace returns." 
 
 Whether that peace shall be conquered 
 at Richmond, or Montgomery, or New 
 Orleans, or in the wilds of Texas, I do 
 not presume to say ; but I do know, if I 
 may use so bold a word, that the deter- 
 mined aggregated power of the whole 
 
 people of this country all its treasure, 
 all its arms, all its blood, all its enthusi- 
 asm, kindled, concentrated, poured out 
 into one mass of living valor upon any 
 foe will conquer." 
 
 In his concluding remarks he struck 
 upon a vein of thought which might then 
 have been regarded as a random specu- 
 lation, but which, in the strange experi- 
 ences which the country was soon to 
 undergo, became familiar enough as a 
 practical necessity that of providing an 
 intermediate government for States sub- 
 jugated by the Union arms. "I be- 
 lieve," said he, "with most gentlemen 
 that the Union sentiment will yet pre- 
 vail in the southern States. Bayonets 
 are sharp remedies, but they are very 
 powerful. I am one of those who be- 
 lieve that there may be reverses. I am 
 not quite confident that we shall overrun 
 the southern States, as we shall have to 
 overrun them, without severe trials of 
 our courage and our patience. I believe 
 they are a brave, determined people, 
 filled with their enthusiasm, false in its 
 purposes, as I think, but still one which 
 animates almost all classes of their popu- 
 lation. But, however that may be, it 
 may be that instead of finding, within a 
 year, loyal States sending members to 
 Congress, and replacing their Senators 
 upon this floor, we may have to reduce 
 them to the condition of Territories, and 
 send from Massachusetts or from Illinois 
 Governors to control them. It may be ; 
 and, sir, if need come, I am one of those 
 who would be willing to do it. I would 
 do that. I would risk even the stigma 
 of being despotic and oppressive, rather 
 than risk the perpetuity of the Union of 
 these States. I repeat, and with that 
 repetition I close : fight the war through ; 
 accomplish a peace ; make it so perfect 
 
MILITARY CALCULATIONS. 
 
 305 
 
 and so permanent that a boy may pre- 
 serve it ; and when you have done that, 
 you have no more need for a standing 
 army. Patch up a peace ; if you make 
 it before you are ready ; if you imagine 
 them conquered before they really sub- 
 mit ; if you treat with rebels and con- 
 federate States, you may need a stand- 
 ing army forever ; but if you really con- 
 quer a peace ; if your bayonets gleam in 
 every city in this Union ; if you hold 
 them by the strong hand of power ; if 
 you tell them, ' Gentlemen, you have 
 been regardless of the great blessings of 
 free government under which you lived 
 and rejoiced for over seventy years ; 
 now as you have sought the despotism 
 of arms, we will show you what arms 
 are :' when you really do that, and 
 break their spirit, when Toombs and 
 Davis are wandering in exile, despised 
 and almos! forgotten among men, except 
 by the enormity of their crime, then, sir, 
 you want no standing army." 
 
 As the time rapidly approached, the 
 memorable trial of arms between the two 
 divided portions of the country in the 
 fatal day at Manassas, it is curious to 
 note the speculations of prominent mem- 
 bers in reference to the military condi- 
 tions of the war. On the 13th of July 
 Senator Wilson of Massachusetts, in a 
 discussion on the appointments for the 
 army, said, "The Senator (Mr. Nesmith 
 of Oregon) talks about the policy of 
 the Southern confederacy. I say to that 
 Senator that there is no comparison what- 
 ever between the officers of the Southern 
 confederacy and the officers now in the 
 service of this Government. They can- 
 not compare a moment in talent or ex- 
 perience. They have some ten or a 
 dozen officers formerly of the Army of 
 the United States who are men of talent, 
 
 men recognized as men of talent, and 
 they have given them important appoint- 
 ments ; but when those men seceded from 
 the Army of the United States they did 
 not take all the talent or all the experi- 
 ence from the army. Far more talent 
 and far more experience were left in the 
 Army of the United States than those 
 gentlemen took away with them. In re- 
 gard to these appointments generally, 
 men have everywhere been sought who 
 have heretofore served in the army, or 
 who have had a military education. In 
 spite of all our shortcomings which are 
 great, and I admit them to be great 
 the Senator will find, if he consults men 
 who know very well the condition of the 
 confederates in the field, that they have 
 men of inexperience j men of as little 
 experience in regard to field duties as 
 can be found in the regiments that have 
 been raised to support the Government 
 of the country. The truth is, that, in 
 bringing into the field as we have to- 
 day two hundred and forty-odd thou- 
 sand men, brought in in less than ninety 
 days, we must necessarily have a great 
 many men of inexperience ; but in spite 
 of that, and of the suddenness of this 
 movement, we have many men of a great 
 deal of experience and ability ; and there 
 never was a time in the history of the 
 country when men of talent, men of cul- 
 ture, men of experience, men of fortune, 
 men who have mastered all that could 
 be mastered in the colleges and institu- 
 tions of learning of the country, are 
 seeking, as they are now seeking, ad- 
 mission into the army. There are to- 
 day pending before the War Office many 
 hundreds, and I may say many thousands, 
 of applications ; I have seen it estimated 
 as high as seven thousand. I know that 
 from my own State, where men generally 
 
366 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 have avoided seeking the army, we have 
 from one to two hundred men who are 
 asking for admissions ; who would take 
 a second lieutenant's commission and re- 
 joice over it ; some of them men who 
 are distinguished for their scholarship, 
 for their attainments, for personal char- 
 acter ; men who do not go into the army 
 for any other purpose than to serve the 
 country ; men who have fortunes of hun- 
 dreds of thousands of dollars to live upon. 
 Why, sir, some gentlemen of that kind 
 have been appointed ; men who do not 
 go in the army for pay, but who go into 
 it because they want to serve the coun- 
 try in this great crisis ; and they prefer 
 to go into the army rather than to go 
 into the volunteers ; and I must confess, 
 myself, that I sympathize in that ; for, 
 if I had to be pressed into* the ser- 
 vice, I would rather go into the army 
 and serve five years than into the vol- 
 unteers and serve three years, at the 
 same pay, for the comforts of life, for 
 safety, for everything connected with a 
 soldier." 
 
 Two days after, on the eve of the ad- 
 vance of the Army of the Potomac, Sen- 
 ator Dixon of Connecticut seconded the 
 demand for action, and glancing into the 
 future saw all obstacles rapidly yielding 
 to the one indomitable principle of the 
 territorial integrity of the Union. " Men 
 and money," said he, "in any number 
 and to any amount it is our business to 
 grant to the Administration. That being 
 done no halting, no delay, no thought 
 of peace, till the supremacy of the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States shall be an 
 acknowledged fact throughout our entire 
 domain. I rejoice at the signs which in- 
 dicate early and energetic action on the 
 part of the Government ; for of all things, 
 in my judgment, delay is most to be 
 
 dreaded. Temporary defeat may not be 
 fatal ; but the slow canker of tardy in- 
 action will rust into the very heart and 
 spirit of the people. This war is to them 
 a serious and costly business. They de- 
 mand that it be short, decisive, terrific 
 and overwhelming ; and if in any quar- 
 ter they are thwarted of this purpose, 
 their indignation will be proportioned to 
 their disappointment. The events of the 
 day are marked by rapidity of move- 
 ment. At the commencement of the 
 last session of Congress, little more than 
 six months ago, the great rebellion which 
 has now reached its height, involving no 
 less than eleven States, was onty threat- 
 ened. To-day, whatever may be its con- 
 tinuance in point of time, we may feel 
 assured that, if the popular will shall be 
 carried into execution, it is already more 
 than half suppressed. That it cannot, if 
 properly treated, grow from a rebellion 
 into a successful revolution, is already 
 decided. Its end is certain, though its 
 length of duration may be uncertain. 
 The United States of America are to 
 remain one nation. The territorial in- 
 tegrity of the Union is to be preserved 
 inviolate. This is what the people of 
 the United States mean by the immense 
 sacrifices they are now making this and 
 nothing less. Whatever stands in the 
 way of this, whether it be a political 
 creed or a vested right, whether it be 
 democracy or slavery, must go down 
 and perish. And this is true, not mere- 
 ly because twenty millions of people 
 have so determined, but because, in the 
 nature of things, a great nation like this 
 cannot be overthrown and destroyed, 
 without, in its dying struggles, if die it 
 must, overwhelming all the institutions 
 created by its laws in a common ruin. 
 How, then, can the peculiar institution 
 
ADVANCE OF THE ARMY. 
 
 367 
 
 of the South escape destruction, when 
 it shall be found to stand in the way of 
 the preservation of the Government ? 
 
 Yet, in utter blindness to this obvious 
 idea, the maddened South is rushing 
 upon its fate. 7 ' 
 
 CHAPTEE XX Y. 
 
 THE MOVEMENT TOWARD MANASSAS. 
 
 AT the beginning of July, six weeks 
 after the first formal entrance of the na- 
 tional army upon the soil of Virginia, 
 there were indications at Washington 
 and the camps in its vicinity of the ex- 
 pected grand attack upon the enemy, 
 and loudly called for advance toward 
 the seat of the rebel government at 
 Richmond. It was one of the striking 
 circumstances of this early period of the 
 war that all its movements were watched 
 with a jealous impatience, and a demand 
 for immediate action quite dispropor- 
 tioned to the means and opportunities 
 for preparation. If it had been simply 
 a border foray which had been deter- 
 mined upon, the issue of which would 
 have decided the questions at stake, the 
 eagerness of the public would have been 
 better justified ; but they had yet to learn, 
 notwithstanding the alarming symptoms 
 which had shown themselves, the enor- 
 mous magnitude of the rebellion, and the 
 necessity of taking corresponding means 
 for its suppression. It was only by slow 
 degrees that the majority of the people 
 at the North could be brought to contem- 
 plate the real nature and spirit of the 
 great conspiracy suddenly attacking the 
 national Constitution and liberties. Ac- 
 customed to freedom of debate and the 
 license of electioneering oratory, they 
 had grown indifferent to the language 
 of treason, and could hardly be brought 
 
 to believe in its realities till they were 
 forced upon their attention at the point 
 of the bayonet. " Fearing no evil be- 
 cause they meant none," they made no 
 .preparation for a struggle for which their 
 assailants, strong in their inveterate pur- 
 pose of alienation, were fully equipping 
 themselves ; and when the conflict was 
 commenced it seemed an easy matter, 
 in the name of Justice and Freedom, to 
 overcome an enemy pronounced essen- 
 tially weak in the utter unreasonable- 
 ness and futility of his cause. When it 
 was understood, therefore, that the safety 
 of the capital was provided for, and that 
 an army of fifty thousand men was gath- 
 ered at Washington, the cry was urgent 
 that they should be at once led against 
 the enemy. This must be a short war, 
 said the politicians and moneyed men 
 who would avoid the hazard to their 
 cause and the public welfare of its gi- 
 gantic expenses. The statesmen also 
 felt the importance of bringing to a 
 speedy termination a struggle which in 
 its interruption of the commerce of the 
 world was fast endangering the peace of 
 the nation with foreign countries. Strike 
 a prompt and decisive blow at the rebel- 
 lion, or it will gain its ends simply by 
 time, was the advice of disinterested 
 spectators of the position. These and 
 other general considerations of the kind 
 were now enforced with additional spirit 
 
368 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 by the northern and western representa- 
 tives who had just assembled at Wash- 
 ington, in the extra session of Congress 
 which had met at the call of the Presi- 
 dent on the day of Independence. The 
 army authorities might have hesitated, 
 but they also felt the necessit}' for ac- 
 tion, and there was moreover a special 
 motive for an immediate movement, in 
 the near approach of the expiration of 
 the term of service of the three months 
 militia who had been first called into the 
 field. So an advance with a view to an 
 engagement was resolved upon. 
 
 An acute observer at Washington at. 
 this period, the Hon. Henry J. Eay- 
 mond, in his editorial correspondence 
 with the New York Times, has given 
 us a vivid picture of the motives and in- 
 fluences, the doubts, the difficulties and 
 necessities by which the Administration 
 and the War Department were hampered 
 and controlled. Writing from the capi- 
 tal on the 14th of July, on the eve of the 
 advance of the Army of the Potomac, he 
 says, "The whole country is impatient 
 for a vigorous prosecution of the war. 
 This impatience finds vent in all the 
 leading public journals, and is fully 
 shared by Congress. In some quarters 
 it takes the shape of direct and bitter 
 censure of the Administration, or some 
 influential member of it, who is supposed 
 to be responsible for the tardy progress 
 of events. There are plenty of men who 
 declare, and a few, doubtless, who be- 
 lieve, that Mr. Seward still cherishes the 
 hope of compromising our present diffi- 
 culties, and is using all his influence to 
 retard the progress of our armies with a 
 view to that end. Others are confident 
 that the President does not comprehend 
 the real nature of the crisis which is upon 
 the country, or the necessity of a prompt 
 
 and vigorous policy. One member of the 
 Cabinet has publicly declared that Gen- 
 eral Scott is utterly incompetent to the 
 conduct of the war that he never was 
 a soldier that he blundered all through 
 the Mexican war, and is about to close 
 his career by compromising the honor 
 and welfare of the country now. All 
 this sounds incredible. But it is actually 
 true, and shows to what a degree men's 
 judgments have been warped by the 
 startling events of the day, and how far 
 passion and zeal will lead to the most 
 cruel injustice. There is not a man on 
 this continent more anxious to sustain 
 the authority of the Government and 
 crush this rebellion, thoroughly and for- 
 ever, than General Scott ; not one more 
 hostile to every attempt at compromise, 
 or more fertile in suggestions for efficient 
 action, than Mr. Seward ; nor one who 
 more thoroughly understands the wide 
 sweep of the issues involved, and the 
 deadly nature of the warfare waged 
 upon the American Eepublic, than Presi- 
 dent Lincoln. The Administration has 
 no reason to complain of the impatience 
 of the people, but it has a right to ask 
 that it shall not prompt to rash or un- 
 charitable accusations. They assert that 
 the movement of the main army is quite 
 as rapid as consists with its safety, and 
 that it is much better to advance slowly, 
 holding every foot of ground once occu- 
 pied, than to push on recklessly, and be 
 compelled, even in a single instance, to 
 retrace its steps. Probably this is true. 
 But it must be borne in mind that public 
 sentiment is a powerful element of strength 
 in this war that it must be secured and 
 kept in full vigor even at some expense 
 of scientific routine, and that the present 
 temper of our people demands swift and 
 sudden blows a bold and dashing poli- 
 
THE MILITARY POSITION. 
 
 369 
 
 cy ; and it is a fair question for those in 
 authority to consider whether it would 
 not be better to meet and satisfy this 
 temper, even at the cost of occasional 
 reverses, than to lose the advantage of 
 its support. In their present mood a 
 slight defeat would only rouse and ex- 
 asperate our people ; while delay and 
 apparent inaction discourages and dis- 
 gusts them. This is the reasoning of 
 those who demand an instant advance ; 
 but if that advance were to end disas- 
 trously, they would probably be the first 
 to throw the blame upon those who had 
 yielded to their advice." 
 
 To this significant passage we may add 
 the writer's review of some of the more 
 striking military data of the position. 
 " Very much of this criticism, moreover," 
 he adds, "is the result of entire ignorance 
 of the nature and wants of an army. Men 
 who fight must be fed ; and they must 
 not be taken into any place or position 
 where they cannot have food, shelter and 
 the means of fighting. In going into an 
 enemy's country, they must take with 
 them all their tents, provisions, spades, 
 and other tools for throwing up intrench- 
 ments, cannon, ammunition and whatever 
 else they expect to use. To arrive with- 
 out these is simply to insure their starv- 
 ation or swift destruction by the enemy. 
 And to carry them requires wagons, 
 horses, teamsters, time and space. It is, 
 of course, the purpose of an army to 
 reduce, as much as possible, the amount 
 of baggage for which transportation is 
 required. But when reduced to the low- 
 est point, fifteen wagons with four horses 
 each, to each full regiment of infantry, is 
 a fair allowance. For an army of 50,000 
 men are thus required 750 wagons and 
 3,000 horses, which would extend in 
 single file, each wagon occupying only 
 47 
 
 100 feet, something more than fifteen 
 miles. All these wagons had to be 
 made, and all these horses purchased, 
 before any considerable movement in 
 advance was possible. This number was 
 required for the troops expected to ad- 
 vance from Washington alone. Half as 
 many were wanted for General Patter- 
 son's column, and at least 200 wagons 
 and 800 horses for General Butler's 
 column. This makes no account of the 
 horses needed for the artillery and the 
 cavalry. It is merely the number re- 
 quisite to convey the indispensable bag- 
 gage, or, as the Romans accurately and 
 expressively styled it, the impedimenta 
 of advancing infantry. It is not reason- 
 able to expect that all these things can 
 be extemporized, and it is foolhardy and 
 reckless of the lives of our citizen- 
 soldiers to demand that they shall be 
 ignored. General McClellan's splendid 
 successes in Western Virginia are quoted 
 to show that movements may be made 
 without all this preparation. But it 
 must be remembered that he has com- 
 paratively a small body of men to care 
 for, that he is moving in a friendly coun- 
 try where supplies are easy of access, 
 that there is no difficulty in keeping his 
 communications open and that he leaves 
 no enemy in his rear. This is not the case 
 with either of the other columns. Gen- 
 eral Patterson has 25,000 men to pro- 
 vide for ; General Butler, though with a 
 smaller force, is almost surrounded by 
 the enemy, and the central column is 
 very large and requires an immense 
 amount of transportation. 
 
 "But all these difficulties have been 
 surmounted, and the causes of past de- 
 lays, whether valid or not, are rapidly' 
 disappearing. Horses, mules and wag- 
 ons are coming into the city in great 
 
370 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 numbers; and ever3 T thing is ready for 
 an advance. There is a general impres- 
 sion that an advance must of necessity 
 be a sudden and violent movement, im- 
 plying a vehement assault, and a conse- 
 quent battle. The reality may and prob- 
 ably will be very different, Great 
 armies do not move in solid masses, nor 
 does an advance imply a concentration 
 of forces upon a single point. On the 
 contrary, one regiment is pushed forward 
 in one direction to-day and another in 
 quite a different direction to-morrow. 
 And so it will be in this case. General 
 Patterson will move his forces down from 
 Martinsburg towards Winchester, spread- 
 ing them out in order to cover more 
 points and check probable movements 
 of the enemy to penetrate to his rear. 
 General McDowell will push forward his 
 forces gradually, each regiment feeling 
 its way as it moves along. If any regi- 
 ment or brigade finds an enemy in pos- 
 session of the position it is ordered to 
 occupy, its first business will be to dis- 
 lodge him ; and if he is in too strong 
 force, reinforcements will be brought up 
 to aid the effort. Thus it may be several 
 days before any collision takes place be- 
 tween the opposing forces, although the 
 advance may begin at once. If the ene- 
 my has concentrated his forces at any 
 one point, and made preparation for a 
 resolute resistance, this will of course 
 compel us to combine our strength suffi- 
 ciently to drive him off. According to 
 present appearances, the main body of 
 our forces across the Potomac will move 
 forward on Tuesday morning, the 16th. 
 It is not likely that they will advance 
 jnore than eight or ten miles the first 
 day. On Wednesday or Thursday they 
 will probably go on, if not sooner resist- 
 ed, to Manassas Junction, arid unless all 
 
 our advices hitherto have deceived us. 
 we may expect there to meet the rebels 
 in considerable force, and thoroughly in- 
 trenched. I doubt whether an attack 
 will be made upon them directly in front ; 
 if at all practicable, I presume the effort 
 will be to throw forces between Manassas 
 and Winchester, so as to prevent Gene- 
 ral Johnston from joining the main 
 body, and also to turn their right flank 
 As a matter of course, this is mainly 
 speculation, and the events of the coming 
 week may prove it to be without founda- 
 tion. But the Government will certainly 
 move forward immediately in the prose- 
 cution of the war. The capture of Rich- 
 mond has undoubtedly become a matter 
 of necessity, since that city has been 
 made the capital of the Confederate 
 States. At the outset of the rebellion, I 
 have reason to believe that the pro- 
 gramme of operation did not embrace the 
 seizure of this city. While it was merely 
 the capital of a State it was a matter of 
 little consequence who should hold it. 
 General Scott believed that 80,000 men, 
 carefully disciplined during the summer, 
 and sent down the Mississippi as soon as 
 the frosts should make it safe, could hold 
 every important point upon that river, 
 New Orleans included ; and that this, 
 with a rigid blockade of the Atlantic 
 coast, would compel the rebellious States 
 to sue for peace, and end the war with 
 the least possible loss of life. The reb- 
 els, however, saw fit to make Virginia 
 the seat of war, and to establish their 
 capital within reach of Washington. 
 This required a change of policy, and 
 they will unquestionably see reason ere 
 long to repent their temerity. Unless 
 the administration is compelled by the 
 public impatience to dissipate its strength 
 in movements having no direct bearing 
 
THE CAMP AT MANASSAS. 
 
 371 
 
 on the main results of the war, the early 
 autumn will undoubtedly witness a blow 
 which will break the back of this great 
 rebellion." 
 
 From this instructive survey of the 
 national position we may turn to a strik- 
 ing account of the rebel camp before 
 Washington, as it was presented by a 
 correspondent of the New Orleans Picay- 
 une, in a letter written from Manassas 
 Junction on the 7th of July. " This 
 place," says he, "still continues the 
 headquarters of the army of the Potomac. 
 There are many indications of an intend- 
 ed forward movement, the better to in- 
 vite the enemy to an engagement, but 
 the work of fortification still continues. 
 By nature, the position is one of the 
 strongest that could have been found in 
 the .whole States. About half-way be- 
 tween the eastern spur of the Blue Kidge 
 and the Potomac, below Alexandria, it 
 commands the whole country between so 
 perfectly that there is scarcely a possi- 
 bility of its being turned. The right 
 wing stretches off toward the headwaters 
 of the Occoquan, through a wooded coun- 
 try, which is easily made impassable by 
 the felling of trees. The left is a rolling 
 table-land, easily commanded from the 
 successive elevations, till you reach a 
 country so rough and so rugged that it is 
 a defence to itself. * The key to the whole 
 position, in fact, is precisely the point 
 which General Beauregard chose for his 
 centre, and which he has fortified so 
 strongly that, in the opinion of mili- 
 tary men, 5,000 men could there hold 
 20,000 at bay. The position, in fact, is 
 fortified in part by nature herself. It is 
 a succession of hills, nearly equidistant 
 from each other, in front of which is a 
 ravine so deep and so thickly- wooded, 
 that it is impassable only at two points, 
 
 and those through gorges which fifty men 
 can defend against a whole army. It 
 was at one of these points that the Wash- 
 ington Artillery were at first encamped, 
 and though only half the battalion was 
 then there, and we had only one company 
 of artillery to support us, we slept as 
 soundly under the protection of our guns 
 as if we had been in a fort of the amplest 
 dimensions. Of the fortifications super- 
 added here by General Beauregard to 
 those of nature, it is, of course, not pro- 
 per for me to speak. The general read- 
 er, in fact, will have a sufficiently precise 
 idea of them by conceiving a line of forts 
 some two miles in extent, zig-zag in form, 
 with angles, salients, bastions, casemates, 
 and everything that properly belongs to 
 works of this kind. The strength and 
 advantages of this position at Manassas 
 are very much increased by the fact that 
 fourteen miles further on is a position of 
 similar formation, while the country be- 
 tween is admirably adapted to the sub- 
 sistence and intrenchment of troops in 
 numbers as large as they can easily be 
 maneuvred on the real battle-field. 
 Water is good and abundant ; forage 
 such as is everywhere found in the rich 
 farming districts of Virginia, and the 
 communication with all parts of the coun- 
 try easy. Here, overlooking an exten- 
 sive plain watered by mountain streams 
 which ultimately find their way to the 
 Potomac, and divided into verdant fields 
 of wheat and oats and corn, pasture and 
 meadow, are the headquarters of the ad- 
 vanced forces of the army of the Potom- 
 ac. They are South Carolinians, Louisi- 
 anians, Alabamians, Mississippians and 
 Virginians, for the most part ; the first 
 two, singularly enough, being in front, 
 and that they will keep it, their friends 
 at home may rest assured. Never 
 
372 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 I seen a finer body of men men who 
 were more obedient to discipline, or 
 breathed a more self-sacrificing patriot- 
 ism. 
 
 " As might be expected from the 
 skill with which he has chosen his posi- 
 tion, and the system with which he en- 
 camps and moves his men, General 
 Beauregard is very popular here. I 
 doubt if Napoleon himself had more the 
 undivided confidence of his army. By 
 nature, as also from a wise policy, he is 
 very reticent. Not an individual here 
 knows his plans, or a single move of a 
 regiment before it is made, and then onlv^ 
 the colonel and his men know where it 
 goes to. There is not a man here who 
 can give anything like a satisfactory an- 
 swer how many men he has, or where 
 his exact lines are. For the distance of 
 fourteen miles around you see tents 
 everywhere, and from them you can 
 make a rough estimate of his men ; but 
 how many more are encamped on the 
 by-roads and in the forests none can tell. 
 The new-comer, from what he sees at 
 first glance, puts down the number at 
 about 50,000 men ; those who have been 
 here longest estimate the force at 40,000, 
 50,000, and some even at 60,000 strong. 
 And there is the same discrepancy as to 
 the quantity of his artillery. So close 
 does the General keep his affairs to him- 
 self, his left hand hardly knows what his 
 right hand doeth, and so jealous is he of 
 this prerogative of a commanding officer, 
 that I verily believe that if he suspected 
 his coat of any acquaintance with the 
 plans revolving within him, he would 
 cast it from him. The General's head- 
 quarters is a little farm-house, about 
 fifteen feet by twenty, fronting on one of 
 the roads that leads to Alexandria. The 
 ground floor is divided into two rooms. 
 
 The front one is filled with desks, at 
 which clerks sit writing, or engaged in 
 business of a varied character. The 
 back one appears to be used as a state- 
 room or kitchen. Above, the same divi- 
 sion continues, and the front room is the 
 General's apartment. It is about fifteen 
 feet long by ten wide, and hung with 
 maps of the State and country around. 
 In the centre is a plain pine table, on 
 which lie, neatly folded up, what the vis- 
 itor would naturally take to be plans, 
 specifications, surveys, geometrical draw- 
 ings, etc., and, by their side, military 
 reports. Everything has the air of neat- 
 ness, coolness, and mathematical calcu- 
 lation. Of course there is nothing in the 
 room but what pertains to the office, and 
 to most eyes it would appear somewhat 
 bare ; but what there is, is arranged 
 with so much taste, that the general im- 
 pression is by no means unpleasing. The 
 General is in his room the greater part 
 of the day, apparently occupied with his 
 plans and reports. Then hour after hour 
 he sits alone by his neat little pine table, 
 maps, plans and specifications before 
 him, and large windows open behind and 
 around him at first sight the cold, cal- 
 culating, unsympathizing mathematician. 
 .Every now arid then an aid enters with 
 a report or a message, which is delivered 
 in military style, deliberately examined 
 in silence, the corresponding order 
 promptly written out or delivered in as 
 few words as possible, and our mathem- 
 atical iceberg is alone again. When a 
 visitor drops in, however, at a leisure 
 moment, the formality of the officer read- 
 ily gives way to that easy interchange of 
 civilities which characterizes our people 
 at home, but nothing more. Even at the 
 table, when the General is daily sur- 
 rounded by the most distinguished gen- 
 
THE UNION ARMY. 
 
 373 
 
 tlemen of the country, there appears to 
 be a distance which I suppose is natural 
 to his position, but which is rarely found 
 elsewhere. The leading characteristic 
 of General Beauregard's mind is clear- 
 ness of perception. Superadded to this 
 is a strictly mathematical education. 
 This you see in every word and look, 
 even in the expression of his face. Sines, 
 cosines and tangents stick out every- 
 where. In person he is slender, but 
 compactly built, and extremely neat. 
 Add to this a precision of manner slight- 
 ly modified by the ease which character- 
 izes the well-bred man of the world, and 
 3 T ou have a correct idea of the man 
 whose word is law and gospel through- 
 out one of the largest, most intelligent, 
 and best appointed armies ever assem- 
 bled on the American continent. In his 
 personal staff the General has been pecu- 
 liarly fortunate. They are principally 
 from South Carolina, the same he had 
 with him at the siege of Fort Sumter ; 
 all of them accomplished, discreet gentle- 
 men of the most pleasing manners. 
 Among themj[ have been happy to meet 
 Colonel Preston, so long a resident and 
 so well known in Louisiana, whose genial 
 society must be a happy relief to the 
 severe labors of the day. The General's 
 mess is very much in keeping with his 
 character, and simple enough for Napo- 
 leon himself. It is served on a long pine 
 table, set in an open piazza of the farm- 
 house, and all his friends are hospitably 
 welcomed to it three times a day. The 
 General sits nearly in the middle, his 
 aids immediately on one side, and his 
 latest guests on the other ; the rest of 
 the company as they may choose or 
 chance to seat themselves. The viands 
 are such as the country around affords ; 
 only the rice was " imported," and with 
 
 it, I suspect, a South Carolina cook, for 
 every kernel was as independent as the 
 State from which it came." 
 
 General McDowell continued in com- 
 mand of the army of the Potomac at the 
 head of the military department of North- 
 eastern Virginia. The force at his dis- 
 posal at the beginning of July consisted 
 of about forty-five regiments of volun- 
 teers, chiefly from New York and the 
 Eastern States, with several from the 
 West, a large portion of the whole being 
 called out under the first requisition of 
 the President for three months only. 
 The remainder were three years' volun- 
 teers, but, having come into the field 
 later, possessed even less than their com- 
 rades of the advantages of military drill 
 and discipline. With them were mixed 
 a slight sprinkling of regular infantry, a 
 few companies of United States cavalry, 
 and several light batteries of the United 
 States artillery. The general, staff and 
 field officers assigned to the commands 
 included a number of the most meritori- 
 ous officers of the former small but effi- 
 cient national army ; the company officers 
 being mostly taken from civil life, were 
 of course less experienced and less 
 efficient in their degree. More than one 
 name of distinguished fame in the subse- 
 quent annals of the war in departments 
 widely removed from each other, first 
 became prominently known to the public 
 in connection with the army of the Po- 
 tomac. 
 
 As the composition of this army soon 
 became a matter of general interest, we 
 may here give the details of its organiza- 
 tion as they were presented in the gen- 
 eral orders of the commander-in-chief of 
 the 8th of July. The entire force was 
 arranged in five divisions. The 1st was 
 assigned to Brigadier-General Daniel 
 
374 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Tyler of the Connecticut militia. It em- 
 braced the brigades of Colonel Erasmus 
 D. Keyes, of the llth United States In- 
 fantry, composed of the 1st, 2d and 3d 
 regiments of Connecticut Volunteers, the 
 4th Maine regiment Volunteers, Captain 
 Varian's New York battery, and a com- 
 pany of the 2d United States Cavalry ; a 
 second brigade, formed of the 1st and 2d 
 regiments Ohio Volunteers, the 2d New 
 York Volunteers, and a light battery 
 company of the 3d United States Artil- 
 lery ; a third brigade, commanded by 
 Colonel William T. Sherman of the 13th 
 Infantry, embracing Colonel Corcoran 's 
 69th Irish regiment, New York Militia, 
 Colonel Cameron's 79th Scotch regiment, 
 New York Militia, the 13th New York 
 regiment Volunteers, the 2d regiment 
 Wisconsin Volunteers, and a light bat- 
 tery company of the 3d United States 
 Artillery ; and a fourth brigade, com- 
 manded by Colonel J. B. Richardson of 
 the Michigan Volunteers, embracing the 
 2d and 3d regiments Michigan Volun- 
 teers, the 1st regiment Massachusetts 
 Volunteers, and the 12th regiment New 
 York Volunteers. The Second Division 
 was commanded by Colonel David Hun- 
 ter of the 3d United States Cavalry, and 
 consisted of two brigades. The first was 
 commanded by Colonel Andrew Porter 
 of the 16th United States Infantry, and 
 was composed of a battalion of Eegular 
 Infantry, the 8th and 14th regiments of 
 New York Militia, a squadron of the 2d 
 United States Cavalry, and a light bat- 
 tery of the 5th United States Artillery. 
 The Second, led by Colonel Ambrose E. 
 Burnside, of the Rhode Island Volun- 
 teers, embraced the 1st and 2d Rhode 
 Island regiments Volunteers, the 71st 
 New York Militia, the 2d regiment New 
 Hampshire Volunteers, and a battery of 
 
 light artillery of the 2d Rhode Island 
 regiment. The Third Division was com- 
 manded by Colonel S. P. Heintzelman 
 of the 17th United States Infantry, in 
 charge lately of Alexandria, and was 
 composed of the brigade of Colonel 
 W. B. Franklin of the 12th regiment 
 United States Infantry, with the 4th 
 regiment Pennsylvania Militia, the 5th 
 regiment Massachusetts Militia, the 1st 
 regiment Minnesota Volunteers, a com- 
 pany of the 2d United States Cavalry, 
 and a light battery of the 1st United 
 States Artillery ; of the brigade of Col- 
 onel 0. B. Wilcox of the Michigan 
 Volunteers, with the 1st regiment Mich- 
 igan Volunteers, the llth regiment 
 New York Volunteers, and a light bat- 
 tery company of the 2d United States 
 Artillery ; of the brigade of Colonel 0. 
 0. Howard of the Maine Volunteers, in- 
 cluding the 2d, 4th and 5th regiments 
 Maine Volunteers, and the 2d Vermont 
 regiment Volunteers. The Fourth and 
 Fifth Divisions constituted the reserve. 
 The one composed of the 1st, 2d, 3d and 
 4th New Jersey Militia regiments three 
 months' Volunteers and the 1st, 2d and 
 3d New Jersey Militia regiments three 
 years' Volunteers was commanded by 
 Brigadier - General Theodore Runyon, 
 New Jersey Militia ; the other, com- 
 manded by Colonel Dixon S. Miles of the 
 2d United States Infantry, consisted of 
 two brigades ; the first, commanded by 
 Colonel Louis Blenker of the New York 
 Volunteers, included the 8th and 29th 
 New York regiments Volunteers, the 
 New York Garibaldi Guard, and the 
 24th regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers ; 
 the second brigade, commanded by Col- 
 onel Thomas A. Davies, New York Vol- 
 unteers, was composed of the 16th, 18th, 
 31st and 32d regiments New York Vol- 
 
ADVANCE TO FAIRFAX COURT-HOUSE. 
 
 375 
 
 unteers, and a light battery company of 
 the 2d United States Artillery. 
 
 General McDowell's staff consisted of 
 Captain James B. Fry, assistant Adjutant- 
 General ; Aides-de-Camp 1st Lieuten- 
 ant Henry W. Kingsbury, 5th United 
 States Artillery, Major Clarence S. 
 Brown and Major James S. Wadsworth, 
 New York State Militia ; Acting Inspec- 
 tor-General Major William H. Wood, 
 17th United States Infantry ; Engineers 
 Major John G. Barnard, 1st Lieuten- 
 ant Frederick E. Prime ; Topographical 
 Engineers Captain Amiel W. Whipple, 
 1st Lieutenant Henry L. Abbot, 2d Lieu- 
 tenant Haldimand S. Putnam ; Quarter- 
 master's Department Captain 0. H. 
 Tillinghast ; Captain Horace F. Clark, 
 of New York, Commissary of Subsist- 
 ence ; Surgeon William S. King ; As- 
 sistant Surgeon David L. Magruder. 
 
 The grand march from Washington 
 and its immediate vicinity, under this 
 general arrangement, began on the 16th 
 of July, with the movement of the main 
 divisions toward the most advanced po- 
 sition of the enemy at Fairfax Court- 
 House. General Hunter's central col- 
 umn took the direct road, the division of 
 General Tyler pursued the Vienna route 
 to the right, while General Miles with 
 his command took the extreme left. 
 Having marched about eight or nine 
 miles, the army encamped for the night. 
 The next day it was early in motion. 
 General McDowell was with the centre, 
 and at noon saw its advance safely ar- 
 rived at Fairfax Court-House. The 
 enemy, who were supposed to be in force 
 in the vicinity, evidently avoided a con- 
 flict. They left, however, some consid- 
 erable obstructions of hewn down trees 
 on the road, but these were readily clear- 
 ed away by the axemen. No opposition 
 
 was encountered at the village. The 
 enemy had occupied it in the morning, 
 and, warned of the approach of the 
 Union troops, had fled in haste, leaving 
 provisions, intrenching tools and person- 
 al effects behind. The secession flag, 
 which Colonel Burnside's Rhode Island 
 ers, who were in advance, found still fly 
 ing on the Court-House, was taken down, 
 and the Stars and Stripes raised by *i 
 corporal of the brigade in its stead. The 
 Union soldiers, rejoicing in their easy 
 progress and the flight of the enemy, 
 which they interpreted as the first stage 
 of a victory and a compliment to their 
 superiority, held possession of the town, 
 and were not scrupulous in ransacking 
 the abandoned homes. Several build- 
 ings, left by their owners, were broken 
 open and pillaged, and others, chiefly 
 barns on the outskirts of the town, were 
 set fire to and consumed on the pretence 
 that a Union man had been shot from one 
 of them. Some of the soldiers, in the 
 evening, dressed in female apparel which 
 they had found in the wardrobes of the 
 plundered houses, walked the streets 
 with their bearded comrades, jocularly 
 replying to the passers-by as if it were 
 a holiday entertainment or carnival upon 
 which they had entered. "This, "says 
 an observer, "to the superficial looker- 
 on gave the scene a merry show ; but I 
 noticed that the shuddering inhabitants 
 regarded it with fear and undisguised 
 abhorrence. One female, hearing me 
 condemn the conduct of the soldiers, as 
 a fellow passed by with a pair of ladies' 
 ruffled drawers hauled up over his pan- 
 taloons, said she ' thought it was reallj 
 too bad that the clothes of Mr. Smith's 
 poor dead mother, which had been pack- 
 ed away for several years untouched, 
 should be desecrated in that coarse, vul- 
 
376 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 gar way.' I myself half shuddered as 
 she turned this idea on the fellow's con- 
 duct, and I made up my mind thence- 
 forth to contribute my share of effort to 
 put a check upon such shocking license."* 
 This disgraceful conduct, however, 
 was not left solely to be condemned by 
 civilians and lookers-on. The Com- 
 mander-in-Chief and his officers immedi- 
 ately took prompt measures to repress 
 the license which they must have felt as 
 an ill omen for the conduct of at least a 
 portion of the comparatively undisciplin- 
 ed troops assigned to them. " I am dis- 
 tressed,' 7 wrote General McDowell, with 
 feeling, in a dispatch to Washington an- 
 nouncing the military movements of the 
 day, " to have to report excesses by our 
 troops. The excitement of the men 
 found vent in burning and pillaging, 
 which, however, was soon checked. It 
 depressed us all greatly." The follow- 
 ing stringent order, dated from his head- 
 quarters at Fairfax Court-House, was 
 directed against these depredations. " It 
 is with the deepest mortification the 
 General commanding finds it necessary 
 to reiterate his orders for the preserva- 
 tion of the property of the inhabitants 
 of the district occupied by the troops 
 under his command. Hardly had we 
 arrived at this place, when, to the horror 
 of every right-minded person, several 
 houses were broken open, and others 
 were in flames, by the act of some of 
 those who, it has been' the boast of the 
 loyal, came here to protect the oppressed 
 and free the country from the domination 
 of a hated party. The property of this 
 people is at the mercy of the troops who, 
 we rightly say, are the most intelligent, 
 best-educated, and most law-abiding of 
 
 * Editorial Correspondence of Mr. George Wilkes to the 
 Spirit of the Times. August 3, 1862. 
 
 any that were ever under arms. But do 
 not therefore the acts of yesterday cast 
 the deeper stain upon them ? It has 
 been claimed by some that their particu- 
 lar corps were not engaged in these acts. 
 This is of but little moment ; since the 
 individuals are not found out, we are all 
 alike disgraced. Commanders of regi- 
 ments will select a commissioned officer 
 as a provost-marshal, and ten men as a 
 police force under him, whose special and 
 sole duty it shall be to preserve the 
 property from depredations, and to ar- 
 rest all wrong-doers of whatever regi- 
 ment or corps they may be. Any per- 
 sons found committing the slightest dep- 
 redation, killing pigs or poultry, or tres- 
 passing on the property of the inhabit- 
 ants, will be reported to headquarters, 
 and the least that will be done to them 
 will be to send them to the Alexandria 
 jail. It is again ordered that no one 
 shall arrest or attempt to arrest any cit- 
 izen not in arms at the time, or search or 
 attempt to search any house, or even to 
 enter the same without permission. The 
 troops must behave themselves with as 
 much forbearance and propriety as if 
 they were at their own homes. They 
 are here to fight the enemies of the coun- 
 try, not to judge and punish the unarmed 
 and defenceless, however guilty they may 
 be. When necessary, that will be done 
 by the proper person." 
 
 The other columns, meanwhile, were 
 advancing on the right and left. Gen- 
 eral McDowell would have followed the 
 enemy to Centreville, but the men were 
 too much exhausted. He reported as 
 the casualties of the day, an officer and 
 three men slightly wounded in Miles' 
 division. 
 
 The withdrawal of the enemy from their 
 outposts at Fairfax Court-House, and 
 
COLONEL RICHARDSON'S RECONNOISSANCE. 
 
 377 
 
 immediately after from Centreville, was 
 in accordance with express instructions 
 from their commander-in-chief, General 
 Beauregard, who, as he himself after- 
 wards asserted, was "opportunely in- 
 formed " of the determination of General 
 McDowell to advance upon Manassas. 
 He claims, indeed, the retreat as a 
 highly creditable maneuvre in face of, 
 and in immediate proximity to, a largely 
 superior force, despite a well-planned, 
 well-executed effort to cut off the retreat 
 of Bonham's brigade first at German- 
 town, and subsequently at Centreville, 
 whence he withdrew by my direction 
 after midnight, without collision, although 
 enveloped on three sides by their lines." 
 General Beauregard further claims for 
 his retreat " the intended effect of deceiv- 
 ing the enemy as to his ulterior purposes, 
 and leading him to anticipate an unre- 
 sisted passage of Bull Run." 
 
 Whatever may have been the opinion 
 in the Union army, however, in this first 
 step of its advance, an accurate knowl- 
 edge of the true state of affairs was gain- 
 ed by the costly reconnoissance of the 
 next day, the 18th. Early in the morn- 
 ing the division of General Tyler was set 
 in motion to move against and occupy 
 Oentreville. Colonel Richardson went 
 forward with his brigade, and found the 
 place had been abandoned by the enemy 
 in the night. It was then determined by 
 General Tyler to follow, for purposes of 
 observation, one of the main routes by 
 which their camp might be approached. 
 " I took," says he. " a squadron of caval- 
 ry and two light companies from Rich- 
 ardson's brigade, with Colonel Richard- 
 son to make a reconnoissance, and, in 
 feeling our way carefully, we soon found 
 ourselves overlooking the strong position 
 of the enemy, situated at Blackburn's 
 48 
 
 Ford, or Bull Run. A moment's obser- 
 vation discovered a battery on the oppo- 
 site bank, but no great body of troops, 
 although the usual pickets and small de- 
 tachments showed themselves on the left 
 of the position. Suspecting, from the 
 natural strength which I saw the position 
 to possess, that the enemy must be in 
 force, and desiring to ascertain the ex- 
 tent of that force and the position of his 
 batteries, I ordered up the two rifled 
 guns, Ayres' battery, and Richardson's 
 entire brigade, and subsequently Sher- 
 man's brigade in reserve, to be ready for 
 any contingency. As soon as the rifled 
 guns came up, I ordered them into bat- 
 tery on the crest of the hill, nearly a 
 mile from a single battery which we 
 could see placed on the opposite side of 
 the run. Ten or a dozen shots were 
 fired, one of them seeming to take effect 
 on a large body of cavalry, who evident- 
 ly thought themselves out of the range. 
 The battery we had discovered on our 
 arrival fired six shots and discontinued 
 fire. Finding that our fire did not pro- 
 voke the enemy to discover his force and 
 his batteries, I ordered Colonel Richard- 
 son to advance his brigade, and to throw 
 out skirmishers to scour the thick woods 
 with which the whole bottom of Bull Run 
 was covered. This order was skillfully 
 executed, and the skirmishers came out 
 of the wood into the road, and close to 
 the ford without provoking any consider- 
 able fire from the enemy. Desiring to 
 make a further attempt to effect the ob- 
 ject of the movement, and discovering 
 an opening low down on the bottom of 
 the stream, where a couple of howitzers 
 could be put into battery, I ordered Cap- 
 tain Ayres to detach a section, put him- 
 self on the ground poirted out to him, 
 and sent a squadron of cavalry to sup- 
 
378 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 port this movement. The moment Cap- 
 tain Ayres opened his fire, the enemy 
 replied with volleys which showed that 
 the whole bottom was filled with troops, 
 and that he had batteries established in 
 different positions to sweep all the ap- 
 proaches by the road leading to Black- 
 burn's Ford. Captain Ayres maintained 
 himself most gallantly, and after firing 
 away all his canister shot and some 
 spherical case with terrible effect, as we 
 afterwards learned, withdrew his pieces 
 safely and rejoined his battery. This 
 attack on Captain Ayres accomplished 
 the object I desired, as it showed that 
 the enemy was in force, and disclosed the 
 position of his batteries, and had I been 
 at hand the movement would have ended 
 here ; but Colonel Richardson, having 
 previously given an order for the 12th 
 New York to deploy into line and ad- 
 vance into the woods, in an attempt to 
 execute this order the regiment broke, 
 (with the exception of two companies, A 
 and I, who stood their ground gallantly,) 
 and was only rallied in the woods some 
 mile and a half in the rear. The fire 
 which the regiment encountered was se- 
 vere, but no excuse for the disorganiza- 
 tion which it produced. Having satisfied 
 myself that the enemy was in force, and 
 also as to the position of his batteries, I 
 ordered Colonel Richardson to withdraw 
 his brigade, which was skillfully though 
 unwillingly accomplished, as he request- 
 ed permission, with the 1st Massachusetts 
 and 2d and 3d Michigan regiments, to 
 charge the enemy and drive him out. It 
 is but justice to these regiments to say 
 that they stood firm, maneuvred well, 
 and I have no doubt would have backed 
 up manfully the proposition of their gal- 
 lant commander. After the infantry had 
 been withdrawn, I directed Captain 
 
 Ayres and Lieutenant Benjamin, who 
 commanded the two 20-pounders to open 
 their fire both on the battery which enfi- 
 laded the road leading to the ford and on 
 the battery which we had discovered in 
 the bottom of Bull Run, which we knew 
 to be surrounded by a large body of 
 men. This fire was continued from *> 
 until 4 o'clock, firing 415 shots. The 
 fire was answered from the enemy's 
 batteries, gun for gun, but was discon- 
 tinued the moment we ceased firing. 
 The concentrated position of the enemy, 
 and the fact that the elevation of our 
 battery and the range were both favora- 
 ble, induce the belief that the enemy suf- 
 fered severely from our fire, and this 
 belief is confirmed by the fact that, on 
 the ensuing day, until 12 M., ambulances 
 were seen coming and going from and to 
 Manassas, two miles distant."* 
 
 In the accompanying official report of 
 Colonel Richardson, the loss in this affair 
 is stated at nineteen killed, thirty -eight 
 wounded, and twenty-six missing. Among 
 other incidents of the day, he mentions 
 that " his skirmishers advanced so close 
 to the enemies works and batteries that 
 two mounted officers were killed under 
 the breastworks, and one of our men was 
 shot through the shoulder with a revolv- 
 er by one of the enemy's officers, and one 
 of their cannoneers was bayoneted by 
 one of our men while the former was en- 
 gaged in loading his gun. Our skirmish- 
 ers, also, in falling back, had several of 
 their wounded bayoneted by order of 
 the enemy's officers."! 
 
 We have also a report of this action 
 from General Beauregard. It is an elab- 
 
 * General Tyler's Report to General McDowell, July 27. 
 1861. 
 
 f Colonel Richardson's Report to Brigadier-General 
 Tyler, July 19, 1861. 
 
BLACKBURN'S FORD. 
 
 379 
 
 orate document of considerable length, 
 in which the dispositions of his forces and 
 the particulars of the encounter in the 
 vicinity of Mitchell's and Blackburn's 
 Fords and of Bull Bun, are set forth with 
 minuteness. The effective troops, of 
 which he enumerates some twenty regi- 
 ments Louisiana, South Carolina, Miss- 
 issippi, Alabama and Virginia Volun- 
 teers, with various light batteries and 
 companies of Virginia cavalry rested 
 on Bull Run from Union Mills Ford to 
 the Stone Bridge on the main road from 
 Centre ville, a distance of about eight 
 miles. This force, as stated by General 
 Beauregard, with which' the Union army 
 had to deal was thus disposed : " E well's 
 brigade occupied a position in the vicin- 
 it3 r of Union Mills Ford. It consisted 
 of Rhode's 5th and Siebel's 7th regiments 
 of Alabama, and Sevmour's 5th regiment 
 
 / o 
 
 of Louisiana Volunteers, with four 12- 
 pounder howitzers, of Walton's battery, 
 and Harrison's, Green's and Campbell's 
 companies of Virginia cavalry. D. R. 
 Jones' brigade was in position in the rear 
 of McLean's Ford, and consisted of Jen- 
 kins' 5th South Carolina, and Bunt's 15th 
 and Fetherstone's 18th regiments of 
 Mississippi Volunteers, with two brass 
 6 -pounder guns of Walton's battery, and 
 one company of cavalry. Longstreet's 
 brigade covered Blackburn's Ford, and 
 consisted of Moore's 1st, Garland's llth 
 and Grose's 17th regiments Virginia Vol- 
 unteers, with two 6-pounder brass guns 
 of Walton's battery. Bonham's brigade 
 held the approaches to Mitchell's Ford ; 
 it was composed of Kershaw's 2d, Wil- 
 liams' 3d, Bacon's 7th and Cash's 8th 
 ivgiinents South Carolina Volunteers ; 
 of Shields' and Del Kemper's batteries, 
 and of Flood's, Radford's, Payne's, Ball's, 
 Wickman's and Powell's companies of 
 
 Virginia cavalry, under Colonel Radford. 
 Cocke's brigade held the Ford below and 
 in vicinity of the Stone Bridge, and 
 consisted of Wither's 18th, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Strange's 19th, and R. T. Pres- 
 ton's 28th regiments, with Latham's bat- 
 tery and one company of cavalry, Virgi- 
 nia Volunteers. Evans held my left 
 flank and protected the Stone Bridge 
 crossing, with Sloane's 4th regiment 
 South Carolina Volunteers, Wheat's Spe- 
 cial Battalion Louisiana Volunteers, four 
 6-pounder guns and two companies of 
 Virginia cavalry. Early's brigade, con- 
 sisting of Kemper's 7th, Early's 24th 
 regiment of Virginia Volunteers, Hays' 
 7th regiment Louisiana Volunteers, and 
 three rifle pieces of Walton's battery. 
 Lieutenant Squires' at first were held in 
 position in the rear of, and as a support 
 to, Swell's brigade, until after the devel- 
 opment of the enemy in heavy offensive 
 force, in front of Mitchell's and Black- 
 burn's Fords, when it was placed in rear 
 of, and nearly equidistant between, Mc- 
 Lean's, Blackburn's, and Mitchell's Fords. 
 Pending the development of the enemy's 
 purpose, about ten (10) o'clock A.M., I 
 established my headquarters at a central 
 point McLean's farm-hjuse near to 
 McLean's and Blackburn's Fords, where 
 two 6-pounders of Walton's battery were 
 in reserve ; but, subsequently during the 
 engagement, I took post to the left of 
 my reserve." 
 
 Having thus duly chronicled the va- 
 rious positions of his army, General 
 Beauregard proceeds to narrate the inci- 
 dents of the 18th July to which it will 
 be observed he gives the name of the 
 battle of Bull Run the second engage- 
 ment to which that title is generally 
 given being called by the Confederates 
 the battle of Manassas. " Of the topo- 
 
380 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 graphical features of the country thus 
 occupied, it must suffice to say that Bull 
 Run is a small stream running in this 
 locality, nearly from West to East, to 
 its confluence with the Occoquan River, 
 about twelve miles from the Potomac, 
 and draining a considerable scope of 
 country, from its source in Bull Run 
 Mountain to a short distance of the Po- 
 tomac at Occoquan. At this season, 
 habitually low and sluggish, it is, how- 
 ever, rapidly and frequently swollen by 
 the summer rains until unfordable. The 
 banks for the most part are rocky and 
 steep, but abound in long-used fords. 
 The country, on either side much broken 
 and thickly wooded, becomes gently roll- 
 ing and open as it recedes from the 
 stream. On the Northern side the 
 ground is much the highest, and com- 
 mands the other bank completely. Roads 
 traverse and intersect the surrounding 
 country in almost every direction. Fin- 
 ally, at Mitchell's Ford, the stream is 
 about equidistant between Centreville 
 and Manassas, some six miles apart. On 
 the morning of the 18th, finding that the 
 enemy was assuming a threatening atti- 
 tude, in addition to the regiments whose 
 positions have been already stated, I 
 ordered up from Camp Pickens, as a 
 reserve, in rear of Bonham's brigade, 
 the effective men of six companies of 
 Kelley's 8th regiment Louisiana Volun- 
 teers, and Kirkland's llth regiment 
 North Carolina Volunteers, which, hav- 
 ing arrived the night before en route for 
 Winchester, I had halted in view of the 
 existing necessities of the service. Sub- 
 sequently the latter was placed in posi- 
 sition to the left of Bonham's brigade. 
 
 " Appearing in heavy force in front of 
 Bonham's position, the enemy, about 
 meridian, opened fire, with several 20- 
 
 pounder rifle guns 2rom a hill, over one 
 and a half miles from Bull Run. At the 
 same time Kemper, supported by two 
 companies of light infantry, occupied a 
 ridge on the left of the Centreville road, 
 about six hundred yards in advance of 
 the ford, with two 6-pounder (smooth) 
 guns. At first the firing of the enemy 
 was at random, but by half-past 12 p. M., 
 he had obtained the range of our posi- 
 tion, and poured into the brigade a 
 shower of shot, but without injury to us 
 in men, horses and guns. From the dis- 
 tance, however, our guns could not reply 
 with effect, and we did not attempt it, 
 patiently awaiting a more opportune mo- 
 ment. Meanwhile a light battery was 
 pushed forward by the enemy, where- 
 upon Kemper threw only six solid shot, 
 with the effect of driving back both the 
 battery and its supporting force. This 
 is understood to have been Ayres' bat- 
 tery, and the damage must have been 
 considerable to have obliged such a ret- 
 rograde movement on the part of that 
 officer. The purposes of Kemper's posi- 
 tion having now been fully served, his 
 pieces and support were withdrawn 
 across Mitchell's Ford, to a point pre- 
 viously designated, and which command- 
 ed the direct approaches to the ford. 
 
 "About half-past 11 o'clock A. M., the 
 enemy was also discovered by the pick- 
 ets of Longstreet's brigade advancing in 
 strong columns of infantry, with artillery 
 and cavalry, on Blackburn's Ford. At 
 meridian the pickets fell back silently 
 before the advancing fire across the ford, 
 which, as well as the entire southern 
 bank of the stream for the whole front of 
 Longstreet's brigade, was covered at the 
 water's edge by an extended line of skir- 
 mishers, while two 6-pounders of Walton's 
 battery, under Lieutenant Garnett, were 
 
GENERAL BEAUREGARD'S REPORT. 
 
 381 
 
 advantageously placed to command the 
 direct approach to the ford, but with 
 orders to retire to the rear as soon as 
 commanded by the enemy. The north- 
 ern bank of the stream, in front of Long- 
 street's position, rises with a stetp slope 
 at least fifty feet above the level of the 
 water, leaving a narrow berme in front 
 of the ford of some twenty yards. This 
 ridge formed for them an admirable na- 
 tural parapet, behind which they could, 
 and did approach, under shelter, in 
 heavy force, within less than 100 yards 
 of our skirmishers ; the southern shore 
 was almost a plain, raised but a few feet 
 above the water for several hundred 
 3 r ards, then rising with a very gradual, 
 gentle slope and undulations back to 
 Manassas. On the immediate bank there 
 was a fringe of trees, but with little, if 
 any, undergrowth or shelter, while on the 
 other shore there were timber and much 
 thick brush and covering. The ground 
 in the rear of our skirmishers, and occu- 
 pied by our artillery, was an old field 
 extending along the stream about one 
 mile, and immediately back or about 
 half a mile to a border or skirting of 
 dense, second-growth pines. The whole 
 of the ground was commanded at all 
 points by the ridge occupied by the en- 
 emy's musketry, as was also the country 
 to the rear, for a distance much beyond 
 the range of 20-pounder rifle guns, by the 
 range of hills on which their batteries were 
 planted, and which, it may be further 
 noted, commanded also all our approaches 
 from this direction to the three threatened 
 fords. Before advancing his infantry, 
 the enemy maintained a fire of rifled ar- 
 tillery from the batteries just mentioned 
 for half an hour, then he pushed forward 
 a column of over 3,000 infantry to the 
 assault, with such a weight of numbers 
 
 as to be repelled with difficulty by the 
 comparatively small force at not more 
 than twelve hundred bayonets, with 
 which Brigadier-General Longstreet met 
 him with characteristic vigor and intre- 
 pidity. Our troops engaged at this time 
 were the 1st and 17th, and four compa- 
 nies of the llth regiment Virginia Vol- 
 unteers ; their resistance was resolute, 
 and maintained with a steadiness worthy 
 of all praise*; it was successful, and the 
 enemy was repulsed. In a short time, 
 however, he returned to the contest with 
 increased force and determination, but 
 was again foiled and driven back by our 
 skirmishers and Longstreet's reserve com- 
 panies, which were brought up and em- 
 ployed at the most vigorously assailed 
 points at the critical moment. 
 
 " It was now that Brigadier-General 
 Longstreet sent for reinforcements from 
 Early's brigade, which I had anticipated 
 by directing the advance of General 
 Early, with two regiments of infantiy and 
 two pieces of artillery. As these came 
 upon the field the enemy had advanced 
 a third time with heavy numbers to force 
 Longstreet's position. Hay's regiment, 
 7th Louisiana Volunteers, which was in 
 advance, wa- placed on the bank of the 
 stream, under some cover, to the imme- 
 diate right and left of the ford, relieving 
 Corse's regiment, 17th Virginia Volun- 
 teers ; this was done under a heavy fire 
 of musketry, with promising steadiness. 
 The 7th Virginia, under Lieutenant-Col- 
 onel Williams, was then formed to the 
 right, also under heavy fire, and pushed 
 forward to the stream, relieving the 1st 
 regiment Virginia Volunteers. At the 
 same time two rifle guns, brought up 
 with Early's brigade, were moved down 
 in the field to the right of the road, so as 
 to be concealed from the enemy's artille- 
 
381 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ry by the girth of timber on the immedi- 
 ate bank of the stream, and there opened 
 fire, directed only by the sound of the 
 enemy's musketry. Unable to effect a 
 passage, the enemy kept up a scattering 
 fire for some time. Some of our troops 
 had pushed across the stream, and several 
 small parties of Corse's regiment, under 
 command of Captain Mayre, met and 
 drove the enemy with the bayonet ; but 
 as the roadway from the* ford was too 
 narrow for a combined movement in 
 force, General Longstreet recalled them 
 to the south bank. Meanwhile, the re- 
 mainder of Early 's infantry and artillery 
 had been called up that is, six compa- 
 nies of the 24th regiment Virginia Vol- 
 unteers, under Lieutenant-Colonel Hair- 
 ston, and five pieces of artillery, one rifle 
 gun and four 6-pounder brass guns, in- 
 cluding two 6-pounder guns under Lieu- 
 tenant Garnett, which had been pre- 
 viously sent to the rear by General 
 Longstreet. This infantry was at once 
 placed in position to the left of the ford, 
 in a space unoccupied by Hays, and the 
 artillery was unlimbered in battery to 
 the right of the road in a line with the 
 two guns already in action. A scatter- 
 ing fire of musketry was still kept up by 
 the enemy for a short time, but that was 
 soon silenced. 
 
 " It was at this stage of the affair that 
 a remarkable artillery duel was com- 
 menced and maintained on our side with 
 a long-trained professional opponent, su- 
 perior in character as well as in the 
 number of his weapons, provided with 
 improved munitions and every artillery 
 appliance, and at the same time occupy- 
 ing the commanding position. The re- 
 sults were marvellous, and fitting precur- 
 sors to the artillery achievements of the 
 21st of July. In the outset, our fire 
 
 was directed against the enemy's infan- 
 try, whose bayonets, glean ing above the 
 tree-tops, alone indicated their presence 
 and force. This drew the attention of a 
 battery placed on a high commanding 
 ridge, and a duel began in earnest. For 
 a time the aim of the adversary was in- 
 accurate, but this was quickly corrected, 
 and shot fell and shells burst thick and 
 fast in the midst of our battery, wound- 
 ing in the course of the combat Captain 
 Eschelman, five privates, and the horse 
 of Lieutenant Richardson. From the 
 position of our pieces and the nature of 
 the ground, their aim could only be di- 
 rected at the smoke of the enemy's artil- 
 lery ; how skillfully and with what exe- 
 cution this was done can only be realized 
 by an eye-witness. For a few moments 
 their guns were silenced, but were soon 
 reopened. By direction of General 
 Longstreet his battery was then advanced 
 by hand out of the range now ascertained 
 by the enemy, and a shower of spherical 
 case, shell and round shot flew over the 
 heads of our gunners ; but one of our 
 pieces had become 7wr>$ de combat from 
 an enlarged vent. From the new posi- 
 tion our guns fired as before, with no 
 other aim than the smoke and flash of 
 their adversaries' pieces renewed and 
 urged the conflict with such signal vigor 
 and effect, that gradually the fire of the 
 enemy slackened, the intervals between 
 their discharges grew longer and longer, 
 finally to cease, and we fired a last gun 
 at a baffled, flying foe, whose heavy 
 masses in the distance were plainly seen 
 to break and scatter, in wild confusion 
 and utter rout, strewing the ground with 
 cast-away guns, hats, blankets and knap- 
 sacks, as our parting shells were thrown 
 among them. In their retreat one of 
 their pieces was abandoned, but from 
 
EFFECT OF THE MOVEMENT. 
 
 383 
 
 the nature of the ground it was not sent 
 for that night, and under cover of dark- 
 ness the enemy recovered it. The guns 
 engaged in this singular conflict on our 
 side were three 6-pounder rifle pieces 
 and four ordinary 6-pounders, all of 
 Walton's battery the Washington Ar- 
 tillery of New Orleans." 
 
 " As a part of the history of this en- 
 gagement," adds General Beauregarcl, 
 calling to mind doubtless the frequent 
 statements of advantages of this kind 
 sheltering the Confederate troops, "I 
 desire to place on record that, on the 
 18th of July, not one yard of intrench- 
 ment, not one rifle-pit sheltered the men 
 at Blackburn's Ford, who, officers and 
 men, with rare exceptions, were on that 
 day for the first time under fire, arid 
 who, taking and maintaining every posi- 
 tion ordered, cannot be too much com- 
 mended for their soldierty behavior." 
 
 The casualties of the Confederate force 
 are given by General Beauregard at fifteen 
 killed, including two missing, and fifty- 
 three wounded, several of them mor- 
 tally."* 
 
 This expedition or reconnoissance of 
 General Tyler was accompanied by Major 
 Barnard, the Chief Engineer of the Army 
 of the Potomac, who, in his published 
 letter on the battle of Bull Run, has given 
 
 * General ISeauregard's Report to General Cooper, Ad- 
 jutant and Iuspector-Gen'1, C. S. A. Manassas, August, 1861. 
 
 a critique of the affair. In fact, he 
 seems to have considered it something of 
 an unnecessary trial of strength, and in- 
 judiciously carried far beyond the 
 bounds of the simple observation of the 
 enemy's force, which was designed. 
 After the position of the enemy's battery 
 was ascertained by the replies to the fire 
 of the Parrott guns and battery of rifled 
 6-pounders, the affair, he thinks, should 
 have ended ; " but General Tyler, 
 though warned that no serious engage- 
 ment was intended at this point, persist- 
 ing in the belief that the enemy would 
 run whenever menaced by serious attack, 
 had determined, I believe, to march to 
 Manassas that day. Had he made a 
 vigorous charge and crossed the stream 
 at once, it is quite possible, so much de- 
 pends upon moral effect in operating 
 with raw troops, that he might have suc- 
 ceeded. But he only filed his brigade down 
 to the stream, drew it up parallel to the 
 other shore, and opening an unmeaning 
 fusilade, the results of which were all in 
 favor of the enemy, and before which, 
 overawed rather by the tremendous vol- 
 ley directed at them than suffering from 
 heavy loss, one of the regiments broke 
 in confusion and the whole force retired. 
 This foolish affair had a marked effect 
 upon the moral '3 of our raw forces."* 
 
 * The C. S. A. aJ the Battle of Bull Run. By J G 
 Barnard ; pp. 48-9. 
 
CHAPTER XXYI. 
 
 THE BATTLE OP BULL RUN. 
 
 THE day following the engagement 
 described in the last chapter, the 19th 
 of July, was passed by General McDow- 
 ell and his staff in a thorough reconnois- 
 sance of the region round about the ad- 
 vanced Union lines, the result of which, 
 in connection with General T} 7 ler's prac- 
 tical experience in the neighborhood of 
 Blackburn's Ford, was a conviction that 
 the strength and position of the enemy 
 rendered it unadvisable, without a diver- 
 sion, to risk the main attack directly in 
 front, or make the attempt, of which 
 much had been said, to gain Manassas by 
 an approach from the east. Above 
 Stone Bridge, however, the ground ap- 
 peared more practicable. The stream, 
 Bull Run, might readily be forded, and 
 though there were no good roads leading 
 from the camps in that direction, the 
 country afforded no serious obstacle to the 
 movement of troops. It was accordingly 
 resolved, by a flank movement, to turn 
 the enemy's position on their left with a 
 sufficient force which should cooperate 
 with a direct attack on their position at 
 Stone Bridge, and thus open the turnpike 
 road from Centreville, and cut off the 
 railway communication of Manassas with 
 the army of Johnston in and about Win- 
 chester. 
 
 In pursuance of this plan, General 
 McDowell, on the 20th, issued the fol- 
 lowing military orders for an advance 
 early the following morning. " The en- 
 emy has planted a batter}' on the War- 
 
 ren ton turnpike to defend the passage of 
 Bull Run ; has seized the stone bridge 
 and made a heavy abattis on the right 
 bank, to oppose our advance in that di- 
 rection. The ford above the bridge is 
 also guarded, whether with artillery or 
 not is not positively known, but every 
 indication favors the belief that he pro- 
 poses to defend the passage of the stream 
 It is intended to turn the position, force 
 the enemy from the road, that it may be 
 reopened^ and, if possible, destroy the 
 railroad leading from Manassas to the 
 valley of Virginia, where the enemy has 
 a large force. As this may be resisted 
 by all the force of the enemy, the troops 
 will be disposed as follows : The first 
 division (General Tyler's) with the ex- 
 ception of Richardson's brigade, will, at 
 half-past 2 o'clock in the morning pre- 
 cisely, be on the Warrenton turnpike to 
 threaten the passage of the bridge, but 
 will not open fire until full daybreak. 
 The second division (Hunter's) will move 
 from its camp at two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing precisely, and, led by Captain Wood- 
 bury, of the Engineers, will, after pass- 
 ing Cub Run, turn to the right and pass 
 the Bull Run stream above the ford at 
 Sudley's Spring, and then turning down 
 to the left, descend the stream and clear 
 away the enemy who may be guarding 
 the lower ford and bridge. It will then 
 bear off to the right and make room for 
 the succeeding division. The third divi- 
 sion (Heintzelman's) will march at half- 
 
DISPOSITION OF THE UNION FORCES. 
 
 385 
 
 past 2 o'clock in the morning, and follow 
 the road taken by the second division, 
 but will cross at the lower ford after it 
 has been turned as above, and then, 
 going to the left, take place between the 
 stream and second division. The fifth 
 division (Miles') will take position on the 
 Centreville Heights, (Richardson's brig- 
 ade will, for the time, form part of the 
 fifth division, and will continue in its 
 present position.) One brigade will be 
 in the village, and one near the present 
 station of Richardson's brigade. This 
 division will threaten the Blackburn 
 Ford, and remain in reserve at Centre- 
 ville. The commander will open fire 
 with artillery only, and will bear in mind 
 that it is a demonstration only he is to 
 make. He will cause such defensive 
 works, abattis, earthworks, etc., to be 
 thrown up as will strengthen his position. 
 Lieutenant Prime, of the Engineers, will 
 be charged with this duty. These move- 
 ments may lead to the gravest results, 
 and commanders of divisions and brig- 
 ades should bear in mind the immense 
 consequences involved. There must be 
 no failure, and every effort must be made 
 to prevent straggling. No one must be 
 allowed to leave the ranks without spe- 
 cial authority. After completing the 
 movements ordered, the troops must be 
 held in order of battle, as they may be 
 attacked at any moment." 
 
 A general engagement was evidently 
 looked for in these dispositions, which 
 were well planned, and had, as we shall 
 see, the effect of taking the enemy by 
 surprise, and disconcerting their scheme 
 of attack upon the Union lines. " It 
 had been my intention,' 1 says General 
 McDowell in his subsequent final report 
 of the action which ensued a master- 
 piece of military narrative in its clear- 
 49 
 
 ness, simplicity and truthfulness, " to 
 move the several columns out on the 
 road a few miles on the evening of the 
 20th, so that they would have a shorter 
 march in the morning ; but I deferred to 
 those who had the greatest distance to 
 go, and who preferred starting early in 
 the morning and making but one move. 
 On the evening of the 20th, my command 
 was mostly at or near Centreville. The 
 enemy was at or near Manassas, distant 
 from Centreville about seven miles to 
 the southwest. Centreville is a village 
 of a few houses, mostly on the west side 
 of a ridge running nearly north and 
 south. The road from Centreville to 
 Manassas Junction was along this ridge, 
 and Crosses Bull Run about three miles 
 from the former place. The Warrenton 
 turnpike, which runs nearly east and 
 west, goes over this ridge, through the 
 village, and crosses Bull Run about four 
 miles from it, Bull Run having a course 
 between the crossing from northwest to 
 southeast. The first division (Tyler's) 
 was stationed on the north side of the 
 Warrenton turnpike, and on the eastern 
 slope of the Centreville ridge, two brig- 
 ades on the same road, and a mile and a 
 half in advance; to the west of the ridge, 
 and one brigade on the road from Cen- 
 treville to Manassas, where it crosses 
 Bull Run at Blackburn's Ford, where 
 General Tyler had the engagement of 
 the 18th. The second division (Hun- 
 ter's) was on the Warrenton turnpike, 
 one mile east of Centreville. The third 
 division (Heintzelrnan's) was on a road 
 known as the Old Braddock road, which 
 comes in-to Centreville from the south- 
 east, about a mile and a half from the 
 village. The fifth division (Miles') was 
 on the same road with the third division, 
 and between it and Centreville. 
 
386 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 "On Friday night, the 10th, a train 
 of subsistence arrived, and on Saturday 
 its contents were ordered to be issued to 
 the command, and the men required to 
 have three days' rations in their haver- 
 sacks. On Saturday orders were issued 
 for the available force to march. My 
 personal reconnoissance of the roads to 
 the South had shown that it was not 
 practicable to carry out the original plan 
 of turning the enemy's position on their 
 right. The affair of the 18th at Black- 
 burn's Ford showed that he was too 
 strong at that point for us to force a 
 passage there without great loss, and if 
 we did that it would bring us in front of 
 his strong position at Manassas, which 
 was not desired. Our information was 
 that the stone bridge, over which the 
 Warrenton road crossed Bull Run, to 
 the west of Centreville, was defended 
 by a battery in position, and the road on 
 his side of the stream impeded by a 
 heavy abattis. The alternative was, 
 therefore, to turn the extreme left of his 
 position. Reliable information was ob- 
 tained of an undefended ford about three 
 miles above the bridge, there being an- 
 other ford between it and the bridge, 
 which was defended. It was therefore 
 determined to take the road to the upper 
 ford, and after crossing, to get behind 
 the forces guarding the lower ford and 
 the bridge, and after occupying the War- 
 renton road east of the bridge, to send 
 out a force to destroy the railroad at or 
 near Gainesville, and thus break up the 
 communication between the enemy's 
 forces at Manassas and those in the 
 valley of Virginia, before Winchester, 
 which had been held in check by Major- 
 General Patterson. 
 
 "Brigadier-General Tyler was directed 
 to move with three of his brigades on 
 
 the Warrenton road, and commence can- 
 nonading the enemy's batteries, while 
 Hunter's division, moving after him, 
 should, after passing a little stream called 
 Cub Run, turn to the right and north, 
 and move around to the upper ford, and 
 there turn south and get behind the en- 
 emy. Colonel Heintzelman's division was 
 to follow Hunter's as far as the turning 1 
 
 _ c 
 
 off place to the lower ford, where he was 
 to cross after the enemy should have 
 been driven out by Hunter's division ; 
 the fifth division (Miles') to be in reserve 
 on the Centreville Ridge. I had felt 
 anxious about the road from Manassas 
 by Blackburn's Ford to Centreville, 
 along the ridge, fearing that whilst we 
 should be in force to the front, and en- 
 deavoring to turn the enemy's position, 
 we ourselves should be turned by him by 
 this road ; for if he "should once obtain 
 possession of this ridge, which overlooks 
 all the country to the west to the foot of 
 the spurs of the Blue Ridge, we should 
 have been irretrievably cut off and de- 
 stroyed. I had, therefore, directed this 
 point to be held in force, and sent an en- 
 gineer to extemporize some field-works 
 to strengthen the position. The fourth 
 division (Runyon's) had not been brought 
 to the front further than to guard our 
 communications by way of Vienna and 
 the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. 
 His advanced regiment was about seven 
 miles in the rear of Centreville. The 
 divisions were ordered to march at half- 
 past 2 o'clock* A. M., so as to arrive on 
 the ground early in the day, and thus 
 avoid the heat which is to be expected 
 at this season. There was delay in the 
 first division getting out of its camp on 
 the road, and the other divisions were, 
 in consequence, between two and three 
 hours behind the tine appointed a 
 
OPENING OF THE BATTLE. 
 
 387 
 
 great misfortune, as events turned out. 
 The wood road leading from the War- 
 reuton turnpike to the upper ford was 
 much longer than we counted upon, the 
 general direction of the stream being 
 oblique to the road, and we having the 
 obtuse angle on our side. 
 
 "General Tyler commenced with his 
 artillery at half- past 6 A. M., but the en- 
 emy did not reply, and after some time 
 it became a question whether he was in 
 any force in our front, and if he did not 
 intend himself to make an attack, and 
 make it by Blackburn's Ford. After 
 firing several times, and obtaining no re- 
 sponse, I held one of Heintzelman's brig- 
 ades in reserve, in case we should have 
 to send any troops back to reinforce 
 Miles' division. The other brigades 
 moved forward as directed in the gener- 
 al orders. On reaching the ford at Sud- 
 ley's Spring, I found part of the leading 
 brigade of Hunter's division (Burnside's) 
 had crossed, but the men were slow in 
 getting over, stopping to drink. As at 
 this time the clouds of dust from the 
 direction of Manassas indicated the im- 
 mediate approach of a large force, and 
 fearing it might come down on the head 
 of the column before the division could 
 all get over and sustain it, orders were 
 sent back to the heads of regiments to 
 break from the column and come for- 
 ward separately as fast as possible. 
 Orders were sent by an officer to the 
 reserve brigade of Heintzelman's division 
 to come by a nearer road across the 
 fields, and an aide-de-camp was sent to 
 Brigadier-General Tyler to direct him to 
 press forward his attack, as large bodies 
 of the enemy were passing in front of 
 him to attack the division which had 
 crossed over. The ground between the 
 stream and the road leading from Sud- 
 
 ley's Spring south, and over which Burn- 
 side's brigade marched, was for about a 
 mile from the ford thickly wooded, whilst 
 on the right of the road for about the 
 same distance the country was divided 
 between fields and woods. About a mile 
 from the road the country on both sides 
 of the road is open, and for nearly a 
 mile further large rolling fields extend 
 down to the Warrenton turnpike, which 
 crosses what became the field of battle 
 through the valley of a small water- 
 course, a tributary of Bull Eun. 
 
 " Shortly after the leading regiment of 
 the first brigade reached the open space, 
 and whilst others and the second brig- 
 ade were crossing to the front and right, 
 the enemy opened his fire, beginning 
 with artillery and following up with in- 
 fantry. The leading.brigade (Burnside's) 
 had to sustain this shock for a short time 
 without support, and did it well. The 
 battalion of regular infantry was sent to 
 sustain it, and shortly afterwards the 
 other corps of Porter's brigade, and a 
 regiment detached from Heintzelman's 
 division to the left, forced the enemy 
 back far enough to allow Sherman's and 
 Keyes' brigades of Tyler's division to 
 cross from their position on the Warren- 
 ton road. These drove the right of the 
 enemy, understood to have been com- 
 manded by Beauregard, from the front 
 of the field, and out of the detached 
 woods, and down to the road, and across 
 it up the slopes on the other side. Whilst 
 this was going on, Heintzelman's division 
 was moving down the field to the stream, 
 and up the road beyond. Beyond the 
 Warrenton road, and to the left of the 
 road, down which our troops had march- 
 ed from Sudley's Spring, is a hill with a 
 farm-house on it. Behind this hill the 
 enemy had, early in the day, some of 
 
388 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 his most annoying batteries planted. 
 Across the road from this hill was an- 
 other hill, or rather elevated ridge, or 
 table of land. The hottest part of the 
 contest was for the possession of- this 
 hill with a house on it. The force en- 
 gaged here was Heintzelman's division. 
 Wilcox's and Howard's brigades on the 
 right, supported by part of Porter's brig- 
 ade and the cavalry under Palmer, and 
 Franklin's brigade of Heintzelman's divi- 
 sion, Sherman's brigade of Tyler's divi- 
 sion in the centre and up the road, whilst 
 Keyes' brigade of Tyler's division was on 
 the left, attacking the batteries near the 
 stone bridge. The Rhode Island battery 
 of Burnside's brigade also participated in 
 this attack by its fire from the north of 
 the turnpike. The enemy was under- 
 stood to have been -commanded by J. E. 
 Johnston. Rickett's battery, which did 
 such effective service and played so bril- 
 liant a part in this contest, was, together 
 with Griffin's battery, on the side of the 
 hill, and became the object of the special 
 attention of the enemy, who succeeded 
 our officers mistaking one of his regiments 
 for one of our own, aud allowing it to 
 approach without firing upon it in dis- 
 abling the battery, and then attempted 
 to take it. Three times was he repulsed 
 by different corps in succession, and 
 driven back, and the guns taken by 
 hand, the horses being killed, and pulled 
 away. The third time it was supposed 
 by us all that the repulse was final, for 
 he was driven entirely from the hill, and 
 so far beyond it as not to be in sight, and 
 all were certain the day was ours. He 
 had before this been driven nearly a mile 
 and a half, and was beyond the Warren- 
 ton road, which was entirely in our pos- 
 session from the stone bridge westward, 
 and our engineers were just completing 
 
 the removal of the abattis across the road, 
 to allow our reinforcement (Schenck's 
 brigade and Ayres' battery) to join us. 
 " The enemy was evidently disheart- 
 ened and broken. But we had been fight- 
 ing since half-past ten o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, and it was after three o'clock in the 
 afternoon. The men had been up since 
 two o'clock in the morning, and had made 
 what to those unused to such things 
 seemed a long march before coming into 
 action, though the longest distance gone 
 over was not more than nine and a half 
 miles ; and though they had three days' 
 provisions served out to them the day 
 before, many no doubt either did not eat 
 them, or threw them away on the march, 
 or during the battle, and were therefore 
 without food. They had done much 
 severe fighting. Some of the regiments 
 which had been driven from the hill in 
 the first two attempts of the enemy to 
 keep possession of it had become shaken, 
 were unsteady, and had many men out 
 of the ranks. It was at this time that 
 the enemy's reinforcements came to his 
 aid from the railroad train, understood 
 to have just arrived from the valley with 
 the residue of Johnston's army. They 
 threw themselves in the woods on our 
 right and towards the rear of Our right, 
 and opened a fire of musketry on our 
 men, which caused them to break and 
 retire down the hillside. This soon de- 
 generated into disorder, for which there 
 was no remedy. Every effort was made 
 to rally them, even beyond the reach of 
 the enemy's fire, but in vain. The bat- 
 talion of regular infantry alone moved 
 up the hill opposite to the one with the 
 house on it, and there maintained itself 
 until our men could get down to and 
 across the Warrenton turnpike, on the 
 way back to the position we occupied in 
 
"3 
 
 1 I 
 
 85 
 
GENERAL McDOWELL'S REPORT. 
 
 389 
 
 the morning. The plain was covered 
 with the retreating troops, and they 
 seemed to infect those with whom they 
 came in contact. The retreat soon be- 
 came a rout, and this soon degenerated 
 still further into a panic. Finding this 
 state of affairs was beyond the efforts of 
 all those who had assisted so faithfully 
 during the long and hard day's work in 
 gaining almost the object of our wishes, 
 and that nothing remained on the field 
 but to recognize what we could no longer 
 prevent, I gave the necessary orders to 
 protect their withdrawal, begging the 
 men to form in line, and offer the appear- 
 ance at least, of organization. They re- 
 turned by the fords to the Warrrenton 
 road, protected, by my order, by Colonel 
 Porter's force of regulars. Once on the 
 road, and the different corps coming to- 
 gether in small parties, many without 
 officers, they became intermingled, and 
 all organization was lost. 
 
 " Orders had been sent back to Miles' 
 division for a brigade to move forward 
 and protect this retreat, and Colonel 
 Blenker's brigade was detached for this 
 purpose, and was ordered to go as far 
 forward as the point where the road to 
 the right left the main road. By refer- 
 ring to the general order it will be seen 
 that, while the operations were to go on 
 in front, an attack was to be made at 
 Blackburn's Ford by the brigade (Rich- 
 ardson's) stationed there. A reference 
 to his report, and to that of Major Hunt, 
 commanding the artillery, will show that 
 this part of the plan was well and effect- 
 ively carried out. It succeeded in de- 
 ceiving the enemy for a considerable 
 time, and in keeping in check a part of 
 his force. The fire of the artillery at 
 this point is represented as particularly 
 destructive. At the time of our retreat, 
 
 seeing great activity in this direction, 
 much firing, and columns of dust, I be- 
 came anxious for this place, fearing if it 
 were turned or forced the whole stream 
 of our retreating mass would be captured 
 or destroyed. After providing for the 
 protection of the retreat by Porter's and , 
 Blenker's brigades, I repaired to Rich- 
 ardson's, and found the whole force or- 
 dered to be stationed for the holding of 
 the road from Manassas by Blackburn's 
 Ford to Centreville, on the march, under 
 the orders from the division commander 
 for Centreville. I immediately halted 
 it, and ordered it to take up the best 
 line of defence across the ridge that their 
 position admitted of, and subsequently 
 taking in person the command of this 
 part of the army, I caused such disposi- 
 tion of the forces, which had been added 
 to by the 1st and 2d New Jersey and 
 the De Kalb regiments, ordered up from 
 Runyon's reserve, before going forward, 
 as would best serve to check the enemy. 
 The ridge being held in this way, the re- 
 treating current passed slowly through 
 Centreville to the rear. The enemy fol- 
 lowed us from the ford as far as Cub 
 Run, and owing to the road becoming 
 blocked up at the crossing, caused us 
 much damage there, for the artillery 
 could not pass, and several pieces and 
 caissons had to be abandoned. In the 
 panic, the horses hauling the caissons 
 and ammunition were cut from their 
 places by persons to escape with, and in 
 this very much confusion was caused, the 
 panic aggravated, and the road encum- 
 bered. Not only were pieces of artillery 
 lost, but also many of the ambulances 
 carrying the wounded. 
 
 "By sundown most of our men had 
 gotten behind Centreville Ridge, and it 
 became a question whether we should or 
 
390 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 not endeavor to make a stand there. 
 The condition of our artillery and its 
 ammunition, and the want of food for the 
 men, who had generally abandoned or 
 thrown away all that had been issued the 
 day before, and the utter disorganization 
 and consequent demoralization of the 
 mass of the army, seemed to all who 
 were near enough to be consulted divi- 
 sion and brigade commanders and staff- 
 to admit of no alternative but to fall 
 back ; the more so as the position of 
 Blackburn's Ford was then in the posses- 
 sion of the enemy, and he was already 
 Burning our left. On sending the officers 
 of the staff to the different camps, they 
 found, as they reported to me, that our 
 decision had been anticipated by the 
 troops, most of those who had come in 
 from the front being already on the road 
 to the rear, the panic with which they 
 came in still continuing and hurrying 
 them along. At o'clock the rear- 
 guard (Blenker's brigade) moved, cover- 
 ing the retreat, which was effected dur- 
 ing the night and next morning. The 
 troops at Fairfax station leaving by the 
 cars, took with them the bulk of the sup- 
 plies which had been sent there. My 
 aide-de-camp, Major Wadsworth, stayed 
 at Fairfax Court-House till late in the 
 morning, to see that the stragglers and 
 weary and worn-out soldiers were not 
 eft behind." 
 
 From this account of the battle of Bull 
 Run, as it is succinctly narrated by the 
 Union general with the candor of a gen- 
 tleman and soldier, we may turn to the 
 complement of the picture in the official 
 report of the rebel commander, General 
 Beauregard. Like his statement of the 
 preceding engagement at Blackburn's 
 Ford, it is a minute, elaborate and well 
 presented exhibition of the military move- 
 
 ments of the day. Time was taken for 
 its preparation, and its writer had con- 
 sequently the advantage, of which he 
 availed himself, of the published reports 
 of the Union officers ; so that the paper 
 is much more complete than is usual with 
 documents of this kind. It bears date 
 August 26, 1861, but was not given to 
 the public for some time after, and then, 
 as it was said, in a somewhat abridged 
 form, curtailed of the comments of the 
 writer on the subsequent conduct of the 
 campaign by the Confederate govern- 
 ment. The report was not in fact pub- 
 lished till more than six months after 
 the battle which it described, about the 
 time of General Beauregard's departure 
 from Manassas for a new field of opera- 
 tions in the South. 
 
 Immediately on the advance of Gener- 
 al McDowell from before Washington, 
 on the 17th July, as appears from this 
 document, General Beauregard apprised 
 the Confederate War Department at 
 Eichmond, by telegraph, of the fact, 
 when government orders were at once 
 transmitted for the reinforcement of his 
 command. General Johnston was direct- 
 ed to bring his forces, i possible, from 
 Winchester, and General Holmes, who 
 was in the rear of Manassas, in Eastern 
 Virginia, at Fredericksburg, was sent 
 forward with his brigade. On being ad- 
 vised of these measures, General Beaure- 
 gard at first intended that one portion 
 of Johnston's force should advance by a 
 route below Leesburg and take the Union 
 forces on their right flank and in the 
 rear at Centreville ; but it was found 
 that the means of transportation did not 
 admit of this, and a junction of the forces 
 was resolved upon within the lines of 
 Bull Eun, with the view of an immediate 
 attack on the enemy. General Johnston 
 
THE LINE OF DEFENCE. 
 
 391 
 
 having evaded his antagonist, General 
 Patterson, by a skillful disposition of his 
 advance guard, under Colonel Stuart, 
 leaving his sick, about 1,700 in number, 
 under the care of a small militia force at 
 Winchester, moved with the remainder 
 of his army through Ashby's Gap to 
 Piedmont, a station of the Manassas Gap 
 Railroad. From this point the infantry 
 were to be transported to the camp of 
 General Beauregard by rail, while the 
 cavalry and artillery were ordered to 
 continue their march.- About noon on 
 the 20th, having been preceded by two 
 Georgia, and Jackson's brigade of five 
 Virginia regiments, General Johnston, 
 accompanied by General Bee with two 
 regiments from Alabama and Mississippi, 
 arrived at Manassas, and being the senior 
 of General Beauregard in rank, assumed 
 the command of the entire force. The 
 untoward detention of some 5,000 of 
 General Johnston's army, which he ex- 
 pected to follow him immediately on the 
 railway, but which were detained in con- 
 sequence of the imperfect means of trans- 
 portation, with the advance in force of 
 McDowell's army, compelled a disposition 
 of the enemy's command to' repel the 
 threatened attack on their defensive line 
 of Bull Run. At half-past four on the 
 morning of the 21st, the day of the bat- 
 tle, the Confederate forces, says General 
 Beauregard, were thus arranged : 
 
 " EwelPs brigade, constituted as on the 
 18th of July, remained in position at 
 Union Mills Ford, his left extending 
 along Bull Run, in the direction of Mc- 
 Lean's Ford, and supported by Holmes' 
 brigade, 2d Tennessee and 1st Arkansas 
 regiments a short distance in the rear 
 that is, at and near Camp Wigfall. D. 
 R. Jones' brigade, from Swell's left, in 
 front of McLean's Ford and along the 
 
 stream to Longstrect's position. It was 
 unchanged in organization, and was sup- 
 ported by Early's brigade, also unchang- 
 ed, placed behind a thicket of young 
 pines, a short distance in the rear of 
 McLean's Ford. Longstreet's brigade 
 held its former ground at Blackburn's 
 Ford, from Jones' left to Bonham's right, 
 at Mitchell's Ford, and was supported 
 by Jackson's brigade, consisting of Col- 
 onels James L. Preston's 4th, Harper's 
 5th, Allen's 2d, the 27th, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Echoll's, and the 33d, Cumming's 
 Virginia regiments, 2,611 strong, which 
 were posted behind the skirting of pines 
 to the rear of Blackburn's and Mitchell's 
 Fords, and in the rear of this support 
 was also Barksdale's 13th regiment Mis- 
 sissippi Volunteers, which had lately ar- 
 rived from Lynchburg. Along the edge 
 of a pine thicket, in rear of arid equi- 
 distant from McLean's and Blackburn's 
 Fords, ready to support either position, 
 I had also placed all of Bee's and Bar- 
 tow's brigades that had arrived namely, 
 two companies of the llth Mississippi, 
 Lieu tenant- Colon el Liddell, the 2d Mis- 
 sissippi, Colonel Falkner, and the Alaba- 
 ma, with the 7th and 8th Georgia regi- 
 ments (Colonel Gartrell and Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Gardner), in all 2,732 bayonets. 
 Bonham's brigade, as before, held Mitch- 
 ll's Ford, its right near Longstreet's 
 [eft, its left extending in the direction of 
 Cocke's right. It was organized as at 
 the end of the 18th of July, with Jack- 
 son's brigade, as before said, as a sup- 
 port. Cocke's brigade, increased by 
 seven companies of the 8th, Hunton's ; 
 three companies of the 49th, Smith's Vir- 
 ginia regiments ; two companies of cav- 
 alry, and a battery under Rogers of four 
 6-pounders, occupied the line in front 
 and rear of Bull Run, extending from the 
 
392 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 direction of Bonhara's left, and guarding 
 Island, Ball's and Lewis' Fords, to the 
 right of Evans' demi-brigade, near the 
 Stone Bridge, also under General Cocke's 
 command. The latter held the Stone 
 Bridge, and its left covered a farm ford 
 about one mile above the bridge. Stuart's 
 cavalry, some three hundred men of the 
 army of the Shenandoah, guarded the 
 level ground extending in rear from 
 Bonham's left to Cocke's right. Two 
 companies of Radford cavalry were held 
 in reserve a short distance in rear of 
 Mitchell's Ford, his left extending in the 
 direction of Stuart's right. Colonel Pen- 
 dleton's reserve battery of eight pieces 
 was temporarily placed in rear of Bon- 
 ham's extreme left. Major Walton's 
 reserve battery of five guns was in posi- 
 tion on McLean's farm, in a piece of 
 woods in rear of Bee's right. Hampton's 
 legion of six companies of infantry, six 
 hundred strong, having arrived that 
 morning by the cars from Richmond, 
 was subsequently, as soon as it arrived, 
 ordered forward to a position in imme- 
 diate vicinity of the Lewis House, as a 
 support for any troops engaged in that 
 quarter. The effective force of all arms 
 of the army of the Potomac on that 
 eventful morning, including the garrison 
 of Camp Pickens, did not exceed 21,833 
 and 29 guns. The army of the Shenan- 
 doah, ready for action on the field, may 
 be set at 6,000 men and 20 guns. That 
 is, when the battle begun, Smith's brig- 
 ade and Fisher's North Carolina came 
 up later, and made total of army of 
 Shenandoah engaged of all arms, 8,334. 
 Hill's Virginia regiment, 550, also arriv- 
 ed, but was posted as reserve to right 
 flank. The brigade of General Holmes 
 mustered about 1,265 bayonets, six guns 
 and a company of cavalry about 90 strong. 
 
 " Informed at half-past five A. M., by 
 Colonel Evans," continues General Beau- 
 regard, "that the enemy had deployed 
 some 1,200 men [these were what Colo- 
 nel Evans saw of General Schenck's bri- 
 gade of General Tyler's division and two 
 other heavy brigades, in all over 9,000 
 men and thirteen pieces of artillery- 
 Carlisle's and Ayres's batteries. That 
 is, 900 men and two 6-pounders, con- 
 fronted by 9,000 men and thirteen pieces 
 of artillery, mostly rifled], with several 
 pieces of artillery in his immediate front. 
 I at once ordered him, as also General 
 Cocke, if attacked, to maintain their po- 
 sition to the last extremity. In my 
 opinion the most effective method of re- 
 lieving that flank was by a rapid, de- 
 termined attack, with my right wing and 
 centre on the enemy's flank and rear at 
 Centreville, with due- precautions against 
 the advance of his reserves from the di- 
 rection of Washington. By such a move- 
 ment I confidently expected to achieve 
 a complete victory for my country by 
 twelve o'clock M. These new disposi- 
 tions were submitted to General John- 
 ston, who fully approved them, and the 
 orders for their immediate execution 
 were at once issued. Brigadier-General 
 Ewell was directed to begin the move- 
 ment, to be followed and supported suc- 
 cessively by Generals D. R. Jones, Long- 
 street and Bonham respectively, support- 
 ed by their several appointed reserves. 
 The cavalry, under Stuart and Radford, 
 were to be held in hand, subject to fu- 
 ture orders and ready for employment 
 as might be required by the exigencies 
 of the battle. About half-past eight 
 o'clock A. M. General Johnston and my- 
 self transferred our headquarters to a 
 central position about half a mile in the 
 rear of Mitchell's Ford, whence we might 
 
CHANGE OF POSITION. 
 
 393 
 
 watch the course of events. Previously, 
 as early as half-past five, the Federalists 
 in front of Evans' position, Stone Bridge, 
 had opened with a large 3 0-pound er 
 Parrott rifle gun, and thirty minutes 
 later with a moderate, apparently tenta- 
 tive, fire from a battery of rifle pieces, 
 directed first in front at Evans', and 
 then in the direction of Cocke's position, 
 but without drawing a return fire and 
 discovery of our positions, chiefly be- 
 cause in that quarter we had nothing 
 but eight 6-pounder pieces, which could 
 not reach the distant enemy. As the 
 Federalists had advanced with an ex- 
 tended line of skirmishers in front of 
 Evans, that officer promptly threw for- 
 ward the two flank companies of the 4th 
 South Carolina regiment and one com- 
 pany of Wheat's Louisiana battalion, de- 
 ployed as skirmishers, to cover his small 
 front. An occasional scattering fire re- 
 sulted, and thus the two armies in that 
 quarter remained for more than an hour, 
 while the main body of the enemy was 
 marching its dubious way through the 
 ' big forest ' to take our forces in flank 
 and rear. 
 
 " By half- past eight A. M., Colonel 
 Evans having become satisfied of the 
 counterfeit character of the movement 
 on his front, and persuaded of an at- 
 tempt to turn his left flank, decided to 
 change his position to meet the enemy, 
 and for this purpose immediately put in 
 motion to his left and rear six companies 
 of Sloan's 4th South Carolina regiment, 
 Wheat's Louisiana battalion, five com- 
 panies, and two 6-pounders of Latham's 
 battery, leaving four companies of Sloan's 
 regiment under cover as the sole imme- 
 diate defence of the Stone Bridge, but 
 giving information to General Cocke of 
 his change of position and the reasons 
 50 
 
 that impelled it. Following a road lead- 
 ing by the Old Pittsylvania (Carter) 
 mansion, Colonel Evans formed in line 
 of battle some four hundred yards in 
 rear as he advanced of that house, 
 his guns to the front and in position, 
 properly supported, to its immediate 
 right. Finding, however, that the enemy 
 did not appear on that road, which was 
 a branch of one running by Sudley's 
 Springs Ford to Brentsville and Dum- 
 fries, he turned abruptly to the left, and 
 marching across the fields for three-quar- 
 ters of a mile, about half-past nine A. M., 
 took a position in line of battle ; his left, 
 Sloan's companies, resting on the main 
 Brentsville road in a shallow ravine, the 
 Louisiana battalion to the right, in ad- 
 vance some two hundred yards, a rectan- 
 gular course of wood separating them 
 one piece of his artillery planted on an 
 eminence some seven hundred yards to 
 the rear of Wheat's battalion, and the 
 other on a ridge near and in rear of 
 Sloan's position, commanding a reach of 
 the road just in front of the line of bat- 
 tle. In this order he awaited the com- 
 ing of the masses of the enemy now draw- 
 ing near. In the meantime about seven 
 o'clock A. M., Jackson's brigade, with 
 Imboden's, and five pieces of Walton's 
 battery, had been sent to take up a posi- 
 tion along Bull Run to guard the inter- 
 val between Cocke's right and Bonharn's 
 left, with orders to support either in case 
 of need the character and topographi- 
 cal features of the ground having been 
 shown to General Jackson by Captain 
 D. B. Harris, of the Engineers, of this 
 army corps. So much of Bee's and Bar- 
 tow's brigades, now united, as had arriv- 
 ed some 2,800 muskets had also been 
 sent forward to the support of the posi- 
 tion of the Stone Bridge. 
 
894 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 "The enemy beginning his detour 
 from the turnpike at a point nearly half 
 way between Stone Bridge and Centre- 
 ville, had pursued a tortuous, narrow 
 trace of a rarely-used road, through a 
 dense wood, the greater part of his way, 
 until near the Sudley road. A division 
 under Colonel Hunter, of the Federal 
 regular army, of two strong brigades, 
 was in the advance, followed immediately 
 by another division under Colonel Heintz- 
 elman, of three brigades and seven com- 
 panies of regular cavalry and twenty- 
 four pieces of artillery eighteen of 
 which were rifle guns. This column, as 
 it crossed Bull Run, numbered over six- 
 teen thousand men of all arms, by their 
 own accounts. Burnside's brigade, which 
 here as at Fairfax Court-House, led the 
 advance, at about forty-five minutes past 
 nine A. M., debouched from a wood in front 
 of Evans' position, some five hundred 
 yards distant from Wheat's battalion. 
 He immediately threw forward his skir- 
 mishers in force, and they became en- 
 gaged with Wheat's command and the 
 6-pounder gun under Lieutenant Left- 
 wich. The Federalists at once advanced, 
 as they report officially, the 2d Rhode 
 Island regiment Volunteers, with its 
 vaunted battery of six 13-pounder rifle 
 guns. Sloan's companies were then 
 brought into action, having been pushed 
 forward through the woods. The enemy, 
 soon galled and staggered by the fire, 
 and pressed by the determined valor 
 with which Wheat handled his- battery, 
 until he was desperately wounded, has- 
 tened up three other regiments of the 
 brigade and two Dahlgren howitzers, 
 making in all quite 3,500 bayonets and 
 eight pieces of artillery, opposed to less 
 than 800 men and two 6-pounder guns. 
 Despite these odds, this intrepid command 
 
 of but eleven weak companies maintained 
 its front to the enemy for quite an hour, 
 and until General Bee came to their aid 
 with his command. The heroic Bee, 
 with a soldier's eye and recognition of 
 the situation, had previously disposed 
 his command with skill Imboden's bat- 
 tery having been admirably placed be- 
 tween the two brigades under shelter 
 behind the undulations of a hill about 
 150 yards north of the now famous Hen- 
 ry House, and very near where he sub- 
 sequently fell mortally wounded, to the 
 great misfortune of his' country, but after 
 deeds of deliberate and ever-memorable 
 courage. 
 
 "Meanwhile the enemy had pushed 
 forward a battalion of eight companies 
 of regular infantry and one of their 
 best batteries of six pieces (four rifled), 
 supported by four companies of marines, 
 to increase the desperate odds against 
 which Evans and his men had maintain- 
 ed their stand with an almost matchless 
 tenacity. G-eneral Bee, now finding 
 Evans sorely pressed under the crushing 
 weight of the masses of the enemy, at the 
 call of Colonel Evans, threw forward his 
 whole force to his aid across a small 
 stream Young's Branch and Yalley 
 and engaged the Federalists with impe- 
 tuosity ; Imboden's battery at the time 
 playing from his well-chosen position 
 with brilliant effect with spherical case, 
 the enemy having first opened on him 
 from a rifle battery, probably Griffin's, 
 with elongated cylindrical shells, which 
 flew a few feet over the heads of our 
 men, and exploded in the crest of the 
 hill immediately in rear. As Bee ad- 
 vanced under a severe fire, he placed the 
 7th and 8th Georgia regiments under the 
 chivalrous Bartow, at abont eleven A. M., 
 in a wood of second grown pines, to the 
 
PROGRESS OF THE ACTION. 
 
 395 
 
 right and front of and nearly perpendi- 
 cular to Evans' line of battle, the 4th 
 Alabama to the left of them, along a 
 fence connecting the position of the 
 Georgia regiments with the rectangular 
 copse in which Sloan's South Carolina 
 companies were engaged, and into which 
 he also threw the 2d Mississippi. A 
 fierce and destructive conflict now en- 
 sued ; the fire was withering on both 
 sides, while the enemy swept our short, 
 thin lines with their numerous artillery, 
 which, according to their official reports, 
 at this time consisted of at least ten rifle 
 guns and four howitzers. For an hour 
 did these stout-hearted men of the blend- 
 ed command of Bee, Evans and Bartow 
 breast an unintermitting battle-storm, 
 animated, surely, by something more 
 than the ordinary courage of even the 
 bravest men under fire ; it must have 
 been indeed the inspiration of the cause, 
 and consciousness of the great stake at 
 issue, which thus nerved and animated 
 one and all to stand unawed and un- 
 shrinking in such extremity. Two Fed- 
 eral brigades of Heintzelman's division 
 were now brought into action, led by 
 Ricketts' superb light battery of six 
 10-pounder rifle guns, which, posted on 
 an eminence to the right of the Sudley 
 road, opened fire on Imboden's battery 
 about this time increased by two rifle 
 pieces of the Washington Artillery, 
 under Lieutenant Richardson, and al- 
 ready the mark of two batteries, which 
 divided their fire with Imboden, and two 
 guns, under Lieutenants Davidson and 
 Leftwitch, of Latham's battery, posted 
 as before mentioned. At this time, con- 
 fronting the enemy, we had still but 
 Evans' eleven companies and two guns- 
 Bee's and Bartow's four regiments, the 
 two companies llth Mississippi, under 
 
 Lieutenant- Colonel Liddell, and the siy 
 pieces under Imboden and Richardson 
 The enemy had two divisions of foui 
 strong brigades, including seventeen com- 
 panies of regular infantry, cavalry and 
 artillery, four companies of marines and 
 twenty pieces of artillery. [See official 
 reports of Colonels Heintzelman, Porter, 
 etc.] Against this odds, scarcely credi- 
 ble, our advance position was still for a 
 while maintained, and the enemy's ranks 
 constantly broken and shattered under 
 the scorching fire of our men ; but fresh 
 regiments of the Federalists came upon 
 the field Sherman's and Keyes' brigades 
 of Tyler's division as is stated in their 
 reports, numbering over 6,000 bayonets, 
 which had found a passage across the 
 Run about eight hundred yards above 
 the Stone Bridge, threatened our right. 
 " Heavy losses had now been sus- 
 tained on our side, both in numbers and 
 in the personal worth of the slain. The 
 Georgia regiment had suffered heavily, 
 being exposed, as it took and maintained 
 its position, to a fire from the enemy 
 already posted within a hundred yards 
 of their front and right, sheltered by 
 fences and other cover. It was at this 
 time that Lieutenant-Colonel Gardener 
 was severely wounded, as also several 
 other valuable officers ; the Adjutant of 
 the regiment, Lieutenant Branch, was 
 killed, and the horse of the regretted 
 Bartow was shot under him. The 4th 
 Alabama also suffered severely from the 
 deadly fire of the thousands of muskets 
 which they so dauntlessly fronted under 
 the immediate leadership of Bee himself. 
 Its brave Colonel, E. J. Jones, was dan- 
 gerously wounded, and many gallant 
 officers fell, slain or hors de combat. 
 Now, however, with the surging mass 
 of over fourteen thousand federal infan- 
 
396 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 try pressing on their front, and under 
 the incessant fire of at least twenty 
 pieces of artillery, with the fresh bri- 
 gades of Sherman and Keyes approach- 
 ing the latter already in musket range 
 our lines gave back, but under orders 
 from General Bee. The enemy, main- 
 taining the fire, pressed their swelling 
 masses onward as our shattered batta- 
 lions retired ; the slaughter for the mo- 
 ment was deplorable, and has filled many 
 a Southern home with life-long sorrow. 
 Under this inexorable stress the retreat 
 continued until arrested by the energy 
 and resolution of General Bee, support- 
 ed by Bartow and Evans, just in the 
 rear of the Robinson House, and Hamp- 
 ton's Legion, which had been already 
 advanced, and was in position near it. 
 Imboden's battery, which had been han- 
 dled with marked skill, but whose men 
 were almost exhausted, and the two 
 pieces of Walton's battery under Lieu- 
 tenant Richardson, being threatened by 
 the enemy's infantry on the left and 
 front, were also obliged to fall back. 
 Imboden, leaving a disabled piece on 
 the ground, retired until he met Jack- 
 son's brigade, while Richardson joined 
 the main body of his battery near the 
 Lewis House. As our infantry retired 
 from the extreme front the two 6-pound- 
 ers of Latham's battery, before men- 
 tioned, fell back with excellent judgment 
 to suitable positions in the rear, when an 
 effective fire was maintained upon the 
 still advancing lines of the Federalists 
 with damaging effect, until their ammu- 
 nition was nearly exhausted, when they, 
 too, were withdrawn in the near pres- 
 ence of the enemy, and rejoined their 
 captain. From the point previously in- 
 dicated, where General Johnston and 
 myself had established our headquarters, 
 
 we heard the continuous roll of musketry 
 and the sustained din of the artillery, 
 which announced the serious outburst 
 of the battle on our left flank, and we 
 anxiously, but confidently, awaited simi- 
 lar sounds of conflict from our front at 
 Centre ville, resulting from the prescribed 
 attack in that quarter by our right wing. 
 "At half-past ten in the morning, 
 however, this expectation was dissipated, 
 from Brigadier-General Ewell informing 
 me, to my profound disappointment, that 
 my orders for his advance had miscar- 
 ried, but that, in consequence of a com- 
 munication from General D. R. Jones, 
 he had just thrown his brigade across 
 the stream at Union Mills. .But, in my 
 judgment, it was now too late for the ef- 
 fective execution of the contemplated 
 movement, which must have required 
 quite three hours for the troops to get 
 into position for the attack ; therefore, 
 it became immediately necessary to de- 
 pend on new combinations and other 
 dispositions suited to the now pressing 
 exigency. The movement of the right 
 and centre, already begun by Jones and 
 Longstreet, was at once countermanded 
 with the sanction of General Johnston, 
 and we arranged to meet the enemy on 
 the field upon which he had chosen to 
 give us battle. Under these circum- 
 stances our reserves, not already in 
 movement, were immediately ordered 
 up to support our left flank, namely 
 Holmes' two regiments and battery of 
 artillery, under Captain Lindsey Walk- 
 er, of six guns, and Early's brigade. 
 Two regiments from Bonham's brigade, 
 with Kemper's four 6-pounders, were 
 also called for, and, with the sanction 
 of General Johnston, Generals Ewell, 
 Jones, (D. R.,) Longstreet and Bonham 
 were directed to make a demonstration 
 
GENERAL BEAUREGARD IN COMMAND. 
 
 397 
 
 to their several fronts to retain and en- 
 gross the enemy's reserves and forces on 
 their flank, and at and around Centre- 
 ville. Previously, our respective chiefs 
 of staff Major Rhett and Colonel Jor- 
 dan had been left at my headquarters 
 to hasten up and give directions to any 
 troops that might arrive at Manassas. 
 These orders having been duly dispatch- 
 ed by staff officers, at 10 30 A. M. Gene- 
 ral Johnston and myself set out for the 
 immediate field of action, which we 
 reached in the rear of the Robinson and 
 widow Henry's houses, at about 12 me- 
 ridian, and just as the commands of Bee, 
 Bartow and Evans had taken shelter in 
 a wooded ravine behind the former, 
 stoutly held at the time by Hampton 
 with his legion, which had made a stand 
 there after having previously been as far 
 forward as the turnpike, where Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Johnston, an officer of 
 brilliant promise, was killed, and other 
 severe losses were sustained. Before 
 our arrival upon the scene General 
 Jackson had moved forward with his 
 brigade of five Virginia regiments from 
 his position in reserve, and had judi- 
 ciously taken post below the brim of 
 the plateau, nearly east of the Henry 
 house, and to the left of the ravine and 
 woods occupied by the mingled remnants 
 of Bee's, Bartow's and Evans' commands, 
 with Imboden's battery, and two of Stan- 
 ard's pieces placed so as to play upon 
 the oncoming enemy, supported in the 
 immediate rear by Colonel J. L. Pres- 
 ton's and Lieutenant-Colonel Echoll's 
 regiments, on the right by Harper's, 
 and on the left by Allen's and Cum- 
 ming's regiments. As soon as General 
 Johnston and myself reached the field, 
 we were occupied with the reorganiza- 
 tion of ti heroic troops, whose previous 
 
 stand, with scarce a parallel, has nothing 
 more valiant in all the pages of history, 
 and whose losses fitly tell why, at length, 
 their lines had lost their cohesion. It 
 was now that General Johnston im- 
 pressively and gallantly charged to the 
 front with the colors of the 4th Alabama 
 regiment by his side, all the field officers 
 of the regiment having been previously 
 disabled. Shortly afterwards I placed 
 S. R. Gist, Adjutant and Inspector-Gen- 
 eral of South Carolina, a volunteer Aid- 
 de-Camp of General Bee, in command of 
 this regiment, and who led it again to 
 the front as became its previous beha- 
 vior, and remained with it for the rest 
 of the day. As soon as we had thus 
 rallied and disposed our forces, I urged 
 General Johnston to leave the immediate 
 conduct of the field to me, while he, re- 
 pairing to Portico the Lewis House 
 should urge reinforcements forward. At 
 first he was unwilling, but reminded that 
 one of us must do so, and that properly 
 it was his place, he reluctantly, but for- 
 tunately, complied ; fortunately, because 
 from that position, by his energy and 
 sagacity, his keen perception and antici- 
 pation of my needs, he so directed the 
 reserves as to ensure the success of the 
 day. 
 
 " As General Johnston departed for 
 Portico, Colonel Bartow reported to me 
 with the remains of the 7th Georgia Vol- 
 unteers (Gartrell's), which I ordered him 
 to post on the left of Jackson's line, in 
 the edge of the belt of pines bordering 
 the southeastern rim of the plateau, on 
 which the battle was now to rage so long 
 and so fiercely. Colonel William Smith's 
 battalion of the 49th Virginia Volunteers, 
 having also come up by my orders, I 
 placed it on the left of GartrelPs as my 
 extreme left at the time. Repairing then 
 
398 
 
 WAR FOR THE UXION. 
 
 to the right, I placed Hampton's Legion, 
 which had suffered greatly, on that flank 
 somewhat to the rear of Harper's regi- 
 ment, and also the seven companies of 
 the 8th (Hinton's) Virginia regiment, 
 which, detached from Cocke's brigade by 
 my orders and those of General John- 
 ston, had opportunely reached the ground. 
 These, with Harper's regiment, consti- 
 tuted a reserve to protect our right flank 
 from an advance of the enemy from the 
 quarter of the Stone Bridge, and served 
 as a support for the line of battle, which 
 was formed on the right by Bee's and 
 Evans' commands, in the centre by four 
 regiments of Jackson's brigade, with Im- 
 boden's four 6-pounders, Walton's five 
 guns (two rifled), two guns (one piece 
 rifled) of Stanard's, and two 6-pounders 
 of Rogers' batteries, the latter under 
 Lieutenant Heaton ; and on the left by 
 Gartrell's reduced ranks and Colonel 
 Smith's battalion, subsequently reinforced 
 Falkner's 2d Mississippi regiment, and 
 by another regiment of the army of 
 Shenandoah, just arrived upon the field, 
 the 6th (Fisher's) North Carolina. Con- 
 fronting the enemy at this time, my force 
 numbered, at most, not more than 6,500 
 infantry and artillerists, with but thirteen 
 pieces of artillery, and two companies 
 (Carter's and Hoge's) of Stuart's cavalry. 
 The enemy's force, now bearing hotly 
 and confidently down on our position, 
 regiment after regiment of the best 
 equipped men that ever took the field- 
 according to their own official history of 
 the day was formed of Colonels Hun- 
 ter's and Heintzelman's divisions, Colo- 
 nels Sherman's and Keyes' brigades of 
 Tyler's division, and of the formidable 
 batteries of Ricketts, Griffin, and Arnold 
 regulars, and 2d Rhode Island, and two 
 Dahlgren howitzers a force of over 
 
 20,000 infantry, seven companies of reg- 
 ular cavalry and twenty-four pieces of 
 improved artillery. At the same time 
 perilous, heavy reserves of infantry and 
 artillery hung in the distance around the 
 Stone Bridge, Mitchell's, Blackburn's and 
 Union Mills Fords, visibly ready to fall 
 upon us at any moment ; and I was also 
 assured of the existence of other heavy 
 corps at and around Centreville and else- 
 where, within convenient supporting dis- 
 tances. Fully conscious of this porten- 
 tous disparity of force, as I posted the 
 lines for the encounter, I sought to infuse 
 into the hearts of my officers and men 
 the confidence and determined spirit of 
 resistance to this wicked invasion of the 
 homes of a free people, which I felt. I 
 informed them that reinforcements would 
 rapidly come to their support, and we 
 must at all hazards hold our posts until 
 reinforced. I reminded them that we 
 fought for our homes, our firesides and 
 for the independence of our country. I 
 urged them to the resolution of victory 
 or death on that field. These sentiments 
 were loudly, eagerly cheered whereso- 
 ever proclaimed, and I then felt assured 
 of the unconquerable spirit of that army, 
 which would enable us to wrench victory 
 from the host then threatening us with 
 destruction. Oh, my country ! I would 
 readily have sacrificed my life and those 
 of all the brave men around me, to save 
 your honor and to maintain your inde- 
 pendence from the degrading yoke which 
 those ruthless invaders had come to im- 
 pose and render perpetual ; and the 
 day's issue has assured me that such 
 emotions must also have animated all 
 under my command. 
 
 "In the meantime the enemy had 
 seized upon the plateau on which Robin- 
 son's and the Henry Houses a situated 
 
SCENE OF THE FINAL CONTEST. 
 
 399 
 
 the position first occupied in the morn- 
 ing by General Bee, before advancing to 
 the support of Evans. Ricketts' battery 
 of six rifled guns the pride of the Fed- 
 eralists, the object of their unstinted ex- 
 penditure in outfit and the equally 
 powerful regular light battery x>f Griffin, 
 were brought forward and placed in im- 
 mediate action, after having, conjointly 
 with the batteries already mentioned, 
 played from former positions with de- 
 structive effect upon our forward bat- 
 talions. 
 
 "The topographical features of the 
 plateau, now become the stage of the 
 contending armies, must be described in 
 outline. A glance at the map will show 
 that it is enclosed on three sides by 
 small water-courses, which empty into 
 Bull Run within a few yards of each 
 other, half a mile to. the south of the 
 Stone Bridge. Rising to an elevation of 
 quite one hundred feet above the level 
 of Bull Run at the bridge, it falls off on 
 three sides to the level of the enclosing 
 streams in gentle slopes, but which are 
 furrowed by ravines of irregular direc- 
 tion and length, and studded with clumps 
 and patches of young pines and oaks. 
 The general direction of the crest of the 
 plateau is oblique to the course of Bull 
 Run in that quarter, and on the Brents- 
 ville and turnpike roads, which intersect 
 each other at right angles. Completely 
 surrounding the two houses before men- 
 tioned, are small open fields, of irregular 
 outline, and exceeding 150 acres in ex- 
 tent. The houses, occupied at the time, 
 the one by Widow Henry and the other 
 by the free negro Robinson, are small 
 wooden buildings, densely embowered in 
 trees and environed by a double row of 
 fences on two sides. Around the eastern 
 and southern brow of the plateau, an al- 
 
 most .unbroken fringe of second growth 
 pines gave excellent shelter for our 
 marksmen, who availed themselves of it 
 with the most satisfactory skill. To the 
 west, adjoining the fields, a broad belt 
 of oaks extends directly across the crest 
 on both' sides of the Sudley road, in 
 which, during the battle, regiments of 
 both armies met and contended for the 
 mastery. From the open ground of this 
 plateau the view embraces a wide ex- 
 panse of woods and gently undulating, 
 open country of broad grass and grain 
 fields in all directions, including the 
 scene of Evans' and Bee's recent encoun- 
 ter with the enemy some twelve hun- 
 dred yards to the northward. 
 
 " In reply to the play of the enemy's 
 batteries, our own artillery had not been 
 idle or unskillful. The ground occupied 
 by our guns, on a level with that held 
 by the batteries of the enemy, was an 
 open space of limited extent, behind a 
 low undulation, just at the eastern verge 
 of the plateau, some 500 or 600 yards 
 from the Henry House. Here, as before 
 said, some thirteen pieces, mostly 6- 
 pounders were maintained in action. The 
 several batteries of Imboden, Stanard, 
 Pendleton (Rockbridge artillery), and 
 Alburtis', of the army of the Shenandoah, 
 and five guns of Walton's, and Heaton's 
 section of Rogers' battery, of the army 
 of the Potomac, alternating to some ex- 
 tent with each other, and taking part as 
 needed ; all from the outset displaying 
 that marvellous capacity of our people as 
 artillerists which has made them, it 
 would appear, at once the terror and 
 the admiration of the enemy. As was 
 soon apparent, the Federalists had suf- 
 fered severely from our artillery and 
 from the fire of our musketry on the 
 right, and especially from the left flank. 
 
400 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 placed under cover, within whose galling 
 range they had been advanced. And 
 we are told in their official reports how 
 regiment after regiment, thrown forward 
 to dislodge us, was broken, never to 
 recover its entire organization on that 
 field. In the meantime, also, two com- 
 panies of Stuart's cavalry (Carter's and 
 Hoge's) made a dashing charge down the 
 Brents ville and Sudley road upon the 
 Fire Zouaves then the enemy's right on 
 the plateau which added to their dis- 
 order, wrought by our musketry on that 
 flank. But still the press of the enemy 
 was heavy in that quarter of the field, 
 as fresh troops were thrown forward 
 there to outflank us, and some three guns 
 of a battery, in an attempt to obtain a 
 position apparently to enfilade our bat- 
 teries, were thrown so close to the 33d 
 regiment, Jackson's brigade, that that 
 regiment, springing forward, seized them, 
 but with severe loss, and was subse- 
 quently driven back by an overpowering 
 force of Federal musketry. Now, full 
 two o'clock P. M., I gave the order for the 
 right of my line, except my reserves, to 
 advance to recover the plateau. It was 
 done with uncommon resolution and vig- 
 or, and at the same time Jackson's brig- 
 ade pierced the enemy's centre with the 
 determination of veterans and the spirit 
 of men who fight for a sacred cause ; 
 but it suffered seriously. With equal 
 spirit the other parts of the line made 
 the onset, and the Federal lines were 
 broken and swept back at all points from 
 the open ground of the plateau. Eally- 
 ing soon, however, as they were strongly 
 reinforced by fresh regiments, the Fed- 
 eralists returned, and by weight of num- 
 bers pressed our lines back, recovered 
 their ground and guns, and renewed the 
 offensive. By this time, between half- 
 
 past two and three o'clock p. M., our re- 
 inforcements pushed forward, and direct- 
 ed by General Johnston to the required 
 quarter, were on hand just as I had or- 
 dered forward, to a second effort, for the 
 recovery of the disputed plateau, the 
 whole line, including my reserves, which, 
 at this crisis of the battle, I felt called 
 upon to lead in person. This attack was 
 general, and was shared in by every regi- 
 ment then in the field, including the 6th 
 (Fisher's) North Carolina regiment, which 
 had just come up and taken position on 
 the immediate left of the 49th Virginia 
 regiment. The whole open ground was 
 again swept clear of the enemy, and the 
 plateau around the Henry and Eobinson 
 Houses remained finally in our posses- 
 sion, with the greater part of the Ricketts 
 and Griffin batteries, and a flag of the 
 1st Michigan regiment, captured by the 
 27th Virginia regiment (Lieutenant- Col- 
 onel Echolls), of Jackson's brigade. This 
 part of the day was rich with deeds of 
 individual coolness and dauntless con- 
 duct, as well as well-directed, embodied 
 resolution and bravery, but fraught with 
 the loss to the service of the country 
 of lives of inestimable preciousness at 
 this juncture. The brave Bee was mor- 
 tally wounded at the head of the 4.th 
 Alabama and some Mississippians, in an 
 open field near the Henry House, and a 
 few yards distant the promising life of 
 Bartow, while leading the 7th Georgia 
 regiment, was quenched in blood. Colo- 
 nel F. J. Thomas, Acting Chief of Ord- 
 nance, of General Johnston's staff, after 
 gallant conduct and most efficient ser- 
 vice, was also slain. Colonel Fisher, 6th 
 North Carolina, likewise fell, after sol- 
 dierly behavior, at the head of his regi- 
 ment, with ranks greatly thinned. With- 
 ers' 14th regiment of Cocke's brigade 
 
REINFORCEMENTS ON THE FIELD. 
 
 401 
 
 had come up in time to follow this 
 charge, and in conjunction with Hamp- 
 ton's Legion, captured several rifle pieces 
 which may have fallen previously in pos- 
 isession of some of our troops ; but if so, 
 had been recovered by the enemy. These 
 pieces were immediately turned and 
 effectively served on distant masses of 
 the enemy by the hands of some of our 
 officers. While the enemy had thus 
 been driven back on our right entirely 
 across the turnpike, and beyond Young's 
 Branch on our left, the woods yet swarm- 
 ed with them, when our reinforcements 
 opportunely arrived in quick succession, 
 and took position in that portion of the 
 field. Kershaw's 2d and Cash's 8th 
 South Carolina regiments, which had ar- 
 rived soon after Withers', were led 
 through the oaks just east of the Sudley- 
 Brentsville road, brushing some of the 
 enemy before them, and taking an ad- 
 vantageous position along and west of 
 that road, opened with much skill and 
 effect on bodies of the enemy that had 
 been rallied under cover of a strong Fed- 
 eral brigade posted in a plateau in the 
 southwest angle, formed by the intersec- 
 tion of the turnpike with the Sudley- 
 Brentsville road. Among the troops 
 thus engaged were the Federal regular 
 infantry. At the same time Kemper's 
 battery, passing northward by the Sud- 
 ley-Brentsville road, took position on 
 the open space under orders of Colonel 
 Kershaw near where an enemy's bat- 
 tery had been captured, was opened with 
 effective results upon the Federal right ; 
 then the mark also of Kershaw and 
 Cash's regiments. Preston's 28th regi- 
 ment of Cocke's brigade had, by that 
 time, entered the same body of oaks, and 
 encountered some Michigan troops, cap- 
 turing their commander, Colonel Wilcox. 
 51 
 
 "Another important accession to our 
 forces had also occurred about the same 
 time, at three o'clock p. M. Brigadier- 
 General E. K. Smith, with some 1,700 
 infantry of Elsey's brigade, of the army 
 of the Shenandoah, and Beckham's bat- 
 tery, came upon the field from Camp 
 Pickens, Manassas, where they had ar- 
 rived by railroad at noon. Directed 
 in person by G-eneral Johnston to the 
 left, then so much endangered, on reach- 
 ing a position in rear of the oak woods, 
 south of the Henry House and immedi- 
 ately east of the Sudley road, General 
 Smith was disabled by a severe wound, 
 and his valuable services were lost at 
 that critical juncture. But the command 
 devolved upon a meritorious officer of 
 experience, Colonel Elzey, who led his 
 infantry at once somewhat further to the 
 left, in the direction of the Chinn House, 
 across the road, through the oaks skirt- 
 ing the west side of the road, and around 
 which he sent the battery under Lieuten- 
 ant Beckham. This officer took up a 
 most favorable position near that house, 
 whence, with a clear view of the Feder- 
 al right and centre, filling the open fields 
 to the west of the Brentsville-Sudley 
 road, and gently sloping southward, he 
 opened fire with his battery upon, them 
 with deadly and damaging effect. Col- 
 onel Early, who, by some mischance, did 
 not receive orders until two o'clock, 
 which had been sent him at noon, came 
 on the ground immediately after Elzey, 
 with Kemper's 7th Virginia, Hay's 7th 
 Louisiana and Barksdale's 13th Missis- 
 sippi regiments. This brigade, by the 
 personal direction of General Johnston, 
 was marched by the Holkham House, 
 across the fields to the left, entirely 
 around the woods through which Elzey 
 had passed, and under a severe fire, into 
 
402 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 a position in line of battle near Chinn's 
 House, outflanking the enemy's right. 
 At this time, about half-past three p. M., 
 the enemy, driven back on their left and 
 centre, and brushed from the woods bor- 
 dering the Sudley road, south and west 
 of the Henry House, had formed a line 
 of battle of truly formidable proportions, 
 of crescent outline, reaching on their left 
 from the vicinity of Pittsylvania (the 
 old Carter mansion), by Matthew's and 
 in rear of Dogan's, across the turnpike 
 near to Chinn's house. The woods and 
 fields were filled with their masses of in- 
 fantry and their carefully preserved cav- 
 alry. It was a truly magnificent, though 
 redoubtable spectacle, as they threw for- 
 ward in fine style, on the broad, gentle 
 slopes of the ridge occupied by their 
 main lines, a cloud of skirmishers, pre- 
 paratory for another attack. But as 
 Early formed his line, and Beckham's 
 pieces playing upon the right of the en- 
 emy, Elzey's brigade, Gibbon's 10th 
 Virginia, Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart's 1st 
 Maryland and Yaughri's 3d Tennessee 
 regiments, and Cash's 8th and Kershaw's 
 2d South Carolina, Withers' 18th and 
 Preston's 28th Virginia, advanced in an 
 irregular line almost simultaneously, 
 with great spirit, from their several posi- 
 tions upon the front and flanks of the 
 enemy in their quarter of the field. At 
 the same time, too, Early resolutely as- 
 sailed their right flank and rear. Under 
 the combined attack the enemy was soon 
 forced, first over the narrow plateau in 
 the southern angle made by the two 
 roads, so often mentioned, into a patch 
 01 woods on its western slope, thence 
 back over Young's branch and the turn- 
 pike into the fields of the Dugan farm, 
 and rearward, in extreme disorder in all 
 available directions, towards Bull Run. 
 
 The route had now become general and 
 complete." 
 
 President Jefferson Davis left Rich- 
 mond by railway in the morning, and 
 arrived on the field of battle in the after- 
 noon, when the fortune of the day was 
 already decided. He is said to have 
 given but one order on the field : " For- 
 ward, my brave columns ! Forward !" 
 He sent that night the following dis- 
 patch to Richmond, which was read in 
 the Confederate Congress, which had 
 just commenced its first session at Rich- 
 mond, the following morning: "Man- 
 assas Junction, Sunday night. Night 
 has closed upon a hard-fought field. 
 Our forces were victorious. The enemy 
 was routed and fled precipitately, aban- 
 doning a large amount of arms, ammu- 
 nition, knapsacks and baggage. The 
 ground was strewed "for miles with those 
 killed, and the farm houses and the 
 ground around were filled with wound- 
 ed. Pursuit was continued along sev- 
 eral routes towards Leesburg and Cen- 
 treville, until darkness covered the fu- 
 gitives. We have captured several field- 
 batteries, stands of arms 'and Union and 
 State flags. Many prisoners have been 
 taken. Too high praise cannot be be- 
 stowed, whether for the skill of the 
 principal officers or for the gallantry of 
 all our troops. The battle was mainly 
 fought on our left. Our force was 15,- 
 000 ; that of the enemy estimated at 
 35,000." 
 
 The voluminous brigade and regi- 
 mental reports of the battle, accompany- 
 ing General McDowell's report, present 
 many scenes of interest, deeds of valor 
 gallantly performed, intermingled with 
 fatal effects of lack of experience, and 
 in some cases of the absence of the true 
 soldierly instincts. Colonel Keyes of 
 
COLONEL PORTER'S REPORT. 
 
 4C3 
 
 General Tyler's Division celebrates the 
 gallantry of the Maine and Connecticut 
 volunteers under his command ; their 
 ardor in the attack and their steadiness 
 in the retreat, instancing numerous in- 
 dividual acts of heroism. They did 
 much to ensure the honors and after- 
 ward diminish the misfortunes of the 
 day. Colonel Burnside's report is a 
 vigorous, straightforward narrative of 
 the business of war ; a story of perils 
 honorably encountered ; of fidelity sealed 
 in death. It is uncomfortable to find in 
 the report of Colonel Andrew Porter, 
 the successor of Colonel Hunter in com- 
 mand of the first division, something more 
 than a doubt thrown upon the valor of 
 the much vaunted Zouaves. They were 
 on the right of the Union line in the last 
 conflict. The scene is thus described : 
 " At this juncture there was a temporary 
 lull in the firing from the rebels, who 
 appeared only occasionally on the heights 
 in irregular formations, but to serve as 
 marks for Griffin's guns. The prestige 
 of success had thus far attended the 
 efforts of our inexperienced but gallant 
 troops. The lines of the enemy had 
 been forcibly shifted, nearly a mile to 
 their left and rear. The flags of eight 
 regiments, though borne somewhat wear- 
 ily, now pointed towards the hill from 
 which disordered masses of rebels had 
 been seen hastily retiring. Griffin's and 
 Riekett's batteries were ordered by the 
 commanding-general to the top of the 
 hill on the right, supporting with the 
 ' Fire Zouaves ' and marines, while the 
 14th entered the skirt of wood on their 
 right to protect that flank, and a column 
 composed of the 27th New York, llth 
 and 5th Massachusetts, 2d Minnesota, 
 and 69th New York, moved up toward 
 the left flank of the batteries ; but so 
 
 soon as they were in portion and before 
 the flanking supports had reached theirs, 
 a murderous fire of musketry and rifles, 
 opened at pistol range, cut down every 
 canonier and a large number of horses. 
 The fire came from some infantry of the 
 enemy, which had been mistaken for our 
 own forces an officer in the field hav- 
 ing stated that it was a regiment sent by 
 Colonel Heintzelman to support the bat- 
 teries. The evanescent courage of the 
 ' Zouaves ' prompted them to fire perhaps 
 a hundred shots, when they broke and 
 fled, leaving the batteries open to a 
 charge of the enemy's cavalry, which 
 took place immediately. The marines 
 also, in spite of the exertions of their 
 gallant officers, gave way in disorder. 
 The 14th on the right, and the column 
 on the left, hesitatingly retired, with the 
 exception of the 69th and 38th New 
 York, who nobly stood and returned the 
 fire of the enemy for fifteen minutes 
 Soon the slopes behind us were swarming 
 with our retreating and disorganized 
 forces, while riderless horses and artille- 
 ry teams ran furiously through the flying 
 crowd. All further efforts were futile. 
 The words, gestures, and threats of our 
 officers were thrown away upon men who 
 had lost all presence of mind, and only 
 longed for absence of body. Some of 
 our noblest and best officers lost their 
 lives in trying to rally them. Upon our 
 first position the 27th was the first to 
 rally, under the command of Major Bart- 
 lett, and around it the other regiments 
 engaged soon collected their scattered 
 fragments. The battalion of regulars, 
 in the meantime, moved steadily across 
 the field from the left to the right, and 
 took up a position, where it held the en- 
 tire forces of the rebels in check until 
 our forces were somewhat rallied. The 
 
404 
 
 . FOR THE UNION. 
 
 commanding-general then ordered a re- 
 treat upon Centreville, at the same time 
 directing me to cover it with the battalion 
 of regulars, the cavalry, and a section of 
 artillery. The rear-guard thus organized 
 followed our panic-stricken troops to 
 Centre ville, resisting the attack of the 
 rebel cavalry and artillery, and saving 
 them from the inevitable destruction 
 which awaited them had not this body 
 been interposed." 
 
 Colonel Heintzelman, who commanded 
 the Third Division, gives a more particu- 
 lar account of the part taken by the 
 Zouaves, with other important incidents 
 preceding and attending the retreat. 
 " At a little more than a mile from Sud- 
 ley's Ford," says he, " we came upon the 
 battle-field. Kickett's battery was post- 
 ed on a hill to the right of Hunter's divi- 
 sion and to the right of the road. After 
 firing some twenty minutes at a battery 
 of the enemy, placed just beyond the 
 crest of a hill, on their entrance left, the 
 distance being considered too great, it 
 was moved forward to within about 
 1,000 feet of the enemy's battery. Here 
 the battery was exposed to a heavy fire 
 of musketry, which soon disabled it. 
 Franklin's brigade was posted on the 
 right of a wood, near the centre of our 
 line, and on ground rising towards the 
 enemy's position. In the meantime, I 
 sent orders for the Zouaves to move for- 
 ward to support Rickett's battery on its 
 right. As, soon as they came up, I led 
 them forward against an Alabama regi- 
 ment, partly concealed in a clump of 
 small pines in an old field. At the first 
 fire they broke and the greater portion 
 of them fled to the rear, keeping up a 
 desultory firing over the heads of their 
 comrades in front ; at the same moment 
 they were charged by a company of se- 
 
 cession cavalry on their rear, who came 
 by a road through two strips of wood on 
 our extreme right. The fire of the 
 Zouaves killed four and wounded one, 
 dispersing them. The discomfiture of 
 this cavalry was completed by a fire from 
 Captain Collum's company of United 
 States cavalry, which killed and wounded 
 several men. Colonel Farnham, with 
 some of his officers and men, behaved 
 gallantly, but the regiment of Zouaves, 
 as a regiment, did not appear again on 
 the field. Many of the men joined 
 other regiments and did good service as 
 skirmishers. I then led up the Minne- 
 sota regiment, which was also repulsed, 
 but retired in tolerably good order. It 
 did good service in the woods on our 
 right flank, and was among the last to 
 retire, moving off the field with the 3d 
 United States infantry. Next was led 
 forward the 1st Michigan, which was 
 also repulsed, and retired in considera- 
 ble confusion. They were rallied, and 
 helped to hold the woods on our right. 
 The Brooklyn 14th then appeared on the 
 ground, coming forward in gallant style. 
 I led them forward to the left, where the 
 Alabama regiment had been posted in 
 the early part of the action, but had now 
 disappeared, but soon came in sight of 
 the line of the enemy drawn up beyond 
 the clump of trees. Soon after the firing 
 commenced the regiment broke and ran. 
 I considered it useless to attempt to rally 
 them. The want of discipline in these 
 regiments was so great that the most of 
 the men would run from fifty to several 
 hundred yards to the rear, and continue 
 to fire fortunately for the braver ones 
 very high in the air, and compelling 
 those in front to retreat. During this 
 time Reickell's battery had been taken 
 and retaken three times by us, but was 
 
COLONEL HEINTZELMAN'S REPORT. 
 
 405 
 
 finally lost, most of the horses having 
 been killed Captain Eeickell being 
 wounded, and 1st Lieutenant D. Ramsay 
 killed. Lieutenant Kirby behaved very 
 gallantly, and succeeded in carrying off 
 one caisson. Before this time heavy re- 
 inforcements of the enemy were distinctly 
 seen approaching by two roads extend- 
 ing and outflanking us on the right. 
 Colonel Stewart's brigade came on the 
 field at this time, having been detained 
 by the General as a reserve at the point 
 where we left the turnpike. It took post 
 on a hill on our right and rear, and for 
 some time gallantly held the enemy in 
 check. I had one company of cavalry 
 attached to my division, which was joined 
 during the engagement by the cavalry 
 of Colonel Stanton's division. Major 
 Palmer, who cannonaded them, was anx- 
 ious to engage the enemy. The ground 
 being unfavorable, I ordered them back 
 out of range of fire. Finding it impos- 
 sible to rally any of the regiments, we 
 commenced our retreat about half-past 
 four p. M. There was a fine position a 
 short distance in the rear, where I hoped 
 to make a stand with a section of Ar- 
 nold's battery and the United States cav- 
 alry, if I could rally a few regiments of 
 infantry. In this I utterly failed, and 
 we continued our retreat on the road we 
 had advanced on in the morning. I sent 
 forward my staff officers to rally some 
 troops beyond the Run, but not a com- 
 pany would form. I stopped back a few 
 moments at the hospital to see what ar- 
 rangements could be made to save the 
 wounded. The few ambulances that 
 were there were filled and started to the 
 rear. The church, which was used as a 
 hospital, with the wounded and some of 
 the surgeons, soon after fell into the 
 hands of the secession cavalry that fol- 
 
 lowed us closely. A company of cav- 
 alry crossed the rear and seized an 
 ambulance full of wounded. Captain 
 Arnold gave them a couple of rounds 
 of ' canister ' from his section of artil- 
 lery, which sent them scampering away, 
 and kept them at a respectful dis- 
 tance during the remainder of our re- 
 treat. At this point most of the strag- 
 glers were in advance of us. Having 
 every reason to fear a vigorous pursuit 
 from the enemy's fresh troops, I was de- 
 sirous of forming a strong rear-guard, 
 but neither the efforts of the officers of 
 the regular army, nor the coolness of the 
 regular troops with me, could induce 
 them to form a single company. We re- 
 lied entirely for our protection on one 
 section of artillery and a few companies 
 of cavalry. Most of the road was favor- 
 able for infantry, but unfavorable for 
 cavalry and artillery. About dusk, a? 
 we approached the Warrenton turnpike, 
 we heard a firing of rifled cannon on our 
 right, and learned that the enemy had 
 established a battery enfilading the road. 
 Captain Arnold, with his section of ar- 
 tillery, attempted to run the gauntlet 
 and reached the bridge over Cub Run, 
 about two miles from Centreville. but 
 found it obstructed with broken vehicles, 
 and was compelled to abandon his pieces 
 as they were under the fire of these 
 rifled cannon. The cavalry turned to 
 the left, and after passing through a strip 
 of woods and some fields, struck a road 
 which led them to some camps occupied 
 by our troops in the morning, through 
 which we regained the turnpike. At 
 about eight P. M. we reached the camps 
 we had occupied in the morning. Had 
 a brigade from the reserve advanced a 
 short distance beyond Centreville, nearly 
 one-third of the artillery lost might have 
 
406 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 been saved, as it was abandoned at or 
 near this crossing. Such a rout I never 
 witnessed before. No efforts could in- 
 duce a single regiment to form after the 
 retreat had commenced. Our artillery 
 was served admirably and did much ex- 
 ecution. Some of the volunteer regi- 
 ments behaved very well, and much 
 excuse can be made for those who fled, 
 as few of the enemy could at any time 
 be seen. Eaw troops cannot be expected 
 to stand long against an unseen enemy. 
 I have been unable to obtain any report 
 from the Zouaves, as Colonel Farnham is 
 still at hospital. Since the retreat more 
 than three-fourths of the Zouaves have 
 disappeared." The disorganization of the 
 Zouaves, in fact, was so complete that, 
 ten days after the battie, not a fourth of 
 them could be got together at their camp. 
 Many efforts were made for their reunion, 
 which, after various mishaps, was par- 
 tially accomplished. The regiment was 
 reorganized and sent to Fortress Mon- 
 roe, but in the course of the ensuing 
 year was finally disbanded. Colonel 
 Noah L. Farnham, the successor of Ells- 
 worth in command of the regiment, died 
 the month following the battle, at Wash- 
 ington, in his thirty-third year, of wounds 
 received in the engagement a man of 
 courage, energy and steady resolution. 
 
 By the station of the Zouaves Colonel 
 Gorman's 1st Minnesota regiment was 
 brought into action, and sustained the 
 fire of the enemy at the distance of fifty 
 or sixty feet. So close was the contest 
 that prisoners were taken on both sides, 
 the Unionists carrying off Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Boone of Mississippi, of "the 
 highest rank taken in the battle." One 
 fifth of the whole regiment were killed, 
 wounded, or made prisoners before the 
 rest retired. Lieutenant-Colonel Farns- 
 
 worth also celebrates with pride the he- 
 roism of his 38th regiment of New York 
 volunteers, in their dash upon the ene- 
 my and recapture of Rickett's battery, 
 from which its defenders had been driv- 
 en, and other acts of valor. A word 
 too is due to stout Captain Blenker's (in 
 command of the 1st brigade of the re- 
 serve) resistance of the enemy, and, 
 what was more, his successful regula- 
 tion of the retreat at and about Centre- 
 ville. 
 
 These instances might be multiplied, 
 but enough has been indicated to relieve 
 the conduct of the Union troops at Bull 
 Run from the wholesale aspersions so 
 freely thrown upon them by careless or 
 interested assailants both in this country 
 and Europe. The place and time of the 
 engagement, its position at the crisis of 
 the war, determining as it did the pro- 
 longed indefinite duration of the national 
 conflict ; all gave it an importance which, 
 simply as a contest of armed men, it was 
 hardly entitled to. An undisciplined 
 force of raw recruits less than three 
 months in camp, after a fatiguing march 
 into an enemy's country, and hours of 
 fighting under a midsummer's sun, were, 
 after gaining signal advantages, over- 
 come by new assaults of fresh troops 
 reinforced by constant accessions. This 
 was the fight of Bull Run, in itself far 
 from a decisive victory, since the con- 
 querors gained none of the advantages 
 which, had that been the case, they should 
 have promptly attained. Washington 
 was before them, and by its possession 
 they might, perhaps, have secured to 
 themselves the objects for which they 
 had originally taken up arms ; yet, vic- 
 torious as they were, they were too irres- 
 olute or too much exhausted to stretch 
 forth a hand to seize the prize. That, 
 
RETURNS OF KILLED AND WOUNDED. 
 
 407 
 
 indeed, would have been a triumph. In 
 the opinion of many who witnessed the 
 retreat, and the consequent confusion at 
 the capital, it might have been success- 
 fully accomplished. That it was not 
 done, or even attempted, argues even 
 more than the elaborate recapitulation 
 of their deeds of valor in the official re- 
 port of their commander, the substantial 
 prowess of their foe. So obvious, in fact, 
 is the question, that General Beauregard 
 has felt it incumbent on himself to an- 
 swer it. He gives as a part of the rea- 
 sons, proper to be communicated for the 
 neglect, these statements : " An army 
 which had fought like ours on that day 
 against uncommon odds, under a July 
 sun, most of the time without water and 
 without food, except a hastily snatched 
 meal at dawn, was not in condition for 
 the toil of an eager, effective pursuit of 
 an enemy immediately after the battle. 
 On the following day an unusually heavy 
 and unintermitting fall of rain intervened 
 to obstruct our advance with reasonable 
 prospect of fruitful results. Added to 
 this, the want of a cavalry force of suffi- 
 cient numbers, made an efficient pursuit 
 a military impossibility." 
 
 General Johnston, who has also some- 
 thing to say on this matter, frankly ad- 
 mits that he considered an offensive 
 movement against the capital after the 
 battle utterly impracticable. " The ap- 
 parent firmness," he says, " of the Unit- 
 ed States troops at Centreville, who had 
 not been engaged, which checked our 
 pursuit, the strong forces occupying the 
 works near Georgetown, Arlington and 
 Alexandria the certainty, too, that 
 General Patterson, if needed, would 
 reach Washington with his army of 
 30,000 men sooner than we could, and 
 the condition and inadequate means of 
 
 the army in ammunition, provisions and 
 transportation, prevented any serious 
 thoughts of advancing against the capi- 
 tal." 
 
 It remains to count the immediate loss 
 of this hotly-contested day the returns 
 of killed and wounded what Welling- 
 ton, with more rough truth than elegance, 
 is said to have called " the butcher's 
 bill." It is thus reported by the respect- 
 ive commanders. General McDowell, 
 from the returns of his officers, reports 
 the Union loss at 19 officers and 462 
 non-commissioned officers and privates 
 killed, and 64 officers and 947 non-com- 
 missioned officers and privates wounded. 
 1,216 were reported missing. General 
 Beauregard tells us, without distinction 
 of rank, that of the Confederate forces, the 
 killed outright numbered 269, the wound- 
 ed 1,483. He calculates the number of 
 prisoners of the Union army taken, "in- 
 cluding the wounded who did not die," 
 as not less than 1,600. An abstract list 
 found at Manassas after the evacuation 
 gives 550 wounded and 871 not wound- 
 ed, sent to Richmond and the various 
 hospitals. General Johnston, in his re- 
 port of the day, states the result some- 
 what differently, making the aggregate 
 of the Confederate loss- 378 killed, 
 1,489 wounded, and 30 missing. Of 
 these he assigns to the army of the 
 Potomac 108 killed, 510 wounded, and 
 12 missing ; to the army of the Shenan- 
 doah 270 killed, 979 wounded, and 18 
 missing. He claims as the spoils of the 
 day, 28 pieces of artillery, about 5,000 
 muskets, nearly 500,000 cartridges, a gar- 
 rison flag, and 10 colors captured in the 
 field or in the pursuit ; and besides these, 
 64 artillery horses with their harness, 26 
 wagons and much camp equipage, cloth- 
 ing, and other property left behind. 
 
CHAPTEE XXVII. 
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 A NUMBER of gallant officers of the 
 Union army fell in the battle of Bull 
 Run. Among the foremost in rank was 
 Colonel James Cameron, brother of the 
 Secretary of War, who was mortally 
 wounded while leading his regiment, the 
 New York 79th Highlanders, at the height 
 of the engagement. He was a native of 
 Philadelphia, a printer and editor in early 
 life, and had acquired reputation and for- 
 tune in his active furtherance of the public 
 improvements and industrial interests of 
 his State. His acquaintance with military 
 affairs as Colonel of the militia, seconded 
 by his public spirit and the eminent po- 
 sition of his brother in the Government, 
 doubtless influenced him in leaving his 
 luxuriant retirement on the banks of the 
 Susquehanna and accepting the command 
 in the discharge of which he nobly per- 
 ished. He was fifty-two years old at the 
 time of his death. He fell mortally 
 struck by a bullet in his left breast whilst 
 conversing with a lieutenant of the regi- 
 ment in relation to taking off the wound- 
 ed, dying on the instant. It was said 
 that he owed his death to the rifle of Col- 
 onel Wade Hampton of South Carolina, 
 who took repeated aim at him as he gal- 
 lantly led on his regiment. One of his 
 biographers compares his fate to that 
 of Colonel Cameron of the British 
 79th, from which the regiment had taken 
 its designation, an officer who fell at 
 Fuentes de Onoro, killed Toy a French 
 Colonel vho seized a musket from one of 
 
 his men.* The body of Colonel Camer- 
 on was carried from the battle-ground in 
 an ambulance, and left on the retreat to 
 be buried with others by the rebels in a 
 common grave. Active efforts were 
 made immediately after the engagement 
 by his friends and family at Washington 
 to procure the remains for more honor- 
 able interment, but owing to the manner 
 in which the war was conducted, they 
 proved ineffectual. Two gentlemen 
 Messrs. Arnold Harris and H. S. Mc- 
 Graw, formerly State -Treasurer of Penn- 
 sylvania, visited the field the day after 
 the battle in search of the remains, were 
 seized as prisoners of War and sent to 
 Richmond, where they were detained for 
 months, and part of the time close pris- 
 oners. Mr. Harris, relying on his ac- 
 quaintance with the Southern leaders to 
 secure the humane object for which he 
 set out, addressed the following note to 
 General Beauregard : " Sir, I send this 
 by a friend and trusty servant who 
 is well known to many officers in your 
 army. He is sent for the purpose of ob- 
 taining from you a permit for Mr. H. S. 
 McGraw and myself to pass your lines to 
 obtain the body of Colonel Cameron, 
 who fell in the action of yesterday. My 
 solicitude in this matter is an impulse of 
 private character. The rigid rules estab- 
 lished at Washington with reference to 
 flags of truce, prevent me from carrying 
 out my wishes without proceeding as I 
 
 * Shea's Fallen Brave. Art. Colonel James Cameron. 
 
AN APPEAL TO GENERAL BEAU11EGARD. 
 
 409 
 
 am now doing. I believe General B. 
 will recollect me while a resident of New 
 Orleans ; but if President Davis, Gener- 
 al Lee General Johnston General Wig- 
 fall, Colonel Miles, Keitt or Withers are 
 present they will not hesitate to vouch 
 for me. General Bonham, and in fact, 
 nearly all your officers know me. In 
 addition to the gratification of performing 
 a sacred duty, I would be highly delight- 
 ed to meet in your camp many of my 
 most valued friends. It is proper for 
 me to add that I have not been in any 
 manner connected with the action of the 
 Government here, and that I am a neu- 
 tral." To this appeal the following reply 
 was made by General Beauregard, 
 through his aide-de-camp Manning : 
 "The General declines giving an infor- 
 mal permit to any one residing beyond 
 his advanced lines for any purpose which 
 may be accomplished by those formal 
 proceedings known to and practiced by 
 civilized belligerent nations. By no act 
 of his will he lower the dignity of the 
 Confederate States as a nation, by per- 
 mitting that to be done indirectly which 
 the usages of civilized warfare accom- 
 plish directly. The arbitrary and unu- 
 sual course adopted in such cases as you 
 refer to by the United States Govern- 
 ment will be the guide of the General's 
 conduct in return. Any one, therefore, 
 coming within his lines without the pro- 
 per flag, will be sent under an escort to 
 the Confederate Government for exami- 
 nation. The General deems proper for 
 me to add, that humanity should teach 
 an enemy tc care for its wounded, and 
 Christianity to bury its dead." 
 
 The refusal of General Beauregard, on 
 the ground of the Confederate States not 
 being recognized as an independent bel- 
 ligerent nation, was one of the embar- 
 52 
 
 rassments necessarily arising from the 
 theory held by the Federal Government 
 of its attitude, not of making foreign war, 
 but of suppressing an internal rebellion. 
 The Confederates, naturally eager to 
 maintain their independent sovereignty 
 in the eyes of the world, were jealous of 
 the punctilio which, it was found after- 
 wards could, to a certain extent, by 
 subordinate officers and by special acts, 
 be yielded to a state of actual war- 
 fare without compromising the principles 
 of government at stake. In fact, a mod- 
 ification of the original course in the 
 transmission of flags of truce, the ex- 
 change of prisoners and other matters, 
 became a necessity of the war. Had 
 Colonel Cameron been on the other side 
 and fallen to the care of the Unionists, 
 his remains would, if we may judge from 
 the tenderness which had then been 
 already bestowed in the case of General 
 Garnett, have been cared for and for- 
 warded with every mark of respect with- 
 out solicitation or needless anxiety to his 
 family and friends. 
 
 A letter was also addressed to Gener- 
 al Beauregard shortly after the battle by 
 Mrs. Sarah Z. Evans, the sister of Colo- 
 nel Cameron at Washington, asking in- 
 formation respecting her brother. ' ' With 
 a grieved and torn heart," she wrote, 
 " I address you. If it is in your power, 
 will you give a word of comfort to a dis- 
 tressed spirit ? I allude to the death of 
 the gallant Colonel Cameron, of the Fed- 
 eral army, on last Sunday, the 21st of 
 July. We are all God's creatures, alike 
 in his sight. It is a bereaved sister that 
 petitions. Colonel Cameron received two 
 shots, immediately following each other, 
 that destroyed his life. The fate of ku 
 body is the grief to know wliat has be- 
 come of it. Think of the distress of a 
 
410 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 like nature in Southern families, and let 
 us forgive as we hope to be forgiven. 
 All that we have been able to learn is, 
 that Colonel 0. was carried to a farm- 
 house near the scene of battle. He had 
 letters in his pocket declaring his name 
 and station. He was rather a large 
 man, with sandy hair, somewhat gray, 
 dressed in gray clothes. Have mercy 
 on the bowed spirit that laments for the 
 beloved lost that would be comforted 
 to know he had received decent burial. 
 Notwithstanding the war, we are all 
 brothers. ' God prosper the righteous 
 cause.' In pity, have inquiries made, for 
 the love a .sister bears a brother, and 
 may God show you mercy in time of 
 trouble." To this touching epistle, Gen- 
 eral Beauregard, on the 5th of August, 
 wrote the following reply: "Madam, 
 Your letter of the 26th ultimo has been 
 received, making some inquiries relative 
 to the body of your late brother, Colonel 
 Cameron, United States Army, killed at 
 Manassas on the 21st ultimo. In answer, 
 I will state that, upon inquiry, I find he 
 was interred with several other bodies 
 in a grave about 200 yards from the 
 house of a Mrs. Dogan, on the battlefield, 
 who attended herself to this sad duty 
 forgetting in her goodness of heart that 
 these very foes had brought destruction 
 and destitution upon her home and fire- 
 side and that they had crossed into her 
 country for the purpose of subverting its 
 institutions and the form of government 
 it had chosen, as a free people, to estab- 
 lish for itself. Indeed, I fully agree with 
 you. May all the distress of this unholy 
 war be visited upon the heads of those 
 who are responsible for it, and may the 
 Almighty Ruler of the Universe, in His 
 infinite goodness and wisdom, (continue 
 to) prosper the righteous cause ! A gen- 
 
 tleman of this State, Mr. Kinlaw Faunt- 
 leroy, a private in Colonel Stuart's cav- 
 alry brigade, has in his possession a min- 
 iature portrait of Colonel Cameron and 
 wife, which he intends to return to their 
 friends after the war ; for at present 
 no intercourse of the kind is admissi- 
 ble between the two contending parties." 
 The remains of Colonel Cameron were 
 thus left uncoffined in a dishonored grave 
 till the enemy having finally departed 
 from the field before the long deferred 
 approach of the Union army, the burial 
 place was detected through information 
 given by a negro, and the relics, as they 
 could be gathered, were separated from 
 the promiscuous dead and carried by the 
 family of the deceased to a reverent in- 
 terment. 
 
 The brigade of General Sherman, to 
 which Colonel Cameron's regiment was 
 attached, met with another loss in the 
 capture of Colonel Michael Corcoran of 
 the New York 69th, Irish regiment, who 
 was destined to afford, in the varying 
 fortunes of his imprisonment, a promi- 
 nent illustration of the policy of the war. 
 Long after others were released from 
 confinement, he was held as a hostage, 
 and his life was for a time threatened to 
 save from execution the Southern priva- 
 teers who were tried in Northern ports 
 as pirates. The birth, soldierly qualities 
 and estimable character of Colonel Cor- 
 coran excited much sympathy and anxi- 
 ety for his fate from his fellow-citizens 
 generally, and especially from his coun- 
 trymen, the natives of Ireland, who were 
 so largely represented in the war. He 
 was the son of an officer in the British 
 service, had received a limited education, 
 been employed in the Irish Constabulary 
 force, and in 1849, at the age of twenty- 
 two, had emigrated to New York, where 
 
COLONEL CORCORAN/ 
 
 411 
 
 he became proprietor of a hotel. Hav- 
 ing a turn for military affairs, he entered 
 the ranks of the 69th regiment, of the 
 city militia, soon rose to the rank of Cap- 
 tain, and in 1858 was elected Colonel of 
 the regiment. His refusal, in that capa- 
 city, to call out his men in honor of the 
 visit to New York of the Prince of 
 Wales in the fall of 1860, first brought 
 him conspicuously before the public. 
 After his capture at Bull Eun he was 
 confined for a time with the other pris- 
 oners of war in the tobacco warehouse 
 at Richmond, and then removed to a 
 second prison at Castle Pinckney, in 
 Charleston harbor. His fellow-prisoner 
 at Richmond, the Hon. Mr. Ely, of whose 
 journal we shall presently make men- 
 tion, thus describes his appearance and 
 bears witness to his equanimity: "In 
 personal appearance Colonel Corcoran is 
 tall and slender, and has a remarkably 
 fair complexion ; and though apparently 
 of a delicate constitution, he is suscepti- 
 ble of enduring great fatigue. In his 
 deportment he is silent without being in- 
 different ; reserved, but hospitable earn- 
 est, firm, laborious and always animated 
 by a feeling of the loftiest integrity. 
 When he was free and at the head of his 
 regiment, there were at least one thous- 
 and good substantial men who were 
 ready to follow him into the very jaws 
 of death ; but his recent sufferings as a 
 captive will endear his name to the true 
 patriots throughout the whole land." 
 
 The 69th also lost its second officer, 
 Lieutenant- Colonel James Haggerty, a 
 native "of Ireland, who emigrated to the 
 United States in 1849. His calling was 
 that of a builder, an occupation in which 
 he is spoken of as "most successful, 
 being a man of energy, determination 
 and watchfulness," qualities which he 
 
 appears to have brought to his military 
 service, and which were proved in the 
 efficiency of his command. He was the 
 first of his regiment to fall, mortally 
 wounded, in an assault on the enemy, 
 immediately after crossing Bull Run to 
 cooperate with Hunter's advanced col- 
 umn. 
 
 The Rhode Island troops of General 
 Burnside's brigade, which led the way at 
 the crossing of the upper ford, suffered 
 greatly, particularly the 2d regiment, 
 which was first in the action. Its loss in 
 officers was especially severe. Colonel 
 John Stan ton Slocum, who fell at the very 
 outset of the engagement, was a soldier of 
 mark who, had he lived, would doubtless 
 have become prominent in the war. A 
 native of Richmond, Rhode Island, born 
 in 1824, he had received an excellent 
 education, and had early shown an ap- 
 titude for military service and an alle- 
 giance to the cause of government, by 
 ranking himself with the armed defend- 
 ers of his State in the suppression of the 
 Dorr rebellion. When the war with 
 Mexico occurred, he exhibited great 
 alacrity and zeal in the enlistment of a 
 company which he offered to the National 
 Government. On the increase of the 
 army, his services were accepted, and he 
 was appointed 1st Lieutenant in Colonel 
 Ransom's Rhode Island regiment which 
 joined the column of General Scott, and 
 rendered distinguished service at Con- 
 treras and the storming of Chapultepec, 
 where Ransom fell facing the fire of the 
 enemy at the head of his men. For his 
 services on that day Lieutenant Slocum 
 was promoted to a Captaincy. After 
 the war he was engaged more or less in 
 military matters, in the command of a 
 militia company, and in furthering the 
 introduction of James's new projectile. 
 
412 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 When Rhode Island was called upon, 
 immediately after Sumter, to aid in the 
 suppression of the Rebellion, Colonel 
 Slocum was at once summoned by Gov- 
 ernor Sprague, and left for Washington 
 with the earliest detachment of troops 
 with the rank of Major in Colonel Burn- 
 side's 1st regiment of volunteers. When 
 a second regiment was called for, Major 
 Slocum was appointed its Colonel. In 
 the flank movement at Bull Run, he was 
 with his command in the front of the 
 advancing column. 
 
 Major Sullivan Ballou, also a native 
 of Rhode Island, had just completed his 
 thirty-second year, when he fell in the 
 same movement with Colonel Slocum. 
 He had received no military education, 
 but had been drawn to the service by 
 his influential position in Rhode Island, 
 where he had obtained considerable dis- 
 tinction as a politician and lawyer. He 
 was Speaker of the House of Representa- 
 tives of his State in 1857, and had since 
 devoted himself to the legal profession in 
 which his powers of reason and eloquence 
 rendered him much thought of. He ac- 
 cepted the rank of Major at the invitation 
 of Colonel Slocum, says his biographer, 
 from a " patriotic sense of duty, knowing 
 full well the danger to which he would be 
 exposed, feeling, at the same time, that 
 terrible presentiment, that he should be 
 one of the earliest victims. He could 
 not remain at home ; he had urged others 
 to stand up for their common country, 
 and when the call came to him he could 
 not even hesitate, though he almost knew 
 he was rushing to a speedy death." * 
 Colonel Burnside, in his report of the 
 action in which he fell, speaks of him as 
 " deserving of the highest commendation 
 as a brave soldier and a true man." 
 
 * Shea's Fallen Brave. Art. Major Ballou. 
 
 Captain Levi Tower, who also fell in 
 this engagement, was an Ensign of the 
 Pawtucket Light Guard when he joined 
 the 1st Rhode Island regiment to pro- 
 ceed to Washington. He was subse- 
 quently recalled to aid in the formation 
 of the 2d regiment, in which he was ap- 
 pointed Captain. He was twenty-six 
 years old at the time of his death, well 
 educated, earnest in his religious feel- 
 ings, a devoted patriot. " A young, 
 brave, and promising officer," is the 
 eulogy of Colonel Burnside, " deeply la- 
 mented by his comrades and friends." 
 
 Captain Smith, of the same regiment, 
 who fell in the same engagement, adds 
 Colonel Burnside, " was known among 
 us for his many good qualities of head 
 and heart. Lieutenant Prescott, of the 
 1st Rhode Island regiment, was also 
 killed in the early' part of the action 
 while gallantly encouraging his company. 
 He was a noble-hearted Christian man, 
 whose memory will be ever fresh in the 
 hearts of his friends. It is a sad duty," 
 concludes this true-hearted officer, in his 
 official report, " to record a defeat ac- 
 companied with the loss of so many 
 valuable lives. But defeat should only 
 make us more faithful still to the great 
 cause of humanity and civilization, in 
 order that every disaster should be more 
 than compensated for by an enduring 
 victory. 
 
 Nearly a year after, when the battle- 
 field of Bull Run was open to inspection, 
 upon the evacuation of Manassas by the 
 enemy, Governor Sprague of Rhode 
 Island who had been present on the 
 field and honorably distinguished him- 
 self by his bravery, taking an active 
 part in the conflict in directing a battery 
 of light artillery visited the spot for the 
 purpose of recovering the bodies of the 
 
REBEL TREATMENT OF THE DEAD. 
 
 413 
 
 fallen officers of the regiments of his State 
 who had been left in the rear at the hos- 
 pital station, to receive such burial as was 
 accorded by the rebels. There had been 
 several wounded Confederate officers at 
 the same place who requested the Union 
 soldiers and other attendants to stay with 
 them after the retreat, promising them a 
 safe return if they remained. These 
 men now undertook to guide Governor 
 Sprague to the spot where his officers 
 were interred. " On reaching the place," 
 says the Governor in his testimony be- 
 fore the Committee of Congress on the 
 Conduct of the War, directed to collect 
 the evidence with regard to the barbar- 
 ous treatment by the rebels at Manassas 
 of the remains of officers and soldiers of 
 the United States killed in battle there, 
 " we commenced digging for the bodies 
 of Colonel Slocum and Major Ballou at 
 the spot pointed out to us by these men 
 who had been in the action. While dig- 
 ging, some negro women came up and 
 asked whom we were looking for, and at 
 the same time said that ' Colonel Slogun ' 
 had been dug up by the rebels, by some 
 men of a Georgia regiment, his head cut 
 off, and his body taken to a ravine thirty 
 or forty yards below, and there burned. 
 We stopped digging and went to the 
 spot designated, where we found coals 
 and ashes and bones mingled together. 
 A little distance from there we found a 
 shirt (still buttoned at the neck) and 
 blanket with large quantities of hair upon 
 it, everything indicating the burning of 
 a body there. We returned and dug 
 down at the spot indicated as the grave 
 of Major Ballou, but found no body 
 there ; but at the place pointed out as 
 the grave where Colonel Slocum was 
 buried we found a box, which, upon be- 
 ing raised and opened, was found to con- 
 
 tain the body of Colonel Slocum. The 
 soldiers who had buried the two bodies 
 were satisfied that the grave had been 
 opened ; the body taken out, beheaded, 
 and burned, was that of Major Ballou, 
 because it was not in the spot where 
 Colonel Slocum was buried, but rather 
 to the right of it. They at once said 
 that the rebels had made a mistake, and 
 had taken the body of Major Ballou for 
 that of Colonel Slocum. The shirt found 
 near the place where the body was burn- 
 ed I recognized as one belonging to 
 Major Ballou, as I had been very intim- 
 ate with him. We gathered up the 
 ashes containing the portion of his re- 
 mains that were left, and put them in a 
 coffin together with his shirt and the 
 blanket with the hair left upon it. After 
 we had done this we went to that portion 
 of the field where the battle had first 
 commenced, and began to dig for the re- 
 mains of Captain Tower. We brought a 
 soldier with us to designate the place 
 where he was buried. He had been 
 wounded in the battle, and had seen from 
 the window of the house where the cap- 
 tain was interred. On opening the ditch 
 or trench we found it filled with soldiers, 
 all buried with their faces downward. 
 On taking up some four or five we dis- 
 covered the remains of Captain Tower, 
 mingled with those of the men. We 
 took them, placed them in a coffin, and 
 brought them home." 
 
 "In reply to a question of a member 
 of the committee as to whether he was 
 satisfied that they were buried intention- 
 ally with their faces downward, Gover- 
 nor Sprague's answer was, 'Undoubt- 
 edly ! Beyond all controversy ! ? and 
 that ' it was done as a mark of indignity.' 
 In answer to another question as to what 
 their object could have been, especially 
 
414 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 in regard to the body of Colonel Slocum, 
 he replied, ' Sheer brutality, and nothing 
 else. They did it on account of his 
 courage and chivalry in forcing his regi- 
 ment fearlessly and bravely upon them. 
 He destroyed about one-half of that 
 Georgia regiment, which was made up of 
 their best citizens.' When the inquiry 
 was put whether he thought these bar- 
 barities were committed by that regiment, 
 he responded, ' by that same regiment, as 
 I was told. While their own dead were 
 buried with marble head and foot-stones, 
 and names upon them, ours were buried, 
 as I have stated, in trenches.' This 
 eminent witness concludes his testimony 
 as follows : ' I have published an order 
 to my second regiment, to which these 
 officers were attached, that I shall not 
 be satisfied with what they shall do 
 unless they give an account of one 
 rebel killed for each one of their own 
 number.' "* 
 
 In addition to these apparently well- 
 authenticated narratives of the treatment 
 of the dead, it was currently reported 
 that it had been a favorite occupation of 
 the rebels to unearth the bones of the 
 Union soldiers who had fallen in battle 
 and carve them into various articles, as 
 rings and the like, as trophies of the 
 field, " sometimes as the testimony 
 proves, to be used as personal adorn- 
 ments, and one witness deliberately 
 avers that the head of one of our most 
 gallant officers was cut off by a seces- 
 sionist to be turned into a drinking cup 
 on the occasion of his marriage. Mons- 
 trous as this revelation may appear to 
 be, your committee have been informed 
 that during the last two weeks the skull 
 
 * Senator Wade's Report to the Senate in behalf of the 
 Joint Committee on the Conduct of the present War. 
 April 30, 1862. 
 
 of a Union soldier has been exhibited in 
 the office of the Sergeant-at-arms of the 
 House of Eepresentatives, which had 
 been converted to such a purpose, and 
 which had been fo'und on the person of 
 one of the rebel prisoners taken in a re- 
 cent conflict."* 
 
 It is painful to record these mutila- 
 tions of the remains of the dead, but the 
 fact, seemingly too well established, has 
 been too loudly bruited, as the topic of 
 Government investigation, to be passed 
 over in silence. Nor should a notice 
 of these transactions be neglected in 
 a humanitarian point of view. It is no 
 charity -to the living to conceal the 
 horrid atrocities and barbarities of war 
 which are liable to be doubly aggra- 
 vated in a civil contest. Let us know 
 to what the struggle tends, and who are 
 the combatants who "are called forth to 
 the work of slaughter in so fearful a 
 combat. The lesson, if properly learnt, 
 may teach us something of the duties 
 of good government in the improve- 
 ment of its subjects in times of peace. 
 "It is almost," says Senator Wade, in 
 his report, "beyond belief that the men 
 fighting in such a cause as ours are sus- 
 tained by a government which in the 
 midst of violence and treachery has 
 given repeated evidences of its indul- 
 gence, should have been subjected k 
 treatment never before resorted to by 
 one foreign nation in a conflict with ano- 
 ther." Do not such acts as Governor 
 Sprague had witnessed indicate a degree 
 of ignorance and folly as remarkable as 
 the crime itself? Insults to the dead are 
 beneath the poor dignity of anger and 
 
 * Senator Wade's Report, p. 10. See also letter of a 
 Confederate soldier at Manassas found in a post-office in 
 North Carolina by the United States forces, published in 
 the New York Times, July 22, 1862. 
 
LOSS OF OFFICERS IN THE BATTLE. 
 
 415 
 
 revenge. They are the peculiarities and 
 crimes of ignorance and barbarism, and 
 betray in any State where they are 
 found the existence of a class unworthy 
 or incapable of appreciating the lowest 
 grade of civilization. War, in its best 
 estate, with all the limitations which chi- 
 valry has iniposed upon it, is the saddest 
 evidence the world affords of the corrup- 
 tion and lack of wisdom in it. With all 
 its courtesies and magnanimities, its 
 brave shows and realities of self-sacri- 
 fice and valor, the honor which it gains in 
 its devotion to lofty principle, war is still 
 of the essence of barbarism, the greatest 
 blot upon the civilization of the century ; 
 yet, to how low a depth of ignominy it de- 
 scends when not content with mutilating 
 the living, it carries its fury beyond 
 death and dishonors the dead. Yet, such 
 was the degradation of the rebellion, and 
 such the men it brought to assail the 
 capitol of the United States with all that 
 it represents of honor, integrity, and the 
 thousand sources and protections of na- 
 tional prosperity. 
 
 Captain Otis H. Tillinghast, of the 
 United States Artillery, who was on the 
 field attached to the staff of the Com- 
 manding General with the rank of As- 
 sistant Quartermaster, was mortally 
 wounded while voluntarily acting with 
 the artillery in the Second Division. A 
 native of the State of New York, he was 
 a graduate of West Point, and though 
 only thirty-seven, had seen much ser- 
 vice in Mexico, and subsequently in the 
 Boundary Commission to that country, 
 and in Florida. He was one of the 
 most efficient officers on the field, his 
 energy and spirit carrying him to the 
 post of danger beyond the line of his 
 duties in the position which he held on 
 the staff. Colonel David Hunter, com- 
 
 manding the Second Division, was wound- 
 ed early in the action, and compelled to 
 leave the field. Born in the District of 
 Columbia, he was a graduate of West 
 Point of 1822, and commenced his mili- 
 tary career as 2d Lieutenant in the 5th 
 Infantry, rose to be 1st Lieutenant, and 
 was in 1833 appointed Captain in the 
 1st Dragoons. He resigned in 1836, 
 but rejoined the army in 1842 as pay- 
 master. He held this office with the 
 rank of Major when the administra- 
 tion of President Lincoln called him to 
 more active service as Colonel of the 3d 
 Cavalry. He accompanied Mr. Lincoln, 
 it will be remembered, when President 
 elect, in his journey from Springfield, 
 when his collar-bone was dislocated in 
 an effort to repress the crowd at Buffalo. 
 Colonel Heintzelman was wounded in 
 the arm while leading his division into 
 action. Colonel Wilcox, of the Michi- 
 gan volunteers, was wounded and taken 
 prisoner while on the hill in the hottest 
 of the fight. A native of Detroit, he 
 was a graduate of West Point of 1846, 
 was actively engaged in the Mexican 
 war as Lieutenant of Artillery, subse- 
 quently resigned his commission to de- 
 vote himself to the study of the law, 
 and was pursuing this profession in 
 Michigan when he was recalled to mili- 
 tary service to take his place at the 
 head of the first regiment raised in his 
 State for the defence of Washington and 
 the suppression of the rebellion. 
 
 On the side of the Confederates the 
 loss of officers was heavier in proportion 
 than in the national army. The victory, 
 says General Beauregard, "was dearly 
 won by the death of many officers and 
 men of inestimable value belonging to 
 all ranks of our society. In the death 
 of General Barnard E. Bee the Confed- 
 
416 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 eracy has sustained an irreparable loss, 
 for with great personal bravery and 
 coolness he possessed the qualities of 
 an accomplished soldier and an able, 
 reliable commander. Colonels Bartow 
 and Fisher, and Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Johnson of Hampton's Legion, in the 
 fearless command of their men gave 
 earnest of great usefulness to the ser- 
 vice, had they been spared to complete 
 a career so brilliantly begun." General 
 Bee, a native of South Carolina, was a 
 graduate of West Point of 1845, and 
 had served with distinction in Mexico, 
 being twice brevetted for his gallant 
 conduct at Cerro Gordo and at Chapul- 
 tepec. His subsequent achievements in 
 wars among the Indians, says the Charles- 
 ton Mercwy in an obituary notice, 
 " were such as to attract towards him 
 the attention of his State, and in his 
 dying hand on the field in which he fell 
 he grasped the sword which South Caro- 
 lina had taken pride in presenting him." 
 At the time of his resignation from the 
 national service, early in March 1861, 
 he held the rank of Captain of the 10th 
 Infantry. He was immediately after 
 appointed by President Davis Brigadier- 
 General in the Confederate army. Col- 
 onel Francis S. Bartow of Georgia was 
 a young man highly spoken of as a poli- 
 tician and lawyer of his native State, 
 which he represented in the Confederate 
 Congress when he was called to the Col- 
 c nelcy of one of the Georgia regiments. 
 Colonel Charles F. Fisher was from 
 North Carolina. General Edmund Kir- 
 by Smith of "Florida, Major of the 2d 
 Cavalry when he left the United States 
 service in April, and Major Kobert 
 Wheat of the Louisiana Battalion, emi- 
 nent for his inroads upon Mexican terrj- 
 tory as a marauder or filibuster in Texas, 
 
 were among those wounded on the battle 
 field, but were reported as killed in the 
 first rumors of the day. 
 
 The battle of Bull Eun was far too 
 important an achievement of the enemy 
 to be passed over without the improve- 
 ment of a bulletin. Accordingly, a few 
 days after the victory, the expected doc- 
 ument appeared, and, as the honors of 
 the field were fairly divided between the 
 two Confederate Generals, Johnston and 
 Beauregard, the bulletin was signed by 
 both in the order of their rank, though 
 we may readily detect, in a certain florid 
 tone and exaggeration, the sensation 
 hand of the younger officer. It was 
 dated at the headquarters of the army 
 of the Potomac, Manassas Junction, July 
 28th: '-"Soldiers of the Confederate 
 States: One week ago a countless host 
 of men, organized into an army, with all 
 the appointments which modern art and 
 practical skill could devise, invaded the 
 soil of Virginia. Their people sounded 
 their approach with triumph and displays 
 of anticipated victory. Their generals 
 came in almost regal state. Their Min- 
 ister, Senators and women came to wit- 
 ness the immolation of this army and the 
 subjugation of our people, and to cele- 
 brate these with wild revelry. It is with 
 the profoundest emotions of gratitude to 
 an overruling God, whose hand is mani- 
 fested in protecting our homes and your 
 liberties, that we, your generals com- 
 manding, are enabled in the name of our 
 whole country to thank you for that pa- 
 triotic courage, that heroic gallantry, that 
 devoted daring, exhibited by you in the 
 action of the 18th and 21st of July, by 
 which the host of the enemy was scatter- 
 ed, and a signal and glorious victory was 
 achieved. The two affairs of the 18th 
 and 21st were but the sustained and con- 
 
MILITARY CRITICISM. 
 
 417 
 
 tinued efforts of your patriotism against 
 the constantly recurring colors of an en- 
 emy fully treble our numbers, and this 
 effort was crowned, on the evening of the 
 21st, with a victory so complete, that the 
 invaders were driven from the field, and 
 made to fly in disorderly ruin back to 
 their intrenchments, a distance of over 
 thirty miles. They left upon the field 
 nearly every piece of their artillery, a 
 large portion of their arms, equipments, 
 baggage, stores, etc., etc., and almost 
 every one of their wounded and dead, 
 amounting, together with the prisoners, 
 to many thousands ; and thus the North- 
 ern hosts were driven by you from Yir- 
 ginia. 
 
 " Soldiers ! we congratulate you on an 
 event which insures the liberty of our coun- 
 try. We congratulate every man of you 
 whose glorious privilege it was to parti- 
 cipate in this triumph of courage and 
 truth, to fight in the battle of Manassas. 
 You have created an epoch in the histo- 
 ry of liberty, and unborn nations will 
 rise up and call you blessed. Continue 
 this noble devotion, looking always to the 
 protection of the just God, and, before 
 time grows much older, we will be hailed 
 as the deliverers of a nation of ten mil- 
 lions of people. Comrades ! Our broth- 
 ers who have fallen have earned undy- 
 ing renown, and their blood, shed in our 
 holy cause, is a precious and acceptable 
 sacrifice to the Father of Truth and 
 Eight ; their graves are beside the tomb 
 of Washington, their spirits have joined 
 his in eternal communion. We will hold 
 the soil in which the dust of Washington 
 is mingled with the dust of our brothers. 
 We drop one tear on their laurels, and 
 move forward to avenge them. Soldiers ! 
 We congratulate you on a glorious tri- 
 umph and complete victory. We thank 
 53 
 
 you for doing your whole duty in the 
 service of your country." 
 
 The plan of the battle, as it was or- 
 dered, and up to a certain point carried 
 out by General McDowell, has generally 
 met with the approval of military critics 
 who have looked into the circumstances of 
 the day, as they were reported by both 
 sides. A comparison of the reports, 
 says one whose judgment is entitled to 
 particular respect from his scientific re- 
 putation and his actual knowledge from 
 participation in the affair, Major Bar- 
 nard, Chief Engineer of the army on 
 .General McDowell's staff, will prove 
 that the plan of battle was well designed, 
 and that nearly successful as it was, it 
 would have fully succeeded had it not been 
 for the loss of precious time in the move- 
 ment and arrival of the flanking column 
 on the ground in the morning. " It was 
 not, "he argues, " till eleven o'clock that 
 the rebel generals became fully conscious 
 of the true character of the attack. 
 Their troops were distributed over a 
 line eight miles in length, and, un- 
 expectedly attacked on their extreme 
 left flank, while their centre and left 
 were fixed by our demonstrations, they 
 had to improvise a new line, and their 
 resources and reinforcements did not get 
 up (in sufficient force at least) until the 
 fate of the day was almost decided 
 against them. Nor could these resources 
 and reinforcements have sufficed had not 
 an additional arrival from the Shenan- 
 doah (concerning which General Mc- 
 Dowell had stipulated that they should 
 be kept occupied elsewhere) of three or 
 four thousand men turned the day against 
 us. Nor should it, even then, have de- 
 prived us of a victory we had really 
 gained, if our raw and wearied troops 
 could have been induced to hold (heir 
 
418 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 position a few minutes longer. At the 
 moment of the rout of the centre, the 
 brigade of Colonel Keyes (Tyler's Divi- 
 sion) had gained the right and rear of 
 the enemy's position ; the way was open 
 for the . brigade of Schenck to pass the 
 Stone Bridge and to join Keyes, while 
 the brigade of Howard, of Heintzelman's 
 division kept for some time in reserve 
 at the point where the main column 
 turned off from the Warrenton turnpike 
 ha,d just arrived on the ground and 
 was ready to support our exhausted cen- 
 tre and right. Thus the combination of 
 the battle notwithstanding that all those 
 accidents (incidental to all such combina- 
 tions) which man cannot control, had 
 gone against us, had been, tactically 
 speaking, successful. Nor is it all clear 
 that at any moment of the battle there 
 was. any considerable numerical prepon- 
 derance in our favor Strate- 
 gically speaking, our movement failed, 
 through the loss of time, so far as it 
 consisted in bringing, at any time, su- 
 perior numbers upon the decisive point ; 
 on the contrary, the enemy, from his 
 more central position, was enabled always 
 to maintain superiority of numbers, and 
 by this means finally deprived us of the 
 victory. It was a success in turning the 
 enemy's strong defensive line, discon- 
 certing all his arrangements, and through 
 the moral influences of this and of our 
 being the attacking party, very nearly 
 gaining a decisive victory. . . I trust 
 that I have shown that the battle of Bull 
 Run has a claim to be considered some- 
 thing more than a ' rout,' and a 'panic,' 
 and that it was really what Jefferson 
 Davis styles it in his dispatch to the Con- 
 federate Congress, 'a hard-fought field.'* 
 
 * Major Barnard's C. S. A. and the Battle of Bull Run, 
 p. 105. 106, 109, 110 
 
 Looking at the affair in a strategical 
 point of view, another eminent authority. 
 Major-General Halleck, in an essay on 
 the art of war, written for the instruction 
 of the people, has pointed out the disad- 
 vantages of position in the forces of Mc- 
 Dowell and Patterson in their inability 
 promptly to cooperate with one another. 
 Illustrating the military principle that 
 troops should never be moved on exte- 
 rior lines unless the forces on each line 
 are superior to the combined forces of 
 the enemy, after several examples drawn 
 from European history, he instances the 
 campaign on the Potomac : " Patterson's 
 and McDowell's columns," says he, 
 "moved on exterior lines, leaving the 
 armies of Johnston and Beau regard be- 
 tween them ; they concentrated their 
 forces at Bull Run and defeated McDow- 
 ell's army, and might have done the same 
 thing to the army of Patterson. Had 
 the latter crossed the Potomac at Lees- 
 burg, he would have threatened John- 
 ston's communications much more effect- 
 ually than at Martinsburg, and at the 
 same time would have been near enough 
 to McDowell to assist him or to receive 
 assistance from him, as circumstances 
 might have required. Johnston must 
 then have abandoned Harper's Ferry and 
 "Winchester and united with Beauregard, 
 or the latter must have moved to the as- 
 sistance of the former ; for, had they re- 
 mained separate, both Patterson and 
 McDowell could have moved between 
 them. In that case, Beauregard must 
 have fallen back toward Richmond, and 
 Johnston must have been isolated. If 
 Johnston had fallen back upon Manassas 
 Junction, as in fact he did, Patterson 
 would have been able to assist McDowell 
 at the battle of Bull Run ; whereas by 
 his exterior line of operations he actually 
 
ALLEGED CAUSES OF THE DISASTER. 
 
 419 
 
 gained nothing." Of course in these re- 
 marks, which were penned in California 
 before the writer had entered upon his 
 distinguished field of duties on his return 
 to the army of the United States, no cen- 
 sure was implied of the dispositions ac- 
 tually made for which there may have 
 been good and sufficient reasons. They 
 are exhibited simply in their practical 
 relation to the battle as it was actually 
 fought. Indeed the obvious policy of 
 stationing Patterson at Leesburg, for 
 purposes of cooperation with McClellan, 
 had been proposed by that officer him- 
 self previously to his advance against the 
 enemy toward Winchester. 
 
 Another critical review of this engage- 
 ment has been given to the public in the 
 speech delivered by Mr. Zachariah 
 Chandler of Michigan; in the United 
 States Senate on the 16th of July, 1862. 
 As a member of the Joint Committee on 
 the Conduct of the War, having the vol- 
 uminous testimony taken by that body, 
 hitherto unpublished, placed at his dis- 
 posal, he had peculiar opportunities, from 
 the facts before him, of presenting a 
 comprehensive view of the whole trans- 
 action. Looking at the affair on all sides, 
 he finds five special causes for the disas- 
 ter, the remedying of any one of which, 
 in his opinion, would have saved the 
 field. The first of these, and undoubted- 
 ly the most important, was the failure of 
 General Patterson to hold General John- 
 ston and his forces in check before Win- 
 chester, and thereby prevent the rein- 
 forcement of the army of General Beau- 
 regard in season for the battle. Gener- 
 al Scott, though he never expressly or- 
 dered an attack to be made by General 
 Patterson, leaving the time and manner 
 of the engagement to that officer's dis- 
 cretion, yet evidently expected, from the 
 
 orders which he gave, that a battle would 
 be fought, or a sufficient demonstration 
 would be made to keep the Confederate 
 forces in the valley from reaching Man- 
 assas. The reason given by General 
 Patterson for not undertaking or accom- 
 plishing this, was the impression he de- 
 rived from various sources of the superi- 
 ority of Johnston's force at Winchester, 
 an impression, says Mr. Chandler, which 
 proved to be erroneous. Had Patterson 
 pushed the enemy to a general engage- 
 ment, the troops of Beauregard at Man- 
 assas would have been overpowered with 
 little difficulty by the superior forces of 
 McDowell. A second cause of disaster 
 at Bull Run given by Mr. Chandler, was 
 the failure to attack on Friday, before 
 the arrival of the enemy's reinforcements, 
 instead of on the Sunday after they had 
 arrived, an error which appears to be 
 chargeable to the delay in forwarding 
 provisions from Washington and the time 
 taken to gain information of the position 
 of the enemy. The third cause spoken 
 of by General McDowell in his report 
 as " a great misfortune" was the stop- 
 page of the army for three hours by the 
 delay of a portion of the first brigade on 
 the Warrenton road to advance beyond 
 the turning off point for the flank move- 
 ment of the second and third divisions 
 of Hunter and Heintzelman. The loss 
 of these precious hours, between half- 
 past two and half-past five in the morn- 
 ing, brought the men, wearied by delay, 
 into action in the heat of a glowing mid- 
 summer day, and gave time for the- ar- 
 rival of a further portion of Johnston's 
 force by the railway, to turn the fortunes 
 of the field. A fourth error assigned by 
 Mr. Chandler was " the advancing of our 
 batteries 1,000 yards without adequate 
 support, and the unfortunate mistaking 
 
420 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 of a rebel regiment for the battery's sup- 
 port." The latter, also alluded to by 
 General McDowell in his report, occur- 
 red in the attack on Captain Griffin's 
 battery. That officer, seeing a regiment 
 of Confederates crossing a fence on his 
 front, had given orders to fire upon 
 them, when he was informed by Major 
 Barry that they were the Union troops 
 ordered to his support. The firing was 
 consequently arrested, and the enemy, 
 advancing in safety to A he charge, cut 
 down every cannonier, killed a number 
 of horses, and put what was left of the 
 command to a disastrous flight. The 
 last cause of the disaster enumerated by 
 Mr. Chandler was " the failure to bring 
 the reserves into action at the critical 
 jioment the reason assigned being the 
 insufficient staff and a lack of discipline 
 by brigades." 
 
 It is one of the unhappy circumstances 
 of adversity that it generates a thousand 
 vexatious motives and suppositions which 
 would never have been thought of, or 
 putting on another face, been cited as 
 proofs of wisdom or prowess had the 
 issue been prosperous. Of these croak- 
 ings and criminations after the fact, Bull 
 Run was peculiarly prolific. The keen- 
 ly-felt demand for action preceding the 
 battle which had found expression in the 
 popular cry of "On to Richmond" was 
 now brought forward as a main cause of 
 the disaster. It was asserted that sound 
 military discretion had been overruled in 
 its judgment by the voice of the news- 
 papers, the influence of politicians, and 
 the demands of Members of Congress 
 and of the Cabinet. Even General 
 Scott, it was publicly said, contrary to 
 his impressions and well-matured policy, 
 had yielded to this pressure from with- 
 out in sanctioning the order for advance. 
 
 A conversation which he had held on 
 the subject was reported in the House of 
 Representatives, by Mr. Richardson, a 
 Democratic member from Illinois. In a 
 skirmishing debate on the twenty-fourth 
 of July on the conduct of the war, with 
 Blair of Missouri, who discredited the 
 allegation, he thus told the story. " Gen- 
 eral Scott has been forced to fight this 
 battle. I will tell what occurred yester- 
 day morning. My colleagues, Logan and 
 Washburne, and myself were present 
 with the President, Secretary of War, 
 and General Scott. In the course of 
 our conversation General Scott remarked, 
 ' Sir, I am the biggest coward in America ! 
 I rose from my seat immediately. ' Stay,- 
 said the General, 'I will prove it. I 
 have fought this battle, Sir, against my 
 judgment ; I think tlje President of the 
 United States ought to remove me to-day 
 for doing it. As God is my Judge, after 
 my superiors had determined to fight it, I 
 did all in my power to make the army 
 efficient. I deserve removal because I 
 did not stand n v when my army was not in 
 condition for fighting and resist it to the 
 last.' ' Your conversation seems to im- 
 ply,' said the President, ' that I forced 
 you to fight this battle,' to which Gen- 
 eral Scott answered, ' I have never 
 served a President who has been kinder 
 to me than you have been.'* The Gen- 
 eral may have been strengthened in his 
 convictions by recollection of the famous 
 reply of the Roman Fabius to the jests 
 and suggestions of Minucius, the eager 
 advocate in his army for engaging the 
 enemy. ' I should be more faint-hearted 
 than they make me,' said he, in the nar- 
 rative of Plutarch, ' ii through fear of 
 idle reproaches, I should abandon my 
 own convictions. It is no inglorious 
 
 * The Congressional Globe, July 26, 1861. 
 
GENERAL PATTERSON'S COLUMN. 
 
 421 
 
 thing to have fear for the safety of our 
 country, but to be turned from one's 
 course by men's opinions, by blame, and 
 by misrepresentations, shows a man un- 
 fit to hold an office such as this, which, 
 by such conduct, he makes the slave of 
 those whose errors it is his business to 
 control.' " 
 
 The lesson, thus admirably conveyed, 
 is so illustrative of a sound general 
 principle that we may be thankful to 
 General Scott for his candid inculcation 
 of its force, though we may be by no 
 means disposed to upbraid him with the 
 misfortune which pointed it. Nor is 
 General Scott to be understood as throw- 
 ing the responsibility of the military 
 movement upon the President. Nearly 
 seven months after, in a discussion in the 
 House of Representatives, on the 14th 
 of February, 1862, on the Committee on 
 the Conduct of the War, this subject was 
 brought up again. Mr. Blair of Mis- 
 souri, then stated that General Patterson 
 had telegraphed to Headquarters the 
 departure of General Johnston from 
 Winchester, and that it was thus known 
 at Washington that Beauregard had been 
 reinforced at Manassas. "When this 
 information came to the President," said 
 Mr. Blair, "he went to General Scott 
 to protest against a movement on Man- 
 assas, and Bull Run. but General Scott 
 insisted on its being made." The state- 
 ment of the telegraph from General Pat- 
 terson being questioned, Mr. Blair, at 
 the next meeting of the House, read this 
 dispatch of General Patterson, furnished 
 by a member of his staff. ' ' Charles- 
 town, July 20, 1861. To Col. E. D. 
 Townsend. Sir : With a portion of his 
 force, General Johnston left Winchester 
 on the afternoon of the 18th, with about 
 30,000 troops. R. Patterson." 
 
 From the statements made by Gener- 
 al Patterson in vindication of his course, 
 before the 1st City Troop at Philadel- 
 phia, some months after, it would appear 
 that, while he thought the enemy had 
 been too strong for him to hazard an at- 
 tack upon Winchester, and while he jus- 
 tified his reluctance to enter upon more 
 vigorous* movements from prudential mo- 
 tives, he seemed disposed to throw the 
 responsibility of his comparative inaction 
 and failure to cooperate with the army 
 of the Potomac at last, upon the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief, alleging that the latter 
 had not sent him constant and more ex- 
 plicit instructions. "On the 13th of 
 July," says he, " he telegraphed the Gen- 
 eral-in-Chief that Johnston was in a posi- 
 tion to have his strength doubled just as 
 he could reach him, and that he would 
 rather lose the chance of accomplishing 
 something brilliant than, by hazarding 
 his column, to destroy the fruits of the 
 campaign by defeat, closing his telegram 
 thus : ' If wrong let me be instructed.' 
 But no instructions came. This was 
 eight days before the battle of Manassas. 
 On the 17th General Scott telegraphed : 
 ' McDowell's first day's work has driven 
 the enemy beyond Fairfax Court-House. 
 To-morrow the Junction will probably 
 be carried.' With this information he 
 was happy. Johnston had been detain- 
 ed the appointed time, and the work of 
 General Patterson's column had been 
 done. On the 18th, at half-past one in 
 the morning, he telegraphed General Scott 
 the condition of the enemy's force and 
 his own, and closed the dispatch by ask- 
 ing, ' Shall I attack ?' This was plain 
 English and could not be misunderstood, 
 but he received no reply. He expected 
 to be attacked where he was, and if Ma- 
 nassas was not to be attacked on that 
 
422 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 day, as stated in General Scott's dis- 
 patch of the day previous, he ought to 
 have been ordered down forthwith to 
 join in the battle, and the attack delayed 
 until he came. He could have been 
 there on the day that the battle was 
 fought, and his assistance might have 
 produced a different result."* A fuller 
 report of General Scott's telegram of the 
 19th of July, cited by General Patter- 
 son, adds to the portion presented in his 
 speech the important sentence : " Do not 
 let the enemy amuse and delay you with 
 a small force in front while he reinforces 
 the Junction with his main body."f The 
 Next day General Scott sent another 
 telegram to General Patterson : "I have 
 certainly been expecting you to beat the 
 enemy. If not, to hear that you had 
 felt him strongly, or at least had occu- 
 pied him by threats and demonstrations. 
 You have been at least his equal, and I 
 suppose superior, in number. Has he 
 not stolen a inarch and sent reinforce- 
 ments towards Manassas Junction .? A 
 week is enough to win a victory." To 
 which General Patterson the same day 
 replied: "The enemy has stolen no 
 march upon me. I have kept him ac- 
 tively employed, and by threats and 
 reconnoissances in force caused him to 
 be reinforced. I have accomplished 
 more in this respect than the General-in- 
 Chief asked, or could well be expected, 
 in face of an enemy far superior in num- 
 bers, with no line of communication to 
 protect.''^ 
 
 Many subordinate reasons were, of 
 course, sought to be established for the 
 
 * General Patterson's Speech at Philadelphia, November 
 16, 1861. New York Times, November 19, 1861. 
 
 \ Speech of Mr. Chandlei in the United States Senate, 
 July 16, 1862. 
 
 \ Ibid. 
 
 disaster. By some the misfortune was 
 thrown upon the officers ; by others upon 
 the men. The company officers were 
 pronounced particularly at fault. It was 
 generally conceded that most of them, as 
 might have been supposed, when so large 
 a force was suddenly extemporized from 
 civilians, lacked experience, if they were 
 not deficient in qualities which no routine 
 can supply the want of. The sudden de- 
 mand had been in excess of the supply, 
 and Colonels and Majors, it had to be 
 confessed, could not be made in an hour. 
 The men, too, it was pronounced, notwith- 
 standing many examples of noble con- 
 duct were, in large proportion, deficient 
 in those soldierly instincts which indeed 
 can only be looked for as the result of 
 habit and patient drill. It was alleged, 
 too, with sufficient reason, that the differ- 
 ent portions of the army were without 
 practice in cooperating maneuvres. Many 
 of the regiments, their commander ad- 
 mits, went forward without having been 
 together before in a brigade. The subtle 
 bonds of intercourse and sympathy 
 which bind rank and file together, and 
 nerve the company or regiment as one 
 man in battle, were sadly deficient. The 
 hastily supplied teamsters, wagoners and 
 others of the transportation department, 
 were singularly defective in knowledge 
 and feeling of their duties. 
 
 The term of service of a number of 
 the regiments, three months' men, was on 
 the eve of expiring a circumstance 
 which may have roused the heroic to 
 unusual exertions, but which must have 
 had a discouraging influence on the ma- 
 jority. Indeed, the extraordinary spec- 
 tacle was presented of one of the regi- 
 ments of volunteers, the 4th Pennsylva- 
 nia regiment and the battery of volun- 
 teer artillery of the New York 8th Mill- 
 
CIVILIANS ON THE FIELD. 
 
 423 
 
 tia, whose term of service expired on the 
 eve of the battle, spite of the protesta- 
 tions of the general commanding and the 
 urgent personal application of the Secre- 
 tary of War, demanding their discharge, 
 and when it was granted, retreating igno- 
 miriiously from their companions in arms. 
 The next morning, in the brief memora- 
 ble sentence of the official report of Gen- 
 eral McDowell, "when the army moved 
 forward into battle, these troops moved 
 to the rear to the sound of the enemy's 
 cannon." 
 
 The number of civilians in the neigh- 
 borhood of the action, running about 
 hurried and exited at the first symp- 
 toms of danger, probably by their irre- 
 sponsible conduct and example added 
 to the perils of the retreat ; though, as 
 they were for the most part of the more 
 intelligent classes, they may have done 
 something as indeed we know in some 
 cases they did to check the irrational 
 panic. General Schenck in his brigade 
 report alludes to the unfavorable influ- 
 ence of their presence, with the quiet 
 remark that they " ought never to have 
 been there." One of the most distin- 
 guished of these persons, who became 
 widely known from the circumstances of 
 his subsequent captivity, was the Hon. 
 Alfred Ely, representative in Congress 
 of the 29th New York District in which 
 Rochester is situated. He left Washing- 
 ton early on the morning of the battle, 
 in a carriage hired for the occasion, in 
 company with Senator Foster of Connec- 
 ticut, Mr. Julius Bing, a gentleman of 
 literary reputation, and two officers of 
 the army. After alighting at Fairfax 
 Court-House, the party proceeded to 
 Centreville, and advanced some distance 
 beyond it toward the battle-field. In 
 consequence of an accident to the car- 
 
 riage which it was necessary to repair, 
 they were separated from one another, 
 and in the retreat and pursuit which 
 speedily followed each was compelled to 
 shift for himself. Mr. Ely, while look- 
 ing round the field with no intention 
 other than observing the progress of the 
 conflict, was suddenly awakened to the 
 danger of his position by a shot striking 
 near him, when he took refuge behind a 
 tree, and was presently called to face a 
 company of the enemy who advanced 
 from the wood. On making his name 
 and position known to his captors, he 
 was taken before Colonel Cash of South 
 Carolina, the commander of the regiment, 
 when that officer, drawing his pistol and 
 pointing it directly at the head of his 
 prisoner, cried out, " G d d n your 
 white-livered soul ! I'll blow your brains 
 out on the spot." Adjutant Mallins, how- 
 ever, interposed, and Mr. Ely, duly im- 
 pressed by the startling address of the 
 rebel officer, as a salutation marking 
 one of the most impressive moments of 
 his career, was passed over alive to the 
 tender mercies of the Southern Confed- 
 eracy. He was carried to Richmond 
 and there held a captive in close con- 
 finement, in the tobacco factory allotted 
 to the prisoners of war, for five months, 
 till he was released at Christmas in ex- 
 change for the Hon. Charles James 
 Faulkner, Mr. Buchanan's Minister Plen- 
 ipotentiary to France, who on his return 
 to Washington had been arrested as a 
 prisoner of state for sympathy or com- 
 plicity with the rebellion. During the 
 most of this time Mr. Ely kept a journal 
 of what was going on in the prison, which 
 he published after his discharge, and 
 which presents a curious and instructive 
 account of these novel scenes of the re- 
 bellion. He was quartered with the offi- 
 
424 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 cers taken at Bull Run, some forty in num- 
 ber, at the head of whom was Colonel 
 Corcoran, including the surgeons who 
 remained on the field, and several chap- 
 lains. There were, as might have been 
 expected, various discomforts, but the 
 officers, though exposed to annoyances 
 from visitors, were not, beyond the de- 
 privation of their liberty in such close 
 quarters, subjected to unusual rigors. 
 It was a hardship undoubtedly to retain 
 a non-combatant like Mr. Ely : but it 
 was politic to keep him for purposes of 
 exchange, as was proved when he came 
 to be released. Singularly enough the 
 candidate who had been opposed to him 
 in his election to Congress, Mr. Calvin 
 Huson of Rochester, was brought to the 
 same prison, having been in like manner 
 captured as .an observer on the field of 
 battle. The health of Mr. Huson broke 
 down under his confinement ; he was 
 seized with typhoid fever, lingered through 
 the early stages of the disease in prison, 
 his illness alleviated by the assiduous at- 
 tentions of his political antagonist, till at 
 the last he was taken to the house of a 
 benevolent widow in Richmond, Mrs. 
 Yan Lew, where his dying moments 
 were soothed by her family. The story 
 of this disaster throws a deeper melan- 
 choly over Mr. Ely's painful narrative 
 a sad contribution enough, though un- 
 happily there are many darker, to the 
 domestic history of America. 
 
 If the privacy of Mr. Ely was some- 
 times invaded when profane Tennesseans 
 and hard-handed pitch-scrapers from 
 North Carolina, out of curiosity, sought 
 his presence to cast uncomplimentary as- 
 persions upon his person ; on the other 
 hand, his tedium was relieved by the 
 visits of various notables of the Southern 
 Confederacy. Robert Tyler, son of the 
 
 Ex-president, came one day in July and 
 entered into a long conversation on the 
 topic of the war. "He deplored," as 
 well he might, " the unhappy civil con- 
 flict, and enlarged upon its destructive 
 consequences to both sections of the 
 Union. He assured me that the North 
 entirely misunderstood the spirit and 
 sentiment of the South ; that there was 
 no Union feeling underlying that of se- 
 cession, as was supposed in the North ; 
 and that twenty-two counties in Western 
 Virginia and a small portion of Tennes- 
 see, were the only disaffected sections in 
 all the seceded States. Subjugation of the 
 South, he said, was absurd ; they might 
 be killed, but not conquered. The troops 
 of the Southern army were composed of 
 planters and their sons, the men of wealth 
 and position in society, and they had come 
 to die." This general prospect, opened 
 by the younger Tyler, was by no means 
 consolatory, but it might be in some mea- 
 sure considered theoretical and resting 
 in the opinion of the speaker. There 
 was, however, no consolation of this kind 
 to meet the personal declaration brought 
 by another celebrity Senator Wigfall, 
 of Sumter memory, who came to look 
 after Mr. Arnold Harris who. as we have 
 stated, was imprisoned, having present- 
 ing himself on the ground with the ob- 
 ject of procuring the body of Colonel 
 Cameron for burial by his family. The 
 Senator was at this time Colonel in com- 
 mand of a battalion encamped in the 
 neighborhood of Richmond. He assured 
 Mr. Ely, in the course of his conversa- 
 tion, that "it was the intention of the 
 Confederate Government to hang me es- 
 pecially, if the Savannah prisoners were 
 convicted." But gentler voices whis- 
 pered in the ears of the prisoners. Miss 
 Martha Haines Butt, a lady author of 
 
THE "TIMES'" CORRESPONDENT. 
 
 425 
 
 are remembered in connection with the 
 battle of Bull Run, there were few more 
 talked of at the period than Mr. Russell, 
 the correspondent of the London Time*, 
 whose previous letters from the Crimea 
 and India, written during the recent mil- 
 itary operations in those countries, had 
 made him familiarly known throughout 
 the world. He came to the United 
 States in the early days of the war, ac- 
 complished a rapid Southern tour in the 
 month or two succeeding the attack of 
 Fort Sumter a journey which he de- 
 scribed with animation and spirit in his 
 correspondence with the newspaper on 
 which he was employed, and was now on 
 hand at Washington for the operations 
 on the Potomac. As a writer, he was 
 master of a rare talent for description 
 had the facultj^ of seizing the strong 
 points of a subject and of presenting his 
 reflections, which were apt to be hastily 
 entertained, with a certain resolute air 
 of authority. His error was, in form- 
 ing his conclusions frequently from too 
 slender a basis a fault into which a de- 
 scriptive writer, accustomed to seize 
 eagerly upon striking details, regardless 
 of their exceptional character, is apt to 
 fall. As one of the corps of the London 
 Times, too, he not unnaturally adopted 
 the somewhat censorious or unfriendly 
 view of American affairs habitually in- 
 dulged in by that journal. There was 
 undoubtedly a great deal of acuteness 
 and sagacity in his remarks and obser- 
 vations which, unpalatable at the mo- 
 ment, conveyed much by which the 
 country might profit. There was no 
 reason why any peculiar sympathies 
 with the difficulties of the situation should 
 be looked for from the writer ; he was 
 to be judged by the standard of his own 
 journal, and with this moderate expecta- 
 
 Norfolk, courteously soothed the exiled 
 Congressman, and though he had a harsh 
 jailer in Lieutenant Todd, who bore an 
 ill name with the prisoners, the Confed- 
 ate G-eneral, John H. Winder, one re- 
 taining the amenities of his old service 
 of the United States, where he held the 
 rank of Major in the 3d Artillery, made 
 things much more agreeable by his kind- 
 hearted courtesy than might have been 
 expected. On the day after Mr. Ely was 
 released, he was taken by Mr. Faulkner to 
 Governor Letcher's mansion, "enjoyed 
 an excellent dinner, indulged in lively 
 conversation, and parted with a mutual 
 expression of personal good feeling." 
 
 Of the companions of Mr. Ely, in his 
 excursion to the battle-field, Senator Fos- 
 ter, after assisting the surgeons in the 
 care of the wounded on the Warrenton 
 road, escaped the pursuit of the enemy, 
 and reached Washington in safety. Mr. 
 Julius Bing was not so fortunate. Like 
 Mr. Ely, he was made a prisoner, and 
 carried to Richmond, but being a for- 
 eigner and having made many acquain- 
 tances at Washington, in course of his 
 literary occupations, he fell in with some 
 of his former friends now in influential po- 
 sitions about the rebel headquarters, and 
 was enabled readily to avail himself of 
 his plea as a naturalized British subject, 
 and armed with dispatches from the 
 English Consul to make his way toward 
 the frontier on the Potomac, where after 
 some difficulties, he effected his escape to 
 the Union lines. Mr. Bing was a Ger- 
 man by birth, though he was mistaken 
 by Mr. Ely for an Italian. He was in 
 favor with the administration at Wash- 
 ington, and not long after his return 
 from Richmond received the appoint- 
 ment of Consul to Smyrna. 
 
 Among other civilians whose names 
 
426 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tion, his entertaining and instructive let- 
 ters might be read with equanimity. No 
 one could be so popular in England with- 
 out being, to a considerable extent, a 
 representative of the national character, 
 Mr. Russell certainly appeared a charac- 
 teristic specimen of the genuine John Bull 
 vigorous, independent, hasty and dog- 
 matic. 
 
 As he had been waiting patiently for 
 some military event of importance to 
 describe, the battle of Bull Run brought 
 out all his powers. Fully alive to the 
 occasion, he set out early on the day of 
 the engagement in a travelling carriage 
 well furnished with provisions, attended 
 by a saddle horse, ridden by a colored 
 boy, an addition to his resources which 
 he was induced to provide by his Indian 
 experiences, which had taught him the 
 value of : 'a strong led horse in the 
 neighborhood of uncertain fighting." He 
 reached the hill at Centreville in the af- 
 ternoon in season, " after a feast of sand- 
 wiches in the shade of the buggy," to 
 listen to the first reports of victory from 
 the field, which at that distance was only 
 to be noticed by the sound of the guns 
 and the wreaths of smoke from the shells 
 in the air. Presently all this congratula- 
 tion was changed into the first commo- 
 tion of the retreat. We give a portion 
 of the correspondent's graphic recital of 
 the scene which ensued. " As I turned 
 down," says he, " into the narrow road 
 or lane leading onward from the hill, 
 there was a forward movement among 
 the large four-wheeled tilt wagons, which 
 raised a good deal of dust. My atten- 
 tion was particularly called to this by 
 the occurrence of a few minutes after- 
 ward. I had met my friends on the 
 road, and after a few wflrds rode forward 
 at a long trot as well as I could past the 
 
 wagons and through the dust, when sud- 
 denly there arose a tumult in front of me 
 at a small bridge across the road, and 
 then I perceived the drivers of a set of 
 wagons with the horses turned toward 
 me, who were endeavoring to force their 
 way against the stream of vehicles set- 
 ting in the other direction. By the side 
 of the new set of wagons there were a 
 number of commissariat men and soldiers, 
 whom at first sight I took to be the bag- 
 gage guard. They looked excited and 
 alarmed, and were running by the side 
 of the horses in front the dust quite 
 obscured the view. At the bridge the 
 currents met in wild disorder. ' Turn 
 back ! Retreat !' shouted the men from 
 the front. ' We're whipped ! we're 
 whipped !' They cursed and tugged at 
 the horses' heads, and struggled with 
 frenzy to get past. Running by me on 
 foot was a man with the shoulder-straps 
 of an officer. ' Pray what is the matter, 
 sir ?' ' It means we're pretty badly 
 whipped, and that's a fact,' he blurted 
 out in puffs, and continued his career. I 
 observed that he carried no sword. The 
 teamsters of the advancing wagons now 
 caught up the cry. 'Turn back turn 
 your horses !' was the shout up the whole 
 line, and, backing, plunging, rearing and 
 kicking, the horses which had been pro- 
 ceeding down the road reversed front 
 and went off toward Centreville. Those 
 behind them went madly rushing on, the 
 drivers being quite indifferent whether 
 glory or disgrace led the way, provided 
 they could find it. In the midst of this 
 extraordinary spectacle, an officer, es- 
 corted by some dragoons, rode through 
 the ruck with a light cart in charge. An- 
 other officer on foot, with his sword 
 under his arm, ran up against me. 
 ' What is all this about ?' ' Why, we re 
 
MR. RUSSELL'S ADVENTURES. 
 
 427 
 
 prettly badly whipped. We're all in re- 
 treat. There's General Tyler there, 
 badly wounded.' And on he ran. There 
 came yet another, who said, ' We're 
 beaten on all points. The whole army 
 is in retreat.' Still there was no flight 
 of troops, no retreat of an army, no rea- 
 son for all this precipitation. True there 
 were many men in uniform flying toward 
 the rear, but it did not appear as if they 
 were beyond the proportions of a large 
 baggage escort. I got my horse up into 
 the field out of the road, and went on ra- 
 pidly towards the front. Soon I met sol- 
 diers, who were coming through the corn, 
 mostly without arms ; and presently I 
 saw firelocks, cooking tins, knapsacks and 
 greatcoats on the ground, and observed 
 that the confusion and speed of the bag- 
 gage carts became greater, and that many 
 of them were crowded with men, or were 
 followed by others, who clung to them. 
 The ambulances were crowded with sol- 
 diers, but it did not look as if there were 
 many wounded. Negro servants on led 
 horses dashed frantically past ; men in 
 uniforms, whom it were a disgrace to the 
 profession of arms to call ' soldiers,' 
 swarmed by on mules, chargers, and 
 even draught horses, which had been cut 
 out of carts or wagons, and went on with 
 harness clinging to their heels, as fright- 
 ened as their riders. Men literally 
 screamed with rage and fright when their 
 way was blocked up. On I rode, asking 
 all, ' What is all this about ?' and now and 
 then, but rarely, receiving the answer, 
 ' We're whipped,' or, ' We're repulsed.' 
 Faces black and dusty, tongues out in the 
 heat, eyes staring it was a most won- 
 derful sight. On they came, like him 
 
 " Who, having once turned round, goes on. 
 
 And turns no more his head, 
 
 For he knoweth that a fearful fiend 
 
 Doth close behind him tread." 
 
 But where was the fiend ? I looLed in 
 vain. There was, indeed, some cannoa- 
 ading in front of me and in their rear, 
 but still the firing was comparatively dis 
 tant, and the runaways were far out of 
 range. As I advanced, the number of 
 carts diminished, but the mounted men 
 increased, and the columns of fugitives 
 became denser. A few buggies and light 
 wagons filled with men, whose faces 
 would have made up ' a great Leporello ' 
 in the ghost scene, tried to pierce the 
 rear of the mass of carts, which were now 
 solidified and moving on like a glacier. 
 I crossed a small ditch by the roadside, 
 got out on the road to escape some snake 
 fences, and, looking before me, saw there 
 was still a crowd of men in uniforms 
 coming along. The road was strewn 
 with articles of clothing firelocks, waist- 
 belts, cartouch-boxes, caps, greatcoats, 
 mess-tins, musical instruments, cartridges, 
 bayonets and sheaths, swords and pistols 
 even biscuits, water-bottles and pieces 
 of meat. Passing a white house by the 
 roadside, I saw for the first time a body 
 of infantry with sloped arms marching 
 regularly and rapidly towards me. Their 
 faces were not blackened by powder, and 
 it was evident they had not been en- 
 gaged. In reply to a question, a non- 
 commissioned officer told me in broken 
 English, ' We fell back to our lilies. The 
 
 attack did not quite succeed On 
 
 approaching Centreville, a body of Ger- 
 man infantry of the reserve came march- 
 ing down, and stemmed the current in 
 some degree ; they were followed by a 
 brigade of guns and another battalion of 
 fresh troops. I turned up on the hill 
 half a mile beyond. The vehicles had 
 all left but two my buggy was gone. 
 A battery of field-guHS was in position 
 where we had been standing. The men 
 
428 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 looked well. As yet there was nothing 
 to indicate more than a retreat, and some 
 ill-behavior among the wagoners and the 
 riff-raff of different regiments. Oentreville 
 was not a bad position properly occu- 
 pied, and I saw no reason why it should 
 not be held if it was meant to renew the 
 attack, nor any reason why the attack 
 should not be renewed if there had been 
 any why it should have been made. I 
 swept the field once more. The clouds 
 of dust were denser and nearer. That 
 was all. There was no firing no mus- 
 ketry. I turned my horse's head and 
 rode away through the village, and after 
 I got out upon the road the same confu- 
 sion seemed to prevail. Suddenly the 
 gun on the hill opened, and at the same 
 time the thuds of artillery from the wood 
 on the right rear. The stampede then 
 became general. What occurred at the 
 hill I cannot say, but all the road from 
 Oentreville for miles presented such a 
 sight as can only be witnessed in the 
 track of the runaways of an utterly 
 demoralized army. Drivers flogged, 
 lashed, spurred and beat their horses, or 
 leaped down and abandoned their teams, 
 and ran by the side of the road ; mount- 
 ed men, servants, and men in uniform, 
 vehicles of all sorts, commissariat wag- 
 ons, thronged the narrow ways. At 
 every shot a convulsion, as it were, seized 
 upon the morbid mass of bones, sinew, 
 wood and iron, and thrilled through it, 
 giving new energy and action to its des- 
 perate efforts to get free from itself. 
 Again the cry of ' cavalry ' arose. 
 ' What are you afraid of ?' said I to a man 
 who was running beside me. ' I'm not 
 afraid of you !' replied the ruffian, leveling 
 his piece at me and pulling the trigger. 
 It was not loaded, or the cap was not on, 
 for the gun did not go off. I was unarm- 
 
 ed, and I did go off as fast as I could, 
 resolved to keep my own counsel for the 
 second time that day. And so the flight 
 went on. At one time a whole mass of 
 infantry, with fixed bayonets, ran down 
 the bank of the road, and some falling as 
 they ran, must have killed and wounded 
 those among whom they fell. As I knew 
 the road would soon become impassable 
 or blocked up, I put my horse to a gallop 
 and passed on toward the front. But 
 mounted men still rode faster, shouting 
 out, ' Cavalry are coming !' Again I 
 ventured to speak to some officers whom 
 I overtook, and said, ' If these runaways 
 are not stopped, the whole of the posts 
 and pickets in Washington will fly also !' 
 One of them, without saying a word, 
 spurred his horse and dashed on in front. 
 I do not know whether he ordered the 
 movement or not, b'ut the van of the 
 fugitives was now suddenly checked, and. 
 pressing on through .the wood at the 
 roadside, I saw a regiment of infantry 
 blocking up the way, with their front to- 
 wards Centreville. A musket was level- 
 ed at my head as I pushed to the front 
 " Stop or I'll fire !' At the same time 
 the officers were shouting out, "Don't let 
 a soul pass." I addressed one of them, 
 and said, ' Sir, I am a British subject. I 
 am not, I assure you, running away. I 
 have done my best to stop this disgrace- 
 ful rout, (as I had,) and have been telling 
 them there are no cavalry within miles 
 of them.' * I can't let you pass, sir.' I 
 thought me of General Scott's pass. The 
 adjutant read it, and the word was given 
 along the line, ' Let that man pass !' and 
 so I rode through, uncertain if I could 
 now gain the Long Bridge in time to 
 pass over without the countersign." 
 
 Such was the account by Mr. Russell 
 of the flight at Bull Run. Some excep- 
 
REPORT OF THE SANITARY COMMISSION. 
 
 tion was taken to a portion of his narra- 
 tive by eye-witnesses* who saw more of 
 the success of the efforts made to check 
 the rout, but the picture as drawn by the 
 English traveller, was but too fully sus- 
 tained by the accounts of others, and the 
 evidence of the wretched, utterly ex- 
 hausted, travel-worn fugitives who the 
 next day straggled into the streets of 
 Washington the sorriest of all specta- 
 cles, a band of dishonored, miserable, 
 helpless refugees, in place of that embod- 
 iment of force, strength, pride and se- 
 curity, an organized army. This was 
 by no means the condition of the whole, 
 but the exceptions were too many to 
 escape the reproach due to this disgrace- 
 ful scene. 
 
 Mitigating circumstances, relieving in 
 some measure the dishonor of the retreat 
 at Bull Run, were found in the poor con- 
 dition of the men, at the time of their 
 entrance upon the battle-field. They 
 were, through their own inexperience or 
 negligence, ill-supplied with water and 
 provisions, and unused to fatigue, they 
 were overcome by the hardships of the 
 last few days, and in some instances a 
 hurried march on the field to which they 
 were inadequate. These complaints were 
 shortly afterward made the subject of 
 scientific medical examination under di- 
 rections of the Sanitary Commission sit- 
 ting at Washington, a voluntary organi- 
 zation, acting under authority of the 
 Government, and auxiliary to the medi- 
 cal bureau of the War Department. As 
 early as practicable, after the battle, a 
 series of carefully-devised interrogations 
 were prepared, intended, among other 
 
 * See an article "Before and After the Battle," by Mr. 
 fieorge P. Putnam, in the Knickerbocker Magazine for Sep- 
 tember, 1861; and a pamphlet, "Mr Russell on Bull Run; 
 with Notes from the Rebellion Record." 
 
 objects, to call forth information "as to 
 the condition of the troops before, dur- 
 ing and after the engagement." The 
 questions were placed in the hands of the 
 seven regularly appointed inspectors of 
 the Commission, Doctor Lewis H. Steiner, 
 and others who, in their visits to the 
 camps about Washington, made it their 
 business to procure returns "represent- 
 ing, as nearly as possible, the knowledge 
 and judgment of the most intelligent of- 
 ficers and surgeons of the regiments with 
 whom they were able to confer." About 
 two thousand items of evidence, relating 
 in various ways to the battle, were thus 
 collected, chiefly by physicians and ex- 
 aminers of life insurance companies ac 
 customed to an exact and searching me- 
 thod of inquiry. The returns, AS they 
 are represented in the appendix to the 
 admirable report of the General Secre- 
 tary of the Association, Frederick Lane 
 Olmstead, of December 9, 1861, exhibit 
 manjr curious statistics of the engage- 
 ment, the results of which are summed 
 up in this general deduction. " From 
 these investigations (of the inspection) 
 combined with information derived from 
 official reports of the generals command- 
 ing ; from published statements in rebel 
 as well as loyal journals ; from previous 
 investigations of the inspectors of the 
 Sanitary Commission as to the condition 
 of the troops, and from other sources, it 
 is manifest that our army, previous to 
 and at the time of the engagement, was 
 suffering from want of sufficient, regular- 
 ly-provided, and suitable food, from 
 thirst, from want (in certain cases) of 
 refreshing sleep, and from the exhausting 
 effects of a long, hot, and rapid march, 
 the more exhausting because of the dim- 
 inution of vital force of the troops due 
 to the causes above enumerated. They 
 
430 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 entered the field of battle with no pre- 
 tence of any but the most elementary 
 and imperfect military organization, and, 
 in respect of discipline, little better than 
 a mob, which does not know its leaders. 
 The majority of the officers had, three 
 months before, known nothing more of 
 their duties than the privates whom they 
 should have been able to lead, instruct, 
 and protect. Nor had they, in many cases, 
 in the mean time, been gaining materi- 
 ally, for they had been generally per- 
 mitted, and many had been disposed, to 
 spend much time away from their men, 
 in indolence or frivolous amusement, or 
 dissipation. It appears that many were 
 much exhausted on reaching the field of 
 battle, but that, supported by the excite- 
 ment of the occasion, they rallied fairly, 
 and gradually drove the opposing forces 
 from Sudley Spring to the lower ford, and 
 from the lower ford to beyond the Stone 
 bridge and the Warrenton road ; that, 
 at this time, (half-past three,) when con- 
 gratulated by superior officers, and con- 
 gratulating themselves on having achiev- 
 ed a victory, and when having repulsed 
 reinforcements sent from the extreme 
 right of the enemy to support their re- 
 treating columns, they were just relax- 
 ing their severely-tried energies, there 
 appeared in the distance " the residue " 
 of the forces of General Johnston (see 
 McDowell's report, Dr. Nott's letter to a 
 Mobile paper, and correspondence of 
 Charleston Mercury^) a single brigade 
 (Elsey's) coming from the Manassas Gap 
 Junction Railroad, marching at double- 
 quick to engage our troops at the right 
 who had been hotly fighting unrelieved 
 by reserves during the day. This bri- 
 gade, joined with the two regiments of 
 Kershawand Cash, " turned the tide of 
 battle. (See in Richmond Dispatch, 
 
 July 29, statement " of a distinguished 
 officer who bore a conspicuous part on 
 the field of battle on the 31st of July.") 
 " Our troops, ignorant of the fact that 
 they had been contending against and 
 repulsing the combined forces of Beau- 
 regard and Johnston : and believing that 
 this inconsiderable remnant of Johnston's 
 forces which they now saw approaching 
 to be his entire column ; and feeling their 
 inability, without rest or refreshment, to 
 engage an additional force of fresh troops 
 nearly equal in number to those with 
 whom they had been contending during 
 the day, commenced a retreat, not very 
 orderly, but quite as much so, at first, as 
 had been the advance in which they had 
 driven back the force of the enemy. 
 Their (nominal) leaders, who too often 
 had followed them in battle, were, in 
 many cases, not behind them on retreat. 
 As they retired, however, a sense of dis- 
 integration began to pervade their ranks ; 
 each ceased to rely on his comrade for 
 support, and this tendency was augment- 
 ed by the upturned wagons blocking the 
 road, which served to completely break 
 the imperfect columns. The reports of 
 the inspectors give no evidence that the 
 panic infected the extreme left, or the re- 
 serves, to any sensible degree. It was 
 uncontrollable only with a part of the 
 troops on the extreme right, among whom 
 it originated. Many at the centre and 
 the left were surprised when the order 
 came to retreat, and for a time consid- 
 ered it as merely an order to change po- 
 sition in view of a still further general 
 advance. Some officers state that they 
 " warmly remonstrated "- " too warmly, 
 perhaps "-when they received the order 
 to retire. The returns of the inspectors 
 are not conclusive on this point ; but 
 from the result of subsequent specific in- 
 
CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE. 
 
 431 
 
 quiries by Mr. Elliott and the Secretary, 
 it can be stated with confidence that in- 
 dications of terror or great fear were 
 seen in but a comparatively very small 
 part of the retreating force. Most trudged 
 along, blindly following (as men do in 
 an} r mob) those before them, but with re- 
 luctance, and earnest and constant ex- 
 pressions of dissatisfaction and indigna- 
 tion, while no inconsiderable number re- 
 tained, through all the length of the pri- 
 vation and discomfort of their dreary re- 
 turn to Washington, astonishing cheer- 
 fulness and good humor, and were often 
 heard joking at their own misfortunes, 
 and ridiculing the inefficiency of their of- 
 ficers. The Germans of the reserve were 
 frequently singing. None of the reserves 
 were in the slightest degree affected by 
 the panic, and their general expression 
 with reference to the retreat was one of 
 wonder and curiosity. The reserve, 
 nevertheless, suffered much from fatigue, 
 and subsequently exhibited most decided 
 demoralization. 
 
 11 The history of the 2d Rhode Island 
 Volunteers may be cited as an example 
 of those to whom Bull Run was no dis- 
 grace. They were near the extreme 
 right in the engagement. Their previous 
 inarch had been as fatiguing as that of 
 others ; they were as badly off for food 
 as others, having nothing but a few 
 crackers to eat for more than thirty-six 
 hours. They were the first to engage ; 
 were severely engaged, and as long as, 
 or longer than, any others ; they were 
 badly cut up, losing their colonel and 
 other officers, and sixteen per cent of the 
 ranks in killed. They stood firm under 
 fire while the panic-stricken crowd swept 
 by and through them, and until they re- 
 ceived the order to retreat. They then 
 wheeled steadily into column, and 
 
 marched in good order, until the road 
 was obstructed by overturned wagons. 
 Here they were badly broken up by a 
 cannonade, scattered and disorganized, 
 but afterwards, having mainly collected 
 at Centreville, reformed and marched 
 the same night, under such of their of- 
 ficers as remained alive, to and through 
 Washington to a position several miles 
 to the northward a post of danger 
 where they at once resumed regular camp 
 duties. When visited by the inspector, 
 a few days afterwards, he was told and 
 was led to believe that, the men had only 
 wanted a day's rest to be ready and wil- 
 ling to advance again upon the enemy. 
 He reported the regiment not demoral- 
 ized." 
 
 The nature of the ground and the pe- 
 culiar character of the conflict were cal- 
 culated to dismay the inexperienced re- 
 cruits. " Much excuse," says one who 
 witnessed the most of their shortcomings, 
 Colonel Heintzelman, " can be made for 
 those who fled, as few of the enemy 
 could at any time be seen. Raw troops 
 cannot be expected to stand long against 
 an unseen enemy." As a military affair 
 there was nothing, after all, extraordin- 
 ary in the defeat. The struggle was 
 fierce, and protracted with severe losses 
 on both sides ; in such a contest the 
 honor is not all with the successful party ; 
 while the ugly accident of the day, the 
 panic, was confined to a few of the regi- 
 ments, and discreditable as it was, was 
 by no means unprecedented in regular 
 armies on battle-fields of historic fame. 
 The truth is, that the battle of Bull Run 
 has been judged not by itself, but has 
 been greatly magnified by its relations 
 and consequences. It has suffered by 
 being held accountable for events which 
 might equally have occurred had the for- 
 
432 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tune of the day been altogether different. 
 It by no means follows that if the North 
 had gained that battle it would have been 
 spared the cost of fighting others, or that 
 it would have secured, at once, the con- 
 fidence of Europe and the reconstruction 
 of the Union. A defeat at that time 
 might have earlier roused the South with 
 yet unwasted strength to still greater de- 
 monstrations of ability than were after- 
 wards made. The short struggle, so 
 eagerly desired at home and abroad by 
 the mercantile classes, would probably 
 have been not a whit the less prolonged ; 
 for in such unhappy contests of civil war 
 it is not one battle, but the slow and en- 
 tire exhaustion of spirits and resources 
 which renders a people averse from and 
 incapable of further great efforts, which 
 renders them submissive to sound reason 
 and judgment. It may have been that 
 just such a defeat as that of Bull Run 
 was required to tame the false confidence 
 of the North, and exhibit the necessity 
 of building its work on surer founda- 
 tions. It probably saved some heavier 
 disasters. However this may have been, 
 its first and continued effect was to se- 
 cure greater efficiency, and infuse a true 
 military spirit into the details of the 
 army. The negligence and license of the 
 military camps around Washington was 
 
 immediately restrained ; the men were 
 kept to their quarters and to drill ; the 
 Provost Marshal cleared the streets and 
 taverns of the Capital of vagrants of all 
 ranks ; the volunteer officers, compelled 
 to submit to a Board of Examination, 
 were driven to resign or acquaint them- 
 selves speedily with their duties ; new 
 sanitary regulations improved the physi- 
 cal condition and invigorated the entire 
 discipline of the troops. An effective 
 military organization and control kepf. 
 pace with the rapid and hitherto unpre 
 cedented concentration of a vast national 
 army. 
 
 Months after, when the consequences of 
 this battle were not matters of specu- 
 lation but verified by experience, Gen- 
 eral Buckner is reported to have said, 
 after his capture at Fort Donelson, to a 
 gentleman of Albany, when he was pass- 
 ing through that city, on his way to Fort 
 Warren, " the battle of Bull Run was a 
 most unfortunate thing for the South, and 
 a most fortunate thing for the North. 
 Nothing has more vexed me than the 
 apathy of the Southern people. The effect 
 of the battle was to inspire the South- 
 erners with a blind confidence and lull 
 them into a false security. The effect 
 upon the Northerners, on the other hand, 
 was to arouse, madden and exasperate." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIIL 
 
 FOREIGN RELATIONS. 
 
 of the first and most important 
 duties of President Lincoln on his acces- 
 sion to his high office was to provide, by 
 a judicious appointment of foreign min- 
 isters, for a proper representation of the 
 
 interests of the nation and of the princi- 
 ples of the new administration on which 
 he was entering, at the different courts 
 of Europe. There it was' felt that the 
 contest of the Government with the re- 
 
FOREIGN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 bellion was to be fought out hardly less 
 than on American soil. The weapons 
 were different ; the tongue and the pen 
 were in place of sword and cannon ; the 
 force of right and truth, the adroitness 
 of diplomacy, and the arts of persuasion 
 and reason were the substitutes of the 
 strategic movements in the field ; the 
 contest was to be bloodless but it might 
 prove not the less decisive in shaping 
 the destinies of the struggle. The South 
 early sent its wily and well-informed 
 agents abroad Yancey, Rost, Mann and 
 Butler King, and indeed already pos- 
 sessed a great advantage in the tone of 
 opinion, which had been generated in 
 advance by the persistent efforts of her 
 wealthy and influential citizens abroad, 
 who enjo} r ed the favor, under the late 
 administration, of the American lega- 
 tions. The notion that a rupture of the 
 American Union was at hand, and that, 
 if attempted by the South, nothing could 
 withstand the sovereign will and pleas- 
 ure of that portion of the country in 
 effecting the separation, was a doctrine 
 which had been assiduously disseminated 
 in European circles. A great number 
 of important people of the Old World, 
 accustomed always to speak of the Amer- 
 ican Government as a political experi- 
 ment, were therefore but little surprised 
 when the shock came ; they had gener- 
 ally regarded the permanence of the 
 Union as an unsettled problem ; nor were 
 they disposed to entertain any more 
 hopeful view of its continued existence 
 when the Message of President Buchanan 
 informed them of the Constitutional diffi- 
 culties in the way of its preservation, 
 should the necessity, as it was evident it 
 would, demand the interposition of active 
 warfare. The sovereign authority of the 
 United States, in fact, dwindled in the 
 55 
 
 public estimation as the nullifying pow- 
 ers of the States were asserted, and they 
 began to embody their doctrines in armed 
 rebellion. An undefined jealousy of the 
 growing strength of the rapidly rising 
 American nation had unquestionably, 
 with certain suggestions of self-interest, 
 and various prejudices, predisposed the 
 public opinion of Europe in favor of the 
 theory, and, at the very first moment of 
 revolt, of the recognition of what was 
 considered the fact of the disintegration, 
 or falling to pieces, of the Union. To 
 counteract this unfriendly feeling and 
 hostile judgment of affairs, if it should 
 exhibit itself in diplomacy, and prevent, 
 if possible, its adoption and incorpora- 
 tion in the public policy of leading Euro- 
 pean nations, was the arduous work be- 
 fore the new Secretary of State at Wash- 
 ington. How Mr. Seward devoted him- 
 self to the task ; with what indefatigable 
 zeal and pertinacity of argument ; with 
 what laborious industry he at one time 
 anticipated, at another combated, the sug- 
 gestions and declarations of foreign min- 
 isters ; with what art he unraveled the 
 tangled web of affairs ; how he tempered 
 the claims of self-respect with courtesy, 
 and, appealing to generous sympathy, 
 never forgot what was due to the honor 
 and the rights of the nation for which 
 he spoke, the published volume of his 
 diplomatic correspondence during those 
 early anxious months of the rise and 
 progress of the Rebellion, has abund- 
 antly exhibited to the world. 
 
 Among the new ministers sent to re- 
 present the United States in Europe 
 were several gentlemen of distinguished 
 political reputation. Foremost in im- 
 portance of these appointments, in con- 
 sequence of the peculiar relations be- 
 tween the two countries bearing upon 
 
434 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the Rebellion, and the natural influence 
 of the foreign government in guiding the 
 policy of Europe in any questions which 
 might arise as to American affairs, was 
 the mission to England. This delicate 
 and highly responsible situation was as- 
 signed to an eminent member of the Re- 
 publican party, who, beside his devo- 
 tion to the cause, had many claims to 
 consideration peculiarly fitting him for a 
 residence near the Court of St. James. 
 Possessed of wealth, of reputation as an 
 author, identified with the political his- 
 tory -of the country, the representative, 
 in the third generation, of a race of 
 statesmen who had enjoyed its highest 
 honors, the son and grandson of Presi- 
 dents of the United States. Charles 
 Francis Adams was admirably qualified 
 to impress the imagination and command 
 the respect of Englishmen, when he left 
 the Congress of the United States to pre- 
 sent himself before that throne to which 
 his grandfather had been the first ambas- 
 sador on the recognition of the independ- 
 ence of his nation. The Farewell Ad- 
 dress to the People of the Third Congres- 
 sional District of Massachusetts, in which 
 he announced his resignation of his seat 
 in the House of Representatives, is one 
 of the most manly and dignified state 
 papers of the times, calmly reviewing the 
 grounds upon which the Government 
 had taken its stand, and supporting its 
 action by the loftiest appeals to duty and 
 self-sacrifice in the cause of national 
 honor and existence. " If I am right," 
 he said, after contrasting the assumptions 
 and pretensions of the rebel government 
 at Montgomery- -its declarations of force 
 and tyranny with the beneficent prin- 
 ciples of self-government of the Union, 
 " if I am right, then, in my views' the 
 conclusion inevitably must be that the 
 
 political revolution of the last year 
 marks a great era in American history, 
 second only to that of our independence. 
 It saved us from the impending domina- 
 tion of slaveholding absolutism. I did 
 hope that it might have been effected 
 without a convulsion. I did believe that 
 it might have been followed by a policy 
 which, while it wronged no one, would in 
 the end save even the slaveholding States 
 from the perils of their situation. In 
 these expectations it would seem, from 
 present appearances, that I was much 
 too sanguine. The desperate agitators 
 have precipitated the more moderate 
 and patriotic classes of their fellow-citi- 
 zens into a revolution. They have 
 staked their all upon the maintenance of 
 their political supremacy as a slavehold- 
 ing oligarchy. We cannot refuse the 
 issue tendered to us if we would. Their 
 whole action since the sixth of Novem- 
 ber has been aggressive, insulting, trea- 
 cherous and violent, a very natural co- 
 rollary from the principles on which 
 their organization is now based. We 
 have no choice but to sacrifice our inde- 
 pendence, if we consent to their demands. 
 The question is between our cherished 
 law of 1776, resting upon the rights of 
 man, and the old notion of Alaric, the 
 Goth, revived in 1860, that force may 
 be preceded by fraud, and that might 
 makes right. We, are now the cham- 
 pions of law and republican liberty. 
 Retreat is impossible, even if it were to 
 be desired. We must stand firmly by 
 the old faith, or be disgraced forever. 
 Deeply as I regret the causes which have 
 conspired to give the impending strug- 
 gle unnecessary elements of bitterness, I 
 cannot, on looking back, discover how it 
 could have been avoided, excepting by 
 the utter emasculation of a free people. 
 
THE NEW AMBASSADORS. 
 
 435 
 
 I must repeat that it is with great regret 
 I leave you in this emergency for another 
 field of duty. I do so only under the 
 belief that I may be of more service 
 there than here. Whether that be so or 
 not, however, will after all depend much 
 more upon the people of the United 
 States than upon their agents abroad. 
 Foreign nations will very naturally look 
 with more attention to the action of the 
 principals than to that of their represent- 
 atives. If they see union in council and 
 energy in action ; if they find wisdom 
 in deliberation and heroism in the field- 
 above all, if they discover a calm deter- 
 mination to carry the Government firmly 
 through all its trials, in steady consisten- 
 cy with the purposes and policy of its 
 founders, then will follow, as the day 
 follows the night, their brightening sym- 
 pathy, their admiration, their confidence, 
 and, perhaps, even their cooperation. 
 So it was in 1778. So it will be ever 
 when honest men courageously uphold 
 the right." 
 
 William Lewis Dayton, who was ap- 
 pointed to succeed Mr. Faulkner of Vir- 
 ginia at Paris, a native of New Jersey, 
 born in the year 1807, was a lawyer by 
 profession, early created a Judge of the 
 Supreme Court in his State, and on the 
 death of Mr. Southard, in 1842, appoint- 
 ed to fill the vacant seat in the United 
 States Senate. Mr. Dayton held this 
 position through the succeeding term till 
 1851. To the principles of the old Whig 
 party he united a support of the free- 
 soil doctrines which were prominent in 
 the settlement of the territorial questions 
 arising out of the conquests from Mexico. 
 He voted for the various limitations of 
 slavery brought forward at the time, and 
 his services to the cause were remem- 
 bered in his nomination as Vice-Presi- 
 
 dent on the Fremont Presidential ticket 
 in the election of 1856. He subsequent- 
 ly held the position of Attorney-General 
 of New Jersey. 
 
 Cassius M. Clay, the Minister to Russia, 
 a native of Kentucky and a relative of the 
 eminent Henry Clay, brought to the ser- 
 vice of the new Republican administration 
 a reputation acquired in the advocacj 7 " of 
 its principles when their maintenance re- 
 quired courage and self-sacrifice. He 
 had advocated the claims of liberty, and 
 successfully asserted the rights of freedom 
 of the press in the face of a vindictive 
 mob which had destroyed his property 
 and threatened his life in his native 
 State ; and had acquired a claim to no- 
 tice in military affairs by his service as 
 captain of a company of mounted men 
 in the Mexican war. Pushed forward in 
 advance of the column of General Tay- 
 lor, he had been taken prisoner and car- 
 ried to Mexico. On the way thither, a 
 part of the captives escaped, when the 
 rest, it is said, would have been massa- 
 cred but for the influence he brought to 
 bear in his gallant bearing and presence 
 of mind for their safety. He was after- 
 ward anti-slavery candidate for Gover- 
 nor in Kentucky. 
 
 Mr. George P. Marsh, the Minister to 
 Sardinia, carried to the new kingdom of 
 Italy the prestige of an eminent career 
 in literature and diplomacy. A native 
 of Vermont, born at the beginning of the 
 century, he had devoted his youth and 
 manhood to law, politics, and thorough 
 and varied scholarship. As a member 
 of his State Legislature, of the national 
 Congress, as resident minister to Turkey 
 under the appointment of President Tay- 
 lor, and in other capacities at home, he 
 had filled a round of public duties, and 
 by his recent critical works on the Eng- 
 
436 
 
 WAR FOE, THE UNION. 
 
 lish language, had extended his influence 
 to a wider spheie. His appointment to 
 Italy was every way honorable to the 
 administration. The Hon. Anson Bur- 
 lingame, a Republican member of Con- 
 gress from Massachusetts, was nominated 
 minister to Austria, but the appointment 
 being objected to by that government, in 
 consequence of the part he had taken in 
 the affairs of Italy, he was withdrawn, 
 and J. Lothrop Motley, the eminent his- 
 torian of the Dutch Republic, received 
 the mission in his stead. Carl Schurz 
 of Wisconsin, distinguished for the part 
 he had borne as an asserter of liberty in 
 his native Germany in the Revolution of 
 1848, a man alike of thought and action, 
 was appointed minister to Spain, Nor- 
 man P. Judd of Illinois to Prussia, and 
 Henry S. Sanford of Connecticut to Bel- 
 gium. 
 
 Previously to noticing the diplomatic 
 relations of the United States with the 
 Old World, it may be well to look for a 
 moment at the state of public opinion in 
 Europe, and especially in Great Britain, 
 in regard to the new phenomena exhib- 
 ited in the great revolt in America. The 
 accession of President Lincoln to office 
 found the people of England in a peculiar 
 state of mind. They had watched with 
 interest the first movements of the Re- 
 bellion, and though they may have look- 
 ed upon it with suspicion and incredulity 
 in the beginning, were seemingly not re- 
 luctant to recognize in its imposing pre- 
 tensions the reality of the long- threatened 
 dissolution of the Union. This idea not 
 unnaturally found favor in the minds of 
 the dominant aristocratic class, which 
 had always been inclined to look with 
 jealousy or distrust upon the working of 
 a system of government and society in 
 many respects antagonistic to their own. 
 
 The rising difficulties of America were 
 confidently pointed to as the -necessary 
 consequence of the license of democratic 
 institutions, and the example was held 
 up as a salutary warning to the old 
 world to resist similar tendencies. These 
 impressions were greatty strengthened by 
 the fact that none of those measures of 
 repression or restraint were taken by 
 the Government at Washington, which 
 the first decided symptoms of rebellion 
 would certainly have called forth in any 
 state of Europe. President Buchanan's 
 Message, carefully demonstrating the im- 
 becility and the powerlessness of the 
 Government in face of the existing dan- 
 ger, had, indeed, been generally con- 
 demned as an illogical production ; but 
 its doctrine, so disheartening to Ameri- 
 can nationality, began to be freely ad- 
 mitted. When to this was added the 
 passage of the Merrill Tariff, imposing 
 greatly increased taxation on British 
 products and fabrics, magnified to the 
 trading classes by the specious promises 
 of free-trade from the South, a powerful 
 appeal of self-interest came to warp a 
 judgment already biased. The magni- 
 tude and importance of the rebellion 
 were at the outset presented in an exag- 
 gerated form in England. The subject 
 of the powers of the Federal and State 
 Governments, but little understood at 
 any time, was also greatly misconceived 
 and confused. While previously it had 
 been difficult to convince an Englishman 
 that the general Government was not 
 responsible for all the acts of the indivi- 
 dual States, a position which he was 
 prone to take when the repudiation of 
 debts by some of the States induced him 
 to look to Washington for redress, it 
 now required a still greater effort to 
 drive from his mind the assumption that 
 
ENGLISH OPINIONS. 
 
 437 
 
 the States were sovereign and independ- 
 ent, and quite at liberty to withdraw 
 themselves at will from the national 
 Union. It was not a little amusing to 
 notice the complacency with which the 
 Government of the United States, when 
 it at length began to assert its cause and 
 put forth its strength, was represented as 
 entering upon an ambitious struggle for 
 empire, and advised to yield to the first 
 demand of the Confederates for independ- 
 ence, though at the expense of a third 
 of its territory, and the labors of a cen- 
 tury, which had been devoted to the for- 
 mation and development of a great Nation. 
 Not so, when the question was brought 
 home to this people so prodigal of ad- 
 vice, thought the eloquent orator and 
 historian, Macaulay, when, in the British 
 House of Commons, in 1845, in his 
 speech on the Church of Ireland, while 
 seeking to remedy the wrongs of which 
 that portion of the nation then complain- 
 ed, he indignantly rejected as utterly in- 
 admissible any theory of its secession 
 from the kingdom. " The Repeal of the 
 Union," said he, "we regard as fatal to 
 the empire : and we never will consent 
 to it ; never, though the country should 
 be surrounded by dangers as great as 
 those which threatened her when her 
 American Colonies, and France and 
 Spain and Holland, were leagued against 
 her, and when the armed neutrality of 
 the Baltic disputed her maritime rights ; 
 never, though another Bonaparte should 
 pitch his tent in sight of Dover Castle ; 
 never, till all has been staked and lost ; 
 never, till the four quarters of the world 
 have been convulsed by the last struggle 
 of the great English people for their 
 place among the nations."* 
 
 * Macaulay's Speeches. London. 1854. p. 399. 
 
 This, too r was the resolution express- 
 ed in the discussion of the same question 
 by that master of common sense, whose 
 authority, in a matter of this kind, back- 
 ed by the sanction of his sacred order, 
 may be taken as the quintessence of the 
 British judgment the Rev. Sydney 
 Smith. That practical divine, in his 
 admirable fragment on the Irish Roman 
 Catholic Church, left as a legacy to his 
 countrymen, says, in his facetious, but 
 not the less earnest way, in reference to 
 this very topic, of the Repeal of the 
 Union, by the peaceful secession of 
 Ireland: "Much as I hate wounds, 
 dangers, privations and explosions - 
 much as I love regular hours of dinner, 
 foolish as I think men, covered with the 
 feathers of the male Pullus dome-sticus, 
 and covered with lace in the course of 
 the ischiatic .nerve much as I detest 
 all these follies and ferocities, I would 
 rather turn soldier myself than acquiesce 
 quietly in such a separation of the Em- 
 pire. It is such a piece of nonsense, 
 that no man can have any reverence for 
 himself who would stop to discuss such 
 a question. It is such a piece of anti- 
 British villany, that none but the bitter- 
 est enemy of our blood and people could 
 entertain such a project! It is to be 
 met only with round and grape to be 
 answered by shrapnel and congreve ; to 
 be discussed in hollow squares, and re- 
 futed by battalions four deep ; to be 
 put down by the ultima ratio of that 
 armed Aristotle, the Duke of Wel- 
 lington." 
 
 This was the language of Englishmen 
 to the world, spoken by two of their 
 most honored and accomplished repre- 
 sentatives, in relation to the separation 
 of Ireland from the British empire, and 
 such, no doubt, would have been the 
 
438 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 voice of these men had they been citi- 
 zens of the American Republic, and ad- 
 dressed their countrymen at the begin- 
 ning of the year of the great rebellion, 
 1861, from Washington. The stand 
 taken by the North at that time was 
 in the noblest spirit of devotion to order 
 and good government, which it inherited 
 from its British ancestry and traditions, 
 in vindication and preservation of the 
 rights of law and freedom, most valued 
 by Englishmen. Indeed, they were the 
 very laws and institutions which Eng- 
 land founded, upon which a superstruc- 
 ture had been built worthy the honest 
 pride of her citizens. If there was one 
 principle more than another assailed by 
 the rebellion, it was that which declared 
 the virgin soil of America sacred to 
 freedom, and which sought, in every 
 constitutional way, to ameliorate, and, 
 if possible, remove the burden of slavery 
 which England herself, more than any 
 other nation, had taught the world to 
 loathe. 
 
 Fortunately, voices were not wanting 
 in England to represent, in its true light, 
 the cause of America, correct prevailing 
 misapprehensions, and rebuke unworthy 
 prejudices and distrust. Several emi- 
 nent citizens of the United States, who 
 happened to be in London, came for- 
 ward and rendered important service 
 by their timely remonstrances ; and as 
 the popular opinion of the Old World 
 became agitated on the political events 
 of the question, Englishmen of high cha- 
 racter and ability, raised their voices in 
 sympathy with the trials and exertions 
 of the Government at Washington, and 
 its patriotic supporters. 
 
 In a spirited letter to the London 
 Times, on the 17th May, Mr. Cassius M. 
 Clay, then on his route to his embassy at 
 
 St. Petersburg, discussed several of the 
 points which were put forward to justify 
 the depreciating tone in which American 
 affairs were beginning to be regarded in 
 English circles. One of these was ex- 
 pressed in the oft-recurring question : 
 " What are we fighting for ?" This Mr. 
 Clay answered as follows : 
 
 " ' We, the people of the United States 
 of America' (to use the language of our 
 Constitution), are fighting to maintain 
 our nationality and the principles of lib- 
 erty upon which it was founded ; that 
 nationality which Great Britain has 
 pledged herself, both by past comity 
 and the sacred obligations of treaty, to 
 respect ; those great principles of lib- 
 erty, that all power is derived from the 
 consent of the governed ; trial by jury, 
 freedom of speech, and the press ; that, 
 1 without law there is no liberty'- 
 which we inherited from Great Britain 
 herself, and which, having been found 
 to lie at the base of all progress and 
 civilization, we desire to perpetuate for 
 ourselves and the future of all nations. 
 The so-called ' Confederate States of 
 America' rebel against us against our 
 nationality, and against all the prin- 
 ciples of its structure. Citizens of the 
 United States of the one Government 
 (not of Confederate States, as they 
 would have the world believe but of 
 ' us, the people'), they propose, not by 
 common legal consent, but by arms, to 
 sever our nation into separate inde- 
 pendencies. Claiming to ' be let alone, 7 
 they conspire against us ; seize by force 
 our forts, stores, and arms ; appropriate 
 to themselves our mints, moneys, and 
 vessels at sea ; capture our armies, and 
 threaten even the capital at Wash- 
 ington ! " 
 
 To a second query, " But can you 
 
MR. CLAY'S LETTER. 
 
 439 
 
 subdue the revolted States f " he replied : 
 <( 0f course we can. The whole of the 
 revolted States (2,173,000) have not as 
 much white population as the single 
 State of New York (3,851,563) by 
 1,500,000 people. If all the slave 
 States were to make common cause, 
 they have only 8,907,894 whites, with 
 4,000,000 slaves, while the Union has 
 about 20,000,000 of homogeneous peo- 
 ple, as powerful in peace and war as 
 the world has seen. Intelligent, hardy, 
 and 'many-sided,' their late apparent 
 lethargy and weakness was the self- 
 possession of conscious strength. When 
 they had made up their minds that force 
 was necessary, they moved upon Wash- 
 ington with such speed, numbers and 
 steadiness as is not surpassed in history. 
 We have the money (at a lower rate of 
 interest than ever before), the men, and 
 the command of the seas, and the in- 
 ternal waters. We can blockade them 
 by sea, arid invade them by land, and 
 close up the rebellion in a single year, 
 if we are ' let alone V For the popula- 
 tion of the slave States is divided, per- 
 haps equally, for and against the Union 
 the loyal citizens being for the time 
 overawed by the organized conspiracy 
 of the traitors, while the North is united 
 to a man, the late allies of the South 
 the democratic party being now more 
 earnest for the subjugation of the rebels 
 than the republicans." 
 
 To a third remonstrance, " But can 
 you govern a ' suljagated ' people and 
 reconstruct the Union ?" he pointedly 
 replied, discriminating the true nature 
 of the contest : " We do not propose to 
 ' subjugate ' the revolted States we pro- 
 pose to put down simply the rebel citi- 
 zens. We go to the rescue of the loyal 
 Unionists of all the States. We carry 
 
 safety, and peace, and liberty to the 
 Union-loving people of the South, who 
 will, of themselves (the tyranny over- 
 thrown), send back their representatives 
 to Congress, and the Union will be ' re- 
 constructed 1 without the change of a 
 letter in the Constitution of the United 
 States. Did England subjugate Ireland 
 and Scotland ? Are the United King- 
 doms less homogeneous than of old, be- 
 fore the wars against rebellion? So 
 will the United States rise from the 
 smoke of battle with renewed stability 
 and power." 
 
 Having thus disposed of several of 
 the most frequently entertained grounds 
 of misapprehension in English society, 
 he turned to ask the British public three 
 questions in return. They were as fol- 
 lows : " Where should British honor place 
 her in this contest?" "We overthrow 
 that political element in America which 
 has all through our history been the 
 studied denouncer and real hater of the 
 British nation, while we have been al- 
 ways, from the beginning, the friends 
 of England. Because, though under 
 different forms of government, we had 
 common sympathies, and a commop 
 cause, and, therefore, a common interest. 
 England was the conservator of liberty 
 in Europe the old world ; we, in the 
 new. If the ' Confederate States ' are 
 right, then is England wrong. If slavery 
 must be extended in America, then must 
 England restore it in the West Indies, 
 blot out the most glorious page of her 
 history, and call back her freedmen into 
 chains ! Let her say to the martyrs of 
 freedom from all the nations who have 
 sought refuge and a magnanimous de- 
 fence on her shores, return to your scaf- 
 fold and your prison house ; England is 
 no more England. Let the Times cease 
 
440 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 to appeal longer to the enlightened 
 opinion of the world : nay, let the sta- 
 tues of the great dead, through which I 
 passed in great reverence yesterday to 
 the Houses of her political intelligence, 
 be thrown from their pedestals, when 
 England shall forget the utterances of 
 her Chathams, her Wilberforces, and her 
 Broughams that natural justice is the 
 only safe diplomacy and lasting founda- 
 tion of the independence of nations." 
 " What is the interest of England 
 now ?" " If we may descend to such in- 
 ferior appeals, it is clearly the interest 
 of England to stand by the Union of the 
 States. We are her best consumer ; 
 no tariff will materially affect that fact. 
 We are the best customer of England ; 
 not because we are cotton-growers or 
 cotton-spinners, agriculturists or manu- 
 facturers, but because we are producers 
 and manufacturers, and have money 
 to spend. It is not the South, as it is 
 urged, but the North, who are the best 
 consumers of English commerce. The 
 free white laborer and capitalist does 
 now, and always will, consume more 
 than the white master and the slave. 
 The Union and the expansion of the 
 States, and the republican policy, make 
 us the best market for England and 
 Europe. What has the world to gain 
 England, France, or any of the pow- 
 ers to gain by reducing the United 
 States to a Mexican civilization." " Can 
 England afford to offend the great na- 
 tion which will still be ' The United 
 States of America," 1 even should we 
 lose part of the South ?" " Twenty mil- 
 lions of people to-day, with or without 
 the slave States, in twenty years we will 
 be 40,000,000! In another half cen- 
 tuiy we will be o-ne hundred millions. 
 We will rest upon the Potomac, and on 
 
 the west banks of the Mississippi River, 
 upon the Gulf of Mexico. Our railroads 
 will run four thousand miles upon a 
 single parallel, binding our empire, 
 which must master the Atlantic and 
 the Pacific oceans. Is England so se- 
 cure in the future against home revolt 
 or foreign ambition as to venture now, 
 in our need, to plant the seeds of re- 
 venge in all our future ? If Ireland, or 
 Scotland, or Wales shall attempt to se-, 
 cede from that beneficent government 
 of the United Kingdom which now light- 
 ens their taxation, and gives them se- 
 curity and respect at home and abroad, 
 shall we enter into a piratical war with 
 our race and ally, and capture and sell 
 in our ports the property, and endanger 
 the lives of peaceable citizens of the 
 British empire all over the world ? I 
 enter not into the discussion of details. 
 England, then, is our natural ally. Will 
 she ignore our aspirations ? If she is 
 just, she ought not. If she is honorable 
 and magnanimous, she cannot. If she 
 is wise, she will not" 
 
 The following week Mr. Motley also 
 published in the Times an able pamphlet 
 on the causes of the civil war, in which 
 he exhibited at length the political and 
 historical argument for the integrity of 
 the Union, and vindicated the course of 
 the new government in the stand which 
 it had made for its preservation. From 
 his demonstration of the national life, 
 sedulously and abundantly guarded in 
 the Constitution, the heresy of secession 
 fell to the ground by its own weakness. 
 If it was absurd in theory, its endurance 
 in practice was simply intolerable to a 
 nation which was just beginning to enjoy 
 the fruits of its early toils and sacrifices 
 in the cause of good government. "Is 
 it strange," asked Mr. Motley, " that the 
 
MR. MOTLEY ON THE REBELLION. 
 
 Union should make a vigorous, just and 
 lawful effort to save itself from the chaos 
 from which the Constitution of 1787 res- 
 cued the country ? Who that has read 
 and pondered the history of that dark 
 period, does not shudder at the prospect 
 of its return ? But yesterday we were 
 a State the Great Eepublic prosper- 
 ous and powerful, with a flag known and 
 honored all over the world. Seventy 
 years ago we were a helpless league of 
 bankrupt and lawless petty sovereignties. 
 We iad a currency so degraded that a 
 leg of mutton was cheap at a thousand 
 dollars. The national debt, incurred in 
 the War of Independence, had hardly a 
 nominal value, and was considered worth- 
 less. The absence of law, order and se- 
 curity for life and property was as abso- 
 lute as could be well conceived in a 
 civilized land. Debts could not be col- 
 lected, courts could enforce no decrees, 
 insurrections could not be suppressed. 
 The army of the Confederacy numbered 
 eighty men. From this condition the 
 Constitution rescued us." 
 
 In regard to alleged grounds of hostil- 
 ity between the North and the South, 
 and the position of parties in the country, 
 he wrote: "It is conceded by the 
 North that it has received from the 
 Union innumerable blessings. But it 
 would seem that the Union has also con- 
 ferred benefit on the South. It has car- 
 ried its mails at a large expense. It has 
 recaptured its fugitive slaves. It has 
 purchased vast tracts of foreign territory, 
 Out of which a whole tier of slave States 
 has been constructed. It has annexed 
 Texas. It has made war with Mexico. 
 It has made an offer not likely to be 
 repeated, however to purchase Cuba, 
 with its multitude of slaves, at a price, 
 according to report, as large as the sum 
 56 
 
 paid by England for the emancipation of 
 her slaves. Individuals in the free States 
 have expressed themselves freely on 
 slavery, as upon every topic of human 
 thought, and this must ever be the case 
 where there is freedom of the press and 
 of speech. The number of professed 
 abolitionists has hitherto been very small, 
 while the great body of the two princi- 
 pal political parties in the free States 
 have been strongly opposed to them. 
 The Eepublican party was determined to 
 set bounds to the extension of slavery, 
 while the Democratic party favored that 
 system, but neither had designs, secret or 
 avowed, against slavery within the States. 
 They knew that the question could only 
 be legally and rationally dealt with by 
 the States themselves. But both the 
 parties, as present events are so signally 
 demonstrating, were imbued with a pas- 
 sionate attachment to the Constitution 
 to the established authority of Govern- 
 ment by which alone our laws and our 
 liberty are secured. All parties in the 
 free States are now united as one man 
 inspired by a noble and generous emo- 
 tion to vindicate the sullied honor of 
 their flag, and to save their country from 
 the abyss of perdition into which it 
 seemed descending." 
 
 Nothing is of more value as an indica- 
 tion of the true nature of the struggle, in 
 its development and progress, than the 
 opinions expressed from time to time, by 
 eminent persons, of the prospects and 
 probable termination of the war. Mr. 
 Motley had studied history too deeply, 
 to be confident or sanguine of the event. 
 His own admirable record of the contest 
 for independence, so long maintained by 
 the Netherlands against the vast power 
 of Spain, though the circumstances, 
 especially in the moralit.y of the conflict. 
 
442 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 widely differed from the question in 
 America, may have taught him not, as 
 many did, to undervalue the resources 
 of a people, however in the wrong, who 
 were yet, in their own idea, fighting for 
 independence. President Lincoln, in- 
 deed, was no cool and malignant Philip, 
 imposing an alien religion and remorse- 
 less tyranny upon a people of another 
 race ; General Scott, amiable and benev- 
 olent, trusting to subdue the rebellion 
 without severity, was certainly no bloody 
 Alva ; nor could the South, contending 
 for a new government to secure the per- 
 petuation and extension of human slav- 
 ery, claim the sympathy challenged by 
 the devotion to high principles of the fol- 
 lowers of William of Orange. Yet, 
 apart from the merits of the question in 
 the two cases, looking simply at the 
 powers of endurance generated in the 
 struggle, the historian of the wars of Hol- 
 land might well hesitate before he prom- 
 ised to the "North an easy victory over 
 the Southern Confederacy. " Of the 
 ultimate result," said he, " we have no 
 hesitation of speaking. Only the pre- 
 sumptuous will venture to lift the veil 
 and affect to read with accuracj^ coming 
 events, the most momentous, perhaps, of 
 our times. One result is, however, se- 
 cured. The Montgomery Constitution, 
 with slavery for its corner-stone, is not 
 likely to be accepted, as but lately seem- 
 ed possible, not only by all the slave 
 States, but even by the border free 
 States ; nor to be proclaimed from 
 Washington as the new national law, in 
 the name of the United States. Com- 
 promises will no longer be offered by 
 peace conventions, in which slavery is 
 to be made national, negroes declared 
 property over all the land, and slavery 
 extended over all Territories now pos- 
 
 sessed or hereafter to be acquired. Nor 
 is the United States Government yel 
 driven from Washington. Events are 
 rapidly unrolling themselves, and it will 
 be proved, in course of time, whether the 
 North will remain united in its inflexible 
 purpose, whether the South is as firmly 
 united, or whether a counter revolution 
 will be effected in either section, which 
 must necessarily give the victory to its 
 opponents. We know nothing of the 
 schemes or plans of either Government. 
 The original design of the Republican 
 party was to put an end to the perpetual 
 policy of slavery extension, and acquisi- 
 tion of foreign territory for that purpose, 
 and at the same time to maintain the 
 Constitution and the integrity of the Re- 
 public. This at the South seemed an 
 outrage which justified civil war ; for 
 events have ampry proved what saga- 
 cious statesmen prophesied thirty years 
 ago that secession is civil war. If all 
 is to end in negotiation and separation, 
 notwithstanding the almost interminable 
 disputes concerning frontiers, the strong- 
 holds in the Gulf, and the unshackled 
 navigation of the great rivers throughout 
 their whole length, which, it is probable, 
 will never be abandoned by the North, 
 except as the result of total defeat in the 
 field, it is at any rate certain that both 
 parties will negotiate more equitably 
 with arms in their hands than if the un- 
 armed of either section were to deal 
 with the armed. If it comes to perma- 
 nent separation, too, it is certain that in 
 the Commonwealth which will still glory 
 in the name of the United States, and 
 whose people will doubtless reestablish 
 the old Constitution, with some import- 
 ant amendments, the word secession will 
 be a sound of woe not to be lightly ut- 
 tered. It will have been proved to 
 
DR. McCLINTOCK'S SPEECH: 
 
 443 
 
 designate, not a peaceful and natural 
 function of political life, but to be only 
 another expression for revolution, blood- 
 shed, arid all the horrors of civil war. 
 It is probable that a long course of years 
 will be run, and many inconveniences 
 endured, before any one of the free States 
 secede from the reconstructed Union." 
 
 Among other voices heard at this time 
 in London was that of the Eev. Dr. Mc- 
 Clintock, an eminent Methodist divine 
 of New York, who, at a meeting of the 
 "VVesleyan Mission Society at Exeter 
 Hall, called the Times to account for its 
 representations of the fall or extinction 
 of the American Government. That 
 journal had said, " The Great Eepublic 
 is no more," and had asked, "Are the 
 Americans going to cut each others' 
 throats about a miserable question of the 
 liberty of blackamoors ?" In reply to 
 these taunts, Dr. McClintock instanced 
 as a parallel case the absurdity, when 
 India was recently in revolt, of printing 
 statements "that Great Britain was no 
 more, and the diadem was about to fall 
 from the head of Victoria ;" while in re- 
 ference to the ungracious remark on the 
 slavery element involved in the question, 
 which, so far as the action of the Gov- 
 ernment was concerned, in opposing an 
 iniquitous rebellion hostile to national 
 existence, had nothing whatever to do 
 with the matter, he reminded his hearers 
 of the time when very different language 
 was heard from England. " We used to 
 think," he said, " j^ears ago we heard 
 voices coming across the great Atlantic 
 telling us to be brave for the slaves ; and 
 three or four years ago, when I was here, 
 I was abused in newspapers printed in 
 the city of London, because I was a pro- 
 slavery man, it was said not enough of 
 an abolitionist ; and we thought that 
 
 Britain was in earnest in this. And 
 yet, if we were to believe these newspa- 
 pers, all these professions have been a 
 sham and a humbug, and all your anti- 
 slavery feeling has been simply fanati- 
 cism." Such were the inconsistencies 
 into which the public opinion of England 
 was led, and such the spirit of deprecia- 
 tion and hostility adopted by the leading 
 journal in its treatment of American 
 affairs. 
 
 At a subsequent meeting of Americans 
 in London on the 4th of July, held to 
 commemorate the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, Dr. McClintock was again 
 called upon to give expression to the 
 sentiments of his countrymen in this 
 crisis of their affairs, and again combat- 
 ed the hostile influences of the press of 
 the metropolis. Looking beyond the im- 
 mediate present, he saw the elements of 
 peace and unity arising from the very 
 trials and difficulties of the struggle. 
 " One thing," he said, " would come out 
 of this disastrous and devilish war, and 
 that was, that, hereafter and forever, the 
 people of the North and the South would 
 understand each other ; and, let it cost 
 what it might in blood and treasure, the 
 result would be well purchased when the 
 people of the North and the South, all 
 the way from the snowy Aroostook down 
 to the sunny shores of the Gulf, should 
 be able to say, what they had never said 
 before, ' We are brethren.' There would 
 also be another lesson namely, that 
 their grand old mother England would 
 understand her offspring. The last les- 
 son in that direction was given four 
 years ago, when they used to hear in 
 America terrible stories of the Sepoy 
 mutiny in India ; when in every home 
 in all their country, men, women and 
 children read the daily journals with 
 
444 
 
 WAE FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tears, and asked when Delhi would be 
 taken. How true that was, the Chair- 
 man and many who heard him well knew ; 
 yet a fortnight ago he read in the Times 
 that America did not sj^mpathize with 
 England. They all knew how false was 
 that taunt ; they all recollected that 
 when it was known that Havelock had 
 fallen there was not a harbor in the 
 United States in which the ships did not 
 put their flags at half-mast in honor of a 
 hero and a man in whom they recognized 
 the great elements of British power- 
 pluck and polity. And if the lesson was 
 not sufficiently taught then, they had 
 thought it was complete when but the 
 other day a young Prince, destined at 
 some future day to be king of England- 
 far distant might it be visited their 
 country ; and when, from the rudest 
 hamlet on the shores of those grand lakes 
 on which he first touched American soil, 
 up to the grandest avenue they had to 
 show in their metropolitan city, men. 
 women and children came forth and 
 bade him welcome. After all, the mis- 
 apprehension between England and Am- 
 erica during the last four months was, to 
 a large extent, due to the sea that separ- 
 ated them. If, on the first of May, Lord 
 John Russell could have had in the space 
 of five hours an interview, so to speak, 
 with the Secretary of the United States, 
 we should not have any of that crimina- 
 tion and recrimination which had since 
 filled the newspapers, with few excep- 
 tions, both on this side of the water and 
 the other. Only yesterday he read in a 
 London newspaper The Morning Her- 
 ald:' Breaking the blockade has occur- 
 red only to the traducers of England in 
 America never to Englishmen.' Yet 
 that same paper said six weeks ago : ' If 
 cotton is not to be had by fair means, we 
 
 must use foul means, or the daily bread 
 of four or five millions of the working 
 population will be at once stopped.' 
 Another daily journal, alluding to priva- 
 teering, said : ' The North has ships on 
 every sea, and is a victim that will pay 
 a plunderer.' The same paper said : 
 ' The Americans are fighting for a shad- 
 ow ; their Republic is ended.' Three 
 days after, the Times said : ' If the ships 
 that close your Southern ports close also 
 the workshops of Manchester and Shef- 
 field, the law of blockade will be discus- 
 sed in a very different spirit.' If the 
 Times could have been answered the 
 next day by its counterpart, the New 
 York Herald, and if the Morning Her- 
 ald could have been answered by the 
 Tribune, no misunderstanding between 
 the countries could have existed. If 
 Americans could read such statements in 
 the Times without vexation, they would 
 be unworthy of their origin. The Times 
 made just as much ' row' when anything 
 was said in New York offensive to na- 
 tional feeling in England as the New 
 York journals did when the views and 
 feelings of Americans were misrepresent- 
 ed in the mother country. It was be- 
 cause they were bone of his bone and 
 flesh of his flesh, that Americans cared 
 so much about what John Bull said of 
 them. It was because they loved Eng- 
 land that they were anxious to hear kind 
 words from England. Again, the Gov- 
 ernment, early in the month of May, 
 came to the conclusion, as stated by 
 Lord John Russell in his place in Par- 
 liament, that the Southern Confederacy 
 must be treated as belligerent. The 
 Times, the day after, declared that that 
 was a grave decision, and one that must 
 have great influence upon the conflict. 
 A man with whom he was talking the 
 
MEETING OF AMERICANS AT PARIS. 
 
 445 
 
 other day, the greatest of British states- 
 men, as he (Di. McClintock) thought, 
 said : ' Well, what else could we do ?' 
 He replied, they ought not to have been 
 in such a hurry to do it ; they might 
 have waited, at all events, until Mr. 
 Adams arrived in this country. Sor- 
 rowful as were the circumstances attend- 
 ing their national anniversary on this 
 occasion, still, he said, and thanked God 
 that he was able to say it, that never on 
 anj r happy, sunny ' 4th of July' at home 
 never in those halcyon days of peace, 
 had he been prouder of his countrymen 
 than he was on this occasion ; for they 
 had shown a fidelity to great principles, 
 to the memory of Washington, to the 
 theory of their Constitution, and to the 
 grand heritage of freedom which God 
 had given them. They were fighting 
 because they had a flag which had been 
 dishonored, a Constitution that had been 
 trampled upon, and a history that had 
 been thrown to the winds. They had 
 grand memories, which the great bulk 
 of the community had never forgotten, 
 and a nationality which they meant to 
 maintain. They were fighting now to show 
 how they had a Government which all 
 the world should recognize in the end. 
 They had 20,000,000 of people on one 
 side and 8,000,000 on the other. A 
 great man has said : 'A single man, 
 with God on his side, was a majority 
 against the world.' They were 20,000,000 
 with God on their side, fighting for the 
 Constitution, for Freedom, and for Jus- 
 tice, against 8,000,000 fighting for 
 what should he say ? Had they ever 
 said for what? All that they had said 
 was, that they were afraid that some 
 day it might be ten, fifty, or a hundred 
 years Northern principles would liber- 
 ate the slaves ; so that they, the South- 
 
 erners, were now fighting for slavery, or 
 for nothing. In that conflict, he had no 
 doubt on which side the victory would 
 lie, and he was now prouder and more 
 hopeful of his country than ever, and he 
 was sure, too, that, in her heart of hearts, 
 England was prouder of it than she had 
 ever been." 
 
 Several of the new ministers, arriving 
 in Paris about the same time, were pre- 
 sent at a meeting of American citizens 
 held at the Hotel du Louvre on the 29th 
 of May, to counteract the prevalent re- 
 presentations from Southern sympathiz- 
 ers, by giving expression to sentiment? 
 of loyalty to the cause of the Union 
 Resolutions, declaring , their adherence 
 to the Government, and their sense of its 
 beneficent action, and the duty of all 
 good citizens abroad and at home to sus- 
 tain it in its effort to maintain its author- 
 ity, were passed, and various speeches 
 delivered by the distinguished guests on 
 the occasion. Mr. Dayton, in a few re- 
 marks, reached the heart of the question. 
 "It is needless, my friends," said he, 
 " to deny that our country has fallen 
 upon evil times ; that much of its pres- 
 tige abroad is for the present gone ; that 
 our self-love is rebuked and our pride is 
 humiliated not by the actions of others, 
 but by the misconduct of portions of our 
 own countrymen. Nations, like individ- 
 uals, are sometimes spoiled by prosper- 
 ity. It does not follow as a logical se- 
 quence that wherever there is dissension 
 in a country it results from the wrongs 
 and oppressions of government. In our 
 case, it results from its very opposite. It 
 seems to come from the plethora of its 
 abundance and prosperity. It is the 
 wanton outbreak of a restless and excit- 
 able people, who complain substantially 
 of nothing. We, who know the condi- 
 
446 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tion of our country and the value of its 
 institutions, though chastened in pride 
 and rebuked in feeling, cannot forget 
 these truths. You have come together 
 on this occasion to give expression to 
 your feelings of attachment and respect 
 for the laws and Constitution of your 
 country. It is in good time. Your 
 friends there are now testing the ques- 
 tion if you have a country for a coun- 
 try without a government is no country. 
 It is a habitation without a name a 
 locus in quo for a miserable existence. 
 The world cannot expect, and least of all 
 can England expect, that we shall dis- 
 grace our Saxon lineage by permitting a 
 Government which has accomplished so 
 much for humanity within so brief a 
 space, to go out without a struggle, and, 
 if need be, such a struggle as the world 
 has not seen. Our Union cost much, 
 and it is worth all, and more than it 
 cost." 
 
 Mr. Clay took occasion to speak of 
 France and England in their relations 
 to the Rebellion, proclaiming their inter- 
 ests to be on the side of the preservation 
 of the Union. " I am accused," said he, 
 in reference to his communication to the 
 London Times, " of threatening Eng- 
 land. I am not in the habit of casting 
 about me to see how I may make truth 
 most palatable. Let those who stand in 
 the way of truth look out. If England, 
 after all she has said against slavery, 
 shall draw her sword in its defence, then 
 I say, great as she is, she shall ' perish 
 by the sword.' For then not only 
 France, but all the world shall cry, 
 ' Perfide Albion !' When she mingles 
 the red crosses of the Union Jack with 
 the piratical black flag of the : Confed- 
 erate States of America,' will not just as 
 certainlv the Tricolor and the Stars and 
 
 Stripes float once more in fraternal folds ? 
 Can France forget who has doggedly 
 hedged in all the fields of her glory ? 
 Can Napoleon forget St. Helena? Will 
 he, at her bidding, turn his back upon 
 the East ? Shall ' Partant pour la Syrie ' 
 be heard no more in France forever ? 
 Russia strengthens herself by giving up 
 slave labor for the omnipotent powers of 
 nature, which, by steam, and electricity, 
 and water, and the mechanical forces, 
 share with man the creative omnipotence. 
 Shall England cross half the globe to 
 check the eastern march of her new-born 
 civilization ? I have spoken to England, 
 not as an enemy, but a friend. For her 
 own sake, I would have her be true to 
 herself. If England would preserve cot- 
 ton for her millions of operatives, let her 
 join in putting down the rebellion. Her 
 interference in defence of the rebels of 
 the South will force us to do that which 
 would be a calamity to us as well as 
 to them at a blow to destroy slavery 
 forever. The interests of England and 
 France lie in the same direction in the 
 preservation of the Union, and the mak- 
 ing of successful rebellion impossible." 
 Probably the speaker whose remarks 
 were regarded with the most interest on 
 this occasion, was Colonel Fremont. The 
 faces of the others were turned away 
 from home to a protracted residence 
 abroad ; he was eagerly looked for to 
 return and take an active part in the 
 field in the preservation of the honor and 
 liberty of his country. In far-off Amer- 
 ica his words were read with antici- 
 pations of the new patriotic career be- 
 fore him. He was introduced by Mr. 
 Burlingame at the close of an earnest 
 speech in these words : "I would that 
 our struggling brothers at home could 
 hear this day our words of lofty cheer 
 
PanrteAl 
 
COLONEL FREMONT'S REMARKS. 
 
 447 
 
 and know how the American heart in 
 this far land throbs true to them and the 
 cause for which they struggle. We send 
 them with our blessings over the sea ; 
 but, what is better, we send with them 
 one known to them, known to us, known 
 to two hemispheres, and one who, in this 
 warlike land of his ancestors, heard the 
 call of his mother (for he is, indeed, a 
 child of the Republic), and casting from 
 him the urgent claims of his private 
 affairs, almost without warning and no- 
 tice, determined to fly to the defence of 
 the flag he has done so much to exalt. 
 We say to him that he will be welcomed 
 on the western shore by fourteen hun- 
 dred thousand men, who, but yesterday, 
 hailed his name as a symbol of their 
 faith, and by a countless host who then 
 defeated our hopes, with, if possible, a 
 still warmer enthusiasm welcomed on 
 the Atlantic slope, and on the Pacific 
 slope, which his valor won for us, and in 
 the Rocky Mountains, from whose loftiest 
 summit he was the first to unfurl the 
 beautiful banner of his country in the 
 beams of the setting sun. We breathe 
 our benison upon him. We know what 
 will follow where he goes before, for 
 ' born and nursed in danger's path, he's 
 tried her worst.' We know his future 
 will be as bright as his past, and that he 
 will enjoy a soldier's triumph, or the 
 sweet tranquillity of an honored soldier's 
 grave. And now, all hail, Fremont, and 
 farewell !" 
 
 Upon this Colonel Fremont rose and 
 said: "I am deeply sensible to the 
 warm and flattering expressions of con- 
 fidence and regard with which I have 
 just been honored, and still more deeply 
 sensible to your kind approval of them. 
 They are very grateful to me, and I 
 thank you very sincerely. But you will 
 
 be very sure that I do not receive them 
 as due to myself ; I am conscious that J 
 owe them to the partiality of friendship, 
 and to that sort of attachment which a 
 soldier alwa} T s feels for the banner under 
 which he has fought. To him (Mr. Bur- 
 lingame) and the other friends around 
 me who have spoken to-day, I represent 
 the standard on which old watchwords 
 were inscribed. It is themselves who 
 were the leaders, themselves who bore 
 with you the heat of the day, and who 
 have won their battle gloriously. And 
 they have come among us here, with 
 their habitual eloquence, to convey to 
 our true-hearted countrymen at home 
 the assurance of our unalterable devoted- 
 ness to the country, and our unbounded 
 admiration of the generous loyalty with 
 which they rallied to its calls. A few 
 days back our honored flag was trailing 
 in the dust at the foot of an insolent foe ; 
 at present its stars are refulgent from a 
 thousand heights, swarming with brave 
 hearts and strong arms in its defence. 
 We drink to them to-day, our brave and 
 loyal countrymen. Faithfully, too, have 
 our scattered people responded to them, 
 from Italy, from England, and from 
 France. Well have they shown they, 
 too, can cross the seas and change their 
 skies, and never change their hearts. I 
 am glad that a happy chance has brought 
 me to participate with you here on this 
 occasion. Here, in this splendid capital 
 of a great nation, where near by us the 
 same tombstone records the blended 
 names of Washington and Lafayette, I 
 feel that I breathe a sympathetic air.'' 
 Mr. Adams, the new minister to Eng- 
 land, arrived at Liverpool on the 13th 
 of May, and was met by the intelligence 
 that the affairs of America had a few 
 days before engaged the attention of 
 
448 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Parliament, and that the Government 
 had already decided on a policy to be 
 pursued towards the Confederates. In 
 a debate in the House of Commons on 
 the 6th instant, in answer to questions 
 proposed by Mr. Gregory, member from 
 Galway, in reference to the blockade 
 proclaimed by President Lincoln, and 
 the position of her Majesty's Government 
 toward the Southern Confederate States, 
 which he declared "had become to the 
 United States a separate and independ- 
 ent and foreign power," Lord John Rus- 
 sell, then at the head of the Foreign 
 Office, in the course of his reply said : 
 ' With respect to belligerent rights in 
 the case of certain portions of a State 
 being in insurrection, there was a prece- 
 dent which seems applicable to this pur- 
 pose in the year 1825. The British 
 Government at that time allowed the 
 belligerent rights of the Provisional Gov- 
 ernment of Greece, and in consequence 
 of that allowance, the Turkish Govern- 
 ment made a remonstrance. I may state 
 the nature of that remonstrance and the 
 reply of Mr. Canning. The Turkish 
 Government complained that the Brit- 
 ish Government allowed to the Greeks a 
 belligerent character, and observed that 
 it appeared to forget that to subjects in 
 rebellion no national character could 
 properly belong. But the British Gov- 
 ernment informed Mr. Stratford Canning 
 that the character of belligerency was 
 not so much a principle as a fact ; that a 
 certain degree of force and consistency, 
 acquired by any mass of population en- 
 gaged in war, entitled that population to 
 be treated as belligerent, and, even if 
 their title were questionable, rendered it 
 the interest, well understood, of all civil- 
 ized nations so to treat them'; for what 
 was the alternative ? A Power or a 
 
 community, call it which you will, which 
 was at war with another and which cov- 
 ered the sea with its cruisers, must either 
 be acknowledged as a belligerent or 
 dealt with as a pir-ate ; which latter 
 character, as to the Greeks, was loudly 
 disclaimed." To this he added that the 
 law officers of the Crown had been con- 
 sulted, and that the Attorney and Soli- 
 citor-General, the Queen's Advocate and 
 the Government had come to the opin 
 ion that " the Southern Confederacy of 
 America, according to those principles 
 which seem to them to be just princi- 
 ples, must be treated as a belligerent." 
 
 In accordance with this resolution, 
 the following Royal Proclamation was 
 agreed upon in Privy Council, and is- 
 sued, on the 15th of May : " Victoria 
 R. Whereas, we are happily at \ eace 
 with all Sovereigns, Powers, and States ; 
 and whereas, hostilities have unhappily 
 commenced between the Government of 
 the United States of America and cer- 
 tain States styling themselves the Confed- 
 erate States of America ; and whereas, 
 we, being at peace with the Government 
 of the United States, have declared our 
 Royal determination to maintain a strict 
 and impartial neutrality in the contest 
 between the said contending parties ; 
 we, therefore, have thought fit, by and 
 with the advice of our Privy Counsel, to 
 issue this, our royal proclamation. [The 
 provisions of the Foreign Enlistment Act 
 are then quoted, and the Proclamation 
 continues as follows :] And we do 
 hereby warn all our loving subjects, 
 and all persons whatsoever entitled to 
 our protection, that if any of them shall 
 presume, in contempt of this our Royal 
 proclamation, and of our high displeas- 
 ure, to do any acts in derogation of their 
 duty, as subjects of a neutral sovereign, 
 
THE QUEEN'S PROCLAMATION. 
 
 449 
 
 in the said contest, or in violation or 
 contravention of the law of nations in 
 that behalf, as, for example, and more 
 especially, by entering into the military 
 service of either of the said contending 
 parties, as commissioned or non-com- 
 missioned officers, or soldiers, or by 
 serving as officers, sailors, or marines 
 on board any ship or vessel of war, 
 or transport, of or in the service of 
 either of the said contending parties, 
 or by engaging to go or going to any 
 place beyond the seas, with intent to 
 enlist or engage in any such service, 
 or by procuring, or attempting to pro- 
 cure, within her Majesty's dominions, 
 at home or abroad, others to do so ; 
 or by fitting out, arming, or equipping 
 any ship or vessel, to be employed as 
 a ship of war, or privateer, or transport, 
 by either of the said contending parties ; 
 or by breaking, or endeavoring to break, 
 any blockade lawfully and actually es- 
 tablished by or on behalf of either of the 
 said contending parties, or by carrying 
 officers, soldiers, dispatches, arms, mili- 
 tary stores, or materials, or any article 
 or articles, considered and deemed to be 
 contraband of war, according to the law 
 or modern usage of nations, for the use 
 or service of either of the said contend- 
 ing parties all persons so offending 
 will incur, and be liable to the several 
 penalties and penal consequences by the 
 said state, or by the law of nations in that 
 behalf imposed or denounced. And we 
 do hereby declare, that all our subjects 
 and persons entitled to our protection, 
 who may misconduct themselves in the 
 premises, will do it at their peril, and of 
 their own wrong, and that they will, in 
 nowise, obtain any protection from us 
 against any liabilities or penal conse- 
 quences, but will, on the contrary, incur 
 57 
 
 our displeasure by such misconduct. 
 Given at our Court, at the White Lodge, 
 Richmond Park, this 13th day of May, 
 1861." 
 
 The Proclamation thus set forth the 
 royal determination to maintain a strict 
 neutrality between the contending par- 
 ties, and forbade British subjects taking 
 any part in the contest. Its intention 
 was to avoid possible embarrassments in 
 the future ; its immediate tendency was 
 to encourage the rebellion. It was 
 thought in the United States, at least, to 
 be somewhat hasty ; for the rebel gov- 
 ernment, not likely at any time to be' 
 very formidable on the high seas, had, 
 when the Proclamation was issued, 
 shown but feeble evidence of its powers 
 in that direction ; it was felt to be, in a 
 certain degree, beneficial to the insur- 
 gents, and was generally regarded with 
 suspicion as a preliminary step toward 
 the recognition of the Southern Confed- 
 eracy. How far, it was asked, would 
 the belligerent rights which had been 
 granted extend ? Would they, accord- 
 ing to English precedents, permit the 
 privateers of the conspiracy to prey in 
 security upon Northern commerce by en- 
 joying the privilege of carrying their 
 prizes into British harbors ? This ques- 
 tion was fully answered on -the first of 
 June by a royal order interdicting the 
 armed vessels and privateers of both 
 parties from carrying prizes made by 
 them to ports, harbors, roadsteads or wa- 
 ters of the United Kingdom or any of her 
 Majesty's colonies or possessions abroad. 
 In a letter to the Lords Commissioners 
 of the Admiralty, announcing this de- 
 cision, read in Parliament, Lord John 
 Russell reiterated the desire of the Gov- 
 ernment to " observe the strictest neu- 
 trality in the contest, which appears 
 
450 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNI01N. 
 
 to be imminent between the United 
 States and the so-styled Confederate 
 States of South America." The natural 
 effect of this limitation of the much 
 questioned " belligerents' " rights, taken 
 in connection with the postponement of 
 a motion in Parliament, made by the per- 
 tinacious agitator on behalf of the South, 
 Mr. Gregory, for the recognition of the 
 Confederate government, was to calm 
 the fears of the people of the North, 
 in reference to any injurious interfer- 
 ence with the sc ereignty of the United 
 States. One great hope of the Southern 
 rebellion seemed thus to be taken away 
 from its supporters. 
 
 An eminent French Protestant writer, 
 the Count de Gasparin, distinguished dur- 
 ing the reign f Louis Philippe, by his ar- 
 dent political services in behalf of religious 
 liberty and human freedom, a Reformer 
 and yet a Conservative, has devoted his 
 fine reasoning powers during the period 
 of this great American conflict to the 
 candid consideration of the elements of 
 the struggle ; the principles involved in 
 it at home, and their recognition abroad. 
 In his work, entitled, " The Uprising of 
 a Great People,' 7 published early in 
 1861, he presents the causes, motives, 
 and probable results of the war, with 
 acuteness, sympathy and eloquence. It 
 was a good word to utter for the North, 
 and did much to animate the hearts of 
 the American people. At the end of the 
 year he sent forth a sequel a larger 
 volume this time reviewing the ques- 
 tion, especially with relation to the con- 
 duct of governments and public opinion 
 abroad. His " America before Europe" 
 places the old world on trial, and on 
 various counts of the indictment finds 
 her guilty of desertion of principles of 
 government, society and morality. He 
 
 would have had a frank, generous policy 
 pursued at the outset, in place of the 
 doubts, difficulties, and denials which 
 were brought forward to beset the path 
 of American diplomacy. He would 
 have given the warm hand of support 
 to the National government, instead of 
 the cold shoulder of neutrality. "How," 
 he asks, in reference to the point before 
 us, " would Europe have offended against 
 international laws, if her governments 
 had expressed themselves in the follow- 
 ing manner ? ' We know no President 
 but the one regularly elected. There 
 is, to us, but a single rightful govern- 
 ment in America, that which has its seat 
 at Washington. As to the South, we 
 await the final issue of its armed strug- 
 gle, and the consolidation of its govern- 
 ment de facto? Certainly, by holding 
 such language the insurrection would 
 have been weakened, and many mis- 
 fortunes prevented, without in any wise 
 lessening the significance of the internal 
 impulse of the United States. To meet 
 important questions face to face is at 
 once loyal, sympathetic, and generous, 
 and best fitted to resolve them. What 
 would Jefferson Davis and his friends 
 have done, had they known, beyond the 
 possibility of mistake, that they could 
 not count on Europe ? Would they not 
 have renounced their designs? Would 
 they have long pursued them ? No war 
 at all, or a very short one such is the 
 result that would have been at once ob- 
 tained by simply abstaining from grant- 
 ing the South an exceptional favor which 
 seemed to promise it many others. At 
 the same time the North would have 
 been strengthened in the noble cause 
 on which it had just entered ; a current 
 of warm sympathy would have been 
 established between it and us ; the com- 
 
THE CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 451 
 
 bat against slavery would have pursued 
 the character of a pacific and Christian 
 struggle, instead of assuming, perhaps, in 
 the end, that of a warlike act and vio- 
 lent proceeding ; slowly, doubtless, but 
 surely, the progress marked by the elec- 
 tion of Mr. Lincoln, would have been 
 completed by legal ways ; to day, the 
 non-extension of slavery ; to-morrow, 
 its abolition, with indemnity, in those 
 States best prepared for freedom ; by- 
 and-by, complete measures, rendered 
 constitutionally possible by the inc "eas- 
 ing majority of the admirers of the in- 
 stitution.' ' 
 
 The Commissioners from the Confed- 
 erate States, Messrs. Yancy, Mann and 
 Rost, previously to the arrival of Mr. 
 Adams, in an informal interview on 
 the 4th of May, urged upon Lord John 
 Russell the recognition of the Southern 
 Confederacy, ingeniously setting forth 
 the advantages which would result to 
 England from commercial intercourse 
 with the seceding States, which had 
 already adopted the policy of free trade, 
 and whose products they represented as 
 furnishing more than two-thirds of the 
 whole exports of the United States. The 
 attention of the British minister was 
 also called to the fact, that the Con- 
 federate government had, by an article 
 in its Constitution, prohibited the slave 
 trade. Whatever impression these re- 
 presentations may have made, the ac- 
 tion of the Government in the Neutral- 
 ity Proclamation, fell far short of the 
 wishes of the Confederate Commissioners. 
 In a letter, addressed to Lord John Rus- 
 sell, on the 14th of August, when that 
 policy, with its limitation, had been car- 
 ried into effect, they complained of the 
 decision by which neither of the con- 
 tending parties would be permitted to 
 
 enter the British ports with their prizes. 
 It was an unusual rule, they maintained, 
 and calculated to work unequally in 
 favor of the United States, and deprive 
 the Confederacy of an undoubted public 
 right. In fact it operated exclusively 
 as they represented, " to prevent the 
 exercise of this legitimate mode of war- 
 fare by the Confederate States, while it 
 is, to a great degree, a practical protec- 
 tion to the commerce and ships of the 
 United States." At the same time the 
 Commissioners renewed their represen- 
 tations of the commercial resources of 
 the Southern States, and took occasion 
 to combat the settled principle of hos- 
 tility to the institution of slavery of 
 the people of England, as it affected the 
 Confederacy, by a crafty effort to neu- 
 tralize this feeling of opposition. They 
 could not deny that slavery was amply 
 recognized by the Government which 
 they were there to represent ; but, 
 throwing the burden upon the English 
 colonists, and the Fathers of the Re- 
 public, who handed it down to the pre- 
 sent generation, they boldly represented 
 that the administration of President 
 Lincoln, upon which war had been de- 
 clared, in advance for its alleged anti- 
 slavery tendencies, was really pledged 
 to the perpetual maintenance of the 
 institution if only the South would re- 
 main in the Union. Mr. Lincoln's mes- 
 sage, said they, proposed no freedom 
 to the slave ; Congress, in its extra 
 session, had pledged itself to the main- 
 tenance of " the pro-slavery Constitu- 
 tion," and the commanding general had 
 issued an order, when the army com- 
 menced its march, that no slaves should 
 be received into, or follow the camp. 
 " The great object of the war, therefore, 
 as now officially announced." they urged, 
 
452 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 " is not to free the slave, but to keep 
 him in subjection to his owner, and to 
 control his labor through the legislative 
 channels." They therefore submitted, 
 that " so far as the anti-slavery sen- 
 timent of England is concerned, it can 
 have no sympathy with the North ; 
 nay, it will probably become disgusted 
 with a canting hypocrisy which would 
 enlist those sympathies on false pre- 
 tences." Such was the return made for 
 the anxiety of the North to preserve the 
 rights of the South ! Lest, however, 
 this view of the matter might be set 
 aside by the consideration of an opposite 
 tendency in the progress of events, the 
 Commissioners, leaving no stone unturn- 
 ed, cunningly exhibited the effects of the 
 sudden destruction of the slave system 
 upon the laboring classes of Europe ; 
 ten millions of whom, as they alleged, 
 would thus be deprived of the means of 
 living. " Resort to servile war, has, it 
 is true," they admitted, " not been pro- 
 claimed, but officially abandoned. It 
 has been, however, recommended by 
 persons in influence in the United States ; 
 and when all other means shall fail, as we 
 assure your Lordship, they will, to bring 
 the Confederate States into subjection to 
 the power of Mr. Lincoln's Government, 
 it is by no means impossible that it may 
 be inaugurated." To all this, and other ar- 
 guments of a similar object, Lord John 
 Ilussell, on the 24th August, replied that 
 the British Government did not pretend 
 to enter into the merits of the question 
 "between the United States and their 
 adversaries in North America ;" but 
 that, regarding the contest as consti- 
 tuting a civil war, the policy of neutral- 
 ity would be strictly adhered to. "Her 
 Majesty cannot undertake to determine, 
 by anticipation, what may be the issue 
 
 of the contest, nor can she acknowledge 
 the independence of the nine States 
 which are now conbined against the 
 President and Congress of the United 
 States, until the fortune of arms, or the 
 more peaceful mode of negotiation shall 
 have more clearly determined the re- 
 spective positions of the two belligerents. 
 Her Majesty can, in the meantime, only 
 express a hope that some adjustment, 
 satisfactory to both parties, may be come 
 to, without the calamities which must en- 
 sue in the event of an embittered and 
 protracted conflict." With this unsatis- 
 factory response, with hope deferred, 
 the Commissioners were compelled to 
 rest content. Their mission, thus far, 
 was unsuccessful. 
 
 The example of the British Govern- 
 ment was speedily followed by France. 
 Indeed, the policy of the two countries 
 was based on a mutual understand- 
 ing of agreement and cooperation. A 
 decree, published in the Moniteur, June 
 llth, proclaimed that "His Majes- 
 ty the Emperor of the French, taking 
 into consideration the state of peace 
 which now exists between France and 
 the United States of America, has re- 
 solved to maintain a strict neutrality in 
 the struggle between the Government 
 of the Union and the States which pro- 
 pose to form a separate confederation "- 
 a preamble, which was followed by di- 
 rections in regard to the reception of 
 privateers, and restrictions upon the cit- 
 izens of the country in respect to enlist- 
 ments and other violations of neutrality 
 similar to those imposed by the British 
 orders and Proclamation of the Queen. 
 Spain also issued her royal decree, dated 
 the 17th of June, prohibiting all Span- 
 iards from taking service on either side, 
 the entrance of privateers or armed 
 
DIPLOMACY IN FRANCE. 
 
 453 
 
 ships with their prizes into any of her 
 ports, the acceptance by her subjects of 
 letters of marque, the fitting out of ves- 
 sels with a hostile purpose in her har- 
 bors, and generally enjoining complete 
 neutrality. 
 
 The intercourse of Mr. Dayton with 
 the French Government, represented by 
 the able Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. 
 Thouvenel, was marked by considera- 
 tion, and even cordiality. The Emperor 
 himself, on receiving the American min- 
 ister, expressed his concern for the wel- 
 fare of the United States, his desire for 
 the perpetuation of the Union, and that 
 he had been and was ready " to offer 
 his kind offices, if such offer would be 
 mutually agreeable to the contending 
 parties. 7 ' In acknowledging the report 
 of this reception, Mr. Seward, in a des- 
 patch to Mr. Dayton, paid his tribute to 
 "the frank, generous and cordial tone 
 of M. Thouvenel's conversation," and 
 warmly reciprocated the expressions 
 of good will of his Majesty as "just 
 what have been expected from the Em- 
 peror of France." In reference to the 
 suggestion of mediation, he made a reply 
 similar to that which he shortly after- 
 wards addressed to England, pronouncing 
 the measure both unnecessary and inex- 
 pedient. " This Government," he wrote, 
 "desires that his Majesty may be in- 
 formed that it indulges not the least ap- 
 prehension of a dissolution of the Union 
 in this painful controversy. A favorable 
 issue is deemed certain. What is wanted 
 is that the war may be as short and at 
 te-nded by as few calamities at home, and 
 as few injuries to friendly nations as pos- 
 sible. No mediation could modify in the 
 least degree the convictions of policy 
 and duty under which this Government 
 Is acting ; while foreign intervention, 
 
 even in the friendly form of mediation, 
 would produce new and injurious com- 
 plications. We are free to confess that 
 so cordial is our regard for the Emperor, 
 and our confidence in his wisdom and 
 justice, that his mediation would be ac- 
 cepted, if all intervention of that kind 
 were not deemed altogether inadmissible. 
 This Government perceives, as it thinks, 
 that the French Government is in- 
 dulging in an exaggerated estimate of 
 the moral power and natural forces 
 of the insurrection The meas- 
 ures we have adopte'd and are now 
 vigorously pursuing, will terminate the 
 unhappy contest at an early day, and 
 be followed by benefits to ourselves 
 and to all nations, greater and bet- 
 ter assured than those which have 
 hitherto attended our national pro- 
 gress." 
 
 Previously to the arrival of Mr. Day- 
 ton in France, Mr. Faulkner, the Amer- 
 ican minister, had expressed the opinion 
 that force would not be employed toward 
 the seceding States, not that the Gov- 
 ernment did not possess "all the ordin- 
 ary powers necessary for its preserva- 
 tion," but that he was satisfied that the 
 sentiment of the people was opposed to 
 their exercise in the present instance. 
 "So sincere was the deference felt in 
 that country for the great principles of 
 self-government, and so great the respect 
 for the action of the people, when adopt- 
 ed under the imposing form of State or- 
 ganization and State sovereignty, that I 
 did not think the employment of force 
 wonld be tolerated for a moment, and I 
 thought the only solution of our difficul- 
 ties would be found in such modifications 
 of our constitutional compact as would 
 invite the seceding States back into the 
 Union or a peaceable acquiescence in 
 
454 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the assertion of their claims to a separate 
 sovereignty."* 
 
 To this Mr. Seward replied in a des- 
 patch to Mr. Dayton, in terms which he 
 caused to be published at the time, and 
 which were evidently intended as a de- 
 claration to the world of the position of 
 the American Government in regard to 
 the rebellion. "The time," he wrote, in 
 allusion to the opinions of Mr. Faulkner, 
 " when these questions had any pertinen- 
 cy or plausibility has passed away. 
 The United States waited patiently while 
 their authority was defied in turbulent 
 assemblies and in seditious preparations, 
 willing to hope that mediation, offered on 
 all sides, would conciliate and induce the 
 disaffected parties to return to a better 
 mind. But the case is now altogether 
 changed. The insurgents have instituted 
 revolution with open, flagrant, deadly 
 war to compel the United States to ac- 
 quiesce in the dismemberment of the 
 Union. The United States have accepted 
 this civil war as an inevitable necessity. 
 The constitutional remedies for all the com- 
 plaints of the insurgents are still open to 
 them, and will remain so. But, on tke 
 other hand, the land and naval forces of 
 the Union have been put into activity to 
 restore the Federal authority and to save 
 the Union from danger. You cannot be 
 too decided or too explicit in making 
 known to the French Government that 
 there is not now, nor has there been, nor 
 will there be any the least idea existing 
 in this government of suffering a dissolu- 
 tion of the Union to take place in any 
 way whatever. There will be here only 
 one nation and one government, and 
 there will be the same republic, and the 
 same constitutional Union that have 
 already survived a dozen national 
 
 * Mr. Faulkner to Mr. Seward. Paris, April 15, 1861. 
 
 changes, and changes of government in 
 almost every other country. These will 
 stand hereafter, as they are now, objects 
 of human wonder and human affection. 
 You have seen, on the eve of your de- 
 parture, the elasticity of the national 
 spirit, the vigor of the national govern- 
 ment, and the lavish devotion of the na- 
 tional treasures to this great cause. Tell 
 Mr. Thouvenel, then, with the highest 
 consideration and good feeling, that the 
 thought of a dissolution of this Union, 
 peaceably or by force, has never entered 
 into the mind of any candid statesman 
 here, and it is high time that it be dis- 
 missed by statesmen in Europe."* 
 
 There was little difficulty in impress- 
 ing the views of the American Govern 
 ment upon Spain, and thwarting in that 
 direction the efforts at " recognition " 
 of the Confederate agents. Mr. Horatio 
 J. Perry, the United States Secretary 
 of Legation at Madrid, previously to the 
 arrival of the new minister, Mr. Schurz, 
 readily disposed of the secession cause in 
 his representations to the Spanish Gov- 
 ernment, particularly in a notable inter- 
 view with the Minister of State, Mr. 
 Calderon, in the course of which, in a 
 single short phrase which, in the citation 
 which follows, we have marked in italics, 
 he summed up the natural history of the 
 rebellion with a proverbial felicity pecu- 
 liarly suited to the ear of a Spaniard. 
 " Yesterday," he writes to Mr. Seward, 
 under date of June 13, 1861, " in a long 
 and very satisfactory interview with Mr. 
 Calderon, I explained to him the con- 
 nection of Mr. Jefferson Davis and other 
 leaders in the Southern rebellion with 
 the attempt made in 1854-'55 by the 
 same parties to provoke a war with 
 Spain for the conquest of Cuba. He 
 
 * Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton. Washington, May 4, 1861 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 455 
 
 was made to see that the former filibus- 
 tering against Cuba had its origin, like 
 the present rebellion at the South, in the 
 political ambition of our slave owners. 
 They then wished to reinforce the slave 
 power in the Union by the annexation 
 of new slave States, but having failed in 
 Cuba, in Nicaragua, in Kansas, and lastly 
 in the recent Presidential election, they 
 had at length to turn their arms against 
 the Government of the United States, 
 now passed out of their control. Seces- 
 sion was filibustering struck in. I ex- 
 plained that, unhappily, a class at the 
 South, called by the slave-owners ' mean 
 whites,' were quite ready to follow their 
 lead, and were a terrible instrument in 
 their hands. . Their own ignorance, their 
 dependence upon the richer class, and 
 their contact with the blacks had gradu- 
 ally reduced them, intellectually and 
 norally, to a point of which, perhaps, 
 there were few examples in the Anglo- 
 Saxon race. They were as reckless of 
 danger as they were of right, as ready 
 to embark for the fever lakes of Central 
 America as for the sugar-fields of Cuba, 
 or the wilds of Kansas, or a campaign 
 against the government of their country. 
 This was good material for a rebel sol- 
 diery ; and under the more intelligent 
 lead of the slave-owners, this revolt was 
 undoubtedly serious and would cost 
 blood. But the result was not doubt- 
 ful. The disparity of force and resources 
 on the part of the government was too 
 overbalancing to leave the rebels a 
 chance of long prolonging the struggle." 
 The condition of public opinion in 
 England at this time was not without its 
 contradictions. Apparently inclined to 
 non-interference, the people of that coun- 
 try yet seemed to regard the affairs of 
 America as under their especial super- I 
 
 vision, management and direction. At 
 one moment the United States were 
 charged with weakness in not asserting 
 their authority ; when they began to 
 act they were accused of harshness, and 
 the very authority itself was disputed 
 The rebellion was at one moment pro- 
 nounced the ruin of America, and at the 
 next was supposed to threaten the pow- 
 er of England. The country, it was said, 
 was divided forever, and in the same 
 breath a united nation was defying the 
 world. It is singular to note, recorded 
 in the diplomatic correspondence of Mr. 
 Adams, the existence of an impression 
 which certainly had no warrant in the 
 policy or sentiments of the people of the 
 United States. "The idea," he writes 
 to Mr. Seward on the 21st of June, 
 "still remains quite general that there 
 will never be any actual conflict," allud- 
 ing of course to the delay of active hos- 
 tilities on the Potomac, "and it is con- 
 nected in many cases with an apprehen- 
 sion that the reunion may be cemented 
 upon the basis of hostile measures against 
 Great Britain. Indeed, such has been 
 the motive hinted at by more than one 
 person of influence as guiding the policy 
 of the President himself." Nothing 
 could well be more absurd than such a 
 notion, yet Mr. Adams felt himself called 
 upon "to discountenance it altogether, 
 and to affirm that the struggle was car- 
 ried on in good faith and from motives 
 not subject to be affected by mere con- 
 siderations of policy, or by temporary 
 emotions. More especially have I en- 
 deavored to disavow any ' arriere pen- 
 see' which has the effect to confirm the 
 suspicion of our sincerity, I regret to 
 say, by far too much disseminated." It 
 was not surprising that, with such ideas 
 of the struggle on the part of England, 
 
456 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 there should be an imperfect sympathy 
 between the two countries. The United 
 States was engaged in one of the loftiest 
 and purest undertakings which can em- 
 ploy the energies of a nation, a contest 
 not for supremacy or power, but for the 
 preservation of a system of government 
 friendly to the best interests of civiliza- 
 tion, which had proved itself of the ut- 
 most advantage to countless members 
 of the human family. The conflict had 
 been brought on by a hostile faction in 
 opposition to the will of the nation to 
 preserve a large portion of the virgin 
 soil of the continent from the injurious 
 influence of slavery. The principles of 
 the new administration especially chal- 
 lenged the respect and admiration of 
 England. It was pledged to the mainte- 
 nance of ideas of which that country 
 claimed to be the great exemplar ; it 
 was supported, as we have remarked, by 
 principles of constitutional liberty inher- 
 ited from that land. The nation, in a 
 spirit of solemn duty, calmly, soberly, 
 accepted the certain sacrifice of peace 
 and property to contend for the preser- 
 vation of a Government in which was 
 wrapped up the hopes of happiness for 
 vast numbers of the oppressed and desti- 
 tute throughout the world. How could 
 England thus misread a policy so clear 
 and explicit, which, not without great 
 advantage to herself, had been illustrated 
 on so splendid a stage in what one of her 
 distinguished authors had pronounced 
 "a magnificent picture of human happi- 
 ness"? 
 
 Something of this could not but be 
 seen and admitted. Mr. Adams remarks, 
 in the same despatch from which we 
 have just cited : " Neither party would 
 be so bold as to declare its sympathy with 
 a cause based upon the extension of 
 
 slavery, for that would at once draw 
 upon itself the indignation of the great 
 body of the people." He adds, however, 
 to this, in a politic vein, a significant re- 
 mark which subsequent events will recall 
 to mind: "But the development of a 
 positive spirit in the opposite direction 
 will depend far more upon the degree in 
 which the arm of the Government en- 
 forces obedience than upon any absolute 
 affinity in sentiments. Our brethren in 
 this country, after all, are much disposed 
 to fall in with the opinion of Voltaire, 
 that Dieu est toujours sur le cote de$ gros 
 canons. General Scott and an effective 
 blockading squadron will be the true 
 agents to keep the peace abroad, as well 
 as to conquer one at home." It is the 
 old story of diplomacy, and not at all 
 complimentary to human nature. One 
 might think that, as the affairs of men 
 are regarded from these sublime eleva- 
 tions of state, they would lose somewhat 
 of that pettiness of self-interest which 
 adheres to them on a lower scale among 
 
 o 
 
 individuals in private life. The force of 
 the smaller passions, however, does not 
 seem at all abated in the cabinets of 
 princes. There is, perhaps, greater jeal- 
 ousy, more eager desire to take advan- 
 tage of weakness, and a more profound 
 deference to strength and power. The 
 hard divinity of state policy is certainly 
 oii the side of the largest cannons. Man 
 is kinder, more tractable, more generous, 
 by himself than in Senates. 
 
 While Mr. Adams was writing at 
 London the sentences which we have 
 quoted, a dispatch from the Secretary 
 of State, at Washington, was on its way 
 to him, fully reciprocating the peaceful 
 sentiments which he had conveyed. 
 "We are anxious," wrote Mr. Seward, 
 " to avoid all causes of misunderstand- 
 
FOREIGN ARBITRATION. 
 
 457 
 
 ing with Great Britain ; to draw closer, 
 instead of breaking, the existing bonds 
 of amity and friendship. There is noth- 
 ing good or great which both nations 
 may not expect to attain or effect if 
 they remain friends. It would be a 
 hazardous day for both the branches of 
 the British race when they should deter- 
 mine to try how much harm each could 
 do the other." 
 
 To an intimation from the British gov- 
 ernment, about the same time, of their 
 willingness to act the part of mediator, 
 if it should be desired, the Secretary 
 of State replied, in the name of the 
 President, that the United States could 
 neither solicit nor accept mediation from 
 any, even the most friendly quarter. 
 ''The conditions of society here," was 
 his language, " the character of our gov- 
 ernment, the exigencies of the country, 
 forbid that any dispute arising among 
 us should ever be referred to foreign 
 arbitration. We are a Republican and 
 American people. The Constitution of 
 our government furnishes all needful 
 means for the correction or removal of 
 any possible political evil. Adhering 
 strictly, as we do, to its directions, we 
 shall surmount all our present compli- 
 cations, and preserve the Government 
 complete, perfect and sound, for the 
 benefit of future generations. But the 
 integrity of any nation is lost, and its 
 fate becomes doubtful, whenever strange 
 hands and instruments, unknown to the 
 Constitution, are employed to perform 
 the proper functions of the people, es- 
 tablished by the organic laws of the 
 SUite." * 
 
 It may be regarded as a commentary, 
 a thoughtful aside to this declaration, 
 
 * Mr. Seward to Mr Adams, June 19, 1861. Papers 
 Relating to Foreign Affairs, p. 92. 
 
 58 
 
 that a prophetic intimation was added, 
 "by way of satisfying the British Gov- 
 ernment, that it will do wisely by leav- 
 ing us to manage and settle this domestic 
 controversy in our own way." The 
 somewhat enigmatic utterance the. Se- 
 cretary was thought by some to affect 
 the oracular was this : " The fountains 
 of discontent in any society are many, 
 and some lie much deeper than others. 
 Thus far this unhappy controversy has 
 disturbed only those which are nearest 
 the surface. There are others which 
 lie still deeper, that may yet remain, as, 
 we hope, long undisturbed. If they 
 should be reached, no one can tell how 
 or when they could be closed. It was 
 foreign intervention that opened, and 
 that alone could open, similar fountains 
 in the remarkable French revolution." * 
 A month later, Secretary Seward 
 writes again, after Congress had recom- 
 mended the closing of the insurrection- 
 ary ports, accepting the position of 
 England, in its practical recognition 
 of American sovereignty, theoretically 
 questioned in the Queen's Proclamation, 
 but adding, at the same time, in the 
 spirit of his former communication, this 
 passage: "I cannot leave the subject 
 without endeavoring once more, as I 
 have so often done before, to induce the 
 British government to realize the con- 
 viction that the policy of the govern- 
 ment is one that is based on interests 
 of the greatest importance, and senti- 
 ments of the highest value, and, there- 
 fore, is in no case likely to be changed, 
 whatever may be the varying features of 
 the war at home, or the actions of 
 foreign nations on this subject, while 
 the policy of foreign States rests on 
 ephemeral interests of commerce or of 
 
 * Ibid. 
 
458 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ambition merely. The policy of these 
 United States is not a creature of the 
 Government, but an inspiration of the 
 people, while the policies of foreign 
 States are at the choice mainly of the 
 governments presiding over them. If 
 through error, on whatever side this 
 civil contention shall transcend the na- 
 tional bounds, and involve foreign States, 
 the energies of all commercial nations, 
 including our own, will necessarily be 
 turned to war, and a general carnival 
 of the adventurous and reckless of all 
 countries, at the cost of the existing 
 commerce of the world, must ensue. 
 Beyond that painful scene, upon the seas 
 there lie, but dimly concealed from our 
 vision, scenes of devastation and deso- 
 lation which will leave no roots remain- 
 ing, out of which trade with the United 
 States and Great Britain, as it has here- 
 tofore flourished, can ever again spring 
 up." * 
 
 By the side of these representations 
 and explanations, there was an import- 
 ant negotiation in hand between the two 
 governments, in reference to the accept- 
 ance or adherence to by America of 
 certain articles of the Treaty of Paris in 
 the year 1836, involving a question of 
 great humanity, relating to the practice 
 of war on the high seas. It was then 
 mutually agreed, between the contract- 
 ing parties, Great Britain, Austria, 
 France, Eussia, Prussia, Sardinia and 
 Turkey : 1st, that privateering is abol- 
 ished ; 2d, that the neutral flag cover 
 enemy's goods, except contraband of 
 war ; 3d, that neutral goods, with the 
 same exception, are not liable to cap- 
 ture under an enemy's flag ; 4th, that 
 blockades, to be binding, must be ef- 
 fective. Other States, not a party to 
 
 * Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams, July 21, 1861. 
 
 the treaty, were invited to accede to 
 these propositions. The subject came 
 before the United States in the adminis- 
 tration of President Pierce, when Mr. 
 Marcy, the Secretary of State, express- 
 ed the willingness of the Government to 
 accept the propositions provided a fifth 
 was added, exempting the private prop- 
 erty of belligerents from seizure on the 
 high seas. Thus amended, the proposi- 
 tions were laid before the governments 
 of England and France. Before any 
 action was had Mr. Buchanan succeeded 
 to the Presidency, and discontinued the 
 negotiation. Nothing further was done 
 till Mr. Seward, in the month following 
 the inauguration of President Lincoln, 
 reopened the matter, by addressing a 
 circular to the new minister of the 
 United States, sent to the States of 
 Europe, requiring them to bring the 
 subject before the States to which they 
 were accredited, and offer the accept- 
 ance by the United States of the propo- 
 sitions, as originally proposed to them.* 
 The amendment of Mr. Marcy would, of 
 course, be desirable, but as there was lit- 
 tle probability of gaining that at present, 
 it might be omitted. Under this direction 
 Mr. Adams at Paris, and Mr. Dayton at 
 London, began negotiations with the re- 
 spective governments. Lord John Rus- 
 sell, the English minister, at once ex- 
 pressed a desire to entertain the matter, 
 but threw the arrangement upon the 
 legation at Washington, which, not being 
 empowered, sent it back to London. In 
 Paris Mr. Dayton hoped to obtain the 
 Marcy addition, but this M. Thouvenel 
 the minister, refused, when, having been 
 bandied about for two months between 
 London and Washington, between Eng- 
 land and France, the propositions, " pure 
 
 * Circular, April 24, 1861. 
 
THE TREATY OF PARIS. 
 
 459 
 
 and simple," as originally offered by the 
 Treaty of Paris, seemed, at the end of 
 July, on the point of adjustment. At the 
 last moment Lord John Russell inter- 
 posed the modest looking provision : "I 
 need scarcely add that, on the part of 
 Great Britain, the engagement will be 
 prospective, and will not invalidate any- 
 thing already done."* The whole was 
 now finally submitted to Mr. Seward, 
 who at once saw the significance of the 
 Russell proviso. Subjecting the latter 
 to an acute examination, he required 
 that an explanation should be asked 
 from its author. Before this request 
 reached London, Lord John Russell had 
 answered the question in the draft of a 
 declaration to be appended to the treaty. 
 It was that, " in affixing his signature to 
 the Convention, Earl Russell declares, 
 by order of her Majesty, that her Majes- 
 ty does not intend thereby to undertake 
 any engagement which shall have any 
 bearing, direct or indirect, on the inter- 
 nal differences now prevailing in the 
 United States." In other words, the 
 treaty was to be made subject to the 
 already conceded "belligerent rights" 
 whatever they might be of the 
 Southern rebellion. The treaty, " pure 
 and simple," was evidently in conflict 
 with the view which Great Britain 
 thought proper to entertain of the 
 sovereignty of the United States. There 
 were various diplomatic objections to 
 this mutilated form of a convention, 
 beside the covert blow at the integrity 
 of the Union. Mr. Adams needed no 
 consultation with Washington on a qual- 
 ification which he could not fail to re- 
 mind Lord Russell " would scarcely 
 fail to be regarded by many unfavorably 
 
 * Lord John Russell to Mr. Adams. July 81, 1861. 
 Papers on Foreign Affairs, p. 110. 
 
 disposed persons as more or less directly 
 an insult to the nation in its present dis- 
 tress." He rejected it at once. The 
 Government at Washington, of course, 
 acquiesced in the decision. "To admit 
 such a new article," wrote Mr. Seward, 
 "would, for the first time in the history of 
 the United States, be to permit a foreign 
 power to take cognizance of, and adjust 
 its relations upon assumed internal and 
 purely domestic differences existing with- 
 in our own country. I forbear purposely, " 
 he added, "from a review of the past 
 correspondence, to ascertain the relative 
 responsibilities of the parties for this 
 failure of negotiation, from which I had 
 hoped results would flow beneficial, not 
 only to the two nations, but to the whole 
 world beneficial not in the present age 
 only, but in future ages. It is my desire 
 that we may withdraw from the subject, 
 carrying away no feelings of passion, 
 prejudice or jealousy, so that in some 
 happier time it may be resumed, and the 
 important objects of the proposed con- 
 vention may be fully secured. I believe 
 that that propitious time is even now not 
 distant ; and I will hope that when it 
 comes, Great Britain, will not only will- 
 ingly and unconditionally accept the ad- 
 hesion of the United States to all the 
 benignant articles of the declaration of 
 the Congress of Paris, but will even go 
 further, and, relinquishing her present 
 objections, consent, as the United States 
 have so constantly invited, that the pri- 
 vate property, not contraband, of citizens 
 and subjects of nations in collision, shall 
 be exempted from confiscation equally in 
 warfare waged on the land and in war- 
 fare waged upon the seas, which are the 
 common highways of all nations."* 
 Whilst these discussions and negotia- 
 
 * Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. Sept. 7, 1861. 
 
460 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tions were going on with the various 
 powers of Europe, one among them, in 
 particular, separated by her position and 
 the interests of her vast empire from any 
 political or industrial rivalry with the 
 United States, Russia, allied to the new 
 world by her parallel territorial great- 
 ness and ambition of future grandeur, 
 stood prepared to sympathize with the 
 difficulties and embarrassments of the 
 Government at Washington. In his first 
 instructions to the new minister, Mr. 
 Clay, Mr. Seward had eloquently dwelt 
 upon the position of the two countries. 
 "Nations," said he, "like individuals, 
 have three prominent wants : first, free- 
 dom ; . secondly, prosperity ; thirdly, 
 friends. The United States early secured 
 the two first objects by the exercise of 
 courage and enterprise. But although 
 they have always practiced singular 
 moderation, they nevertheless have been 
 slow in winning friends. Russia presents 
 an exceptional case. That power was 
 an early, and it has always been a con- 
 stant friend. This relationship between 
 two nations, so remote and so unlike, has 
 excited much surprise, but the explana- 
 tion is obvious. Russia, like the United 
 States, is an improving and expanding 
 empire. Its track is eastward, while 
 that of the United States is westward. 
 The two nations, therefore, never come 
 into rivalry or conflict. Each carries 
 civilization to the new regions it enters, 
 and each finds itself occasionally resisted 
 by states jealous of its prosperity, or 
 alarmed by its aggrandisement. Russia 
 and the United States may remain good 
 friends until, each having made a circuit 
 of half the globe in opposite directions, 
 they shall meet and greet each other in 
 the region where civilization first began, 
 and where, after so many ages, it has 
 
 become now lethargic and helpless. It 
 will be your pleasing duty to confirm 
 and strengthen these traditional relations 
 of amity and friendship." * 
 
 The reception of Mr. Clay on the part 
 of the Emperor was marked by its cor- 
 diality. The American minister stated 
 that the people whom he represented 
 "looked with profound sympathy upon 
 the great reforms which his Majesty was 
 attempting in his empire, which, without 
 considering the philanthropic view of the 
 movement, by building up a middle class, 
 he would add more to the physical power 
 of his country than did Peter the Grea' 
 by consolidation and extension ; and 
 that the success of his enterprise would, 
 in the estimation of the western na- 
 tions, place him even above that great 
 ruler." 
 
 To this the Emperor responded through 
 his minister, Prince Gortchacow, when 
 the formalities of the interview were re- 
 laxed by a little unceremonious conver- 
 sation with regard to that recent foe of 
 Russia, Great Britain. " The Emperor," 
 writes Mr. Clay in his report of the re- 
 ception, " wanted to know if I thought 
 England would interfere. I told him we 
 did not care what she did ; that her in- 
 terference would tend to unite us the 
 more ; that we fought the South with 
 reluctance ; we were much intermarried, 
 and of a common history ; but that the 
 course of England had aroused our sen- 
 sibilities towards her in no very pleasant 
 manner. The Emperor seemed to like 
 my seeming defiance of old ' John Bull ' 
 very much."f 
 
 The " liberal, friendly and magnani- 
 mous sentiments" of the Emperor, as 
 they were acknowledged by Mr. Seward, 
 
 * Mr. Seward to Mr. Clay. Washington, May 6, 186L 
 f Mr. Clay to Mr. Seward. St. Petersburg, June 21, 1861 
 
DESPATCH OF PRINCE GORTCHACOW. 
 
 461 
 
 were presently shown in the earnest 
 words of sympathy and counsel which 
 he caused to be addressed to the Pres- 
 ident of the United States and to the 
 American people, through his Ministers 
 at St. Petersburg and Washington. 
 This document, which will always be 
 regarded as one of the most interesting 
 State papers which this crisis brought 
 forth, addressed by Prince Gortchacow 
 to Mr. De Stoeckl, was dated July 10, 
 1861, and read as follows : " Sir : From 
 the beginning of the conflict which di- 
 vides the United States of America, you 
 have been desired to make known to the 
 Federal Government the deep interest 
 with which our august master was ob- 
 serving the development of a crisis which 
 puts in question the prosperity and even 
 the existence of the Union. The Em- 
 peror profoundly regrets to see that the 
 hope of a peaceful solution is not real- 
 ized, and that American citizens, already 
 in arms against each other, are ready to 
 let loose upon their country the most 
 formidable of the scourges of political 
 society a civil war. For the more than 
 eighty years that it has existed, the 
 American Union owes its independence, 
 its towering rise, and its progress to the 
 concord of its members, consecrated, un- 
 der the auspices of its illustrious founder, 
 by institutions which have been able to 
 reconcile union with liberty. This union 
 has been fruitful. It has exhibited to 
 the world the spectacle of a prosperity 
 without example in the annals of history. 
 It would be deplorable that, after so con- 
 clusive an experience, the United States 
 should be hurried into a breach of the 
 solemn compact which, up to this time, 
 has made their power. In spite of the 
 diversity of their constitutions and of 
 their interests, and perhaps, even, be- 
 
 cause of this diversity, Providence seems 
 to urge them to draw closer the tra- 
 ditional bond which is the basis and 
 the very condition of their political ex- 
 istence. In any event, the sacrifices 
 which they might impose upon them- 
 selves to maintain it are beyond com- 
 parison with those which dissolution 
 would bring after it. United, they perfect 
 themselves ; isolated, they are paralyzed. 
 The struggle which unhappily has just 
 arisen can neither be indefinitely pro- 
 longed, nor lead to the total destruction 
 of one of the parties. Sooner or later it 
 will be necessary to come to some set- 
 tlement, whatsoever it may be, which 
 may cause the divergent interests now 
 actually in conflict to coexist. The 
 American nation would then give a 
 proof of high political wisdom in seeking 
 in common such a settlement before 
 a useless effusion of blood, a barren 
 squandering of strength and of public 
 riches, and acts of violence and recipro- 
 cal reprisals shall have come to deepen 
 an abyss between the two parties to the 
 Confederation, to end definitively in their 
 mutual exhaustion, and in the ruin, per- 
 haps irreparable, of their commercial 
 and political power. 
 
 " Our august master cannot resign 
 himself to admit such deplorable an- 
 ticipations. His Imperial Majesty still 
 places his confidence in that practical 
 good sense of the citizens of the Union 
 who appreciate so judiciously their true 
 interests. His Majesty is happy to be- 
 lieve that the members of the Federal 
 Government, and the influential men of 
 the two parties, will seize all occasions 
 and will unite all their efforts to calm 
 the effervescence of the passions. There 
 are no interests so divergent that it may 
 not be possible to reconcile them by 
 
462 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 laboring to that end with zeal and per- 
 severance, in a spirit of justice and mod- 
 eration. If, within the limits of your 
 friendly relations, your language and 
 your councils may contribute to this 
 result, you will respond, sir, to the in- 
 tentions of his Majesty the Emperor in 
 devoting to this the personal influence 
 which you may have been able to ac- 
 quire during your long residence at 
 Washington, and the consideration which 
 belongs to your character, as the repre- 
 sentative of a sovereign animated by 
 the most friendly sentiments towards the 
 American Union. This Union is not 
 simply, in our eyes, an element essential 
 to the universal political equilibrium. 
 It constitutes, besides, a nation to which 
 our august master, and all Russia, have 
 pledged the most friendly interest ; for 
 the two countries, placed at the ex- 
 tremities of the two worlds, both in the 
 ascending period of their development, 
 appear called to a natural community of 
 
 interests and of sympathies, of which 
 they have already given mutual proofs 
 to each other. I do not wish here to 
 approach any of the questions which 
 divide the United States. We are not 
 called upon to express ourselves in this 
 contest. The preceding considerations 
 have no other object than to attest the 
 lively solicitude of the Emperor in pres- 
 ence of the dangers which menace the 
 American Union, and the sincere wishes 
 which his Majesty entertains for the 
 maintenance of that great work, so la- 
 boriously raised, which appeared so rich 
 in its future. It is in this sense, sir, 
 that I desire you to express yourself, as 
 well to the members of the general Gov- 
 ernment as to influential persons whom 
 you may meet, giving them the assur- 
 ance that, in every event, the American 
 nation may count upon the most cordial 
 sympathy on the part of our august 
 master during the important crisis which 
 it is passing through at present." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT AT RICHMOND. 
 
 THE Confederate Congress met in its 
 first session at Richmond, in the hall of 
 the Virginia House of Delegates on the 
 20th of July, the day preceding the bat- 
 tle of Bull Run. About seventy mem- 
 bers were present. The Message deliv- 
 ered by President Davis on the occasion 
 of the opening was brief, and was chiefly 
 occupied with an angry criticism of the 
 recent Message of President Lincoln on 
 the opening of the national Congress, 
 with various harsh comments on the con- 
 duct of the war by the United States. 
 
 After congratulating the members on the 
 accession of the new States, "our loved 
 and honored brethren of North Carolina 
 and Tennessee," and Arkansas and Vir- 
 ginia which had consummated the action 
 uniting them to " our Confederation of 
 free and equally sovereign States," and 
 announcing the removal of the archives 
 to the new seat of government, President 
 Davis proceeded: "Immediately after 
 your adjournment, the aggressive move- 
 ments of the enemy required prompt, 
 energetic action. The accumulation of 
 
MESSAGE OF JEFFERSON DAYIS. 
 
 463 
 
 his forces on the Potomac sufficient!}" 
 demonstrated that his efforts were to be 
 directed against Virginia, and from no 
 point could necessary measures for her 
 defence and protection be so effectively 
 decided as from her own capital. The 
 rapid progress of events, for the last few 
 weeks, has fully sufficed to lift the veil 
 behind which the true policy and pur- 
 poses of the Government of the United 
 States had been previously concealed. 
 Their odious features now stand fully 
 revealed. The Message of their Presi- 
 dent, and the action of their Congress 
 during the present month, confess their 
 intention of the subjugation of these 
 States by a war, by which it is impossi- 
 ble to attain the proposed result, while 
 its dire calamities, not to be avoided by 
 us, will fall with double severity on 
 themselves. Commencing in March last 
 with the affectation of ignoring the seces- 
 sion of seven States, which first organ- 
 ized the Government ; persevering in 
 April in the idle and absurd assumption 
 of the existence of a riot, which was to 
 be dispersed by a posse comitatus ; con- 
 tinuing in successive months the false 
 representation that these States intended 
 an offensive war, in spite of conclusive 
 evidence to the contrary, furnished as 
 well by official action as by the very 
 basis on which this Government is con- 
 stituted, the President of the United 
 States and his advisers succeeded in de- 
 ceiving the people of these States into 
 the belief that the purpose of this gov- 
 ernment was not peace at home, but con- 
 quest abroad ; not defence of its own 
 liberties, but subversion of those of the 
 people of the United States. The series 
 of manoeuvres by which this impression 
 was created ; the art with which they 
 were devised, and the perfidy with 
 
 which they were executed, were already 
 known to you ; but yor could scarcely 
 have supposed that they would be openly 
 avowed, and their success made the sub- 
 ject of boast and self-laudation in an ex- 
 ecutive message. Fortunately for truth 
 and history, however, the President of 
 the United States details, with minute- 
 ness, the attempt to reinforce Fort Pick- 
 ens, in violation of an armistice of which 
 he confessed to have been informed, but 
 only by rumors, too vague and uncertain 
 to fix the attention of the hostile expedi- 
 tion despatched to supply Fort Sumter, 
 admitted to have been undertaken with 
 the knowledge that its success was im- 
 possible. The sending of a notice to the 
 Governor of South Carolina of his inten- 
 tion to use force to accomplish his ob- 
 ject, and then quoting from his inaugural 
 address the assurance that " there could 
 be no conflict unless these States were 
 the aggressors," he proceeds to declare 
 his conduct, as just related by himself, 
 was the performance of a promise, so 
 free from the power of ingenious sophis- 
 try as that the world should not be able 
 to misunderstand it ; and in defiance of 
 his own statement that he gave notice of 
 the approach of a hostile fleet, he charges 
 these States with becoming the assailants 
 of the United States, without a gun in 
 sight, or in expectancy, to return their 
 fire, save only a few in the fort. He is, 
 indeed, fully justified in saying that the 
 case is so free from the power of ingeni- 
 ous sophistry that the world will not be 
 able to misunderstand it. Under cover 
 of this unfounded pretence, that the 
 Confederate States are the assailants, 
 that high functionary, after expressing 
 his concern that some foreign nations had 
 so shaped their action as if they sup- 
 posed the early destruction of the national 
 
464 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Union probable, abandons all further 
 disguise, and proposes to make this con- 
 test a short and decisive one, by placing 
 at the control of the Government for the 
 work at least four hundred thousand 
 men, and four hundred millions of dol- 
 lars. The Congress, concurring in the 
 doubt thus intimated as to the sufficiency 
 of the force demanded, has increased it 
 to half a million of men. These enor- 
 mous- preparations in men and money, 
 for the conduct of the war, on a scale 
 more grand than any which the new 
 world ever witnessed, is a distinct avow- 
 al, in the eyes of civilized man, that the 
 United States are engaged in a conflict 
 with a great and powerful nation. They 
 are at last compelled to abandon the 
 pretence of being engaged in dispersing 
 rioters and suppressing insurrections, and 
 are driven to the acknowledgment that 
 the ancient Union has been dissolved. 
 They recognize the separate existence 
 Df these Confederate States, by an inter- 
 dictive embargo and blockade of all 
 commerce between them and the United 
 States, not only by sea, but by land not 
 only in ships, but in cars ; not only with 
 those who bear arms, but with the entire 
 population of the Confederate States. 
 Finally, they have repudiated the foolish 
 conceit that the inhabitants of this Con- 
 federacy are still citizens of the United 
 States ; for they are waging an indis- 
 criminate war upon them all, with savage 
 ferocity, unknown in modern civiliza- 
 tion." 
 
 "In this war," he- continued, with a 
 strange denial of the humane policy uni- 
 versally adopted by the national Govern- 
 ment, and abundantly set forth in the 
 proclamations of the commanding officers, 
 " rapine is the rule ; private houses, in 
 beautiful rural retreats, are bombarded i 
 
 and burnt ; grain crops in the field are 
 consumed by the torch, and, when the 
 torch is not convenient, careful labor is 
 bestowed to render complete the destruc- 
 tion of every article of use or ornament 
 remaining in private dwellings after their 
 inhabitants have fled from the outrages 
 of brute soldiery. In 1781, Great Brit- 
 ain, when invading the revolted colonies, 
 took possession of every district and 
 county near Fortress Monroe, now occu- 
 pied by the troops of the United States. 
 The houses then inhabited by the people, 
 after being respected and protected loy 
 avowed invaders, are now pillaged and 
 destroyed by men who pretend that Vir- 
 ginians are their fellow-citizens. Man- 
 kind will shudder at the tales of the out- 
 rages committed on defenceless families 
 by soldiers of the United States now in- 
 vading our homes ; yet these outrages 
 are prompted -by inflamed passions and 
 the madness of intoxication. But who 
 shall depict the horror they entertain for 
 the cool and deliberate malignancy 
 which, under the pretext of suppressing 
 insurrection (said by themselves to be 
 upheld by a minority only of our people), 
 makes special war on the sick, including 
 children and women, by carefully-devised 
 measures to prevent them from obtaining 
 the medicines necessary for their cure. 
 The sacred claims of humanity, respected 
 even during the fury of actual battle, by 
 careful diversion of attack from hospitals 
 containing wounded enemies, are out- 
 raged in cold blood by a Government 
 and people that pretend to desire a con- 
 tinuance of fraternal connections. All 
 these outrages must remain unavenged 
 by the universal reprehension of man- 
 kind. In all cases where the actual per- 
 petrators of the wrongs escape capture, 
 they admit of no retaliation. The hu- 
 
THE PRIVATEERSMEX. 
 
 465 
 
 manity of our people would shrink in- 
 stinctively from the bare idea of urging 
 a like war upon the sick, the women, 
 and the children of an enemy." 
 
 He then spoke in particular of the 
 course pursued by the Government at 
 Washington in the treatment of the pri- 
 vateersmen of the Confederacy as pirates, 
 and of the measures which he had adopt- 
 ed in return. "There are other savage 
 practices," said he, " which have been 
 resorted to by the Government of the 
 United States, which do admit of repres- 
 sion by retaliation, and I have been 
 driven to the necessity of enforcing the 
 repression. The prisoners of war taken 
 by the enemy on board the armed 
 schooner Savannah, sailing under our 
 commission, were, as I was credibly ad- 
 vised, treated like common felons, put in 
 irons, confined in a jail usually appropri- 
 ated to criminals of the worst dye, and 
 threatened with punishment as such. I 
 had made application for the exchange 
 of these prisoners to the commanding 
 officer of the enemy's squadron off 
 Charleston, but that officer had already 
 sent the prisoners to New York when 
 application was made. I therefore deem- 
 ed it my duty to renew the proposal for 
 the exchange to the constitutional com- 
 mander-in-chief of the army and navy 
 of the United States, the only officer 
 having control of the prisoners. To this 
 end, I despatched an officer to him under 
 a flag of truce, and in making the pro- 
 posal, I informed President Lincoln of 
 my resolute purpose to check all barbar- 
 ities on prisoners of war by such sever- 
 ity of retaliation on prisoners held by 
 us as should secure the abandonment of 
 the practice. This communication was 
 received and read by an officer in com- 
 mand of the United States forces, and a 
 59 
 
 message was brought from him by the 
 bearer of my communication, that a reply 
 would be returned by President Lincoln 
 as soon as possible. I earnestly hope 
 this promised reply (which has not yet 
 been received) will convey the assurance 
 that prisoners of war will be treated, in 
 this unhappy contest, with 'that regard 
 for humanity which has made such con- 
 spicuous progress in the conduct of mod- 
 ern warfare. As measures of precau- 
 tion, however, and until this promised 
 reply is received, I still retain in close 
 custody some officers captured from the 
 enemy, whom it had been my pleasure 
 previously to set at large on parole, and 
 whose fate must necessarily depend on 
 that of prisoners held by the enemy." 
 
 Returning again to President Lincoln's 
 Message, he says : " There are some 
 other passages in the remarkable paper 
 to which I have directed your attention 
 having reference to the peculiar relations 
 which exist between this government 
 and the States usually termed the Border 
 Slave States, which cannot properly be 
 withheld from notice. The hearts of 
 our people are animated by sentiments 
 toward the inhabitants of these States, 
 which found expression in your enact- 
 ment refusing to consider them enemies, 
 or authorize hostilities against them. 
 That a very large portion of the people 
 of these States regard us as brethren ; 
 that, if unrestrained by the actual pre- 
 sence of large armies, subversion of civil 
 authority, and declaration of martial law, 
 some of them, at least, would joyfully 
 unite with us ; that they are, with almost 
 .entire unanimity, opposed to the prose- 
 cution of the war waged against us, are 
 facts of which daily-recurring events fully 
 warrant the assertion that the President 
 of the United States refuses to recognize 
 
466 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 in these, our late sister States, the right 
 of refraining from attack upon us, and 
 justifies his refusal by the assertion that 
 the States have no other power than that 
 reserved to them in the Union by the 
 Constitution. Now, one of them having 
 ever been a State of the Union, this 
 view of the Constitutional relations be- 
 tween the States and the General Gov- 
 ernment is a fitting introduction to an- 
 other assertion of the Message, that the 
 executive possesses power of suspending 
 the writ of habeas corpus, and of delegat- 
 ing that power to military commanders 
 at their discretion. And both these pro- 
 positions claim a respect equal to that 
 which is felt for the additional statement 
 of opinion in the same paper that it is 
 proper, in order to execute the laws, 
 that some single law, made in such ex- 
 treme tenderness of citizens' liberty that 
 practically it relieves more of the guilty 
 than the innocent, should to a very lim- 
 ited extent be violated. We may well 
 rejoice that we have forever severed our 
 connection with a Government that thus 
 trampled on all principles of constitu- 
 tional liberty, and with a people in 
 whose presence such avowals could be 
 hazarded." 
 
 After this earnest congratulation on 
 the felicity of the Confederate States, the 
 Message alludes to the measures ren- 
 dered necessary for the increase of the 
 army, exhibits the prosperous condition 
 of the crops, takes a favorable view of 
 the finances, and closes with the promise 
 of an obstinate and protracted war. 
 " The operations in the field will be 
 greatly extended by reason of the policy 
 which heretofore has been secretly enter- 
 tained, and is now avowed and acted on 
 by us. The forces hitherto raised pro- 
 vide amply for the defence of seven 
 
 States, which originally organized in the 
 Confederacy, and is evidently the fact, 
 since, with the exception of three for- 
 tified islands, whose defence is efficiently 
 aided by a preponderating naval force, 
 the enemy has been driven completely 
 out of those stations ; and now, at the 
 expiration of five months from the form- 
 ation of the government, not a single 
 hostile foot presses their soil. These 
 forces, however, must necessarily prove 
 inadequate to repel invasion by the 
 half million of men now proposed by the 
 enemy, and a corresponding increase of 
 our forces will become necessary. In 
 my message, delivered in April last, I 
 referred to the promise of the abundant 
 crops with which we were cheered. The 
 grain crops, generally, have since been 
 harvested, and the yield has proven to 
 be the most abundant ever known in our 
 history. Many believe the supply ade- 
 quate to two years' consumption of our 
 population. Cotton, sugar, tobacco, 
 forming a surplus of the production of 
 our agriculture, and furnishing the basis 
 of our commercial interchange, present 
 the most cheering promises ever known. 
 Providence has smiled on the labor which 
 extracts the teeming wealth of our soil 
 in all parts of our Confederacy. It is 
 the more gratifying to be able to give 
 you this, because, in need of large and 
 increased expenditure, in support of our 
 army, elevated and purified by a sacred 
 cause, they maintain that our fellow- 
 citizens, of every condition of life, ex- 
 hibit most self-sacrificing devotion. They 
 manifest a laudable pride of upholding 
 their independence, unaided by any re- 
 sources other than their own, and the 
 immense wealth which a fertilized and ge- 
 nial climate has accumulated in this Con- 
 federacy of agriculturists, could not be 
 
THE VICTORY AT MANASSAS. 
 
 4G7 
 
 more strongly displayed than in the large 
 revenues which, with eagerness, they 
 have contributed to the call of their 
 country. In the single article of cotton, 
 the subscriptions to the loan proposed by 
 the Government, cannot fall short of 
 fifty millions of dollars, and will proba- 
 bly exceed that sum ; and scarcely an 
 article required for the consumption of 
 our army is provided otherwise than by 
 subscription to the produce loan, so hap- 
 pily devised by your wisdom. The Sec- 
 retary of the Treasury, in his report 
 submitted to you, will give you the 
 amplest details connected with that 
 branch of the public service ; but it is 
 not alone in their prompt pecuniary con- 
 tributions that the noble race of freemen 
 who inhabit these States evidence how 
 worthy they are of those liberties which 
 they so well know how to defend. In 
 numbers far exceeding those authorized 
 by your laws, they have pressed the 
 tender of their services against the 
 enemy. Their attitude of calm and sub- 
 lime devotion to their country, the cool 
 and confident courage with which they 
 are already preparing to meet the in- 
 vasion, in whatever proportions it may 
 assume ; the assurance that their sacri- 
 fices and their services will be renewed 
 from year to year with unfailing purpose, 
 until they have made good to the utter- 
 most their rights of self-government ; the 
 generous and almost unequivocal con- 
 fidence which they display in their gov- 
 ernment during the pending struggle, all 
 combine to present a spectacle, such as 
 the world has rarely, if ever, seen. To 
 speak of subjugating such a people, so 
 united and determined, is to speak in a 
 language incomprehensible to them ; to 
 resist attack on their rights or their 
 liberties is with them an instinct. 
 
 Whether this war shall last one, or 
 three, or five years, is a problem they 
 leave to be solved by the enemy alone. 
 It will last till the enemy have with- 
 drawn from their borders ; till their 
 political rights, their altars, and theii 
 homes are freed from invasion. Then, 
 and then only, will they rest from this 
 struggle, and enjoy, in peace, the bless- 
 ings which, with the favor of Provid- 
 ence, they have secured by the aid of 
 their own strong hearts and steady 
 arms." 
 
 The victory achieved at Bull Run, fol- 
 lowing so close upon the opening of the 
 session, was of course received with en- 
 thusiasm by the Congress. Immediately 
 after the reading of the letter of Pres- 
 ident Davis from the battle field, given 
 on a previous page,* Mr. Memminger, 
 of South Carolina, offered the following 
 stirring resolutions, which were unani- 
 mously adopted: "Resolved, that we 
 recognize the hand of the Most High 
 God, the King of Kings, and Lord of 
 Lords, in the glorious victory with which 
 He hath crowned our army at Manassas ; 
 and that the people of the Confederate 
 States are invited, by appropriate ser- 
 vices, on the ensuing Sabbath, to offer 
 up their united thanksgiving and praise 
 for this mighty deliverance. Resolved, 
 that, deeply deploring the necessity 
 which has washed the soil of our 
 country with the blood of so many of 
 her noblest sons, we offer to their re- 
 spective families and friends our warm- 
 est and most cordial sympathy, assuring 
 them that the sacrifice made will be con- 
 secrated in the hearts of our people, and 
 will there enshrine the names of the gal- 
 lant dead, as the champions of free and 
 constitutional liberty." In respect foi 
 
 Ante, p. 402. 
 
468 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the event, Congress, after the passage 
 of the Resolutions, immediately adjourn- 
 ed. Sunday, the 28th of July, was in 
 accordance with this recommendation, 
 observed in the Confederate States as a 
 day of thanksgiving ; thus giving a new 
 religious sanction and energy to the war, 
 or at least enlisting the aid of the clergy 
 in the cause, and promoting a public 
 opinion in favor of a vigorous prosecu- 
 tion of the conflict. 
 
 At a meeting at New Orleans the day 
 following the " Thanksgiving," in aid of 
 the soldiers wounded at Manassas, pre- 
 sided over by Gen. W. A. Elmore, the 
 Rev. Dr. Palmer again addressed the 
 assembly. He did not believe, he said, 
 this would be a protracted war. " Pro- 
 tracted wars did not prevail among the 
 civilized nations of the earth, but only 
 among barbarians. Such a war would 
 bankrupt any nation in one year. Even 
 England, in the war with the Crimea, 
 found herself pressed and worried to the 
 extreme in furnishing her army with 
 supplies. For what duration of time 
 could the North hope to sustain 400,000 
 men ? As to the issue, the enemy might 
 as well throw their millions into the 
 river as to expect to subjugate us. Our 
 cotton gave us immense power. The 
 millions in Europe depended on it for 
 their bread. As to the blockade, we 
 laughed it to scorn. The war must soon 
 terminate or the civilized nations of 
 Europe must become engaged in it ; 
 and he predicted our independence 
 would be acknowledged before the first 
 day of next year. But we would carry 
 on this war until that end was accom- 
 plished." A resolution of the meeting 
 expressed the conviction, " that we re- 
 cognise in these victories, on the side of 
 liberty, against tyranny and oppression, 
 
 the hand of the same just and righteous 
 God who guided the armies of the 
 country when led by Washington in 
 defence of its liberty ; that our hearts 
 are filled with gratitude to the Most 
 High and Mighty Ruler of the universe, 
 for that signal interposition in our be- 
 half, manifested in the strength and 
 courage given to our soldiers, and the 
 terror which seized upon our enemies." 
 
 The spirit and resolve of the Govern- 
 ment at Washington, in regard to the 
 conduct of the war, representing a cor- 
 respondent determination and energy on 
 the part of the people, could not fail to 
 make its impression upon the councils 
 of the Confederate leaders. Conducted, 
 as the administration of the government 
 at Richmond was, with an extraordinary 
 degree of secrecy and reserve, in com- 
 municating its intentions to the public, 
 we have few opportunities of getting a 
 clear insight into its policy and calcu- 
 lations. There was one occasion, how- 
 ever, on which it became necessary to 
 speak. Military preparations might be 
 made at various quarters, and little be 
 disclosed of the general plan of action ; 
 the machinery of political agitation might 
 be made to work noiselessly in influ- 
 encing and coercing the opinions of the 
 people ; a subtle intangible species of 
 authority over men's minds might be ex- 
 erted without its influence being sus- 
 pected ; but, for one important and in- 
 dispensable proceeding, a certain degree 
 of publicity was absolutely inevitable. 
 A general system of credit could not be 
 established without the public being 
 made a party to the affair. When 
 money was wanted by the hundred mil- 
 lions to carry on the war, it had to 
 be drawn from the pockets of a great 
 many people to whom the least possible 
 
VICE-PRESIDENT STEPHENS' ADDliESS. 
 
 469 
 
 return which could be offered was to 
 present them a sufficient explanation of 
 the transaction. Conscious of the im- 
 portance of this duty, the Confederate 
 government assigned its performance to 
 one of the most skillful and persuasive 
 orators of the Southern States no less 
 a person than Vice-President Stephens 
 who was charged with the task of 
 preparing the minds of the planters for 
 the reception of the scheme of the Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury, for the establish- 
 ment of a basis of credit. On the llth 
 of July, accordingly, Mr. Stephens ad- 
 dressed his fellow-citizens at Augusta, 
 Georgia, in a bold and artfully-planned 
 speech, in which he certainly succeeded 
 in making an unpleasant subject as 
 palatable as possible, by investing it 
 with complimentary political statements 
 and earnest patriotic appeals. Arousing 
 no,v the self-love of his audience, and 
 now their pride, and even their fears, no 
 charity preacher from the pulpit, blend- 
 ing persuasion with authority, ever more 
 adroitly sheathed a financial appeal. 
 The speech, in fact, covered a wide 
 range, and as we have few such ex- 
 hibitions of the plans and expectations 
 of the Confederates, it is well worth 
 while for us here to note its chief topics, 
 and the manner in which they were pre- 
 sented. Throughout the whole of this 
 contest we find no more candid and in- 
 structive commentator than Mr. Ste- 
 phens. 
 
 " My business to-day," said he, stating 
 the object of his mission, "is to unfold to 
 you the exigencies of this war and its 
 requirements. The Congress, it is known 
 to you, provided for raising one hundred 
 thousand men. Nobly, gallantly, and 
 patriotically has that call been respond- 
 ed to, and is now being responded to. 
 
 Thousands and tens of thousands (the 
 exact number I am not ab'e to state to 
 you) have gone to the battle field. These 
 men, however, must be clothed ; they 
 must be fed ; they must be armed ; they 
 must be equipped. Wars can be sus- 
 tained, not by men alone ; it requires 
 men arid money. The gallant volunteers 
 have responded on their part. The 
 questions upon which I am to address 
 you to-day relate to the importance of 
 raising the necessary amounts of money 
 to meet these requisitions. Upon the 
 adjournment of the Congress from Mont- 
 gomery to Richmond, the estimate was 
 for one hundred thousand men for the 
 first fiscal year. The amount estimated 
 by the Secretary of the Treasury to meet 
 the requirements to support an army of 
 this number was fifty millions of dollars 
 a large amount. This amount must 
 be raised. How to do it is the ques- 
 tion. But, since that adjournment, since 
 that estimate, this war has assumed a 
 wider and broader range. It has taken 
 on larger and more gigantic proportions, 
 and instead of one hundred thousand 
 men, we may have to send two hundred 
 thousand to meet the enemy ; instead of 
 fifty millions of dollars, we may have, 
 and the probability is, that we shall 
 have to raise one hundred millions ; and 
 it may be, if it goes on and increases, 
 that we shall have to raise more. The 
 estimate, however, of the Secretary of 
 the Treasury was fifty millions of dol- 
 lars, and whatever number of men, 
 and whatever amount of money, shall 
 be necessary must be raised. We do 
 not intend to be subjugated. Mr. Lin- 
 coln has increased his caH from seventy- 
 five thousand to four hundred thousand 
 men. He has increased his demand for 
 money from the five millions first asked 
 
470 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 for (the amount I do not exactly recol- 
 lect), and asks his Congress, now in 
 session, for four hundred millions of dol- 
 lars. Whether he will raise his men or 
 his money, I know not. All I have to 
 say about it is, that if he raises his four 
 hundred thousand men, we must raise 
 enough to meet him, and if he raises his 
 four hundred millions of money, we must 
 raise enough to meet it." 
 
 Before entering upon the financial 
 part of this proposition, Mr. Stephens 
 roused the minds of his hearers by a 
 glance at the military conditions of the 
 position. "It is a war," said he, "of 
 political and social existence, and unless 
 we intend to be overridden and beaten 
 down and subjugated, and to become the 
 vassals of his mercenaries and myrmi- 
 dons, we must every one of us every 
 man, every boy, and every woman be 
 prepared to do our duty. Our means in 
 men and money are ample to sustain our 
 independence. We have, upon a reason- 
 able estimate, at least seven hundred 
 thousand fighting men. Whether all 
 these will be required to drive back his 
 armed myrmidons I know not ; but if 
 they are, every man must go to the bat- 
 tle-field. He may think, and doubtless 
 does, that four hundred thousand men 
 will intimidate, subjugate, and overrun 
 us. He should recollect, however, as we 
 should, and reverently, too, that the 
 ' race is not to the swift, nor the battle 
 to the strong,' but it is God that gives 
 the victory. Four hundred thousand 
 may be a formidable army against us, 
 but it is not as formidable as the six 
 hundred thousand led by Darius against 
 the Grecian States ; and we there have 
 the example of much fewer numbers than 
 we are, fighting a battle for right, for 
 justice, for independence and for liberty. 
 
 We have an example worthy of our im- 
 itation. Six hundred thousand Persians 
 invaded Greece. These small States 
 could bring ' against them but eleven 
 thousand all told. The eleven thousand 
 met the hosts of Persia, not the six hun- 
 dred thousand, but all that could be 
 brought against them, on the common 
 plain. The eleven thousand, with valor- 
 ous hearts, fighting for home, fighting for 
 country, fighting for everything dear to 
 freemen, put to flight the hosts of Persia, 
 leaving sixty thousand slain upon the 
 field. Men of the South, therefore, let 
 this war assume its gigantic proportions, 
 its most threatening prospects (nerving 
 our hearts with the spirit of our Revolu- 
 tionary fathers, when they were but 
 three millions, and coped with Great 
 Britain, the most powerful nation in the 
 world) animated by these sentiments, 
 fighting for everything dear to us, fear 
 not the result, recollecting that ' thrice 
 armed is he who hath his quarrel just :' 
 and as our fathers, in the bloody conflict 
 of the Revolutionary War, appealed to 
 the God of Battles for success in their 
 cause, so may we, since we have the con- 
 sciousness, in any event, that this is no 
 war of our seeking." 
 
 From' this somewhat stern view of the 
 necessities of battle, the orator pleasant- 
 ly passed to a political disquisition on 
 the origin of the Constitution of the 
 United States, which, he claimed as the 
 work of Southern hands. Madison, he 
 said, was its father, and " not a single 
 pillar in the temple, not a single arch in 
 this great building, was laid or reared, 
 or constructed by Northern men ;" and 
 to this extraordinary assertion was added 
 a declaration equally flattering to his 
 auditors that " during the time of our 
 political existence, the administration of 
 
COTTON THE BASIS OF CREDIT. 
 
 471 
 
 the Government was mostly under 
 Southern hands and Southern policy." 
 The rise of a new party, however, had 
 changed all that ; seven States, "in 
 open, palpable violation" of their obliga- 
 tion to return fugitive slaves, had openly 
 disregarded the Constitution, and it was 
 then that the South, thinking it neces- 
 sary to look out for new safeguards of 
 security, had "resumed her sovereign 
 power." They were now in the position 
 of their Revolutionary fathers, asking 
 to govern themselves as they pleased a 
 principle which the orator, for one, 
 "would never surrender, though every 
 valley from here to the Potomac should 
 run with Southern blood, and every hill- 
 top be bleached with Southern bones. 
 Home, firesides, life, friends, and luxuries 
 are dear, but there is something dearer to 
 a true man than life, and home, and all. 
 It is honor and independence. Let the 
 enemy, therefore, make his calculation as 
 wide and broad as he pleases. I say 
 every true Southern heart is impressed 
 with the magnitude of the responsibility 
 that now rests upon us ; and let every 
 man be nerved to meet that responsibil- 
 ity at any and every cost. Our fathers 
 pledged life, honor, and fortune for this 
 principle, and I know we are not the 
 degenerate sons, nor are we the degen- 
 erate daughters of the noble matrons of 
 that day, that would sacrifice, lose, or 
 surrender these principles at a less cost." 
 Having thus travelled round to the 
 point with which he set out a proper 
 provision of the sinews of war Mr. 
 Stephens applied himself directly to his 
 main intention the attack upon the 
 cotton crop of the planters, which he 
 thus strategetically conducted: "The 
 men," said he, "are ample ; the means 
 to support them is the subject upon 
 
 which I am to address to you, and how is 
 the money to be raised? War, I tell 
 you, costs treasure as well as blood. 
 Have we the means ? Can we cope with 
 the North ? that is the question. We 
 have not less than four thousand millions 
 of taxable property within the Confeder- 
 ate States, upon the last minimum estim- 
 ate. At last year's rates, we therefore 
 could raise from one hundred millions to 
 two hundred millions for years to come, 
 and yet survive. The wealth of nations, 
 the ability of nations to sustain war, de- 
 pends not so much upon its taxable pro- 
 perty as its productive capital. It is to 
 the latter we must look for the means 
 and ability to sustain war, for in times 
 of war generally all business is inter- 
 rupted. In this particular of productive 
 capital, perhaps there is no people in the 
 world more favored under heaven, and 
 for which we ought to be grateful, not 
 boastful, and it is one of those blessings 
 for which we should return thanks. No 
 nation in the world, with the same pop- 
 ulation, has such a continuous annual 
 productive capital. I have not stated 
 the wealth of the North ; but it is not 
 my purpose to detract from it. They 
 were a people of wealth. Most of it. 
 however, came li'om their connection and 
 trade with us. They were an ingenious 
 and manufacturing people. We are an 
 agricultural people. Their interests and 
 ours were all blended together. Our 
 prosperity enabled them to become pros- 
 perous, and their States grew up by our 
 trade and commerce. Most of their 
 wealth, when you come to estimate it and 
 look at it, was nothing but profits derived 
 from our trade. Cut off that trade. 
 Most of the wealth of the State of New 
 York and that State alone is estimated 
 to be worth four hundred millions of 
 
472 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNIOX. 
 
 dollars (that is, the taxable property of 
 the State of New York) and in what 
 does it consist ? Close up the harbor ; 
 cut off manufactures. What does it con- 
 sist in ? Bricks and mortar, and noth- 
 ing else. And if the war last as long as 
 the siege of Troy, in what will their 
 wealth consist ? It will disappear, for 
 the bricks and mortar will be worth no 
 more, unless there are tenants and the 
 profits derived from labor, than the 
 bricks and mortar in the arid plains of 
 Bab3 r lon. Sixty-one millions of New 
 England capital consist alone in cotton 
 manufactures and cotton spindles. These 
 factories look to us for our raw materials. 
 This capital is now literally paralyzed ; 
 it is dead capital, and will be as long as 
 this war lasts. Of their nominal pro- 
 ducts I do not now speak. Woolens, 
 hats, shoes or silk, of every variety of 
 dress I see before me, from the crowns 
 of the heads of the fair ladies to the soles 
 of their feet, all, nearly all, are supplied 
 by the North, and there are eleven mil- 
 lions of annual produce from the sales 
 of cotton goods alone. All this will be 
 cut off, and other things will be equally 
 cut off. 
 
 " The great difference between the 
 North and the South to carry on the 
 war and this I say to you in prospect 
 of a long war, for I wish our people to 
 see the full magnitude, and to feel the 
 full responsibility that rests upon us in it, 
 and to see our responsibility to meet it 
 is this : The North sold us some two 
 hundred and fifty millions annually. 
 This was their riches ; hence came their 
 wealth ; hence grew their cities. Their 
 wealth was but the accumulation depos- 
 ited from our commerce, just as the 
 delta of the Nile was enriched above 
 the lands of any other portion of Egypt 
 
 by the deposit of the rich alluvial soil 
 brought down from the mountains and 
 deposited in it. The riches, money, and 
 power of the North came in the same 
 way. Our cotton was the source of it, 
 and how Mr. Lincoln is to get his four 
 hundred millions of dollars I do not 
 know. That is a matter for him to de- 
 termine, though I may say more about 
 it before I get through ; but at present 
 it is sufficient to say that Lincoln has 
 dammed up the water that turns the 
 mill of Northern prosperity. How long 
 the mill will run, time alone will <! 
 mine. But it is not so with us. We 
 grow breadstuffs enough to supply all 
 our wants. We live in a heaven-favored 
 land, for all the cereals grow here equal- 
 ly as well as in any other portion of the 
 world wheat, rye, oats, and corn in a 
 great abundance. ' We . could compete 
 with the world in the production of 
 these. We grow also the tobacco plant 
 and rice. We live in the land of the fig- 
 tree, the pomegranate and the vine. 
 Hardly anything used as food but is 
 grown in the Southern Confederacy, and 
 we could, if need be, grow an abundance 
 of everything except coffee. We there- 
 fore have the means, under the blessings 
 of Heaven, to support ourselves, and 
 keep upon the field every variety of 
 cattle suitable for food or draft. We, 
 therefore, can grow bread enough to 
 support our people and keep from one 
 to two hundred thousand men in the 
 field. Let the blockade last, let the 
 Western people be cut off from trade 
 with us, and within the eleven Southern 
 States we could for years carry on the 
 war, support ourselves and our armies, 
 and, rather than be subjugated and be- 
 come vassals of Lincoln's power, fight it 
 out beleaguered by blockade all around. 
 
KING COTTON. 
 
 473 
 
 " But this is not our only capacity. 
 We grow supplies that the nations of the 
 earth must have that is, the cotton. 
 I low the North is to do without it, as I 
 have said, I cannot say. Hundreds of 
 thousands are dependent upon it for 
 their daily bread, and these people are 
 no\* turned out of employment. Per- 
 haps they are the men who, for want of 
 bread, have joined in this unnatural and 
 suicidal war, which will be to them as 
 disastrous as to us. In England, per- 
 haps no less than five millions of people 
 depend upon cotton for their daily 
 bread ; in France, several hundred thou- 
 sands, if not millions (I am not particu- 
 lar in my statistics). And when you 
 come to take into consideration the 
 amount of capital, the number of sailors, 
 and the amount of tonnage employed in 
 this trade, you will be still more sur- 
 prised. Why, in the United States there 
 are forty thousand seamen engaged in 
 the transportation of cotton alone. And 
 if you take into account the numbers in 
 England, France, Germany, Holland and 
 Bremen engaged in it, you will find that 
 it will amount to not less than ten mil- 
 lions of money capital engaged in it. 
 This, therefore, is an element of great 
 power, the great motor of the commerce 
 of the world. We grow it. There is 
 no part of the world that grows it as we 
 do. We supply the markets of the 
 world. They must have it. I meet 
 many asking about the blockade. I can- 
 not to-day tell you how the blockade is 
 to be raised. But there is one thing 
 certain in some way or other it will be 
 obliged to be raised, or there will be 
 revolution in Europe there will be 
 starvation there. Our cotton is the ele- 
 ment that will do it. Steam is powerful, 
 but steam is far short in its power to the 
 60 
 
 tremendous power of cotton. If you look 
 out upon the ocean to-day, and inquire 
 into the secret agency of commerce, you 
 will find that it is cotton that drives it, 
 and the spindles and looms, from those 
 in your own State to the remotest quar- 
 ter of the world it is this element of 
 cotton that drives them ; and it is this 
 great staple which is the tremendous 
 lever by which we can work our destiny, 
 under Providence, I trust, against four 
 hundred thousand, or against four times 
 four hundred thousand. Upon a reason- 
 able and ordinary estimate, we may 
 grow four million bales of cotton. I am 
 here to-day to discuss before you the 
 fifty million loan, but I am frank to tell 
 you it may be one hundred millions, and 
 I think it probably will be. The propo- 
 sition that the government makes is not 
 to tax the people. The object of a wise 
 and good government is to make the 
 burdens fall as light upon the people as 
 possible to meet every exigency. The 
 proposition the government makes, there- 
 fore, is to take a loan in produce. In 
 the grain-growing sections, the members 
 of Congress solicit the loan in grain, army 
 subsistence, meat, corn, wheat and flour 
 We are not a grain-growing country. 
 Our supply is cotton. I address you, 
 therefore, solely on the subject of cotton. 
 " The object is to get along with as 
 little tax as possible ; but, my country- 
 men, do not suppose the government will 
 not tax you if necessary ; for I tell you 
 the government does not intend to be 
 subjugated ; and if we do not raise the 
 money by loans, if the people do not 
 contribute, I tell you we intend to have 
 the money, and taxation will be resorted 
 to, if nothing else will raise it. Every 
 life and dollar in the country will be de- 
 manded rather than you and eveiy one 
 
474 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 of us shall be overrun by the enemy. On 
 that you may count. The government, 
 while it desires to carry on the war, 
 establish your independence, and main- 
 tain the government, at the same time 
 wishes to do it in such a way as not to 
 cripple industry ; and while our men are 
 in the field fighting the battles of their 
 country, their brethren at home are dis- 
 charging an equal duty, so that no serious 
 detriment to public property will be sus- 
 tained ; and we have the element to do 
 this that no other people in the world 
 have. Now then, if four millions of 
 bales of cotton are made, upon an aver- 
 age price they will bring two hundred 
 millions of dollars. If the cotton-planter 
 will but lend, not give lend to the gov- 
 ernment the proceeds of but one-half, 
 that will be one hundred millions of dol- 
 lars, double what the government wants, 
 or did want when we adjourned quite 
 enough to keep two hundred thousand 
 men in the field the balance you can 
 use as you please. I now will read to 
 you, just at this part of my address, the 
 proposition, upon which I will make some 
 comments, for I wish every gentleman to 
 understand it. It is not asking a dona- 
 tion ; the government simply wishes to 
 control the proceeds of your cotton. The 
 government proposes to give you a bond 
 bearing eight per cent, interest, paying 
 the interest semi-annually. It is not a 
 gift or donation, but simply your surplus 
 cotton, as much as you can spare. This 
 is the proposition : 
 
 " ' We. the subscribers, agree to con- 
 tribute to the defence of the Confederate 
 States that portion of our crop set down 
 to our respective names ; the same to be 
 placed in warehouse or in the hands of 
 our factors, and sold on or before the 
 next.' 
 
 " Fix the day of sale as soon as you 
 please ; the first of January, the first of 
 February, or the first of March, if you 
 please ; though I am aware the govern- 
 ment wishes you to sell it as soon as con- 
 venient ; but let each planter consult his 
 interest, and in the meanwhile consult 
 the market. But to proceed : 
 
 " 'And our net proceeds of sale we 
 direct to be paid over to the Treasurer 
 of the Confederate States for bonds foi 
 the same amount, bearing eight per cent, 
 interest.' 
 
 " There is the whole of it. The cotton 
 planter directs his cotton to be sent into 
 the hands of his factor, or his commission 
 merchant. He only tells the govern- 
 ment in the subscription the portion he 
 can lend. He directs it to be sold, and 
 the proceeds to be invested in Confeder- 
 ate bonds. I understand that a commit- 
 tee will be appointed before this meeting 
 adjourns to canvass this county. Every 
 planter, therefore, of Richmond county 
 will be waited upon and afforded an op- 
 portunity to subscribe. I wish, there- 
 fore, to say to that committee and every- 
 body, subscribe. I prefer your putting 
 down first, your name ; second, the num- 
 ber of bales ; and I prefer you putting 
 down the proportion of your crop. I 
 want especially the number of bales, but 
 would like also to know the proportion 
 it bears to your crop. Let everybody, 
 therefore, put down a portion of their 
 crop, if it be two bales, or fifty bales, 
 or one hundred bales, or five hundred 
 bales. Inquiries have been made of me, 
 and I take this opportunity to answer 
 them : ' Whether these bonds will cir- 
 culate as money will they pay debts ?' 
 On this point I wish no mistake. They 
 are not intended as currency ; they are 
 unfitted to answer the purpose of circu- 
 
CONFEDERATE BONDS. 
 
 475 
 
 lation. The bonds are larger than this 
 paper. (A letter-sheet.) The obligation 
 is on the upper part of it, and the whole 
 of the lower part is divided into forty 
 squares or checks. In each one of these 
 checks the interest is counted for each 
 six months for twenty years. The 
 checks are called coupons, and all the 
 party holding them has to do is every 
 six months to clip off the lower coupon, 
 send it to the Treasury and get his in- 
 terest. The bond is not suitable to car- 
 ry in your pocket-book and use. It 
 would wear out. It is intended to repre- 
 sent a fixed capital or permanent invest- 
 ment just so much as you can spare 
 from your cotton crop. That is all. 
 Instead of putting your surplus in lands, 
 negroes, houses, furniture, useless extrav- 
 agance or luxuries, just put it in Confed- 
 erate bonds. But while I said it was 
 not intended to circulate or to pay debts, 
 I have not the least doubt that anybody 
 who will sell his crop entire for bonds, 
 will find no difficulty in getting the 
 money for them, for they draw interest, 
 and are better than money ; and any 
 man holding a note will give it up and 
 take a bond, for a note draws but seven 
 per cent., and this draws eight. I have 
 no doubt that all minors and trust prop- 
 erty will soon be invested in it. The 
 entire amount of private funds in the 
 State of Georgia, on private loans, I sup- 
 pose is ten or twenty millions of dollars 
 at seven per cent. All that amount 
 will immediately find its way into these 
 bonds, and hence a planter who sells his 
 entire crop, and needs money, can get it 
 from the money-lenders on these bonds. 
 I have been frequently asked if these 
 bonds were good. Well, I want to be 
 equally frank upon that point. If we 
 succeed, if we establish our independ- 
 
 ence, if we are not overridden, if we are 
 not subjugated, I feel no hesitancy in 
 telling you that it is the best government 
 stock in the world that I know of. It is 
 eight per cent, interest ; and if we suc- 
 ceed in a "short time in a few years, if 
 not more than one hundred millions or 
 two hundred millions are issued, I have 
 but little doubt they will command a 
 considerable premium. The old United 
 States stock (six per cent, bonds) five 
 years ago commanded fifteen and sixteen 
 per cent., and went as high as twenty 
 per cent. Take the Central Railroad. 
 The stock of that company commands 
 fifteen per cent, premium now. These 
 bonds pay eight per cent, semi-annually ; 
 therefore, if there is a short war, these 
 bonds very soon will command fifteen or 
 twenty per cent. But candor also com- 
 pels me to state that if Lincoln overruns 
 us if we are subjugated, these bonds 
 will not be worth a single dime, and 
 nothing else you have will be worth any- 
 thing. If we are overrun, they will be 
 worth just as much as anything else you 
 have, and nothing else you have will be 
 worth anything. (Laughter.) So that 
 is the whole of it." 
 
 Having thus fully unfolded his propo- 
 sition, the orator offered some specula- 
 tions on the probable duration of the 
 war, not of a very hopeful character, 
 for its short continuance. "With these 
 were interspersed reflections on alleged 
 infringements of the Constitution by 
 President Lincoln, such as his calling for 
 an army and suspension of the Habeas 
 Corpus privilege, without the special 
 authority of Congress a criticism which 
 certainly lost much of its force from the 
 position of the critic an enemy in arms 
 against the Government, whose powers, 
 under the circumstances, he might natu- 
 
476 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 rally be disposed to depreciate. In fact, 
 as a genuine secessionist, he considered 
 it wholly "unconstitutional" to attempt 
 forcibly to put down the rebellion. 
 
 It is curious to note the calculations 
 of so well-read and thoughtful a man as 
 the Confederate Yice-President at this 
 time, and, " I tell you," said he, " the 
 revolution is at the North. There is 
 where constitutional liberty has been 
 destroyed ; and if you wish to know my 
 judgment about the history of this war, 
 you may read it in the history of the 
 French Jacobins. They have become a 
 licentious and lawless mob, and I shall 
 not at all be surprised if in less than 
 three years the leaders in this war, Lin- 
 coln and his Cabinet, its head, come to 
 the gallows or guillotine, just as those who 
 led the French war (applause) ; for hu- 
 man passions, when once aroused, are as 
 uncontrollable as the elements about 
 us. The only hope of mankind rests in 
 the restraints of constitutional law, and 
 the day they framed and ratified these 
 lawless measures of Lincoln, they dug 
 their own graves. They may talk of 
 freedom and liberty, but I tell you no 
 people without rulers sustained by con- 
 stitutional law can be free. They may 
 be nominally free, but they are vassals 
 and slaves, and this unbridled mob, 
 when they attempt to check it, Lincoln 
 and the rest will be dealt with just as I 
 tell you it was in France. Why, the 
 conservative sentiment of the North is 
 against this war. When I tell you it is 
 fanatical, I do not mean that all men are 
 fanatics. Just as the sturdiest trees of 
 the forest yield to the blast of the storm, 
 so have the friends of the Constitution 
 yielded at the North. How is Lincoln 
 to get those four hundred millions of 
 dollars ? I told you I might say some- 
 
 thing more about it. They have not the 
 money. That is true. I suppose the 
 North now might raise one hundred 
 millions in gold and silver. I have not 
 seen the returns of the banks. But 
 their money-lenders are not going to 
 lend it. Some say that the war is going 
 to be a short one. No, my friends, do 
 not lay the flattering unction to your 
 souls. How did the Jacobins raise their 
 money ? Why, they laid their hands 
 upon it ; and this is the way they will 
 do at the North. First they will issue 
 scrip ; but the Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury cannot come up and tell them that 
 it is wrong. He has not the nerve ; and 
 he might lose his head if he were to do 
 it. They may issue four hundred mil- 
 lions of Treasury notes, and thus get 
 along for twelve months, or perhaps for 
 two years, before they are too much de- 
 preciated. They will then issue scrip 
 against the rich man's property. What 
 is to be the result of this war? I am 
 not a prophet, but I look upon it as 
 fraught with the most momentous con- 
 sequences, not only to us, but to the 
 people of the North. I have always 
 believed that if the Union were destroy- 
 ed the North would run into anarchy 
 and despotism. We are the salt of the 
 concern, and it is only questionable 
 whether or not we have quit too soon. 
 That is the only doubt I have. Where 
 it will end I do not know, but never 
 again will they enjoy constitutional gov- 
 ernment at the North. They never un- 
 derstood it. Constitutional liberty is a 
 plant of Southern growth, watered by 
 Southern hands, nurtured by Southern 
 hands, and, if it is to be maintained, to 
 live to light the world, it is to be done 
 in the Southern Confederacy. At the 
 North there is anarchy. Property will 
 
THE WOMEN OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 477 
 
 migrate just as it did in France. That 
 is the end." 
 
 In conclusion, the orator, not without 
 an eye to the object in hand, introduced 
 that indispensable part of a well-regulat- 
 ed popular discourse, to an audience of 
 both sexes, a compliment to the ladies, 
 whose active participation in the sup- 
 port and encouragement of the rebellion, 
 it must be admitted, well entitled them 
 to the attention. " The patriotism of the 
 women, I believe, throughout the country 
 where I have been the mothers and 
 daughters has not been behind the 
 men, but even ahead of them. In Mont- 
 gomery, when the order came from Gen- 
 eral Bragg for ten thousand sand bags, 
 the women turned out on the Sabbath, 
 as well as the week days, and completed 
 the order in a very short time. In other 
 places, where volunteer companies had 
 been called out, the ladies have made 
 the uniforms in a remarkably short space 
 of time. In my own county, which has 
 raised three hundred and fifty men, the 
 ladies made the uniforms for the last 
 company in two days, and it was ready 
 to go with the rest. The ladies have 
 done their duty as well as the men have. 
 Richmond county has sent ten companies 
 to the field. Nobly have you done your 
 duty, and just as nobly have the women 
 done theirs. And I wish you to under- 
 stand, while I do not speak much to you, 
 for the tented field is not your place, 
 women exercise more influence even in 
 war, perhaps, than anything else ; and 
 it is a problem whether they do not 
 govern the world at last. It is their 
 spirit which animates the soldier to fight. 
 Some recollect the pious admonitions of 
 their mothers, and others recollect the 
 smiles and beaming countenances of some 
 fair one at home. These are the senti- 
 
 ments which actuate our soldiers. The 
 attractions of the women are a power 
 like that which holds the orbs of the 
 universe in their proper places. Now 
 then, in this work you have much to do, 
 and if the men are in doubt how much to 
 subscribe, I am perfectly willing that 
 they shall go home and ask their wives." 
 In addition to the " produce loan," for 
 which the planters received the bonds 
 of the Confederacy, the Congress at 
 Richmond authorized the issue of one 
 hundred millions of treasury notes, 
 drawn payable to bearer at the ex- 
 piration of six monthsafter the ratifica- 
 tion of a treaty of peace between the 
 Confederate States and the United States, 
 and exchangeable for eight per cent, 
 bonds, and imposed a direct tax, which 
 was assumed by the States, of fifteen 
 millions of dollars. A war tax was also 
 imposed of fifty cents upon each one 
 hundred dollars in value of real and 
 personal estate, including slaves, horses, 
 gold watches, gold and silver plate, 
 pianos, and pleasure carriages. Prop- 
 erty of the value of less than five hun- 
 dred dollars, in the hands of a head of a 
 family, was exempted. The States also 
 borrowed large sums on their own credit, 
 to place their quotas of troops in the 
 field. Specie, naturally, was withdrawn 
 from circulation on the first appearance 
 of civil commotion, and the Confederate 
 paper money depreciated rapidly in pro- 
 portion as it was multiplied, and the 
 trade and resources of the country were 
 cut off. The usual phenomena of a 
 vitiated currency were exhibited. Prices 
 of commodities rose rapidly, and pru- 
 dent dealers were accused of extortion 
 when the value of their goods was en- 
 hanced by the blockade and interruption 
 of traffic, and the return offered for 
 
478 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 them was comparatively worthless. Pa- 
 triotism was appealed to, to give a 
 fictitious value to the promises to pay 
 of the government, and force, when 
 necessary, to provide for the. wants of 
 the army, supplied the absence of patri- 
 otic confidence. Every principle of 
 equity and the law of trade was set at 
 nought, to give effect to the irredeem- 
 able paper thrown upon the country by 
 the government, states, cities and cor- 
 porations. It was the object of the gov- 
 ernment, of course, to keep the issue of 
 treasury notes at the lowest point, and 
 in accordance with this well-understood 
 policy, the Secretary of the Treasury, 
 Mr. Memminger, was compelled to re- 
 fuse an application from the planters for 
 the purchase of their crops. Without the 
 opportunity of selling their products, they 
 were actually in want. The Secretary 
 referred the planters to the local banks 
 for aid, and advised a change of labor, 
 from cotton to other commodities and 
 pursuits more available for immediate 
 subsistence. "Let them immediately 
 take measures for winter crops, to re- 
 lieve the demand for grain and pro- 
 visions. Let them make their own 
 clothing and supplies."* 
 
 The Confederate army was reported 
 at this session of the Congress to num- 
 ber one hundred and ninety four regi- 
 ments, and thirty-two battalions, besides 
 other detachments, making, in all, over 
 two hundred thousand men in the field. 
 The President was authorized to in- 
 crease this force by the addition of 
 400,000 volunteers, to serve for not 
 less than twelve months, nor more than 
 
 * C. G. Memminger to the Commissioners appointed to 
 receive subscriptions to the Produce Loan, Oct. 17, 1861. 
 
 three years. It was resolved also to 
 increase the naval force. 
 
 The post of Secretary of War, pre- 
 viously held by L. Pope Walker, of 
 Alabama, was now taken by J. P. Ben- 
 jamin, of Louisiana, when the latter was 
 succeeded in his office of Attorney-Gen- 
 eral by Thomas Bragg, formerly Gov- 
 ernor of North Carolina. Robert Toombs, 
 of Georgia, also resigned the Secretary- 
 ship of State, and was succeeded by 
 R. M. T. Hunter, recently United States 
 senator from Virginia. 
 
 An act respecting alien enemies, 
 passed at this session of the Congress, 
 decreed that all citizens or subjects 
 of any foreign nation or government, 
 with which the Confederate States 
 should be at war, should be liable to 
 arrest, restraint or removal, and the 
 President was especially -directed, by 
 proclamation, to require every male cit- 
 izen of the United States, of fourteen 
 years and upward, within the Confed- 
 erate States, and adhering to the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States, and ac- 
 knowledging the authority of the same, 
 and not being a citizen of the Confed- 
 erate States, to depart from the said 
 States within forty days of the date 
 of such proclamation. A proclamation 
 was accordingly issued to this effect 
 by Jefferson Davis, on the 14th of 
 August. Another act sequestrated the 
 property owned by r or for any alien 
 enemy since the 21st of May, 1861, to 
 be held for the indemnity of " any true 
 and loyal citizen," who might be a suf- 
 ferer by the Act of Confiscation passed 
 by the United States Congress on the 
 6th of August. After a short session 
 the Congress adjourned, to meet again in 
 Richmond in November. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE SOUTHERN PRIVATEERS. 
 
 THE communication to which President 
 Davis, in his Message of July 20th re- 
 ferred as sent to President Lincoln, in 
 relation to the captured privateersmen 
 of the Savannah, was carried by Captain 
 Thomas H. Taylor, of the Confederate 
 cavalry, accompanied by an escort, to 
 the lines of the Union army before 
 Washington. The messenger was cour- 
 teously received, and conducted to Gen- 
 eral Scott's headquarters at the capital. 
 The letter which he bore read as follows : 
 " RICHMOND, July 6, 1861. To Abraham 
 Lincoln, President, and Commander-in- 
 Chief of the Army and Navy of the 
 United States: Sir, Having learned 
 that the schooner Savannah, a private 
 armed vessel in the service, and sailing 
 under a commission issued by authority 
 of the Confederate States of America, 
 had been captured by one of the vessels 
 forming the blockading squadron off 
 Charleston harbor, I directed a proposi- 
 tion to be made to the officer command- 
 ing that squadron for an exchange of the 
 officers and crew of the Savannah for 
 prisoners of war held by this govern- 
 ment ' according to number and rank.' 
 To this proposition, made on the 19th 
 ult., Captain Mercer, the officer in com- 
 mand of the blockading squadron, made 
 answer on the same day that ' the pris- 
 oners (referred to) are not on board of 
 any of the vessels under my command.' 
 It now appears, by statements made 
 without contradiction in newspapers pub- 
 lished in New York, that the prisoners 
 above mentioned were conveyed to that 
 
 city, and have there been treated, not as 
 prisoners of war, but as criminals ; that 
 they have been put in irons, confined in 
 jail, brought before the Courts of Justice 
 on charges of piracy and treason, and it 
 is even rumored that they have been 
 actually convicted of the offences charged, 
 for no other reason than that they bore 
 arms in defence of the rights of this gov- 
 ernment and under the authority of its 
 commission. I could not, without grave 
 discourtesy, have made the newspaper 
 statements above referred to the subject 
 of this communication, if the threat of 
 treating as pirates the citizens of this 
 Confederacy, armed for service on the 
 high seas, had not been contained in 
 your proclamation of the - - April last. 
 That proclamation, however, seems to 
 afford a sufficient justification for consid- 
 ering these published statements as not 
 devoid of probability. It is the desire 
 of this government so to conduct the 
 war now existing as to mitigate its hor- 
 rors as far as may be possible ; and, 
 with this intent, its treatment of the pris- 
 oners captured by its forces has been 
 marked by the greatest humanity and 
 leniency consistent with public obliga- 
 tion ; some have been permitted to re- 
 turn home on parole, others to remain at 
 large under similar condition within this 
 Confederacy, and all have been furnished 
 with rations for their subsistence, such 
 as are allowed to our own troops. It is 
 only since the news has been received 
 of the treatment of the prisoners taken 
 on the Savannah, that I have been com- 
 
480 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 pelled to withdraw these indulgencies, 
 and to hold the prisoners taken by us in 
 strict confinement. A just regard to hu- 
 manity and to the honor of this govern- 
 ment now requires me to state explicitly 
 that, painful as will be the necessity, this 
 government will deal out to the prisoners 
 held by it the same treatment and the 
 same fate as shall be experienced by 
 those captured on the Savannah, and if 
 driven to the terrible necessity of retali- 
 ation by your execution of any of the 
 officers or the crew of the Savannah, that 
 retaliation will be extended as far as 
 shall be requisite to secure the abandon- 
 ment of a practice unknown to the war- 
 fare of civilized man ; and so barbarous 
 as to disgrace the nation which shall be 
 guilty of inaugurating it. With this 
 view, and because it may not have 
 reached you, I now renew the proposi- 
 tion made to the commander of the block- 
 ading squadron, to exchange for the 
 prisoners taken on the Savannah, an 
 equal number of those now held by us, 
 according to rank. I am yours, &c., 
 JEFFERSON DAVIS." 
 
 The Savannah spoken of in this letter 
 was a small schooner of 54 tons, for- 
 merly employed as a pilot-boat in Char- 
 leston harbor. She was fitted out as a 
 privateer with a single 18-pounder pivot- 
 gun amidships ; and with a crew of twenty 
 men, commanded by Captain Thomas F. 
 Harrison Baker, left Charleston on the 
 2d of June on her first cruise. On the 
 following morning she captured the brig 
 Joseph, of Eockland, Maine ; and in the 
 course of the day, while in company of 
 that vessel, was fallen in with by the 
 United States brig Perry, E. Gr. Parrott, 
 Lieutenant Commanding. After some 
 hours' pursuit and the exchange of sev- 
 eral harmless shots, she was overtaken, 
 
 and surrendered without further con- 
 test.* Lieutenant Parrott reported his 
 capture to Flag Officer Stringham on the 
 Minnesota, of the blockading squadron 
 off Charleston. The Savannah was sent 
 with a prize crew to New York, and her 
 officers and crew were taken by the 
 Minnesota to Hampton Eoads, whence 
 they were brought in the Harriet Lane 
 to New York, and there placed in keep- 
 ing of the United States Marshal in close 
 confinement in the city prison. A bill 
 of indictment for robbery on the high 
 seas was promptly found by the Grand 
 Jury, and on the 23d of July the pris- 
 oners, thirteen in number, were arraign- 
 ed for trial, which was set down for the 
 October term. At the appointed time 
 the trial took place, the Hon. Judges 
 Nelson and Shipman presiding, the cause 
 of the United States "being conducted by 
 Mr. E. Delafield Smith, District Attor- 
 ney, assisted by William M. Evarts and 
 other learned counsel, while the defence 
 was ably conducted by Daniel Lord, James 
 T. Brady and others.. The trial contin- 
 ued for seven days, and was allowed to 
 take a wide range in the speeches of the 
 counsel over the various political and 
 other questions involved in the history 
 and principles of the rebellion.f The 
 result was a disagreement of the jury, 
 eight, it is said, standing for conviction, 
 and four for acquittal. The prisoners 
 were then remanded to the custody of 
 the marshals. 
 
 Whilst these proceedings were going 
 on at New York, another trial of similar 
 nature at Philadelphia, that of William 
 Smith, a Confederate privateersman, 
 
 * Lieutenant Parrott to Flag Officer Stringham. U. S. 
 Brig Perry, at Sea, June 5, 1861. 
 
 f See the full report of the trial by A. F. Warburton, 
 Stenographer. 8vo. New York, 1862. 
 
RETALIATORY MEASURES. 
 
 481 
 
 taken on board of a recaptured prize, 
 resulted in his being found guilty of the 
 crime of piracy. A case had thus arisen 
 for the exercise of that system of retalia- 
 tion threatened under such circumstances 
 by President Davis ; and the opportunity 
 was abundantly afforded in the posses- 
 sion of the numerous officers and other 
 prisoners captured at Bull's Run, in the 
 military prisons at Richmond. Accord- 
 ingly, on the 10th of November, " a 
 most exciting and painful scene," as it is 
 described by Mr. Ely, whose diary we 
 have already cited, occurred, when 
 Brigadier-General Winder entered the 
 apartment of the United States officers, 
 adjoining the " Old Tobacco Warehouse," 
 and, in the presence of some seventy- 
 five of them, read the following order 
 which he had been directed to execute 
 by the Secretary of War: " C. S. A. 
 War Department, Richmond. Nov. 9, 
 1861. Sir : You are hereby instructed 
 to choose, by lot, from among the prison- 
 ers of war, of the highest rank, one who 
 is to be confined in a cell appropriated 
 to convicted felons, and who is to be 
 treated in all respects as if such convict, 
 and to be held for execution in the same 
 manner as may be adopted by the enemy" 
 for the execution of the prisoner of war, 
 Smith, recently condemned to death in 
 Philadelphia. You will also select thir- 
 teen other prisoners of war, the highest 
 in rank of those captured by our forces, 
 to be confined in the cells reserved for 
 prisoners accused of infamous crimes, 
 and will treat them as such so long as 
 the enemy shall continue so to treat the 
 like number of prisoners of war captured 
 by them at sea, and now held for trial in 
 New York as pirates. As these meas- 
 ures are intended to repress the in- 
 famous attempt now made by the enemy 
 61 
 
 to commit judicial murder on prisoners 
 of war, you will execute them strictly, 
 as the mode best calculated to prevent 
 the commission of so heinous a crime. 
 Your obedient servant, J. P. Benjamin, 
 Acting-Secretary of War." 
 
 Colonel W. Raymond Lee, of the 20th 
 Massachusetts Regiment, who had been 
 recently captured at the massacre at 
 Ball's Bluff, was then handed six slips 
 of paper, bearing the names of the six 
 United States Colonels, held as prisoners 
 by the Confederates, which he was re- 
 quired to deposit in a deep tin case pro- 
 vided for the purpose the duty being 
 assigned to Mr. Ely of drawing one of 
 the lots forth to consign an officer to a 
 felon's dungeon and treatment of the 
 convicted pirate Smith. The lot thus 
 drawn fell upon Colonel Michael Corco- 
 ran, then held as a prisoner in Castle 
 Pinckney, Charleston Harbor. Colonel 
 Alfred M. Wood, of Long Island, of the 
 14th New York Regiment, who had 
 fallen into the hands of the enemy 
 wounded at Bull Run, and who had now 
 recovered, was another of the hostages. 
 The name of Captain J. B. Ricketts, the 
 commander of the celebrated battery of 
 the 1st Artillery, who was wounded and 
 taken prisoner in the main action in the 
 same battle, was drawn, but he was 
 exempted on account of his illness. The 
 list of thirteen hostages for the crew of 
 the Savannah, finally stood Colonels 
 Lee, Wilcox, Cogswell, Wood and 
 Woodruff ; Lieutenant- Colonels Bow- 
 man and Neff ; Majors, Potter, Revere 
 and Vodges ; Captains Rockwood, Bow- 
 man and Kefter. " The officers selected 
 from among us," adds Mr. Ely, "behave 
 most gallantly. They will not shrink 
 from their fate, whatever it may be. 1 
 think they may be retained awhile as 
 
482 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 hostages, but cannot apprehend any 
 danger as to their ultimate safety. Our 
 Government will never permit the . pri- 
 vateersmen to be prosecuted to convic- 
 tion j and even should that be done, will 
 never execute them." * 
 
 The argument on this matter was 
 presented with acuteness and feeling by 
 the Hon. Charles P. Daly, Judge of the 
 Court of Common Pleas of New York, 
 in a letter written to the Hon. Ira Har- 
 ris, United States Senator from the 
 State, on the 21st of December, 1861. 
 Recognizing privateering, as it is held 
 by the whole country, to be "a legiti- 
 mate mode of making war," he asks, 
 " what is the difference between the 
 Southern soldier, who takes up arms 
 against the Government of the United 
 States on the land, and the Southern 
 privateersman who does the same on 
 the water?" "Practically," he answers 
 the question, "there is none ; and if 
 one should be held and exchanged as a 
 prisoner of war, the other is equally 
 entitled to the privilege." It was upon 
 this ground of the practical inconve- 
 nience of carrying on a great war upon 
 the principles justly laid down for sup- 
 pressing an insurrection, that the decision 
 of this matter ultimately rested. As the 
 prisoners were not acting by authority 
 of a recognized State, they technically 
 became pirates, and must be considered 
 as such, when the question was pressed 
 by the Courts. It was for the Govern- 
 ment to interpose, as they afterwards 
 did, and relieve judge and jury of the 
 dilemma. An urgent plea for the re- 
 laxation or abandonment of the ground 
 originally taken by President Lincoln 
 undoubtedly existed in the acts of re- 
 taliation, in the imprisonment of the 
 
 * Journal of Alfred Ely, November 12, 1861, p. 208. 
 
 Union officers, and the impending threats 
 of their execution should the sentence, 
 pronounced upon the privateers, be car- 
 ried out ; but there is every reason to 
 believe that, without this pressure on 
 the part of the government of Jefferson 
 Davis, the decree would not have been 
 enforced. The policy of the adminis- 
 tration at Washington was in every 
 respect humane and conciliatory. If, 
 theoretically, the South was denied the 
 privileges of a belligerent, it must be 
 remembered that the practice, under 
 that rule, secured her many exemp- 
 tions and privileges which would have 
 been denied to a foreign nation. The 
 South called for the rights of a belliger- 
 ent ; the North held aloof from the ap- 
 plication, refusing meanwhile to inflict 
 the pains and penalties to which a 
 foreign belligerent would have been 
 liable. 
 
 The whole matter is well treated . by 
 Judge Daly, with a just appreciation of 
 the necessities of the case and the consid- 
 erate policy of President Lincoln's ad- 
 ministration. " Neither the Constitution 
 of the United States," says he, " nor the 
 act against piracy were framed in view 
 of any such state of things as that which 
 now exists. The civil war now prevail- 
 ing is, in its magnitude, beyond anything 
 previously known in history. The re- 
 volting States hold possession of a large 
 portion of the territory of the Union, 
 embracing a great extent of sea-coast, 
 and including some of our principal cities 
 and harbors. They hold forcible posses- 
 sion of it by means of an army estimated 
 at 300,000 men, and are practically ex- 
 ercising over it all the power and author- 
 ity of government. They claim to have 
 separated from the United States, to 
 have founded a government of their own 
 
JUDGE DALY'S ARGUMENT. 
 
 483 
 
 and are in armed resistance to maintain 
 it. To reduce them to obedience arid to 
 recover that of which they 'hold forcible 
 possession, it has been necessary for us 
 to resort to military means of more than 
 corresponding magnitude, until the com- 
 batants on both sides have reached to 
 the prodigious number of a million of 
 men. The principal nations of Europe, 
 recognizing this state of things, have 
 conceded to the rebellious States the 
 rights of belligerents, a course of which 
 we have no reason to complain, as we 
 did precisely the same thing toward the 
 States of South America in their revolt 
 against the government of Spain. It is 
 natural that we should have hesitated to 
 consider the Southern States in the light 
 of belligerents before the rebellion had 
 expanded to its present proportions, but 
 now we cannot, if we would, shut our eyes 
 to the fact that war, and war upon a 
 more extensive scale than usually takes 
 place between contending nations, actu- 
 ally exists. It is now, and it will be 
 continued to be, carried on upon both 
 sides, by a resort to all the means and 
 appliances known to modern warfare, 
 and unless we are to fall back into the 
 barbarism of the middle ages, we must 
 observe in its conduct those human usages 
 in the treatment and exchange of prison- 
 ers which modern civilization has shown 
 to be equally the dictates of humanity 
 and of policy." 
 
 The practical difficulties of pursuing a 
 contrary course, in face of the retaliation 
 system of Jefferson Davis, was forcibly 
 presented. " For every seaman that we 
 have arrested as a pirate, they have in- 
 carcerated a Northern soldier, to be 
 dealt with exactly as we do by the priv- 
 ateersman. We have convicted as pir- 
 ates four of the crew of the Jefferson 
 
 Davis, and there are others in New 
 York awaiting trial. Are these men tc 
 be executed ? If they are, then by that 
 act we deliberately consign to death a 
 number of our own officers and soldiers, 
 most of whom owe their captivity and 
 present peril to the heroic courage witL 
 which they stood by their colors on a 
 day of disastrous flight and panic. If 
 such a course is to be pursued, it will not 
 be very encouraging for the soldier now 
 in arms for the maintenance of the Union, 
 to know that what may be asked of him 
 is, to fight upon one side, with the chance 
 of being hanged upon the other ; and in 
 face of the enemy, with his line broken, 
 instead of rallying again he may, in view 
 of the possibility of a halter, consider it 
 prudent to retire before the double dan- 
 ger. If, on the other hand, we convict 
 these men as criminals and pause there, 
 then the crime of which we have declared 
 them to be guilty is not followed by its 
 necessary consequence, the proper pun- 
 ishment. There is no terror inspired 
 and no check interposed by such a pro- 
 cedure, for the plainest man in the South 
 knows that the motive which restrains 
 us from going further is the fact that the 
 execution of these men as pirates seals 
 the doom of a corresponding number of 
 our own people ; that the account is ex- 
 actly balanced ; that, with ample means 
 of retaliation, they have the power to 
 prevent ; or, if mutual blood is to be 
 shed in this way, we, and not they, will 
 have commenced it. By such a course 
 nothing is effected, except to keep our 
 own officers and soldiers in the cells of 
 Southern prisons, subject to that mental 
 torture produced by the uncertainty of 
 their fate, which, with the majority of 
 men, is more difficult to bear than the 
 certainty of death itself, and oblige them 
 
484 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 to endure, in the ill-provided and 
 conducted prisons in which they are con- 
 fined, sufferings, the sickening details of 
 which are constantly before us in their 
 published letters to their friends. ' I 
 little thought,' writes the gallant Colonel 
 Cogswell, of the regular service, ' when 
 I faced the storm of bullets at Edwards' 
 Ferry, and escaped a soldier's death 
 upon the field, that it was only to be left 
 by my country to die upon the gallows.' 
 And the nature of their sufferings will be 
 understood when it is told that the noble- 
 hearted and self-sacrificing Colonel Cor- 
 coran was handcuffed and placed in a 
 solitary cell, with a chain attached to the 
 floor, until the mental excitement pro- 
 duced by this ignominious treatment, 
 combining with a susceptible constitution 
 and the infectious nature of the locality, 
 brought on an attack of typhoid fever." 
 " Shall this state of things," he asked, 
 " continue ? Let us take counsel of our 
 common sense. These men are treated 
 as criminals because, while we give to 
 the Southern soldier the rights of war, 
 for numerous exchanges of soldiers have 
 taken place, we convict the Southern 
 mariner of a crime punishable with 
 death. Is there any reason, even upon 
 the grounds of policy, for making this 
 distinction ? We have, by the blockade 
 of the whole Southern coast, cut the 
 privateersman off from bringing his prize 
 into the ports of the South Tor adjudica- 
 tion, and the ports of all neutral nations 
 being closed against him for such a pur- 
 pose, he is deprived of the means of 
 making lawful prize, and must eventually 
 convert his vessel into a ship-of-war, or 
 degenerate into a pirate, by unlawful 
 acts which will make him amenable to 
 the tiibunal of every civilized nation. 
 The comparative injury that may be 
 
 done to our commerce by the few priva- 
 teers which it will now be in the power 
 of the rebellious States to maintain upon 
 the ocean, is as nothing compared to the 
 disastrous and lasting consequences to 
 the whole nation, to its industry, its com- 
 merce and its future, that would grow 
 out of making this war one of retaliatory 
 vengeance. We have the fruitful expe- 
 rience of history to admonish us that in 
 such acts are sown the seeds of the dis- 
 solution of nations, and especially of re- 
 publics. By according to the rebellious 
 States the rights of belligerents, at least 
 to the extent of exchanging prisoners, 
 whether privateersmen, man-of-war's 
 men, or soldiers, we do not concede to 
 them the rights of sovereignty. There 
 is a well-defined distinction between the 
 two, recognized by the United States 
 Court in the case of Eose vs. Himmley, 
 3 Cranch, 241. One may exist without 
 the other, and by exchanging prisoners, 
 therefore, we concede nothing and admit 
 nothing, except what everybody knows, 
 that actual war exists, and that, as a 
 Christian people, we mean to carry it on 
 according to the usages of civilized na- 
 tions. The existing embarrassment is 
 easily overcome. All further prosecution 
 can be stopped, and in respect to the pri- 
 vateersmen who have been convicted, the 
 President, acting upon the suggestion of 
 the Court that tried them, can, by the ex- 
 ercise of the pardoning power, relieve 
 them from their position as criminals, and 
 place them in that of prisoners of war. 
 
 "In conclusion," he adds, "we are 
 not to forget that we are carrying on 
 this war for the restoration of the Union, 
 that every act of aggression not essential 
 to military success will but separate 
 more widely the two sections from each 
 other, and increase the difficulty of ce- 
 
TREATMENT OF CAPTURED PRIYATEERSMEN. 
 
 485 
 
 meriting us again in one nationality. We 
 are to remember that the people of the 
 South, whose infirmity it has- been to have 
 very extravagant ideas of their own supe- 
 riority, and whose contempt of the people 
 of the North has been in proportion to 
 their want of information respecting them, 
 have been hurried into their present po- 
 sition by the professional politicians and 
 large landed proprietors, to whom they 
 have hitherto been accustomed to confide 
 the management of their public affairs ; 
 that though prone to commit outrageous 
 acts when under the influence of excite- 
 ment, they are upon the whole a kindly 
 and affectionate people, and have, when 
 not blinded by passion, a very keen per- 
 ception of their own interests ; that there 
 are throughout the South thousands of 
 loyal hearts paralyzed by excitement 
 around them, who 'still cling to the flag 
 of their fathers and await the delivering 
 stroke of our armies. Belying on our 
 superior naval and military strength, and 
 the settled determination of our people 
 that this nation shall not be dismember- 
 ed, we can, as the Swiss Cantons recently 
 did in a similar crisis, put down this re- 
 bellion. That great duty imposes upon 
 us all the exigencies of war. War, when 
 conducted in accordance with the strict- 
 est usages of humanity, is, as all who 
 have shared in the recent battles know, 
 a sufficiently bloody business, and if we 
 are to add to its horrors by hanging up 
 all who fall into our hands as traitors or 
 pirates, we leave the South no alterna- 
 tive but resistance to the last extremity, 
 and should we ultimately triumph, we 
 would have entailed upon us, as the con- 
 sequence of such a policy, the bitter in- 
 heritance of maintaining a Government 
 by force over a people conquered, but 
 not subdued." 
 
 In a debate on this question of the 
 treatment ^f prisoners, announced in the 
 proclamation of President Lincoln in the 
 British House of Lords in the month of 
 May, it was evidently the voice of*the 
 English Government that, in whatever 
 light the United States might regard the 
 acts of those claimed to be her subjects, 
 that Great Britain, having recognized 
 the Confederates as belligerents, could 
 not regard their privateers as pirates. 
 "There was no doubt," said the Lord 
 Chancellor, " that if an Englishman, en- 
 gaged in the service of the Southern 
 States, he violated the law of the coun- 
 try and rendered himself liable to pun- 
 ishment, and that he had no right to trust 
 to the protection of his native country 
 to shield him from the consequences of 
 his act. But though that individual 
 would be guilty of a breach of the law 
 of his own country, he could not be 
 treated as a pirate, and those who treat- 
 ed him as a pirate would be guilty of 
 murder." Under the various embarrass- 
 ments of the question, the United States 
 Government desisted from its prosecu- 
 tion of the captured privateers as pir- 
 ates, and treated them simply as prison- 
 ers of war. 
 
 The vessels fitted out by the Confed- 
 erates as privateers were chiefly the 
 coasting and Gulf steamers lying in the 
 Southern harbors which the blockade 
 had rendered useless for their usual pur- 
 pose, several revenue-cutters, the prop- 
 erty of the United States, which had 
 been seized in the ports, a number of 
 schooners and pilot-boats a motley fleet 
 not exceeding, perhaps, fifty in all in the 
 early months of the war. At first their 
 movements from New Orleans, Charles- 
 ton and other ports, were exceedingly 
 annoying to the merchant service in the 
 
486 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Gulf of Mexico and adjacent waters, but 
 the blockade soon deprived, them of 
 places of refuge, and the obstacles thrown 
 in their way by the foreign governments 
 in the West India Islands proved a for- 
 midable check to their efficiency. For- 
 merly, before steam was introduced on the 
 ocean, the privateers had many oppor- 
 tunities which the use of the new ele- 
 ment of navigation has denied them. 
 They could keep longer at sea without 
 fresh supplies or repairs, but at present 
 the necessity of constantly renewing their 
 fuel requires depots of coal and a frequent 
 resort to harbor. No sailing privateer 
 can keep out of the way of a fleet of 
 steamers, and no privateer steamer can 
 long keep afloat driven from one un- 
 friendly harbor to another. With sev- 
 eral important exceptions, as the Sumter 
 and the Nashville, the Southern priva- 
 teers thus failed to execute those threats 
 of destruction upon which so much reli- 
 ance appears to have been placed as a 
 means of injury to the Northern mer- 
 chants at the beginning of the war. A 
 number of prizes, indeed, \tere made, 
 and the rise of marine insurance exhibit- 
 ed a proper respect for the powers of 
 mischief of these adversaries, but the re- 
 sult was far less than was expected. 
 Some alarm was at one time felt for the 
 safety of the Aspinwall steamers con- 
 stantly passing through the Gulf, carry- 
 ing the millions of the gold product of 
 California ; but relying on their fleetness 
 and some extra means of defence for re- 
 sistance or escape should they be attack- 
 ed, they experienced no interference 
 from the enemy. 
 
 The story of several of the privateer- 
 ing vessels of the Confederates is of in- 
 terest. Reserving for a special chapter 
 the remarkable adventures of the Sum- 
 
 ter, we may here glance at some of the 
 more noticeable incidents in the fortunes 
 of her companions. Among the United 
 States craft seized by the insurgents in 
 the Southern ports, was the revenue-cut- 
 ter General Aikin, which was taken pos- 
 session of in Charleston harbor. At the 
 outbreak of the rebellion re-named the 
 Petrel, and fitted out as a privateer, 
 under the command of William Perry of 
 South Carolina, this dashing military 
 schooner was, on the 1st of August, 1861, 
 off the harbor of Charleston when her 
 officers descried what appeared to them 
 an easy subject for capture in an ap- 
 proaching lumbering merchantman, to 
 which they immediately gave chase. This 
 was the United States frigate St. Law- 
 rence, then on a cruise along the Atlan- 
 tic coast in quest of piratical craft of the 
 enemy. To disguise her real character, 
 her port-holes were closed and her men 
 kept carefully out of sight. The com- 
 mander of the Petrel, misled by the de- 
 ception, bore down upon the innocent- 
 looking vessel, which, apparently intent 
 upon escape, was seen hoisting sail and 
 seemingly making every effort to get 
 away, while in reality she was choosing 
 her own position and gaining time to 
 make preparation below for bringing her 
 effective batteries into action. Presently 
 a couple of shots from the Petrel were 
 fired across the bows of the St. Law- 
 rence, followed by a discharge of cannis- 
 ter striking the rigging. As the priva- 
 teer thus came within range, her crew 
 were seen at work at the guns, while an 
 officer on her deck was calling on the 
 supposed merchantman to heave to and 
 send a boat alongside. The frigate then 
 suddenly threw up her ports and opened 
 a terrific fire upon her rash assailant. 
 The destruction was instantaneous. A 
 
TILLMAN'S REVENGE. 
 
 487 
 
 shell struck the galley, entered the hold, 
 and exploded, tearing the vessel fearfully 
 and bringing her to a sinking condition. 
 Part of the crew threw themselves over- 
 board or sought refuge in the life-boat, 
 holding up a flag of surrender. The 
 boats of the St. Lawrence were immedi- 
 ately lowered, and as the Petrel sank in 
 the waves, her surviving officers and 
 men were rescued and brought on board 
 of the frigate. Four of the privateer's 
 crew thus perished with the sinking ves- 
 sel, and thirty-six were captured and 
 carried in the United States gunboat 
 Flag to Philadelphia,. Lieutenant Har- 
 vey, one of the officers of the Petrel, 
 a Southerner by birth, was formerly a 
 midshipman of the United States navy, 
 and had sailed under Captain Sartori of 
 the Flag. Perry, the captain of the priv- 
 ateer, is described as about sixty-five 
 years of age, a native of North Carolina, 
 and well known as one of the Charleston 
 pilots. The crew were generally Irish- 
 men by birth. 
 
 The fate of one of the vessels cap- 
 tured by the Confederate priva^ers in- 
 volved a tale of revenge one of those 
 tragedies of the seas, with its bloody in- 
 cidents of piratical adventure, well calcu- 
 lated to send a thrill of horror through 
 the community, but which was at the 
 time regarded simply as an act of self- 
 defence, or of righteous retribution an 
 admission of those penalties of war on 
 the ocean with which the public was ac- 
 quiring a strange familiarity on land. 
 The circumstances were these. On the 
 Fourth of July the schooner S. J. War- 
 ing, of Brookhaven, Francis Smith, mas- 
 ter, sailed from New York for Monte- 
 video, with an assorted cargo, and on 
 the third day out, a hundred and fifty 
 miles from Sandy Hook, was brought to 
 
 by the rebel privateer brig Jeff. Davis, 
 despoiled of such portions of her freight 
 as were thought desirable by her captors, 
 deprived of her captain, the two mates, 
 and two seamen ; leaving the negro stew- 
 ard, William Tillman, two seamen and 
 Mr. Bryce Mackinnon, a passenger. A 
 prize crew was added, consisting of 
 Montague O'Neil, a Charleston pilot, in 
 command, one Stevens as mate, and 
 Malcolm Skiddy as second mate, and 
 two men. Thus manned, the schooner's 
 course was directed towards Charleston, 
 S. C., with the view of entering that 
 port. The original members of the crew 
 were employed in navigating the vessel, 
 entertaining hopes of recapture till their 
 arrival, after protracted voyaging in the 
 vicinity of their destination. The negro 
 steward Tillman, a man of uncomraon 
 resolution, fearful of being carried into 
 slavery, then determined to gain pos- 
 session of the schooner, and take her 
 to her owners in New York. His pro- 
 ceedings for this purpose were of the 
 most summary and decided character. 
 Having secured the assistance of William 
 Stedding, a G.erman, one of the original 
 seamen the other would not listen to 
 his proposal he prepared to carry his 
 intention into effect. This was simply 
 to catch the officers asleep, murder them 
 in their beds, and take command of the 
 vessel. After watching two nights with- 
 out success, his comrade warned him of 
 the looked-for opportunity about mid- 
 night of the sixteenth, when he rose 
 from his bed, armed himself with a 
 hatchet, and stole to the state-room of 
 the captain, which was open to the 
 cabin the door having been removed 
 for ventilation. His blow was a sure 
 one, as he struck the sleeper on the 
 head, fearfully cleaving his skull. He 
 
488 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 then crossed to the second mate's room, 
 and inflicted a similar blow, somewhat 
 less violent in its effect. The man rose 
 staggering from his couch with an oath, 
 while his assailant rushed on deck and 
 confronted the mate who had been 
 aroused by the outcry from his sleeping 
 position on the cabin roof, in front of the 
 wheel. Stedding, the accomplice, was 
 steering, with a pistol in his hand ready 
 for use when the negro drove his hatchet 
 into the mate's skull, and the two quickly 
 tumbled him over into the sea. Tillman 
 then returned to the cabin and com- 
 pleted his relentless work with the hat- 
 chet on his two dying victims, while his 
 companion kept guard with his pistol. 
 They then dragged their mangled bodies 
 to the deck and consigned them to the 
 deep. It was a bright moonlight night 
 of extraordinary beauty one of those 
 brilliant nights which will be remem- 
 bered with the inarch of the army of 
 the Potomac toward Manassas the 
 moon of Bull Run. The passenger, 
 Mackinnon, awaked by the sound of 
 the first blow, unable to offer resistance, 
 had he been disposed, quietly witnessed 
 the scene in the cabin. The two priva- 
 teer seamen yet remained. One of 
 them roused from his sleep on deck, see- 
 ing that the officers were gone, quietly 
 submitted to being put in irons, and the 
 other, who was in the forecastle, as 
 readily agreed to assist in working the 
 vessel. The next morning the former 
 was released, and joined his comrade in 
 his task. 
 
 When Tillman took possession of the 
 schooner she was about fifty miles to the 
 south, and a hundred to the east of 
 Charleston, making for that harbor. He 
 immediately changed her course for the 
 North. None of the party knew any- 
 
 thing of navigation, but the wind was 
 fair, the weather propitious, and, trust- 
 ing to keep along the land, they steered 
 boldly onward. The guidance and main 
 conduct of the vessel depended upon 
 Mackinnon, Stedding and the steward, 
 two of whom were obliged always to be 
 on deck armed to secure the fidelity of 
 the others. On the third day they made 
 the land, and sounded their way along 
 till on the morning of Sunday, the twen- 
 ty-first the day of Bull Run they 
 reached Sandy Hook, and were safely 
 piloted to New York. The vessel was 
 then taken in charge by the harbor 
 police, the two Southerners led to prison, 
 and the rest of the company detained aa 
 witnesses. 
 
 Great curiosity was at once manifest- 
 ed to hear and know everything relating 
 to the hero of this adventure, whose 
 courage and determination had been so 
 sternly exhibited in rescuing the prop- 
 erty of his employers from piratical de- 
 predators, and incidentally vindicating 
 the authority of the national flag. It 
 was ascertained that he was born of 
 free-colored parents about twenty-seven 
 years ago in Milford, Delaware, that he 
 had been carried to Providence, R. I., 
 when he was fourteen, and that he had fol- 
 lowed the sea for ten years, and had been 
 for some time in the employ of Jonas 
 Smith and Co., a firm in Front Street, 
 New York, the owners of the vessel he 
 had brought home. A diligent reporter 
 of the press further described him as 
 " of medium height, rather strongly built, 
 crisp hair, of nearly unmixed negro 
 blood, and bearing in his countenance an 
 expression of honesty and strong com- 
 mon sense, with some touches of humor." 
 Further, to gratify the interest of the 
 public, his portrait was taken by the 
 
THE PRIVATEER JEFF. DAVIS. 
 
 489 
 
 photographers, and might be seen ex- 
 hibited in the shop windows in Broad- 
 way, and somewhat less faithfully pre- 
 sented in the rude wood-cuts of the 
 " illustrated papers" on the sidewalks. 
 Negro Tillman was in fact, with a wide 
 circle, the lion of the hour ; thousands 
 had eyes to gaze upon him, and ears to 
 listen to his story, the facts of which he 
 narrated with the utmost coolness and 
 directness, softening the horrors of the 
 description, at the cue of his visitors, 
 with the most exhilarating patriotic emo- 
 tions. Indeed, his audience was likely 
 to prove so great that sad inroads would 
 have been made upon his time, had he 
 not hit upon an expedient tending to re- 
 lieve him of a portion "of his company, 
 and by the same process make the so- 
 ciety of the rest profitable and satis- 
 factory. By an arrangement with the 
 eminent showman, Mr. Phineas T. Bar- 
 num, he was enabled to hold his court 
 with some degree of public privacy, on the 
 usual terms of admission at the Museum, 
 opposite the Park, where, the large class 
 with whom seeing is believing, might, 
 according to the promise of the adver- 
 tisement, hear him relate " his expe- 
 riences with the Southern chivalry," and 
 behold, with their own eyes, " the seces- 
 sion flag which the rebels made out of 
 the schooner's American flag, also a 
 rebel cutlass, and the identical hatchet 
 with which he killed the ocean robbers." 
 It was the sight of this outrage to the 
 stars and stripes on board the vessel, he 
 was encouraged to say, which, above all 
 other motives, had moved him to his 
 deed of violence. 
 
 Tillman became also quite a prominent 
 personage by the illustration which his 
 case afforded of maritime law. An in- 
 teresting question immediately arose as 
 62 
 
 to his rights of salvage. The Board of 
 Underwriters took it into consideration, 
 and distinguished counsel volunteered to 
 defend his claims. It was said that, as 
 one of the hands of the vessel, he had 
 done no more than his duty, and was 
 hardly entitled to this legal privilege ; 
 but it was at the same time admitted that 
 his conduct had been so meritorious 
 that he was entitled to the amplest re- 
 muneration generosity could dictate. 
 When the question was brought before 
 the Courts, it was decided that Tillman 
 was entitled to salvage, and a large sum 
 thus passed into his hands. 
 
 The privateer Jeff. Davis, the captor of 
 the Waring, we may here mention, was, 
 several weeks after, on the morning of 
 Sunday, the 19th of August, wrecked in 
 attempting to cross the bar at the entrance 
 to the port of St. Augustine. Her heavy 
 guns were thrown overboard in the fruit- 
 less effort to relieve her and save the 
 supplies which she had captured. The 
 crew however, escaped, and were re- 
 ceived with triumph by the people of 
 St. Augustine. The ladies threw open 
 their houses with every demonstration 
 of joy in congratulation of the safety of 
 the privateersmen, enhanced by the re- 
 lief which their arrival afforded, from the 
 dread of a visit from a Yankee cruiser, 
 for which the Jeff. Davis had been at first 
 mistaken, her Confederate flag, it was sup- 
 posed, having been hoisted for purposes 
 of deception.* The Charleston Mercury 
 tells us how " the town bells rung out a 
 joyous peal of welcome, and the people 
 vied with each other in their courtesies 
 to the shipwrecked ones," adding, as an 
 obituary of the venturesome craft : " The 
 name of the privateer Jeff. Davis had 
 
 * Statement of F. C. Dutneux, one of the crew of the 
 Jeff. Davis, to the Richmond Enquirer. 
 
490 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 become a terror to the Yankees. The 
 number of her prizes and the amount of 
 merchandise which she captured has no 
 parallel since the days of the Saucy 
 Jack." This notable Jeff. Davis was 
 commanded by Captain Coxetter of Flor- 
 ida, described as " a gentleman of large 
 experience upon the sea, having been 
 in the merchant service in various ca- 
 pacities until the Mexican war, when 
 he was master of a transport vessel in 
 the Gulf of Mexico, and became thor- 
 oughly conversant with the ports of Mex- 
 ico and the West India Islands, as well 
 as the coast of the United States. After 
 the war, he took charge of a steamer 
 running from Charleston,' S. C., to Jack- 
 sonville and Pilatka, East Florida, in 
 which capacity he became extensively 
 known to the travelling public as the 
 polite and popular captain of the Caro- 
 lina, and afterwards the Everglade." * 
 Her First-Lieutenant, Portell, was at one 
 time a midshipman in the United States 
 navy, and had held a position in the 
 Savannah Custom - House. The Jeff. 
 
 * Port Byron (N. Y.) Gazette, ed. by B. W. Thompson, 
 a refugee from Florida. New York Tribune, Sept. 3, 1861. 
 
 Davis herself had a characteristic pre- 
 vious history. She was formerly the 
 slaver Echo, which had been captured 
 about two years previously and con- 
 demned in Charleston harbor. She was 
 a full -rigged brig, having a general re- 
 semblance to a whaler, and mounted a 
 long 18-pound pivot-gun amidships, two 
 short 18-pound guns in the waist, and 
 two short 12-pounders on the top-gallant 
 forecastle. The month before she was 
 wrecked she had made a dashing and 
 highty successful cruise along the East- 
 ern shore, running in as near as Nan- 
 tucket shoals, whither the sloop-of-war 
 Yincennes was sent in haste to look after 
 her. Her last adventure, previous to 
 her destruction, was the capture of the 
 ship John Crawford from Philadelphia, 
 bound to Key West, with arms and coal 
 for the United States forces. The offi- 
 cers and crew, twenty-two in number, 
 were taken on board the privateer, and 
 the captured vessel, drawing too heavily 
 to be brought into any of the | accessible 
 Southern ports, was fired, and holes be- 
 ing bored in her sides and bottom, she 
 quickly sank in flames. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 EXTRA SESSION OF THE NATIONAL CONGRESS. 
 
 THE extra session of Congress closed 
 at Washington on the 6th of August. 
 Its legislation was almost exclusively 
 confined to acts bearing immediately 
 upon the prosecution of the war the 
 maintenance of the army in the field and 
 provisions for its enlargement and effi- 
 ciency, the increase of the navy, the 
 
 financial measures and adjustments re- 
 quired for meeting the necessary ex- 
 penses, and the determination, to a cer- 
 tain extent, of the policy to be pursued 
 toward the rebellious States. The most 
 ample resources of men, money and ma- 
 terial were placed in the hands of the 
 Government for the prosecution of the 
 
 
APPROPRIATIONS OF CONGRESS. 
 
 491 
 
 war. The President was authorized to 
 accept the services of volunteers " for 
 the purpose of repelling invasion, sup- 
 pressing insurrection, enforcing the 
 laws and preserving and protecting the 
 public property," to the number of five 
 hundred thousand, to be called for as, 
 from time to time, he might think neces- 
 sary, for a term of service not less than 
 six months nor more than three years. 
 Nine regiments of infantry, one regiment 
 of cavalry, and one regiment of artillery 
 were authorized to be added to the reg- 
 ular army. Ten millions of dollars were 
 set apart for the purchase of arms in ad- 
 dition to other appropriations of the 
 kind. A section in the " act making ap- 
 propriations for fortifications and other 
 purposes," provided the abolishment of 
 flogging as a punishment in the army, a 
 similar enlightened enactment having 
 been made some years before for the regu- 
 lation of the navy. The pay of the pri- 
 vates in the regular army and volunteers 
 was fixed for three years at thirteen 
 dollars per month. A section of the act 
 securing this increased remuneration, 
 legalized all the acts, proclamations and 
 orders of the President respecting the 
 army and navy, and the militia and vol- 
 unteers after his inauguration, and before 
 the meeting of Congress, "to the same 
 intent and with the same effect as if they 
 had been issued and done under the 
 previous express authority and direction 
 of the Congress of the United States." 
 This met the most important of the pro- 
 visions of the joint resolution for the ap- 
 proval and confirmation of certain acts 
 of the President which was discussed at 
 various times during the session without 
 a final vote being taken.* 
 
 Liberal appropriations were also made 
 
 * Ante, p, 363. 
 
 for the enlargement and support of the 
 navy, and the general efficiency of the 
 department. The Secretary was author- 
 ized to hire, purchase or contract for 
 such vessels as might be necessary for 
 the temporary increase of the service, 
 and furnish them with the requisite mu- 
 nitions, and for this purpose and " to 
 suppress piracy, and to render more 
 effective the closing of the ports of the 
 insurgents," three millions of dollars 
 were specially appropriated. A million 
 and a half of dollars were appropriated 
 for the construction of one or more ar- 
 mored or iron or steel-clad steamships 
 or floating steam batteries, to be expend- 
 ed by the Secretary of the Navy, on the 
 report and approval of the plans and 
 specifications of a board of three skillful 
 naval officers. Twelve small side-wheel 
 steamers of light draught and great 
 speed were ordered to be built with the 
 least possible delay, and twelve hundred 
 thousand dollars were appropriated for 
 the purpose. Enlistments were to be 
 made by the Secretary for the term of 
 three years or during the war, of "such 
 number of able seamen, ordinary seamen 
 and boys as he might judge necessary 
 and proper to place the entire navy of 
 the United States, and all vessels that 
 may be added to it, in a state of the ut- 
 most efficiency for active service." To 
 assist the Secretary in the labors of the 
 department, the President was directed 
 to appoint an Assistant Secretarj^ of the 
 Navy. This office was conferred upon 
 Lieutenant Gr. Y. Fox, a gentleman of 
 great practical experience, not only by 
 his early duties as an officer in the 
 United States navy and the mercantile 
 service of the Atlantic and G-ulf steam- 
 ers, but by his general efficiency as a 
 man of business. Since his employment 
 
492 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 by the Government in the attempted re- 
 lief of Fort Suniter, he had held the post 
 of Chief Clerk in the Navy Department. 
 His promotion was hailed with pleasure 
 as a promise of increased vigor in the 
 service. 
 
 To meet the financial requirements of 
 the war, the Secretary of the Treasury, in 
 general accordance with his recommenda- 
 tions,* was authorized to borrow the sum 
 of two hundred and fifty millions of dol- 
 lars, for which bonds arid treasury notes 
 were to be issued, as might be expedient. 
 The bonds were to be irredeemable for 
 twenty years, and were to bear interest 
 not exceeding seven per cent. ; the trea- 
 sury notes of a denomination not below 
 fifty dollars were to be payable three 
 years after date, with annual interest at 
 the rate of 7r 3 o per cent., while to facili- 
 tate the disbursements of the Government 
 and the payment of revenues, lower de- 
 nominations of treasury notes, not below 
 five dollars, to the extent of fifty millions 
 of dollars, were authorized to be used 
 for these purposes. The exclusive use 
 of the Sub-Treasury was modified by 
 allowing the Government to deposit its 
 funds with solvent banks, a measure 
 which, taken in connection with the issue 
 of the bills receivable for specie, greatly 
 relieved the financial pressure of the day. 
 For the payment of the interest on this 
 debt, and for the supply of other public 
 needs, new duties were imposed on va- 
 rious articles of luxury and necessity, 
 including tea and coffee, which had been 
 hitherto exempt. On the former a duty 
 of fifteen cents was imposed ; on the lat- 
 ter of four cents. Another section of 
 the same Act of August 5, laid a direct 
 tax of twenty millions of dollars on all 
 real estate of the country, to be appor- 
 
 Ante, p. 362. 
 
 tioned among the several States, loyal 
 and insurgent. Property, belonging to 
 any individuals residing thereon, to the 
 amount of five hundred dollars, was to 
 be exempted from taxation. A tax was 
 also provided to be levied on the excess 
 of all annual incomes above eight hun- 
 dred dollars. The latter was to be cal- 
 culated on the incomes of the year 1861. 
 The power of appointment of officers to 
 carry out this system of taxation was 
 placed in the hands of the President, but 
 was not to be exercised by him till the 
 ensuing February. When the day came, 
 a new and more comprehensive bill, su- 
 perseding the present one, was found to 
 be necessary by Congress to meet the 
 exigencies of the times. Mr. Chase's 
 suggestion of excise duties and other 
 taxes on special articles of personal 
 property, legacies, etc., was not adopted 
 in the act of 1861. 
 
 Within a month after the adjourn- 
 ment of Congress, when the prepara- 
 tions for the issue of the national loan 
 were completed, Mr. Chase sent forth 
 an appeal to the citizens of the United 
 States in behalf of the subscription. 
 He called for purchasers at par of 
 one hundred and fifty millions of Treas- 
 ury notes bearing 7i 3 o per cent, in- 
 terest, according to the plan already 
 described. Subscriptions promptly flow- 
 ed in from individuals, and large amounts 
 were taken by the banking institutions. 
 As the benefits of the loan became 
 known, the first and second issues of 
 fifty millions each were generally ab- 
 sorbed for investment. The Secretary's 
 circular or appeal is of interest beyond 
 the immediate occasion which called it 
 forth, for the calculations which it pre- 
 sented of the resources of the country, 
 and the probable cost and duration of 
 
MR. CHASE'S CIRCULAR. 
 
 493 
 
 the rebellion. "The real and personal 
 values in the United States," he repre- 
 sented, " reach the vast aggregate of 
 sixteen thousand millions of dollars, and 
 in the States now loyal to the Union this 
 aggregate is eleven thousand millions. 
 The yearly surplus earnings of the loyal 
 people are estimated by intelligent per- 
 sons conversant with such investigations, 
 at more than four hundred millions of 
 dollars ; while the well-considered judg- 
 ments of military men of the highest 
 rank and repute, warrant a confident 
 expectation that the war, prosecuted with 
 energy, courage and skill, maybe brought 
 to a termination before the close of the 
 next spring ; in which event, the cost, 
 beyond the revenue, will hardly exceed 
 the amount of the two hundred and fifty 
 millions' loan, authorized by Congress. 
 With due economy in all branches of 
 the public service, the total expendi- 
 tures for all objects, military, naval and 
 civil, in this year of war, need not ex- 
 ceed the ordinary expenditures of Great 
 Britain or France in years of peace. 
 
 " And is it," he adds, " unreasonable 
 to hope that the auspicious result of 
 peace may be hastened by the reflec- 
 tions of the citizens of the States in in- 
 surrection ? That they will review their 
 action ; weigh their own welfare ; con- 
 sider the disposition of the people of the 
 whole country to recognize all their con- 
 stitutional rights, and to allow them their 
 full share in the benefits of the common 
 Government, and renew that allegiance 
 to the Union which, in an evil hour, 
 they have been tempted to throw off? 
 Will they not reflect that the war, into 
 which the Government of the- Union has 
 been constrained, is not a war for their 
 subjugation, but a war for national exist- 
 ence, and that an auspicious result to the 
 
 Union will benefit as largely the States 
 in insurrection as the States which have 
 remained loyal ? However this may be, 
 the duty of the National Government, as 
 the constitutionally constituted agent of 
 the people, admits of no question. The 
 war, made necessary by insurrection and 
 reluctantly accepted by the Govern- 
 ment, must be prosecuted with all pos- 
 sible vigor until the restoration of the 
 just authority of the Union shall ensure 
 permanent peace. The same good Pro- 
 vidence which conducted our fathers 
 through the difficulties and dangers 
 which beset the formation of the Union, 
 has graciously strengthened our hands 
 for the work of its preservation. The 
 crops of the year are ample. Granaries 
 and barns are everywhere full. The 
 capitalists of the country come cheer- 
 fully forward to sustain the credit of the 
 Government. Already also, even in ad- 
 vance of this appeal, men of all occupa- 
 tions seek to share the honors and the 
 advantages of the loan. Never, except 
 because of the temporary depression, 
 caused by the rebellion and the derange- 
 ment of business occasioned by it, were 
 the people of the United States in a 
 better condition to sustain a great con- 
 test than now." 
 
 The passage of a bill confiscating the 
 property of persons actively engaged in 
 the rebellion, was thought to be demand- 
 ed by the country, and was evidently 
 predetermined in the policy of the ma- 
 jority. Mr. Trumbull, Chairman of the 
 Judiciary Committee, on the 15th of 
 July, introduced the bill into the Senate, 
 which, with an amendment from the 
 House, became the law of the land. As 
 finally passed and approved on the last 
 day of the session, it was as follows : 
 " An Act to Confiscate Property used for 
 
494 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 other insurrectionary purposes. Be it 
 enacted by the Senate and House of Rep- 
 resentatives of the United States of 
 America, in Congress assembled, That 
 if, during the present or any future in- 
 surrection against the Government of 
 the United States, after the President 
 of the United States shall have declared, 
 by proclamation, that the laws of the 
 United States are opposed, and the exe- 
 cution thereof obstructed, by combina- 
 tions too powerful to be suppressed by 
 the ordinary course of judicial proceed- 
 ings, or by the power vested in the mar- 
 shal by law, any person or persons, his, 
 her, or their agent, attorney or em- 
 ployee, shall purchase or acquire, sell or 
 give, any property of whatsoever kind 
 or description, with intent to use or em- 
 ploy the same, or suffer the same to be 
 used or employed, in aiding, abetting, or 
 promoting such insurrection or resistance 
 to the laws, or any person or persons 
 engaged therein ; or if any person or 
 persons, being the owner or owners of 
 any such property, shall knowingly use 
 or employ, or consent to the use or em- 
 ployment of the same as aforesaid, all 
 such property is' hereby declared to be 
 lawful subject of prize and capture 
 wherever found ; and it shall be the 
 duty of the President of the United 
 States to cause the same to be seized, 
 confiscated and condemned. 
 
 SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That 
 such prizes and capture shall be con- 
 demned in the district or circuit court of 
 the United States having jurisdiction of 
 the amount, or in admiralty, in any dis- 
 trict in which the same may be seized, 
 or in which they may be taken, all pro- 
 ceedings first instituted. 
 
 SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, 
 That the Attorney-General, or any dis- 
 
 trict attorney of the United States, in 
 which said property may at the time be, 
 may institute the proceedings of con- 
 demnation, and in such case they shall 
 be wholly for the benefit of the United 
 States ; or any person may file an infor- 
 mation with such an attorney, in which 
 case the proceedings shall be for the use 
 of such informer and the United States 
 in equal parts. 
 
 SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That 
 whenever hereafter, during the present 
 insurrection against the Government of 
 the United States, any person claimed 
 to be held to labor or service under the 
 law of any State, shall be required or 
 permitted by the person to whom such 
 labor or service is claimed to be due, or 
 by the lawful agent of such person, to 
 take up arms against the United States ; 
 or shall be required or permitted by the 
 person to whom such labor or service is 
 claimed to be due, or his lawful agent, 
 to work or to be employed in or upon 
 any fort, navy yard, dock, armory, ship 
 entrenchment, or in any military or na- 
 val service, whatsoever, against the Gov- 
 ernment and lawful authority of the 
 United States, then, and in every such 
 case, the person to whom such labor or 
 service is claimed to be due, shall forfeit 
 his claim to such labor, any law of the 
 State or of the United States to the con- 
 trary notwithstanding. And whenever 
 thereafter the person claiming such labor 
 or service, shall seek to enforce his claim, 
 it shall be a full and sufficient answer to 
 such claim that the person whose service 
 or labor is claimed had been employed 
 in hostile service against the Govern- 
 ment of the United States, contrary tc 
 the provisions of this act." 
 
 The vote on the final passage of the 
 bill stood in the Senate 24 to 11 ; in the 
 
A CONFISCATION ACT. 
 
 House of Representatives 60 to 48. 
 There was comparatively little discussion 
 of the question in either branch of Con- 
 gress. Mr. Breckinridge, in the Senate, 
 on the introduction of the amendment 
 liberating the slaves employed in the 
 rebellion, contented himself with pro- 
 nouncing it "very objectionable," and 
 calling for the yeas and nays. " In my 
 opinion," said he, " the amendment will 
 bfi one of a series which will amount, 
 before we are done with it if, unhappi- 
 ly, we have no settlement or adjustment 
 soon to a general confiscation of all 
 property and a loosing of all bonds." 
 Six votes only were recorded against 
 the amendment those of Breckinridge, 
 Johnson of Missouri, Kennedy and 
 Pearce of Maryland, Trusten Polk of 
 Missouri, and Powell of Kentucky.* In 
 the minority vote on the final passage, 
 Kennedy was absent, and there were 
 added to the names just given those of 
 Josse D. Bright of Illinois, Carlile of 
 Western Virginia, Edgar Cowan of Penn- 
 sylvania, Latham from California, Rice 
 from Minnesota, and Saulsbury from 
 Delaware. Of the forty-eight who voted 
 against the bill in the House, ten were 
 from Kentucky, seven from Ohio, six 
 from Indiana, five from Pennsylvania, 
 five from Maryland, and five from New 
 York. The most prominent of these op- 
 ponents of the measure who spoke in 
 the debate were Crittenden of Ken- 
 tucky, and Diven, a Republican member 
 from New York. The latter objected to 
 the measure as adding unnecessarily to 
 the rigors of war without increasing the 
 success of the army in fact, it would 
 stimulate the resistance of the enemy. 
 The laws of war provided for the seizure 
 of all military property, and to that the 
 
 * Senate Proceedings, July 22, 1861. 
 
 penalties of this nature should be con- 
 fined As for the negroes taken in arms 
 against the country, he would have them 
 treated as prisoners of war, and would 
 make it a condition of their release that 
 their masters should lose all right to 
 them. Mr. Crittenden saw in the bill an 
 assumption in Congress of powers over 
 slavery in the States opposed to the 
 principles of the Constitution. That in- 
 strument, he said, prohibited the forfeit- 
 ure of property of any description what- 
 ever, beyond the lifetime of the offender. 
 The bill, on the contrary, made the for- 
 feiture absolute. " If you can," said he, 
 " on conditions, in time of war, abrogate 
 and abolish slavery, it may well be ask- 
 ed whether you cannot do it in time of 
 peace, on similar conditions of supposed 
 future crime ? Are we in a condition 
 now, gentlemen, to hazard this momen- 
 tous, irritating, agitating, revolutionary 
 question ? Is it politic to wage such a 
 war as that? I know that it is forced 
 upon you. Your capital is now threat- 
 ened, and is within hearing of the en- 
 emy's cannon. You are bound to defend 
 yourselves, and to defend yourselves like 
 men. Shall we send forward to the 
 field a whole catalogue of penal laws to 
 fight this battle with ? Arms more im- 
 potent were never resorted to. They 
 are beneath the dignity of our great 
 cause. They are outside of the policy 
 which ought to control this Government, 
 and lead us on to success in the war 
 that we are now fighting. If you hold 
 up before your enemies this cloud of 
 penal laws, they will say : ' War is bet- 
 ter than peace. War is comparative 
 repose.' They will say when they are 
 subdued, or if they choose now to sub- 
 mit, ' What next ? Have we peace, or 
 is this new army of penal laws then to 
 
496 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 come into action ? Are these penal laws 
 to inflict upon us a long agony of prose- 
 cution and forfeiture ?' No, gentlemen ; 
 it is not by such means that we are to 
 achieve the great object of establishing 
 our Union and reuniting the country. 
 Sir, these laws will have no efficacy in 
 war. Their only effect will be to stimu- 
 late your adversaries to still more des- 
 perate measures. That will be the effect 
 of this army of penal laws. The experi- 
 ment has been tried by other countries. 
 England tried it upon Ireland, and she 
 reaped the reward of it in hundreds of 
 years of intestine war. And that is its 
 natural product. These penal laws will 
 prove to be the seed-ground from which 
 will spring up new rebellions. Gentle- 
 men, for the sake of our country, I ask 
 you not to enter upon such an experi- 
 ment. Your laws already declare what 
 is treason ; they define what shall be the 
 penalties of that crime. They are suffi- 
 cient, and I hope there will be no fur- 
 ther action, such as this bill contemplates. 
 You know, as well as I do, the peculiar 
 sensitiveness which exists upon the pe- 
 culiar species of property to which this 
 bill especially applies. I state now, as 
 I have stated more than once in the 
 other end of the Capitol, that I do not 
 appear here to plead the cause of the 
 slaveholder. I am here to plead for my 
 country ; I am here to speak for my 
 country ; and with an honest, sincere 
 heart, with all the earnestness of my na- 
 ture, do I implore you to forego the pass- 
 age of this bill, and to dismiss it from 
 your deliberations. The eyes of the 
 world are upon you. You are in the 
 presence of events that will be of deeper 
 interest in history than any that have 
 occurred in a hundred years ; of as great 
 importance, it seems to me, as can occur 
 
 to the human race. Then let us not be 
 here employing our time and ingenuity 
 in finding out penal laws that can only 
 have their effect after the war is over. 
 When that war shall be over, I want tp 
 see it succeeded by the blessings of 
 peace ; I want to see manifested that 
 spirit of forbearance and forgiveness 
 which alone can bring us peace. If we 
 are to provide, and provide beforehand, 
 for a code of penal laws, which is to visit 
 the citizens of the rebellions States when 
 they shall have laid down their arms, in 
 their property, in their persons, and in 
 every way, we shall have no peace." 
 
 Mr. Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylva- 
 nia, a Eepublican member, closed the 
 debate. He urged the propriety of the 
 measure as an exercise of the rights of 
 war. In answer to a question from 
 Mallory of Kentucky, an opponent of 
 the bill, who pronounced it an unconsti- 
 tutional act, he said " that it was consti- 
 tutional and according to the law of na- 
 tions in time of war. You have no right 
 to do it in time .of peace, but in time of 
 war you have the right to confiscate the 
 property of every rebel." In reference 
 to the question of the treatment of the 
 negroes taken from the enemy, " by 
 what principle of the law of nations, .by 
 what principle of philanthropy," he ask- 
 ed, " can you return them to the bond- 
 age from which you have delivered them, 
 and rivet again the chains you have once 
 broken ? I, for one, shall never shrink 
 from saying, when these slaves are once 
 conquered by us, 'Go and be free.' God 
 forbid that I should ever agree that they 
 should be returned again to their mas- 
 ters. I do not say that this war is made 
 for that purpose. Ask those who made 
 the war what is its object. Do not ask 
 us. Our object is to subdue the rebels." 
 
CONSERVATIVE RESOLUTION OF CONGRESS. 
 
 497 
 
 Replying to tho suggestions which had. 
 been made of the effect the confiscation 
 bill might have in strengthening the pur- 
 poses of the enemy, he concluded : "But 
 it is said that if we hold out this thing 
 they will never submit that we cannot 
 conquer them that they will suffer 
 themselves to be slaughtered, and their 
 whole country to be laid waste. Sir, 
 war is a grievous thing at best, and civil 
 war more than any other ; but if they 
 hold this language, and the means which 
 they have suggested must be resorted to, 
 if their whole country must be laid 
 waste and made a desert in order to 
 save this Union from destruction, so let 
 it be. I would rather, sir, reduce them 
 to a condition where their whole country 
 is to be repeopled by a band of freemen 
 than to see them perpetrate the destruc- 
 tion of this people through our agency. 
 I do not say that it is time to resort to 
 such means, and I do not know when the 
 time will come ; but I never fear to ex- 
 press my sentiments. It is not a ques- 
 tion with me of policy, but a question of 
 principle. If this war is continued long, 
 and is bloody, I do not believe that the 
 free people of the North will stand by 
 and see their sons and brothers and 
 neighbors slaughtered by thousands and 
 tens of thousands by rebels, with arms in 
 their hands, and forbear to call upon 
 their enemies to be our friends, and to 
 help us in subduing them ; I, for one, if 
 it continues long, and has the conse- 
 quences mentioned, shall be ready to go 
 for it, let it horrify the gentleman from 
 New York, [Mr. Diven] or anybody 
 else. That is my doctrine, and that will 
 be the doctrine of the whole free people 
 of the North before two years roll round, 
 if this war continues. As to the end of 
 the war, until the rebels are subdued, no 
 63 
 
 man in the North thinks of it. If the 
 Government are equal to the people, and 
 I believe they are, there will be no bar- 
 gaining, there will be no negotiation, 
 there will be no truces with the rebels, 
 except to bury the dead, until every 
 man shall have laid down his arms, dis- 
 banded his organization, submitted him- 
 self to the Government, and sued for 
 mercy. And, sir, if those who have the 
 control of the Government are not fit for 
 this task and have not the nerve and 
 mind for it. the people will take care 
 that there are others who are although, 
 sir, I have not a bit of fear of the present 
 Administration or of the present Execu- 
 tive. I have spoken more freely, per- 
 haps, than gentlemen within my hearing 
 might think politic, but I have spoken 
 just what I felt. I have spoken what I 
 believe will be the result ; and I warn 
 Southern gentlemen that if this war is to 
 continue, there will be a time when my 
 friend from New York will see it de- 
 clared by this free nation that every 
 bondman in the South belonging to a 
 rebel, recollect ; I confine it to them 
 shall be called upon to aid us in war 
 against their masters, and to restore this 
 Union."* 
 
 Whatever considerations and sugges- 
 tions, however, might be thrown out in 
 debate, as to the possible incidents of the 
 struggle, the sense of Congress, as to the 
 means and objects of the war, was clear 
 and explicit, and was in accordance with 
 the policy of the Administration. The 
 contest was to be carried on for the pre- 
 servation of the Government, and not in 
 a revolutionary spirit. This was suf- 
 ficiently shown by the decided vote, 117 
 to 2, on the passage of Mr. Critteuden's 
 Resolution in the House of Representa- 
 
 * Debates in the House of Represoututives, Aug. 2, 1861. 
 
498 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tives : "Resolved, That the present de- 
 plorable civil war has been forced upon 
 the country by the disunionists of the 
 Southern States, now in revolt against 
 the constitutional Government, and in 
 arms around the capital ; that in this 
 national emergency, Congress, banishing 
 all feelings of mere passion or resent- 
 ment, will recollect only its duty to the 
 whole country ; that this war is not 
 waged upon our part in any spirit of 
 oppression, or for any purpose of con- 
 quest or subjugation, or purpose of 
 overthrowing or interfering with the 
 . rights or established institutions of those 
 States, but to defend and maintain the 
 supremacy of the Constitution, and to 
 ^reserve the Union with all the dignity, 
 equality and rights of the several States 
 unimpaired ; and that as soon as these 
 objects are accomplished the war ought 
 to cease." 
 
 An important measure of this session, 
 called forth by the new situation of 
 affairs, was the passage of an Act re- 
 quiring an oath of allegiance, and to 
 support the Constitution of the United 
 States to be administered to certain per- 
 sons in the civil service of the United 
 States. It was specially intended to 
 purge the Government departments of 
 disloyal agents. Every officer, or clerk, 
 or employe was required, on penalty of 
 dismission for refusal, to swear that he 
 "will support, protect and defend the 
 Constitution and Government of the 
 United States against all enemies, wheth- 
 er domestic or foreign, and bear true 
 faith, allegiance and loyalty to the same, 
 any ordinance, resolution or law of any 
 State, convention or legislature to .the 
 contrary notwithstanding ; and further, 
 that I do this with a full determination, 
 pledge and purpose, without any mental 
 
 reservation or evasion whatsoever, and 
 further, that I will well and faithfully 
 perform all the duties which may be re- 
 quired of me by law." The terms of 
 this special oath, and the fact that it was 
 thought necessary to be presented by 
 Congress sufficiently indicate the diffi- 
 culties and perils with which the Ad- 
 ministration of the Government was 
 beset at the national capital. 
 
 The temper of the new Congress was 
 shown in the more determined action 
 resolved upon in reference to the missing 
 Senators of the seceding States, in com- 
 parison with the simple recognition of 
 withdrawal, by declaring the seats va- 
 cant, with which the previous Congress 
 had been contented. It was thought 
 that the new cases of the kind which had 
 arisen should be branded by expulsion. 
 Accordingly on the motion of Daniel 
 Clark of New Hampshire, the Senate, 
 on the 1 1th July, formally expelled the 
 absentee members : Mason and Hunter 
 of Virginia, Clingman and Bragg of 
 North Carolina, Chesnut of South Caro- 
 lina, Nicholson of Tennessee, Sebas- 
 tian and Mitchel of Arkansas, Hemphill 
 and Wigfall of Texas, it being "ap- 
 parent to the Senate that said Senators 
 are engaged in a conspiracy for the des- 
 truction of the Union and Government, 
 or, with full knowledge of such con- 
 spiracy, have failed to advise the Gov- 
 ernment of its progress, or aid in its 
 suppression." Bayard of Delaware, ob- 
 jected to the censure in this resolution, 
 sheltering the Senators under the action 
 of their States, which they followed in 
 retiring. " The action was avowed, 
 open ; it was an appeal to the people 
 of their respective States ; the people of 
 their States, by majorities, recognized 
 that course, and the States assumed the 
 
ADMISSION OF THE VIRGINIA SENATORS. 
 
 499 
 
 responsibility, as political governments, 
 of going out of this Union. I am not 
 willing to pass judgment of expulsion 
 upon the individuals founded upon that." 
 Latham of California, took a similar 
 view of this matter, and moved that the 
 word "expelled" be omitted from the 
 resolution. " Expulsion," said he, " im- 
 plies turpitude. It is a reflection upon 
 the personal character of the individual ; 
 it is a stain. Now I know myself that 
 some Senators two in particular 
 named in that resolution, did not in- 
 dorse the right of secession. They dis- 
 approved of it ; they never sanctioned 
 it ; and they did not think they could 
 occupy a seat on this floor after their 
 State had seceded." McDougall, the 
 fellow-Senator of the last, speaker from 
 California, differed from the views of 
 his colleague. " The expulsion," said 
 he, " is for personal cause. It is, that 
 they have espoused the controversy 
 made against the Republic. There may 
 be no turpitude in the act. Treason was 
 always a gentlemanly crime, and in 
 ancient times a man who committed it 
 was entitled to the axe instead of the 
 halter. However, it is no more the less 
 a crime, and the greatest ; and espousing 
 a cause against the Republic, if it be not 
 treason, is akin to that crime. I am 
 prepared to vote for the resolution of 
 expulsion." The resolution was then 
 adopted by a vote of 32 to 10. John- 
 son of Tennessee voting with the mi- 
 nority. 
 
 The admission of the new senators, 
 Messrs. Willey and Carlile, from West- 
 ern Virginia, on the 13th of July, was 
 preceded by an animated debate, in 
 which the question of the regularity of 
 the proceeding was discussed by Bayard 
 and Saulsbury of Delaware, Johnson of 
 
 Tennessee, Trumbull of Illinois, Collamer 
 of Vermont, Powell of Kentucky, and 
 Hale of New Hampshire. Bayard ob- 
 jected to acting on the credentials, as 
 involving the recognition of an irregu- 
 lar State government in Virginia, and 
 moved that they be referred to the Com- 
 mittee on the Judiciary. Saulsbury 
 raised a question of consistency. The 
 credentials declared the election of the 
 new senators to be made on the 9th of 
 July, to fill vacancies, and the Senate, on 
 the llth, had expelled the old members, 
 therefore the vacancies, as stated, did 
 not exist. Johnson of Tennessee advo- 
 cated the prompt admission of the new 
 members. Saulsbury again insisted on 
 the irregularity. Trumbull said " he 
 was not for sticking in the bark about 
 this matter. Let us take the condition 
 of things as it is. Here is the State of 
 Virginia in Rebellion. If you are going 
 outside to inquire after the fact, you will 
 ascertain that a portion of the people of 
 that State have risen in arms against the 
 Government ; another portion of the 
 people of that State are lc} r al to the 
 Union ; and the loyal men of Virginia 
 have elected a legislature and seek re- 
 presentation in the Congress of the 
 United States. They are entitled to 
 representation here, and the enemies of 
 the country are not." 
 
 Hale of New Hampshire, while vindi- 
 cating the admission of the senators, was 
 roused to an emphatic declaration of his 
 views of the position of the country. " I 
 hope," said he, " that the Senate will not 
 hesitate. Sir, this is no question of form, 
 no question of ceremony ; it is a question 
 of life or death with this Republic and 
 with this Government. The men that 
 are in arms against you, are in arms 
 against your very existence. The idea 
 
500 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 of your national life a day after you yield 
 to their position is absurd and inconsist- 
 ent. Sir, this Government had borne 
 and forborne until your forbearance was 
 construed into pusilanimity ; and during 
 the last session of Congress the most in- 
 sulting language that ever fell from hu- 
 man lips was uttered in reference to this 
 very general Government ; and the gen- 
 tlemen for whom so much regard is now 
 felt and expressed, sat by, counseled and 
 advised with the man who told us that 
 we had been smitten a staggering blow 
 in the face that we dared not resent. 
 Yes, sir, that is exactly the way this 
 Government has been treated ; and it 
 has come to the very last point, where it 
 must either vindicate its existence by all 
 the force that it commands, or it must go 
 out in national disgrace forever. This is 
 the day ; this is the hour ; this is the 
 time ; this is the experiment. Sir, it is 
 the culmination of the great contest that 
 has been going on through all time be- 
 tween despotism on the one side, and 
 constitutional government and liberty on 
 the other. That is the issue ; and we are 
 fighting the battle of all past ages and 
 all coming generations. They all culmi- 
 nate in the experiment that we are mak- 
 ing to-day. Sir, this war has been 
 forced upon the country. Things went 
 on until the last question that was left to 
 it was to submit ignominiously, or, with 
 all the energy that it could command, 
 send its thrilling voice out to the millions 
 that were subject to its control, and that 
 in their folly, I had almost said be- 
 lieved they had a Government to defend 
 them. And, sir, they have rallied as 
 never a people rallied before ; and I tell 
 you, Senators, if you hesitate to meet the 
 issue, to meet it in all its aspects, in all 
 its contingencies, here on this floor, on 
 
 the field of battle, and everywhere, you 
 are unworthy of the day and the hour in 
 which God Almighty has permitted you 
 to enact the part that He has assigned 
 you in the great chapter of human des- 
 tiny. I am glad I was born about the 
 time I was, so that my lines fall here to- 
 day. I am glad that my destiny is link- 
 ed in the great contest that has been 
 coming, and coming, and coming with 
 every successive generation, and every 
 successive experiment that the world 
 has ever made in all the past. I feel 
 to-day that the blood which has been 
 shed on every battle-field is at issue in 
 the contest that we are now carrying on. 
 I feel that the blood of every patriot 
 who has poured out his life on the scaf- 
 fold, the worth of it and the effect of it 
 are all in issue ; and I feel, sir, if we are 
 faithful to the hour, Faithful to the crisis, 
 faithful to the duty, God will pour out on 
 this nation the blessings that have been 
 evoked by the prayers of the pious in all 
 times past. It is no holiday contest in 
 which we are engaged. It is not the time 
 to hunt up justices of the peace records 
 to find precedents of form as to how we 
 shall go along. We must accept the 
 contest as it has come, anomalous in its 
 character, destitute of any precedents in 
 the past, but, I trust in God, destined 
 to shed infinite light on the future. 
 And, sir, at such a time, at such a day, 
 and in such a contest, the only question 
 I ask of any man is, 'Is your heart 
 right ; if it be, give me your hand ; join 
 with us in this great struggle ;' and if 
 there are loyal men in Virginia that are 
 determined to stand by the cause of civil 
 libertj 7 in this hour of her peril, let them 
 rally ; let them form a constitutional 
 government as they best may ; and tat 
 this Federal Government pour them out 
 
POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 501 
 
 men and money, if necessary, to sustain 
 them in their contest." 
 
 When the vote was taken, five only 
 Messrs. Bayard, Bright, Polk, Powell 
 and Sanlsbury were in favor of refer- 
 ring the credentials ; so the Senators 
 were admitted to take the oath of office. 
 The ground taken by Congress and the 
 Government in this Virginia question in 
 reference to the position of the Western 
 portion of the State, which there was a 
 strong disposition at one time to separ- 
 ate from the rest as a new and distinct 
 commonwealth, was well set forth in a 
 letter addressed on the 12th of the fol- 
 lowing month by the Attorney-General 
 of the United States, Mr. Bates, to Mr. 
 A. F. Ritchie, a member of the Virginia 
 Convention, then sitting at Wheeling. 
 "I have thought," wrote this high offi- 
 cer of the Government, "a great deal 
 upon the question of dividing the State 
 of Virginia into two States ; and since I 
 came here as a member of the Govern- 
 ment, I have conversed with a good 
 many, and corresponded with some, of 
 the good men of Western Virginia, in 
 regard to that matter. In all this inter- 
 course, my constant and earnest effort 
 has been to impress upon the minds of 
 those gentlemen the vast importance 
 not to say necessity in the terrible cri- 
 sis of our national affairs, to abstain from 
 the introduction of any new elements of 
 revolution, to avoid, as far as possible, 
 all new and original theories of Govern- 
 ment ; but. on the contrary, in all the 
 insurgent commonwealths to adhere, as 
 closely as circumstances will allow, to 
 the old constitutional standard of prin- 
 ciple, and to the traditional habits and 
 thoughts of the people. And I still 
 think that course is dictated by the 
 plainest teachings of prudence. The 
 
 formation of a new State out of West- 
 ern Virginia is an original, independent 
 act of revolution. I do not deny the 
 power of revolution (I do not call it 
 right for it is never prescribed, it ex- 
 ists in force only, and has and can have 
 no law but the will of the revolutionists.) 
 Any attempt to carry it out involves a 
 plain breach of both the Constitutions 
 of Virginia and the nation. And hence, 
 it is plain you cannot take that course 
 without weakening, if not destroying, 
 your claims upon the sympathy and 
 support of the General Government ; 
 and without disconcerting the plan al- 
 ready adopted both by Virginia and the 
 General Government, for the reorganiza- 
 tion of the revolted States, and the res- 
 toration of the integrity of the Union. 
 That plan I understand to be this : 
 When a State, by its perverted function- 
 aries, has declared itself out of the Union, 
 we avail ourselves of the sound and loyal 
 elements of the State all who owned 
 allegiance to, and claimed protection of, 
 the Constitution, to form a State Govern- 
 ment, as nearly as may be, upon the 
 former model, and claiming to be the 
 very State which has been, in part, over- 
 thrown by the successful rebellion. In 
 this way we establish a constitutional 
 nucleus around which all the shattered 
 elements of the commonwealth may meet 
 and combine, and thus restore the old 
 State in its original integrity. This I 
 verily thought, was the plan ad oped at 
 Wheeling, and recognized and acted 
 upon by the General Government here. 
 Your convention annulled the revolu- 
 tionary proceedings at Richmond, both 
 in the Convention and General Assem- 
 bly, and your new Governor formally 
 demanded of the President the fulfil- 
 ment of the constitutional guarantee in 
 
502 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 favor of Virginia Virginia, as known 
 to our fathers and to us. The President 
 admitted the obligation, and promised 
 his best efforts to fulfil it ; and the 
 Senate admitted your Senators, not as 
 representing a new and nameless State, 
 now for the first time heard of in our 
 history, but as representing 'the good 
 old commonwealth.' " 
 
 A joint resolution of the two Houses 
 recommending a fast day, and following 
 nearly the exact words of a resolution 
 passed during the was of 1812, was in- 
 troduced into the Senate by Harlan of 
 Iowa, and was adopted unanimously. It 
 ran thus : " It being a duty peculiarly 
 
 incumbent in a time of public calamity 
 and rebellion, humbly and devoutly to ac- 
 knowledge our dependence on Almighty 
 God, and to implore his aid and protec- 
 tion : Therefore Resolved, That a joint 
 committee of both Houses wait upon the 
 President of the United States and re- 
 quest that he recommend a day of public 
 humiliation, prayer and fasting to be ob- 
 served by the people of the United 
 States with religious solemnity, and the 
 offering of fervent supplications to Al- 
 mighty God for the safety and welfare 
 of these States, His blessings on their 
 arms, and a speedy restoration of 
 peace." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF CARTHAGE, Mo., JULY 5, 1861. 
 
 GENERAL LYON having, as we have 
 seen in a previous chapter, summarily 
 put the disloyal Governor of Missouri 
 and his forces to flight at Booneville, 
 prepared to follow them in their retreat 
 to the Southern portion of the State, 
 where, supporting themselves at the ex- 
 pense of the inhabitants, they were add- 
 ing to their numbers, and gathering fresh 
 nutriment in the cause of the rebellion. 
 General Price, with other insurgent 
 leaders, it was understood was in arms 
 in the southwest, and there were rumors 
 of the presence in the same quarter 
 of the redoubtable Texas ranger, Ben 
 McCulloch, who had lately left the vicin- 
 ity of the Potomac, and been seen in 
 Arkansas. To meet these and whatever 
 other enemies there might be abroad, 
 General Lyon set out from Booneville at 
 
 the beginning of July, making his way 
 through the western counties in the 
 direction of Springfield. 
 
 He had hardly departed, however, 
 before the enemy whom he sought were 
 successfully encountered in a remote 
 part of the State by a young officer of 
 foreign birth, whose skill, displayed on 
 more than one occasion, gained him the 
 highest honors of the campaign. This 
 was Colonel Franz Sigel, who, born at 
 Baden in 1821, had been educated at the 
 military school of Carlsruhe, held high 
 rank in the Prussian army, and on the 
 breaking out of the revolution in 1848, 
 joined the liberals and became a leader 
 of their revolutionary array. Having 
 achieved considerable military distinction 
 in this command, on the pacification of 
 the country he came to America, where 
 
COLONEL SIGEL. 
 
 503 
 
 he diligently applied himself to the stud} 7 " 
 of the language. Marrying the daughter 
 of his preceptor, Mr. Dulon, he made his 
 home in St. Louis, where, at the opening 
 of the war, he was engaged as Professor 
 in a College, among other courses, giving 
 instruction in tactics. Quickly respond- 
 ing to the call of his adopted country, he 
 stood by the side of Colonel Blair and 
 Colonel Bornstein, at the head of one of 
 the first regiments of volunteers raised 
 in Missouri. He was now to have an 
 opportunity to exhibit his military genius 
 on a new theatre in America. The scene 
 of his operations was in the southwestern 
 corner of Missouri, where a communica- 
 tion was kept open by the insurgent state 
 troops with Arkansas, and where the 
 rebel generals often rallied during the 
 war, till the more southerly regions were 
 cleared of the insurgents, who were ever 
 ready to carry the war beyond their own 
 borders into the territory of Missouri. 
 On the arrival of Colonel Sigel with his 
 command, on the 23d of June, at Spring- 
 field, he was informed that the rebels, 
 under Governor Jackson, were making 
 their way from the Osage river south- 
 wardly through the western counties, a 
 movement which he at once resolved to 
 intercept by putting his force across their 
 track. He accordingly moved in a south- 
 westerly direction to Sarcoxie, where, on 
 his arrival on the 28th, he learned that a 
 body of troops, under General Price, 
 some eight or nine hundred in number, 
 were encamped below him to the south, 
 a few miles from Neosho, the capital of 
 Newton county, while other portions of 
 the State troops of Jackson's and Rains' 
 commands were, as he expected, advanc- 
 ing from above. As Price was the near- 
 est at hand, General Sigel resolved first 
 to march against him, and then turning 
 
 north, to attack Jackson and Rains, and 
 open a line of communication with Gen- 
 eral Lyon, who, it was incorrectly re- 
 ported, had had an engagement with the 
 enemy in that direction. Scarcely, how- 
 ever, had Colonel Sigel left Sarcoxie 
 when he received news that the camp of 
 Price had been broken up, and his troops 
 retreated to the extremity of the State. 
 Colonel Sigel then advanced, welcomed 
 by the inhabitants on the way, who had 
 suffered grievously from the pillaging of 
 the insurgents, and occupied Neosho, 
 where he was received without opposi- 
 tion. Declining further pursuit of Price's 
 troops as impracticable, he then turned 
 his whole attention to the enemy at the 
 north. Disposing a detachment of his 
 little force to watch their movements on 
 the road, he summoned to him a battalion 
 of Colonel Salomon's Missouri regiment, 
 then approaching Sarcoxie, and with this 
 addition to his troops, leaving a company 
 of the 3d regiment as a guard to protect 
 the friends of the Union at Neosho, he 
 advanced to meet the enemy. The con- 
 flict which ensued, known as the battle 
 of Carthage, is thus related in the official 
 report which Colonel Sigel prepared of 
 the expedition. " On the evening of the 
 4th of July," he writes, " our troops, 
 after a march of twenty miles, encamped 
 southeast of Carthage, close by Spring 
 river. I was by this time pretty certain 
 that Jackson, with four thousand men, 
 was about nine miles distant from us, as 
 his scouts were seen in large numbers 
 coming over the great plateau as far as 
 the country north of Carthage, and con- 
 ducted their explorations almost under 
 our very eyes. The troops under my 
 command who participated in the engage- 
 ment on the 5th of July, were as follows : 
 Nine companies of the 3d regiment in 
 
504 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 all, five hundred and fifty men ; seven 
 companies of the 5th regiment, number- 
 ing four hundred men ; two batteries of 
 artillery, each consisting of four field- 
 pieces. With these troops I slowly ad- 
 vanced upon the enemy. Our skirmish- 
 ers chased before them numerous bands 
 of mounted riflemen, whose object it was 
 to observe our march. Our baggage 
 train followed us, about three miles in 
 the rear. After having passed Dry Fork 
 Creek, six miles beyond Carthage, and 
 advanced another three miles, we found 
 the enemy drawn up in battle array, on 
 an elevation which rises by gradual as- 
 cents from the creek, and is about one 
 and a half miles distant. The front of 
 the enemy consisted of three regiments, 
 deployed into line, and stationed with 
 proper intervals of space. The two regi- 
 ments forming the wings consisted of cav- 
 alr3 r . The centre was composed of in- 
 fantry, cavalry, and two field- pieces. 
 Several other pieces were posted on the 
 right and left wings. The whole number 
 of troops which thus came to our view 
 may be computed at two thousand five 
 hundred, not including a powerful re- 
 serve which was kept in the rear. 
 
 "My rear guard being already en- 
 gaged, I sent two cannon, together with 
 two companies of the 3d regiment, for its 
 support. Another cannon and a com- 
 pany of the 3d regiment I ordered to a 
 position behind the creek, so as to afford 
 protection to our baggage and the troops 
 in the rear against the movements of the 
 cavalry. The remainder of our troops I 
 formed in the following manner : On the 
 left the second battalion of the 3d regi- 
 ment, under command of Major Bischoff, 
 in solid column with four cannon. In 
 the centre the 5th regiment in two sep- 
 arate battalions, under Colonel Salomon 
 
 and Lieutenant-Colonel Wolff. On the 
 right, three cannon under command of 
 Captain Essig, supported by the first 
 battalion 3d regiment, under Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Hassendeubel. Having made 
 these dispositions, and advanced a few 
 hundred paces, I commanded Major 
 Backof to open fire upon the enemy with 
 all the seven field-pieces. The fire was 
 promptly answered. I soon perceived 
 that the two mounted regiments of the 
 rebel army made preparations to circum- 
 vent our two wings. They made a flank- 
 ing movement, and, describing a wide 
 semicircle, caused a large interval of 
 space to be left between them and the 
 centre. I forthwith ordered the whole 
 fire of our artillery to be directed against 
 the right centre of the enemy, which had 
 the effect in a short time of considerably 
 weakening the fire of the rebels at this 
 point. I now formed a chain of skir- 
 mishers between our cannon, ordered two 
 of Captain Essig's pieces from the right 
 to the left wing, and gave my officers and 
 men to understand that it was my inten- 
 tion to gain the height by advancing with 
 my left wing, and taking position on the 
 right flank of the centre of the enemy. 
 " At this critical moment Captain Wil- 
 kins, commander of one of our two bat- 
 teries, declared that he could not ad- 
 vance for want of ammunition. No time 
 was to be lost, as part of our troops were 
 already engaged with the hostile cavalry 
 at the extreme right and left, and as it 
 seemed to me of very doubtful expedien- 
 cy to advance with the remainder with- 
 out due support of artillery. The moral 
 effect which the hostile cavalry made in 
 our rear could not be denied, although 
 the real danger was not great. The 
 threatening loss of our entire baggage 
 was another consideration not to be over- 
 
SIGEL'S OFFICIAL REPORT. 
 
 505 
 
 looked. I therefore, with great reluc- 
 tance, ordered part of the detachment at 
 Dry Fork Creek back, while Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Hassendeubel, with the first bat- 
 talion of the 3d regiment and a battalion 
 of the 5th regiment, under Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Wolff, followed by four cannon 
 of Wilkin's battery, proceeded to the 
 baggage train in order to protect it 
 against the meditated attack. The en- 
 emy slowly followed us to Dry Fork. 
 Captain Essig's battery had taken posi- 
 tion behind the ford, assisted by Captain 
 Stcphany's company (5th regiment) on 
 the left, and two companies of the 3d 
 regiment, Captains Golmer and Denzler, 
 on the right, while at the same time two 
 companies of the 5th (Captain Stark and 
 Meissner) stood as a reserve behind the 
 wings. At this point it was where the 
 aforesaid companies and battery made 
 successful resistance to the entire force 
 of the enemy for two hours, and caused 
 him the heaviest losses. By that time 
 two rebel flags had been shot out of sight, 
 each act being accompanied by the tri- 
 umphant shouts of the United States vol- 
 unteers. In the meantime the two 
 cavalry regiments had completely sur- 
 rounded us and formed a line against our 
 rear. They had posted themselves close 
 by a little creek called Buck Branch, 
 over which we had to pass. In order to 
 meet them, I abandoned my position at 
 Dry Fork, and ordered two pieces to the 
 right, and two to the left of our reserve 
 and baggage, supported by the detach- 
 ments of Colonel Salomon and Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Wolff, in solid column. Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel Wolff, seconding my move- 
 ment with his accustomed ability, formed 
 three companies of the first battalion, 3d 
 regiment, into line, and made them take 
 up marching line against the cavalry in 
 64 
 
 front of the baggage. Behind these 
 troops and the baggage, Lieutenant 
 Shrickel, with a portion of the first bat- 
 tery of artillery and two companies, took 
 a precautionary position in view of that 
 part of the enemy coming in the direction 
 of Dry Fork. After the firing of one 
 round by our whole line, our infantry 
 charged upon the enemy at double quick, 
 and routed him completely. His flight 
 was accompanied by the deafening shouts 
 of our little army. 
 
 "The troops and baggage train now 
 crossed the creek undisturbed, and as- 
 cended the heights which command Car- 
 thage from the north, this side of Spring 
 river. Here the enemy again took posi- 
 tion. His centre slowly advanced upon 
 us, while his cavalry came upon us with 
 great rapidity, in order to circumvent 
 our two wings and gain the Springfield 
 road. Deeming it of the utmost import- 
 ance to keep open my communication 
 with Mount Vernon and Springfield, I 
 ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Wolff, with 
 two pieces of artillery (Lieutenant Schaeff- 
 er of the second battery) to pass through 
 Carthage and occup}- the eastern heights 
 on the Sarcoxie road. Captain Cramer, 
 with two companies (Indest and Tois) 
 was ordered to follow him, in order to 
 protect the western part of the city 
 against a hostile movement in this direc- 
 tion. Our rear took possession of the 
 city, in order to give the rest of the 
 troops time for rest, as they had marched 
 twenty- two miles on the 4th, and eighteen 
 miles more during the day, exposed to a 
 burning sun, and almost without any- 
 thing to eat or drink. The enemy, in 
 the meantime, derived great advantage 
 from his cavalry, being able to cross 
 Spring river at various places, scatter on 
 all sides through the woods, and harass 
 
506 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 our troops almost unintermittingly. I 
 therefore ordered a retreat toward Sar- 
 coxie, under cover of both artillery and 
 infantry. We first took position on 
 the heights beyond Carthage, and then 
 again at the entrance of the Sarcoxie 
 road into the woods, about two and a 
 half miles southeast of Carthage. From 
 the latter place our troops advanced un- 
 molested as far as Sarcoxie. 
 
 " Our whole loss in this engagement 
 amounts to thirteen dead and thirty-one 
 wounded, among whom is Captain Strodt- 
 man, company E, 3d regiment, and 
 Lieutenant Bischoff of company B, same 
 regiment, The first battery lost nine 
 horses ; the third one (Major Bischoff' s) 
 and one baggage wagon had to be left 
 behind in Carthage, for want of horses to 
 pull it away. According to reliable ac- 
 counts, the loss of the enemy cannot have 
 been less than from three hundred and 
 fifty to four hundred men. One of their 
 field-pieces was dismounted and another 
 exploded. With the deepest regret, I 
 have to announce to you the surprise 
 and capture by the rebels of Captain 
 Conrad and his company of ninety-four 
 men in Neosho. Officers and men were 
 afterwards liberated, after taking an oath 
 that they would not again take up arms 
 against the Confederate States. On the 
 other hand, it affords me intense pleasure 
 to be able to say, injustice to the officers 
 and men under my command, that they 
 fought with the greatest skill and brav- 
 ery. Although threatened more than 
 once on the flank and in the rear by 
 powerful detachments of cavalry, and at- 
 tacked in front by an overwhelmingly 
 disproportionate force, they conducted 
 themselves like veterans and defended 
 one position after another without a man 
 swerving from his place, I would also 
 
 specially acknowledge the services of the 
 5th regiment, under its brave command- 
 ers and adjutants, with heartfelt grati- 
 tude. They proved themselves to be 
 true friends and reliable comrades on the 
 battle-field. The excellent artillery un- 
 der Major Backof, who, like my adju- 
 tants, Albert and Heinrich, was untir- 
 ing from morning till night in his efforts 
 to execute and second my commands, 
 also deserves honorable mention." 
 
 To this authoritative account of the 
 engagement, we may add an interesting 
 description of the action by an eminent 
 citizen of Missouri, Mr. John M. Rich- 
 ardson, formerly Secretary of State, who 
 was an eye witness and careful observer 
 of the action. His letter to the Editor 
 of the Missouri Democrat, dated Mount 
 Yernon, July 7, bears ample testimony 
 to the military ability of Colonel Sigel, 
 and the merits of the troops engaged, and 
 supplies various particulars necessary to 
 a proper understanding of the move- 
 ment. "We have had stirring times," 
 he writes, " in this part of the State. 
 Claiborne Jackson has been for some time 
 concentrating his forces in Vernon coun- 
 ty, preparatory for forcing the infamous 
 military bill on the people. Colonel 
 Sigel's scouts kept him well advised of 
 Jackson's movements and conduct. Clai- 
 borne has been engaged in robbing 
 wagons laden with goods of South-west 
 merchants, taking all the good horses he 
 or his men could find, and, of late, as his 
 forces have increased, in forcing loyal 
 men to take the oath required by the 
 military bill, and be enrolled in the 
 'State Guard.' Sterling Price, having 
 a considerable force near the Arkansas 
 line, Colonel Sigel, on the morning of 
 the 4th of July, broke up his camp at 
 Neosho, and marched his command to 
 
MR. RICHARDSON'S NARRATIVE. 
 
 507 
 
 Carthage. I have no information from 
 Colonel Sigel on the subject, but being a 
 looker-on in his camp, suppose his 
 reason for marching on Carthage to be 
 as follows: 1st, To remain at Neosho 
 would enable his enemies to concentrate 
 at an early day a large force close on 
 the north and on the south of his camp, 
 thereby placing him in a position to light 
 both forces whenever he might feel dis- 
 posed to attack either party. To avoid 
 this he removed his command to Car- 
 thage, near Jackson's camp. That is, I 
 think, the military reason. In addition, 
 loyal men had appealed to him for pro- 
 tection from Jackson's forces. This war 
 requires a commander of military genius 
 and capacity, and in addition, it requires 
 the clear head of a statesman. In a 
 political point of view the course of 
 Colonel Sigel is endorsed by every loyal 
 man in this section of the State. He 
 had the sagacity to see this section of the 
 country in its true condition. A decided 
 majority for the Union, but that majority 
 liable to be crushed out by the terrorism 
 of Jackson's forces. He appears to un- 
 derstand full well the character of the 
 people he is among. He knows them to 
 be loyal, yet, at the same time, he is 
 perfectly aware that if they take the 
 oath under this military bill, the fate of 
 the Union is decided so far as the people 
 of South-west Missouri is concerned. I 
 give this as the political reason (and the 
 most important in my estimation), why 
 the army has marched to Carthage. 
 
 ' ' The command reached the latter place 
 on the evening of the 4th of July, and 
 on the morning of the 5th, it marched in 
 good condition, and in fine spirits, in the 
 direction of Lamar, the county seat of 
 Barton county. Nine miles north of 
 Carthage, on the North Fork, our little 
 
 army came in sight of Jackson's forces. 
 They were commanded by Rains and 
 Parsons, and were drawn up for action, 
 on a very favorable and elevated point 
 of prairie, with the ground gradually 
 sloping for nine hundred yards toward 
 the United States forces. Jackson, hav- 
 ing been joined by Rains, had quite a 
 large force, principally mounted men, 
 with a small force of infantry and sev- 
 eral pieces of artillery. The forces of 
 Jackson are variously estimated at four 
 to seven thousand men. Colonel Sigel's 
 forces were composed of portions of the 
 3d and 5th regiments Missouri Volun- 
 teers, and a fine battalion of artillery. 
 His infantry in action amounted to from 
 seven to eight hundred men. He had 
 eight cannon. The United States forces 
 were drawn up in line of battle, as fol- 
 lows : The infantiy in the centre, four 
 pieces of artillery on the left, one piece 
 on the right, and one company of in- 
 fantry and one piece of artillery in the 
 rear, to protect the provision train. 
 When the action commenced the armies 
 were distant from each other about eight 
 hundred yards. In company with S. B. 
 Laforce of Jasper county, I took my 
 position on horseback, fifty yards in the 
 rear of Colonel Sigel's infantry, from 
 which point I could observe the manoeu- 
 vering of both parties. Colonel Sigel 
 was calm and thoughtful in all his acts, 
 and the result of the conflict ought, and 
 doubtless will, add greatly to his reputa- 
 tion as a military man. The officers all 
 conducted themselves in such a manner 
 as to command the admiration and ap- 
 proval of the few spectators present. 
 Among them I can mention Captain Al- 
 bert, the Adjutant of the brigade, and 
 Mr. Heinrich, the Adjutant of the 3d 
 Regiment. These gentlemen were very 
 
508 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 active in carrying the orders of their 
 commanding officer, paying no heed 
 whatever to the cannon balls that were 
 flying around them. But greater praise 
 is due to the private soldiers for their 
 conduct on that occasion. They were 
 calm and collected during the cannon- 
 ading, showing they would do their duty 
 to their adopted country or die. My 
 position was such as to enable me to see 
 .that the shower of cannon balls that 
 flew over their heads had no effect did 
 not dampen their courage nor cool their 
 ardor. Such men can fight. In addi- 
 tion, I should make favorable mention 
 of Lieutenant-Colonel Hassendeubel, of 
 the 3d Eegiment, and Major Bischoff 
 and Captain Essig, of the artillery, Col- 
 onel Salomon and Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Wolff. These men deserve the approba- 
 tion of their countrymen for their con- 
 duct on the field. 
 
 ' ' The first gun was fired by the United 
 States troops at eleven minutes past 10 
 o'clock, and a brisk cannonading was 
 kept up for half an hour, during which 
 time the colors of Jackson's troops were 
 knocked down twice. The enemy being 
 nearly all mounted, and numbering cer- 
 tainly not less than 3,000 men, made an 
 effort to cut off the provision train of 
 Colonel Sigel's command. The latter 
 ordered his train closer up, and fell back 
 with his command to the south side of 
 the Dry Fork. The enemy had already 
 crossed, and a large force of rebels were 
 already between our troops and the pro- 
 vision train, and we were completely 
 surrounded. Our army soon dispersed 
 the. rebels, and regained possession of the 
 provision train. The rebel forces follow- 
 ing up, in attempting to cross the Dry 
 Fork found our troops occupying a 
 strong position, and a sharp conflict 
 
 ensued, the artillery on both sides being 
 brought into requisition. The rebels at 
 this point were repulsed with consider- 
 able loss. Our little army then retired 
 toward Carthage. The rebels disputed 
 the crossing of Buck Branch, where 
 another short but spirited conflict en- 
 sued. At that point they lost consider- 
 able ; our forces did not lose a man. 
 The Federal troops then marched to 
 Carthage. At that place the rebels 
 made a dash in great strength. The 
 Federals retired in good order, driving 
 the rebels before them at every point. 
 Here there was another warm contest, 
 between our infantry and artillery on 
 one side, and the rebels, with their ar- 
 tillery, on the other. From Carthage 
 our troops retreated to Sarcoxie, having 
 a severe contest at a point of timber 
 three miles south-east of Carthage. A t 
 this last point the rebel forces sustained 
 great loss. From this last point our 
 troops marched to Sarcoxie, and thence 
 to Mount Yernon, without seeing an 
 enemy. The rebels have, it is credibly 
 reported, four thousand troops at Neosho 
 and at Cassville. These troops came 
 into Arkansas. All these forces, when 
 united with Jackson's, will make a very 
 formidable army, and if the Government 
 desires to prevent the Union sentiment 
 from being crushed out in this part of 
 the State, it must act promptly and with 
 energy. Had Colonel Sigel been well 
 supplied with ammunition he could have 
 maintained his ground at any point, or 
 had he had four hundred mounted men, 
 he could have routed Jackson's forces 
 and made the most of them prisoners. 
 As it was (though victorious at every 
 point), it was thought best to retire to 
 this place, so that communication with 
 Springfield and St. Louis should not be 
 
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR REYNOLDS' MANIFESTO. 
 
 509 
 
 cut off. There were about fifty citizens 
 spectators of the fight, and all applauded 
 the energy and tact of Colonel Sigel in 
 conducting his retreat, and in posting his 
 men at every point where he could reach 
 his mounted enemy. His conduct satis- 
 fies the Union men here that he can be 
 relied upon as a military commander." 
 
 As an indication of the animus of the 
 leaders of the insurgents at this time, we 
 may present a passage of a treasonable 
 manifesto addressed "To the People of 
 Missouri, issued on the 8th of July at 
 Nashville, by the Lieutenant-Governor 
 of Missouri, Thomas 0. Reynolds, who 
 like the rest of the rebel administration, 
 had left the seat of government in an- 
 ticipation of the approach of General 
 Lyon, and who, it appears from his own 
 statement, had since, diligently occupied 
 his time in fomenting the revolt. As 
 early as the middle of January Lieuten- 
 ant-Governor Reynolds had been in- 
 strumental in securing a hearing before 
 both Houses of the General Assembly of 
 Missouri, of a Mr. Russell, an agent of 
 Mississippi, who boldly presented him- 
 self a fortnight after the formal secession 
 of that sovereign State, to address loyal 
 Missouri, by the most glowing appeals to 
 her pride and interest, her destiny as 
 the Empire State of the South, control- 
 ling the trade of the West from the 
 territory of the Hudson Bay Company 
 in one direction, to Santa Fe in another 
 promising all this and more if the State 
 would join the Southern Confederacy. 
 Having thus paved the way for revolt 
 at home, Lieutenant-Goveruor Reynolds, 
 in due time, engaged as a propagandist 
 of his principles abroad. Going beyond 
 Governor Jackson, in May, in his de- 
 mand for "open, immediate and vigorous 
 war," he was now, in July, seeking to 
 
 assist the subjugation of the State to the 
 rebellion, by stirring up enemies to her 
 peace from without. Leaving Jefferson 
 City the 20th of May, the day before 
 Governor Jackson's truce with General 
 Harney was signed, having no confi- 
 dence, he tells us, in that armistice, he 
 arrived in three days at Fort Smith, in 
 Arkansas, where he had the satisfaction 
 of an interview with General McCulloch, 
 who had just made his appearance in 
 that quarter. "Since then," said he, 
 " in Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia 
 my efforts have been directed unceas- 
 ingly, to the best of my limited ability, 
 to the promotion of our interests, indis- 
 solubly connected with the vindication of 
 our liberties and our speedy union with 
 the Confederate States. Rest assured 
 of the profound sympathy with which 
 the people of the Southern Confederacy 
 regard our condition ; though engaged in 
 a war against a powerful foe, they would 
 not hesitate still further to tax their 
 energies and resources, at a proper time, 
 and on a proper occasion, in aid of Mis- 
 souri. The avowed and decided policy 
 of the Confederate States is to add her 
 to their numbers as soon as her sovereign 
 people desire the union. That desire 
 being unquestionable to any one ac- 
 quainted with their real sentiments, her 
 union with her Southern sisters is merely 
 a question of time, and the opportunity 
 which the course of events will sooner 
 or later certainly afford." "I rejoice 
 to learn, from various sources," he adds, 
 mingling instruction in the art of war 
 and appeals to heaven with his incite- 
 ments, " even amid the present gloom, 
 you remain confident of final success. 
 We are draining to the very dregs the 
 bitter cup of Federal usurpation ; but 
 the medicine was needed to cure the 
 
510 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 diseases of our body politic. The mili- 
 tary advantages lately obtained by our 
 oppressors are not surprising, for our 
 perilous uprising at the call of our Gov- 
 ernor was made without the previous 
 concert with your natural allies, which 
 was almost indispensable for success. 
 But the fortune of war is prone to 
 change ; be ready to take advantage of 
 it. Do nothing weak ; nothing rash. 
 Whenever a favorable opportunity oc- 
 curs, rally to the standard of your Gov- 
 ernor, or those cooperating with him ; 
 but partial uprisings, in defenceless posi- 
 tions, or without due concert of action, 
 are worse than useless. Watch the 
 opportunity to strike with effect. Mean- 
 while let each one of you quickly pre- 
 pare ; nearly all of you doubtless are 
 aware that your ordinary rifles and shot 
 guns with Minie balls are equal to the 
 weapons of your foes, and in your prac- 
 tised hands will rarely fail of their 
 marks. Be not impatient of delay. 
 Success in war depends greatly on a 
 proper combination of preparation, pre- 
 caution and daring ; on blows surely 
 given at the right time and place. You 
 have this inestimable advantage ; if the 
 hopes given you, by me now and by 
 others, of effective aid, should incite the 
 enemy to increase his forces in Missouri, 
 he but weakens himself elsewhere and 
 hastens in Virginia his own defeat, 
 which is your victory ; if he remains in- 
 active, he but shortens the time of your 
 captivity. Be of good cheer ; be but 
 true to yourselves, invoking the aid of 
 the Almighty, who has so visibly favored 
 the Southern cause, and sooner or later 
 the deliverance will surely come." 
 
 While such was the desperate resolu- 
 tion of the insurgents to inflict the dead- 
 liest evils upon the country, and while 
 
 they were committing the most odious 
 acts of tyranny in the suppressing of free- 
 dom of speech, breaking up postal com- 
 munications, destroying railroads and 
 bridges, and performing other cruel acts 
 of devastation, it is instructive to con- 
 trast the spirit in which the national offi- 
 cers in Missouri entered upon the work 
 forced upon them, of maintaining the rea- 
 sonable authority of the Government. 
 We have seen the conciliatory terms of 
 the Proclamation issued by General 
 Lyon. The language of the officers 
 under his command, who preceded him on 
 the march in Missouri to the southward, 
 was the same. Two proclamations were 
 issued on the 4th of July-^one by Major 
 Sturgis, another by General Sweeny. 
 Both promised to loyal citizens the am- 
 plest protection in the enjoyment of their 
 rights and liberties, and sought to relieve 
 them from the usual oppressions and 
 even inconveniences of war. In answer- 
 to representations artfully made by the 
 insurgents, that the object of the move- 
 ment of the army was " to steal and set 
 free the slaves, and thereby encourage a 
 servile insurrection," and commit various 
 injuries on persons and property, he 
 said: "The Government and troops 
 thus villified you are called upon to judge 
 for yourselves. Upon our march thus 
 far, we have religiously observed the 
 laws of your State, and protected you in 
 the full enjoyment thereof. In no in- 
 stance has property been seized for the 
 use of the troops. Everything required 
 has been fairly purchased, and its full 
 equivalent paid for in gold. We have 
 been ever diligent in guarding the sol- 
 diers from committing the least impro- 
 priety, and wherever detected, have 
 punished them with extreme severity."* 
 
 * Proclamation of Major S. D. Sturgis, Camp Washing- 
 ton, near Clinton, Mo., July 4, 1861. 
 
THE MISSOURI CONVENTION. 
 
 511 
 
 Equally emphatic was the declaration of 
 General Sweeny, in command of an ad- 
 vance portion of the southwest expedi- 
 tion at Springfield. " The troops under 
 my command," said he, "are stationed 
 in your midst by the proper authority of 
 our Government. They are amongst 
 you not as enemies, but as friends and 
 protectors of all loyal citizens. Should 
 an insurrection of your slaves take place, 
 it would be my duty to suppress it, and 
 I should use the force at my command 
 for that purpose. It is my duty to pro- 
 tect all loyal citizens in the enjoyment 
 and possession of all their property, 
 slaves included." General Sweeny, who 
 issued this proclamation, a native of Ire- 
 land, but who had lived in America from 
 nis childhood, had acquired distinction in 
 the Mexican war as an officer of a New 
 York regiment of volunteers. He had 
 lost an arm at Churubusco, subsequently 
 served in the west, and at the outbreak 
 of the rebellion held the rank of Captain 
 in the 2d Regular Infantry. He was 
 then made Colonel, and afterwards Brig- 
 adier-General of Volunteers. 
 
 On the first of August the popular 
 Convention of Missouri, which had been 
 elected at the call of the late Legislature, 
 were reassembled at Jefferson City, Mis- 
 souri, and in consequence of the recent 
 proceedings in the State holding the office 
 of Governor vacant, elected a distin- 
 guished citizen, who was one of its mem- 
 bers, Hamilton R. Gamble, Provisional 
 Governor in place of the disloyal Gover- 
 nor Jackson. No one apparently regret- 
 ted the necessity of this step more than 
 Governor Gamble himself, but some civil 
 government was required, and the Con- 
 vention thus undertook to supply the 
 need. A passage from the new Gover- 
 nor's address, which he delivered to the 
 
 Convention on taking the oath of office, 
 will show his lively sense of the danger 
 and responsibility of the work before 
 him. " Gentlemen of the Convention," 
 said he, "what is it that we are now 
 threatened with ? We apprehend that 
 we may soon be in that condition of an- 
 archy in which a man, when he goes to 
 bed with his family at night, does not 
 know whether he shall ever rise again, 
 or whether his house shall remain intact 
 until morning. This is the kind of dan- 
 ger, not merety a war between different 
 divisions of the State, but a war between 
 neighbors, so that when a man meets 
 those with whom he has associated from 
 childhood, he begins to feel that they are 
 his enemies. We must avoid that. It 
 is terrible. The scenes of the French 
 Revolution may be enacted in every 
 quarter of our State, if we do not suc- 
 ceed in avoiding that kind of war. We 
 can do it if we are in earnest, and en- 
 deavor with all our power. So far as I 
 am concerned, I assure you that it shall 
 be the very highest object the sole aim 
 of every official act of mine to make 
 sure that the people of the State of Mis- 
 souri can worship their God together, 
 each feeling that the man who sits in the 
 same pew with him, because he differs 
 with him on political questions, is not his 
 enemy that they may attend the same 
 communion and go to the same heaven. 
 I wish for every citizen of the State of 
 Missouri that, when he meets his fellow- 
 man, confidence in him may be restored, 
 and confidence in the whole society re- 
 stored, and that there shall be conversa- 
 tions upon other subjects than those of 
 blood and slaughter ; that there shall be 
 something better than this endeavor to 
 encourage hostility between persons who 
 entertain different political opinions, and 
 
512 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 something more and better than a desire 
 to produce injury to those who may dif- 
 fer from them." 
 
 To aid the national Government in 
 warding off the enemies of the State com- 
 ing from abroad ; to preserve, as far as 
 possible, peace within its borders, was 
 the task. A special Proclamation of 
 Governor Gamble on the 3d of August, 
 further showed his desire to discharge 
 the duty in a conciliatory spirit. Again 
 was the policy of the Government dis- 
 tinctly announced as one of non-interfer- 
 ence with the peculiar institution of the 
 State. In choosing him as Governor, 
 the Convention, he said, had given an 
 assurance sufficient to satisfy all "that 
 no countenance will be afforded to any 
 scheme or to any conduct calculated in 
 any degree to interfere with the institu- 
 tion of slavery existing in the State. To 
 the very utmost extent of Executive 
 power that institution will be protected." 
 He warned the citizens against obedience 
 to the requisitions of Governor Jackson 
 and the " Military act" of the late Legis- 
 lature, which the Convention had annull- 
 ed, and urged a new organization of the 
 militia for the defence of the State. Of 
 the foreign enemies who were its assail- 
 ants he said: "The State has been 
 invaded by troops from the State of 
 Arkansas, and a large force, under Gen- 
 eral Pillow of Tennessee, has landed 
 upon the soil of Missouri, notwithstand- 
 ing the Congress of the Confederate 
 States, in their act declaring war against 
 the United States, expressly excepted 
 Missouri as a State against which the 
 war was not to be waged. General Pil- 
 low has issued a proclamation, addressed 
 to the people of Missouri, in which he 
 declares that his army comes at the re- 
 quest of the Governor of this State, and 
 
 says they will help us to expel from our 
 borders the population hostile to our 
 rights and institutions, treating all such 
 as enemies if found under arms. It re- 
 mains to be seen whether General Pillow 
 and other officers of the Confederate 
 States will continue their endeavor to 
 make Missouri the theatre of war, upon 
 the invitation of Governor Jackson or of 
 any other person, when such invasion is 
 contrary to the act of the Confederate 
 States, and when the invitation given by 
 the Governor is withdrawn by the peo- 
 ple. We have sought to avoid the rav- 
 aging our State in this war, and if the 
 military officers of the Confederate States 
 seek to turn the war upon us, upon the 
 mere pretext that they are invited by a 
 State officer to do so, when they know 
 that no State officer has authority to give 
 such invitation, then- upon them be the 
 consequences, for the sovereignty of Mis- 
 souri must be protected." 
 
 The Proclamation of General Pillow 
 alluded to, was dated New Madrid, in 
 the southeastern portion of the State, on 
 the Mississippi. It was addressed to the 
 People of Missouri, and read thus : 
 " The forces under my command are 
 your neighbors, and we come at the in- 
 stance and request of the Governor of 
 your State as allies to protect you against 
 tyranny and oppression. As Tennessee- 
 ans, we have deeply sympathized with 
 you. When you were called to arms 
 and manifested a determination to resist 
 the usurper who has trampled under his 
 feet the Constitution of the Government, 
 and destroyed all the guards so carefully 
 prepared for the protection of the liber- 
 ties of the people by our fathers, and 
 when you called for help, Tennessee 
 sends her army, composed of her cher- 
 ished sons, to your aid. We will help 
 
AN ERA OF PROCLAMATIONS. 
 
 513 
 
 you expel from your borders the popula- 
 tion hostile to your rights and institu- 
 tions, treating all such as enemies if 
 found under arms. We will protect 
 your people from wrong at the hands of 
 our army, and while we have every 
 reason to believe that no violence will be 
 done to the rights of your true-hearted 
 and loyal people, the General command- 
 ing begs to be informed if any case of 
 wrong should occur. To the gallant 
 army under his command, who hold in 
 their keeping the honor of Tennessee, 
 though composed of Tennesseeans. Mis- 
 sissippians and Kentuckians, he appeals 
 as a father to his children, to violate the 
 rights of no peaceable citizen, but to 
 guard the honor of Tennessee as you 
 would that of an affectionate mother, 
 cherishing you as her sons. The field 
 for active service is before you. Our 
 stay here will be short. Our mission is 
 to place our down-trodden sister on her 
 feet, and to enable her to breathe after 
 the heavy tread of the tyrant's foot. 
 Then, by her own brave sons, she will 
 maintain her rights and protect her own 
 fair women from the foe, whose forces 
 march under banners inscribed with 
 1 Beauty and Booty ' as the reward of 
 victory. In victory the brave are al- 
 ways merciful, and no quarters will be 
 
 65 
 
 shown to troops marching under such a 
 banner. In this view, and for these 
 purposes, we call upon the people of 
 Missouri to come to our standard, join 
 our forces, and aid in their own libera- 
 tion. If you would be freemen, you 
 must fight for your rights. Bring such 
 arms as you have. We will furnish am- 
 munition, and lead you on to victory. 
 That the just Ruler of nations is with us 
 is manifested in the glorious victory with 
 which our arms were crowned in the 
 bloody field of Manassas." 
 
 It was the era of Proclamations in 
 Missouri. From this same place, New 
 Madrid, Lieutenant-Governor Reynolds, 
 the last day of July, issued his Proclam- 
 ation to the People of Missouri, authoriz- 
 ing the proceedings of General Pillow, 
 whom he had brought from Tennessee ; 
 and a few days after, Governor Jackson 
 himself issued another, also of consider- 
 able length and of greater importance, 
 arraigning the acts of President Lincoln, 
 and " provisionally" declaring the polit- 
 ical connection between the United 
 States of America and the people and 
 Government of Missouri dissolved. This 
 was in accordance with an arrangement of 
 Governor Jackson with the government 
 at Richmond for the introduction of Mis- 
 souri as a member of the Confederacy. 
 
 i'j a 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 GENERAL LYON'S MISSOURI CAMPAIGN. BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK, AUG. 10, 1861. 
 
 WE left General Lyon setting out 
 from Booneville at the beginning of July. 
 He was firmly convinced of the necessity 
 of action, and determined, in spite of 
 every disadvantage of means and re- 
 sources, to make that action prompt and 
 effective. We may pause here a moment 
 to notice a letter written by him a few 
 days before, to a near relative who had 
 requested some information on previous 
 incidents of his life, doubtless with a 
 view to their publication, for there were 
 at this time few persons of whom the 
 public more desired to hear than of Gen- 
 eral Lyon. It was a complimentary call 
 which most persons thus situated would 
 have found some means of complying 
 with. But General Lyon was far too 
 deeply engrossed with the concerns of 
 his country to look at such a time into 
 his past life for materials for eulog} r . His 
 reply exhibits the disinterestedness of the 
 man, his superiority to any personal 
 vanity or sense of importance, and his 
 overwhelming conviction a conviction 
 which he, more than most leaders of the 
 North, at that time felt of the momen- 
 tous nature of the conflict upon which the 
 country had entered. He thus wrote 
 from Boonevile, June 28th, 1861: " Dear 
 Cousin, I have your two notes asking 
 for points of my military service. I 
 have not answered, because I have no 
 time, and do not think the subject of the 
 least importance. This great and wicked 
 rebellion absorbs my whole being to the 
 exclusion of any considerations of fame 
 jr self- advancement. In this issue, if I 
 
 have or shall have a conspicuous part, I 
 would share it and the honors of it equal- 
 ly with every one who contributes to 
 sustain the great cause of our country, 
 which I have so much at heart. I have 
 not received your notice of me in the 
 Journal of Commerce. Most of the no- 
 tices by the press are more or less erro- 
 neous. But alas ! the past is nothing 
 painfully, indeed, unfruitful of benefits to 
 our race. It is with the present we are 
 dealing, and let us all devote ourselves 
 to it with a view to secure the future. 
 And let that future be blank and forever 
 oblivious rather than our cause fail be- 
 fore the unscrupulous villainy now at war 
 upon it. Of the ultimate results I have 
 no doubts, though unfavorable incidents 
 may arise under frauds and misrepresen- 
 tations and a heretofore demoralized 
 sentiment at the North, so unfortunately 
 auspicious to our enemies. I am now 
 deeply involved and concerned in the 
 issues before me. My exertions and 
 will shall not be wanting, though they 
 may not go far to effect the result. What 
 is now before me in this region I hardly 
 know. The Governor and party have 
 gone South, and may make another 
 stand ; though it is probable they intend 
 to rendezvous in Arkansas and return 
 with reinforcements. I have been un- 
 avoidably delayed by getting up a train, 
 but shall pursue, though I do not expect 
 to catch the fugitives." 
 
 Having diligently collected a train by 
 the purchase of wagons and animals from 
 the farmers of the country he was not 
 
GENERAL LYON'S ADVANCE. 
 
 515 
 
 the man to wait for the Government 
 manufacture of the regulation article 
 General Lyon, on the 3d of July, 1861, 
 left Booneville in quest of the enemy. 
 He had with him at starting 2,700 men, 
 Iowa and Missouri volunteers, a com- 
 pany of regulars, and Captain Totten's 
 battery of four pieces, of artillery. 
 Though the force was small, it was im- 
 posing and affective, for the men of 
 which it was composed knew their duty, 
 and were prepared to discharge it. A 
 body of pioneers, armed with Sharp's 
 rifles and carrying axes and shovels, fol- 
 lowed the regulars, who were placed in 
 advance as skirmishers. Then came the 
 artillery, succeeded by the infantry and 
 a long train of supplies. General Lyon 
 rode mounted on an iron-grey horse, ac- 
 companied by a select body-guard of ten 
 stout German butchers from St. Louis, 
 mounted on powerful horses and armed 
 with revolvers and cavalry swords.' 
 Thus provided and equipped, the little 
 army, hardly more than a simple brig- 
 ade, made its way southward through 
 the heat and dust of the sultry season. 
 On the 7th, having secured the passage 
 of Grand river, a branch of the Osage run- 
 ning through Henry county, he was joined 
 at that ferry by 3,000 troops from Kan- 
 sas, commanded by Major Sturgis, and the 
 whole force was passed over the stream 
 that night and early on the following 
 morning by a single small scow. With 
 similar expedition and success the army 
 next day reached the Osage, striking the 
 river in the heart of a dense forest ten 
 or twelve miles west of Oceola. Here 
 considerable excitement was produced 
 in the camp by the news of Colonel 
 SigeFs engagment at Carthage, which, 
 in consequence of his retreat, was repre- 
 sented as a defeat. It was resolved turn- 
 
 ing from the extreme western part of 
 the State to hasten to Springfield. On 
 the llth the army, starting at sunrise, 
 regardless of the heat, accomplished a 
 march of twenty-seven miles by 3 o'clock. 
 " At sundown," continues Dr. Wood- 
 ward, the latest biographer of General 
 Lyon, in his narrative of the expedition, 
 "the line of march was again formed. 
 The road soon struck a heavy forest, 
 where the dense foliage of the overhang- 
 ing limbs shut out the glimmer of the 
 stars, leaving the men to grope their 
 way through almost total darkness. The 
 road was little travelled, and extremely 
 rough. Steep hills, deep gorges, swift 
 streams, miry sloughs, gullies washed out 
 by the rains, rocks scattered about 
 everywhere^ stumps and fallen timber 
 were among the obstacles which had to 
 be encountered in the darkness. Many 
 were the bruised limbs and broken vehi- 
 cles. For thirty-six hours most of the 
 men had hardly closed their eyes, and 
 now unsupportable drowsiness overpow- 
 ered them. If the line came to a 
 momentary halt, scores fell asleep in 
 their tracks. Arousing as the column 
 moved on ; the men struggled bravely 
 agamst fatigue til 3 o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, when General Lyon ordered a halt. 
 Scarcely was the order issued before 
 nine- tenths of the army were buried in 
 slumber. Few waited to unroll their 
 blankets or seek a shelter spot for a 
 couch. Wherever they stood, they 
 dropped upon the ground officers and 
 men indiscriminately with the earth for 
 a bed and the sky for a covering." 
 Within twenty-four hours the toil-worn 
 forces marched nearly fifty miles over a 
 rugged, disadvantageous country, in the 
 heat of midsummer, to carry aid to a por- 
 tion of the army supposed to be in dan- 
 
516 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ger. Their exertions were rewarded the 
 next morning by hearing that Sigel's com- 
 mand was safe, and, thus encouraged, they 
 marched leisurely to Springfield, which 
 they reached on the 13th, accomplish- 
 ing the distance of nearly two hundred 
 miles, from Booneville, in eleven days. 
 
 The retreat of Sigel through the ene- 
 my's forces at Carthage, was a fierj 1 " in- 
 dication of the storm of war gathering in 
 the South-west, which, sweeping onward, 
 was destined to overpower though not 
 without a desperate struggle the in- 
 ferior bands of loyal men gathered round 
 General Lyon at Springfield numbers 
 daily diminished by the expiration of 
 the time of enlistment of the volunteers, 
 of which his force was mostly composed. 
 The preparations making by the rebels 
 were the most formidable of their many 
 attempts in this quarter during the war. 
 Their army, collected from various 
 quarters, at Cassville, to the south-west 
 of Springfield, near the Arkansas line of 
 Missouri, included a large body of Mis- 
 sourians, under General Price, a force of 
 Arkansas troops led by General Pearce, 
 a regiment of Texan rangers under Col- 
 onel Greer, a Louisiana regiment under 
 Colonel Hebert, and a regiment of mount- 
 ed riflemen under Colonel Churchill, with 
 other commands comprehending the best 
 military talent of the South-west. Few 
 names of those who were distinguished 
 at that time in the rebel service of the 
 South-western region were missing from 
 the muster of forces which, advancing un- 
 der the command of General McCulloch, 
 were encamped on the 6th of August at 
 Wilson's Creek, a position ten miles 
 south-west of Springfield. The object was 
 the investment and capture of the Union 
 forces of General Lyon at that town. 
 
 The rebel commander, Ben McCul- 
 
 loch was a person of some mark in 
 military frontier life. A native of Euth- 
 erford county, Tennessee, the son of an 
 aid of General Jackson's warrior-friend, 
 General Coffee, he had early addicted 
 himself to the hunter's life of the wilder- 
 ness. In his younger days he acquired 
 some reputation as an adept in bear 
 hunting. When the tide of emigration 
 began to set beyond the Mississippi, he 
 made some ineffectual attempts to join 
 parties of traders and trappers to Santa 
 Fe and the Rocky mountains. He then 
 settled in Gonzales county, Texas, join- 
 ed General Houston at the first outbreak 
 with the Mexicans, and was present, in 
 command of a gun, at the battle of San 
 Jacinto. When the province was an- 
 nexed to the United States, and the war 
 became national, he raised a company of 
 Texans, and joined 'General Taylor on 
 the Rio Grande, accompanying him to 
 Monterey and Buena Vista, rendering 
 good service as a scout. He was thence 
 transferred to the column of General 
 Scott, and entered Mexico with the 
 triumphant army. After the war he re- 
 turned to his home, and received his 
 reward in the appointment by President 
 Pierce, of United States Marshal in 
 Texas. He subsequently enjoyed another 
 appointment from President Buchanan, 
 who, oddly enough, sent him with the 
 army, when difficulties arose in the re- 
 gion, as Peace Commissioner to Utah. 
 At the first overt acts of the Rebellion 
 he was hovering about Washington, and 
 his name was frequently mentioned in 
 connection with rumors of attacks upon 
 the city. He then disappeared from 
 that quarter to become a more certain 
 source of terror, and fulfil his destiny as 
 the leader of the insurgents of Arkansas 
 and South-western Missouri. 
 
BATTLE AT DUG SPRINGS. 
 
 517 
 
 It was General Lyon's intention to 
 meet the detached bodies of the enemy 
 on their route before they were concen- 
 trated in their new position, and setting 
 out from Springfield with this purpose 
 on the 1st of August, he had advanced 
 nineteen miles in a south-westerly direc- 
 tion, when, on the afternoon of the 2d, 
 after a forced march of unusual severity, 
 under a burning sun, he encountered a 
 portion of the rebel forces under com- 
 mand of General Rains, in a sharp action 
 at Dug Springs. The engagement is thus 
 described by an eye-witness : "In or- 
 der," says the writer, the correspondent 
 of a New York journal with the army, 
 " to understand the position of the par- 
 ties, imagine an oblong basin of five 
 miles in length, surrounded by hills, 
 from which spurs projected into the main 
 hollow, covered with occasional thickets 
 and oak openings. The winding of the 
 road round the spurs had the effect of 
 concealing the strength of each party 
 from the other, so that from the top of 
 each successive ridge could be seen the 
 rear of the enemy's forces. At about 
 five o'clock a brisk interchange of shots 
 was commenced by our skirmishers, 
 Captain Steele's regular infantry taking 
 the lead on the left, supported lay a com- 
 pany of cavalry, the rest of the column 
 being back some distance. Presently 
 we could see a column of infantry ap- 
 proaching from the woods with the de- 
 sign of cutting off our infantry. Captain 
 Stanley immediately drew up his men, 
 and as soon as within range, they open- 
 ed fire from their Sharp's carbines, when 
 several volleys were exchanged. The 
 number of the enemy's infantry was 
 seemingly about five hundred ; our 
 cavalry not quite a hundred and fifty. 
 The infantry kept up the firing for some 
 
 minutes, when some enthusiastic lieuten- 
 ant giving the order to ' charge,' some 
 twenty-five of the gallant regulars rushed 
 forward upon the enemy's lines, and, 
 dashing aside the threatening bayonets 
 of the sturdy rebels, hewed down the 
 ranks with terrible slaughter. .. . . The 
 ground was left in our possession, being 
 strewn with muskets, shot-guns, pistols, 
 etc. Our men seized some fifteen mus- 
 kets and the same number of horses and 
 mules and rode off, when a large force of 
 the enemy's cavalry was seen approach- 
 ing from the woods, numbering some 
 three hundred or more. At the instant 
 when they had formed in an angle, Cap- 
 tain Totten, who had mounted a six and 
 twelve-pounder upon an overlooking hill, 
 sent a shell right over them ; in another 
 minute the second a twelve-pound 
 shell, a very marvel of gunner}^ practice 
 which landed right at their feet, ex- 
 ploding, and scattering the whole body 
 in the most admired disorder. The 
 third, fourth, fifth and sixth were sent 
 into their midst. The horsemen could 
 not control their horses, and in a minute 
 not an enemy was to be seen anywhere." 
 The entire Union loss in this affair 
 has been stated at 8 killed, 30 wounded ; 
 that of the enemy 40 killed, 44 wound- 
 ed.* Although, says the correspondent 
 just quoted, " the entire action cannot be 
 raised to the dignity of a great battle, 
 for the whole affair lasted less than half 
 an hour, it was in reality a great 
 triumph. Our advanced cavalry was 
 alone engaged on our part, and they suc- 
 cessfully fought and drove off a force ten 
 times their number. It moreover re- 
 vealed the fighting animus of the enemy ; 
 it revealed the state of their armament, 
 and afforded a brilliant example for our 
 
 * Tribune Almanac for 1862, p. 45. 
 
518 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 expectant troops. All supposed when 
 the crack of the cannon and whistling of 
 shell were heard in such quick succes- 
 sion, that the battle was begun, and that 
 a trial of arms was to ensue ere night- 
 fall. Our men were under arms, cannon 
 in position, until the news of the in- 
 glorious retreat of the vaunting rebels 
 dispelled the prospect. The camps were 
 then pitched, and the necessary pre- 
 cautions taken against attack. No des- 
 cription can do justice to the labors of 
 the day. When the morning dawned 
 the men were put in motion. The heat 
 was insufferable, the incessant running 
 about among the brush for miles on both 
 sides of the main road created the most 
 suffocating thirst. The tongue became 
 swollen, the sweat was blinding, and the 
 dust profuse. Even the hardiest men 
 were glad to tind shelter for a moment 
 in some canebrake. The few wells or 
 springs in the vicinity had given out. 
 Water was not to be had ; toward even- 
 ing two dollars and a half being offered 
 for a canteen of warm ditch water. 
 Many were victims of sunstroke and ex- 
 haustion, and never were a set of men 
 more grateful than when the burning sun 
 cast his declining shadow over the west- 
 ern hills." * 
 
 The march was continued some miles 
 further to Curran, with various skirmish- 
 ing by the wa} r , in which General Lyon's 
 forces kept the advantage, but the for- 
 ward movement was not a successful 
 one. The troops with inadequate sup- 
 plies, were toiling with great inconveni- 
 ence under the blazing sun of midsum- 
 mer, through a country stripped of the 
 means of subsistence, with no little 
 hazard to their communications from 
 the swarming bands of the enemy. In 
 
 Correspondence of the New York World, Aug. 12, 1861. 
 
 this state of affairs a council of officers 
 was held, it was determined to retire, 
 and the force was brought back to 
 Springfield and its immediate neighbor- 
 hood. 
 
 It appears to have been General 
 Lyon's intention to attempt a night at- 
 tack on the enemy's forces, on the 7th, 
 and a portion of his command, under 
 Major S. D. Sturgis of the regular cav- 
 alry, was kept advanced on the road for 
 the purpose. Every preparation, in fact, 
 was made for the movement ; but it was 
 abandoned in consequence, it is said, of 
 the loss of an hour or two by General 
 Lyon, who, delayed by various business 
 at his headquarters, found on proceeding 
 to the camp, that it was 3 o'clock in the 
 morning too late an hour to take the 
 enemy by surprise. These attempted 
 movements of General Lyon show the 
 impatience of the man for action in the 
 midst of the unfavorable circumstances 
 by which he was surrounded. He needed 
 reinforcements and supplies, but called 
 for them in vain. "I fear," he wrote on 
 the 31st of July, " the enemy may be- 
 come emboldened by our want of activ- 
 ity. I have constant rumors of a very 
 large force below, and of threats to attack 
 us with overwhelming numbers. I should 
 have a much larger force than I have, 
 and be much better supplied." 
 
 The troops were now called into 
 Springfield ; a council of war was held, 
 and it was seriously debated among the 
 officers whether the town should not be 
 abandoned and a retreat ordered. The 
 motive of this discussion was the superior 
 force of the enemy, which greatly out- 
 numbered the Unionists. General Mc- 
 Oulloch, in his report of the action which 
 ensued at Wilson's Creek speaks of his 
 effective force of 5,300 infantry, 15 
 
A COUNCIL OF WAR. 
 
 510 
 
 pieces of artillery, and 6,000 horsemen, 
 armed with flint-lock muskets, rifles and 
 shot-guns. General Price gives the num- 
 ber of the Missouri State forces 5,221, 
 officers and men. Major Sturgis men- 
 tions the force of General Lyon's division 
 in the field at 3,700, to which are to be 
 added some 1,200 with Sigel, making 
 the actual combatants on the Union side 
 at about 5,000. Major Sturgis sets down 
 the enemy's force, in the aggregate, at 
 23,000. The troops of General Lyon 
 were, many of them, freshly-raised, inex- 
 perienced recruits, who had been hastily 
 summoned to take the place of the three 
 mouths' volunteers who had left the camp 
 upon the expiration of their short term 
 of enlistment. 
 
 Under these circumstances it might 
 have seemed the part of prudence and 
 discretion to retire. There were some 
 peculiarities in the case, however, which, 
 to so ardent patriots as the commander 
 and his officers, determined a contrary 
 course. If they retreated, the moral 
 advantage would be still greater than the 
 material, to the foe. The Union cause 
 would be broken in a large part of the 
 State ; its defenders would lose heart 
 and submit to their resolute assailants ; 
 an important region, including the mili- 
 tary resource of the lead mines, would 
 be gained at once, and the northern and 
 central portions of the State would be 
 open to attack. Nor could the numer- 
 ous trains of the Union forces be led 
 away in safety with a greatly superior 
 and unchecked army vigorously engaged 
 in the pursuit. A sacrifice, in fact, to 
 the minds of these patriots, appeared ne- 
 cessary for a great cause ; and when an 
 offering on the altar of his country was 
 required, General Lyon willingly pre- 
 sented himself. Nor was the battle 
 
 without a prospect of success. There 
 were officers in the Union ranks of signal 
 ability, who, on previous occasions, had 
 led their men to victory over superior 
 forces. Good generalship and resolute 
 bravery might at this time also gain the 
 day. In the council of war held by Gen- 
 eral Lyon, it is said that his officers 
 generally were in favor of a retreat from 
 Springfield. General Sweeny, however, 
 warmly advocated making a stand in 
 face of the enemy, meeting them boldly, 
 and withdrawing only on compulsion. 
 In the action which ensued at Wilson's 
 Creek, he was attached to the staff of 
 General Lyon, and was especially dis- 
 tinguished for his courageous services in 
 the field. 
 
 On Friday, the 9th, it was determined 
 in both camps to make an advance within 
 twenty-four hours. Orders were issued 
 the afternoon of that day to the rebel 
 forces to march in four separate columns 
 at 9 o'clock that night, so as to sur- 
 round Spriugfield and begin a simulta- 
 neous attack at daybreak. " The Dark- 
 ness of the night and a threatened storm, 
 however," continues General Price in 
 his report, " caused General McOulloch, 
 just as the army was about to march, to 
 countermand this order, and to direct 
 that the troops should hold themselves 
 in readiness to move whenever ordered. 
 The men were thus kept under arms till 
 toward daybreak. The morning of Sat- 
 urday, the 10th of August, found them 
 still encamped at Wilson's Creek, fa- 
 tigued by a night's watching and want 
 of rest." * 
 
 General Lyon, meanwhile, on that 
 Friday afternoon, was making his dispo- 
 sitions for an attack on the enemy the 
 following morning. The command was 
 
 * Gen. Price to Gov. Jackson, Springfield, Aug. 12, 1861. 
 
520 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 arranged to move in two columns. The 
 first, under General Lyon, consisted of 
 three brigades, led respectively by Major 
 S. D. Sturgis, a gallant officer of the 
 regular army of much experience, who 
 had joined the Union forces from Fort 
 Leavenworth ; Lieutenant-Colonel An- 
 drews of the 1st Missouri Volunteers, 
 and Colonel Deitzler of a Kansas regi- 
 ment. Major Sturgis' brigade included 
 a batta-lion of regular infantry under 
 Captain Plummer, Captain Totten's light 
 battery of six pieces, Major Osterhaus' 
 battalion of Missouri Yolunteers, Cap- 
 tain Wood's mounted company of Kan- 
 sas Yolunteers, and Lieutenant Canfield's 
 company of regular cavalry. Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel Andrews' brigade embraced 
 Captain Steele's battalion of regulars ; 
 Lieutenant Dubois' light batterj r of four 
 pieces, one of them a 12-pounder gun ; 
 and the 1st Missouri Yolunteers. The 
 third brigade was made up of the 1st and 
 2d Kansas and 1st Iowa Yolunteers, the 
 former under Colonels Deitzler and 
 Mitchell, with two hundred mounted 
 Missouri Home Guards. Colonel Sigel's 
 column or division consisted of the 3d 
 and 5th regiments Missouri Yolunteers, 
 a company of cavalry under Captain 
 Carr, another of 2d Dragoons, under 
 Lieutenant Farrand, a company of re- 
 cruits under Lieutenant Lothrop, 4th 
 artillery, and a light battery of six 
 pieces. The attack was to be made 
 at daylight by General Lyon, on the 
 enemy's left, and by Colonel Sigel on 
 his right. The reports of these two 
 movements by Major Sturgis, the second 
 in command to General Lyon, and his 
 successor on the field, and by Colonel 
 Sigel, furnish the authentic narrative of 
 the battle of Wilson's Creek. 
 
 " The main column, under General 
 
 Lyon," says Major Sturgis, " marched 
 from Springfield at 5 o'clock p. M., on the 
 9th, making a detour to the right at 
 1 o'clock in the morning arriving in view 
 of the enemy's guard-fires. Here the 
 column halted and lay on their arms 
 until the dawn of day, when it again 
 moved forward, Captain Gilbert's com- 
 pany, which had formed the advance 
 during the night, still remained in ad- 
 vance, and the column moved in the 
 same order in which it had halted. A 
 south-easterly direction was now taken, 
 with a view to strike the extreme north- 
 ern point of the enemy's camp. At day- 
 light a line of battle was formed, closely 
 followed by Totten's battery, supported 
 by a strong reserve. In this order we 
 advanced, with skirmishers in front, until 
 the first out-post of the rebels was en- 
 countered and drive"n in, when the col- 
 umn was halted and the following dispo- 
 sitions made, viz : Captain Plummer's 
 battalion, with the Home Guard on his 
 left, was to cross Wilson's Creek and 
 move toward the front, keeping pace 
 with the advance on the left opposite 
 bank, for the purpose of protecting our 
 left flank against any attempt of the en- 
 emy to turn it. After crossing a ravine, 
 and ascending a high ridge, we came in 
 full view of a considerable force of the 
 enemy's skirmishers. Major Osterhaus' 
 battalion was at once deployed to the 
 right, and two companies of the 1st Mis- 
 souri Yolunteers, under Captains Yates 
 and Cavender, were deployed to the left, 
 all as skirmishers. The firing now be- 
 came very severe, and it was evident we 
 were approaching the enemy's strong- 
 hold, where they intended giving battle. 
 A few shells from Totten's battery assist- 
 ed our skirmishers in clearing the ground 
 in front. The 1st Missouri and 1st 
 
MAJOR STURGIS' COLUMN. 
 
 521 
 
 Kansas moved at once to the front, sup- 
 ported by Totten's battery and the 1st 
 Iowa regiment ; Dubois' battery, Steele's 
 battalion and the 2d Kansas were held in 
 reserve. The 1st Missouri now took its 
 position in the front, upon the crest of a 
 small elevated plateau. The 1st Kansas 
 was posted on the left of the 1st Missou- 
 ri, and separated from it some sixty 
 yards on account of a ravine. The 1st 
 Iowa took its position on the left of the 
 1st Kansas, while Totten's battery was 
 placed opposite the interval between the 
 1st Kansas and 1st Missouri. Major 
 Osterhaus' battalion occupied the ex- 
 treme right, with his right resting on a 
 ravine which turned abruptly to our 
 right arid rear. Dubois' battery, sup- 
 ported by Steele's battalion, was placed 
 some eighty yards to the left and rear of 
 Totten's guns, so as to bear upon a pow- 
 erful battery of the enemy, posted to our 
 left and front, on the opposite side of 
 Wilson's Creek to sweep the entire pla- 
 teau upon which our troops were formed. 
 " The enemy now rallied in large force 
 near the foot of the slope, and under con- 
 siderable cover, opposite our left wing, 
 and along the slope in front and on our 
 right toward the crest of the main ridge 
 running parallel to the creek. During 
 this time Captain Plummer, with his four 
 companies of infantry, had moved down 
 a ridge about 500 yards to our left, and 
 separated from us by a deep ravine, and 
 reached its abrupt terminus, where he 
 found his further progress arrested by a 
 large force of infantry occupying a corn- 
 field in the valley in his front. At this 
 moment an artillery fire was opened from 
 a high point about two miles distant, and 
 nearly in our front, from which Colonel 
 Sigel was to have commenced his attack. 
 This fire was answered from the opposite 
 66 
 
 side of the valley, and at a greater dis- 
 tance from us ; the line of fire of the two 
 batteries being nearly perpendicular to 
 our own. After about ten or twelve 
 shots on either side, the firing ceased, 
 and we neither heard nor saw anything 
 more of General Sigel's brigade until 
 about 82 o'clock, when a brisk cannon- 
 ading was heard for a few minutes, about 
 a mile to the right of that heard before, 
 and from two to three miles distant. 
 Our whole line now advanced with much 
 energy upon the enemy's position. The 
 firing, which had been spirited for the 
 last half hour, now increased to a contin- 
 uous roar. During this time Captain 
 Totten's battery came into action by sec- 
 tion and by piece, as the nature of the 
 ground would permit (it being wooded, 
 with much undergrowth), and played 
 upon the enemy's lines with great effect. 
 After a fierce engagement, lasting per- 
 haps half an hour, and in which our 
 troops retired two or three times in more 
 or less disorder, but never more than a 
 few yards, again to rally and press for- 
 ward with increased vigor, the enemy 
 gave way in the utmost confusion, and 
 left us in possession of the position. 
 Meanwhile, Captain Plummer was order- 
 ed to move forward on our left, but 
 meeting with overpowering resistance 
 from the large mass of infantry in the 
 corn-field in his front and in the woods 
 beyond, was compelled to fall back ; but 
 at this moment Lieutenant Dubois' bat- 
 tery, which had taken position on our 
 left flank, supported by Captain Steele's 
 battalion, opened upon the enemy in the 
 corn-field a fire of shells with such mark- 
 ed effect, as to drive him, in the utmost 
 disorder and with great slaughter, from 
 the field. 
 
 " There was now a momentary cessa- 
 
522 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tion of fire along nearly the whole line, 
 except the extreme right, where the 1st 
 Missouri was still engaged with a supe- 
 rior force of the enemy, attempting to 
 turn our right. The General having 
 been informed of this movement, sent the 
 2d Kansas to the support of the 1st Mis- 
 souri. It came up in time to prevent 
 the Missourians from being destroyed by 
 the overwhelming force against which 
 they were unflinchingly holding their po- 
 sition. The battalion of regular infantry 
 under Captain Steele, which had been 
 detailed to the support of Lieutenant 
 Dubois' battery, was during the time 
 brought forward to the support of Cap- 
 tain Totten's battery. Scarcely had 
 these dispositions been made, when the 
 enemy again appeared in very large 
 force along our entire front, and moving 
 toward each flank. The engagement at 
 once became general, and almost incon- 
 ceivably fierce along the entire line ; the 
 enemy appearing in front often in three 
 or four ranks, lying down, kneeling, and 
 standing, the lines often approaching to 
 within thirty or forty yards of each 
 other, as the enemy would charge upon 
 Captain Totten's battery and be driven 
 back. Early in the engagement the 1st 
 Iowa came to the support of the 1st 
 Kansas and 1st Missouri, both of which 
 had stood like veteran troops, exposed 
 to a galling fire of the enemy. Every 
 available battalion was now brought into 
 action, and the battle raged with unabat- 
 ed fury for more than an hour, the 
 scales seeming all the time nearly equally 
 balanced, our troops sometimes gaining 
 a little ground, and again giving way a 
 few yards to rally again. Early in this 
 engagement, while General Lyon was 
 leading his horse along the line on the left 
 of Captain Totten's battery, and endeav- 
 
 oring to rally our troops, which were at 
 this time in considerable disorder, his 
 horse was killed, and he received a 
 wound in the leg and one in the head. 
 He walked slowly a few paces to the rear 
 and said, ' I fear the day is lost.' I then 
 dismounted one of my orderlies and ten- 
 dered the horse to the General, who at 
 first declined, saying it was not neces- 
 sary. The horse, however, was left with 
 him, and I moved off to rally a portion 
 of the Iowa regiment, which was begin- 
 ning to break in considerable numbers. 
 In the meantime the General mounted, 
 and swinging his hat in the air, called to 
 the troops nearest him to follow. The 
 2d Kansas gallantly rallied around him, 
 headed by the brave Colonel Mitchell. 
 In a few moments the Colonel fell, se- 
 verely wounded ; about the same time a 
 fatal ball was lodged in the General's 
 breast, and he was carried from the field 
 a corpse. Thus gloriously fell as brave 
 a soldier as ever drew a sword a man 
 whose honesty of purpose was proverbial 
 a noble patriot, and one who held his 
 life as nothing when his country demand- 
 ed it of him. 
 
 " Of this dire calamity I was not in- 
 formed until perhaps half an hour after 
 its occurrence. In the meantime our 
 disorderly line on the left was again ral- 
 lied, and pressed the enemy with great 
 vigor and coolness, particularly the 1st 
 Iowa regiment, which fought like veter- 
 ans. This hot encounter lasted perhaps 
 half an hour. After the death of Gen- 
 eral Lyon, when the enemy fled and left 
 the field clear, so far as we could see, an 
 almost total silence reigned for a space 
 of twenty minutes. Major Scofield now 
 informed me of the death of General 
 Lyon, and reported for orders. The re- 
 sponsibility which now rested upon me 
 
PROGRESS OF THE CONFLICT. 
 
 523 
 
 was duly felt and appreciated. Our 
 brave little army was scattered aiid 
 broken ; over 20,000 men were still in 
 our front, and our men had had no water 
 since 5 o'clock the evening before, and 
 could hope for none short of Springfield, 
 twelve miles distant ; if we should go 
 forward, our own success would prove 
 our certain defeat in the end ; if we re- 
 treated, disaster stared us in the face ; 
 our ammunition was well nigh exhausted, 
 and should the enemy make this discov- 
 ery through a slackening of our fire, total 
 annihilation was all we could expect. 
 The great question in my mind was, 
 1 Where is Sigel ? ' If I could still hope 
 for a vigorous attack by him, on the en- 
 emy's right flank or rear, then we could 
 go forward with some hope of success. 
 If he had retreated, there was nothing 
 left for us also. In this perplexing con- 
 dition of affairs, I summoned the princi- 
 pal officers for consultation. The great 
 question with most of them was, ' Is re- 
 treat possible ? ' The consultation was 
 brought to a close by the advance of a 
 heavy column of infantry from the hill, 
 where Sigel's guns had been heard be- 
 fore. Thinking they were Sigel's men, a 
 line was formed for an advance, with the 
 hope of forming a junction with him. 
 These troops wore a dress much resem- 
 bling that of Sigel's brigade, and carried 
 the American flag. They were there- 
 fore permitted to move down the hill 
 within easy range of Dubois' battery, 
 until they had reached the covered posi- 
 tion at the foot of the ridge on which we 
 were posted, and from which we had 
 been fiercely assailed before, when sud- 
 denly a battery was planted on the hill 
 in our front, and began to pour on us 
 shrapnel and canister a species of shot 
 not before tired by the enemy. At this 
 
 moment the enemy showed his true col- 
 ors, and at once commenced along our 
 entire lines the fiercest and most bloody 
 engagement of the day. Lieutenant Du- 
 bois' battery on our left, gallantly sup- 
 ported by Major Osterhaus' battalion 
 and the rallied fragments of the Missouri 
 1st, soon silenced the enemy's battery on 
 the hill, and repulsed the right wing of 
 his infantry. Captain Totten's battery 
 in the centre, supported by the lowas 
 and regulars, was the main point of at- 
 tack. The enemy could frequently be 
 seen within twenty feet of Totten's guns, 
 and the smoke of the opposing lines was 
 often so confounded as to seem but one. 
 Now, for the first time during the day, 
 our entire line maintained its position 
 with perfect firmness. Not that the 
 slightest disposition to give way was 
 manifested at any point, and while Cap- 
 tain Steele's battalion, which was some 
 yards in front of the line, together with 
 the troops on the right and left, were in 
 imminent danger of being overwhelmed 
 by superior numbers, the contending 
 lines being almost muzzle to muzzle, 
 Captain Granger rushed to the rear and 
 brought up the supports of Dubois' bat- 
 tery, consisting of two or three companies 
 of the 1st Missouri, three companies of 
 the 1st Kansas, and two companies of 
 the 1st Iowa, in quick time, and fell upon 
 the enemy's right flank, and poured into 
 it a murderous volley, killing or wound- 
 ing nearly every man within sixty or 
 seventy j r ards. From this moment a 
 perfect route took place throughout the 
 rebel front, while ours on the right flank 
 continued to pour a galling fire into their 
 disorganized masses. 
 
 " It was then evident that Totten's bat- 
 tery and Steele's little battalion were 
 safe. Among the officers conspicuous in 
 
524 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 leading this assault were Adjutant Hez- 
 cock, Captains Burke, Miller, Haunter, 
 Maurice, and Richardson, and Lieuten- 
 ant Howard, all of the 1st Missouri. 
 There were others of the 1st Kansas and 
 1st Iowa who participated, and whose 
 names I do not remember. The enemy 
 then fled from the field. A few moments 
 before the close of the engagement, the 
 2d Kansas, which had firmly maintained 
 its position, on the extreme right, from 
 the time it Was first sent there, found its 
 ammunition exhausted, and 1 directed it 
 to withdraw slowly and in good order 
 from the field, which it did, bringing off 
 its wounded, which left our right flank 
 exposed, and the enemy renewed the at- 
 tack at that point, after it had ceased 
 along the whole line ; but it was gal- 
 lantly met by Captain Steele's battalion 
 of regulars, who had just driven the 
 enemy from the right of the centre, and, 
 after a sharp engagement, drove him 
 precipitately from the field. Thus closed 
 at about half- past eleven o'clock an 
 almost uninterrupted conflict of six 
 hours. The order to retreat was given 
 soon after the enemy gave way from our 
 front and centre. Lieutenant Dubois' 
 having been previously sent to occupy 
 with its supports the hill in our rear. 
 Captain Totten's battery, as soon as his 
 disabled horses could be replaced, retired 
 slowly with the main body of the in- 
 fantry, while Captain Steele, was meeting 
 the demonstrations upon our right flank. 
 This having been repulsed, and no enemy 
 being in sight, the whole column moved 
 slowly to the high open prairie, about 
 two miles from the battle-ground ; mean- 
 while our ambulances passed to and fro, 
 carrying off our wounded. After making 
 a short halt on the prairie, we continued 
 our march- to Springfield. It should be 
 
 here remembered, that just after the 
 order to retire was given, and while it 
 was undecided whether the retreat should 
 be continued, or whether we should oc- 
 cupy the more favorable position of our 
 rear, and await tidings of Colonel Sigel, 
 one of his non-commissioned officers ar- 
 rived, and reported that the Colonel's 
 brigade had been totally routed, and all 
 his artillery captured, Colonel Sigel him- 
 self having been either killed or made 
 prisoner. Most of our men having fired 
 away all their ammunition, and all that 
 could be obtained from the boxes of the 
 killed and wounded. Nothing, there- 
 fore, was left to do but to return to 
 Springfield, where two hundred and fifty 
 Home Guards, with two pieces of ar- 
 tillery, had been left to take care of the 
 train. On reaching the Little York 
 Road, we met Lieutenant Farrand, with 
 his company of dragoons, and a con- 
 siderable portion of Colonel Sigel's com- 
 mand, with one piece of artillery. At 
 five o'clock we reached Springfield." 
 
 From this account of the main action, 
 we turn to the narrative of Colonel 
 Sigel of the part borne by his command 
 at the opposite or southern end of the 
 valley. " On Friday, the 9th day of 
 August," says he, " General Lyon in- 
 formed me, that it was his intention to 
 attack the enemy in his camp at Wil- 
 son's Creek, on the morning of the 10th ; 
 that the attack should be made from two 
 sides, and that I should take command 
 of the left. The troops assigned to me 
 consisted of the Second Brigade, Mis- 
 souri volunteers 900 men infantr} r of 
 the 3d and 5th regiments, under the 
 command of Lieutenant-Colonel Albert 
 and Colonel Salomon, and six pieces of 
 artillery, under Lieutenants Schaeffer 
 and Scheutzenbach j besides two com- 
 
COLONEL SIGEL'S ATTACK. 
 
 525 
 
 panics of regular cavalry, belonging to 
 the command of Major Sturgis. I left 
 Camp Fremont, on the south side of 
 Springfield, at 6i o'clock, on the evening 
 of the 9th, and arrived at daybreak 
 within a mile of the enemy's camp, and, 
 after taking forward the two cavalry 
 companies from the right and left, I cut 
 off about forty men of the enemy's 
 troops, who were coming from the camp 
 in little squads to get water and pro- 
 visions. This was done in such a man- 
 ner that no news of our advance could 
 be brought into the camp. In sight of 
 the enemy's tents, which spread out on 
 our front and right, I planted four pieces 
 of artillery on a little hill, whilst the in- 
 fantry advanced toward the point where 
 the Faj^etteville road crosses Wilson's 
 Creek, and the two cavalry companies 
 extended to the right and left to guard 
 our flank. It was 5i o'clock when some 
 musket tiring was heard from the north- 
 west. I therefore ordered the artillery 
 to begin their fire against the camp of 
 the enemy (Missourians), which was so 
 destructive that the enemy were seen 
 leaving their tents and retiring in haste 
 toward the north-east valley. Mean- 
 while the 3d and 5th had quickly ad- 
 vanced, passed the creek, and traversing 
 the camp, formed almost in the centre 
 of it. As the enemy made his rally in 
 large numbers before us, about 3,000 
 strong, consisting of infantry and cav- 
 alry, I ordered the artillery to be 
 brought forward from the hill and form- 
 ed there in battery across the valley, 
 with the 3d and 5th to the left, and the 
 cavalry to the right. After an effectual 
 fire of half an hour, the enemy retired in 
 some confusion into the woods : and up 
 the adjoining hills. The firing toward 
 the north-west was now more distinct, 
 
 and increased, until it was evident that 
 the main corps of General Lyonhad en- 
 gaged the enemy along the whole line. 
 To give the greatest possible assistance 
 to him, I left my position in the camp 
 and advanced toward the north-west to 
 attack the enemy's line of battle in the 
 rear. 
 
 "Marching forward, we struck the 
 Fayetteville road, making our way 
 through a large number of cattle and 
 horses, until we arrived at an eminence 
 used as a slaughtering place, and known 
 as Sharp's Farm. On our route we had 
 taken about two hundred prisoners, who 
 were scattered over the camp. At 
 Sharp's place we met numbers of the 
 enemy's soldiers, who were evidently re- 
 tiring in this direction, and, as I sus- 
 pected that the enemy on his retreat, 
 would follow in the same direction, I 
 formed the troops across the road by 
 planting the artillery on the plateau and 
 the two infantry regiments on the right 
 and left, across the road, whilst the cav- 
 alry companies extended on our flanks. 
 At this time, and after some skirmishing 
 in front of our line, the firing in the di- 
 rection of the north-west, which was 
 during an hour's time, roaring in suc- 
 cession, had almost entirely ceased. I 
 thereupon presumed that the attack of 
 General Lyon had been successful, and 
 that his troops were in pursuit of the 
 enemy, who moved in large numbers 
 toward the south, along the ridge of a 
 hill about TOO yards opposite our right. 
 
 "This was the state of affairs at 8 
 o'clock in the morning, when it was re- 
 ported to me by Dr. Melchior and some 
 of our skirmishers, thatLyon's men were 
 coming up the road*. Lieutenant Albert 
 of the 3d, and Colonel Salomon of the 
 5th, notified their regiments not to fire 
 
526 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 on troops coming in this direction, whilst 
 I cautioned the artillery in the same 
 manner. Our troops at this moment ex- 
 pected with anxiety the approach of our 
 friends, and were waving the flag, raised 
 as a signal to their comrades, when at 
 once two batteries opened their fire 
 against us one in front, placed on the 
 Fayetteville road, and the other upon 
 the hill upon which we had supposed 
 Leon's forces were in pursuit of the 
 enemy, whilst a strong column of in- 
 fantry, supposed to be the Iowa regi- 
 ment, advanced from the Fayetteville 
 road and attacked our right. It is im- 
 possible for me to describe the conster- 
 nation and frightful confusion which was 
 occasioned by this important event. 
 The cry 'Thej 7 (Lyon's troops) are 
 firing against us ! ' spread like wild fire 
 through our ranks ; the artillerymen, or- 
 dered to fire, and directed by myself, 
 could hardly be brought forward to 
 serve their pieces ; the infantry would 
 not level their arms until it was too late. 
 The enemy arrived within ten paces of 
 the muzzles of our cannon, killed the 
 horses, turned the flanks of the infantry, 
 and forced them to fly. The troops were 
 throwing themselves into the bushes and 
 bye-roads, retreating as well as they 
 could, followed and attacked incessantly 
 by large bodies of Arkansas and Texas 
 cavalry. In this retreat we lost five 
 cannon, of which three were spiked, and 
 the colors of the 3d, the color-bearer 
 having been wounded, and his substitute 
 killed." 
 
 " In order," adds Colonel Sigel, " to 
 understand clearly our actions and our 
 fate, you will permit me to state the 
 following facts : First, according to or- 
 ders, it was the duty of this brigade to 
 attack the enemy in the rear, and to cut 
 
 off his retreat, which order I tried to 
 execute, whatever the consequences 
 might be. Second, the time of service 
 of the 5th regiment Missouri Volunteers 
 had expired before the battle. I had 
 induced them, company by company, 
 not to leave us in the most critical mo- 
 ment, and had engaged them for the 
 term of eight days, this term ending on 
 Friday the 9th, the day before the battle. 
 Third, the 3d regiment, of which 400 
 three months' men had been dismissed, 
 was composed for the greater part of re- 
 cruits, who had not seen the enemy 
 before, and were imperfectly drilled. 
 Fourth, the men serving the pieces, and 
 the drivers, consisted of infantry taken 
 from the 3d regiment, and were mostly 
 recruits who had only a few days' in- 
 struction. Fifth, about two-thirds of our 
 officers had left us ; some companies had 
 no officers at all a great pity but the 
 consequence of the system of the three 
 months' service." 
 
 General McOulloch, the Commander- 
 in-chief of the several divisions of the 
 insurgent forces in the field, thus reports 
 the operations of the day, his account 
 abundantly confirming the valor of the 
 assailants as reported by the Union 
 officers : " General Lyon attacked us on 
 our left and General Sigel on our right 
 and rear. From these points batteries 
 opened upon us. My command was 
 soon ready. The Missourians under 
 Generals Slack, Clark, McBride, Par- 
 sons and Rains, were nearest the posi- 
 tion taken by General Lyon with his 
 main force j they were instantly turned 
 to the left, and opened the battle with 
 an incessant fire of small arms. Wood- 
 run 7 opposed his battery to the battery 
 of the enemy, under Captain Totteu, and 
 a constant cannonade was kept up be- 
 
GENERAL McCULLOCH'S REPORT. 
 
 527 
 
 tween those batteries during the engage- 
 ment. Hebert's regiment of Louisiana 
 Volunteers, and Mclntosh's regiment of 
 Arkansas Mounted Riflemen, were or- 
 dered to the front, and after passing the 
 battery (Totten's), turned to the left and 
 soon engaged the enemy with the regi- 
 ments deployed. Colonel Mclntosh 
 dismounted his regiment, and the two 
 marched up abreast of a fence around a 
 large corn-field, where they met the left 
 of the enemy alread}' posted. A terrible 
 conflict of small arms took place here. 
 The opposing force was a body of regu- 
 lar United States Infantry, commanded 
 by Captains Plummer and Gillbert. Not- 
 withstanding the galling fire poured on 
 these two regiments, they leaped over 
 the fence, and, gallantly led by their 
 colonels, drove the enemy before them, 
 back upon the main body. During this 
 time the Missourians under General 
 Price were nobly attempting to sustain 
 themselves in the centre, and were hotly 
 engaged on the sides of the height upon 
 which the enemy were posted. Far on 
 the right, Sigel had opened his battery 
 upon Churchill's and Greer's regiments, 
 and had gradually made his way to the 
 Springfield road, upon each side of which 
 the army was encamped, and in a prom- 
 inent position he established his battery. 
 I at once took two companies of the 
 Louisiana regiment, who were nearest 
 me, and marched them rapidly from the 
 front and right to the rear, with order to 
 Colonel Mclntosh to bring up the rest. 
 When we arrived near the enemy's bat- 
 tery, we found that Reid's battery had 
 opened upon it, and it was already in 
 confusion. Advantage was taken of it, 
 and soon the Louisianians were gallantly 
 charging upon the guns, and swept the 
 cannoneers away. Five guns were here 
 
 taken, and Sigcl's command completely 
 routed, were in rapid retreat, with a sin- 
 gle gun, followed by some companies of 
 the Texan regiment and a portion of Col- 
 onel Major's Missouri cavalry. In the 
 pursuit many of the enemy were killed 
 and taken prisoners, and their' last gun 
 captured. 
 
 " Having cleared our right and rear, 
 it was necessary to turn all our attention 
 to the centre, under General L} r ou, who 
 was pressing upon the Missourians, hav- 
 ing driven them back. To this point 
 Mclntosh's regiment, under Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Embry, and Churchill's regiment 
 on foot, Gratiot's regiment, and McRae's 
 battalion were sent to their aid. The 
 terrible firing of musketry was now kept 
 up along the whole side and top of the 
 hill, upon which the enemy was posted. 
 Masses of infantry fell back and again 
 rushed forward. The summit of the hill 
 was covered with the dead and wound- 
 ed both sides were fighting with des- 
 peration for the day, Carroll's and 
 Greer's regiments, led gallantly by Cap- 
 tain Bradfute, charged the battery, but 
 the whole strength of the enemy was im- 
 mediately in rear, and a deadly fire was 
 opened upon them. At this critical mo- 
 ment, when the fortune of the day seem- 
 ed to be at the turning point, two regi- 
 ments of General Pearce's brigade were 
 ordered to march from their position 
 (as reserves) to support the centre. The 
 order was obeyed with alacrity, and 
 General Pearce gallantly rushed with 
 his brigade to the rescue. Reid's bat- 
 tery was also ordered to move forward, 
 and the Louisiana regiment was again 
 called into action on the left of it. The 
 battle then became general, and prob- 
 ably no two opposing forces ever fought 
 with greater desperation ; inch by inch 
 
528 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the enemy gave way, and were driven 
 from their position : Totten's battery fell 
 back ; Missourians ; Arkansians, Louis- 
 ianians and Texans pushed forward. The 
 incessant roll of musketry was deafen- 
 ing, and the balls fell as thick as hail- 
 stones ; tint still our gallant Southerners 
 pushed onward, and with one wild yell 
 broke upon the enemy, pushing them 
 back and strewing the ground with their 
 dead. Nothing could withstand the im- 
 petuosity of our final charge ; the enemy 
 fled, and could not again be rallied, and 
 they were seen, at 12 M., last retreating 
 among the hills in the distance. Thus 
 ended the battle. It lasted six hours 
 and a half." 
 
 The loss in this battle was very heavy 
 in proportion to the number engaged. 
 It appears by official returns that the 
 loss of the Union army was two hundred 
 and twenty-three killed, seven hundred 
 and twenty-one wounded, and two hun- 
 dred and ninety-one missing ; a total 
 loss in killed and wounded of about one- 
 fifth of the number engaged. General 
 McCulloch, the Confederate commander, 
 states his loss at two hundred and sixty- 
 five killed, eight hundred wounded, and 
 thirty missing. General Price reports 
 one hundred and fifty-six killed on the 
 field, and five hundred and seventeen 
 wounded of his Missouri State Guard- 
 about one-eighth of his command. "This 
 great victory." he writes, "was dearly 
 bought by the blood of man} 7 a skillful 
 officer and brave man. Among those 
 who fell mortally wounded on the battle- 
 field, none deserve a dearer place in the 
 memory of Missourians than Richard 
 Hanson Weigh tman Colonel command ing 
 the first brigade of the second division 
 of the army. Taking up arms at the 
 very beginning of this unhappy contest, 
 
 he had already done distinguished ser- 
 vices at the battle of Rock Creek, where 
 he commanded the State forces after the 
 death of the lamented Holloway, and at 
 Carthage where he won unfading laurels 
 by the display of extraordinary cool- 
 ness, courage and skill. He fell at the 
 head of his brigade, wounded in three 
 places, and died just as the victorious 
 shouts of our army began to rise upon 
 the air. Here, too, died, in the dis- 
 charge of his duty, Colonel Benjamin 
 Brown, of Ray county, President of the 
 Senate, a good man and true." The 
 story of the day multiplies these eulogies. 
 'We may accept them from both sides. 
 Good men and true may be deluded by 
 their pride or prejudices. The deepest 
 sorrow for them, the heaviest indignation 
 for the leaders, the traitorous conspira- 
 tors by whom the offence cometh. 
 
 The Union forces, the morning after the 
 battle, left Springfield, and began their re- 
 treat under command of Colonel Sigel, to 
 whom Major Sturgis and the other offi- 
 cers assigned the direction of the move 
 ment, a distance of about a hundred and 
 twenty-five miles in a north-westerly di- 
 rection, to Rolla, where there was railwaj r 
 communication with St. Louis. The 
 southern portion of the State was thus 
 left open to the depredations of the Con- 
 federates. It was more than a month 
 afterward, however, before they made 
 any further inroad upon the north, when 
 General Price, having mustered a con- 
 siderable force, appeared before Lexing- 
 ton. The immediate result of General 
 Lyon's battle was undoubtedly to give an 
 important check to the movements of the 
 secessionists. Its lasting influence was 
 felt throughout the war, and will not be 
 forgotten in another age. When public 
 speakers would animate the valor of the 
 
FUNERAL OF GENERAL LYON. 
 
 529 
 
 newly-enlisted officers and their recruits, 
 untried in the experience of the camp, 
 they held up the example of the courage 
 and devotion of Lyon ; when Represent- 
 atives in Congress would stimulate the 
 activity of Generals in the field, they 
 pointed to the energy of Lyon ; when 
 patriots would rebuke the corrupt horde 
 of army contractors, fattening upon the 
 misfortunes of the State, they turned to 
 dwell with admiration on the purity and 
 self-denying virtues of Lyon, the single- 
 minded lover of his country. 
 
 General Lyon was never married. He 
 left three brothers and three sisters. It 
 was stated at the time of his death that 
 he had bequeathed some thirty thousand 
 dollars, the frugal gatherings of his ca- 
 reer in the public service, to the nation ; 
 but this was an error. He made no 
 such disposition of his property, nor was 
 he called upon to do so. That such an 
 anecdote was invented andgenerally cred- 
 ited shows, however, the view entertain- 
 ed of his character and devoted patriot- 
 ism. By no one was this devotion more 
 warmly acknowledged than by Major- 
 General Fremont, the commander of his 
 department. On the receipt of the offi- 
 cial reports of the officers engaged at 
 Wilson's Creek, he issued a general order, 
 in which he announced "with pride and 
 the highest commendation the extraordi- 
 nary services to their country and flag 
 rendered by the division of the brave 
 and lamented General Lyon. Opposed 
 by overwhelming masses of the enemy in 
 a numerical superiority of upward of 
 twenty thousand against four thousand 
 three hundred, or nearly five to one, the 
 successes of our troops were nevertheless 
 sufficiently marked to give to their ex- 
 ploits the moral effect of a victory." 
 Adopting the glowing eulogy of the 
 67' 
 
 " indomitable " General Lyon, which we 
 have already recorded in the official re- 
 port of Major Sturgis, he invited all to 
 " emulate his prowess and undying devo- 
 tion to his duty. The regiments and 
 corps engaged in this battle will be per- 
 mitted to have ' Springfield' emblazoned 
 on their colors as a distinguished memo- 
 rial of their services to the nation." 
 
 The body of General Lyon was placed 
 in an ambulance to be carried from the 
 field, and by some accident was not re- 
 moved in the retreat ; but was recovered 
 by a flag of truce and borne to Spring- 
 field. There the remains were taken in 
 charge by the wife of the Hon. J. S. 
 Phelps, loyal member of Congress of the 
 district and entombed. They were pre- 
 sently removed to the East by two mem- 
 bers of the family of the fallen General, 
 who were received by the Confederate 
 military authorities at Springfield with 
 every consideration for their melancholy 
 errand. At St. Louis, Cincinnati, Phila- 
 delphia, New York and Hartford, the 
 remains were accorded public honors as 
 they were borne to a final resting-place 
 in the rural district of Connecticut, the 
 village home where, forty-three years 
 before, the lamented patriot first saw the 
 light. A large procession, military and 
 civic, attended the funeral, and eulogies 
 and addresses were delivered in front 
 of the church at Eastford by the Hon. 
 Judge Carpenter of Connecticut, the Hon. 
 Galusha A. Grow, Speaker of the national 
 House of Representatives, Governor 
 Buckingham of Connecticut, Governor 
 Sprague of Rhode Island, and others. 
 When the National Legislature met in 
 December, it was resolved, by a joint 
 resolution of both Houses, that " Con- 
 gress deems it just and proper to enter 
 upon its records a recognition of the emi- 
 
530 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 neut and patriotic services of the late 
 Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon. The 
 country to whose service he devoted his 
 life, will guard and preserve his fame as 
 a part of its own glory. That the thanks 
 of Congress are hereby given to the 
 brave officers and soldiers who, under 
 the command of the late General Lyon, 
 sustained the honor of the flag and 
 achieved a victory against overwhelming 
 numbers at the battle of Springfield in 
 Missouri ; and that in order to commem- 
 orate an event so honorable to the coun- 
 try and themselves, it is ordered that 
 each regiment engaged shall be author- 
 ized to bear upon its colors the word 
 ' Springfield,' embroidered in letters of 
 gold. And the President of the United 
 States is hereby requested to cause these 
 resolutions to be read at the head of every 
 regiment in the army of the United States." 
 General Price, the commander of the 
 Missouri State Guard, issued a Proclama- 
 tion after the battle, addressed to the 
 People of Missouri. Declaring that the 
 army under bis command " had been or- 
 ganized under the laws of the State for 
 the protection of their homes and fire- 
 sides, and for the maintenance of the 
 rights, dignity and honor of Missouri," 
 he added that it was " kept in the field 
 for these purposes alone, and to aid in 
 accomplishing them, our gallant Southern 
 brethren have come into our State with 
 these. We have just achieved a glorious 
 victory over the foe, and scattered far 
 and wide the well-appointed army which 
 the usurper at Washington has been 
 more than six months gathering for your 
 subjugation and enslavement. This vic- 
 tory frees a large portion of the State 
 from the power of the invaders, and re- 
 stores it to the protection of its army. 
 It consequently becomes my duty to as- 
 
 sure you that it is my firm determination 
 to protect every peaceable citizen in the 
 full enjoyment of all his rights, whatever 
 may have been his sympathies in the 
 present unhappy struggle, if he has not 
 taken an active part in the cruel warfare 
 which has been waged against the good 
 people of this State by the ruthless en- 
 emies whom we have just defeated. I 
 therefore invite all good citizens to return 
 to their homes and the practice of their 
 ordinary avocations, with the full assur- 
 ance that they, their families, their homes 
 and their property shall be carefully 
 protected. I, at the same lime, warn all 
 evil-disposed persons, who may support 
 the usurpations of any one claiming to 
 be provisional or temporary Governor of 
 Missouri, or who shall in any other way 
 give aid or comfort to the enemy, that 
 they will be held as "enemies, and treated 
 accordingly." The Confederate Congress 
 at Richmond presently, on the 21st of 
 August, on motion of Mr. Ochiltree of 
 'Texas, passed the following resolution : 
 " Whereas it has pleased Almighty God 
 to vouchsafe to the arms of the Confeder- 
 ate States another glorious and import- 
 ant victory in a portion of the country 
 where a reverse would have been disas- 
 trous, by exposing the families of the 
 good people of the State of Missouri to 
 the unbridled license of the brutal sol- 
 diery of an unscrupulous enemy ; there- 
 fore, be it resolved : That the thanks of 
 Congress are cordially tendered to Brig- 
 adier-General Ben McCulloch and the 
 officers and soldiers of his brave com- 
 mand, for their gallant conduct in defeat- 
 ing, after a battle of six and a half hours, 
 a force of the enemy equal in numbers, 
 and greatly superior in all their appoint- 
 ments, thus proving that a right cause 
 nerves the hearts and strengthens the 
 
DEFENCE OF LEXINGTON. 
 
 531 
 
 arms of the Southern people, fighting, as 
 they are, for their liberty, their homes 
 and friends against an unholy despotism." 
 Such were the representations made, and 
 such the belief inculcated in high quar- 
 
 ters of the motives and conduct of the 
 Federal army, raised at such cost and 
 self-sacrifice for the preservation of the 
 Union and the old liberties and prosper- 
 ity of the nation ! 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 THE DEFENCE OF LEXINGTON, SEPTEMBER 12-20, 1861. 
 
 WE have now to turn our attention to 
 a position in western Missouri which be- 
 came the scene of one of the most inter- 
 esting episodes of the war. The town of 
 Lexington, the capital of Lay fayette coun- 
 ty, situated on the Southern bank of the 
 Missouri river, three hundred miles 
 above St. Louis, occupies an important 
 frontier position, commanding the ap- 
 proach by water to Fort Leavenworth, 
 and the direct communication with Inde- 
 pendence and the great overland route 
 to Santa Fe. It was a prosperous town, 
 lying in a fertile region, and one of the 
 most thriving settlements of the West. 
 Its inhabitants were understood to be 
 tainted with secession sentiments, and 
 the place afforded, of course, a favorable 
 opportunity for the operations of the in- 
 surgents. As the danger of its occupa- 
 tion became imminent, a small force was 
 sent forward by order of General Fre- 
 mont to take charge of the money in the 
 banks, and prevent the region from spoli- 
 ation in aid of the Rebellion. With these 
 and several accessions of troops, there 
 were collected at this place, early in Sep- 
 tember, a body of about twenty-seven 
 hundred men, composed of the 13th Mis- 
 souri regiment under Colonel Peabody, 
 
 the 1st Illinois regiment of cavalry, Col- 
 onel Marshall, five hundred Missouri 
 Home Guards, and the 23d regiment of 
 the Irish brigade, a body of stalwart 
 men raised in Illinois, who were led by 
 Colonel James A. Mulligan of Chicago. 
 This gentleman of Irish parentage, was 
 born in Utica, New York, in 1829. He 
 was educated at the Catholic. College at 
 Chicago, had studied law, and edited the 
 Western Tablet in that city, been admit- 
 ted to the bar, employed as a clerk in 
 the Department of the Interior at Wash- 
 ington, and at the outbreak of tne pre- 
 sent war was a Captain of a militia com- 
 pany, "Shields' Guards," at Chicago. 
 With such antecedents, it was a natural 
 step to a Colonelc}' of the Irish Brigade 
 raised in that city in 1861. The youth, 
 enthusiasm, and energy of this officer 
 proved important qualifications for the 
 military career upon which he had enter- 
 ed, and which his command was destined 
 successfully to illustrate. 
 
 Colonel Mulligan, while encamped with 
 his regiment at Jefferson City, at the end 
 of August, received the order to march to 
 the relief of Colonel Marshall's cavalry 
 at Lexington, one hundred and twenty 
 miles by the road to the westward. 
 
532 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Starting with forty rounds of ammuni- 
 tion and three days' rations, foraging by 
 the way, they accomplished the march in 
 nine days, reaching Lexington on the 
 9th of September, when Colonel Mulli- 
 gan, as senior officer, took the command 
 of the troops assembled there Colonel 
 Marshall's cavalry and the Home Guard, 
 already mentioned. Colonel Peabody's 
 Missouri regiment came in the next day 
 in full retreat from Warrensburg, before 
 the forces of General Price. Colonel 
 Mulligan then immediately began the 
 work of iutrenchment, having chosen a 
 favorable position for the purpose on an 
 elevation high above the river, at a dis- 
 tance of about half a mile from it, and 
 commanding the lower inland approaches. 
 The spot selected bore the name Masonic 
 Hill, and was intermediate between the 
 new and old town. A solid brick edifice, 
 built for a college, was upon it, and by the 
 side of this the first line of defence were 
 drawn. The whole circuit of the fortifi- 
 cation was made to include an area capa- 
 ble of receiving ten thousand men. This 
 was defended by a heavy earthwork, 
 raised with great labor by Colonel Mul- 
 ligan's force, breast high, some ten feet 
 in width at the base and five feet at the 
 summit. Outside of this was a ditch 
 eight feet broad, while in the open space, 
 for several hundred feet beyond, the 
 ground was perforated by a series of 
 skillfully contrived pits, and heaped up 
 with mounds which, though extempore 
 works, suggested more by mother wit 
 than military experience, were well cal- 
 culated to baffle the efforts of any assail- 
 ants on foot or on horseback. Beside 
 these ingenious devices, the ground was 
 also carefully mined, and a good supply 
 of gunpowder, with suitable trains laid 
 in it, a fact which, vsubsequently reported 
 
 to the enemy with the exaggeration 
 usual under such circumstances, undoubt- 
 edly tended to keep them at a distance 
 and prolong the siege. 
 
 Works like these, of course, were not 
 the labor of a day. They were perform- 
 ed under many disadvantages, with the 
 foe close at hand, with the prospect of a 
 fierce and deadly encounter with superior 
 numbers, and under circumstances which 
 to less brave and spirited men, would 
 have counseled, without dishonor, a pru- 
 dent and safe retreat. It would seem 
 that this gallant band were actuated by 
 the single motive of setting before their 
 countrymen an inspiring example of en- 
 nobling toil and indomitable valor. 
 
 Their preparations were barely com- 
 menced, when the third day after the 
 arrival of Colonel Mulligan, the enemy, 
 in large numbers, led by General Price, 
 were announced at hand. Their first 
 design was evidently an immediate at- 
 tack. The pickets were driven in, but 
 further onset was steadily repulsed. 
 There was some sharp and brave work 
 on that day, the 12th, driving the rebels 
 backward over a bridge which they had 
 crossed, and encountering them with 
 deadly resolution in a struggle at another 
 point in a graveyard. The result of the 
 day's fighting, which included a cannon- 
 ading of the college defences, was the 
 withdrawal of General Price to a safe 
 position, where he awaited reinforce- 
 ments, while the little band of Lexington 
 gathered to their arduous labors at the 
 intrenchments. At these works were 
 mounted a scant supply of artillery, con- 
 sisting of but five 6-pounders, with which 
 the honors of a siege were to be main- 
 tained against the batteries of the enemy, 
 numbering thirteen guns. 
 
 Having been strongly reinforced his 
 
THE ATTACK AND DEFENCE. 
 
 533 
 
 troops now numbering, it is calculated, 
 twenty-seven thousand men General 
 Price began to close in upon the works. 
 The number appears large. The troops 
 gathered by the rebels in Missouri, it 
 should be remembered, however, did not 
 always turn out for a campaign, but came 
 with their hunting rifles for the occasion. 
 They may thus, very probably, have 
 greatly exceeded in number the volun- 
 teers regularly enlisted for the war. On 
 the 17th, the defenders were cut off from 
 the town, upon which they were mainly 
 dependent for a supply of water. The 
 work was now stoutly invested. On the 
 18th the final attack was begun. The 
 extensive preparations for it are related 
 in the official report of General Price to 
 Governor Jackson. "Brigadier-General 
 Rains' division," he states, "occupied a 
 strong position on the east and north- 
 east of the fortifications, from which an 
 effective cannonading was kept up by 
 Bledsoe's battery and another command- 
 ed by Captain Churchill Clark of St. 
 Louis. General Parsons took a position 
 on the west of the works, whence his 
 battery, under command of Captain Gui- 
 bor, poured a steady fire. Skirmishers 
 and sharpshooters were also sent for- 
 ward from both of these divisions to har- 
 ass and fatigue the enemy, and to cut 
 them off from the water on the north, 
 east and south of the college, and did in- 
 estimable service in the accomplishment 
 of these, purposes. Colonel Congreve, 
 Jackson's division, and a part of General 
 Steen's were posted as a reserve, at all 
 times vigilant and ready to rush upon 
 the enemy." 
 
 One of the severest passages of arms 
 beyond the limits of the fort during these 
 days of bombardment, illustrates the 
 barbarity of this unnatural war. It was 
 
 a struggle for the possession of the hos- 
 pital building, occupied by the sick and 
 wounded of the Union troops, one hun- 
 dred and fifty in number, and situated 
 outside of their entrenchments. This 
 edifice, a large dwelling-house, on the 
 summit of the bluff, commanded the fort 
 and its defenders at a distance of a few 
 hundred yards. It was seized upon by 
 a portion of General Price's command, 
 about noon, his troops, he alleges, hav- 
 ing been fired upon from the building ; 
 and became, with the adjoining grounds, 
 in the hands of the sharpshooters of his 
 army men expert in the use of their 
 trusty rifles a most serious anno} T ance 
 to the defenders of the fort. In this 
 strait Colonel Mulligan, after two parties 
 of the Missouri troops shrank from the 
 task, sent forth a devoted band of his 
 brigade, Captain Gleason's company of 
 Montgomery Guards, to regain the build- 
 ing and repel the assailants. The men 
 whom he selected were a single com- 
 pany, eighty in number. Onward they 
 marched, silent, unflinching, twice re- 
 ceiving the volleys of the insurgents 
 from the building and making no reply. 
 When they charged, the onset was ter- 
 riffic. They quickly drove the enemy 
 before them, and took possession of the 
 building. Fifty only of the gallant party 
 returned, quietly to resume their labors 
 at the trenches ; the rest were offered a 
 sacrifice in a deed of glory. 
 
 The position was, however, soon re- 
 gained by the insurgents. The heights 
 to the left of the hospital, to resume the 
 narrative of General Price, were fortified 
 by his soldiers, " who threw up breast- 
 works as well as they could with their 
 slender means." Thus the siege went on 
 for three prolonged days, the bright 
 moonlight rendering the night as service- 
 
53-1 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 able as the day for the work of assault, 
 which was never intermitted. The sup- 
 ply of food and ammunition was rapidly 
 failing within the fort, and water, that 
 indispensable craving of the wounded, 
 was quite cut off. Yet the garrison 
 held out ; its thin ranks manfully fight- 
 ing the guns, and ready to repel, hand 
 to hand, any near approach of the 
 invaders. At length a prudent expe- 
 dient was hit upon by the assailants, 
 which saved them the necessity of a 
 dangerous assault, " On the morning of 
 the 20th," says General Price, " I caused 
 a number of hemp bales to be trans- 
 ported to the river heights, where mov- 
 able breastworks were speedily con- 
 structed out of them by Generals Har- 
 ris and McBride, Colonel Rivers and 
 Major Winston, and their respective 
 commands. Captain Kelley's battery, 
 attached to General Steen's division, was 
 ordered at the same time to the position 
 occupied by General Harris' force and 
 and quickly opened a very effective fire. 
 These demonstrations, and particularly 
 the continued advance of the hempen 
 breastworks, which were as efficient as 
 the cotton bales at New Orleans, quickly 
 attracted the attention and excited the 
 alarm of the enemy, who made many 
 daring attempts to drive us back. They 
 were, however, repulsed in every in- 
 stance by the unflinching courage and 
 fixed determination of our men. In these 
 desperate encounters, the veterans of 
 McBride's and Slack's divisions fully 
 sustained their proud reputation, while 
 Colonel Martin Green, and his com- 
 mand, and Colonel Boyd and Major 
 Winston, and their commands, proved 
 themselves worthy to fight by the 
 side of the men who had, by their 
 courage and valor, won imperishable 
 
 honor in the bloody battle of Spring- 
 field." 
 
 From statements like these of the 
 assailants, we may judge of the vigor 
 of the defence. We have heard Colonel 
 Mulligan himself, in a popular address 
 to the citizens of New York, recount the 
 incident of these eventful days of per- 
 sistent courage and endurance. He fill- 
 ed up with animated adventure that tale 
 of war. which, in the best written dis- 
 patches, is little better than a barren 
 formula, but which, to the participants, 
 is intensified with lofty purpose, and 
 glowing action a sum of life which 
 crowds the sensations of years into days. 
 He told of the toil and exposure, the 
 ignominious hard labor, made honorable 
 by the lofty motive, the patience and 
 resolution with which wouuds were 
 braved, and death encountered among 
 the shattered and the dying ; of the 
 hospital sufferings when the enemy hav- 
 ing barbarousl} r made captives of the 
 surgeons, the only aid for mangled limbs 
 was from the scant service of a soldier, 
 who had been at one time a physician, 
 who was called from the ranks for this 
 unwonted duty, who cut, lopped and 
 hacked perforce, his only instrument a 
 razor ; of the dying agonies of men call- 
 ing for water, and drinking the scant 
 refuse mingled with blood, with which 
 the whole place was dabbled and oozy j 
 of the death-dealing of the enemy, when 
 they for a short time only gained a por- 
 tion of the works ; of the strange touches 
 of good humor and good fellowship 
 which seemed to relieve, and yet en- 
 hanced the terrors of this grim scene. 
 
 By the testimony of friend and foe it 
 was an extremity which justified sur- 
 render, which, in the eyes of policy and 
 military discretion, might have justified 
 
THE FINAL SURRENDER. 
 
 535 
 
 surrender long before. Not until the 
 ammunition was exhausted, the priva- 
 tions of thirst become excessive, and 
 all hope of timely relief departed, was a 
 council of officers held, and the delivery 
 of the fort agreed upon. The surrender- 
 was unconditional. This occurred on 
 the afternoon of the 20th, the third day 
 of the incessant siege, when the work 
 was taken possession of by General 
 Price, who already held the town ; the 
 officers were kept as prisoners, and the 
 rank and file dismissed on their parole, 
 pledging themselves not to take up arms 
 against the Confederate States or the 
 State of Missouri. 
 
 "Thus," in the words of an eye-wit- 
 ness of the scene, " ended the siege of 
 Lexington. Of the defence I need 
 scarcely speak in terms of eulogy ; a 
 plain statement of the circumstances car- 
 ries its own conclusion to every mind. 
 For seventy-two hours was a mere hand- 
 ful of men exposed, without cessation, to 
 a literal shower of iron and leaden hail ; 
 and to this was added the more terrible 
 enemy, thirst. For forty-eight hours did 
 the Union forces labor beneath a melting 
 sun, grimy with powder, choked by sul- 
 phurous smoke, worn out by labor, to 
 which the cooling shades of night brought 
 no intermission, tortured by a terrible 
 thirst, which was mocked by the turgid 
 waters of the Missouri, that flowed 
 lazily along just beneath their eager 
 eyes out of provisions, out of ammuni- 
 tion, despairing of help, certain of ulti- 
 mate extinction, they yet fought on. The 
 gallant Mulligan was always where bul- 
 lets and dangers were thickest lead- 
 ing now a desperate charge against a 
 hempen breastwork passing from trench 
 to trench, encouraging the men to resist- 
 ance----^^ like a broken-hearted chil 1 
 
 when forced by stern necessity to vield 
 up his command and, last of all, groan- 
 ing upon a sick bed, to which he was 
 driven by the workings of a gallant but 
 sensitive soul over his 'great misfor- 
 tunes.' " * 
 
 The loss of the Union troops during 
 the siege has been stated at about one 
 hundred and thirty in killed and wound- 
 ed ; that of the assailants is set down in 
 the report of General Price as twent} r - 
 five killed and seventy-two wounded. 
 "The visible fruits of this almost blood- 
 less victory," adds this Confederate com- 
 mander, "are great about 3,500 pris- 
 oners, among whom are Colonels Mulli- 
 gan, Marshall, Peabody, White, Grover, 
 Major Yan Horn, and 118 other commis- 
 sioned officers, five pieces of artillery and 
 two mortars, over 3,000 stand of infan- 
 try arms, a large number of sabres, 
 about 750 horses, many sets of cavalry 
 equipments, wagons, teams, ammunition, 
 more than $100,000 worth of Commissa- 
 ry stores, and a large amount of other 
 property. In addition to all this, 1 ob- 
 tained the restoration of the great seal 
 of the State and the public records, 
 which had been stolen from their proper 
 custodian, and about $900,000 in money, 
 of which the bank at this place had been 
 robbed, and which I have caused to be 
 returned to it. This victory has demon- 
 strated the fitness of our citizen soldiery 
 for the tedious operations of a siege, as 
 well as for a dashing charge. They lay 
 for fifty-two hours in the open air, with' 
 out tents or covering, regardless of the 
 sun and rain, and in the very presence 
 of a watchful and desperate foe, manfully 
 repelling every assault, and patiently 
 awaiting my orders to storm the fortifi- 
 
 * Correspondence of the New York Times. Sqiiers Pic- 
 torial History of t,\\a War, p. 155. 
 
536 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 cations. No general ever commanded a 
 braver or a better army. It is composed 
 of the best blood and the bravest men of 
 Missouri." * The question was asked, 
 why was not Lexington relieved. Col- 
 onel Mulligan had sent for aid, and 
 though his messenger was captured, his 
 position was known, and the tenacity of 
 his defence could only be understood on 
 the supposition that he expected succor. 
 The official announcement of Major-Gen- 
 eral Fremont of the event, in his des- 
 patch to Colonel Townsend, Adjutant- 
 General at Washington, dated St. Louis, 
 September 23, in these few words, says 
 something in explanation of the apparent 
 neglect : "I have a telegram from Brook- 
 field that Lexington has fallen into 
 Price's hands, he having cut off Mulli- 
 gan's supply of water. Reinforcements, 
 four thousand strong, under Sturgis, by 
 the capture of the ferry-boats, had no 
 means of crossing the river in time. 
 Lane's force from the south-west, and 
 Davis' from the p^ith-east, upward of 
 eleven thousanu in all, could also not get 
 there in time. I am taking the field my- 
 self, and hope to destroy the enemy 
 either before or after the junction of the 
 forces under McCulloch." Great disap- 
 pointment was felt on this disaster of 
 Lexington, following close upon the de- 
 feat at Springfield, and fears were enter- 
 tained of a permanent occupation of 
 western Missouri, with inroads into the 
 northern region across the river. Noth- 
 ing of this, however, occurred. Conscious 
 of his inability to hold the position against 
 the forces marshalling at St. Louis, Gen- 
 eral Price soon determined to abandon 
 the place. As Fremont made prepara- 
 
 * General Sterling Price to the Hon. Claiborne F. Jack- 
 son, Governor of the State of Missouri, Camp Wallace, Lex- 
 ington, Sept. 2?, 1861. 
 
 tions to advance toward him he retreat- 
 ed. The rebels took their course toward 
 the southern portion of the State, leaving 
 a guard behind them in possession of 
 Lexington. 
 
 The following month (Oct. 16th) a bril- 
 liant attack was made upon the town by 
 Major Frank J. White, a gallant young 
 officer of General Fremont's staff, at the 
 head of a scouting cavalry squadron 
 which he had organized for special ser- 
 vice under direction of his commander. 
 Setting out from Georgetown at 9 o'clock 
 in the evening with two hundred and 
 twenty men, he reached Lexington early 
 the following morning by a severe forced 
 march of nearly sixty miles. Driving in 
 the rebel pickets without loss, he took 
 possession of the town, made from sixty 
 to seventy prisoners, to whom he admin- 
 istered the oath of allegiance, captured 
 a quantity of arms and provisions, re- 
 leased a number of Federal officers and 
 men who had been taken and imprisoned 
 by Price, and seized a steamer which 
 came up to the town during his visit 
 The place was held for thirty-six hours 
 before the rebels, who had fled in every 
 direction, mustered in force to surround 
 it,"* 
 
 Colonel Mulligan, after following the 
 insurgent forces for awhile in their 
 marches as a prisoner, recovered his 
 freedom by exchange. An agreement 
 was made on the 26th October at Neo- 
 sho, between Generals Fremont and 
 Price, arranging terms of exchange of the 
 prisoners taken at Lexington and those 
 who were captured by General Lyon at 
 Camp Jackson. The exchange was to 
 be effected grade for grade, or two offi- 
 cers of a lower grade as an equivalent 
 
 * Major White, Com. 1st Squadron Prairie Sc:ts, to 
 Major-General Fremont, Oct. 24. 1861. 
 
COLONEL MULLIGAN'S RETURN HOME. 
 
 537 
 
 in rank for one of a higher grade ; the 
 exchange to embrace prisoners on par- 
 )le, as also those held in custody. The 
 lumber of prisoners enumerated in the 
 igreement for exchange was five hun- 
 Ired and thirty, mostly, if not all, par- 
 oled. Of these, there were about seven- 
 ty officers on each side. In making this 
 exchange, General Price reiterated the 
 protest of the officers and men made at 
 Camp Jackson, against the legality of 
 their capture and the exaction of parole 
 when released. 
 
 On his return soon after to Chicago, 
 Colonel Mulligan was welcomed by a 
 public reception, when he acknowledged 
 the salutations of his fellow-citizens in 
 the following appropriate speech : "How 
 deeply and profoundly I am impressed 
 with this honor, let my future conduct 
 determine. It stirs me with a deep 
 omotion. I take it as intended, not for 
 myself,, but that I may tender it to those 
 brave men who, with arms that never 
 failed, and hearts that never faltered, 
 hedged me round for those nine wild, 
 trying days at Lexington. I take it that 
 I may tender it to the brave Major 
 Moore : to my gallant Lieutenant-Col- 
 onel Quirk ; to the chivalric Captain 
 Moriarty, that brave old soldier who 
 laid down the sword in the trenches for 
 the scalpel in the hospital, and the 
 scalpel again for the sword, to wield it 
 bravely in the trenches till the last mo- 
 ment ; to that noble Captain Montgom- 
 ery who, when I ordered him on the 
 bloodiest charge of the battle, drew up 
 his company in readiness four deep, and 
 
 as I said to them, ' Men of the brig- 
 ade, you must take that hospital,' there 
 stood Captain Gleason, pale as marble 
 pale, not with fear, but from sickness 
 ready to meet death at any moment ; to 
 the gallant Fitzgerald, worthy the name 
 of the illustrious Edward j, and to all 
 who have lain with me upon the steel 
 and flinty couch of war, and personally 
 offer it to those brave hearts. I was 
 besieged at Lexington, but never so be- 
 sieged as now, and coming, as I do, from 
 the land of Price and of ' Dixie,' such a 
 welcome is indeed pleasant, as it is again 
 to stand in the land of ' Hail Columbia' 
 and ' Yankee Doodle.' Coming to, as I 
 do, with the experience gained in those 
 trying hours, I pledge myself, and the 
 whole Irish Brigade, that while there is 
 a fireside here threatened, or a house 
 endangered, their lives will cheerfully 
 be given in defence of that fireside and 
 home. I am for the Union now, and for 
 the Union until death, and, in conclu- 
 sion, let me say, that when I again 
 meet you, I hope it will be at the 
 head of my old brigade, with my face 
 set toward Missouri and against re- 
 bellion." 
 
 At the meeting of Congress in De- 
 cember, a resolution, introduced by Mr. 
 Arnold of Illinois, was adopted, thank- 
 ing Colonel Mulligan and his command 
 for their heroic defence of Lexington, 
 and authorizing the 23d regiment of 
 Illinois to wear on their colors the name, 
 of " Lexington." For this and other 
 services, Colonel Mulligan was promoted 
 to a Brigadier-Generalship. 
 
 68 
 
CHAPTER XXXY. 
 
 HATTERAS ISLAND. 
 
 TOWARD the end of August a military 
 and naval expedition was in preparation 
 at Fortress Monroe obviously intended 
 to act on some point of the Southern 
 coast. The secret of its destination was 
 well kept, and it was not till the speedy 
 return of its commander, bearing news 
 of its success, that its plan and objects 
 were known to the public. It was of 
 importance, not so much by its magnitude 
 or any immediate grand results, as by 
 the demonstration which it afforded of 
 the power of our ships in operations 
 against forts on the land, and of the com- 
 parative ease with which the coast terri- 
 tory of the rebels might be occupied and 
 controlled. Hitherto the Navy had been 
 confined to the tedious maneuvering and 
 police work of the blockade ; it was now 
 to have an opportunity to test the skill 
 of its gunners, the seamanship of its sail- 
 ors, and the spirit and efficiency of its 
 officers. The result proved that, what- 
 ever lagging or need of further prepara- 
 tion there might be in the army, this 
 portion of the service was in every re- 
 spect ready for its work. 
 
 The command of the land force of 
 this expedition was held by Major-Gen- 
 eral Butler, who had been recent!}' suc- 
 ceeded at Fortress Monroe by General 
 Wool. He had with him about nine 
 hundred troops, consisting of five hun- 
 dred of Colonel Max Weber's 20th regi- 
 ment New York Volunteers, two hun- 
 dred and twenty of Colonel Hawkins' 
 9th New York Zouave regiment, one 
 hundred of the Union Coast Guard, com- 
 
 manded by Captain Nixon, and sixty of 
 the. 2d United States Artillery, under 
 Lieutenant Larned. The naval force, 
 under the command of Commodore Silas 
 H. Stringham, a native of New York. 
 who had been in the service for more 
 than half a century, honorably employed 
 in its active duties, was composed of the 
 flag-ship Minnesota, Captain G. A. Yan 
 Brunt, having in company the United 
 States steamers Wabash, Captain Samuel 
 Mercer ; Monticello, Commander John P. 
 Gillis ; Pawnee, Commander S. C. Row- 
 an ; Harriet Lane, Captain John Faunce ; 
 the chartered transport steamers Ade- 
 laide, Commander Henry S. Stellwagen ; 
 George Peabody, Lieutenant R. B. Low- 
 ry ; and the chartered tug Fanny, an 
 armed propeller of light draft, command- 
 ed by Lieutenant Crosby all of the 
 United States navy. The fleet was well 
 provided with surf-boats for landing. 
 
 The destination of the expedition was 
 Hatteras Inlet, one of the most important 
 entrances to the extensive series of navi- 
 gable waters on the river coast of North 
 Carolina, through the long range of sand 
 islands which here serve as a barrier 
 against the wild waves of the Atlantic. 
 There were several of these passages 
 a shallow one above at New Inlet, a near 
 approach to Albemarle Sound, another 
 of more consequence below at Ocracoke, 
 but this at Hatteras, hard by the light- 
 house at the Cape, was evidently of most 
 value. It was guarded by two protect- 
 ing forts Hatteras and Clark recently 
 erected by the rebels, and its deep iw- 
 
THE IIATTERAS EXPEDITION. 
 
 539 
 
 bor was notorious as a refuge for priva- 
 teers and an entrance for various trading 
 vessels running the blockade. Its value 
 to the secessionists in this respect may 
 DC estimated from the following passage 
 from a letter written by Major W. Bever- 
 how Thompson, the constructing engineer 
 of the rebels at Fort Hatteras, to Colonel 
 Warren Winslow, Military Secretary. 
 This epistle is dated at the end of July, 
 about a month preceding the arrival of 
 the Burnside Expedition, and was found 
 at the capture of the forts. After calling 
 for additional troops for the defence of 
 the place, and urging its importance as 
 " the key to Albemarle Sound," he notes 
 these incidents of the day: "We now 
 have two privateers in this harbor, be- 
 sides the war steamers Winslow, the 
 Gordon of Charleston, Captain Lockwood, 
 armed with three guns, a fine large steam- 
 er. She returned this morning with a 
 prize brig laden with three hundred and 
 sixty hogsheads of molasses. We have 
 also a saucy-looking little pilot-schooner, 
 the Florida, mounting one 6-pound rifle 
 cannon. She captured a prize two days 
 since, took her crew out, and sent her in 
 with her own men. A United States 
 Government steamer gave chase to the 
 prize, and they were obliged to beach 
 her near Nag's Head. She, of course, is 
 a total loss." Were it only to relieve the 
 commerce of the country of so conveni- 
 ent a piratical resort, the capture of the 
 position would have been worth attempt- 
 ing. Its possession would control a large 
 part of the trade of North Carolina, and 
 cut off from Virginia a very ready means 
 uf supply in numerous essential articles 
 of foreign production. 
 
 The expedition to accomplish this de- 
 sirable result set sail from Hampton 
 Roads after midday of the 26th of Aug- 
 
 ust, reached Cape Hatteras the next day, 
 and were anchored off the Inlet in the 
 afternoon. The surf-boats were hoisted 
 out, and preparations made for landing 
 troops in the morning. The Wabash, 
 with the Cumberland, Captain John 
 Marston, in tow, this frigate having join- 
 ed the expedition from her cruising- 
 ground off the coast, led in toward Fort 
 Clark, the outermost of the two forts at 
 the entrance, and at 10 o'clock opened 
 fire, which was returned from the fort. 
 The Minnesota presently passed inside 
 of the attacking vessels just named and 
 delivered her fire. At 11 Captain John 
 Chauncey arrived with the Susquehanna 
 from the Delaware, and added his heavy 
 guns with admirable precision to the 
 bombardment. In the words of Commo- 
 dore Stringham, in his report describing 
 the method of the action, "the vessels 
 continued passing and repassing the fort 
 until it was abandoned by the enemy." 
 While the fire from the squadron was 
 most effective, that from the fort fell 
 short or passed the ships. At half-past 
 12 the flags were down on both forts, and 
 the signal was given by the Commodore 
 to cease firing. 
 
 Meanwhile General Butler, on board 
 the Harriet Lane, was busily engaged in 
 directing the disembarkation of his troops 
 on the open beach, a proceeding, as it 
 proved, of no little difficulty, in conse- 
 quence of a heavy surf which had 
 been excited by the recent gales from 
 the south-west. The landing commenced 
 at 10 o'clock, and was only partially 
 successful, being broken up by the in- 
 creasing violence of the wind and surf, 
 and the injuries to the means of trans- 
 portation. Both the iron boats, upon 
 which dependence were placed, were 
 swamped in the surf, and both the flat- 
 
540 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 boats were stove. " A brave attempt," 
 records General Butler, "made by Lieu- 
 tenant Crosby of the United States army, 
 who had volunteered to come down with 
 the steam -tug Fanny, belonging to the 
 army, to land in a boat from the war- 
 steamer Pawnee, resulted in the beach- 
 ing of the boat so that she could not be 
 got off." The further landing was relin- 
 quished for the time, because it was 
 found utterly impracticable. Three hun- 
 dred and eighteen of the men, however, 
 were safely on shore, though in an ill 
 condition, their garments saturated with 
 water, their ammunition wet, and they 
 were without provisions or the means of 
 receiving them from the fleet. The little 
 force thus thrown upon the island con- 
 sisted of portions of the two New York 
 regiments, a party of marines from the 
 Minnesota, forty -five regulars under 
 Lieutenant Lamed, twenty-eight of Cap- 
 tain Nixon's coast-guard, and twenty 
 sailors to serve the artillery. Fortunate- 
 ly a 12-pound rifled boat-gun and a 12- 
 pound howitzer had been landed. The 
 whole were under the command of Col- 
 onel Weber. His first proceeding was 
 to forward a small reconnoitering party, 
 when word was presently brought back 
 reporting that the troops were beginning 
 to evacuate Fort Clark. He then order- 
 ed its occupation, which was gallantly 
 accomplished. Lieutenant-Colonel Weiss 
 entered the work, took with his own 
 hands the first secession flag, and hoisted 
 the Stars and Stripes. Colonel Weber 
 then followed with his troops, but his 
 movement was somewhat seriously inter- 
 rupted by the fire from the fleet, which 
 had not yet ceased. Shells burst over 
 them and in their midst, two exploding 
 in the fort wounding one of the men 
 slightly in the hand. "I still," says Col- 
 
 onel Weber, "held the fort occupied, 
 sent an American flag along the beach, 
 and the firing ceased." He then placed 
 Captain Nixon, with a sufficient guard, 
 to hold possession of the fort during the 
 night, and set a vigilant watch of the en- 
 emy in the direction of Fort Hatteras, 
 and returning with his main force, bi- 
 vouacked at the landing place. 
 
 The attention of the fleet meanwhile, 
 in the afternoon, had been more par- 
 ticularly turned to this by far the more 
 important of the two works. At 2 
 o'clock the Monticello, while making her 
 way into the inlet to take possession, 
 was opened on from Fort Hatteras, " to- 
 ward which a tug steamer, towing a 
 schooner filled with troops, was seen 
 coming from the southward for its relief. 
 General signal 'Engage batteries,' was 
 immediately made. "The Minnesota, Sus- 
 quehanna and Pawnee opened fire at 
 once, the Wabash having towed the 
 Cumberland into the offing. The Mon- 
 ticello, from her advanced position, was 
 much exposed, and was struck several 
 times, but finally hauled off without 
 serious damage." The firing ceased at 
 evening, and the squadron hauled off 
 for the night, leaving the Monticello, 
 Pawnee and Harriet Lane near the shore 
 for the protection of the troops. 
 
 Early the next morning, the 29th, the 
 attack was vigorously resumed. The 
 weather was pleasant, with the wind to 
 the south-west, and a more moderate 
 sea. At half-past five the fleet weighed 
 anchor and stood for the shore. The 
 troops, about whom some anxiety was 
 felt, were discovered on the shore, and 
 the Monticelio and Pawnee were order- 
 ed to their relief. An adventurous act 
 was performed at this time by an Aid of 
 General Butler, Lieutenant Fiske. He 
 
THE BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 541 
 
 boldly plunged through the breakers, 
 with the expectation of being thrown 
 ashore, that he might carry orders for 
 the troops on the land, and apprise them 
 of the movements of the troops. He not 
 only accomplished this, but he returned 
 in a similar manner to the fleet, bearing 
 with him, in a package strapped on his 
 shoulders, the official documents, letters 
 and books of the commanding officers, 
 which he had found in Fort Clark. 
 " When the meeting was held on the 
 Minnesota," as the story is told by the 
 correspondent of the New York Herald, 
 " to arrange terms of capitulation, the 
 rebel officers were utterly astonished at 
 the accurate information of the General, 
 and inquired anxiously how he knew 
 what they were doing the day before, 
 and who was the person among them to 
 whom signals had been made from the 
 fleet. The General simply replied that 
 he possessed means of accurate informa- 
 tion.'' 
 
 At half-past seven the general signal 
 was given, "Attack batteries, but be 
 careful not to fire near the battery in 
 our possession." At 8 the Susquehanna 
 led the way, and opened fire on Fort 
 Hatteras. The Wabash immediately 
 followed, the Minnesota passing inside 
 and anchoring between the two. At 9 
 they were joined by the Cumberland, 
 coming in under full sail, " handled 
 handsomely," says Commodore String- 
 ham, with a genuine sailor's admiration, 
 of the relief of the old frigate, from her 
 dependence upon the steam power of her 
 associates. She anchored in excellent 
 position, on the starboard bow of the 
 Minnesota, and joined in the attack. At 
 first the shots fell somewhat short, when 
 longer fuses were employed, and the 
 shell fell in and around the fort with 
 
 destructive effect. The Harriet Lane, 
 about 10, came up and opened her rifled 
 guns. A few minutes past 11 a white 
 flag was displayed from the fort, and the 
 action ceased. The force of Colonel 
 Weber, which had been employed dur- 
 ing the morning in holding a position 
 on the inner shore, and driving off with 
 the artillery the rebel steamers in the 
 Sound, now advanced to take possession 
 of the fort. 
 
 General Butler was at the time of the 
 surrender on board the tug Fanny, about 
 to land the remainder of the troops. He 
 then proceeded into the inlet, and sent 
 Lieutenant Crosby on shore, " to demand 
 the meaning of the white flag." There 
 had been already some conversation on 
 the subject between the Commander of 
 the Fort, Captain Samuel Barren, for- 
 merly of the United States navy, now 
 in the Confederate service, " Command- 
 ing Naval Defence, Virginia and North 
 Carolina," and Captain Nixon and 
 Lieutenant Wiegel, of the forces on 
 shore, and the rebel officer had pre- 
 pared a memorandum expressive of 
 his wishes, to be conveyed to General 
 Butler. It was now received and car- 
 ried by Lieutenants Crosky and Wiegel. 
 It thus read: "Flag Officer, Samuel 
 Barren, C. S. Navy, offers to surrender 
 Fort Hatteras, with all the arms and 
 munitions of war. The officers allowed 
 to go out with side-arms, and the men 
 without arms to re tire. " This was ac- 
 companied by a verbal communication, 
 stating that he had in the fort six hun- 
 dred and fifteen men, and a thousand 
 more within an hour's call, but that he 
 was anxious to spare the effusion of blood. 
 To both these messages General Butler, 
 answered in the following terms : "Mem- 
 orandum. Benjamin F. Butler, Major- 
 
' 
 
 542 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNI01S. 
 
 General, U. S. Army commanding, in 
 reply to the communication of Samuel 
 Barron, commanding forces at Fort Hat- 
 teras, cannot admit the terms proposed. 
 The terms proposed are these : full 
 capitulation, the officers and men to be 
 Created as prisoners of war. No other 
 terms admissible. Commanding officers 
 to meet on board flag-ship Minnesota to 
 arrange details." 
 
 After a slight delay, while the propo- 
 sition was considered by the Confederate 
 officers, Lieutenant Crosby returned, 
 bringing with him Captain Barron, Ma- 
 jor W. L. G. Andrews, commander of 
 the forts, and Colonel William F. Mar- 
 tin of the 7th Light Infantry, N. C. Vol- 
 unteers. They were first met by Gen- 
 eral Butler in his tug Fanny, and thence 
 proceeded together to the more imposing 
 quarters of the flag-ship Minnesota, where 
 they were joined by Commodore String- 
 ham, and the formal articles of capitula- 
 tion agreed upon and signed. All muni- 
 tions of war, arms, men and property, 
 were unconditionally surrendered with 
 the stipulation that the officers and men 
 should receive the treatment due to 
 prisoners of war. 
 
 When this was accomplished, General 
 Butler landed with the Confederate 
 officers, Colonel Martin and Major An- 
 drews, and, in his own concise, expres- 
 sive language, " took a formal surrender 
 of the forts, with all the men and muni- 
 tions of war, inspected the troops,, to see 
 that the arms had been properly sur- 
 rendered, marched them out and em- 
 barked them on board the Adelaide, and 
 marched my own troops into the fort, 
 and raised our flag upon it amid the 
 cheers of our men, and a salute of thir- 
 teen guns, which had been shotted by 
 the enemy." 
 
 Whilst the negotiations for the capitu- 
 lations were in hand, both the Adelaide 
 transport, with a large portion of the 
 troops on board, and the Harriet Lane 
 had grounded, in attempting to pass the 
 bar, and lay fully exposed to the enemy's 
 guns. It was a moment, General Butler 
 acknowledges, in which he felt the greatest 
 anxiety. He had demanded the strongest 
 terms and they were yet under consider- 
 ation. The opportunity of assault upon 
 so valuable a portion of the expedition, 
 which accident had suddenly thrown in 
 their way, might be a temptation to the 
 enemy to reject them. " But," says the 
 General, "I determined to abate not a 
 tittle of what I believed to be due to the 
 dignity of the Government ; not even to 
 give an official title to the officer in com- 
 mand of the rebels. Besides, my tug was 
 in the inlet, and at 'least I could carry 
 on the engagement with my two rifled 
 six-pounders well supplied with Sawyer's 
 shell." Considering that the tag thus 
 alluded to, the Fanny, was but a canal 
 boat, which had been adapted to warlike 
 purposes, and that the full powers of the 
 Wabash, the Susquehannah and other 
 proved vessels of the Navy had been re- 
 quired to bring the forts to surrender, 
 this determination certainly showed a 
 doughty resolution on the part of the 
 gallant commander. Fears were had of 
 the loss of the Harriet Lane, in her crit- 
 ical position in the breakers, but by 
 lightening her of her guns and coal, 
 which were thrown overboard, and by 
 the aid of a high tide, she was two days 
 afterwards got off in safety. 
 
 " Upon taking possession of Fort Hat- 
 teras," continues General Butler in his 
 official report, " I found that it mounted 
 ter guns, with four yet unmounted, and 
 one large ten-inch Coluirbiad. all readv 
 
INCIDENTS OF THE BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 543 
 
 for mounting. It? position is an exceed- 
 ingly strong one, near.y surrounded on all 
 sides by water, and only to be approach- 
 ed by a march of five hundred yards, 
 circuitously over a long neck of sand, 
 within half musket range, and. over a 
 causeway a few feet only in width, and 
 which was commanded by two thirty- 
 two pound guns, loaded with grape and 
 canister, which were expended in our 
 salute. It had a well-protected maga- 
 zine, and bomb proof, capable of shelter- 
 ing some three or four hundred men. The 
 parapet, was nearly of octagon form, en- 
 closing about two-thirds of an acre of 
 ground, well covered with sufficient 
 traverses and ramparts and parapets, 
 upon which our shells had made but 
 little impression. Fort Clark, which was 
 about seven hundred yards northerly, is 
 a square redoubt, mounting five guns 
 and two six-pounders. The enemy had 
 spiked these guns, but in a very inef- 
 ficient manner, upon abandoning the fort 
 the day before." 
 
 The casualties to the enemy in the en- 
 gagement are not exactly known. From 
 the report of assistant-surgeon William 
 M. King, the United States officer to 
 whom was assigned the charge of the 
 rebel wounded, we learn that the whole 
 number found wounded at the surrender 
 of the forts was thirteeen. Eleven of 
 these were capable of being removed on 
 board the Adelaide. Many others, and 
 perhaps all the killed, he thinks were 
 sent away on the steamers in the Sound 
 prior to the capitulation. On the Union 
 side " there was no casualty of any con- 
 sequence whatever." Among the inci- 
 dents of the bombardment, one is related 
 of a sailor of the Minnesota, named 
 Kraigbaum, who accidentally dropped his 
 gun sponge overboard, instantly jumped 
 
 after it, succeeded in regaining it, and 
 was assisted on deck by his comrades. 
 On being questioned by his officer for 
 this rash act, he replied, " He did not 
 want his gun to be disgraced !" 
 
 Two secession reports of the engage- 
 ment by Major Andrews and Commo- 
 dore Barron have appeared. Both 
 these officers arrived on the ground the 
 evening of the first day's engagement. 
 Major Andrews found Colonel Martin in 
 command, utterly prostrated by the du- 
 ties of his position, having, "after a da} T 
 of most severe and unceasing fighting," 
 succeeded in concentrating his forces 
 within the walls of Fort Hatteras. Com- 
 modore Barron was then invited to as- 
 sume the command, and accepted the 
 task. Measures were taken to bring the 
 guns to bear upon the assailants, but 
 when the bombardment began the next 
 morning, it was found that the fleet 
 was quite out of their reach. "Waiting 
 for reinforcements, they received the 
 hostile shower which, Major Andrews 
 tells us, " o half an hour became literal- 
 ly tremendous, as we had falling into, 
 and immediately around the works, not 
 less on an average than ten each minute 
 and, the sea being smooth, the firing was 
 remarkably accurate . One officer count- 
 ed twenty-eight shells falling so as to 
 damage us in one minute, and several 
 others counted twenty in a minute. For 
 three hours and twenty minutes Fort 
 Hatteras resisted a storm of shells per- 
 haps more terrible than ever fell upon 
 any other works. At the time the coun- 
 cil determined to surrender, two of our 
 guns were dismounted, four men were 
 reported killed, and between twenty-five 
 and thirty badly wounded. One shell 
 had fallen into the room adjoining the 
 magazine, and the magazine was reported 
 
544 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 on fire." Commodore Barron informs us 
 that in assuming the grave responsibility 
 of defending the fort, he was not unaware 
 that he could be shelled out of it. but 
 that he expected the arrival from New- 
 bern of a regiment of North Carolina 
 volunteers at or before midnight, with 
 which he would be able to assault the 
 party who had landed and taken posses- 
 sion of Fort Clark. He was encouraged 
 to this by the fleet having put to sea and 
 the appearances of bad weather. The 
 regiment, however, did not arrive till the 
 following day, when the bombardment 
 had commenced, "and when the time 
 came," he adds, "that I deemed evacua- 
 tion or surrender unavoidable, the means 
 of escape were not at my command." 
 Commodore Samuel Barron, who thus 
 became a prisoner of war and was so re- 
 tained in the Northern States till the 
 general exchange of prisoners which took 
 place a year after these events, was a 
 native of Virginia, son of Commodore 
 Barron, celebrated for his command of 
 the Chesapeake in the encounter with the 
 Shannon, and his fatal duel with Decatur. 
 He entered the United States navy in 
 1812, and remained in the service va- 
 riously employed at intervals on sea and 
 on shore, till his recent defection on the 
 breaking out of the revolt. Accompany- 
 ing him in the surrender was Lieutenant 
 William Sharpe, also a native of Virgi- 
 nia, late holding the same rank in the 
 United States service, who had left the 
 Navy Yard at Norfolk for the rebel flag. 
 General Wool, from his headquarters 
 of the department of Virginia, at Fort- 
 ress Monroe, issued a G-eneral Order an- 
 nouncing the glorious victory, which he 
 eulogized not by epithets, but by an enu- 
 meration of its immediate results in " the 
 capture of seven hundred and fifteen men. 
 
 including the commander, Barren, and one 
 of the North Carolina cabinet, one thou- 
 sand stand of arms, and seventy-five kegs 
 of powder, five stand of colors, and thir- 
 ty-one pieces of cannon, including a ten- 
 inch columbiad, a brig loaded with cot- 
 ton, a sloop loaded with provisions and 
 stores, two light boats, one hundred and 
 fifty bags of coffee, etc. This gallant 
 affair will not fail to stimulate the volun- 
 teers and regulars to greater achieve- 
 ments," adding, in the spirit of an old 
 disciplinarian who knew the dangers of 
 presumption and the essential conditions 
 of success, the oracular military maxim : 
 " Obedience, order, discipline and in- 
 struction are indispensable to maintain 
 the interest, honor, and humane institu- 
 tions of the Union." 
 
 Mr. Welles, the Secretary of the Navy, 
 congratulated the officers and men on the 
 skill and bravery tliey had displayed, 
 and its successful result. " This brilliant 
 achievement," was the language of his 
 letter, "accomplished without the loss of 
 a man on your part, or injury to any one 
 in the Federal service, has carried joy 
 and gladness to the bosom of every 
 friend of the Union." He saw in it " but 
 the beginning of results that will soon 
 eventuate in suppressing the insurrection 
 and confirming more strongly than ever 
 the integrity of the Union." 
 
 This sentiment of the day was every- 
 where loudly echoed. The tide of suc- 
 cess, it was said, had at last turned in 
 our favor. The navy had an opportunity 
 to display its strength, and had not been 
 found wanting. The whole Southern 
 coast was at the mercy of its operations. 
 It had but to strike, and the blow would 
 be felt. One gun on shore had been 
 thought equal to three on land ; but all 
 this was' now reversed. The modern 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE VICTORY. 
 
 545 
 
 system of warfare had changed all that. 
 Steam navigation, newly invented weap- 
 ons, and practised gunnery, had destro}^ 
 ed the prestige of the land. Such a defence 
 as that by Moultrie of Fort Sullivan in 
 the Revolution, when a handful of reso- 
 lute men, behind a wall of Palmetto logs, 
 could defy a well-equipped British squad- 
 ron, was no longer practicable. What 
 would hinder the repetition of this 
 achievement at Charleston, Savannah, 
 the seaports of Florida, Mobile and the 
 Mississippi ? In the victory at Fort 
 Hatteras the whole coast was potentially 
 ours. 
 
 The. import of the victory at Hatteras, 
 in its connection with the progress of the 
 war, is indicated in the correspondence 
 of an accurately informed observer at 
 Washington, the editor, Mr. John W. 
 Forney, to his journal, The Press, at 
 Philadelphia. After describing some of 
 the immediate results of the occupation, 
 he adds : " Now that Virginia is almost 
 effectually closed in now that the rebels 
 can receive no aid from Maryland none 
 from the frontier counties of Pennsylva- 
 nia none from North Carolina, the 
 whole coast of which is to-day almost 
 entirely blockaded Western Virginia 
 becomes a strategic point of the highest 
 importance. Now Eastern Tennessee 
 may look up with some hope for succor. 
 Kentucky may be emboldened to strike 
 from her gigantic limbs her self-imposed 
 or neutral fetters. The same influences 
 that awaken the patriots of Virginia, 
 Kentucky and Tennessee, may reorganize 
 and revive the patriots of North Caroli- 
 na. But beyond the border States, for 
 thus far the whole burden of the war has 
 fallen upon them, lies the greater ques- 
 tion of meeting the traitors in the Gulf or 
 cotton States, and of punishing them in 
 Rfi 
 
 their strongholds. They have sent for- 
 ward nearly all their available troops to 
 capture the capital and to subsidize the 
 Union men of the border States. They 
 will hereafter be called upon to protect 
 their coasts, and undoubtedly their in- 
 land positions, from the loyal fleets that 
 will swarm in their waters, and the loyal 
 armies that will swarm over their soil. 
 Gradually Fort Pickens has been 
 strengthened ; Key West, in the same 
 latitude, held, and more than one of their 
 strong points silently and secretly occu- 
 pied. The mouth of the Mississippi is 
 menaced by our men-of-war. Fort Pu- 
 laski, in Georgia, will soon be in range 
 of our guns, and the Texan coast, within 
 easy sailing or steaming distance, will be 
 seized by our naval or mercantile mar- 
 ine all the more easily that Ben McCul- 
 loch and his banditti are off ravaging the 
 fair fields of Missouri." These prescient 
 intimations of coming campaigns were 
 thrown out on the 1st of September, 
 1861 ; we shall see in what the future 
 fell short of the programme, and in what 
 the promise was sustained. 
 
 In fitting out the Expedition it was the 
 intention of the Government simply to 
 take and destroy the forts and break up 
 the communication with the interior by 
 blocking the shallow channel within the 
 inlet. The unexpected success of the 
 bombardment, however, led General But- 
 ler, on consultation with Flag-Officer 
 Stringham and Commander Stellwagen, 
 to garrison the fort and occupy the posi- 
 tion, at least till such time as further in- 
 structions could be obtained from the 
 Government on the subject. The troops 
 were accordingly left in possession, while 
 the prisoners were embarked in the Mon- 
 ticello for New York, and General But- 
 ler hastened, on the Adelaide, to carrv 
 
546 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the first tidings of his victory to the De- 
 partment at Washington. He reached 
 the capital by way of Fortress Monroe 
 and a special train from Annapolis, a 
 little after midnight on the morning of 
 Sunday the 1st of September, and im- 
 mediately communicated the intelligence 
 to members of the Cabinet. The news 
 was then quickly spread by telegraph 
 over the country. Commodore String- 
 ham arrived at New York a few days 
 after in his flag-ship Minnesota, bringing 
 with him the captured officers and men, 
 who were lodged at Governor's Island. 
 On the night of the 5th of September, he 
 was honored by a complimentary seren- 
 ade from his fellow-citizens of Brooktyn, 
 N. Y., where he resided, when various 
 congratulatory speeches were delivered 
 with much enthusiasm. 
 
 Shortly after General Butler's return, 
 a letter written by him was published, 
 dated from the United States frigate 
 Minnesota, off Cape Hatteras, the day 
 preceding the recent action, August 27th. 
 It was in reply to inquiries and solicita- 
 tions of his Democratic party friends in 
 Massachusetts, who had suggested that 
 he should be a candidate for Governor 
 at the ensuing election. On leaving 
 home, he said, for the duties of the war, 
 he left all politics, in a party sense of the 
 term behind him, and now "knew no 
 politics in any sense, save as represented 
 by the question How best to preserve 
 the Union and restore the country in its 
 integrity." He therefore seeing in Gov- 
 ernor Andrew one who " has endeavored 
 faithfully, zealously and efficiently to put 
 our commonwealth on the side of the na- 
 tion," desired no change in the Execu- 
 tive. He would not say that he would 
 vote for Governor Andrew, but if he 
 were at home he would not vote against 
 
 him. "The Republican party having won 
 a political victory, both in the State and 
 the nation, is entitled to the patriotic en- 
 deavor of every man to give it a fair 
 trial in the administration of the Govern- 
 ment, and in that it should, as it does, 
 take the lead in official positions." In 
 regard to certain " peace" propositions or 
 discussions, he said : "A peace involving 
 the disintegration of the Union, or until 
 the supremacy of the Government is for- 
 ever established, would be simply a de- 
 claration of perpetual war of sections. 
 Were the Southern Confederacy to-day 
 acknowledged in the fullness of good 
 faFth, two months would not elapse be- 
 fore causes of war would arise, sufficient 
 not only to justify, but to demand a re- 
 newal of the conflict. No two months 
 have passed, in the last ten years at 
 least, in which outrages have not been 
 committed upon Northern men in the 
 South, which, had they been perpetrated 
 by a foreign nation, would have demand- 
 ed a redress of grievances, under pain 
 of a suspension of diplomatic relations. 
 But we have borne these outrages be- 
 cause there was no tribunal to the arbi- 
 trament of which we could submit them, 
 and it was against the genius of our peo- 
 ple to appeal to arms. Therefore, I see 
 with pain upon the part of some of those 
 with whom I have acted in political or- 
 ganizations, a disposition to advocate 
 peaceful settlements wherein there can 
 be no peace. Therefore, this war must 
 go on, not for the purpose of subjugation, 
 but, if those who have commenced it 
 bring upon themselves that condition as 
 an incident, it will only be another illus- 
 tration of the fruit of sowing the wind." 
 In the same spirit and to the same effect 
 he addressed the citizens of Lowell on 
 his return to Massachusetts. " We must 
 
VISIT TO FORT OCRACOKE. 
 
 547 
 
 have the whole of this country under one 
 government, or else no government at 
 all There is no middle ground. We 
 must pour out blood and treasure the 
 first like water, the last like sand until 
 that, is accomplished. If you have no 
 country, what have you left ? Noth- 
 ing! We should be base to give up 
 the rich inheritance bequeathed to us 
 by our fathers, and leave to our 
 children only a broken and ruined 
 country." 
 
 The action of the officers in retaining 
 possession of the forts was approved by 
 the Government, and measures taken to 
 secure the position. The garrison at 
 Hatteras was reinforced by the remain- 
 ing companies of Hawkins' Zouaves, who 
 were destined for honorable service in 
 this reg'on, and the rebel defences at 
 Ocracoke, which had been abandoned, 
 were entirely broken up. This service 
 was performed under the direction of 
 Commodore S. C. Eowan, of the U. S. 
 steamer Pawnee, by Lieutenant James 
 Y. Maxwell, who proceeded to the spot 
 with a detachment of marines and sol- 
 diers of the Naval Brigade, on the 
 Fanny, towing a launch from the Paw- 
 nee. The Susquehannah also accom- 
 panied the expedition. Fort Ocracoke, 
 on Beacon Island, commanding the inlet, 
 was found to be a well constructed work, 
 octagonal in shape, with four shell- 
 rooms, and a large bomb-proof in the 
 centre. There were platforms for twenty 
 guns, which had been partially des- 
 troyed, and the gun carriages burnt. 
 Eighteen guns were left in the fort which 
 Lieutenant Maxwell, after vain efforts to 
 break off the truncheons with sledge 
 hammers, or effectually damage by drop- 
 ping solid shot from an elevation, des- 
 troyed by heavily loading one and firing 
 
 it against the others.* In its construc- 
 tion and position, Fort Ocracoke, com- 
 pared to advantage with the work at 
 Hatteras. 
 
 Simultaneously with this proceeding, 
 Colonel Hawkins issued a Proclamation 
 to the People of North Carolina, in 
 which he endeavored to correct various 
 erroneous impressions of an extraordi- 
 nary character, arguing a sad miscon- 
 ception of the motives of 'the Govern- 
 ment, which were said to prevail among 
 them. He assured them that it was 
 "no part of the object of the Federal 
 forces to pillage or plunder," that they 
 came not " to war against women and 
 children," but, on the contrary, that they 
 would give them every protection, that 
 loyal citizens might " enjoy their homes 
 and property without fear of molesta- 
 tion," that the " rights of property and 
 persons would be respected and pro- 
 tected ;" in fine, that they came to war 
 only upon traitors and rebels, who were 
 called upon to lay down their arms. 
 Nothing could be more conciliatory or 
 assuring than the declaration thus va- 
 riously repeated. " We come to give 
 you back Law, Order, the Constitution, 
 your rights under it, and to restore 
 peace." Yet, such was the prejudice or 
 system of repression, that this good seed 
 thus generously sown, bore no immediate 
 fruit. 
 
 Affairs remained the ensuing month 
 at Hatteras much as they were left by 
 General Butler. The poor inhabitants, 
 the fishermen and wreckers of the sand- 
 spit, readily professed their allegiance to 
 the old Government, and there was 
 some talk of a sound Union feeling exist- 
 ing on the main land, but, if so, it was 
 
 * Commander Rowan to Flag-Officer Stringhnrn. Lieu- 
 tenant Maxwell to Commander Rowan, Sept. 18, 1861. 
 
548 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 not suffered to be very demonstrative. 
 Vessels of the Navy, in the blockading 
 service, lingered at the spot as a guard, 
 and transports came and departed with 
 supplies for the fort. Garrison duty 
 was performed by Hawkins' Zouaves, 
 Colonel Hawkins, in cooperation with 
 the naval officers on the station, being 
 in command of the post. At the end of 
 September, the force at Hatteras having 
 been increased by the arrival of Colonel 
 Brown's 20th Indiana Volunteers, a 
 jiilitary movement was undertaken. The 
 enemy, it was understood, were estab- 
 lishing themselves at Roanoke Island, 
 where Pamlico Sound, at its northern 
 extremity, is joined by the waters of 
 the Albemarle, and where there is an 
 outlet to the sea at the termination of the 
 sandy barrier on which Hatteras is situ- 
 ated. The upper inlet was not very ad- 
 vantageous for navigation, but it afforded 
 a refuge for small craft, and if the rebels 
 were allowed to control it, their next 
 step might be to advance upon Hat- 
 teras itself. Influenced, probably, by 
 some such considerations, Colonel Haw- 
 kins resolved to meet the threatened 
 evil by stationing a force, properly pro- 
 vided with artillery, to hold the upper 
 end of Hatteras Island, in the inlet. 
 Accordingly, on the 29th of September 
 he sent forward Colonel Brown's 20th 
 Indiana regiment, with the exception of 
 three companies, which he reserved at 
 the fort to occupy the position. The 
 troops were transported on the gun- 
 boats Putnam and Ceres, some forty 
 miles along the Sound, arriving at the 
 neighborhood of the place which they 
 were to fortify, in the evening. The 
 water was very shallow off the shore, so 
 that the steamers could approach no 
 nearer than three miles ; but they were 
 
 provided with appropriate barges, and 
 the men were landed the next morning 
 in safety. They had but a few days' 
 provisions, and were without their camp 
 equipage, intrenchment tools, and other 
 means of defence, which were to be sent 
 after them by the tug-boat Fanny. This 
 serviceable little vessel which we have 
 seen noticeably employed at the capture 
 of the forts, left Hatteras two days after, 
 carrying a further small detachment of 
 the Indiana regiment, thirty-five in num- 
 ber, under command of Captain Hartt, 
 and a squad of ten of Hawkins' Zouaves, 
 under Sergeant Major Peacock, to assist 
 in working the two rifled guns, six and 
 nine pounders, of the James and Sawyer 
 pattern, which were on board. The 
 vessel was freighted with sixty barrels 
 of flour, a large quantity of beef, military 
 clothing, an ample slock of ammunition, 
 and the usual sutler's supplies for the 
 camp. She sailed alone, unaccompanied 
 by an escort. 
 
 On reaching her destination where 
 the troops had been previously landed, 
 at about two o'clock, the disembarkation 
 had hardly commenced, a single barge 
 having been sent off with ten persons 
 and a portion of the camp equipage, 
 when three rebel gun-boats appeared in 
 sight, and opened fire on the Fanny. 
 Being simply a chartered vessel under 
 no naval or military command, her naval 
 commander, Lieutenant Crosby, having 
 been called to other service, and her 
 previous crew, from the Naval Brigade, 
 withdrawn, the tug, ill protected for 
 defence, and with troops on board 
 unskilled in gunnery, was certainly 
 not prepared for a contest. Nine 
 shots, however, says her captain, Mor- 
 rison, were fired from her before she 
 surrendered. She was then deserted by 
 
ATTACK AT CHICAMOCOMICO. 
 
 the captain and crew, who took with 
 them the only remaining boat, and made 
 their way to Hatteras. The troops who 
 were left on board employed themselves 
 in throwing overboard portions of the 
 ammunition, but all men, equipments, 
 provisions and sutler's luxuries were 
 speedily taken possession of by the 
 enemy. The captor, Colonel Wright, 
 is reported by a rebel authority to have 
 had with him three hundred men on the 
 steamer Curlew. The prize was esti- 
 mated by the North Carolinians at some 
 seventy or eighty thousand dollars, ex- 
 clusive of the vessel, which was of no 
 great worth. Her former owners valued 
 the cargo at half the sum. 
 
 On the day following this disaster, the 
 steamers Putnam and Ceres, with the 
 launch of the Susquehanna, went up and 
 landed seven days' provisions for the In- 
 diana troops without meeting with oppo- 
 osition. Nor was any immediate attack 
 made by the rebels upon the party on 
 shore, but the success of their adventure 
 emboldened Colonel Wright, with his 
 Georgia and North Carolina troops on 
 Roanoke Island, to attempt the capture of 
 the whole body of the Indianians at their 
 camp. Accordingly, having taken ten full 
 days for preparation, early on the morn- 
 ing of the 4th, an expedition was set on 
 foot which is described by one of the In- 
 diana regiment, who witnessed its arrival 
 off Chicamocomico, as the beach where 
 the encampment was situated is called, as 
 consisting of seven steamers, two schoon- 
 ers, one floating battery, and a number 
 of transports for landing troops. The 
 force thus conveyed, was commanded by 
 Colonel Wright, and numbered, accord- 
 ing to a rebel authority, fifteen hundred 
 men. There were about six hundred of 
 the Indiana regiment on the shore. 
 
 The plan of the enemy was to make a 
 double attack first on the camp, putting 
 the men to flight, and then intercepting 
 their return to Hatteras by a landing be- 
 low on the shore. A messenger from 
 the fort, Captain Jardine, had reached 
 the camp the day before, charged with 
 instructions for a retreat, if he should 
 think it necessary. He did not deliver 
 this order till the shot from the enemy's 
 gunboats had set fire to the tents, and 
 their preparations for landing rendered 
 escape imperative, where the island was 
 narrow and offered every facility for a 
 flanking fire from the guns. He then 
 took his departure in haste to carry word 
 of the peril of the regiment to Fort Hat- 
 teras. Riding down three horses on the 
 way. he reached the camp in the after- 
 noon, when Colonel Hawkins at once 
 advanced to the rescue. 
 
 It was about 9 o'clock when the attack 
 upon the Indianians was made. Armed 
 only with their muskets, and with not a 
 day's provisions on hand, they were 
 drawn up along the shore, prepared to 
 receive the foe. Without returning to 
 his encampment Colonel Brown com- 
 menced the retreat. It was a march of 
 fearful severity. One of the Indianians 
 who participated in its hardships has de- 
 scribed it. " The sun was shining on 
 the white sand of the beach, heating the 
 air as if it were a furnace. The men 
 had neither provisions nor water. The 
 haste in which they had rushed to repel 
 the enemy had prevented this, and it 
 was too late to go back to camp. It was 
 a march I shall never forget. The first 
 ten miles was terrible. No water, the 
 men unused to long marches, the sand 
 heavy, their feet sinking into it at every 
 step. As the regiment pushed along, 
 man after man would stagger from the 
 
550 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ranks and fall upon the hot sand. Look- 
 ing back, I saw our Colonel trudging 
 along wlch his men, having given up his 
 horse to a sick soldier. But the most 
 sorrowful sight of all was the Islanders 
 leaving their homes from fear of the en- 
 emy. They could be seen in groups, 
 sometimes with a little cart carrying their 
 provisions, but mostly with nothing, flee- 
 ing for dear life ; mothers car lying their 
 babes, fathers leading along the boys, 
 grandfathers and grandmothers straggling 
 along from homes they had left behind. 
 Relying on our protection, they had been 
 our friends, but in an evil hour we had 
 been compelled to leave them. 
 
 " We still toiled on, the heat most 
 intense, and no water. Hunger was 
 nothing in comparison with thirst. It 
 was maddening. The sea rolling at our 
 feet and nothing to drink. 1 started to 
 take a scout to watch the movements of 
 the enemy's vessels. I skirted the Sound 
 for some ten miles. In every clump of 
 bushes I would find men utterly exhaust- 
 ed. The enemy's vessels were now 
 nearly opposite, steaming down the 
 Sound to cut off our retreat. I would 
 tell them this, but they would say, ' they 
 did not care, they would die there,' so 
 utterly hopeless did they seem. 
 
 " Near sunset I caught sight of the 
 army drawn up in line of battle on the 
 beach, about a mile distant. Soon join- 
 ing them, I found that the enemy were 
 reported in force in front. After some 
 delay, the army marched by the right 
 flank, skirmishers ahead, until we reach- 
 ed the narrow inlet about five miles 
 above Hatteras lighthouse, and here our 
 great danger was at once seen. The 
 fleet of the enemy had drawn up in line, 
 30 as to sweep the beach, and render a 
 passage impossible, but had neglected to 
 
 land their men. It was now near twi- 
 light. The clouds in the west reflected 
 he bright tints of the sun, and showed 
 us the enemy in the foreground. In the 
 east heavy gray clouds lowered, and our 
 uniforms corresponding, hid us from their 
 view, as we silently stole along, the roar 
 of the surf drowning the footsteps of the 
 men and the commands of the officers, 
 yet every little while we would watch, 
 expecting to see the flash of the enemy's 
 cannon, or hear the report of the burst- 
 ing shell in our little band. It was a 
 narrow escape, and a providential one, 
 and our Colonel was affected to tears at 
 the danger we had passed. At midnight 
 we reached Hatteras Lighthouse, having 
 made a march of twenty-eight miles. 
 Here we found water, and usiug the 
 lighthouse as a fort, we encamped for the 
 night, and woke up n'ext morning feeling 
 like sand-crabs, and ready, like them, 
 to go into our holes, could we find them." 
 Thus closed the events of the 4th with 
 the escape of the fugitives. The 5th 
 was to witness a bitter and unexpected 
 revenge from the guns of the fleet. Col- 
 onel Hawkins, on making his prepara- 
 tions to meet the returning troops, had 
 also given information to Captain J. L. 
 Lardner, the successor of Captain Chauu- 
 cey in the command of the steam- frigate 
 Susquehanna, of the state of affairs. Be- 
 sides his vessel, the United States steam- 
 er Monticello, Lieutenant D. L. Braine 
 commanding, was then in the inlet. 
 Captain Lardner immediately brought 
 both vessels to Hatteras Cove, where he 
 found the retreating Indianians in the 
 morning gathered round the lighthouse 
 after their exhausting night vigil. He 
 supplied them with food and remained 
 for their protection, sending the Monti- 
 cello along the coast to watch the move- 
 
THE ENEMY ATTACKED BY THE MONTICELLO. 
 
 551 
 
 mcnts of the enemy, who, having effected 
 a landing, were reported to be in force 
 some miles above at Keneekut. The 
 errand was thoroughly accomplished. 
 Its striking incidents are thus related 
 in the official report of Lieutenant 
 Braine, addressed to Captain Lardner the 
 day of the assault. " I have the honor 
 to inform you that, in obedience to your 
 order of this morning, I stood through 
 the inner channel of Hatteras shoals at 
 12 P. M., and stood close along shore to 
 the northward, keeping a bright look-out 
 from aloft. At 1 P. M. we discovered 
 several vessels over the woodland Ken- 
 eekut, and at the same time a regiment 
 marching to the northward, carrying a 
 rebel flag in their midst, with many 
 stragglers in their rear ; also two tugs in- 
 side flying the same flag. As they came 
 out of the woods of Keneekut, we ran 
 close in shore, and opened a deliberate 
 fire upon them at a distance of three- 
 quarters of a mile. At our first shell, 
 which fell apparently in their midst, they 
 rolled up their flag and scattered, moving 
 rapidly up the beach to the northward. 
 We followed them, firing rapidly from 
 three guns, driving them up to a clump 
 of woods in which they took refuge, and 
 abreast of which their steamers lay. We 
 now shelled the woods, and could see 
 them embarking in small-boats after ves- 
 sels, evidently in great confusion, and 
 suffering greatly from our fire. 
 
 " Their steamers now opened fire upon 
 us, firing, however, but three shots, 
 which fell short. Two boats filled with 
 men were struck by our shells and de- 
 stroyed. Three more steamers came 
 down the Sound and took position oppo- 
 site the woods. We were shelling also 
 two sloops. We continued firing delib- 
 erately from 1 P- M. to 3 p. M., when 
 
 two men were discovered on the sea- 
 beach making signals to us. Supposing 
 them to be two of the Indiana regiment, 
 we sent an armed boat and crew to bring 
 them off, covering them at the same time 
 with our fire. Upon the boat nearing 
 the beach they took to the water. One 
 of them was successful in reaching the 
 boat private Warren 0. Haver, Com- 
 pany H, 20th regiment Indiana troops. 
 The other man private Charles White, 
 Company H, 20th regiment Indiana troops 
 was unfortunately drowned in the surf. 
 " Private Haver informs me that he 
 was taken prisoner on the morning of the 
 4th ; that he witnessed one shot which 
 was very destructive. He states that 
 two of our shells fell into two sloops 
 loaded with men, blowing the vessel to 
 pieces and sinking them. Also that sev- 
 eral officers were killed, and their horses 
 seen running about the track. He hud 
 just escaped from his captors, after shoot- 
 ing the captain of one of the rebel com- 
 .panies. He states that the enemy were 
 in the greatest confusion, rushing wildly 
 into the water striving to get off their 
 vessels. Private Haver now directed 
 me to the point where the rebels were 
 congregated, waiting an opportunity to 
 get off. I opened fire again with success, 
 scattering them. We were now very 
 close, in three fathoms water, and the 
 fire of the second shell told with effect. 
 Six steamers were now off the point, one 
 of which I recognized as the Fanny. At 
 twenty-five minutes past 5 we ceased 
 firing, leaving the enemy scattered along 
 the beach for upwards of four miles. I 
 fired repeatedly at the enemy's steamers 
 with our rifled cannon a Parrott 30- 
 pounder and struck the Fanny, I think, 
 once."* 
 
 * Lieutenant Braine to Captain Lardner, October 5, 1861 
 
552 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Twenty-nine of the Indiana regiment, 
 in addition to those captured on the 
 Fanny, were missing in this retreat. 
 From an account of the affair published 
 in the Norfolk Day-Book, purporting to 
 be from Captain Carsville of the 3d 
 Georgia regiment, it would appear that 
 the rebels, as at the capture of the Fan- 
 ny, were commanded by Colonel Wright. 
 The firing on the encampment was from 
 the 10-pound howitzer on board the 
 transport Cotton Plant, about a mile 
 from the shore. The Georgia regiment, 
 on landing, dragged their guns with them 
 through the heavy sand in the pursuit, 
 so that they had themselves a taste of 
 the hardships which they were inflicting 
 on the fugitives. Newspaper anecdotes 
 of personal prowess are not over relia- 
 ble ; but as we have the authority of a 
 Georgia captain for the story, and as a 
 characteristic specimen of its class, we 
 give this anecdote of the pursuit from the 
 account just cited. The incident is said 
 to have occurred on the morning of the. 
 second da} 7 . "When about six miles 
 from the starting-place, Colonel Wright, 
 being on horseback and considerably in 
 advance of his command, overtook a 
 party of thirteen Yankees, together with 
 their Adjutant. He made a gallant 
 charge on them, when the Adjutant shot 
 his horse and commenced loading again, 
 when the Colonel grabbed up a small 
 Yankee and presented him as a breast- 
 work to ward off the Adjutant's fire. 
 With this he advanced on the Adjutant 
 with his repeater and captured four, in- 
 cluding the Adjutant." In the same nar- 
 rative we are informed that the Monti- 
 cello poured in her shell upon the rebel 
 party at the distance of half a mile from 
 the shore for five hours " without injury 
 to any one except a slight bruise on one 
 
 man's leg, who foil down in endeavoring 
 to dodge a ball, which rolled over his 
 leg ; and a slight scratch on another's 
 face from the explosion of a shell." The 
 entire expedition then returned to Roan- 
 oke Island, stopping on their way to 
 gather the spoils left at Chicamocomico. 
 
 On receipt of the news of this disaster 
 at Washington, General Mansfield was 
 sent to Hatteras with five hundred troops. 
 Their presence, with the recent lesson 
 from the fleet, gave security to the island, 
 and no further serious attempt was made 
 by the rebels to annoy the Union forces 
 in its occupation. It was evident, how- 
 ever, that without a proper fleet of light 
 draft gunboats on the Sound in the pre- 
 sence of the enemy's steamers, the pos- 
 session of Hatteras was available only 
 for guarding the inlet, without making 
 any of the expected impressions upon 
 the mainland of the State. Why, it was 
 asked, should the enemy be allowed 
 quietly to intrench themselves at Roan- 
 oke Island, and thus hold command of 
 the waters of Albemarle and the south- 
 ern communications with Virginia. The 
 country grew somewhat impatient with 
 the Government as the season wore on, 
 and the angry storms of winter fell upon 
 the desolate, isolated position, and no re- 
 sponse was given. The answer, however, 
 was pronounced at last, and, as we shall 
 see, in no doubtful language. 
 
 Meantime, the post was firmly held. 
 Brigadier-General Thomas Williams, an 
 eminent officer of the regular army, fol- 
 lowed General Mansfield in the com- 
 mand ; constant services were rendered 
 to the blockading squadron ; the illicit 
 commerce of the enemy was checked, 
 and an occasional prize taken. But the 
 most prominent, if not the most import- 
 ant event at Hat' eras, was the r>olitical 
 
A STATEMENT OF GRIEVANCES. 
 
 553 
 
 assembly of the loyal inhabitants of the 
 island. Though necessarily but a limit- 
 ed demonstration, and quite insignificant 
 as an encroachment upon the vast area 
 of secessiondom, it yet attracted no little 
 attention, and was the means of calling 
 forth the sympathies of the North. On 
 the 12th of October a Convention of one 
 hundred and eleven delegates of the cit- 
 izens of Hyde county, -of which Hatteras 
 is a part, assembled at a church near the 
 inlet, and adopted a "Statement of Griev- 
 ances and a Declaration of Independence," 
 in which they loudly proclaimed their loy- 
 alty to the United States, and expressed 
 in the most decided manner their abhor- 
 rence of the "spurious government desig- 
 nating itself the ' Confederate States of 
 America,' and of the revolutionary and 
 treasonable dynasty which now usurps 
 the governing power of our own State." 
 Like other documents of its class, it was 
 modelled on the national Declaration of 
 Independence, and found no lack of ma- 
 terial in the violent and injurious acts of 
 a revolutionary government trampling 
 upon the hallowed rights of the people, 
 for a long and serious bill of indictment. 
 Passing over what is common to all such 
 usurpations, we ia&y note what is distinc- 
 tive in the case of North Carolina. The 
 dominant secession party was thus ar- 
 raigned : 
 
 " They have recklessly disregarded 
 the will of the people to abide by the 
 compact of the national Union, as repeat- 
 edly declared in public meetings through- 
 out the State, and by the emphatic and 
 overwhelming vote of the qualified elect- 
 ors of the Commonwealth in February 
 last j they have set aside the solemn and 
 deliberate disapproval of the machina- 
 tions of the Disunionists, pronounced by 
 a majority of the people, in refusing to 
 70 
 
 authorize the calling of a State Conven- 
 tion ; they have prostituted their official 
 positions to the purpose of a secret and 
 infamous conspiracy which had predeter- 
 mined the destruction of the Union, re- 
 gardless of popular dissent ; and, in the 
 unscrupulous zeal of their treason, they 
 have assumed powers without warrant, 
 either express or implied, in the Consti- 
 tution ; they have arrogated the author- 
 ity, through a Convention summoned 
 with indecent haste, and acting in flagrant 
 defiance of the wishes of the people, to 
 perform an act legally impossible, and 
 therefore without effect or- force, in de- 
 creeing the secession of this Common- 
 wealth from the Federal Union. The 
 ordinances of this Convention have never 
 been submitted to the people for their 
 ratification or rejection ; they have com- 
 missioned ten men as Representatives of 
 the State in a body called the Confeder- 
 ate Congress, unknown to and unauthor- 
 ized by the laws, and occupying an atti- 
 tude of open hostility to that Constitution 
 which North Carolina has formally and 
 definitively ratified and accepted as the 
 supreme law of the land. And, as if to 
 omit no incident of a complete disfran- 
 chisement, they have withheld from the 
 electors the poor privilege of designating 
 such Representatives." This Declaration 
 bears the signatures of a select commit- 
 tee of three the Rev. Marble Nash 
 Taylor of the North Carolina Conference, 
 Caleb B. Stowe and William O'Neil. 
 
 In the following month this patriotic 
 movement was brought prominently be- 
 fore the citizens of New York at a public 
 meeting called to express sympathy and 
 furnish aid for the people of North Car- 
 olina who had been impoverished by 
 their loyalty to the Union. The Hon. 
 George Bancroft, the eminent historiar 
 
554 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 presided, and many distinguished men 
 spoke on the occasion. The Eev. Mr. 
 Taylor, one of the authors of the Declar- 
 ation just cited, unhesitatingly pronounc- 
 ed North Carolina not a secession State. 
 It was true that she was out of the 
 Union, but not by the voice of her peo- 
 ple. At two elections in reference to 
 that matter, they had declared, by large 
 majorities, in favor of remaining firm for 
 the Uiiion. " Some four thousand of the 
 inhabitants living on the narrow strip 
 of land on the coast," he said, "had, on 
 the first arrival of the troops, flocked to 
 take the oath of allegiance ; and this had 
 cut them off from their scanty resources 
 of traffic with the interior. They were 
 a poor race, living principally by fishing 
 and gathering of yoakum, an evergreen of 
 spontaneous growth, which they dried 
 and exchanged for corn." The claim 
 for aid was supported by the testimony 
 of officers on the coast and the recom- 
 mendation of the President and Secre- 
 tary of War. 
 
 Mr. Bryant, the poet, seconded the 
 appeal at the meeting, enforcing it as an 
 opportunity to improve the visitation of 
 war by turning it to a lesson of mutual 
 charities which would bring us out of 
 the conflict "a nobler branch of the hu- 
 man family than before, raised to a more 
 exalted standard, more worthy of the 
 fortunate light shining upon us in this 
 Western hemisphere, more worthy of 
 the glorious institutions under which we 
 live." Of the suffering patriots for whom 
 charity was solicited, he said, elevating 
 their humble lives and their cause by as- 
 sociating them with the grand lessons of 
 nature around them : "Their occupation 
 is on the great deep, but they have not 
 copied its turbulence in their lives. They 
 have seen in its storms and its tumults 
 
 the power by which these are overruled, 
 and have been taudit to obey the laws 
 first ordained for the government of man- 
 kind." 
 
 General Burnside, then preparing in 
 silence and secrecy his Expedition, to 
 rescue the afflicted region from the 
 power of the enemy, earnestly joined in 
 the appeal, improving the opportunity to 
 eulogise the military talents and per- 
 sonal virtues of his friend General Mc- 
 Clellan, who had just succeeded General 
 Scott in the Chief Command. "I have 
 known him," said he, "most intimately, 
 as students together, as soldiers in the 
 field, and as private citizens. For years 
 we have lived in the same family, and I 
 know him as well as I know any human 
 being on the face of the earth, and I 
 know that no more honest, conscientious 
 man exists than Gene-ral McClellan. He 
 is an honest, Christian-like and con- 
 scientious man, and now let me add one 
 thing, that he has the soundest head and 
 the clearest military perception of any 
 man in the United States." Such was 
 the ample measure of admiration and 
 confidence with which the country wel- 
 comed the new General. 
 
 It may not be out of place to note the 
 striking declarations which were made 
 at this meeting by influential speakers 
 on the topic of slavery. " We have a 
 continent," said the Rev. R. C. Hitch- 
 cock, a prominent divine of the Dutch 
 Reformed Church in New York, " which 
 is a unit by its ver} r structure, and we 
 are essentially one race of men, without 
 one dividing line of race or language. 
 The leaders of the rebellion are sagacious 
 enough to understand this. They have 
 contemplated from the start a recon- 
 struction of the Government, but they 
 intend its corner-stone shall be black as 
 
A STORM AT HATTERAS. 
 
 555 
 
 ebony. This, then, is the issue not 
 between dismemberment and unity, but 
 between a unity based upon freedom 
 and a unity which is based upon human 
 bondage. But we must have a unity 
 based on the old Constitution, which 
 allowed slavery as evil found an evil 
 and tolerated, which in the good prov- 
 idence of God it was hoped by and by 
 might be ejected from the system." 
 
 Dr. Francis Lieber saw in the attempt 
 to foist the institution upon the reluctant 
 world at the present time, the source of 
 much of the acrimony with which the re- 
 bellion was undertaken and maintained. 
 " There are a great many things," he said, 
 " which distinguish the operation of Sla- 
 very in modern times Slavery, that great 
 anachronism, out of time, out of place in 
 the nineteenth century. Now, one point 
 has alwaj'S struck me and I may say 
 that I have had a great deal of ex- 
 perience on that subject is, that slavery 
 because out of time and out of place, if 
 once adopted, if once proclaimed as a 
 good thing, leads people invariably at this 
 time to a great degree of vindictiveness. 
 I do not know any period in history in 
 which any fanaticism has shown itself 
 more vindictive than Slavery at the pre- 
 sent period." As a result of this meeting 
 and appeal, a large sum of money was 
 contributed by the city of New York for 
 the distressed Carolinians, and expended 
 in various articles of necessity, which 
 were in good time transported to Hat- 
 teras Island. By the time they reached 
 there, however, a profitable employment 
 had been afforded to the natives by the 
 soldiers, which relieved the wants of the 
 people, so that a considerable portion of 
 the produce sent for charity was sold 
 and the money returned to the New 
 York Committee. 
 
 The next that we hear of the North 
 Carolina loyalists is an announcement 
 of the formation of a Provisional Gov- 
 ernment at Hatteras Island on the IStb 
 of November, " in which forty-five coun- 
 ties were represented by delegates and 
 authorized proxies." The Rev. Mr. 
 Taylor was appointed Provisional Gov- 
 ernor, and his Excellency ordered an 
 election for the 2d Congressional Dis- 
 trict, at which Mr. Charles Henry Foster 
 was elected a member of the National 
 House of Representatives. But thai 
 body, when he presented himself at 
 Washington the ensuing month, did not 
 think the certificate of the Provisional 
 Governor, or the proceedings at Hat- 
 teras, of sufficient importance to justify 
 his admission. 
 
 The fearful storm of the 2d of November 
 should be chronicled among the incidents 
 at Hatteras. It was the gale in whicl 
 the fleet of Commodore Dupont's Port 
 Royal Expedition suffered so severely on 
 its passage. Its onset at Hatteras was 
 most alarming. The waves dashed over 
 the island in the night, submerging its 
 lower portions between the forts, sweep- 
 ing away a vast quantity of provisions 
 and stores, which had just been landed 
 at the wharf, driving the soldiers from 
 their tents, threatening both forts, and 
 rendering them quite uninhabitable. The 
 Indiana 20th Regiment, which had not 
 yet recovered from its early experience 
 of Hatteras in its disasters at Chica- 
 mocomico, was most unfortunate. Its 
 stock of winter clothing had then been 
 captured by the enemy ; now half of the 
 new supply was carried off by the ocean, 
 and ' the regiment was momentarily in 
 expectation of being compelled to aban- 
 don its quarters at Fort Clark, and 
 wade through the waters to such resting- 
 
556 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 place as could be found on the higher 
 grounds above. The storm, however, 
 in a few hours expended its first 
 violence, and the garrison escaped 
 without, loss of life. But they had 
 suffered serious discomfort particu- 
 larly in the fearful removal of the 
 sick.* 
 
 It was in the sequel of this gale, three 
 days afterward, that the French steam 
 corvette Prony, Captain M. de Fon- 
 tanges, carrying six guns and a crew of 
 one hundred and forty officers and men, 
 ;vas wrecked to the south of Hatteras, 
 off Ocracoke Inlet. She was cruising on 
 the Southern coast, and was at the time 
 
 * Special Correspondence of the New York Tribune, Hat- 
 teras Inlet. Nov. 2 1861. 
 
 I)S orftlo fmote It/hcy} 9ffT Jnio< 
 >m fofoino-Hlo scf bfaorfa yce 
 
 CHAPTER XXXYI. 
 
 making her way North. She struck o-u 
 the sand, and there remained without 
 assistance till she was in immediate dan- 
 ger of destruction, when two Confederate 
 steamers of light draft arrived and took 
 off her crew. They were received ~by 
 the small fleet of Commodore Lynch in 
 Pamlico Sound, and after returning to 
 burn the vessel, " that nothing belong- 
 ing to her might be made use of by 
 either belligerent,"' were conveyed, by 
 way of Albemarle Sound and the Dis- 
 mal Swamp Canal, to Norfolk, whence 
 they came by a flag of truce to Fortress 
 Monroe, and were transported in safety 
 to New York.* 
 
 * Statement of Captain De Fontanges, New York Times, 
 Nov. 14. 1861. 
 
 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN IN 
 
 SOUTH-WESTERN VIRGINIA. 
 
 General McClellan crossed the 
 Ohio he sent Brigadier-General J. D. 
 Cox, with a sufficient force of Ohio and 
 Kentucky troops to oppose the move- 
 ments of General Wise, the " chivalric" 
 ex-Governor of Virginia, who, gathering 
 around him a body of insurgents, was 
 stimulating and assisting the revolt in the 
 southerly and westerly part of the Kan- 
 awha river. His proclamation of the 
 6th of July, dated at Ripley, the capital of 
 Jackson county, on the Ohio, summoned 
 the citizens of that border region " to re- 
 turn to their patriotic duty and acknow- 
 ledge their allegiance to Yirginia and her 
 Confederate States as their true and law- 
 ful sovereigns. You were Union men," 
 was the conciliatory language of the ap- 
 peal ; ' so was I, and we held a right to 
 
 be so until oppression and invasion and 
 war drove us to the assertion of a second 
 independence. The sovereign State pro- 
 claimed it by her Convention and by a 
 majority of more than a hundred thou- 
 sand votes at the polls. She has seceded 
 from the old, and established a new 
 Confederacy. She has commanded, and 
 we must obey her voice. I corne to ex- 
 ecute her command to hold out the 
 olive branch to her true and peaceful 
 citizens to repel invasion from abroad 
 and subdue treason only at home. Come 
 to the call of the country which owes you 
 protection as her native sons.' 1 
 
 We have seen General McClelland an- 
 ticipation from General Cox's column, in 
 his despatch of the 13th of July, immedi- 
 ately after the victory of Rich Mountain, 
 
SKIRMISH AT BARBOURSVILLE. 
 
 557 
 
 of the early liberation of the valley of the 
 Kanawha from the forces of General 
 Wise.* The month of July saw the ex- 
 pectation fulfilled. There was some 
 spirited fighting as the command of Gen- 
 eral Cox made their way up to the head- 
 waters of the Kanawha. A brilliant 
 skirmish occurred on the 12th of July at 
 Barboursville, the county seat of Cabell 
 county, on the Guyandotte. Five com- 
 panies of Colonel Woodruffs 2d Ken- 
 tucky regiment, under command of Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Neff, left the Union camp 
 at midnight for an attack upon the town, 
 which was held by a body of Confeder- 
 ate troops. " It was proposed," says the 
 correspondent of the Cincinnati Com- 
 mercial accompanying General Cox's 
 division, " to make the attack at early 
 daylight, but the deep silence observed 
 along the route, together with the halts 
 to send forward scouting parties, defer- 
 red their coming into sight of the enemy 
 until the sun was too hours high. When 
 they did catch a first glance, if there 
 had been any fear in their composition, 
 it would have overpowered them at once. 
 The rebels were drawn up in line of bat- 
 tle on the brow of a high hill, apparently 
 inaccessible on all sides, and commanding 
 a view for two miles around of a magni- 
 ficent level plain, with all its roads in 
 full sight, until they dwindled into the 
 distant forests Near the base of the hill 
 wound the Gu} r andotte river, and within 
 pistol shot of their position was the only 
 bridge which spanned it from the side on 
 which we were advancing. Our brave boys 
 took but one glance and passed on. As 
 they neared the bridge, they discovered 
 a large body of cavalry on the road 
 which wound around the base of the hill 
 on which the enemy were ranged, re- 
 Ante, p. 847. 
 
 treating and dividing in order to inter- 
 cept our flight- --a natural inference, but 
 a matter of opinion nevertheless. The 
 rebels very considerately reserved their 
 fire until the head of our column had set 
 foot upon the bridge, and then they fired 
 a terrific volley, killing one man instant- 
 ly, and wounding a number of others. 
 To escape this terrible shelving fire, our 
 men moved double-quick into the cover- 
 ed bridge, where the bullets pelted, pat- 
 tered, and whistled like a leaden hail- 
 storm. They rushed onward, however, 
 until they halted with such a sudden 
 shock, that it sent the whole column into 
 disorder. The planks of the bridge had 
 been removed on the opposite side, and 
 the mule on which the guide was mounted 
 had fallen through, and he barely escaped 
 sharing its destruction by clinging to the 
 timbers. The rebels, encouraged by our 
 delay at the fearful impediment, broke 
 into wild shouts and cheers. Fired by 
 their assurances of victory, our bo} T s 
 could be restrained no longer ; they an- 
 swered with terrific yells ; some ran to 
 the path-holes of the bridge and dis- 
 charged their muskets at the foe ; and 
 Company A, led by Captain Brown, 
 made a dash in single file across the bare 
 stringers and rafters of the bridge, fol- 
 lowed by Company D (Woodward 
 Guards) and the remaining companies. 
 As they emerged from the bridge the 
 rebels flanked and charged front from 
 the mouth of the bridge to the road 
 which encircled the base of the hill, and 
 sent another bitter voLey at our men, 
 which luckily was aimed too high, and 
 did but little damage. Our men at this 
 time had all cleared the bridge in total 
 disorder, but blazing away with excite- 
 ment, yelling and leaping like madmen. 
 They turned suddenly up the side of the 
 
558 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 hill at a charge bayonets, and literally 
 dragging themselves up by bushes and 
 jutting turf. They cleared in a few mo- 
 ments, rushed at the enem} 7 ", who had, as 
 the} 7 " commenced the ascent, fired again 
 with effect. It was their last voile} 7 . As 
 the glistening bayonets reached the top 
 of the hill and met their wavering gaze, 
 and those yells continued, which meant 
 victory if there had been a thousand op- 
 posed, the enemy swayed for a moment, 
 a leap was made from their flank and 
 rear, and then the whole body scattered 
 like sparks from a pin- wheel down the 
 rear of the hill, streaming in every di- 
 rection in the fields below, at full speed, 
 with white faces and an impulse of fear 
 which I heard compared to the fright 
 of a hundred horses in a conflagration. 
 Our men were too breathless for pursuit, 
 but they cheered as only men who had 
 conquered can cheer, and planted imme- 
 diately the Stars and Stripes on the sum- 
 mit of the hill. There was some firing 
 at the retreating foe, and their command- 
 er, Colonel Mansfield, was hit and fell 
 from his horse, but was immediately 
 seized and carried off by his companions, 
 as is supposed others were. They left 
 but one on the field, an old gray-haired 
 man, who, we are informed, was pressed 
 into the service, as many of his compan- 
 ions had been. He was taken care of 
 by our troops, but he died in the after- 
 noon. The victorious battalion, when 
 the rebels had disappeared, marched 
 through the town with their banners fly- 
 ing and the bands playing airs which the 
 inhabitants never hoped to hear again. 
 The Woodland boys planted their flag 
 on the cupola of the Court-House, 
 and seemed to regard as a coinci- 
 dence that precisely two months after 
 it was presented it was streaming from 
 
 a spire in one of the hot-beds of seces- 
 sion." 
 
 The next engagement with the enemy 
 took place a few days after at Scarytown, 
 where Scary Creek meets the Kanawha, 
 about forty miles above the entrance of 
 the latter into the Ohio. The Union 
 camp was at this time at the mouth of 
 Pocatalico Creek, some eight or ten miles 
 below the camp of the enemy at Scary- 
 town, which was held with the purpose 
 of commanding the communication by the 
 Kanawha with the important region 
 above. The Confederate position was 
 well chosen. It was on a hill well de- 
 fended by intrenchments, mounting two 
 rifled cannon, while several log-houses 
 adjoining offered most convenient means 
 of annoyance for musketry through their 
 crevices. In front, in the valle}', was 
 the small stream which -gave name to the 
 place ; the right rested on the Kanawha ; 
 on the left was a wooded height. On 
 the morning of the 17th of July, General 
 Cox sent forward a detachment consist- 
 ing of Colonel Howe's 12th Ohio regi- 
 ment, portions of two companies of the 
 21st Ohio, with Captain Cotter's Cleve- 
 land artillery, two rifled 6-pounders, and 
 Captain Rogers' cavalry company from 
 Ironton, Ohio altogether less than a 
 thousand men, with instructions to recon- 
 noitre the enemy's position, and drive 
 them from it if practicable. The party 
 was commanded by Colonel Lowe of the 
 12th Ohio Volunteers, an estimable citi- 
 zen of the State, who had been one of the 
 foremost to offer his services to his coun- 
 try in her present trials. It took a short 
 route by land, and in the afternoon ap- 
 proached the enemy's works from the 
 opposite side of the creek. The cavalry 
 company was in advance, and was first 
 greeted with a sharp discharge from the 
 
BATTLE AT SCARYTOWN. 
 
 559 
 
 battery, quickly retiring with the loss of 
 a man killed. The artillery of the Union 
 force then took position, and returned 
 the fire with considerable effect, the dis- 
 tance between the parties being about 
 five hundred yards, and the number and 
 calibre of the guns being the same on each 
 side. The infantry were also discharging 
 volleys of musketry. 
 
 An incident of the conflict at this 
 moment, one of a thousand like piteous 
 scenes of this lamentable war, should 
 not be passed over. It shows us 
 what war really is, in the destruction 
 of the noblest and the best. " The 
 first few rounds," writes a correspond- 
 ent from the camp after the action, "like 
 those of the rebels, were too high ; 
 but the Captain kept crying out, ' a little 
 lower, boys,' till the proper elevation 
 was attained, when he played upon them 
 rapidly, and in fifteen minutes silenced 
 their guns, with the loss of one man 
 private John Haven of Scholersville, 
 Putnam county a handsome, intelligent 
 young man, as brave as a lion, and the 
 pet of the company. Poor fellow ! his 
 right hip was shot away just as he was 
 passing a ball to his gun. When his 
 captain saw him fall, he ran and picked 
 him up, and conveyed him in his arms to 
 a place of safety. 'Never mind me, 
 Captain,' he cried ; "but don't let that 
 flag go down !' He still lingers, but can 
 hardly survive the night." 
 
 When this firing had continued for 
 some time with mutual loss, the enemy's 
 cannon being dismounted, the ammu- 
 nition of the Union men they had 
 taken with them but thirty rounds be- 
 gan to fail, and an order was given to 
 charge bayonets. A portion of the 
 troops on the left, led by Lieutenant- 
 Colonel White, made the attempt, ford- 
 
 ing the stream, and making for the in- 
 trenchments, but they were not support- 
 ed by the men who were to cooperate 
 with them from the right, and the move- 
 ment failed. The enemy, meanwhile, 
 getting reinforcements, word was given 
 by Colonel Lowe for the retreat, in which 
 his force was not pursued. They met on 
 their return a fresh regiment sent by 
 General Cox from his camp, which was, 
 of course, too late to turn the fortunes 
 of the day. The Union loss in this affair 
 was nine killed, thirty-eight wounded, 
 and nine missing ; that of the enemy was 
 represented as much larger. The fact 
 that they did not follow up their advan- 
 tage is the best evidence of their IOSF 
 Unhappily for General Cox's command 
 an accident of the day stripped him of 
 some of his best officers. Colonel Wil- 
 liam E. Woodruff, Lieutenant- Colonel 
 George W. Neff, Captains George Austin 
 and J. B. Hurd, all of the 2d Kentucky 
 regiment of Volunteers ; and Colonel 
 Charles De Yilliers of the llth Ohio 
 Volunteers, as they were riding out of 
 the camp to see something of the en- 
 gagement, found themselves unexpected- 
 ly in the enemy's lines, and were taken 
 prisoners. 
 
 The subsequent escape from the rebel 
 authorities of Colonel De Villiers, is 
 among the most interesting personal nar- 
 ratives of the war. After his capture on 
 the Kanawha, he was conducted with 
 his brother officers who were captured, 
 to Kichmond, and confined in the tobacco 
 factory with the prisoners of war taken 
 at Bull Run. At first, says his fellow- 
 prisoner Mr. Ely, in his journal, he ap- 
 peared much distressed, and was at times 
 subject to great depression of spirits. As 
 this wore away, and his nervous temper- 
 ament recovered its elasticity, he would 
 
56C 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 entertain his companions with an exhi- 
 bition of the most difficult exercises of 
 arms with the musket and broad sword, 
 in which, though but "a bundle of 
 nerves, almost without flesh, weighing 
 not more than 110 pounds," he was a 
 great proficient. It was from him, in- 
 deed, as his preceptor, that Ellsworth 
 had learnt the Zouave exercises, in which 
 he drilled his regiment. Having some 
 acquaintance with medicine, he was as- 
 sociated in the duties of the surgeons, 
 and allowed the liberty which they en- 
 joyed, of moving about the city under 
 parole. This, after a time, was taken 
 from him, when one day he made an 
 auction of his military clothing to his 
 comrades, as if for the purpose of sup- 
 pMng his wants, and in the evening dis- 
 appeared from the prison. How his 
 escape was managed is not told. Mr. 
 Ely hints at the complicity of rebel 
 officers in the affair, who assisted him 
 out of the town, and provided him with 
 some means of continuing his journe} 7 '. 
 However this may be, he had to depend 
 on his own resources. Avoiding the 
 well-watched route to the Potomac, he 
 took to the woods and swamps lying be- 
 tween Richmond and Norfolk, and living 
 on such berries and fruits as they afford- 
 ed, was six weeks in reaching tire latter 
 city, when he appeared in the character 
 of an old mendicant Frenchman, poor 
 and enfeebled. Wearing a pair of green 
 goggles, with a pack on his back, he went 
 about tottering on a rough stick, and 
 sustaining his disguise by confining his 
 speech to the French language, he ap- 
 pealed, and not in vain, to the sympa- 
 thies of the inhabitants. He was ad- 
 mitted to the hospital, and after a while 
 began to solicit the authorities for a pass 
 to Fortress Monroe, under the flag of 
 
 truce. " The piteous story of the ven- 
 erable Frenchman," continues Mr. Ely's 
 narrative, "and his urgency to return 
 to his home, which he had left before the 
 rebellion broke out, and the accommo- 
 dating spirit of the Confederates mani- 
 fested to the French, as well as to the 
 English at that time, induced the rebel 
 General, from charitable motives, after 
 two weeks 7 delay and persistent applica- 
 tion on the part of De Villiers, to allow 
 him to go on board the truce boat. 
 When the boat met the Federal steamer, 
 the infirm old Frenchman (at the vener- 
 able age of thirty-five) was assisted on 
 board by the compassionate officers from 
 Norfolk, who bade him an affecting 
 adieu. But no sooner had he reached 
 the deck of the Union boat, than he 
 coolly cast off his pack, green goggles 
 and all ; and, after thanking the officers 
 for their politeness, shouted with an air 
 of youthful animation, a loud huzza for 
 the Stars and Stripes, and gave the Con- 
 federates the pleasing information that 
 they had just parted with Colonel De 
 Villiers of the llth Ohio regiment." In 
 the subsequent October Colonel De Vil- 
 liers was promoted to the rank of Brig- 
 adier-General of Volunteers. 
 
 On the 25th of July, General Cox, 
 with his division, having advanced 
 cautiously up the Kanawha, and driven 
 the enemy from their camp in the neigh- 
 borhood, reinforced the important town 
 of Charleston. He then continued his 
 advance, without interruption to Gauley 
 Bridge, at the junction of the Gauley 
 and New Rivers, an important position 
 at the head of the valley of the Kanaw- 
 ha, where, on the 29th of the month he 
 reported, in a dispatch to Governor 
 Pierpont : " The Kanawha Valley is 
 now free from the secession troops. 
 
BATTLE AT CARXIFEX FERRY. 
 
 5(H 
 
 Most of the forces raised by Wise in this 
 valley left him between Charleston and 
 this place. I had sent them assurances 
 that if they laid down their arms they 
 might go quietly to their homes, and 
 many have done so, asserting that they 
 were cheated into the rebel service. I 
 regret here to say that Wise, in his re- 
 treat, has burned a number of valuable 
 bridges, and carried off most of the 
 wagons and teams of the people of the 
 valley. All parties denounce him for his 
 vandalism. I congratulate you on the 
 success of this expedition." 
 
 More than a month now elapsed of 
 comparative quiet in Western Virginia, 
 during which the Union army was suf- 
 ficiently engaged in keeping the peace, 
 protecting the property of loj^alists and 
 holding in check the insurgent maraud- 
 ers who infested the mountainous region, 
 before the forces of the two opposed 
 armies were brought into prominent con- 
 flict. An engagement then occurred be- 
 tween the immediate commands of Gen- 
 eral Rosecrans, the immediate successor 
 of McClellan in Western Virginia, and 
 General John B. Floyd, the ex-Secretary 
 of AVar at Washington, whose services to 
 the cause of rebellion had been reward- 
 ed with a high military commission in 
 the rebel army. On the 10th of Sep- 
 tember, the latter was entrenched at a 
 peculiarly advantageous position on the 
 Gauley River at Carnifex Ferry, eight 
 miles south-west of Summersville, in 
 Nicholas county. He had a short time 
 before, on the 26th of August, taken by 
 surprise and routed Colonel Tyler's 7th 
 Ohio regiment at Cross Lanes, near 
 Summersville. The regiment was sur- 
 rounded while at breakfast by superior 
 numbers, and fearfully cut up. General 
 Rosecrans having left Clarksburg at the 
 71 
 
 beginning of September, was advancing 
 with several of his best regiments by way 
 of Sutton and Summersville, to attack 
 Floyd wherever he might be found. As 
 he approached the region of the Gauley 
 he was informed of the enemy's position 
 and his force was led in that direction. 
 The story of the encounter which ensued 
 is thus given in a dispatch of General 
 Rosecrans to the Department at Wash- 
 ington, from his camp on the llth : 
 " We yesterday marched seventeen and 
 a half miles, and reached the enemy's 
 entrenched position, in front of Carnifex 
 Ferry, driving his advanced outposts 
 and pickets before us. We found him 
 occupying a strongly intrenched posi- 
 tion, covered by a forest too dense to 
 admit its being seen at a distance of 
 three hundred yards. His force was five 
 regiments, beside the one driven in. He 
 had probably sixteen pieces of artillery. 
 At 3 o'clock we began a strong recon- 
 noissance, which proceeded at such length 
 that we were about to assault the posi- 
 tion on the flank and front, when night 
 coming on, and our troops being com- 
 pletely exhausted, I drew them out of 
 the woods and posted them in the order 
 of battle, behind ridges, immediately in 
 front of the enemy's position, when they 
 rested on their arms till morning. Short- 
 ly after daylight a runaway contraband 
 came in and reported that the enemy 
 had crossed the Gauley during the night 
 by means of the ferry, and a bridge 
 which they had completed. Colonel 
 Ewing was ordered to take possession of 
 the camp, which he did at about 7 
 o'clock, capturing a few prisoners, two 
 stand of colors, a considerable quantity 
 of arms, with Quartermaster's stores, 
 mesa and camp equipage. The enemy 
 had destroyed the bridge across the 
 
562 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 which here rushes through a 
 deep gorge, and our troops being still 
 much fatigued, and having no material 
 for immediately replacing the bridge, it 
 was thought prudent to encamp the 
 troops, occupy the ferry and the cap- 
 tured camp, sending a few rifle shots 
 after the enemy to produce a moral 
 effect. Our loss will probably amount 
 to twenty killed and one hundred wound- 
 ed. The enemy's loss has not been as- 
 certained, but from report, it must have 
 been considerable." 
 
 The special report of General Ben- 
 ham, who led the advance, exhibits more 
 particularly the military nature of the 
 engagement : "The head of his brigade," 
 he tells us, "started from the camp, 
 eight miles north of Summersville, at 
 about 4 A. M. of the 10th, reaching that 
 place before 8 A. M. in good order, and 
 with the men eager for the continuance 
 of the march toward the enemy, who, we 
 there ascertained, were well intrenched 
 and determined to resist us near Carni- 
 fex Ferry. After a halt of nearly two 
 hours, about one mile short of the Cross 
 Lanes, we moved rapidly forward to- 
 ward the position of the enemy, until our 
 arrival at the site of this camp, about 
 one mile from their intrenchments, a 
 little past 2 o'clock, when, after a recon- 
 noissance by you, myself accompanying 
 you, I was authorized to move forward 
 with my brigade, ' using my best dis- 
 cretion in the case.' Upon receiving 
 this order, and with the mass of my 
 brigade well closed up, which had been 
 accomplished during our reconnoissance, 
 I moved carefully forward, with the 10th 
 Ohio regiment leading, having our skir- 
 mishers well ahead, and at the flanks for 
 nearly three-fourths of a mile, when we 
 discovered through the opening of the 
 
 woods on our left, their intrenchments in 
 an open space on our left, beyond a deep 
 and steep valley, and crowning the crest 
 of the opposite hill. Having no engineer 
 officer with my brigade, and no others, 
 that I knew of, to replace one, I kept 
 with the head of the regiment to avoid 
 ambuscades, and to judge myself of their 
 position and arrangements. After ad- 
 vancing about one-fourth of a mile to the 
 end of the woods I halted the command, 
 and could perceive that a heavy cross 
 fire had been prepared for us at the open 
 space of the debouch from the roads. 
 Within some five minutes after this time 
 (nearly half-past three o'clock), while 
 carefully examining their earth-works on 
 the road in front, and their intrench- 
 ments on our left, a tremendous fire of 
 musketry was opened on us, which in a 
 few minutes was followed by a discharge 
 of grape and spelter canister from a bat- 
 tery of some six pieces of artillery. This 
 caused a break in the line for a few 
 minutes, though for a few minutes only, 
 for the men immediately returned to 
 their ranks, under the lead of their 
 officers, to their former position, where I 
 retained them, as I was certain that the 
 fire at us through the close woods was 
 without direct aim, and because they were 
 needed for the protection of our artil- 
 lery, which I immediately ordered up ; 
 the two rifled guns of Captain Schneider, 
 and Captain McMullen with his four 
 mountain howitzers immediately follow- 
 ed, throwing their shells well into their 
 intrenchments on our left. 
 
 "A further examination of their posi- 
 tion convinced me that their weak part, 
 and our true part of attack, was on their 
 right flank, across the deep valley from 
 our position, upon which orders were 
 immediately sent to Colonel Smith of the 
 
BATTLE AT CARNIFEX FERRY. 
 
 563 
 
 13th regiment, and to Colonel Lowe of 
 the 12th regiment, to advance and pass 
 the valley on our left, under cover of the 
 woods, to that attack. Neither of these 
 regiments were to be found in their 
 proper position on the road in my rear, 
 as I expected. After a short time Col- 
 onel Smith was met with on our right, 
 where he had been drawn into the woods 
 by the belief, from the sound of the 
 firing, that the attack was upon our 
 right. Upon the receipt of my order, 
 however, Colonel Smith moved rapidly 
 across the main road, down the ravine 
 valley on our left, where he fortunately 
 struck upon the most advantageous route, 
 and thence he' moved up the opposite 
 hill, entirely past the right flank of the 
 enemy. But as I had been unable to 
 find the 12th regiment to send forward to 
 his support, though I have since learned 
 that three companies, under Lieutenant- 
 Colonel White, were near him, his move- 
 ment became principal!} 7 a reconnoissance, 
 from which he soon after returned, re- 
 porting to me his opinion of the entire 
 practicability of a successful attack upon 
 the rebel intrenchments at that point, he 
 having entirely passed by the breast- 
 work on the right, approaching within 
 one hundred yards of their line, pouring 
 a fire into them, which, it is since satis- 
 factorily ascertained, cleared that part 
 of the breastwork of the enemy. As I 
 was still unable to find the position of 
 the 12th regiment, which it has been re- 
 ported to me had been ordered into the 
 woods by the commanding General, I 
 sent one of my staff to Colonel McCook, 
 commanding the 2d brigade, to ask him 
 to aid the 13th in this attack with his 
 9th regiment, to which request a reply 
 was returned to me that there were 
 other orders from the commanding Gen- 
 
 eral, as stated to my aid by acting Ad- 
 jutant-General, Captain Hartsuff. 
 
 "In this state of affairs, I could only 
 hold my position in front, with the 10th 
 regiment protecting the artillery, which 
 was endeavoring to silence the cannon 
 of the enemy, which was to a consider- 
 able extent accomplished after the first 
 fifteen or twenty minutes their guns 
 being at once removed to other positions, 
 as was then also done with one-half of 
 Schneider's and McMullen's pieces, to 
 enfilade the crest of the hill from the 
 edge of the woods on our right, which 
 gave a fair view of their battery at some 
 three hundred and eighty yards distance. 
 At this time, or about an hour after the 
 commencement of the action, Colonel 
 Lytle of the 10th, though not ordered by 
 me, and while I was still endeavoring to 
 obtain troops for the attack from our 
 left, made a very gallant attempt to ap- 
 proach their battery through the cleared 
 space in front of it, which of course failed 
 from the smallness of his force in that 
 exposed situation he being severely 
 wounded, and compelled to retire with 
 the loss of many men killed and wound- 
 ed. Colonel Lowe of the 12th, also at a 
 subsequent period made a similar at- 
 tempt, and, as far as I can learn, with- 
 out orders ; in which I regret to say, he 
 fell being instantly killed by a discharge 
 of canister from the enemy. The above 
 comprises the sum of the action of the 
 portion of my brigade that was with 
 me, until you arrived on the field and 
 assumed the direction of affairs, some 
 time after which arrival you also ar- 
 ranged for and directed the attack upon 
 their right, with Colonel Smith's regi- 
 ment, and a part of the 12th and 47th, 
 Colonel Mohr this attack, as having 
 been first directed by myself, you will 
 
564 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 recollect I offered to lead upon the 
 enemy, recommending at the same time 
 a simultaneous demonstration or attack 
 by the 9th and 12th regiments, under 
 cover of the woods, from our right. The 
 command moved forward, however, un- 
 der the direction of Colonel Smith, but 
 from the lateness of the hour it was com- 
 pelled to return without attempting any- 
 thing, and the lateness of the hour seemed 
 to forbid farther operations for the day." 
 The battle of Carnifex Ferry appro- 
 priate name for a place of slaughter 
 was thus a reconnoissance running into 
 an attack upon well defended intrench- 
 ments and heavy batteries, the final cap- 
 ture of which by assault of the weaker 
 portion of the works, was spared by the 
 timely departure of their occupants. The 
 action, however, called forth the courage 
 of the assailants in a manner which would 
 have entitled them to a victory in a more 
 regular encounter. Many brave deeds 
 ivere performed by the Ohio troops in 
 their impetuous assault upon the enemy's 
 well-posted batteries. Colonel W. H. 
 Lytle, leading his Irish companies of the 
 10th Ohio, made a gallant attack upon 
 a strong position against superior num- 
 bers. The lines of the enemy extended 
 on each side to the river, enclosing an 
 irregular space, divided by the road to 
 Carnifex Ferry in the rear of the camp. 
 The immediate approach by the road 
 was guarded by their heaviest battery, 
 and it was within range of this fire, at the 
 very strongest point of their position, 
 that Colonel Lytle found himself engaged. 
 His report to General Benham vividly 
 exhibits the movement of the regiment, 
 with its disastrous results. "Agreeably 
 to your orders," says he, "I proceeded 
 with my command on yesterday, Septem- 
 ber 10th, at 3 o'clock, } r ourself accom- 
 
 panying and directing the advance with 
 me, to reconnoitre the position of the en- 
 emy, supposed to be in force in the neigh- 
 borhood of Gauley River ; our road led 
 up hill through a densely timbered forest, 
 and as I advanced I threw out flanking 
 parties to the right and left, and skir- 
 mishers in advance of my column. After 
 passing through the woods for half a mile, 
 our skirmishers were suddenly engaged 
 in front, and I pushed on to their relief 
 until I reached a cleared space on the 
 summit of the hill, where, for the first 
 time, the enemy came in view, posted in 
 force behind an extensive earthwork, 
 with twelve guns in position sweeping 
 the road for over a mile. A ravine sep- 
 arated the hill by which we approached 
 from the right of the breastworks of the 
 enemy, which were composed of logs and 
 fence-rails, and extended for over a mile 
 to the right and left of their intrench- 
 ments, affording secure protection to their 
 infantry and riflemen. When the head 
 of my column reached a point opposite 
 the right centre of their earthwork, their 
 entire battery opened on us with grape 
 and canister, with almost paralyzing 
 effect, my men falling around me in 
 great numbers. I ordered the colors to 
 the front for the purpose of making an 
 assault on their battery, perceiving 
 which, the entire fire of the enemy was 
 directed upon us. The men rallied gal- 
 lantly on the hill-side, under withering 
 volleys of grape and small-arms, and a 
 part of three companies, A., E, and D, 
 actually moved up to within pistol-shot 
 of the intrenchments, and for some time 
 maintained an unequal contest. Both 
 my color-bearers were struck down ; the 
 bearer of the State color Sergeant Fitz- 
 gibbons had the staff shot away and his 
 hand shattered, and in a few moments 
 
COLONEL R. L. McCOOK. 
 
 565 
 
 afterward was shattered in both thighs 
 while waving his color on the broken 
 staff. The bearer of the National color 
 Sergeant O'Connor was, at the same 
 time, struck down by some missile, but 
 recovered himself in a short time, and 
 kept waving his colors in front of the 
 enemy's fire ; about this time I received 
 a wound in the leg, the ball passing 
 through and killing my horse. Perceiv- 
 ing the fearful odds against us, I directed 
 the men to place themselves under a 
 cover ; a portion rallied behind two log- 
 houses in front of the battery, and kept 
 up a spirited fire for at least an hour be- 
 fore any other regiment came into action, 
 and the remaining portion of the right 
 wing, under command of Lieutenant-Col- 
 onel Korff, returned in good order to its 
 position under cover of a cornfield in 
 front of the right of the battery ; a 
 steady fire was- maintained against the 
 enemy until night, after which four com- 
 panies, G-, H, I, and K, and a great por- 
 tion of companies D and E, by order of 
 General Rosecrans, remained on the 
 ground during the night and held their 
 position, throwing out their pickets under 
 command of Lieutenant-Colonel Korff. 
 While the right wing of the regiment 
 under my command engaged the enemy 
 on their right centre, a portion of the 
 left wing, consisting of companies C, J, 
 P. and K, under command of Major 
 Burke, pushed through the woods on the 
 left of the road, and assailed the pali- 
 sades of the enemy's infantry across a 
 deep ravine. This portion of the com- 
 mand held its position in face of a terri- 
 fic fire until every round of ammunition 
 was expended, and the companies reliev- 
 ed by artillery, when it rejoined the 
 right wing, already in position in front 
 of the battery." 
 
 The worthy Colonel Lowe of the 12th 
 Ohio, whom we have seen engaged at 
 Scarytown, fell in a similar attack to that 
 of Colonel Lytle's regiment. He was 
 almost instantly shot down by a dis- 
 charge of canister. Colonel Robert L. 
 McCook, with his brave, well-drilled 
 Germans of the 9th Ohio, were drawn 
 up in line of battle, and were eager for 
 the fight. An eye-witness thus describes 
 their enthusiasm and that of their gallant 
 commander. "It was," he says, "per- 
 haps, 6 o'clock when Colonel Lowe was 
 announced among the killed. The fir- 
 ing continued with intensified violence 
 on our side, but it appeared to slacken 
 on the part of the enemy. But the din 
 was still terrific, showing that the rebels 
 intended to make us pay for victory. 
 The sun was rapidly sinking when orders 
 arrived to forward the Dutch brigade. 
 It was my grand satisfaction to be pro- 
 sent and witness the magnificent recep- 
 tion of the order. Colonel R. L. McCook, 
 acting brigadier, in his citizen's dress, 
 stood in his stirrups, and snatching his 
 slouched hat from his head, roared out, 
 'Forward, my bully Dutch! We'll s:o 
 over their d d intrenchments, if every 
 man dies the other side.' The usually 
 phlegmatic Teutons, inflamed with pas- 
 sionate excitement, exploded with terri- 
 fic cheers. Old, gray-bearded fellows 
 threw up their" hats with frenzied vio- 
 lence, and the gallant brigade shot for- 
 ward at double quick, shaking the road 
 with their ponderous step. The scene 
 was magnificently exciting. Not a man 
 witnessed it whose very soul was not 
 inflamed, and as the gallant McCook 
 dashed furiously up and down his lines, 
 shouting to his solid Dutchmen, no man 
 doubted that, if they ever got orders to 
 storm the battery, they would go over 
 
560 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the parapet with resistless power. As 
 the column deployed into the road, Cap- 
 tain Hartsuff volunteered to lead the 
 column into position, when three thou- 
 sand Dutchmen again yelled themselves 
 hoarse, and McCook spurred onward to 
 
 the front to reconnoitre his post 
 
 The brigade was not permitted to storm, 
 but the 9th Ohio, McCook 's own regi- 
 ment, and Colonel Moore's 28th, had op- 
 portunity to show their steadiness under 
 a galling fire."* 
 
 The severe skirmishing was kept up 
 for three or four hours, and this animated 
 bravery, it should be remembered, was 
 exhibited by men who had hurried to 
 face the enemy in an unknown position, 
 without rest, after a long march since 
 daylight through the sultry noon-tide 
 heat. The details will be found in the 
 newspaper correspondence of the time, 
 written down with the first glow of en- 
 thusiasm of the eye-witnesses in the 
 camp. They are too numerous, too much 
 resembling scenes in all struggles of the 
 kind to require their repetition here. In 
 the history of all wars but little, indeed, 
 of the true heroism can be recorded. 
 That must be sought in the story of the 
 individual lives freely offered in the na- 
 tional sacrifice. A reverent hand has 
 preserved one of these simple narratives 
 in a memorial of the career of Colonel 
 Lowe, whose death at " the perilous edge 
 of battle" has just been mentioned. Mr. 
 Shea, in his chronicles of the "Fallen 
 Brave" of the war, has noted his early 
 trials, the spirit and perseverance with 
 which they were overcome, his devotion 
 to his country, and the piety and affection, 
 mingled with a certain prescience of his 
 coming fate, in a last fond letter to his wife, 
 
 * Correspondence of the New York Times, Camp Scott, 
 neai Carnifex Ferry, Sept. 12, 1S61. 
 
 The report of General Floyd of the 
 engagement at Carnifex Ferry, repre- 
 sents the force in his command at less 
 than two thousand. His lines, he says, 
 " were necessarily very extended, and 
 when manned, left not one man for re- 
 serve. The assault was made with spirit 
 and determination. . . . Upon the close 
 of the contest for the night, I discovered 
 that it was only a question of time when 
 we should be compelled to yield to the su- 
 periority of numbers. I therefore deter- 
 mined at once to recross the Gauley river 
 and take position upon the left bank, which 
 I accomplished without the loss of a gun 
 or any accident whatever. Our loss, 
 strange to say, after a continued firing 
 upon us by cannon and small-arms for 
 nearly four hours, was only twenty men 
 wounded. The loss of the enemy we 
 had no means of accurately estimating, 
 but we are satisfied, from reports of pris- 
 oners and other sources of information, 
 was very heavy. We repulsed them in 
 five distinct and successive assaults, and 
 at nightfall had crippled them to such an 
 extent that they were in no condition 
 whatever to molest us in our passage 
 across the river. ,.,^ Ar ,^ I am very con- 
 fident that I could have beaten the en- 
 emy and have marched directly to the 
 valley of Kanawha, if the reinforcements 
 from General Wise's column had come 
 up when ordered, and the regiments from 
 North Carolina and Georgia could have 
 reached me before the close of the second 
 day's conflict. I cannot express the re- 
 gret which I feel at the necessity, over 
 which I had no control, which required 
 that I should recross the river."* 
 
 Immediately following the attack upon 
 Floyd's camp at Carnifex Ferry, an iia- 
 
 * Brigadier-General John B. Floyd, Commanding Army 
 Kanawha, to the Hon. L. P. Walker, Secretary of War 
 September 12, 1861. 
 
CHEAT MOUNTAIN. 
 
 567 
 
 posing attempt was made on the Union 
 positions held by General J. J. Rey- 
 nolds of the first brigade, guarding the 
 important Cheat Mountain Pass. The 
 movement was made by the Confeder- 
 ate General Robert E. Lee, recently 
 detached from the "Army of the Po- 
 tomac," and sent with a considerable 
 body of troops across the mountains, who 
 now, with a force of nine thousand men, 
 and eight to twelve pieces of artillery, 
 on the 12th of September advanced from 
 Huntersville with the view of cutting off 
 the communications and capturing the 
 Union posts at Cheat Summit and Elk 
 "Water. He had made some dispositions 
 toward this result, which were held in 
 check by General Reynolds, when it be- 
 came necessary for the latter promptly 
 to assume the aggressive. The work on 
 the Summit was in need of supplies, and 
 the enemy, who were investing the post, 
 must be driven from its vicinity. Two 
 strong relieving parties were accordingly 
 set in motion early on the morning of the 
 13th, but before they reached their des- 
 tination the route was opened by the 
 valor of the besieged occupants of the 
 fort. They were but three hundred, but 
 they managed to put to flight a greatly 
 superior force of their assailants on the 
 mountain. Meanwhile Lee was threaten- 
 ing Elk Water below, but was held at a 
 distance by the excellent handling of a 
 rifled 10-pounder brought in advance to 
 the front from Loomis' battery. The 
 next day saw a repetition of the opera- 
 tions at both camps, with the like result. 
 On the day following, the fourth of these 
 attacks, the fort on the Summit again 
 gallantly repulsed the enemy. The re- 
 sult of the several encounters, as given 
 by General Reynolds in his report, was 
 a loss on the Union side of nine killed 
 
 and some sixty prisoners ; and a loss to 
 the enemy of nearly a hundred killed, 
 and about twenty prisoners.* In (he 
 number of the rebels who were slain was 
 a person of some note, Colonel John A. 
 Washington, the recent proprietor of the 
 estate of Mount Yernon, which had been 
 purchased from him for a large sum by 
 an association formed by the ladies of 
 the country to secure its preservation as 
 the property of the nation. 
 
 Three weeks after this resolute defence 
 of his post at Cheat Mountain, General 
 Reynolds, on the third of October, de- 
 tached a large portion of his brigade, 
 well provided with artillery, numbering 
 about five thousand men, to make a re- 
 connoissance of the enemy's fortifications 
 twelve miles distant, on Greenbriar 
 river. On approaching the spot, the 
 pickets were driven in, and the artillery 
 brought to play upon the works. There 
 was much skirmishing, and a heavy loss 
 to the enemy from the well-worked bat- 
 teries. The Union loss was ten killed 
 and eleven wounded. 
 
 Looking in another direction we find, 
 at the end of October, General Kelley, 
 having recovered from the severe wound 
 he had received at Philippa, again in the 
 field in a movement against the rebel 
 force at Romney and its neighborhood, 
 in Hampshire county. Leaving New 
 Creek, on the line of the railway, at 
 midnight, with twenty-five hundred Ohio 
 and Virginia troops, and three pieces of 
 artillery, he carne up with the rebels a 
 few miles from Romney at 3 o'clock on 
 the afternoon of the 26th, drove in their 
 outposts, and after a brilliant action of 
 two hours, completely routed them, tak- 
 
 * General J. J. Reynolds to Geo. L. Hartsuff, Assistant 
 Adjutant-General, Department of Ohio. Elk Water, Sept 
 IT, 1861. 
 
568 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ing all their cannon three pieces much 
 of their camp equipage, and several hun- 
 dred prisoners. The rebel loss was be- 
 tween thirty and forty killed and wound- 
 ed ; that of the Unionists but one killed 
 and five wounded. Colonel Angus Mc- 
 Donald commanded the rebel cavalry, 
 and Colonel Monroe the militia. This 
 victory gave General Kelley possession 
 of Romney, and the opportunity to ad- 
 dress a proclamation to the inhabitants, 
 assuring them of safety and protection in 
 their rights, civil, social and political, 
 under the flag of the United States ; while 
 all who had borne arms were required 
 simply to lay them down, return to their 
 homes, and secure the same privilege on 
 taking the oath of allegiance. 
 
 An indication of the perils to which 
 the posts of the army of occupation were 
 exposed in Western Virginia is afforded 
 in the painful story of the surprise of a 
 party of Union troops at the little town 
 of Guyandotte, at the junction of the 
 river of that name with the Ohio. The 
 opinions of the residents of the place, 
 which was on the southern line of the 
 Union army, were divided on the national 
 question. There were warm friends of 
 the Government, but the larger number, 
 it is said, favored the secession cause. 
 It was, at the time to which we allude, 
 held by Colonel R. V. Whaley, of the 
 adjacent Wayne county, as the recruit- 
 ing station of the 9th Virginia regiment 
 of Volunteers. He had about a hundred 
 and fifty men assembled when, on the 
 evening of Sunday the 10th of Novem- 
 ber, the discipline of the camp being 
 relaxed some were at church and 
 others scattered through the town an 
 attack was suddenly made by a guerrilla 
 party of cavalry, several hundred in 
 number, led by Colonel Albert G. Jen- 
 
 kins, a member of the National House 
 of Representatives from the county in the 
 recent Congress. As the recruits were 
 taken entirely by surprise, they were 
 enabled to rally only singly or in small 
 parties, fighting in the streets and at the 
 bridge which crosses the Guyandotte 
 river. The assailants, well informed as 
 to their position, seized their arms and 
 horses, and with mutual slaughter, made 
 prisoners of nearly half their number. 
 The town during the night was occupied 
 by the rebels. 
 
 Word of the attack immediately 
 reached Colonel John L. Zeigler, a reso- 
 lute and patriotic citizen of Wayne coun- 
 ty, who was stationed a few miles below 
 on the Ohio, at Ceredo, with his 5th Vir- 
 ginia regiment. He at once embarked 
 two hundred of his men on the steamer 
 Boston, with whom he arrived at Guy- 
 andotte about 8 o'clock on Monday 
 morning, just as the rebels had left, car- 
 rying off with them, beside the prisoners 
 of war, their Enfield rifles and horses, 
 various Union citizens of the town, store- 
 keepers and others, whose property they 
 had plundered. The indignation of the 
 relieving party, as might have been ex- 
 pected, was excessive. The time and 
 manner of the attack, the alleged com- 
 plicity of many of the townspeople with 
 the surprise, and the ruthless conduct of 
 the assailants, aroused the vengeance of 
 the troops. Several arrests of leading 
 secessionists were made, and a portion 
 of the town, comprising some of the most 
 valuable stores and dwellings, was set on 
 fire and consumed. Numbers of the cit- 
 izens of the adjoining Lawrence county, 
 in Ohio, crossed the same day and rallied 
 to the support of the Virginians and the 
 defence of their common region from the 
 incursions of the enemy. 
 
GENERAL WISE'S MOVEMENTS. 
 
 5f>J 
 
 To return to scenes on the Kanawha. 
 General Floyd, after his midnight deser- 
 tion of his camp at Carnifex Ferry, re- 
 treated from one position to another, 
 presently establishing his command at 
 Meadow Bluff, in Fayette county, whither 
 he called General Wise, who, with his 
 " Legion," held Dogwood Gap, one of 
 the neighboring strongholds of the re- 
 gion, to follow for his defence. The ex- 
 Governor appears to have had little 
 respect for the ex-Secretary's orders and 
 strategic retreats, and a decided differ- 
 ence of opinion arose between them. A 
 particular statement of these operations, 
 published in the Richmond Dispatch, 
 was generally attributed to the pen of 
 Colonel Henningsen, of Wise's Legion. 
 We take up his narrative, which pre- 
 sents an instructive account of the com- 
 position of the "Legion," and the 
 mode of warfare carried on in these 
 mountain denies, at the point where 
 Wise was called upon to break up 
 his position at Camp Defiance, on the 
 eastern slope of the Big Sewell Moun- 
 tain, having previously obeyed orders in 
 retiring contrary to his judgment from 
 Dogwood Gap. "On the 18th of Sep- 
 tember General Wise addressed the 
 troops of his Legion, stating substan- 
 tially that hitherto he had never retreat- 
 ed but in obedience to superior orders. 
 That here he was determined to make a 
 stand. That his force consisted of only 
 one thousand seven hundred infantry 
 and artillery, and that the enemy was 
 alleged to be fifteen thousand strong. 
 That this he did not believe, but that his 
 men must be prepared to fight two or 
 three or several to one, and even if the 
 enemy were in the full force stated, the 
 position admitted of successful defence, 
 and he was determined to abide the issue. 
 72 
 
 He warned them that they would prob- 
 ably be attacked front and rear for suc- 
 cessive days, and he called on any 
 officer or soldier who felt doubtful of the 
 result, or unwilling to stand by him in 
 this trial, to step forward, promising that 
 they should be marched to Meadow 
 Bluff. This speech, delivered successively 
 to the three regiments of infantry and to 
 the artillery, was received with the 
 wildest enthusiasm. Not one solitary 
 individual in the Legion failed to res- 
 pond, and the spirits of the corps were 
 raised and maintained at the highest 
 fighting pitch. The provisions and bag- 
 gage wagons were withdrawn into safe 
 positions, and the camp on all sides 
 strengthened. In this attitude the Le- 
 gion remained till about the 20th, when 
 it was strengthened by the arrival of 
 Captain Romer's artillery company, with 
 one gun, and by that of one Virginia, 
 one North Carolina, and three Georgia 
 companies, which swelled the forces of 
 Wise's Legion to over two thousand men 
 About this time General Lee arrived in 
 General Floyd's camp, at Meadow Bluff, 
 and wrote to General Wise, advising him 
 to fall back, if executable, without delay. 
 Before acting on this advice General 
 Wise requested General Lee to inspect 
 the position in person. On the 22d 
 General Lee arrived at Camp Defiance, 
 and, after a careful survey of the ground, 
 ordered General Wise to maintain his 
 position until further orders. The enemy 
 had meanwhile advanced to within three 
 or four miles, and several skirmishes had 
 taken place between his outposts and the 
 remaining cavalry of the Legion, under 
 Major Bacon, formerly captain of mount- 
 ed rangers in Nicaragua, and afterward 
 aid to General Garnett, and wounded by 
 the side of that General when he fell. 
 
570 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 The rest of the cavalry was still under 
 its gallant colonel, J. L. Davis, and 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Clarkson, south of 
 the New River, where they had pushed 
 a daring and successful foray up to with- 
 in twelve miles of Charleston. One night 
 General Wise, with a few picked com- 
 panions, including the Richmond Blues 
 and Mississippi Rangers, of the 2d regi- 
 ment, under Captain Imboden, attempted 
 to feel and ambuscade the enemy and 
 drive in their outposts, killing three of 
 them, the General himself lying down for 
 several hours in a pitiless shower. Not- 
 withstanding, all that could be ascertain- 
 ed of the enemy was that he was on the 
 turnpike, probably from five thousand to 
 six thousand strong. 
 
 " On the afternoon of the 23d, while 
 the infantry and artillery of the Legion 
 were rehearsing their part on the con- 
 templated points of attack, the enemy 
 suddenly appeared, driving in our pick- 
 ets. The next morning the summit of 
 the Big Sewell was whitened with his 
 tents, and skirmishing commenced and 
 continued till the evening. On our side 
 two gun detachments of the artillery and 
 three companies of the 2d regiment of 
 the Legion, of which Colonel Henningsen 
 is colonel, but in consequence of his hav- 
 ing charge of the infantry and artillery, 
 under the immediate command of Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Frank Anderson who 
 distinguished himself by the daring ex- 
 ploit of capturing Castillo, in Nicaragua, 
 with forty-eight men, after Lockridge 
 and Titus had failed with eight hundred 
 Captain Imboden's, Captain Lewis's 
 and Captain Crane's University company 
 were the companies engaged, with one 
 six-pounder and one howitzer, under 
 Major Gibbs of South Carolina, Captain 
 McComas and Lieutenant Pairo of Rich- 
 
 mond. The casualties were but trifling 
 on our side, though we have to regret 
 the death of Lieutenant Howell of Mis- 
 sissippi (of Captain McDonald's com- 
 pany), and that of one of Captain Imbo- 
 den's gallant rangers. Captain Lewis 
 was shot through the breast, but is doing 
 well. Three privates were wounded in 
 the above-named companies, one very 
 severely. The only loss in the artillery 
 was Lieutenant Pairo's horse, shot un- 
 der him. The enemy was obviously only 
 feeling for the flanks of our position, and 
 evidently could make nothing of it, and 
 'no wonder,' as Professor Snead remark- 
 ed, ' since it has no flanks at all.' The 
 guns were only advanced to avenge 
 casualties which befell our men, firing a 
 few rounds and then retiring. For in- 
 stance, when a ranger fell, a six-pound- 
 er suddenly advanced along a ridge 
 where a gun could never have been ex- 
 pected, and drove the enemy from a 
 stable, laying out four of them. In sight, 
 on another occasion, seven were dropped 
 before the howitzer. A company of the 
 enemy's reconnoitering, and commanded 
 by a mounted officer, came on a picket 
 of the University company. The sentry 
 shot the mounted officer down, received 
 the volley of the company and retired 
 unhurt. Major Lawson of the 2d regi- 
 ment, having seized a rifle to surprise 
 one of the enemy's scouts, was himself 
 surprised by another, who sent a shot 
 through his coat. The major, however, 
 avenged himself on this interloper by 
 shooting him dead." 
 
 At the end of September, Wise was 
 recalled to Richmond by the Secretary 
 of War, and left his favorite Camp De- 
 fiance in command of General Lee. Rose- 
 crans meanwhile had followed Floyd, 
 and was encamped close in his neighbor- 
 
RIVAL CAMPS ON THE KANAWHA. 
 
 571 
 
 hood, controlling his further movements 
 westward. The monih of October was 
 spent in these various manoauvres con- 
 fined to the region, so well calculated for 
 defence, at the head of the Kanawha 
 Valley, bounded by the New Gauley 
 arid Kanawha rivers, and protected by 
 various passes. Both sides had been re- 
 inforced, and it was evident that a con- 
 test must soon ensue for the supremacy. 
 By the end of the month Floyd had con- 
 centrated his force on the left bank of 
 the New River, within a few miles of its 
 junction with the Gauley. He had with 
 him five to six thousand, and ten or 
 eleven pieces of artillery. The command 
 of Rosecrans was encamped on the oppo- 
 site side of the river, his right resting on 
 the Kanawha. It numbered about ten 
 thousand in the several brigades of Gen- 
 eral Cox, the first occupant of the dis- 
 trict, General Benham, whose career we 
 have pursued through the previous Vir- 
 ginia campaigns, and General Schenck, 
 who had been transferred from the 
 Potomac to the Western Department. 
 
 On the 1st of November Floyd open- 
 ed fire on the Union camp from a battery 
 across the river, and made some other 
 hostile demonstrations, with but little 
 effect, however, as it at once became 
 evident that he could make no impres- 
 sion upon the force arrayed against him. 
 His position, nevertheless, at the point 
 facing the junction of the rivers, where 
 the main Union camp was situated, and 
 commanding the road by which the pro- 
 vision teams from the North must arrive, 
 where he had established a battery, was 
 sufficiently annoying. There was a double 
 motive, therefore, in dislodging him, and 
 if possible, effecting his capture. To 
 this the efforts of General Rosecrans 
 were now directed, with what result is 
 
 thus narrated by an army correspondent 
 at the camp : " Again Floyd," says tbe- 
 writer, dating his letter on the 16th. 
 " with his rebel host, has proved th' 
 coward. Fearing to encounter the little 
 army that General Rosecrans was silent- 
 ly sending against him, he did not even 
 make a stand at his intrenchments, but, 
 seized with a panic, has shamefully run 
 to the southern counties. Ten days ago 
 he pushed his command forward to New 
 River and the Kanawha, and establish- 
 ing batteries upon the hills that over- 
 looked our positions, commenced a sys- 
 tem of attack upon us that blockaded 
 our only road to Gauley, and cut us off 
 from our provision depot. It became 
 necessary to dislodge him. The Gen- 
 eral, anxious that he should come as far 
 into the hills as possible, made but little 
 reply to his fire, except to drive in his 
 skirmishers : but at last all was pre- 
 pared, and word was sent to the different 
 brigades to be ready to move at a mo- 
 ment's warning. It was extremely de- 
 sirable to turn Floyd's position and get 
 into his rear if possible, and for this pur- 
 pose Major Crawford, of the United 
 States Army, a member of General Rose- 
 crans staff, was directed to make an ex- 
 amination of the slope of the mountain 
 towards a deserted ferry, known as 
 Townsend's Ferry, and from which, after 
 crossing the river, and ascending the op- 
 posite mountain, a road led directly to 
 the town of Fayette, in the rear of 
 Floyd's position. After incredible labor 
 a road was made down the mountain, the 
 distance of one mile, and over rocks and 
 down ravines Major Crawford, with his 
 force of pioneers, passed several boats 
 and two large floats, capable of contain- 
 ing ninety to one hundred men. The 
 enemy were not watching the ferry on 
 
572 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the opposite side, and by Monday night 
 (Nov. llth) all was ready. Schenck's 
 brigade was to have crossed at this ferry. 
 The boats were in the river, and the 
 movement about to be made, when the 
 river suddenly rose, and in a short time 
 became a dashing torrent. To attempt 
 to cross would have hazarded the lives 
 of the men. But one thing was to be 
 done as we could not strike them in the 
 rear we could reach their flank, and the 
 order was given to the brigade (Ben- 
 ham's) to cross below the entrance of 
 New River into the Kanawha. Mean- 
 time the 1st Kentuckj r regiment had been 
 ordered across, under Major Leeper, to 
 attack them on the hill opposite to 
 Gauley. This was done, and the hill 
 was taken, with a loss of four men killed, 
 five wounded, and six missing. Twenty 
 of the enemy were killed and wounded. 
 Five miles down the river General Ben- 
 ham had crossed with his entire brigade, 
 and vas coming up rapidly. The enemy 
 fell back toward a line of intrenchments 
 they had constructed at Dicker-son's 
 farm, on the road from Gauley to Fay- 
 ette. Fearing that they would retreat, 
 General Rosecrans sent orders to Gen- 
 eral Benham to push forward at once a 
 large force to Cassidy's Mills, the key 
 point of the position. A road led from 
 these mills directly to the road running 
 from Fayette to Raleigh, over which the 
 enemy must pass should he determine to 
 retire. It was the intention of General 
 Rosecrans that this force should have been 
 thrown upon the flank of the retreating 
 army, while Schenck's and Benham's 
 brigades pushed them in the rear. By 
 some strange mismanagement upon the 
 part of General Benham, the force at 
 the mills was ordered by him to rejoin 
 ins command by another road. The en- 
 
 emy, knowing that we would outflank him 
 by the very road from Cassidy's Mills, 
 made no stand at his intrenchments, and 
 hastily retreated. The road was strewn 
 with tents, tent-poles, cooking utensils, 
 and ammunition, as he lightened his wag- 
 ons in his flight. Benham now pressed 
 his rear through Fayette and along the 
 Raleigh road, and came up with his rear- 
 guard, about two miles from the town. 
 He attacked this force, consisting of four 
 hundred cavahy and several regiments 
 of infantry, killing Colonel Croghan, 
 who commanded the cavalry, and several 
 others. He brought up his artillery and 
 opened fire upon them with effect. 
 Again they retreated, closely pursued 
 until nightfall, when, from the exhaus- 
 tion of our men, who were without food 
 or blankets, a halt was ordered, and 
 shortly afterwards ah order from the 
 commanding general arrived directing 
 a return of our forces."* 
 
 The final movement of General Ben- 
 ham in pursuit of Floyd is thus described 
 in his report to General Rosecrans, dated 
 Fayetteville, November 16th. "Upon 
 the night of the llth instant," says he, 
 "while at a kind of bivouac at Loup 
 Creek mouth, where I had been with 
 part of my command, by the directions 
 of General Rosecrans, since the 5th and 
 6th instant, I received your orders to 
 proceed as early as practicable with the 
 force then at that point, about one thou- 
 sand five hundred men, of the 10th, 12th, 
 and 13th Ohio regiments, to occupy Cot- 
 ton Hill, there having been previously 
 stationed by his orders, under my direc- 
 tions, the 37th Ohio regiment of seven 
 hundred men at Loup Creek Forks, 
 about four miles up, and in detachments 
 up to ten miles from the mouth of the 
 
 * Correspondence of the New York Herald, Nov. 29. 1861 
 
BENHAM'S PURSUIT OF FLOYD. 
 
 573 
 
 Creek ; also, about three hundred and 
 twenty of the 44th Ohio regiment, and 
 four hundred and thirty of the 7th Ohio 
 about one mile upon the left fork. 
 AJbout the time of inarching from Loup 
 Creek, however, I had directed, as he 
 had ordered me, about one thousand 
 men from these last three regiments to 
 
 c_> 
 
 occupy Cassidy's Mills, about six miles 
 up from the left fork toward this place, 
 and the remainder, being part of the 37th 
 regiment, to endeavor to reach me at Cot- 
 ton Hill by a march to the left of Cassi- 
 dy's Mills by Nugent's. On the morn- 
 ing of the 12th, in accordance with the 
 directions given, with the first named 
 force, and four mounted howitzers, and 
 two rifled 6-pounders, we moved up the 
 left bank of the Kanawha, four miles 
 from the mouth of Loup Creek to Gauley 
 Falls ; thence to the right, some five 
 miles over Cotton Hill to Herschberger's 
 by 3 P. M., where at Laurel Creek we met 
 the advance pickets of the enemy in 
 force, as it was ascertained afterwards, 
 in a most strong position, prepared with 
 abattis ; and after skirmishing with them 
 with the greater part of the 13th regi- 
 ment until dark, we went into bivouac in 
 the open air, on the escarped mountain 
 road, with but few fires and but little 
 water ; myself and staff lying on the bare 
 rocks, with our horses held below us. 
 Our loss in the skirmish was one man 
 killed and four wounded ; that of the en- 
 emy two, at least, killed and about seven 
 wounded. The enemy were completely 
 driven from the ground they occupied, 
 but not much farther, as a large rein- 
 forcement was seen coming to them (I 
 have since learned four regiments and one 
 piece of artillery were sent). And with 
 only about one thousand six hundred and 
 forty men, for Colonel Sieber's detach- 
 
 ment had not fully joined, I did not think 
 it would be safe to draw on a battle with 
 the whole rebel force, reported by your- 
 self to me to be from four to six thousand 
 men, and as I heard afterward with nine 
 to eleven guns, although, as I reported 
 to you that night, I felt I would hold my 
 position in the mountain secure against 
 their force. 
 
 " During the night, at about 2 A.M. of 
 the 13th, it was reported to me by a 
 scout I had sent out t^ watch the rebel 
 camp, that the wheels of heavy wagons, 
 or artillery, were heard rumbling in the 
 direction of their camp, but as this be- 
 came no fainter, it was uncertain whether 
 they were retreating or receiving rein- 
 forcements. I immediately sent direc- 
 tions to Colonel Smith, of the 13th regi- 
 ment, to send out two other scouts to as- 
 certain if the movement was a retreat, 
 but most unfortunately, as Colonel Smith 
 informed me in the morning, he did not 
 understand it as a command, but merely 
 as a suggestion, and they were not sent 
 out. On learning this at early light, I 
 immediately sent forward a scout of ten 
 men, supported by two companies of the 
 13th regiment ; but the report from these 
 men of the retreat of the rebels did not 
 come till after 4 p. M., on which I imme- 
 diately gave the orders for marching to 
 overtake them. For this I felt the more 
 prepared as I had ordered, and expected 
 down to join me, the force that was at 
 Cassidy's Mills, having authorized the 
 aid who was sent there to order them 
 direct to Fayette road, if the enemy were' 
 proven to be retreating and it would be 
 surely #afe to do so. But this last order 
 was also misunderstood, and although a 
 portion of this command of mine had oc- 
 cupied Fayette from 11 A. M., without 
 finding they had the means to communi- 
 
574 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 cate with me, they were recalled, and 
 unfortunately made the circuit around to 
 this place again. At length, by 5 P. M., 
 we moved forward from the ' Union 
 School-House ' to the Dickerson farm, 
 which we reached before seven, finding 
 there the evidences of a most hasty re- 
 treat, in the remains of large quantities 
 of tents and camp equipage destroyed 
 by fire. At a short distance beyond this 
 farm the command was closed up, halted, 
 and rested for about four hours, and the 
 detachments of the 44th and 7th joined 
 me, making my moving strength about 
 two thousand seven hundred men. With 
 this force, at 11 p. M., I moved forward, 
 arriving about 4 A. M. of the 14th at 
 Hawkins' Farm, about five miles beyond 
 Fayetteville, being delayed much by 
 scouting the roads in advance. On the 
 route further evidences of the hasty re- 
 treat were shown in the tents, wagons, 
 and large quantities of ammunition left 
 behind. At 7 o'clock we again moved 
 forward with the belief, which proved to 
 be the fact, that part at least of their 
 train was encamped five miles from 
 Hawkins. The advance was led by Col- 
 onel Smith of the 13th, to whose pru- 
 dence and caution during that day we 
 owe it, that not a single man of ours 
 was killed or wounded, and scouting 
 most cautiously, though of course slowly 
 forward, we met the advance posts of 
 the enemy, after four miles' march, at 
 9 A.M., where a sharp contest with our 
 advance continued for nearly half an 
 hour, where, besides several other losses, 
 the rebels had mortally wounded the 
 colonel of Floyd's cavalry Colonel St. 
 George Croghan (son of the late Inspec- 
 tor-General Croghan). 
 
 "These outposts being driven in, we 
 advanced carefully about one mile fur- 
 
 ther, where the enemy were found posted 
 in considerable force behind a ridge cov- 
 ering McCoy's Mills, A regiment of 
 cavalry and different regiments of infan- 
 try are reported as distinctly seen. 
 After an interchange of fire between 
 these and our advance for twenty min- 
 utes, Captain Schneider's rifle artillery 
 was brought up with good effect, the offi- 
 cers reporting that they saw many fall at 
 their fire. As, however, I soon discov- 
 ered a ridge that made out from our rear 
 to our right, that commanded at close 
 musket range the left of the enenn T , I 
 sent my aid to direct Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Creighton, with the 7th and half of the 
 37th, under Major Ankele, to pass down 
 this ridge to attack their left. This 
 movement, I regret, was delayed frilly 
 half an hour by the resistance of Colonel 
 Sieber to this order, he at first neglect- 
 ing or refusing to send the number of 
 men required; and demanding the right 
 to command it, as reported by my aid. 
 When at length this attack was made, it 
 was entirely successful ; and with the 
 first concentrated volleys of this com- 
 mand of about seven hundred and fifty 
 men, uniting with the fire of the 13th 
 regiment, the whole of the enemy retreat- 
 ed in confusion with the last of their 
 wagon train. Their position was soon, 
 though cautiously taken possession of, 
 when it was found thickly strewn with 
 blankets, clothing, camp equipage, etc., 
 as evidences of a precipitate flight. A 
 short time for rest was now given, and 
 we then moved forward, with the usual 
 scouting parties in advance, through an 
 escarped road upon a steep mountain 
 side, to a defile continuing for about four 
 miles between two mountains up the Big 
 Loup Creek. We found, about midway 
 of the defile, a bridge of some size broken 
 
GENERAL BEXHAM'S REPORT. 
 
 575 
 
 down, which delayed us nearly an hour 
 to repair ; yet still, as the guides inform- 
 ed us that there was a long and difficult 
 hill for the passage of wagons about two 
 miles in advance of the bridge, I decided 
 to push forward in the hopes of overtak- 
 ing it, although the men had been march- 
 ing nearly all the night previous, as well 
 as during the most of that day, in, for a 
 greater part of the time, a drenching 
 storm,, and over roads in many places, to 
 a great extent, in tenacious mud, and 
 many of them, by the failure of expected 
 trains, with less than half their rations. 
 On reaching at 4 p. M. the outlet of this 
 defile at Keton's Farm, about fifteen 
 miles from Fayetteville and twenty-one 
 miles from our previous bivouac near 
 Cotton Hill, we found the expected steep 
 hill some two miles distant, and their 
 wagons over it or not in sight. And 
 therefore I concluded to bivouac the men 
 there with such food as we best could 
 obtain, and report the case, as I did so, 
 to General Schenck at Fayetteville, who 
 had assumed the direction by order of 
 yourself, suggesting to him to join me 
 with his force (about one-half of mine), 
 that we might attack or drive the enemy 
 in Raleigh the next day. The first des- 
 patch of General Schenck informed me 
 that he had sent the 26th regiment and 
 some mounted men to reinforce me ; a 
 second, received at 10 P.M., informed me 
 that the 26th regiment was ordered to 
 return, while it directed me also to return 
 as soon as practicable to this place. 
 
 "As the men were still, for more than 
 nine-tenths of them, without any shelter, 
 in a most drenching rain or succession of 
 violent thunder-showers, many without 
 their blankets even, which had been 
 thrown off in the ardor of the chase, and 
 as they were still standing round their 
 
 fires, unable to sleep in the rain upon 
 the open ground, the greater part of the 
 command, though most unwilling to give 
 up the pursuit, felt that, if it was so or- 
 dered, it must be best for themselves, after 
 their few hours' halt (it could not be 
 called rest), to retrace their steps that 
 very night, rather than remain standing 
 in the cold and wet till morning, with 
 only the prospect before them of their 
 return. We accordingly commenced our 
 retreat soon after 1 o'clock, and, reach- 
 ing McCoy's about 4, we rested till after 
 6 A.M. of the 15th, or to-day, when we 
 moved onward, and, with a single rest 
 about midway, the command reached 
 this place soon after noon, being still in 
 excellent spirits their main disappoint- 
 ment being in not having been permitted 
 to continue the pursuit of the rebels. We 
 are at this hour partly in houses, but a 
 great number are out in the open air in 
 the village, where it is now snowing upon 
 them in their rest, which, added to their 
 really great exposure, will, I fear, half 
 annihilate their effective strength. 
 
 "The main facts and circumstances of 
 the expedition are, therefore, that after 
 remaining about one week upon Loup 
 Creek, awaiting the cooperation of an- 
 other force, and with my command of 
 about three thousand men divided in four 
 portions, as ordered by General Rose- 
 crans, I at length moved with one-half 
 the force to meet the enemy in front to 
 the furthest point of Cotton Hill. There, 
 in the night after our first engagement 
 with his outposts, on the afternoon of the 
 13th, the enemy made a most precipitous 
 retreat, leaving portions of his baggage, 
 wagon-loads of ammunition, tents, cloth- 
 ing, etc., on the route, besides the evi- 
 dences of the destruction of a much 
 greater portion ; that from the unknown 
 
576 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 and difficult nature of the country, some 
 twenty hours had elapsed before his re- 
 treat was assured, and without which we 
 did not feel it safe to pursue him to his 
 works at Dickerson's farm (since found 
 to be of the strongest character for field- 
 works) with my force then less than two 
 thousand, and not one-half of the least of 
 his supposed numbers. He was then 
 most vigorously followed up by my com- 
 mand through rain, and storm, and mud, 
 till overtaken at about eighteen miles 
 from the camp he left, and the heavy 
 force of his rear-guard was there routed, 
 and further camp equipage taken after 
 another action, by which the train was 
 still kept in advance of us ; and the pur- 
 suit was still continued until, from the 
 difficult nature of the defile beyond, the 
 breaking of bridges, etc., our exhausted 
 forces needed to rest for the night, when 
 we were recalled by the orders of Gen- 
 eral Schenck ; and this was accomplished 
 with the loss of one man killed and four 
 wounded on our part in the fight at Lau- 
 rel Creek, and none at the affair at Mc- 
 Coy's Mills, while it is certain that the 
 loss of the enemy was three times that 
 amount, including that of their chief col- 
 onel of cavalry killed. Floyd was pur- 
 sued for thirty miles from his batteries 
 of Gauley Bridge, and driven, as was as- 
 certained, to Raleigh, and on some eight 
 miles further than our last bivouac. I 
 can only add in conclusion that, had I 
 not been ordered to return, and had the 
 forces which were sent over the river 
 been moved up to Keton's to support me, 
 as I asked by a courier that evening 
 that they should be, we could have 
 moved forward to Raleigh to-day as I 
 intended, and, as I am well satisfied, 
 captured that place and depot, with 
 their entire train, and certainly routed, 
 
 if not captured, the whole of Floyd's 
 force." 
 
 A word is due to the memory of Col- 
 onel St. George Croghan, who, like Gar- 
 nett, was mortally wounded while de- 
 fending the rear guard of his retreating 
 associates. He was the son of the 
 gallant Colonel Croghan renowned in 
 Western annals, for his heroic defence 
 of Fort Sandusky against a combined 
 attack of British and Indians. His last 
 thoughts in death were that he had fallen 
 with honor, "I saw him," wrote General 
 Benham in the courteous letter which he 
 addressed to General Floyd, acquainting 
 him of his fate, "in passing, a fow 
 minutes after he was wounded, and he 
 recognized me, conversing freely but 
 with pain, and shaking my hand on 
 leaving him, he requested to state that 
 ' he died the death of-a brave soldier,' as 
 he did, in every way worthy of his gal- 
 lant and noble father. I left him in 
 charge of my brigade and one other sur- 
 geon, with hospital attendants and a 
 guard, and on my return this morning 
 from my camp ground, the hospital stew- 
 ard handed me a small blank memoran- 
 dum book, in which was a history made 
 by his request, of which I enclose you a 
 copy. He left his address, etc., with the 
 chaplain of the 10th (Colonel Ly tie's) 
 Ohio regiment, Rev. H. E. 0. Higgins, 
 and told me that his family were residing 
 in Newburgh, New York. I will en- 
 deavor to communicate with them as 
 early as possible, and send each little 
 memorial from him as I shall be able tc 
 collect them, for I yet cannot ascertain 
 where most of his property has gone, as 
 the people of the louse where he died 
 would not attend to it. I have sent his 
 remains toward F tyetteville, where they 
 will be interred if we are not able to 
 
' ./,%////. 
 
GENERAL ROSE GRANS' PROCLAMATION. 
 
 577 
 
 take them to Gauley ; though I will, if 
 possible, place the body there in a box 
 with salt, to preserve it for his friends. 
 It will be subject to the order from Gen- 
 eral U.S. Rosecrans. And now, having for 
 the third time the opportunity of extend- 
 ing courtesies somewhat of this character 
 to your officers as first, in returning the 
 baggage, uniform, etc., of Colonel Porter- 
 field, at Philippa, and afterward of pre- 
 serving the sword, effects, and body of 
 General Garnett at Carrick's Ford I 
 trust your officers will appreciate the 
 desire, thus exhibited, of mitigating in 
 every way the horrors of this fratricidal 
 strife, as I think you yourself will do me 
 the justice to believe that I most earn- 
 estly wish it" 
 
 In December General Floyd, putting 
 the best face on the matter, took leave of 
 his army of Kanawha in a vigorous pro- 
 clamation. He recalled the five months' 
 contest with the enemy, and his suc- 
 cessful endeavor to obstruct his march 
 into the interior of the State, in which 
 "hard contested battles and skirmishes 
 were matters of almost daily occur- 
 rence.' 7 He complimented his men on 
 their cheerful, uncomplaining endurance 
 of hardships and privations for which 
 the government had reason to be grate- 
 ful, and closed by inviting them to a 
 new field of service in Kentucky. So 
 ended the operations of the season. As 
 an aggressive movement the advance 
 of Floyd had failed of success, while he 
 had reason to congratulate himself on his 
 escape from capture. The Union army 
 was left in full possession of Western 
 Virginia. 
 
 General Rosecrans also closed the 
 
 campaign with an address to his troops, 
 
 in which, while he complimented them 
 
 on the successes they had achieved, he 
 
 73 
 
 urged the necessity of a serious, earnest 
 prosecution of the work before them, 
 concealing neither its responsibilities nor 
 difficulties " Officers and soldiers of the 
 Department of Western Virginia : You 
 have closed an arduous campaign with 
 honor to yourselves and satisfaction to 
 the country. None but those who have 
 been with you, as I have, can fully 
 appreciate your trials and privations. 
 Your triumph has been threefold over 
 your own inexperience, the obstacles of 
 nature, and the rebel forces. When our 
 gallant young commander was called 
 from us, after the disaster of Bull Run, 
 this department was left with less than 
 15,000 men to guard 300 miles of rail- 
 road and 300 miles of frontier, exposed 
 to bushwhackers, and the forces of Gen- 
 erals Floyd, Wise and Jackson. The 
 north-western pass into it was fortified 
 and held, Cheat Mountain secured, the 
 rebel assaults there victoriously repelled, 
 and the Kanawha Yalley occupied. A 
 march of 112 miles, over bad roads, 
 brought you upon Floyd's intrenched 
 position, whence the rebels were dis- 
 lodged and chased to Sewell. Finally, 
 your patience and watchings put the 
 traitor Floyd within your reach, and 
 though by a precipitate retreat he es- 
 caped your grasp, you have the substan- 
 tial fruits of victory. Western Virginia 
 belongs to herself, and the invader is ex- 
 pelled from her soil. In the name of our 
 Commander-in-Chief, and in my own, I 
 thank you. But the country will expect 
 your Commanding General expects 
 still more from you. A campaign with- 
 out a defeat, without even a check, must 
 be eclipsed by deeds of greater lustre. 
 To this end I now call upon you, for 
 your own future honor, to devote your- 
 selves with energy and zeal to perfect 
 
578 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 yourselves in all that pertains to drill, 
 instruction and discipline. Let every 
 officer and every soldier be emulous to 
 teach and learn the firings, light infantry 
 drill, guard duty, company discipline and 
 police. Your Commanding General pro- 
 poses to procure for you everything ne- 
 cessary to prepare you for your coming 
 work, and will soon organize boards of 
 examiners, who will rid the service of 
 the disgrace, and soldiers of the incubus, 
 of incompetent and worthless officers, 
 who hold the positions and receive the 
 pay without having the will or capacity 
 to perform the duties of their positions. 
 Remember, you are fighting for your 
 country, for your flag, for your homes. 
 
 Your enemies are implacable in their 
 hatred of you ; there is no measure of 
 falsehood to 1 which they have not resort- 
 ed to blacken your good name ; and 
 their leaders, Beauregard and Jeff. Davis, 
 have dared, even in solemn proclama- 
 tion, to calumniate you, charging you 
 with crimes which you abhor. From 
 these men you have nothing to expect. 
 You must prepare to teach them, not 
 only lessons of magnanimity and forbear- 
 ance toward the unarmed and defence- 
 less, but to thrust their calumnies and 
 their boastings down their own traitorous 
 throats. Let not a moment be lost in 
 your preparations for the task before 
 you." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXYII. 
 
 GENERAL FREMONT'S MISSOURI CAMPAIGN. 
 
 AFTER the fall of Lyon, the interest in 
 military affairs in Missouri centres in the 
 movements of General Fremont. It is 
 not necessary here to repeat the circum- 
 stances in his previous history which 
 gave to his name a peculiar prestige in 
 the West, which identified him with the 
 exploration and settlement, the conquest 
 of arms and civilization of the mighty 
 region stretching from the Missouri to 
 the Pacific ; nor need we refer to the 
 national importance of a name which, in 
 the preceding Presidential election, had 
 been familiar in every home and house- 
 hold in the land. The two ideas to 
 which he had devoted his youth and early 
 manhood were now incorporated in sub- 
 stantial realities of world-wide fame. 
 When he first threaded the passes of the 
 Rocky Mountains he had looked from 
 
 their heights upon an uncultivated wil- 
 derness where now flourished a golden 
 empire. The Republican creed which 
 he had been chosen to represent, the pro- 
 mise of which had been symbolized in the 
 freshness and purity of his fame, his 
 youth and gallantry in the free mountain 
 air among free men the social and po- 
 litical hope of the people was now a liv- 
 ing, active policy, invigorating and di- 
 recting the energies of the nation. It is 
 not to be wondered at, therefore, that 
 when the arm of rebellion was raised 
 against the State, and the Government 
 was looking everywhere for representa- 
 tive men to sustain its authoritj^ Fre- 
 mont should not be forgotten. He had, 
 indeed, no established military reputa- 
 tion as a great commander, for he had 
 conducted no great military operations 
 
GENERAL FREMONT. 
 
 579 
 
 in war ; but as it was very evident that 
 the choice of our Major-Generals was 
 very limited if that qualification should 
 be insisted upon, no one felt disposed to 
 press the point in view of the many ad- 
 vantages which he possessed by the side 
 of the crowd of civilians of no experience 
 at all, who stood eager for promotion on 
 the army list. It was, in fact, consider- 
 ed quite as a matter of course that Fre- 
 mont should be invited to some distin- 
 guished military command. It would 
 have been, in the opinion of many, the 
 height of political ingratitude in the ad- 
 ministration to pass him by. 
 
 At the breaking out of the war he was 
 on a visit to Europe. We have, on a 
 previous page, recorded the temperate 
 and patriotic speech * in which, at Paris 
 in the month of May, in company with 
 the American ministers, newly arrived at 
 that cap^al, he pledged himself to the 
 cause of the Union. He had, in fact, 
 already been recalled to his country, and 
 the short time which elapsed before set- 
 ting out on his return was given by him 
 to preparations for the now imminent 
 conflict. Having made large purchases 
 of arms in Belgium for the United States 
 Government, he left England for Amer- 
 ica, arriving at Boston on the 27th of 
 June. Speedily reporting himself at 
 Washington, he was, on the 6th of July, 
 appointed, with the rank of Major-Gen- 
 eral, to the command of a vast military 
 district, now first constituted into a sep- 
 arate organization as the Western De- 
 partment. It embraced the State of 
 Illinois and the States and Territories 
 west of the Mississippi and east of the 
 Rocky Mountains, including New Mexi- 
 co. The headquarters of the department 
 were at St. Louis. 
 
 Ante, p. 447. 
 
 It might have been thought that, on 
 receiving so extensive a command, a 
 particular line of policy or strategy 
 would have been marked out by tbe ad- 
 ministration. But nothing of the kind 
 was prescribed. It was characteristic of 
 the early period of the war that no very 
 definite course of action could be laid 
 down. The army had yet to be formed, 
 and its employment determined by future 
 events. There were discussions at Wash- 
 ington on the subject, and it was under- 
 stood that the great object in view was 
 the descent of the Mississippi, and that, 
 for its accomplishment, General Fremont 
 was to raise and organize an army, and, 
 when he was ready to descend the river, 
 inform the President of the fact.* With 
 no more precise instructions with none 
 whatever in writing General Fremont 
 the da} r after the battle of Bull Run, 
 having made such arrangements as he 
 could in the fortnight for the equipment 
 of an army corps of twenty- three thousand 
 men, set off for St. Louis, which he reached 
 on the 25th of July. The political and 
 military condition in which he found Mis- 
 souri on his arrival he has himself thus 
 described: "The State was throughout 
 rebellious. A rebel faction in every 
 county, at least equal to the loyal popu- 
 lation in numbers, and excelling it in 
 vindictiveness and energy. The local 
 government was in confusion and unable 
 to aid. St. Louis itself was a rebel city, 
 and, as a rule, the influential and wealthy 
 citizens were friendly to secession. Of 
 the new levies of the Federal troops, few 
 were in the field the term of enlistment 
 of the three months' men was just expir- 
 ing the troops in service had not been 
 paid, were badly equipped and badly 
 
 * Statement of General Fremont to the Hon. Mr. Wade, 
 Chairman of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, eto. 
 
580 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION 
 
 supplied ; and in addition to the rebel 
 parties which swarmed throughout the 
 State, a Confederate array of nearly fifty 
 thousand men was already on its south- 
 ern frontier. General Pope was in 
 North Missouri with nearly all my dis- 
 posable forces ; General Lyon was at 
 Springfield with about seven thousand 
 eight hundred men ; and General Pren- 
 tiss was holding Cairo with seven regi- 
 ments. General Lyon's troops were, in 
 greater part, three months' men whose 
 term of service was ending, and all of 
 General Prentiss' force was in the same 
 condition." 
 
 The first military movement of Gen- 
 eral Fremont was the reinforcement, with- 
 in a few days after his arrival in St. 
 Louis, of the threatened posts at Cairo 
 and Bird's Point. He carried with him 
 for this purpose, in a fleet of eight steam- 
 boats, thirty-eight hundred men. The 
 expedition, a few months after, when the 
 operations of the war were vastly multi- 
 plied, would have attracted little at- 
 tention ; it was then paraded with 
 great effect. Happily the enemy were, 
 as it would appear, duly impressed by 
 it, for we now tremble as we read that 
 General Prentiss had but twelve hundred 
 men at the time at Cairo, while General 
 Pillow had a force a few miles below, at 
 New Madrid, not over-estimated, says 
 General Fremont, at twenty thousand. 
 Looking back upon it by the light of sub- 
 sequent events, it was certainly one of 
 the most critical moments of the war. 
 
 Cairo, as the most important point in 
 danger, having thus been secured, Gen- 
 eral Fremont bent his efforts for the re- 
 lief of General Lyon. Before, however, 
 he could equip the raw recruits hastening 
 to St. Louis, the battle of Wilson's Creek 
 was fought, and the small arm} 7 " had with- 
 
 drawn from Springfield. General Fre- 
 mont tells us how time was then gained 
 by the dissentions in the camp of the en- 
 emy to secure the defence of the State, 
 which he now undertook on the most 
 comprehensive plan. His design was 
 " to fortify Girardeau, Ironton, Rolla and 
 Jefferson City, with St. Louis as a base, 
 holding these places with sufficient gar- 
 risons, and leaving the army free for 
 operations in the field." In accordance 
 with this intention, he laid out and com- 
 pleted a series of fortifications about St. 
 Louis commanding the city and its ap- 
 proaches. 
 
 While provision was thus made against 
 the approach of the enemy from without, 
 the administration of his department 
 within was conducted with determination 
 and energy. Much had been said of the 
 losses which the nation had sustained by 
 the hesitation or inactivity of its officers 
 in various branches of the Government. 
 General Fremont, it was soon apparent, 
 was not reluctant, when he thought the 
 exigencies of his position demanded it, to 
 proceed on his own responsibility. One 
 of his first acts, immediately after his ar- 
 rival, at a time when the few troops he 
 had about him were in danger of being 
 lost to the service for want of their stipu- 
 lated pay and he had no other remedy 
 at hand was to compel the Treasurer 
 of the United States at St. Louis, by 
 force, to furnish the requisite funds. On 
 the 14th of August he proclaimed martial 
 law in the city, and suppressed the pub- 
 lication of the War Bulletin and the 
 Missourian, two newspapers "shame- 
 lessly devoted to the publication of trans- 
 parently false statements respecting mil- 
 itary movements in Missouri. "* On the 
 30th of the month, by the following 
 
 * St. Louis Democrat. August 15, 1861. 
 
PROCLAMATION OF MARTIAL LAW. 
 
 581 
 
 proclamation, he brought the State under 
 martial law : 
 
 ' Circumstances, in my judgment, are 
 of sufficient urgency to render it neces- 
 sary that the commanding General of 
 this department should assume the ad- 
 ministrative powers of the State. Its 
 disorganized condition, helplessness of 
 civil authority, and the total insecurity 
 of life and devastation of property by 
 bands of murderers and marauders, who 
 infest nearly every county in the State, 
 and avail themselves of public misfor- 
 tunes, in the vicinity of a hostile force, 
 to gratify private and neighborhood ven- 
 geance, and who find an enemy wherever 
 they find plunder, finally demand the 
 severest measures to repress the daily- 
 increasing crimes and outrages, which 
 are driving off the inhabitants and ruin- 
 ing the State. In this condition, the 
 public safety and success of our arms 
 require unity of purpose, without let or 
 hindrance to the prompt administration 
 of affairs. In order, therefore, to sup- 
 press disorders, maintain the public 
 peace, and give security to the persons 
 and property of loyal citizens, I do here- 
 by extend and declare established mar- 
 tial law throughout the State of Missouri. 
 The lines of the army of occupation in this 
 State are for the present declared to ex- 
 tend from Leavenworth, by way of posts 
 of Jefferson City, Rolla, and Iron ton, to 
 Cape Girardeau on the Mississippi river. 
 All persons who shall be taken with 
 arms in their hands within these lines 
 shall be tried by court-martial, and if 
 found guilty, will be shot. Real and 
 personal property of those who shall take 
 up arms against the United States, or 
 who shall be directly proven to have 
 taken an active part with their enemies 
 in the fiold, is declared confiscated to 
 
 public use. and their slaves, if any they 
 have, are hereby declared free men. All 
 persons who shall be proven to have de- 
 stroyed, after the publication of this or- 
 der, railroad tracks, bridges, or telegraph 
 lines, shall suffer the extreme penalty of 
 the law. All persons engaged in trea- 
 sonable correspondence, in giving or pro- 
 curing aid to the enemy, in fermenting 
 turmoil, and disturbing public tranquility, 
 by creating or circulating false reports 
 or incendiary documents, are warned 
 that they are exposing themselves. All 
 persons who have been led away from 
 allegiance are required to return to their 
 homes forthwith. Any such absence, 
 without sufficient cause, will be held to 
 be presumptive evidence against them. 
 The object of this declaration is to place 
 in the hands of military authorities power 
 to give instantaneous effect to the exist- 
 ing laws, and supply such deficiencies as 
 the conditions of the war demand ; but it 
 is not intended to suspend the ordinary 
 tribunals of the country, where law will 
 be administered by civil officers in the 
 usual manner, and with their customary 
 authority, while the same can be peace- 
 ably administered. The commanding 
 General will labor vigilantly for the pub- 
 lic welfare, and, by his efforts for their 
 safety, hopes to obtain not only acquies- 
 cence, but the active support of the peo- 
 ple of the country." 
 
 The terms of this Proclamation were 
 thought by many to be too summary in 
 the threatened execution of the in- 
 surgents, and to exceed the authority 
 given by Congress in the act for the con- 
 fiscation of rebel property. The autho- 
 ritative declaration of the freedom of 
 the slave, while it was hailed by the in- 
 creasing class of emancipationists, was 
 pronounced by others an injudicious in- 
 
582 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 terfercnce with the institution, and par- 
 ticularly prejudicial to the Union cause 
 in the yet unsettled border States. The 
 President himself, whose sympathies 
 with a liberal policy of emancipation, 
 admitted of no question, and who had 
 shown himself friendly to the author of 
 the Proclamation, shared these opinions, 
 as appears by the private letter which 
 he almost immediately addressed to Gen- 
 eral Fremont. It was dated Washington, 
 September 2, and read thus : " My dear 
 Sir : Two points in your proclamation 
 of August 30 give me some anxiety. 
 First : Should you shoot a man, accord- 
 ing to the proclamation, the Confederates 
 would very certainly shoot our best men 
 in their hands in retaliation : and so, 
 man for man, indefinitely. It is, there- 
 fore, my order that you allow no man to 
 be shot, under the proclamation, without 
 first having my approbation or consent. 
 Second: I thiuk there is great danger 
 that the closing paragraph, in relation to 
 the confiscation of property, and the 
 liberating slaves of traitorous owners, 
 will alarm our Southern Union friends 
 and turn them against us perhaps ruin 
 our rather fair prospect for Kentucky. 
 Allow me, therefore, to ask that you 
 will, as of your own motion, modify that 
 paragraph so as to conform to thejfo'6^ 
 and fourth sections of the Act of Con- 
 gress entitled ' An Act to Confiscate 
 Property Used for Insurrectionary Pur- 
 poses,' approved August 6, 1861, and a 
 copy of which I herewith send you. 
 This letter is written in a spirit of cau- 
 tion, and not of censure. I send it by a 
 special messenger, in order that it may 
 certainly and speedily reach you. Yours, 
 very truly, A. LINCOLN." 
 
 To this direction, thus kindly and con- 
 siderately worded, General Fremont re- 
 
 plied on receipt of the comi umication at 
 St. Louis on the 8th. He had not, he 
 said, troubled the President with the de- 
 tails of affairs in his administration, 
 which were changing incessantly, but 
 had left it to time to show that he was 
 acting in consonance with his ideas. In 
 reference to the Proclamation, he said. 
 " Between the rebel armies, the Pro- 
 visional Government and home traitors, 
 I felt the position bad, and saw danger. 
 In the night I decided upon the procla- 
 mation and the form of it. I wrote it 
 the next morning, and printed it the 
 same day. I did it without consultation 
 or advice with any one, acting solely 
 with my best judgment to serve -the 
 country and yourself, and perfectly will- 
 ing to receive the amount of censure 
 which should be thought due if I made a 
 false movement. This is as much a 
 movement in the war as a battle, and in 
 going into these I shall have to act ac- 
 cording to my judgment of +he ground 
 before me, as I did on this accasion. If 
 upon reflection, your better judgment 
 still decides that I am wrong in the ar- 
 ticle respecting the liberation of slaves, 
 I shall have to ask that you will openly 
 direct me to make the correction. The 
 implied censure will be received as a 
 soldier always should, the reprimand of 
 his chief. If I were to retract of my 
 own accord it would imply that I myself 
 thought it wrong, and that I had acted 
 without the reflection which the gravity 
 of the point demanded. But I did not. 
 I acted with full deliberation, and upon 
 the certain conviction that it was a 
 measure right and necessary and I 
 think so still." 
 
 In regard to the treatment of the in- 
 surgents, he explained that it did not 
 refer to prisoners of war, but to men 
 
A MODIFICATION BY THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 583 
 
 rising in arms within the lines of the 
 army, that it was strictly according to 
 the usages of war, that the promptitude 
 was needed, and he hoped he might be 
 permitted to carry out the provision. 
 
 To this the President replied in the 
 following open letter or order : " Wash- 
 ington, D. 0., September 11, 1861, Major- 
 General John C. Fremont. Sir : Yours of 
 the 8th, in answer to mine of the 2d 
 instant, was just received. Assured that 
 you upon the ground could judge better 
 of the necessities of your position than I 
 could at this distance, on seeing } T our 
 proclamation of August 30, I perceived 
 no general objection to it ; the particular 
 clause, however, in relation to the con- 
 fiscation of property and the liberation 
 of slaves, appeared to me to be objec- 
 tionable in its non-conformity to the Act 
 of Congress, passed the 6th of August 
 last, upon the same subject, and hence I 
 wrote you expressing my wish that that 
 clause should be modified accordingly. 
 Your answer, just received, expresses 
 the preference on your part that I should 
 make an open order for the modification, 
 which I very cheerfully do. It is there- 
 fore ordered, that the said clause of said 
 proclamation be so modified, held and 
 construed as to conform with and not to 
 transcend the provisions on the same 
 subject, contained in the Act of Congress, 
 entitled ' Aa Act to Confiscate Property 
 used for Insurrectionary Purposes, ap- 
 proved August 6, 1861,' and that said act 
 be published at length with this order.* 
 Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN." 
 
 The following letter on this subject, 
 from the Hon. Joseph Holt to General 
 James Speed of Kentucky, accompanied 
 by the correspondence between Mr. Holt 
 
 * This important act has been given in a previous page 
 ia the chapter on the Extra Session of Congress. Ante, p. 494. 
 
 and President Lincoln, will further dis- 
 tinctly show the attitude of the Govern- 
 ment on this important question at this 
 time. " I hasten to place in your hands," 
 writes Mr. Holt to General Speed from 
 Wash 'ugton, Septcmberl2, 1861, "the en- 
 closed correspondence with the President 
 of the United States. The action which 
 he has taken was firm and decided, and 
 must prove satisfactory to the friends of 
 the Union in Kentucky. The act of 
 Congress alluded to was a necessity un- 
 der the circumstances, and was fully 
 justified by the usages of civilized war- 
 fare. The Government has the same 
 right to confiscate slaves engaged in dig- 
 ging trenches or mounting guns for the 
 rebels that it has to confiscate their arms 
 when captured during the progress of the 
 war ; but, having confiscated them, Con- 
 gress goes no further. Upon this law 
 the President stands firmly, and in doing 
 so, and in disavowing General Fremont's 
 proclamation, he gives another of the 
 ever-multiplying proofs that the war, 
 which is one for national existence, does 
 not seek to extinguish or interfere with 
 slavery as established in the States. If 
 this institution suffers detriment from the 
 events or issues of the rebellion, the blow 
 will come from those who, under the pre- 
 tence of defending it, are striking at the 
 life of a Government under whose Con- 
 stitution it has enjoyed complete shelter 
 and protection for three-quarters of a 
 century. The occupation of Columbus 
 by armed Tennesseeans, under the lead- 
 ership of Bishop Polk and Pillow, has 
 excited no surprise here where the un- 
 scrupulous character and ultimate aims 
 of the rebel chieftains are well under- 
 stood. So long as Kentucky maintained 
 that most illusory of all attitudes neu- 
 trality and carefully guarded an ex- 
 
584 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 tended and exposed position of the fron- 
 tier of the rebel government in a word, 
 so long as she subserved the purposes of 
 the conspirators, seeking the overthrow 
 Df the Eepublic, and gave reason to hope 
 that she would finally unite her fortunes 
 with them, she was graciously let alone ; 
 so soon, however, as she declared her 
 loyalty to a Government to which she is 
 indebted for all her prosperity, and to 
 which she is united by the most solemn 
 ties of duty, of affection, and of interest, 
 her soil is ruthlessly invaded, and, under 
 the promptings and guidance of traitors 
 in her own bosom, her vote at the polls 
 is now to be reversed by the bayonets 
 of Tennesseeans, and the proud old Com- 
 monwealth reduced to the condition of a 
 conquered province of that political pan- 
 demonium called the Southern Confed- 
 eracy. Those who have read the history 
 and know the spirit of her people, can 
 have no fears as to the result of this 
 audacious assault upon her honor and in- 
 dependence. The Government here will 
 give all possible support to the State at 
 the earliest moment practicable." 
 
 The letter of Mr. Holt to the President 
 of the same date read as follows : " Dear 
 Sir, The late act of Congress, providing 
 for the confiscation of the estates of per- 
 sons in open rebellion against the Govern- 
 ment was, as a necessary war measure, 
 accepted and fully approved by the loyal 
 men of the country. It limited the pen- 
 alty of confiscation to property actually 
 employed in the service of the rebellion 
 with the knowledge and consent of its 
 owners, and, instead of emancipating 
 slaves thus employed, left their status to 
 be determined either by the Courts of 
 the United States or by subsequent legis- 
 lation. The proclamation, however, of 
 General Fremont under date of the 30th 
 
 of August, transcends, and, of course 
 violates the law in both these particu- 
 lars, and declares that the property of 
 rebels, whether used in support of the 
 rebellion or not, shall be confiscated, and 
 if consisting in slaves, that they shall be 
 at once manumitted. The act of Con- 
 gress referred to was believed to em- 
 body the conservative policy of your 
 Administration upon this delicate and 
 perplexing question, and hence the loyal 
 men of the Border Slave States have felt 
 relieved of all fears of any attempt on 
 the part of the Government of the United 
 States to liberate suddenly in e our midst 
 a population unprepared for freedom, 
 and whose presence could not fail to 
 prove a painful apprehension, if not a 
 terror, to the homes and families of all. 
 You may, therefore, well judge of the 
 alarm and condemnation with which the 
 Union-loving citizens of Kentucky the 
 State with whose popular sentiment I am 
 best acquainted -have read this procla- 
 mation. The hope is earnestly indulged 
 by them, as it is by myself, that this 
 paper was issued under the pressure of 
 military necessity which General Fre- 
 mont believed justified the step, and that 
 in the particulars specified, it has not yet 
 your approbation, and will not be en : 
 forced in derogation of law. The magni- 
 tude of the interest at stake, and my ex- 
 treme desire that by no misapprehension 
 of your sentiments or purposes shall the 
 power and fervor of the loyalty of Ken- 
 tucky be at this moment abated or chill- 
 ed, must be my apology for the frank- 
 ness with which I have addressed you, 
 and for the request I venture to make of 
 an expression of your views upon the 
 points of General Fremont's proclama- 
 tion on which I have commented. I 
 have the honor to be, very respectfully. 
 
DEEDS OP MANUMISSION. 
 
 585 
 
 your obedient servant, J. HOLT." To 
 this the President replied the same day : 
 " Hon. Joseph Holt, Dear Sir : Yours 
 of this day in relation to the late pro- 
 clamation of General Fremont, is re- 
 ceived. Yesterday I addressed a letter 
 to him, by mail, on the same subject, 
 and which is to be made public when he 
 receives it. I herewith send you a copy 
 of that letter, which perhaps shows my 
 position as distinctly as any new one I 
 could write. I will thank you not to 
 make it public until General Fremont 
 shall have had time to receive the orig- 
 inal. Your obedient servant, A. LIN- 
 COLN." 
 
 Previously to the receipt of the Pres- 
 ident's modification of his proclamation, 
 General Fremont executed two deeds of 
 manumission of slaves of an owner who 
 had been reported by a military com- 
 mission, sitting at St. Louis, as having 
 " taken active part with the enemies of 
 the United States in the present insur- 
 rectionary movement against its Gov- 
 ernment. The deeds were in the follow- 
 ing terms : " Whereas, Thomas L. Snead, 
 of the city and county of St. Louis, State 
 of Missouri, has been taking an active 
 part with the enemies of the United 
 States, in the present insurrectionary 
 movement against the Government of 
 the United States ; now, therefore, I 
 John Charles Fremont, Major-General 
 Commanding the Western Department 
 of the Army of the United States, by 
 authority of law and the power vested in 
 me, as such Commanding General, de- 
 clare Hiram Reed, heretofore held to 
 service or labor by Thomas L. Snead, to 
 be free, and forever discharged from the 
 bonds of servitude, giving him full right 
 and authority to have, use and control 
 his own labor or service, as to him may 
 74 
 
 seem proper, without any accountability 
 whatever to said Thomas L. Snead, or to 
 any one to claim by, through, or under 
 him. And this deed of manumission 
 shall be respected and treated by all 
 persons, and in all courts of justice, as 
 the full and complete evidence of the 
 freedom of said Hiram Reed. In testi- 
 mony whereof, this act is done at head- 
 quarters of the Western Department of 
 the Army of the United States, in the 
 City of St. Louis, State of Missouri, on 
 this 12th day of September, A. D. 1861, 
 as is evidenced by the Departmental 
 seal hereto affixed by my order, J. C. 
 FREMONT, Major-General Commanding. 
 Done at the office of the Provost-mar- 
 shal, in the City of St. Louis, this 12th 
 day of September, A. D. 1861, at 9 o'clock 
 in the evening of said day. Witness my 
 hand and seal of office hereto affixed, 
 J. McKiNSTRY, Brigadier-General and 
 Provost-Marshal." 
 
 The rebel General M. Jeff. Thompson, 
 in the south-western portion of the State, 
 issued a violent proclamation on occasion 
 of General Fremont's declaration of mar- 
 tial law. As an indication of the char- 
 acter of the conflict going on in Missouri, 
 nothing could be more significant than 
 its taste and temper. It ran thus : 
 "Headquarters First Military District, M. 
 S. G., Camp Hunter, September 2, 1861. 
 To all whom it may Concern : Whereas. 
 Major-General John C. Fremont, com- 
 manding the minions of Abraham Lincoln 
 in the State of Missouri, has seen fit to 
 declare martial law throughout the whole 
 State, and has threatened to shoot any 
 citizen soldier found in arms within cer- 
 tain limits, also to confiscate the property 
 and free the negroes belonging to the 
 members of the Missouri State Guard, 
 therefore know ye that I, M. Jeff. 
 
586 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Thompson, Brigadier -General of the 
 First Military District of Missouri, hav- 
 ing not only the military authority of 
 Brigadier-General, but certain police 
 powers, granted by Acting Governor Tho- 
 mas C. Reynolds, and confirmed afterward 
 by Governor Jackson, do most solemnly 
 promise that for every member of the 
 Missouri State Guard or soldier of our 
 allies, the armies of the Confederate 
 States, who shall be put to death in 
 pursuance of the said order of General 
 Fremont, I will hang, draw and quarter 
 a minion of said Abraham Lincoln. 
 While I am anxious that this unfortunate 
 war shall be conducted, if possible, upon 
 the most liberal principles of civilized 
 warfare and every order I have issued 
 has been with that object yet if this 
 rule is to be adopted (and it must first 
 be done by our enemies), I intend to ex- 
 ceed General Fremont in his excesses, 
 and will make all tories that come within 
 my reach rue the day that a different 
 policy was adopted by their leaders. 
 Already mills, barns, warehouses, and 
 other private property have been waste- 
 fully and wantonly destroyed by the en- 
 emy in this district, while we have 
 taken nothing except articles strictly 
 contraband or absolutely necessary. 
 Should these things be repeated, I will 
 retaliate ten-fold, so help me God !" 
 
 It was the design of General Fremont 
 to give the utmost military efficiency to 
 his army, and to further this purpose, and 
 at the same time correct a prominent evil 
 of the day in the appointment of inex- 
 perienced officers to important commands, 
 he hit upon a judicious plan of perfecting 
 one regiment as a school of instruction, 
 to be placed under the command of Col- 
 onel Marshall, an officer of large experi- 
 ence in the United States army, and 
 
 Lieutenant Cassily, also a gentleman of 
 excellent qualifications as a commander. 
 To this, applicants for officers' positions 
 were referred in a circular from head- 
 quarters. " Expecting that this regiment," 
 was its language, "will be used for the 
 highest class of service, wherein distinc- 
 tion can be won by those only who pos- 
 sess the requisite merit, it is thought that 
 it will afford rare opportunities for gen- 
 tlemen who, like yourself, desire early 
 advancement in the service. The eye 
 of the Commanding General will be upon 
 you, and your conduct will not escape 
 his close observation. He designs to 
 make the regiment, in his army, what 
 Napoleon the Elder made the Old Guard 
 in the French army, at once his corps de 
 reserve and the source whence can be 
 drawn the officers who will lead his 
 troops to victory. He therefore invites 
 3 r ou to join this regiment, that you may 
 have an opportunity to serve your coun- 
 try and secure such promotion as your 
 merits will warrant." 
 
 It was, as we have seen, the design of 
 General Fremont from the beginning to 
 organize a great expedition to proceed 
 down the Mississippi. For this purpose 
 a fleet of gunboats was in preparation on 
 the river, arid the fortifications at St. 
 Louis were undertaken that the city 
 might be held by a small force when the 
 armv should be set in motion. . It was 
 
 / 
 
 not the policy of the enemy, however, 
 to suffer this intention to be carried out 
 without interruption. They were con- 
 stantly making efforts for diverting any 
 forces which might be raised, to the de- 
 fence of the State itself. The line of the 
 Mississippi they evidently thought was 
 to be defended by counter attacks in the 
 interior. They were constantly, there- 
 fore, invading Missouri from Arkansas, 
 
PLAN OF FREMONT'S CAMPAIGN. 
 
 587 
 
 sending; forward Pillow, Hardee, and 
 Jeff. Thompson on the south-east, and 
 Ben McCulloch and Price from the south- 
 west to the centre. The latter proved 
 far the most annoying and difficult to 
 cope with in the field. Their knowledge 
 of the country and its inhabitants gave 
 them the command of a large though ir- 
 regular force, which appeared ever on 
 the point of separating, and yet, when 
 occasioL required, was always on the ad- 
 vance. No one understood better than 
 these leaders the arts of desultory war- 
 fare, knew better how to watch an op- 
 portunity, or relieve themselves of disas- 
 ter by a successful retreat. 
 
 It was very evident, after the prowess 
 they had shown at Carthage, Wilson's 
 Creek, and their inarch to the Missouri 
 and conquest of Lexington, that the 
 State, often as its pacification had been 
 proclaimed, could not be considered in 
 safety while this adventurous horde was 
 in the field. Desirable as it might be 
 for the progress of the campaign for 
 our military leaders to turn their thoughts 
 in other directions, they could accomplish 
 nothing while this force was in their rear. 
 To catch and overcome Price and his 
 marauding forces, therefore, became, if 
 not the most glorious, certainly one of 
 the most necessary undertakings of the 
 war. To this end Fremont now directed 
 the whole force at his command. An in- 
 dication of his intentions, which were, of 
 course, subject to modification by the 
 circumstances of the march, may be gath- 
 ered from the speculations of a mem- 
 ber of his staff, Mr. William Dorsheimer, 
 who has published a most interesting 
 account of the brief and interrupted cam- 
 paign. " The gunboats," he writes, when 
 the expedition of which we shall present- 
 ly give an account was fairly in motion, 
 
 early in October, " cannot be finished for 
 two months or more, and we cannot go 
 down the Mississippi until the flotilla is 
 ready ; and from the character of the 
 country upon each side of the river, it 
 will be difficult to operate there with o 
 large body of men. In south-western 
 Missouri we are sure of fine weather till 
 the last of November. The prairies are 
 high and dry, and there are no natural 
 obstacles except such as it will excite the 
 enthusiasm of the troops to overcome 
 Therefore the General has determined to 
 pursue Price until he catches him. He 
 can march faster than we can now, but 
 we shall soon be able to move faster than 
 it is possible for him to do. The rebels 
 have no base of operations from which to 
 draw supplies ; they depend entirely 
 upon foraging ; and for this reason Price 
 has to make long halts wherever he finds 
 mills, and grind the flour. He is so de- 
 ficient in equipage, also, that it will be 
 impossible for him to carry his troops 
 over great distances. But we can safely 
 calculate that Price and Rains will not 
 leave the State ; their followers are en- 
 listed for six months, and are already 
 becoming discontented at their continued 
 retreat, and will not go with them be- 
 yond the borders. This is the uniform 
 testimony of deserters and scouts. Price 
 disposed of, either by a defeat or the dis- 
 persal of his army, we are to proceed to 
 Bird's Point or into Arkansas, according 
 to circumstances. A blow at Little Rock 
 seems now the wisest, as it is the boldest 
 plan. We can reach that place by the 
 middle of November ; and if we obtain 
 possession of it, the position of the enemy 
 upon the Mississippi will be completely 
 turned. The communication of Pillow, 
 Hardee and Thompson, who draw their 
 supplies from Arkansas^ will be cut off ; 
 
588 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 they will be compelled to retreat, and 
 our flotilla and the reinforcements can 
 descend the river to assist in the opera- 
 tions against Memphis and the attack 
 upon New Orleans. This campaign may 
 be difficult, the army will have to en- 
 counter hardships and perils, but unless 
 defeated in the field, the enterprise will 
 be successful. No hardships or perils 
 can daunt the spirit of the General, or 
 arrest the march of the enthusiastic army 
 his genius has created." 
 
 This army, at the head of which Gen- 
 eral Fremont took the field, was com- 
 posed of five divisions, respectively com- 
 manded by Generals Hunter, Pope, Sigel, 
 Asbolh and McKinstry, the entire force 
 numbering, by a careful estimate, nearly 
 thirty-nine thousand. The men were, 
 of course, newly recruited, but they were 
 drawn from the hardy population of the 
 north-west, and many of them were na- 
 tives of Germany, with more or less ex- 
 perience of military training abroad. 
 Their efficiency, however, for an active 
 campaign was greatly impaired in some 
 important instances by a want of proper 
 arms and equipments, and a general de- 
 ficiency of the means of transportation. 
 But these were difficulties which it was 
 impossible on the instant to surmount. 
 Indeed the General, in providing such 
 arms as the men were furnished with, 
 had not only exhausted every mode of 
 regular procedure in his calls upon the 
 Government and the surrounding States, 
 but he had exposed himself to censure 
 by authorizing contracts on his own re- 
 sponsibility with dealers at the East. If 
 a portion of the cavalry were without 
 sabres, as was alleged by the critics of 
 the campaign, it was certainly a serious 
 defect, but it had to be borne with for 
 the time ; and though the muskets might 
 
 not be the best, they were the test 
 which could be procured. As for trans- 
 portation, the season was favorable for 
 movement, and where other supplies fail- 
 ed, the agricultural population among 
 whom the army was passing must br 
 looked to for aid. The several divi- 
 sions of the army were to move from 
 their positions on the line of the Missouri 
 and its vicinity and pursue a southerly 
 route toward Springfield. By the middk 
 of October General Fremont and his staff, 
 with three companies of the famous body 
 guard of which so much has been said, 
 and the divisions of Sigel and Asboth, 
 were at Warsaw, on the Osage, a river 
 which, running parallel with the Missou- 
 ri, divides the central from the southern 
 portion of the State on its western side. 
 There was a delay here of a few days, 
 which were actively employed by the 
 skillful soldiers in building a bridge, not 
 merely to secure a rapid passage for the 
 army, which was imperfectly supplied by 
 a ford and ferry, but to provide a safe 
 means of retreat in case of necessity. 
 The reader may form an idea of the en- 
 ergy demanded for this work, in the 
 absence of the usual facilities, by the 
 description of the scene and the labori- 
 ous activity of the men, in the narrative 
 of Mr. Dorsheimer. "The river here," 
 he says, under date of October 17th, " is 
 broad and rapid, and its banks are im- 
 mense bare cliffs, rising one hundred feet 
 perpendicularly from the water's edge. 
 The ford is crooked, uncertain, and never 
 practicable except for horsemen. The 
 ferry is an old flat-boat drawn across by 
 a rope, and the ascent up the fartLer 
 bank is steep and rocky. It will not an- 
 swer to leave in our rear this river, 
 liable to be changed by a night's rain 
 into a fierce torrent, with no other means 
 
FREMONT'S BODY-GUARD. 
 
 589 
 
 of crossing it than the ricketty ferry. A 
 
 bridge must at oiice be built, strong and 
 
 firm, a safe road for the army in case of 
 
 disaster. So decides the General. And 
 
 as we look upon the swift-running river 
 
 and its rocky shores cold and gloom}' 
 
 in the twilight every one agrees that 
 
 the General is right. His decision has 
 
 since been strongly supported, for to-da} 
 
 two soldiers of the Fremont Huzzars 
 
 were drowned in trying to cross the ford, 
 
 and the water is now rising rapidly. . . . 
 
 Bridge building is now the sole purpose 
 
 of the army. There is no saw-mill here, 
 
 nor any lumber. The forest must be cut 
 
 down and fashioned into a bridge as well 
 
 as the tools and the skill at command 
 
 will permit. Details are already told 
 
 off from the sharpshooters, the cadets, 
 
 and even the body-guard, and the banks 
 
 of the river now resound with the quick 
 
 blows of their axes. # .fob. October 2lst. 
 
 Four days we have been waiting for the 
 
 building of the bridge. By night and 
 
 by day the work goes on, and now the 
 
 long block shape is striding slowly across 
 
 the stream. In a few hours it will have 
 
 gained the opposite bank, and then, ho ! 
 
 for Springfield !" 
 
 Springfield was reached by the ad- 
 vanced divisions on the 28th. The dash- 
 ing adventure of Major Zagonyi and his 
 squadron of cavalry, which led the way 
 to its capture, is one of the most brilliant 
 exploits of the war. This officer already 
 onjoyed considerable military distinction. 
 An Hungarian by birth, he had fought 
 on the side of his country under General 
 Bern, and been taken prisoner by the 
 Austrians while leading a desperate 
 charge of horse against a superior force 
 of artillery. After two years of cap- 
 tivity he was released to become an exile 
 in America. When Fremont was placed 
 
 in command he was naturally attracted 
 to share his fortunes. He presented 
 himself at St. Louis, and was charged 
 with the duty of recruiting a company of 
 cavalry to act as the General's Body 
 Guard. There was no lack of zeal or 
 readiness in the enlistments. Two com- 
 panies, picked youths of the West, with 
 a sprinkling of German naturalized cit- 
 izens, were immediately enrolled, and a 
 third was speedily added, composed al- 
 most entirely of Kentuckians. They 
 were clad in a uniform of blue jackets, 
 trousers and caps, were well equipped 
 with an extra armament of revolvers, and 
 admirably mounted on blooded bays. 
 Their means of destruction, recited by a 
 St. Louis journalist, indeed, were truly 
 formidable. Each man had with him 
 two of Colt's six-barrel navy revolvers, 
 one five-barrel rifle and a sabre. But 
 little time was afforded them for instruc- 
 tion, but their youth, fine physique and 
 aptitude for war made them ready stu- 
 dents, and they were soon proficients in 
 the drill and exercises fitting them for 
 active service. Some prejudice was ex- 
 cited against the Guard on account of 
 its alleged foreign element, but this, be- 
 side being an unworthy sentiment, where 
 the army was so literally recruited from 
 persons of European birth, was unfair as 
 a matter of fact. There were, compara- 
 tively, few foreigners in the Guard, and 
 its officers were all Americans except 
 three one Hollander and two Hun- 
 garians its founder, Zagonyi, and Lieu- 
 tenant Maythenyi, who came to the 
 United States in his boyhood. 
 
 The valor of this band, thus consti- 
 tuted, was now to be put to the test. 
 While General Fremont was yet distant 
 Eifty-one miles from Springfield, he sent 
 forward a detachment of the Guard im- 
 
59' 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 der Zagonyi, about a hundred and sixty, 
 to cooperate with Major White's bat- 
 talion of Prairie Scouts, who were to join 
 them on the way in an attack upon the 
 town. It was supposed that the place 
 was held by a small force, some three 
 hundred, and that its capture would be 
 easy. Zagonyi set out at half-past eight 
 on the evening of the 24th October, rode 
 all night, overtook White in the morning, 
 and added his company to his force, 
 bringing the whole number of his com- 
 mand to three hundred. White himself, 
 on account of illness, was compelled to 
 lag behind for rest, and, attended by a 
 small guard, follow after in his carriage, 
 with the intention of joining his comrades 
 before their arrival at Springfield. 
 
 Zagonyi meanwhile sped onward to 
 the town. As he approached it on the 
 direct road from the North, he fell in, 
 some eight miles off, with a foraging 
 party, five of whom he captured, .while a 
 sixth escaped to carry the news of his 
 coming. Zagonyi was now informed by 
 a Union farmer that powerful reinforce- 
 ments had reached the town, and that it 
 was guarded by some two thousand de- 
 fenders. To dash on under these cir- 
 cumstances, without even the hope of 
 surprise, argued a degree of bravery 
 bordering on temerity. But Zagonyi was 
 not to be disappointed of his game ; he 
 would take the chances of a sudden on- 
 set, with the expectation of attacking the 
 camp with better advantage in the rear. 
 Accordingly, when about five miles from 
 Springfield, he turned off to the West to 
 make his approach by the Mount Yer- 
 non road* Here, too, at the end of his 
 round-about march of twelve miles, he 
 found the foe drawn up outside of the 
 town to receive him. 
 
 The position which they had chosen 
 
 for their camp was a hill side, sloping 
 down on the east to a brook. The rear 
 was protected by a thick wood ; in front 
 the ground was open, extending in width 
 some three hundred yards, between a 
 broad road on the north, and a narrow 
 lane on the south. The wood was skirt- 
 ed with infantry, twelve hundred in 
 number, and a body of horse four hun- 
 dred strong, were stationed in advance 
 on the left, supported by a grove. The 
 woods and fences on the line of approach 
 were manned with sharp-shooters. The 
 whole number of active combatants of 
 the enemy on the ground, and its imme- 
 diate vicinity, a concentration of their 
 entire force in the town, was estimated 
 at twenty-two hundred. Such was the 
 position to be stormed, and the odds to 
 be encountered by a small band of about 
 one hundred and fifty men, for the 
 Prairie Scouts did not take part in the 
 main assault. Their commander, Major 
 White, was in fact a prisoner in the 
 enemy's hands, having ridden into their 
 lines in his attempt to join Zagonyi, of 
 whose change of route he was ignorant. 
 There was great exultation over his cap- 
 ture, and the leader of the party would 
 have sacrificed him in expiation of his 
 brother's death, had not a young officer, 
 Captain Wiston, interfered and saved his 
 life. 
 
 The Guard now suddenly, about four 
 o'clock in the afternoon, came upon the 
 formidable parallelogram, in which the 
 foe had every advantage of defence. 
 Zagonyi, at the head of his men, with the 
 simple order to follow his movements, 
 led the way through the narrow lane 
 across the brook to the foot of the hill 
 a most perilous passage of two hundred 
 and fifty yards, clogged with the wound- 
 ed and the dying, men and horses falling 
 
arrs CHARGE. 
 
 591 
 
 under the fire of the sharp-shooters from 
 the forests and the heights. There was 
 inevitable confusion in this hurried pas- 
 sage. The Prairie Scouts under Captain 
 Fairbanks, had hardly entered it when, 
 an order unauthorized by Zagonyi was 
 given, bidding them to take the lane be- 
 hind the wood. So they turned off from 
 the fiery pathway, to render such ser- 
 vice as fell in their way in the rear 
 and flank. Captain Naughton, of Major 
 White's Squadron, coming on after, led 
 his Irish Dragoons, fifty in number, into 
 the hottest of the fight, with heavy loss. 
 He was shot in the shoulder and dis- 
 mounted. Lieutenant Connolly was mor- 
 tally wounded. The remnant then re- 
 tired with the exception of five, who suc- 
 ceeded in joining Zagonyi. 
 
 There was much confusion in the utter 
 impossibility, under the circumstances, 
 of conveying prompt directions to the 
 officers in a brave but disastrous attempt 
 o c Captain Foley, of the Guard, to make 
 a dank attack at the edge of the wood. 
 Some of his men dismounted and re- 
 moved a portion of the fence under 
 heavy fire, several of them falling, when 
 the company was called off to plunge 
 through the carnage to the end of the 
 lane, where Zagonyi was rallying his 
 little band for one steady, impetuous 
 charge. Dividing his force into two 
 parts, one under Maythenyi was direct- 
 ed against the cavalry on the right, 
 which broke and fled under the furious 
 assault, when he himself leading the 
 other, charged upon the slope of the hill 
 upon the line of infantry. That, too, 
 was instantly dispersed. The fugitive 
 cavalry was pursued with fearful slaught- 
 er, and the Guard, with wild energy, 
 rode onward into the town, and, in re- 
 peated charges, scoured the streets of the 
 
 rebel soldiery. Zagonyi then raised the 
 United States flag on the Court House, 
 and rallied his scattered force, of which 
 but seventy then answered to his call. 
 In their exhausted condition they thought 
 it unsafe to attempt to hold the place, 
 and retired for the night to a position on 
 the Northern road near Bolivar, whither 
 he was followed by Captain Fairbanks' 
 squadron of Prairie Scouts. He left in 
 the town a guard of twenty dismounted 
 men and a corporal. 
 
 The eloquent narrative of Mr. Dors- 
 heimer, already cited, supplies several 
 animated personal incidents of this me- 
 morable encounter. We take up his 
 description towards the close, where 
 Zagonyi makes his final charge upon the 
 enemy on the hill side: "Up to this 
 time no Guardsman has struck a blow, 
 but blue coats and bay horses lie thick 
 along the bloody lane. Their time has 
 come. Lieutenant Maythenyi, with thirty 
 men, is ordered to attack the cavalry. 
 With sabres flashing over their heads, 
 the little band of heroes spring towards 
 their tremendous foe. Right upon the 
 centre they charge. The dense mass 
 opens, the blue coats force their way in, 
 and the whole rebel squadron scatter in 
 disgraceful flight through the corn-fields 
 in the rear. The bays follow them, 
 sabring the fugitives. Days after the 
 enemy's horses lay thick among the un- 
 cut corn. Zagonyi holds his main body 
 until Maythenyi disappears in the cloud 
 of rebel cavaliy ; then his voice rises 
 through the air, 'In open order, 
 charge !' The line opens out to give 
 play to their sword-arm. Steeds respond 
 to the ardor of their riders, and, quick as 
 thought, with thrilling cheers, the noble 
 hearts rush into the leaden torrent which 
 pours down the incline. With unabated 
 
592 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNIOX. 
 
 fire the gallant fellows press through. 
 Their fierce onset is not even checked. 
 The foe do no; wait for them they 
 waver, break and fly. The Guardsmen 
 spur into the midst of the rout, and their 
 fast-falling swords work a terrible re- 
 venge. Some of the boldest of the South- 
 rons retreat into the woods, and con- 
 tinue a murderous fire from behind trees 
 and thickets. Seven Guard horses fall 
 upon a space not more than twenty feet 
 square. As his steed sinks under him, 
 one of the officers is caught around the 
 shoulders by a grape-vine, and hangs 
 dangling in the air until he is cut down 
 by his friends. The rebel foot are flying 
 in furious haste from the field. Some 
 take refuge in the fair-ground, some 
 hurry into the corn-field, but the greater 
 part run along the edge of the wood, 
 swarm over the fence into the road, and 
 hasten to the village. The Guardsmen 
 follow. Zagonyi leads them. Over the 
 loudest roar of battle rings his clarion 
 voice ' Come on, Old Kentuck ! I'm 
 with you !' And the flash of his sword- 
 blade tells his men where to go. As he 
 approaches a barn, a man steps from be- 
 hind the door, and lowers his rifle ; but 
 before it has reached the level, Zagonyi's 
 sabre-point descends into his head, and 
 his life-blood leaps to the very top of the 
 huge barn-door. 
 
 "The conflict now rages through the 
 village in the public square, and along 
 the streets. Up and down the Guards 
 ride in squads of three or four, and 
 wherever they see a group of the enemy 
 charge upon and scatter them. .It is 
 hand to hand. No one but has a share 
 in the fray. There was at least one 
 soldier in the Southern ranks. A young 
 officer, superbly mounted, charges alone 
 upon a large body of the Guard. He 
 
 passes through the line unscathed, killing 
 one man. He wheels, charges back, and 
 again breaks through, killing another 
 man. A third time he rushes upon the 
 Federal line, a score of sabre-points con- 
 front him, but he pushes on till be 
 reaches Zagonyi he presses his pistol 
 so close to the Major's side, that he feels 
 it, and draws convulsively back, the 
 bullet passes through the front of Za- 
 goityi's coat, who at the instant runs the 
 daring rebel through the body, he falls, 
 and the men thinking their commander 
 hurt, kills him with a half-a-dozen 
 wounds. ' He was a brave man,' said 
 Zagonyi afterwards, ' and I did wish to 
 make him prisoner. 7 
 
 " Meanwhile it has grown dark. The 
 foe have left the village, and the battle 
 has ceased. The assembly is sounded, 
 and the Guard gathers in the Plaza. 
 Not more than eighty mounted men ap- 
 pear : the rest are killed, wounded or 
 unhorsed. At this time one of the most 
 characteristic incidents of the affair took 
 place. Just before the charge, Zagonyi 
 directed one of his buglers, a French- 
 man, to sound a signal. The bugler did 
 not seem to pay any attention to the or- 
 der, but darted off with Lieutenant May- 
 thenyi. A few moments afterwards he 
 was observed in another part of the field 
 vigorously pursuing the flying infantry. 
 His active form was always seen in the 
 thickest of the fight. When the line was 
 formed in the Plaza, Zagonyi noticed 
 the bugler, and approaching him, said, 
 ' In the midst of the battle you disobey- 
 ed my order. You are unworthy to be 
 a member of the Guard. I dismiss you.' 
 The bugler showed his bugle to his in- 
 dignant commander the mouth-piece of 
 the instrument was shot away. He said, 
 4 The mouth was shoot off. I could not 
 
MAJOR WHITE'S ESCAPE. 
 
 593 
 
 bugle viz mon bugle, and so I bugle viz 
 mon pistol and sabre.' It is unnecessary 
 to add, the brave Frenchman was not 
 dismissed. 
 
 " I must not forget to mention Sergeant 
 Hunter, of the Kentucky company. His 
 soldierly figure never failed to attract 
 the eye in the ranks of the Guard. He 
 had served in the regular cavalry, and 
 the Body-Guard had profited greatly 
 from his skill as a drill-master. He lost 
 three horses in the fight. As soon as 
 one was killed, he caught another from 
 the rebels ; the third horse taken by him 
 in this way he rode into St. Louis. The 
 Sergeant slew five men. ' I won't speak 
 of those I shot,' said he, ' another may 
 have hit them ; but those I touched with 
 my sabre I am sure of, because I felt 
 them.' At the beginning of the charge 
 he came to the extreme right, and took 
 position next to Zagonyi, whom he fol- 
 lowed closely through the battle. The 
 Major seeing him, said, ' Why are you 
 here, Sergeant Hunter ? Your place is 
 with your company on the left.' ' I kind 
 o' wanted to be in the front,' was the 
 answer. ' What could i say to such a 
 man ?' exclaimed Zagonyi, speaking of 
 the matter afterwards. There was hard- 
 ly a horse or rider among the survivors 
 that did not bring away some mark of 
 the fray. I saw one animal with no less 
 than seven wounds none of them 
 serious. Scabbards were bent, clothes 
 and caps pierced, pistols injured. I saw 
 one pistol from which the sight had been 
 cut as neatly as it could have been done 
 by machinery. A piece of board, a few 
 inches long, was cut from a fence in the 
 field, in which there were thirty-one 
 shot-holes." 
 
 Major White, meanwhile, had been 
 carefully guarded by the enemy. During 
 75 
 
 the engagement he had been placed on 
 the hill-side, exposed in the front rank 
 to the fire of -his friends, and his horse 
 was shot under him. He was all the 
 time in charge of his preserver, Captain 
 Wroton, who, when the flight occurred, 
 conducted him to a farm-house ten miles 
 distant. The host fortunately happening 
 to be a Union man, was induced to assist 
 in a plan of escape. He sent his son for 
 aid, and when Wroton and his squad of 
 guards were asleep, a friendly party of 
 Unionists of the county came in and cap- 
 tured the whole, carrying them off in tri- 
 umph to Springfield. Major White thus 
 found himself in command of the town at 
 the head of a garrison of twenty-four 
 men ; the enemy, too much intimidated 
 to re-enter, had left the corporal's guard 
 in quiet possession during the night. 
 Shrewdly availing himself of the rebel 
 panic, he stationed twenty-two of his 
 paltry force as pickets, and in this im- 
 posing attitude received a flag of truce 
 from the rebels asking permission to bury 
 their dead. To this he ceremoniously 
 replied that he must consult General 
 Sigel, thus inducing the belief of the pre- 
 sence of that officer in the neighborhood, 
 while he was, in reality, forty miles 
 away. In a conveniently short time, a 
 written communication, purporting to 
 come from General Sigel, was forwarded 
 granting the request, and a detachment 
 of the pickets were stationed to preside 
 over the necessary arrangements. 
 
 The loss of the Guard, as reported by 
 Zagonyi, was fifteen killed, twenty-seven 
 wounded, and ten missing about one- 
 third of his command in the action. The 
 Prairie Scouts lost thirty-one out of a 
 hundred and thirty. The loss cf the en- 
 emy in killed was estimated, from the 
 statements of citizens, scouts, and pris- 
 
594 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 oners, at cne hundred and six. The 
 number of wounded could not be ascer- 
 tained. Twenty-seven prisoners were 
 taken, about four thousand dollars in 
 gold, and about sixty stand of arms. 
 Zagonyi's report of this affair to General 
 Fremont, dated "Five miles South of 
 Bolivar, Mo., October 26th 1 A.M.," 
 was in these words : "I report, respect- 
 fully, that yesterday afternoon at 4 
 o'clock, I met in Springfield from 2,000 
 to 2,200 r of the rebels in their camp, 
 formed in line of battle. They gave me 
 a very warm reception warmer than I 
 expected. But your Guard, with one 
 feeling, made a charge, and in less than 
 three minutes the 2,000 or 2,200 rebels 
 were routed by 150 men of the Body- 
 Guard. We cleared out the city per- 
 fectly from every rebel, and raised the 
 Union flag on the Court-House. It get- 
 ting too dark, I concluded to leave the 
 city, not being able to keep it with 150 
 men. Major White's men did not parti- 
 cipate in the charge. Allow me, Gen- 
 eral, to make you acquainted with the 
 behavior of the soldiers and officers. I 
 have seen charges ; but such brilliant 
 unanimity and bravery I have never 
 seen, and did not expect it. Their war- 
 cry, ' Fremont and the Union,' broke 
 forth like thunder." 
 
 The closing days of General Fremont's 
 administration were also cheered by a 
 victory hardly less brilliant, and decid- 
 edly more important, in the south-east- 
 ern region of the State. There, in the 
 immediate neighborhood of Frederick- 
 town, the capital of Madison county, in 
 the heart of the rich mining district, on 
 the 21st of October, the forces pf the 
 rebels, some thirty-five hundred in num- 
 ber, led by General Jeff. Thompson, were 
 met by a body of four thousand of the na- | 
 
 tional troops, and defeated with great loss. 
 The Union force was made up from two 
 separate columns one from the direction 
 of St. Louis under Colonel Carlin, com- 
 prising parts of three Illinois regiments, a 
 Wisconsin regiment, Colonel Baker's In- 
 diana cavalry, and Major Scofield's bat- 
 tery ; the other from Cape Girardeau, 
 under Colonel Plummer, consisting of 
 two Illinois and one Missouri regiments, 
 a section of a battery, and two compa- 
 nies of cavalry. Both divisions entered 
 Fredericktown in the forenoon, when 
 Colonel Plummer, taking command of the 
 joint force, immediately proceeded in pur- 
 suit of the enemy, who had left the place 
 the day before. Their position was pre- 
 sently discovered about a mile from the 
 town on the Greenville road. Colonel 
 Plummer brought his troops into action 
 at once, and after a sharp contest of two 
 hours and a half, the enemy were defeat- 
 ed with heavy loss. Colonel Lowe, one 
 of their officers, fell in the early part of 
 the battle. His death was counterbal- 
 anced by the loss of Major Gavitt and 
 Captain Highman of the Indiana cavalry, 
 who were killed* in a gallant charge on a 
 rebel battery. One hundred and fifty- 
 eight of the enemy's dead were buried, 
 Captain Plummer tells us in his report 
 on the field, before his departure, and 
 other bodies were found. Eighty pris- 
 oners of the rebels were taken, of whom 
 thirty-eight were wounded. The Union 
 loss was six killed and sixty wounded. 
 One iron 12-pounder field-piece was 
 taken v from the enemy. 
 
 A correspondent of the St. Lorn* 
 Democrat, an eye-witness of the scene, 
 gives an account of the rebel killed and 
 wounded on the battle-ground, a piteous 
 illustration of the irregular forces hurried 
 to the field by the insurgents. " One- 
 
BATTLE AT FREDERICKTOWN, MO. 
 
 595 
 
 third were boys from fifteen to eighteen 
 years old mere striplings with the 
 down on their faces, who could not have 
 been disciplined, and who could have 
 had no adequate idea of military duty or 
 the horrors of a battle. One of these, 
 who had been shot through the thigh, 
 and was suffering intensely, cried like a 
 child, as he was, and most piteously be- 
 wailed his unfortunate condition. Then 
 their guns. They no doubt had some 
 good muskets, but of the forty or fifty 
 pieces that had been picked up on the 
 battle-field, not a single one could be 
 called respectable. More than half of 
 them were old flint-lock squirrel guns 
 that were next to useless in a battle. 
 Two brothers lay behind a fence ; one 
 of them was shot dead, and the other, a 
 mere boy, concluding discretion was the 
 better part of valor, played dead and 
 allowed himself to be taken prisoner. 
 Of the dead, not a single one that I saw 
 was dressed in any kind of a uniform, the 
 clothing being generally home-made and 
 butternut-colored. Old, torn, fragment- 
 ary hats were lying in every direction, 
 with here and there a nut-brown, thread- 
 bare coat. I confess that in looking over 
 the field and reflecting on the condition 
 of these people, I felt for them the deep- 
 est pity and commiseration. Even Col- 
 onel Lowe himself had but a sash to dis- 
 tinguish him from a civilian." 
 
 The military qualities of these men, 
 however, were not to be judged altogether 
 by their clothes. They showed courage 
 and perseverance ; for, disastrous as the 
 day was to them, the battle was well 
 contested.- Colonel Plummer pursued 
 the enemy the next day some distance, 
 but did not find them disposed to make 
 a stand. " The soldiers," he adds in his 
 report, "after their return to Frederick- 
 
 town, believing the citizens, who nearly 
 all sympathized with the enemy, had co- 
 operated with them in their endeavor to 
 lead us into an ambuscade, became exas- 
 perated, and some few acts of violence 
 ensued. Six or seven buildings were 
 burned. I exerted myself with many 
 of the officers to put a stop to the incen- 
 diarism, and finally succeeded. I will 
 not attempt to justify such acts of vio- 
 lence, but if anything could palliate 
 them, it would be the deserted homes 
 and desolated fields of our Union friends, 
 which I witnessed upon the march."* 
 
 Animated by these foretastes of victo- 
 ry, the army now moved rapidly on to 
 Springfield. Sigel, who had led the way 
 from the commencement, overcoming by 
 his energy and good military manage- 
 ment all the difficulties of the long march 
 arising from imperfect transportation and 
 supplies, was the first to enter the town 
 the second day after Zagonyi's engage- 
 ment, the morning of Sunday the 28th, 
 and in the afternoon he was followed by 
 General Fremont, with his staff officers 
 and guard. Two days after, Asboth came 
 in with his division ; then McKinstry, 
 on the 31st, having marched with his 
 well-appointed command the best sup- 
 plied in the army with the means of 
 transportation seventy miles in three 
 days. Pope's division, close at hand, 
 came in two or three days after. Hun- 
 ter was yet distant somewhere toward 
 the Osage. 
 
 Every preparation was making by 
 General Fremont for an engagement. 
 The rebel Price, who, with McCulloch, 
 it was supposed, mustered some thirty 
 thousand men, had been reported in the 
 south-western corner of the State, at 
 
 * Colonel J. B. Plummer to General TJ. S. Grant, Cape 
 Girardeau, Oct. 31, 1861. 
 
596 
 
 WAE FOR THE UNION. 
 
 Neosho, then at Cassville, was now con- 
 fidently believed to be approaching 
 Springfield. But just at this crisis, when 
 a battle was daily expected, an order 
 from General Scott was delivered to Fre- 
 mont in his camp at Springfield, relieving 
 him of his command, and directing him 
 to transfer it to General Hunter. The 
 blow had been some time impending. 
 Rumors of jealousies and dissatisfaction 
 with the Department had for weeks filled 
 the newspapers. Vague charges of ex- 
 travagance and irregularity, even of van- 
 ity and incompetence, had been freely 
 circulated, to all of which additional 
 weight was given by a flying tour of in- 
 spection in Missouri, in the middle of 
 October, while the army was on its 
 march, by Cameron, the Secretary of 
 War, accompanied by General Thomas, 
 Adjutant-General at Washington. The 
 report of General Thomas, presented on 
 his return to the Secretary, which got 
 before the public in the newspapers, was 
 decidedly unfavorable to Fremont. It 
 charged him with various assumptions of 
 authority, with making military appoint- 
 ments in an irregular manner, with incur- 
 ring unnecessary expenses, with giving 
 out contracts illegally, with having pro- 
 cured worthless fire-arms in Europe, with 
 neglecting reinforcements to Lyon and 
 Mulligan. Serious charges and specifica- 
 tions were also brought by Colonel Fran- 
 cis P. Blair, Jr., between whom and 
 General Fremont the most unfriendly 
 relations existed. Whatever explana- 
 tions there might be to modify these dis- 
 paraging statements, or lessen the force 
 of the unsparing military criticism, could 
 not be so readily forthcoming as the 
 charges, particularly as the subject of 
 them was engaged in an active campaign in 
 face of the enemy. The time came after- 
 
 wards for reply and discussion, when the 
 accusations were frankly met by General 
 Fremont, and the whole matter was 
 brought before a Committee of Congress ; 
 but there was only one course at the time 
 to be silent and submissive. 
 
 This was magnanimously pursued by 
 General Fremont. Without a word of 
 rebuke or disaffection, he gave the neces- 
 sary directions for the change of com- 
 mand, and issued this simple farewell 
 order to his troops: "Headquarters 
 Western Department, Springfield, Mo., 
 November 2, 1861. Soldiers of the 
 Mississippi Army : Agreeably to orders 
 received this day, I take leave of you. 
 Although our army has been of sudden 
 growth, we have grown up together, and 
 I have become familiar with the brave 
 and generous spirits which you bring to 
 the defence of your country, and which 
 makes me anticipate for you a brilliant 
 career. Continue as you have begun, 
 and give to my successor the same cor- 
 dial and enthusiastic support with which 
 you have encouraged me. Emulate the 
 splendid example which you have already 
 before you, and let me remain, as I am, 
 proud of the noble army which I have 
 thus far labored to bring together. Sol- 
 diers, I regret to leave you sincerely. I 
 thank you for the regard and confidence 
 you have invariably shown me. I deep- 
 ly regret that I shall not have the honor 
 to lead you to the victory which you are 
 just about to win, but I shall claim the 
 right to share with you in the joy of 
 every triumph, and trust always to be 
 personally remembered by my compan- 
 ions in arms." 
 
 Many of the soldiers who had taken 
 up arms out of personal regard for the 
 General, were not disposed to acquiesce 
 quite so philosophically in this unusual 
 
AN ENGAGEMENT INTERCEPTED. 
 
 597 
 
 experiment of arresting an army with 
 every nerve strung, fully intent upon a 
 victorious conflict with the enemy. Their 
 disappointment, however, though loudly 
 expressed, was not encouraged, nor suf- 
 fered to interfere with the discipline of 
 the camp. The officers were still decid- 
 ed in their expressions of the necessity 
 of a battle, which the General himself, 
 from the expressions in his Order, evi- 
 dently thought desirable, if not inevita- 
 ble. The theory seems to have been 
 this. Price, the most troublesome, as he 
 is the most crafty and elusive of military 
 agitators, is inclined to give battle. Our 
 force is well prepared to' meet him, and 
 now is the opportunity. If we do not 
 seize the golden moment he will escape, 
 and, as the event proved, remain to har- 
 ass the State and perplex future armies. 
 Fremont and his officers were, we be- 
 lieve, unanimous on this point to strike, 
 and strike at once. Indeed the urgency 
 appeared so great that, General Hunter 
 not having yet arrived to undertake his 
 command, Fremont was pressed and 
 consented to lead his troops in the immi- 
 nent engagement. He accordingly issued 
 an order of battle on 'the 3d, in which he 
 assigned the positions of the several divi- 
 sions Asboth on the right wing, Sigel 
 on the left, McKinstry to the centre, and 
 Pope in reserve, with directions for their 
 line of march to the old ground of Gen- 
 eral Lyon's engagement at Wilson's 
 Creek, where the enemy was reported to 
 be again encamped. The movement was 
 to be made at 6 o'clock the next morn- 
 ing. All was anxious preparation that 
 night for the coming battle, when about 
 midnight General Hunter presented him- 
 self in the midst of the assembled Gener- 
 als in council, received the command, 
 and indefinitely postponed the engage- 
 
 ment. The next day, instead of mov- 
 ing southerly to the encounter with Price, 
 General Fremont, accompanied by the 
 officers of his staff, his noble Body-Guard, 
 and a band of about fifty Delaware In- 
 dians, who had been attracted to his 
 camp by recollections of his old journey 
 of exploration, pursued their way toward 
 St. Louis. 
 
 Mr. Dorsheimer thus narrates the last 
 incidents of the interrupted campaign- 
 as the Major-General retires with his 
 simple escort from the army which had 
 been raised with such effort, and which 
 he was leading, as all hoped, to victory. 
 " At 9 o'clock on the morning of the 4th 
 of November, we were in the saddle, and 
 our little column was in marching order. 
 The Delawares led, then came our band, 
 the General and his staff followed, the 
 Body-Guard came next, and the sharp- 
 shooters in wagons brought up the rear. 
 In this order we proceeded through the 
 village. The Benton Cadets were drawn 
 up in line in front of their camp, and sa- 
 luted us as we passed, but none of the 
 other regiments were paraded. The 
 band had been directed to play lively 
 airs, and we marched out to merry music. 
 The troops did not seem to know that 
 the General was to leave ; but when they 
 heard the band, they ran out of their 
 camps and flocked into the streets ; there 
 was no order in their coming ; they came 
 without arms, many of them without their 
 coats and bareheaded, and filled the road. 
 The crowd was so dense that with diffi- 
 culty the General rode through the 
 throng. The farewell was most touching. 
 There was little cheering, but an expres- 
 sion of sorrow on every face. Some 
 pressed forward to take his hand ; others 
 cried, ' God bless you, General !' ' Your 
 enemies are not in the camp !' ' Come 
 
598 
 
 WAR FOE THE UNION. 
 
 back and lead us to battle ; we will fight 
 for you !' The General rode on perfect- 
 ly calm, a pleasant smile on his face, 
 telling the men he was doing his duty, 
 and they must do theirs. We travelled 
 with great rapidity and circumspection ; 
 for there was some reason to suppose 
 that parties of the enemy had been 
 thrown to the north of Springfield, in 
 which case we might have been interfer- 
 ed with. 
 
 " Sedalia, November *lih. We are 
 waiting for the train which is to take us 
 to St. Louis. Our journey here has been 
 made very quickly. Monday we march- 
 ed twenty - five miles. Tuesday we 
 started at dawn, and made thirty miles, 
 encamping twenty-five miles south of the 
 Osage. Wednesday we were in the sad- 
 dle at 6 o'clock, crossed the Osage in the 
 afternoon, and halted ten miles north of 
 that river, the day's journey being thir- 
 ty-five miles. We pitched our tents 
 upon a high, flat prairie, covered with 
 long dry grass. In the evening the Del- 
 awares signified that, if the General 
 would consent to it, they would perform 
 a war-dance. Permission was easily ob- 
 tained, and, after the Indian braves had 
 finished their toilet, they approached in 
 formal procession, arrayed in all the glory 
 and terror of war-paint. A huge fire had 
 been built. The inhabitants of our little 
 camp quickly gathered, officers, soldiers 
 of the guard, and sharpshooters, negroes 
 and teamsters. The Indians ranged 
 themselves on one side of the fire, and 
 the rest of us completed the circle. The 
 dancing was done by some half-dozen 
 young Indians, to the monotonous beat- 
 ing of two small drums and a guttural 
 accompaniment which the dancers sang, 
 the other Indians joining in the chorus. 
 The performance was divided into two 
 
 parts, and the whole was intended to ex- 
 press the passions which war excites in the 
 Indian nature the joy which they feel 
 at the prospect of a fight their contempt 
 for their enemies their frenzy at sight 
 of the foe the conflict the operations 
 of tomahawking and scalping their op- 
 ponents and, finally, the triumph of 
 victory. The performances occupied over 
 two hours. Fall-Leaf presided with an 
 air of becoming gravity, smoking an 
 enormous stone pipe with a long reed 
 stem. After rendering thanks in proper 
 form, Fall-Leaf was told that, by way of 
 return to their civility, and in special 
 honor to the Delawares, the negroes 
 would dance one of their national dances. 
 Two agile darkies came forward, and 
 went through with a regular break-down, 
 to the evident entertainment of the red 
 men. Afterwards an Irishman leaped 
 into the ring and began an Irish horn- 
 pipe. He was the best dancer of all, and 
 his complicated steps and astonishing 
 tours-de-force completely upset the grav- 
 ity of the Indians, and they burst into 
 loud laughter. It was midnight before 
 the camp was composed to its last night's 
 sleep. This mornnig we started an hour 
 before day, and marched to this place, 
 twenty miles, by noon. Thus ended 
 the expedition of General Fremont to 
 Springfield." 
 
 On the evening of the 8th of Novem- 
 ber General Fremont was welcomed to 
 St. Louis by a deputation of the citizens, 
 who presented him with a series of reso- 
 lutions, warmly expressive of their con- 
 fidence in the integrity and patriotism 
 of his conduct under many " paralyzing 
 circumstances." In reply, he said, " Gen- 
 tlemen, I wish to say to you that your 
 kind and affectionate I may even say 
 affectionate reception of me moves my 
 
SPEECH OF GENERAL FREMONT. 
 
 599 
 
 heart. It cheers me and strengthens my 
 confidence rny confidence, already some- 
 what wavering in our republican insti- 
 tutions. I felt all day as we passed 
 through the country I feel emphatically 
 to-night that the faithful servant of the 
 people, honestly laboring in the public 
 cause, will not be allowed to suffer un- 
 deserved, and I feel stronger. Since I 
 left you a few weeks- ago, many accusa- 
 tions have been rained on my defenceless 
 head defenceless, because ray face was 
 turned to the public enemy. What I see 
 and hear to-night, the address you have 
 just read to me, and the approving mul- 
 titude below, show me that I was not 
 wrong in leaving my defence with you. 
 In regard to the baser charges made 
 against me I will say nothing now. You 
 do not require it, and to speak of them 
 would jar upon the generous feelings with 
 which you come here to-night. Others 
 have been already answered by my 
 brave soldiers at Springfield ; and others 
 of gross incompetency and a weak and 
 aimless administration, to all of these I 
 will adopt your address, and the shouts 
 of the grand multitude assembled below, 
 as my answer. And for all this, gentle- 
 men, to you and to them, I renew my 
 thanks with all my heart, which, to- 
 night, is roused to full sensibility by the 
 hearty and unqualified expression of 
 your confidence and approbation so 
 valuable and grateful to me in my actual 
 position. I shall soon have occasion, for 
 I shall make occasion, to answer all these 
 charges more definitely. Until then, I 
 will rely upon this evening for my de- 
 fence." 
 
 The staff of General Fremont, in ac- 
 cordance with the Act of Congress of 
 the previous session, was presently dis- 
 charged. It consisted of Colonel J. H. 
 
 Eaton, Assistant- Adjutant General, Col- 
 onel A. Tracy, Acting Chief Commissary, 
 Colonel J. C. Woods, Director of Trans- 
 portation, and the following Aids-de- 
 camp : Colonel Hudson, Colonel Shanks, 
 Colonel Owen Lovejoy, the well-known 
 member of Congress from Illinois, Major 
 F. J. White, the leader of the dashing 
 march on Lexington, Major W. Dors- 
 heimer, whose narrative of the campaign 
 we have frequently cited, Major W. 
 Savage, Captain J. E. Howard, Captain 
 L. Haskell, R. W. Raymond, Lieutenant 
 F. Clarke, Lieutenant E. N. Hallowell, 
 Captain A. Sacchi and Lieutenant A. 
 Odoni, the last two, soldiers of Garibaldi's 
 campaigns, who had come from Italy to 
 take part in the war. 
 
 The day previously to the surrender 
 of his command, General Fremont com- 
 pleted a negotiation with General Price, 
 through the agency of commissioners, for 
 the purpose of protecting peaceable cit- 
 izens of Missouri, arid for the exchange 
 of prisoners of war. The following joint 
 Proclamation embodied this agreement : 
 " To the Peaceably -disposed Citizens of 
 tlie State of Missouri, greeting, Whereas, 
 A solemn agreement has been entered 
 into by Major-Generate Fremont and 
 Price, respectively commanding antago- 
 nistic forces in the State of Missouri, to 
 the effect, that in future arrests or forci- 
 ble interference by armed or unarmed 
 parties of citizens within the limits of 
 said State for the mere entertainment or 
 expression of political opinions, shall 
 hereafter cease ; that families now broken 
 up for such causes may be reunited, and 
 that the war now progressing shall be 
 exclusively confined to armies in the 
 field ; therefore, be it known to all whom 
 it may concern 1. No arrests whatever 
 on account of political opinions, or for 
 
600 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 merely private expression of the same, 
 shall hereafter be made within the limits 
 of the State of Missouri, and all persons 
 who may have been arrested, and are 
 now held to answer upon such charges 
 only, shall be forthwith released. But it 
 is expressly declared that nothing in this 
 proclamation shall be construed to bar 
 or interfere with any of the usual and 
 regular proceedings of the established 
 courts and statutes and orders made and 
 provided for such offences. 2. All peace- 
 ably-disposed citizens who may have 
 been driven from their homes because of 
 their political opinions, or who may have 
 left them from fear of force and violence, 
 are hereby advised and permitted to 
 return, upon the faith of our positive as- 
 surances that while so returning they 
 shall receive protection from both armies 
 in the field, whenever it can be given. 
 3. All bodies of armed men, acting with- 
 out the authority or recognition of the 
 Major-General before named, and not 
 legitimately connected with the armies in 
 the field, are hereby ordered at once to 
 disband. 4. Any violation of either of the 
 foregoing articles shall subject the offend- 
 er to the penalty of military law, accord- 
 ing to the nature of the offence. In 
 testimony whereof, the aforesaid John 
 Charles Fremont, at Springfield, Mo., on 
 the first daj r of November, A. D. 1861, 
 and Major-General Sterling Price, at 
 
 , on this day of November, 
 
 A. D. 1861, have hereunto set their hands, 
 and hereby mutually pledge their earnest 
 efforts to the enforcement of the above 
 articles of agreement, according to their 
 full tenor and effect, to the best of their 
 ability. 
 
 "Secondly. Brigadier-General R. Cur- 
 tis, or the officer in command at Benton 
 barracks, is hereby authorized and em- 
 
 powered to represent Major-General Fre- 
 mont ; and Colonel D. H. Armstrong. 
 Hon. J. Richard Barrett, and Colonel 
 Robert M. Remck, or either of them, are 
 hereby authorized and empowered to re- 
 present Major-General Price ; and the 
 parties so named are hereby authorized, 
 whenever applied to for that purpose, to 
 negotiate for the exchange of any and all 
 persons who may hereafter be taken 
 prisoners of war and released on parole ; 
 such exchanges to be made upon the 
 plan heretofore approved and acted 
 upon, to wit: grade for grade, or two 
 officers of lower grade as an equivalent 
 in rank for one of a higher grade, as 
 shall be thought just and equitable. This 
 done and agreed at Springfield, Missouri, 
 this first day of November, 1861. By 
 order of Major-General Fremont. J. H. 
 EATON, A. A. A. G. " Major-General 
 Sterling Price. By HENRY W. WIL- 
 LIAMS, D. ROBERT BARCLAY, Commis- 
 sioners." 
 
 The Proclamation was signed by Gen- 
 eral Price at Cassville on the 5th of 
 November, but was not suffered, how- 
 ever, to be operative. General Hunter 
 thinking its provisions impolitic under 
 the circumstances of the war, imme- 
 diately after taking command of the 
 army, addressed, on the 7th, a letter 
 to General Price, stating that he could 
 " in no manner recognize the agreement, 
 or any of its provisions, whether implied 
 or direct, and that he could neither 
 issue, nor allow the joint Proclamation 
 to be issued." In communicating this 
 letter to Adjutant- General Thomas, Gen- 
 eral Hunter gave the following as the 
 grounds of his repudiation of the con- 
 vention. " It would be, in my judg- 
 ment, impolitic in the highest degree to 
 have ratified General Fremont's nego- 
 
THE FREMONT AND PRICE CONVENTION. 
 
 601 
 
 tiations, for the following, among many 
 other, obvious reasons : The second stip- 
 ulation, if acceded to, would render the 
 enforcement of martial law in Missouri, 
 or any part of it, impossible, and would 
 give absolute liberty to the propagand- 
 ists of treason throughout the length and 
 breadth of the State. The third stipula- 
 tion, confining operations exclusively to 
 ' armies in the field,' would practically 
 annul the Confiscation Act passed during 
 the last session of Congress, and would 
 furnish perfect immunity to those dis- 
 banded soldiers of Price's command who 
 have now returned to their homes, but 
 with the intention, and under a pledge, 
 of rejoining the rebel forces whenever 
 called upon ; and, lastly, because the 
 fourth stipulation would blot out of ex- 
 istence the loyal men of the Missouri 
 Home Guard, who have not, it is alleged, 
 been recognised by act of Congress, and 
 who, it would be claimed, are therefore 
 ' not legitimately connected with the 
 armies in the field.' There are many 
 more objections quite as powerful and 
 obvious, which might be urged against 
 ratifying this agreement its address ' to 
 all peaceably-disposed citizens of the 
 State of Missouri,' fairly allowing the in- 
 ference to be drawn, that citizens of the 
 United States (the loyal and true men 
 of Missouri) are not included in its bene- 
 fits. In fact, the agreement would seem 
 to me, if ratified, a concession of all the 
 principles for which the rebel leaders 
 
 are contending, and a practical libera- 
 tion, for use in other and more imme- 
 diately important localities, of all their 
 forces now kept employed in this portion 
 of the State." 
 
 General Hunter, after remaining a few 
 days at Springfield, in accordance with 
 an order from the President, retreated 
 in the direction of St. Louis. The army, 
 formed in so short a time by the exer- 
 tions of Fremont, and hurried forward 
 with extraordinary effort, retraced its 
 steps to the Missouri, and awaited the 
 call of the new head of the Department, 
 General Halleck, again to follow under 
 less advantageous circumstances, at a 
 less propitious period of the year, the 
 still advancing, still retreating, ever re- 
 newed, ever dispersing rebel army of 
 Price. When the Statement of Fremont, 
 in reply to the charges of General Thomas' 
 Eeport was published, in the ensuing 
 March, it was received with favor and 
 respect, and while the force of its expla- 
 nations was freely admitted for every 
 ingenuous mind rejoices when a load of 
 obloquy is removed from the fair fame 
 of a man like Fremont it was yet felt 
 that the best vindication of his hurried 
 military manoeuvres, and the policy of 
 his interrupted campaign, was the almost 
 identical repetition of the movement in 
 the recent entry of the Union troops 
 into Springfield, and the pursuit, ac- 
 cording to the original programme of the 
 still fugitive Price into Arkansas. 
 
 76 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 MILITARY AND NAVAL ENGAGEMENTS AT SANTA ROSAS ISLAND AND THE PASSES OP 
 THE MISSISSIPPI, SEPTEMBER -NOVEMBER, 1861. 
 
 AFTER the reinforcement, in April, of 
 the little garrison with which Lieutenant 
 Slemmer gallantly seized and held Fort 
 Pickens, that important position, under 
 the energetic command of Colonel Har- 
 vey Brown, for many months continued 
 to attract the attention of the public, ex- 
 pectation being at one time excited by 
 the prospect of the recovery of the aban- 
 doned ground on the mainland at Pen- 
 sacola, at another by the danger to the 
 fort itself from attack by the insurgents. 
 A description of a visit to these scenes 
 in April, by Mr. Russell, the correspond- 
 ent of the London Times, affords us the 
 unusual opportunity of an intelligent 
 view of what was going on in both camps 
 at the same time. Accompanied by sev- 
 eral friends, he ran down in a small 
 schooner from Mobile, was admitted, by 
 the courtesy of the United States officers 
 off Pensacola, to pass the blockade, and 
 after a day spent with the Confederates 
 among their defences on the mainland, 
 had the privilege of a leisurely inspection 
 of Fort Pickens and Santa Rosas Island. 
 He found General Braxton Bragg in 
 command of the Confederates. A native 
 of a Southern State, this officer had been 
 educated at West Point, and had served 
 for many years with distinction in the 
 United States army. He is thus intro- 
 duced to us in the vivid and entertaining 
 narrative of Mr. Russell, who, on land- 
 ing, has been received with due hospital- 
 ity by a mess of New Orleans officers 
 established in the pleasant quarters about 
 
 the Navy Yard. "An aide-de-camp 
 from General Bragg entered as we were 
 sitting at table, and invited me to attend 
 him to the General's quarters. The 
 road, as I found, was very long and very 
 disagreeable, owing to the depth of the 
 sand, into which the foot sank at every 
 step up to the ankle. Passing the front of 
 an extended row of the clean, airy, pretty 
 villas inside the Navy Yard, we passed 
 the gate on exhibiting our passes, and 
 proceeded by the sea-beach, one side of 
 which is lined with houses, a few yards 
 from the surf. These houses are all oc- 
 cupied by troops, or are used as bar- 
 rooms or magazines. At intervals a few 
 guns have been placed along the beach, 
 covered by sand-bags, parapets and tra- 
 verses. As we toiled along in the sand 
 the aide hailed a cart, pressed it into the 
 service, and we continued our journey 
 less painfully. Suddenly a tall, straight- 
 backed man in a blue frock-coat, with a 
 star on the epaulette strap, a smart kepi, 
 and trousers with gold stripe, and large 
 brass spurs, rode past on a high-stepping, 
 powerful charger, followed by an order- 
 ly. 'There is General Bragg,' said his 
 -aide. The General turned round, reined 
 up, and I was presented as I sat in my 
 state chariot. The commander of the 
 Confederated States army at Pensacola 
 is about forty-two years of age, of a 
 spare and powerful frame ; his face is 
 dark, and marked with deep lines, his 
 mouth large, and squarely set in deter- 
 mined jaws, and his eyes, sagacious, pen- 
 
GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 
 
 603 
 
 etrating, and not by any means unkind- 
 ly, look out at you from beetle-brows 
 which run straight across and spring into 
 a thick tuft of black hair, which is thick- 
 est over the nose, where naturally it 
 usually leaves an intervening space. His 
 hair is dark, and he wears such regula- 
 tion whiskers as were the delight of our 
 generals a few years ago. His manner 
 is quick and frank, and his smile is very 
 pleasing and agreeable. The General 
 would not hear of my continuing my 
 journey to his quarters in a cart, and his 
 orderly brought up an ambulance, drawn 
 by a smart pair of mules, in which I 
 completed it satisfactorily. The end of 
 the journey through the sandy plain was 
 at hand, for in an enclosure of a high 
 wall there stood a well-shaded mansion, 
 amid trees of live-oak and sycamore, 
 with sentries at the gate arid horses held 
 by orderlies under the portico. General 
 Bragg received me at the top of the 
 steps which lead to the verandah, and, 
 after a few earnest and complimentary 
 words, conducted me to his office, where 
 he spoke of the contest in which he was 
 to play so important a part in terms of 
 unaffected earnestness. Why else had 
 he left his estates ? After the Mexican 
 war he had retired from the United 
 States artillery ; but when his State was 
 menaced he was obliged to defend her. 
 He was satisfied the North meant noth- 
 ing but subjugation. All he wanted was 
 peace. Slavery was an institution for 
 which he was not responsible ; but his 
 property was guaranteed to him by law, 
 and it consisted of slaves. Why did the 
 enemy take off slaves from Tortugas to 
 work for them at Pickens? Because 
 whites could not do their work. It was 
 quite impossible to deny his earnestness, 
 sincerity and zeal as he spoke, and one 
 
 could only wonder at the difference 
 made by the 'stand-point 7 from which 
 the question is reviewed. . . . Before I 
 left General Bragg he was good enough 
 to say he would send down one of his 
 aides-de-camp and horses early in the 
 morning to give me a look at the works." 
 The tour of the works next day affords 
 us an interesting glimpse of the enemy's 
 camp. " I do not think," writes Mr. 
 Russell, " that any number of words can 
 give a good idea of a long line of detach- 
 ed batteries. I went through them all, 
 and I certainly found stronger reasons 
 than ever for distrusting the extraordin- 
 ary statements which appear in the 
 American journals in reference to milita- 
 ry matters, particularly on their own 
 side of the question. Instead of hundreds 
 of guns, there are only ten. They are 
 mostly of small calibre, and the gun-car- 
 riages are old or unsound, or new and 
 rudely made. There are only five 
 ' heavy' guns in all the works ; but the 
 mortar batteries, three in number, of 
 which one is unfinished, will prove very 
 damaging, although they will only con- 
 tain nine or ten mortars. The batteries 
 
 
 are all sand -bag and earthworks, with 
 the exception of Fort Barrancas. They 
 are made after all sorts of ways, and are 
 of very different degrees of efficiency. 
 In some the magazines will come to speedy 
 destruction ; in others they are well 
 made. Some are of the finest white sand, 
 and will blind the gunners or be blown 
 away with shells ; others are cramped 
 and hardly traversed ; others, again, are 
 very spacious and well constructed. The 
 embrasures are usually made of sand- 
 bags, covered with raw hides to save the 
 cotton-bags from the effect of the fire of 
 their own guns. I was amused to ob- 
 serve that most of these works had gal- 
 
604 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 leries in the rear, generally in connection 
 with the magazine passages, which the 
 constructors called 'rat-holes,' and which 
 are intended as shelter to the men at the 
 guns in case of shells falling inside the 
 battery. They may prove to have a 
 very different result, and are certainly 
 not so desirable, in a military point of 
 view, as good traverses. A rush for the 
 1 rat-hole' will not be very dignified or 
 improving to the morale every time a 
 bomb hurtles over them ; and assuredly 
 the damage to the magazines will be 
 enormous if the fire from Pickens is ac- 
 curate and well-sustained. Several of 
 the batteries were not finished, and the 
 men who ought to have been working 
 were lying under the shade of trees, 
 sleeping or smoking long-limbed, long- 
 bearded fellows in flannel shirts and 
 slouched hats, uniformless in all, save 
 bright, well-kept arms and resolute pur- 
 pose. We went along slowly, from one 
 battery to the other. I visited nine alto- 
 gether, not including Fort Barrancas, and 
 there are three others, among which is 
 Fort McRae. Perhaps there may be 
 fifty guns of all sorts in position for 
 about three miles, along a line extending 
 135 degrees round Fort Pickens, the 
 average distance being about one and 
 one-third miles. The mortar batteries 
 are well placed among brushwood, quite 
 out of view of the fort, at distances vary- 
 ing from 2,500 to 2,800 yards, and the 
 mortars are generally of calibres corres- 
 ponding nearly with our 10-inch pieces. 
 Several of the gun-batteries are put on 
 the level of the beach ; others have more 
 command, and one is particularly well- 
 placed, close to the White Lighthouse, on 
 a high plateau which dominates the 
 sandy strip that runs out to Fort McRae. 
 Of the latter I have already spoken. 
 
 Fort Barrancas is an old fort I believe 
 of Spanish construction, with a very 
 meagre trace a plain curtain-face to- 
 ward the sea, protected by a dry ditch 
 and an outwork, in which, however, there 
 are no guns. There is a drawbridge in 
 the rear of the work, which is a simple 
 parallelogram, showing twelve guns 
 mounted en barbette on the sea-face. The 
 walls are of brick, and the guns are pro- 
 tected by thick merlons of sand-bags. 
 The sole advantage of the fort is in its 
 position ; it almost looks down into the 
 casemates of Pickens opposite at its 
 weakest point, and it has a fair command 
 of the sea entrance, but the guns are 
 weak, and there are only three pieces 
 mounted which can do much mischief. 
 While I was looking round, there was an 
 entertaining dispute going on between 
 two men, whom I believe to have been 
 officers, as to the work to be done, and 1 
 heard the inferior intimate pretty broad- 
 ly his conviction that his chief did not 
 know his own business in reference to 
 some orders he was conveying. The 
 amount of ammunition which I saw did 
 not appear to me to be at all sufficient 
 for one day's moderate firing, and many 
 of the shot were roughly cast and had 
 deep flanges from the moulds in their 
 sides, and very destructive to the guns 
 as well as to accuracy. In the rear of 
 these batteries, among the pine woods 
 and in deep brush, are three irregular 
 camps, which, to the best of my belief, 
 could not contain more than 2,700 men. 
 There are probably 3,000 in and about 
 the batteries, the Navy Yard and the 
 suburbs, and there are also, I am inform- 
 ed, 1500 at Pensacola ; but I doubt ex- 
 ceedingly that there are as many as 
 8,000 men, all told, of effective strength 
 under the command of General Bragg. 
 
INTERIOR OF FORT PICKENS. 
 
 605 
 
 It would be a mistake to despise these 
 irregulars. One of the Mississippi regi- 
 ments out in camp was evidently com- 
 posed of men who liked campaigning, and 
 who looked as though they would like 
 fighting. They had no particular uni- 
 forms the remark will often be made 
 but they had pugnacious physiognomies 
 and the physical means of carrying their 
 inclinations into effect, and every man 
 of them was, I am informed, familiar with 
 the use of arms." 
 
 Having made the circuit of the works 
 and gathered his impressions of the char- 
 acter of their defenders, Mr. Russell pre- 
 sented himself on the landing at Fort 
 Pickens, where he was received by Cap- 
 tain Yodges and Captain Berry, two offi- 
 cers at the station. His observations of 
 the fort and its capabilities for defensive 
 and offensive action were amply confirm- 
 ed by subsequent events. He thus de- 
 scribes the place. " The way from the 
 jetty to the entrance of the fort is in the 
 universal deep sand of this part of the 
 world ; the distance from the landing- 
 place to the gateway is not much more 
 than two hundred yards, and the ap- 
 proach to the portal is quite unprotected. 
 There is a high ramp and glacis on the 
 land side, but the face and part of the 
 curtain in which the gate is situate are 
 open, as it was not considered likely that 
 it would ever be attacked by Americans. 
 The sharp angle of the bastion on this 
 face is so weak that men are now engag- 
 ed in throwing up an extempore glacis 
 to cover the base of the wall and the 
 casemates from fire. The ditch is very 
 broad, and the scarp and counterscarp 
 are riveted with brickwork. The cur- 
 vette has been cleared out, and in doing 
 so, as a proof of the agreeable character 
 of the locality, I may observe upwards 
 
 of sixty rattlesnakes were killed by the 
 workmen. An abattis has been made 
 along the edge of this part of the ditch 
 a rough inclined fence of stakes and 
 boughs of trees. ' Yes, sir ; at one time 
 when those terrible fire-eating gentlemen 
 at the other side were full of threats, and 
 coming to take the place every day, 
 there were only seventy men in this fort, 
 and Lieutenant Slemmer threw up this 
 abattis to delay his assailants, if it were 
 only for a few minutes, and to give his 
 men breathing time to use their small 
 arms.' The casemates here are all blind- 
 ed, and the hospital is situate in the 
 bomb-proofs inside. The gate was closed ; 
 at a talismanic knock it was opened, and 
 from the external silence we passed into 
 a scene full of activity and life, through 
 the dark gallery which served at first as 
 a framework to the picture. The parade 
 of the fort was full of men, and as a coup 
 d'oeil, it was obvious that great efforts 
 had been made to prepare Fort Pickens 
 for a desperate defence. In the parade 
 were several tents of what is called Sib- 
 ley's pattern, like our bell tents, but 
 without the lower side-wall, and provid- 
 ed with a ventilating top, which can be 
 elevated or depressed at pleasure. The 
 parade-ground has been judiciously filled 
 with deep holes, like inverted cones, in 
 which shells will be comparatively inno- 
 cuous ; and warned by Sumter, every- 
 thing has been removed which could 
 prove in the least degree combustible. 
 The officer on duty led me straight across 
 to the opposite angle of the fort. As the 
 rear of the casemates and bomb-proofs 
 along this side will be exposed to a 
 plunging fire from the opposite side, a 
 very ingenious screen has been construct- 
 :d, by placing useless gun-platforms and 
 parts of carriages at an angle against the 
 
606 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 wall, and piling them up with sand and 
 earth for several feet in thickness. A 
 passage is thus left between the base of 
 the wall and that of the. screen, through 
 which a man can walk with ease. Turn- 
 ing into this passage, we entered a lofty 
 bomb-proof, which was the bedroom of 
 the commanding officer, and passed 
 through into the casemate which serves 
 as his headquarters. 
 
 " Colonel Harvey Brown received me 
 with every expression of politeness and 
 courtesy. He is a tall, spare, soldierly- 
 looking man, with a face indicative of 
 great resolution and energy, as well as 
 of sagacity and kindness ; and his attach- 
 ment to the Union was probably one of 
 the reasons of his removal from the com- 
 mand of Fort Hamilton, New York, to 
 the charge of this very important fort. 
 He has been long in the service, and he 
 belonged to the first class of graduates 
 who passed at West Point after its estab- 
 lishment in 1818. After a short and very 
 interesting conversation, he proceeded to 
 show me the works, and we mounted 
 upon the parapet, accompanied by Cap- 
 tain Berry, and went over all the de- 
 fences. Fort Pickens has a regular bas- 
 tioned trace, in outline an oblique and 
 rather narrow parallelogram, with the 
 obtuse angles facing the sea at one side 
 and the land at the other. The acute 
 angle at which the bastion toward the 
 enemy's batteries is situate, is the weak- 
 est part of the work ; but it was built 
 for sea defence, as I have already ob- 
 served, and the trace was prolonged to 
 obtain the greatest amount of fire on the 
 sea approaches. The crest of the para- 
 pet is covered with very solid and well- 
 made merlons of heavy sand-bags, but 
 one face and the gorge of the bastion are 
 exposed to an enfilading fire from Fort 
 
 McRae, which the Colonel said he in- 
 tended to guard against if he got time. 
 All the guns seemed in good order, the 
 carriages being well constructed, but 
 they are mostly of what are considered 
 small calibres now-a-davs, being 32- 
 
 v ' O 
 
 pounders, with some 42-pounders and 
 24-pounders. There are, however, four 
 heavy columbiads, which command the 
 enemy's works on several points very 
 completely. It struck me that the bas- 
 tion guns were rather crowded. But, 
 even in its present state, the defensive 
 preparations are most creditable to the 
 officers, who have had only three weeks 
 to do the immense amount of work be- 
 fore us. The brick copings have been 
 removed from the parapets, and strong 
 sand-bag traverses have been construct- 
 ed to cover the gunners, in addition to 
 the ' rat-holes ' at the bastions. More 
 heavy guns are expected, which, with 
 the aid of a few more mortars, will ena- 
 ble the garrison to hold their own against 
 everything but a regular siege on the 
 land side, and so long as the fleet covers 
 the narrow neck of the island with its 
 guns, it is not possible for the Confeder- 
 ates to effect a lodgment. If Fort Mc- 
 Eae was strong and heavily armed, it 
 could inflict great damage on Pickens ; 
 but it is neither the one nor the other, 
 and the United States officers are confi- 
 dent that they will speedily render it 
 quite untenable. The touches a feu of 
 the fort may be put down at forty, in- 
 cluding the available pieces in the case- 
 mates, which sweep the ditch and the 
 faces of the curtains. The walls are of 
 the hardest brick, of nine feet thickness 
 in many places, and the crest of the par- 
 apets on which the merlons and traverses 
 rest are of turf. From the walls there 
 is a splendid view of the whole position, 
 
COLONEL HARYEY BROWN. 
 
 607 
 
 and I found my companions were per- 
 fe(;tl} T well acquainted with the strength 
 and locus of the greater part of the en- 
 emy's works. Of course I held my 
 peace, but I was amused at their accur- 
 acy ' There are the quarters of our 
 friend, General Bragg.' 'There is one 
 of their best batteries just beside the 
 lighthouse.' The tall chimney of the 
 Warrington Navy Yard was smoking 
 away lustily. The Colonel called my 
 attention to it. ' Do you see that, sir ? 
 They are casting shot there. The sole 
 reason for their " forbearance " is that 
 Navy Yard. They know full well that 
 if they open a gun upon us, we will lay 
 that yard and all the work in ruins.' " 
 
 To the personal notice of Colonel Har- 
 vey Brown in this paragraph, we may 
 add that he was a native of New Jersey, 
 and that, after graduating at West 
 Point, he became 1st Lieutenant of Ar- 
 tillery in 1821, was, in the Florida war 
 in 1836, Lieutenant-Colonel of a regiment 
 of mounted Creek Volunteers, was bre- 
 vetted Major for his services, and in the 
 Mexican war gained distinguished credit 
 in the columns of General Taylor and 
 General Scott at Monterey, Contreras, 
 Churubusco, and Belen. He reached the 
 rank of Major in 1851, and Colonel in 
 1858. His selection by the Government 
 for the delicate and responsible duty of 
 reinforcing Fort Pickens and taking the 
 command on his arrival, was fully justi- 
 fied by the ability with which these ser- 
 vices were performed by him. In the 
 early perils of the war for the Union 
 the country relied, and not in vain, upon 
 her manly defender at Fort Pickens. 
 
 Months passed on while the defences 
 were being strengthened on both sides ; 
 the defects noticed by Mr. Russell were 
 ronaired ; the blockading squadron grew 
 
 more effective with experience ; heavier 
 guns were brought to the fort ; new re- 
 inforcements came the notable regiment 
 of Wilson's Zouaves, enlisted in the City 
 of New York, on their arrival at the end 
 of June, increasing the force on the island 
 to about 2,400 men and the public be- 
 gan to be impatient at the hesitation or 
 forbearance of the Government in not 
 arresting the increasing line of batteries 
 on the shore, and driving the insurgents 
 from their position. "As a specimen of 
 the perfect sangfroid, and if I may be 
 allowed the term, the peacefulness of 
 this disgusting war," wrote, on the 25th 
 of June, a correspondent of the Phila- 
 delphia Press, from the deck of the 
 Niagara, one of the blockading fleet, 
 " Colonel Brown, who has declared his 
 determination to open fire the first op- 
 portunity the rebels might show him, 
 received a polite note from General 
 Bragg, the representative of the pseudo 
 government, requesting that he would 
 not commence fire, or take it as an open- 
 ing of hostilities, if by chance one of his 
 guns should be discharged, as it might 
 be from some accidental cause, but wait 
 for a repetition." 
 
 The delay, however, was doubtless 
 well understood at the fort, and had its 
 sufficient reasons of policy, were it only 
 to keep employed a large force of the 
 enemy, who might be far more trouble- 
 some to the National cause elsewhere. 
 In due time Pensacola was abandoned 
 by General Bragg and his army. Mean- 
 while the seemingly slow progress of 
 hostilities in the bay was diversified by 
 more than one incident of brilliant ad- 
 venture. The destruction of the dry 
 dock, in the face of the enemy, by a 
 party from the fort, was one of these. 
 The enemy had unmoored this ponderous 
 
608 
 
 WAR FOR THJi UNiON. 
 
 structure at its station, and caused it to 
 be floated into the channel, where it was 
 sunk as an obstruction to the passage of 
 any vessels into the bay. This remain- 
 ed there for some time, when it becom- 
 ing apparent that it was about to be 
 removed to a more effective position, 
 Colonel Brown resolved effectually to 
 dispose of it. Sunday, the 1st of Sep- 
 tember, was passed in preparation for 
 the work, the carrying out of which was 
 entrusted to Lieutenant Shipley with a 
 select boat's crew. Ammunition was 
 got ready and the guns manned, to 
 bombard the forts on the shore should 
 opposition be offered to the enter- 
 prise. A correspondent from Camp 
 Brown, outside of the fort, gives an ac- 
 count of the scene which ensued. " Night 
 came, cloudless ; the heavens lit up by 
 hosts of stars. The opposite shore was 
 plainly visible, and the enterprise seem- 
 ed too hazardous, as in the planning of 
 it a darker night had been looked for. 
 Upon consultation it was thought best to 
 wait till the following night. All day 
 Monday a strong breeze blew from off 
 the Gulf ; rain was expected but none 
 fell. Night came, and the sky was 
 cloudy. A few minutes after tattoo (nine 
 o'clock) Lieutenant Shipley left the beach 
 in front of the fort in a boat, with eleven 
 picked men, rowing noiselessly for the 
 dry dock. The boat reached the dock 
 without being challenged, was made fast, 
 when the men sprang up prepared to 
 encounter and overcome the sentries, 
 who had often been seen stationed upon 
 it at night ; none were found, however, 
 and they proceeded to accomplish their 
 work. Combustible materials of various 
 kinds had been prepared and brought 
 along, together with three large Colum- 
 biad shells. These were placed in the 
 
 boilers. The combustibles, properly ar- 
 ranged, word was given for the men to 
 go aboard the boat. Lieutenant Shipley 
 remaining to apply the match, which 
 done, he quickly followed in their wake. 
 Scarcely had a distance of twenty yards 
 from the doomed structure been gained 
 by the gallant little band, when the 
 flames burst forth, followed almost imme- 
 diately by the explosion of the shells, 
 which filled the air in a shower of frag- 
 ments around the retreating boat, but 
 fortunately injuring none of the crew. 
 As the first streak of flame mounted up- 
 wards, the ' long roll ' sounded at the 
 Navy Yard, but not a shot was fired, and 
 the boat reached the shore in safety. 
 Meanwhile the whole sky was illuminated 
 by the tall spires of flame which shot up- 
 ward from the burning dock. All night 
 long the fierce element sped on its work 
 of destruction, and when morning dawn- 
 ed, a shapeless mass of ruins floating 
 upon the water was all that remained of 
 the dry dock, which cost the Govern- 
 ment upwards of a million and a half of 
 dollars, but which the ' ntad demon of re- 
 bellion' wrested from its grasp." * 
 
 The destruction of the Dry Dock was 
 succeeded by a daring achievement un- 
 der the enemy's guns, by a select party 
 from the United States ship Colorado, of 
 the blockading squadron, which recalls 
 to us similar feats of prowess, in the bril- 
 liant adventures in the port of Tripoli 
 of Bainbridge, Decatur and Somers. The 
 circumstances of this affair are thus nar- 
 rated in the official report of Flag-officer 
 William Mervine, dated from his ship 
 the Colorado, off Port Pickens, Septem- 
 ber 15, 1861. Addressing the Secretary 
 of the Navy, he writes : "I have the 
 
 * Fort Pickens' correspondence of the New York Herald, 
 September 14, 1861. 
 
BURNING OP THE SCHOONER JUDAH. 
 
 609 
 
 honor to inform you that a boat expe- 
 dition was fitted out from this ship on 
 the night of the 13th instant, consisting 
 of the first launch, first, second and third 
 cutters, under the commands of Lieuten- 
 ants Russell, Sprotson, Blake and Mid- 
 shipman Steece, respectively, assisted 
 by Captain Reynolds, of the marine 
 corps, Assistant-Surgeon Kennedy, As- 
 sistant-Engineer White, Gunner Bore- 
 ton, and Midshipmen Forrest and Hig- 
 ginson. The whole force detailed con- 
 sisted of about one hundred men, officers, 
 sailors and marines. The object of the 
 expedition was the destruction of a 
 schooner which lay off the Pensacola 
 Navy Yard, supposed to be fitting out 
 as a privateer, and the spiking of a gun 
 in battery at the south-east end of the 
 yard. The movements of the schooner 
 had been assiduously watched for several 
 days and nights, and I deemed it so mo- 
 rally certain that she was intended for a 
 privateer, that I determined the attempt 
 should be made to destroy her, even in 
 face of the fearful odds which would have 
 to be encountered. Lieutenant Russell 
 had charge of the expedition, and with 
 Lieutenant Blake, was to attack the ves- 
 sel, while Lieutenant Sprotson and Mid- 
 shipman Steece spiked the gun. The 
 attack was made on the morning of the 
 14th instant, at half-past three o'clock. 
 The schooner, named the Judah, was 
 found moored to the wharf, under the 
 protection of a battery and one field- 
 piece, and to be armed with a pivot and 
 two broadside guns. Her crew were on 
 her and prepared to receive our forces, 
 pouring in a volley of musketry as the 
 boats neared the vessel. A desperate 
 resistance was made from the deck of 
 the schooner, but her men were driven 
 off on to the wharf by our boarders, 
 77 
 
 where they rallied and were joined by 
 the guard, and kept up a continual fire 
 upon our men. In the meantime the 
 vessel was set on fire in several places. 
 That which finally consumed her was 
 lighted in the cabin by Assistant-En- 
 gineer White and a coal-heaver Patrick 
 Driscoll, who went as a volunteer. She 
 burned to the water's edge, and has since, 
 while burning, been set free from her 
 moorings, and has drifted down opposite 
 Fort Barrancas, where she has sunk. Of 
 the party assigned to the spiking of the 
 gun, only Lieutenant Sprotson and Gun- 
 ner Boreton were able, after consider- 
 able search, to find it, the party becom- 
 ing separated in the darkness. No 
 opposition being made to their landing ; 
 Steece, with his command, had gone to 
 the aid of those on the schooner, where 
 he performed valuable service. Yery 
 fortunately only one man was found in 
 charge of the gun, and he immediately 
 levelled his piece at Lieutenant Sprotson, 
 but was shot down by Gunner Boreton 
 before he could obtain certain aim, both 
 pieces exploding simultaneously. The 
 gun, which was found to be a 10-inch 
 columbiad, was immediately spiked, and 
 bringing off its tompion as a trophy, these 
 two officers returned to their boat The 
 work proposed having been thus well 
 and thoroughly done in the short space 
 of fifteen minutes, and the whole force 
 in the yard (reported by deserters to be 
 over one thousand strong) being aroused, 
 our boats pulled away, and rallying at 
 a short distance from the shore, fired six 
 charges of canister from their howitzers 
 into the yard, with what result it is im- 
 possible to say. Three of the enemy are 
 known to have been killed, and our 
 officers are confident the number is much 
 larger. The boats then returned to the 
 
610 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 ship, arriving there about daylight. But, 
 sir, I am grieved to report that this bril- 
 liant affair was not unattended with loss 
 on our side. I have to report as killed 
 by shots from the cross-trees of the 
 schooner, while the boats were ap- 
 proaching, Boatswain's Mate Charles H. 
 Lamphere, and John R. Herring, sea- 
 man, and captain of howitzer (two of the 
 best men in our ship), and marine John 
 Smith (the first man to board the schoon- 
 er, and who behaved most gallantly), 
 who was, by a sad mistake, having lost 
 his distinguishing mark, killed by one of 
 our own men. We have wounded, prob- 
 ably mortally, seaman R. Clark and E. K. 
 Osborne ; severely, nine other seamen. 
 Captain Reynolds received a severe con- 
 tusion on his shoulder, and Midshipman 
 Higginson had the end of his thumb shot 
 off. Lieutenants Russell and Blake had 
 narrow escapes, the flesh of each being 
 grazed by one or more musket balls. It 
 is not an easy task to select individual 
 instances of bravery or daring where all 
 behaved so gallantly. The officers unite 
 in giving great credit to the coolness and 
 bravery with which they were supported 
 by the men, and the latter have learned 
 to look with new pride and confidence 
 on the former. The marines, especially, 
 seemed to have sustained the reputation 
 borne by their branch of the service, as 
 they receive encomiums from all sides. 
 Assistant-Surgeon Kennedy rendered 
 valuable assistance in the care of the 
 wounded. Assistant - Engineer White 
 brought down from the cross-trees of the 
 schooner a man who had been seen to 
 fire upon the boats, killing him in- 
 stantly." 
 
 The next incident of moment at Santa 
 Rosa, was an attack of the enemy in a 
 sudden descent upon the island. Early 
 
 on the morning of the 9th of October a 
 well-planned assault from the mainland 
 was made upon the camp of Colonel Wil- 
 son's 6th regiment New York Volun- 
 teers. A body of some fifteen hundred 
 men, consisting of detachments from va- 
 rious regiments and companies of the 
 Confederates about Pensacola, in which 
 the Georgia and Mississippi riflemen 
 were well represented, crossed on the 
 night of the eighth in two steamers and 
 a barge, and at two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing were safely landed on Santa Rosa 
 Island, at a point about four miles dis- 
 tant from the fort. They were com- 
 manded by General Anderson, formerly 
 Captain of the United States Dragoons. 
 The object was to attack and destroy the 
 encampment of the volunteers, cut off 
 the retreat to the fort, spike the guns of 
 the two batteries near Pickens, and prob- 
 ably, if opportunity served, though they 
 could hardty have had much hope of 
 success in this, assail the fort itself. The 
 Zouave camp was three miles below the 
 place where the landing was made, at a 
 spot where the island was about half a 
 mile wide. Along the coast extended a 
 succession of three or four sand ridges, 
 bounding the beach on either side. The 
 ground was generally low and swampy. 
 The landing being effected, General 
 Anderson divided his force into three 
 parts one led by himself, to proceed 
 down the centre of the island, and make 
 the main attack, while the others advanced 
 along the shore to the right and left, 
 with the intention of flanking the camp 
 and cutting off the retreat of its occu- 
 pants. The advance picket was slain, 
 pierced by three balls, the Sergeant of 
 the guard met with a like fate, and the 
 remainder of the picket fled to carry the 
 alarm to the camp. It was now about 
 
ATTACK ON COLONEL WILSON'S CAMP. 
 
 611 
 
 three o'clock, and the soldiers off duty 
 were in profound slumber. The men 
 were hardly aroused when the enemy 
 were upon them. Their tents were en- 
 tered and plundered, and many of them 
 were fired. The Zouaves, however, im- 
 mediately rallied, and a skirmishing fire 
 was kept up with the invaders. The regi- 
 mental colors were carried out in safety 
 from a burning tent. Word was now 
 brought to the fort of the attack, when 
 Colonel Brown ordered the roll to be 
 beaten, manned his guns, and sent forth 
 his second in command, Major Vodges, 
 with two companies of regulars to the 
 rescue. Unhappily this officer in some 
 way became entangled with the enemy in 
 the obscurity of the night, was taken 
 prisoner, but his force was at once res- 
 cued from their position by the next in 
 command, Captain Hildt, who turned 
 them with effect upon the enemy. Mean- 
 while two more companies, sent forth 
 from the fort, under Major Arnold, came 
 up, and, the enemy retreating, continued 
 the pursuit. The Zouaves, also, assisted 
 by the officers of the fort, followed on. 
 The invading force was thus driven back 
 in fearful disorder and consequent loss 
 from the well-directed attacks of a foe 
 skillfully taking advantage of the protect- 
 ing sand hills, and familiar inequalities 
 of the ground, to their landing place, 
 where, embarking to their boats they 
 were further pursued by the rifle shots 
 of the regulars, thrown among their solid 
 masses. 
 
 " When it is considered," says Col- 
 onel Brown in his report, " that less 
 than two hundred regulars, with some 
 fifty volunteers, pursued five times their 
 number four miles and expelled them, 
 under a heavy fire from the island they 
 had desecrated, it will, I trust, be con- 
 
 sidered an evidence of their having gal- 
 lantly performed their duty. The plan 
 of attack of the enemy was judicious, 
 and, if executed with ordinary ability, 
 might have been attended with serious 
 loss ; but he failed in all save the burn- 
 ing of one-half the tents of the 6th regi- 
 ment, which being covered with bushes, 
 were very combustible, and in rifling the 
 trunks of the officers. He did not reach 
 within five hundred yards of the bat- 
 teries, the guns of which he was to spike, 
 nor within a mile of the fort he was to 
 enter pell-mell, the fugitives retreating 
 before his victorious arms. I have now 
 in my possession nine spikes taken from 
 the bodies of the dead, designed for our 
 guns." 
 
 The loss of the regulars in this af- 
 fair was four killed and twenty slightly 
 wounded, and of the Zouaves ten killed 
 and six wounded. Eight of the regulars 
 and sixteen of the volunteers were miss- 
 ing, doubtless taken prisoners. The 
 Pensacola Observer reported of the Con- 
 federates twenty-one killed, thirty-eight 
 wounded, and twenty-two prisoners. 
 Three physicians were taken prisoners 
 and released by Colonel Brown the fol- 
 lowing day. 
 
 A letter from Colonel Wilson to Gen- 
 eral Arthur^ dated Fort Pickens, October 
 14, 1861, furnishes a familiar account of 
 the attack. " On the morning of the 
 9th," he writes, "at half-past 3 o'clock 
 the enemy attacked us in three columns, 
 commencing by attacking, with small 
 parties of twenty or thirty men, every 
 sentinel. Two companies charged the 
 picket tent, the three bodies, numbering 
 in all 2,000 men, simultaneously firing 
 volleys of musketry into the hospital and 
 guard-house. We were out and formed 
 in quick time. The sentinels, the guard, 
 
612 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 and officers came running in. They had 
 fought retreating until overpowered, kill- 
 ing quite a number of them. Several of 
 our pickets were killed and wounded. 
 Private W. Scott deliberately waited 
 until one column was within ten feet of 
 him, and then shot the commanding offi- 
 cer, Captain Bradford. In an instant 
 after, we were formed, fronting, as I sup- 
 posed, the enemy. It was so dark that I 
 could not discern a man ten feet off. 
 We were fired into from three sides. I 
 had just sent out Captain Hazelton with 
 his company to the front as skirmishers, 
 and Captain Duffy, with twenty men, to 
 the left flank, to endeavor to find out the 
 whereabouts of the enemy and draw 
 their fire, when bang ! we got it from all 
 sides ! By companies and file I wheeled 
 my men into line to the left, and return- 
 ed the fire. At this moment a blaze 
 arose the tents were all on fire ; the 
 quartermaster's and commission store or 
 building was also on fire all at one time. 
 The distance from the camp to the com- 
 mission building is an eighth of a mile. 
 We could then see our enemy, for the 
 first time, in dense masses in the centre 
 of our camp, and extended along the 
 ridge. Companies were seen moving 
 along the ridges endeavoring to surround 
 us. A large body of men were also 
 drawn up fronting the camp, firing into 
 our camp and us, setting fire to every- 
 thing. We retired behind the first ridge 
 towards the sea, halted and faced the 
 enemy. I had but sixty men with me. 
 I sent out for the rest of my officers and 
 men, but could not find them. Strag- 
 glers came in and reported that Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel Creighton, Captains Hazel- 
 ton, Huberer, Hotrel, and Lieutenant 
 Silloway had retired towards the fort. 
 On hearing this, I said to my few men : 
 
 ' We will be cut off ; they are trying to 
 surround us ; we are too few to fight so 
 many ;' and they gradually, being in 
 good order, moved towards the beach on 
 to the first battery, where wo halted and 
 rested a few moments. We then, as day- 
 light appeared, inarched in chase of the 
 enemy. Until this time I heard no news 
 of my men or of the regulars. I then 
 learned from Major Towen that several 
 companies were in chase of the enemy. 
 We hurried up some seven miles, and 
 arrived a few moments too late at the 
 place where the enemy were getting 
 slaughtered by our men while they were 
 endeavoring to embark. There were 
 three steamboats and three barges. The 
 enemy lost in killed and wounded about 
 500 men. General Anderson led them 
 on. Their war-cry was : ' Death to Wil- 
 son ! No quarter to Wilson's Zouaves !' 
 Five thousand dollars was the reward 
 for him dead or alive. All our loss is 
 about twenty killed, fifteen wounded, and 
 twenty prisoners. Our new clothes are 
 all destroyed. I have lost everything I 
 had ; my men also. They burned us 
 out completely. Our papers and books 
 
 are burned They are exhibiting 
 
 my hair and head in Pensacola. The 
 reward is already claimed j also an old 
 flag which I nailed to a flag-staff on the 
 4th of July, which has been hanging 
 there ever since ; nothing left, however, 
 but the stars. The ladies have cut it up 
 in pieces and have it pinned on their 
 bosoms as a trophy. Every one in Pen- 
 sacola has my sword and uniform. I 
 must have had a large quantity of hair, 
 plenty of swords and uniforms. They 
 say if I was to be taken alive, I was to 
 be put in a cage and exhibited." Col- 
 onel Wilson's estimate of the killed and 
 wounded of the enemy differs, it will be 
 
CORRESPONDENCE OF COL. BROWN AND GEN. BRAGG. 
 
 613 
 
 observed, from that of the Confederates 
 themselves not, however, out of pro- 
 portion to the usual discrepancies in the 
 first narratives of this kind throughout 
 the war. 
 
 The day following the attack upon the 
 forces on the island, Colonel Brown his 
 thoughts evidently bent on retaliation 
 addressed the following communication 
 to General Bragg. " I observe this 
 morning,' 7 said he, " for the first time, a 
 yellow flag hoisted over a large building 
 directly in front of my batteries. I also 
 understand that officers' wives and chil- 
 dren are in the neighboring buildings. 
 I do not make war on the sick, women, 
 or children. The buildings will neces- 
 sarily be exposed to my fire should there 
 be a bombardment, and they are besides 
 subject, under this flag, to be used as a 
 protection to any of your troops that 
 may take shelter behind or before them. 
 I therefore give you this notice that 
 the sick, women, and children may be 
 removed, so that if fired on, the respon- 
 sibility may rest where it belongs." 
 
 To this the Confederate commander 
 sent the next day, the 10th, the following 
 reply : " I received late last night your 
 communication of that date with profound 
 astonishment. The building on which 
 you had, for the first time, observed the 
 yellow flag, has been well known to you 
 and to all your command, as well as to 
 the United States Navy, as the military 
 hospital of this station, and you could not 
 help knowing that it is now used for that 
 purpose. Dealing with one who had been 
 an old brother soldier of high reputation, 
 I had hoped that our intercourse and 
 conduct in the hostile attitude in which 
 we are placed would be marked by all 
 the courtesies and amenities of civilized 
 warfare. But it seems from your com- 
 
 munication that you claim the right to 
 violate the hospital flag, because it may 
 be abused. Admit this principle, and we 
 revert to a state of barbarism. The sick, 
 the women and children, and prisoners 
 must become objects of vengeance, the 
 white flag must be abolished, 'Beauty 
 and Booty/ 'Rape and Rapine,' must 
 follow in the track of a victorious com- 
 mander. I decline your invitation to 
 make these the subjects of war. Your 
 hospital flag has been, and shall be re- 
 spected. In the affair of Tuesday night, 
 your hospital, with its inmates, was in 
 our possession for at least one hour, and 
 as far as I can learn, my orders to scru- 
 pulously respect both were rigidly en- 
 forced. Our hospital and the two 
 adjacent buildings occupied by medical 
 officers will continue to be used for legit- 
 imate purposes. Nothing has or will be 
 done to attract your fire. If, under these 
 circumstances, you should put your 
 threat into execution, which would only 
 be in accordance with the acts of some 
 of your brother commanders of little ex- 
 perience in the custom of war, I shall 
 take care that the fact shall be made 
 known, that it may receive, as it will 
 deserve, the execration of the civilized 
 world." 
 
 Three days after the assault of the 
 enemy at Santa Rosa Island, a spirited 
 attack of a like desperate character was 
 made upon the blockading vessels at the 
 entrance of the Mississippi. By orders 
 of Commodore McKean, the chief officer 
 of the squadron at Pensacola, the United 
 States steamer Richmond, 14 guns, the 
 sloops-of-war Preble and Vincennes, and 
 the steam-tender Water Witch, carrying 
 a single gun, were stationed at the head 
 of the passes of the Mississippi, where 
 they were engaged in erecting a land 
 
614 
 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 battery at a point which commanded the 
 entire navigation of the river. While in 
 chis position, on a very dark night, they 
 were suddenly assailed by a formidable 
 flotilla which had been fitted out at New 
 Orleans, and was placed under the com- 
 mand of Captain Hollins, formerly an 
 officer of the United States navy, cele- 
 brated for his bombardment of Grey- 
 town, in Nicaragua. The enemy's fleets, 
 gathered at the forts above the Passes 
 waiting the opportunity for attack, con- 
 sisted of the Manassas, a completely cov- 
 ered iron-plated propeller, altered from 
 a heavy tug-boat, armed with a 64- 
 pounder Dahlgren gun and a formidable 
 projecting borer or ram ; Commodore 
 Hollins' flag-ship the steamer Calhoun. 
 with a single 24-pounder Dahlgren ; the 
 steamers Ivy, McRea, and Jackson, all 
 powerfully armed, with a supplement- 
 ary force of towboats and barges, the 
 latter laden with combustibles to be set 
 on fire and driven against the Union 
 vessels. With this preparation the at- 
 tack was made. It is thus described by 
 flag-officer Captain John Pope, whose 
 vessel, the Eichmond, was first assailed. 
 "At 3:45 A. M., October 12, 1861," 
 says he, in his report to Commodore 
 McKean the day after the affair, " while 
 the watch on deck were employed in 
 taking coal from the schooner Joseph H. 
 Toone, a ram was discovered in close 
 proximity to this ship. By the time the 
 alarm could be given, she had struck the 
 ship abreast of the port fore channels, 
 tearing the schooner from her fasts and 
 forcing a hole through the ship's side. 
 Passing aft, the ram endeavored to 
 effect a breach in the stern, but failed. 
 Three planks on the ship's side were 
 stove in about two feet below the water- 
 line, making a hole about five inches in 
 
 circumference. At the first alarm the 
 crew promptly and coolly repaired to 
 their quarters, and as the ram passed 
 abreast of the ship, the entire port bat- 
 tery was discharged at her, with what 
 effect it is impossible to discover, owing 
 to the darkness. A red light was shown 
 as a signal of ' danger, 7 and the squadron 
 was under way in a very few minutes, 
 having slipped the cables. I ordered the 
 Preble and Vincennes to proceed down 
 the South-west Pass, while I covered 
 their retreat, which they did at 4:50 A.M. 
 At this time three large fire-rafts, stretch- 
 ing across the river, were rapidly near- 
 ing us, while several large steamers and 
 a bark-rigged propeller were seen astern 
 of them. The squadron proceeded down 
 the river in the following order : 1 . Pre- 
 ble ; 2. Yincennes ; 3. Richmond ; 4. 
 Water Witch, with the- prize schooner 
 Frolic in tow. When abreast of the 
 Pilot Settlement, the pilot informed me 
 that he did not consider it safe to ven- 
 ture to turn this ship in the river, but 
 that he believed he could pass over the 
 bar. I accordingly attempted to cross 
 over the bar with the squadron, but in 
 the passage the Yincennes and the Rich- 
 mond grounded, while the Preble went 
 over clear. This occurred about 8 
 o'clock, and the enemy, who were now 
 down the river with five steamers, com- 
 menced firing at us, while we returned 
 the fire from our port battery and rifled 
 gun on the poop, our shot, however, fall- 
 ing short of the enemy, while their shell 
 burst on all sides of us, and several pass- 
 ed directly over the ship. At 9:30 com- 
 mander Handy of the Yincennes, mistak- 
 ing my signal to the ships outside the 
 bar to 'get under way,' for a signal to 
 him to 'abandon his ship,' came on 
 board the Richmond with all his officers 
 
CAPTAIN HOLLINS' ATTACK ON THE FLEET. 
 
 615 
 
 and a large number of his crew, the re- 
 mainder having gone on board the Water 
 Witch. Captain Handy, before leaving 
 his ship, had placed a lighted slow-match 
 at the magazine. Having waited a rea- 
 sonable time for an explosion, I directed 
 Captain Handy to return to his ship with 
 his crew, to start the water, and if neces- 
 sary, at his own request, to throw over- 
 board his small guns for the purpose of 
 lightening his ship, and to carry off his 
 kedge with a cable to heave off by. At 
 10 A. M. 'the enemy ceased firing and 
 withdrew up the river. During the en- 
 gagement a shell entered our port quar- 
 ter port, and one of the boats was stove 
 by another shell." 
 
 The ram also sunk one of the large 
 cutters of the Richmond, and a shot from 
 the enemy stove the gig. The coal 
 schooner fell into the hands of the enemy. 
 The damage to the side of the Richmond 
 was at once temporarily repaired. Hap- 
 pily for her further relief and protection, 
 the army transport McClellan, bringing 
 several rifle guns and a supply of ammu- 
 nition from Fort Pickens for the ship, 
 came up early in the afternoon. These 
 reinforcements were received on board, 
 when the McClellan gave her assistance 
 to get the Richmond off the bar. This 
 was successfully accomplished on the 
 morning of the 13th, and the afternoon 
 of the same day the Yincennes, the guns 
 of which had been thrown overboard on 
 Commander Handy's return to the ship, 
 was also got afloat, when the entire fleet 
 was carried without further injury down 
 the Pass. Not a single life was lost from 
 the rebel attack. 
 
 The first report of this affair reached 
 4he North by way of Richmond, in the 
 following despatch from the Confederate 
 commander : " Fort Jackson, October 
 
 12, 1861. Last night I attacked the 
 blockaders with my little fleet. I suc- 
 ceeded, after a very short struggle, in 
 driving them all aground on the South- 
 west Pass bar, except the Preble, which 
 I sunk. I captured a prize from them, 
 and after they were fast in the sand, I 
 peppered them well. There were no 
 casualties on our side. It was a com- 
 plete success. HOLLINS." This was 
 much commented upon at the time in the 
 newspapers for its alleged exaggeration, 
 and the phrase "peppered them well" 
 passed into the slang currency of the 
 day, but a knowledge of the whole affair 
 showed that Captain Hollins, in spite of 
 his false impression concerning the Pre- 
 ble had some ground for exultation. His 
 attack, as the precursor of the memorable 
 career of the Virginia or Merrimac, is 
 of historic interest, while as a surprise 
 his movement was daring, and to a cer- 
 tain extent successful, at least in inflict- 
 ing considerable damage, and in break- 
 ing up for a time the occupation of the 
 river by a land battery, though, as ap- 
 pears from the following interesting nar- 
 rative of the affair, published in the New 
 Orleans Crescent, the Manassas by no 
 means escaped without injury. 
 
 " On Friday night, the llth October, 
 about 12 o'clock," says this writer, "the 
 little fleet left the forts in the following 
 order : The Manassas leading the way, 
 with orders to go right in among the 
 fleet, and run down the first vessel she 
 could get at, sending up a rocket at the 
 instant she made an attack. Then came 
 the Tuscarora and the tow-boat Watson, 
 with the five barges in tow ; these had 
 orders to set fire to the barges the mo- 
 ment they saw the rocket from the Man- 
 assas, After these were the Calhoun, 
 Ivy, McRae, and Jackson. The last was 
 
616 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 the launch, bringing up the rear. The 
 tow-boat Watson was under the com- 
 mand of Lieutenant Aylette. The night 
 was intensely dark, and it was almost 
 impossible to see twenty yards ahead. 
 The Manassas put on a heavy head of 
 steam and dashed on in the direction 
 where it was thought the enemy were 
 lying. Suddenly a large ship was dis- 
 covered only about a length ahead, and 
 before Lieutenant Warley could have 
 time to fire the signal rocket, into her 
 they went with an awful crash. An ap- 
 palling shriek was heard on board of the 
 doomed ship, and the iron steamer was 
 borne off by the current, and found her- 
 self in the midst of the enemy's fleet. 
 The signal rocket was fired, the enemy 
 beat to quarters, and a perfect storm of 
 iron hail was falling upon and around the 
 Manassas, the machinery of which it was 
 soon discovered by the commander, had 
 in some manner become deranged. This 
 was most inopportune and perilous ; and 
 the Richmond, soon observing that some- 
 thing was wrong, began playing upon her 
 with all the power of her guns. Lieuten- 
 ant Warley found that only one engine 
 would work, and with that he began 
 working his way out of reach toward 
 shore ; but the shot fell thick and fast 
 around and upon the ' old turtle,' and 
 her fate seemed hanging on a hair, when 
 the brave little Tuscarora and the Wat- 
 son came up with five barges on fire, 
 and soon cut them adrift on the stream. 
 Commodore Hollins did not know what 
 had been the result of the firing, neither 
 did the rest of the commanding officers. 
 It was too dark to make observations, and 
 he did not wish to risk signals. So day- 
 light was waited for impatiently. It 
 came at last, and presented the following 
 picture : The enemy, some miles down, 
 
 heeling it for the open sea by way of 
 the South-west Pass, with one of their 
 ships sunk on the middle ground. The 
 Manassas close in shore, among the wil- 
 lows, concealed as well as possible ; the 
 Watson and the Tuscarora aground on 
 the bank not far off. The Tuscarora was 
 soon pulled off by the rest, and the fleet 
 commenced a pursuit of the retreating 
 enemy. They soon came within range, 
 and a heavy cannonade began. The 
 sunken ship seemed to be in a very bad 
 fix, as she was nearly on her beam ends. 
 The Richmond drew up on the outside 
 and protected her with her full broad- 
 sMe. The other vessels of the enemy 
 soon u;ot aground, but near by, and in a 
 great measure protected by the Rich- 
 mond's guns. Our fleet pitched shot and 
 shell into them with vengeance, and our 
 informant tells us that "he saw at least 
 two shots hit the Richmond which were 
 fired from the Tuscarora, and two or 
 three from the Ivy. The shots from 
 the Yankees were all badly aimed, and 
 not one touched any of our vessels, 
 though over five hundred passed all 
 around them. After continuing the can- 
 nonade until about eight o'clock, Commo- 
 dore Hollins concluded that the sport did 
 not pay for the powder, and feeling that 
 he had won glory enough for one day, 
 and that the enemy were in a fix thaf it 
 would take them some time to get out of, 
 he ordered his fleet back to town. The 
 Manassas struck the vessel she ran into 
 near the bow, and cut into her upwards 
 of twenty feet, if we may judge from the 
 fact that splinters, copper and nails were 
 found in the cracks of the iron on her 
 sides to^ at least that distance. She 
 drew off from the collision without trou- 
 ble, though she undoubtedly twisted her 
 prow badly when swayed to one side by 
 
BOMBARDMENT OF THE FORTS AT PENSACOLA. 
 
 617 
 
 the current, for it was found broken and 
 bent to one side. The balls which struck 
 her bounded off without effecting any 
 damage, except in one case, when a ball 
 hit on the bluff of the bow and made an 
 ugly, though not serious, dent in the 
 iron. It is said that the balls from the 
 Richmond's broadside fell upon her like 
 hail upon a house-top for a while, but to- 
 day nothing of this can be seen excepting 
 the dent above mentioned. The accident 
 which happened to her machinery disa- 
 bled her propeller, and she was, conse- 
 quently, almost unmanageable, yet it was 
 not of a nature to require more than a 
 day or two to repair. She went into 
 dock yesterday afternoon at Algiers. If 
 that accident had not occurred, she un- 
 doubtedly would have sunk the whole of 
 the enemy's fleet." 
 
 To return to the harbor of Pensacola. 
 The defiance of the enemy in the attack 
 upon Santa Rosa Island, with the pros- 
 pect of its being repeated if opportunit}' 
 should offer, determined Colonel Brown 
 to break his long-enforced silence, and 
 if possible, administer a lesson to the as- 
 sailants which would make them chary 
 of such projects in the future. The reso- 
 lute old soldier burned to avenge the in- 
 sult to his flag. "That Fort Pickens," 
 he wrote to the War Department at 
 Washington, " has been beleaguered by 
 the rebels for the last nine months, and 
 that it was daily threatened with the fate 
 of Sumter, is a fact notorious to the 
 whole world. Since its occupancy by 
 Lieutenant Slemmer the rebels have 
 been surrounding it with batteries, and 
 daily arming them with the heaviest and 
 most efficient guns known to our service 
 guns stolen from the United States 
 until they considered this fort as virtually 
 their own, its occupancy being only a 
 78 
 
 question of time. I have been m com- 
 mand since the 16th of April, and dur 
 ing the whole of that time their force has 
 averaged, so far as I can learn, from 
 eight to ten times the number of mine. 
 The position in which I have thus been 
 placed has been sufficiently trying, and 
 I have at three separate times intended 
 to free myself from it by opening my 
 batteries on them, but imperious circum- 
 stances, over which I had no control, 
 have unexpectedly in each instance pre- 
 vented." * At length he resolved upon 
 action. Having taken council with the 
 flag-officer of the squadron off the har- 
 bor, Commodore McKean, and finding 
 him of the same mind in the matter, it 
 was determined, with the aid of the ships 
 at the station, to open fire from the fort 
 on the morning of the 22d of November. 
 The vessels thus called into the service 
 were the flag-ship, the steam frigate Ni- 
 agara and the sloop of war Richmond, 
 which had of late been engaged in the 
 night attack of the Confederate Captain 
 Hollins on the Mississippi. Two steam- 
 ers, it seems, were in the habit of plying 
 between Pensacola and the Navy Yard, 
 bringing down supplies to the latter 
 place, and when these had made their 
 appearance as usual at the yard, Colonel 
 Brown, a few minutes before ten on the 
 day appointed, fired his first gun, a sig- 
 nal for the ships to come into action. 
 They quickly obeyed the summons, and 
 in a short time the engagement was gen- 
 eral. The line of forts and batteries to 
 which Fort Pickens and the ships were 
 now opposed extended four miles round 
 the bay from the Navy Yard, on the 
 north-east, to fort McRae on the south- 
 west. Central to their semi-circular out- 
 line, at a distance from the several works 
 
 * Dispatch, Fort Pickens, November 25, 1861. 
 
618 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 varying from two thousand one hundred 
 to two thousand nine hundred yards, at 
 the extremity of Santa Rosa Island stood 
 Fort Pickens. Supposing the outline of 
 the hostile batteries to be that of a bent 
 bow, Pickens was at the apex of the 
 string to which the archer draws his ar- 
 row. On that arc, on the enemy's ground, 
 were now erected, beside the old works 
 of Forts Barrancas and McCrea, no less 
 than fourteen separate batteries, mount- 
 ing from one to four guns each, many 
 of them ten-inch columbiads, and some 
 twelve and thirteen-inch sea-coast mor- 
 tars. These powerful fortifications were 
 defended by some eight thousand men, 
 while Captain Brown had under his com- 
 mand at Fort Pickens but one-sixth of 
 that number. The story of the engage- 
 ment which ensued is best told in the 
 official report of Captain Brown to the 
 Department, dated on the 25th, two 
 days after the action. " At the same 
 time of my opening," he writes, " Flag- 
 Officer McKean, in the Niagara, and 
 Captain Elliston in the Richmond, took 
 position as near to Fort McRae as the 
 depth of the water would permit, but 
 which, unfortunately, was not sufficiently 
 deep to give full effect to their powerful 
 batteries. They, however, kept up a 
 spirited fire on the fort and adjacent 
 batteries during the whole day. My fire 
 was incessant from the time of opening 
 until it was too dark to see, at the rate 
 of a shot for each gun every fifteen or 
 twenty minutes, the fire of the enemy 
 being somewhat slower. By noon the 
 guns of Fort McRae were all silenced but 
 one, and three hours before sunset this 
 fort and the adjoining battery ceased 
 fire. I directed the guns of batteries 
 Lincoln, Cameron and Totten principally 
 on the batteries adjacent to the Navy 
 
 Yard those of battery Scott to Fort 
 McRae and the lighthouse batteries, and 
 those of the fort to all. We reduced 
 very perceptibly the fire of Barrancas, 
 entirely silenced that in the Navy Yard, 
 and in one or two of the other batteries 
 the efficiency of our fire, at the close of 
 the day not being the least impaired. 
 The next morning I again opened about 
 the same hour, the navy, unfortunately, 
 owing to a reduction in the depth of 
 water, caused by a change of wind, not 
 being able to get so near as yesterday, 
 consequently the distance was too great 
 to be effectual. My fire this day was 
 less rapid, and, I think, more efficient 
 than that of yesterday. Fort McRae, so 
 effectually silenced yesterday, did not 
 fire again to-day. We silenced entirely 
 one or two guns, and had one of ours 
 disabled by a shot coming through the 
 embrasure. About 3 o'clock fire was 
 communicated to one of the houses in 
 Warrington, and shortly afterwards to 
 the church steeple, the church and the 
 whole village being immediately in rear 
 of some of the rebel batteries, they ap- 
 parently having placed them purposely 
 directly in front of the largest and most 
 valuable buildings. The fire rapidly 
 communicated to other buildings along 
 the street until probably two-thirds of 
 it was consumed ; and about the same 
 time fire was discovered issuing from the 
 back part of the Navy yard, probably in 
 Wolcott, a village to the north and im- 
 mediately adjoining the yard, as War- 
 rington does on the west. Finally it 
 penetrated to the yard, and as it con- 
 tinued to burn brightly all night, I con- 
 cluded that either in it or in Wolcott 
 many buildings were destroyed. Yery 
 heavy damage was done also to the 
 buildings of the yard by the avalanche 
 
ACTION OF THE FLEET. 
 
 619 
 
 of shot, shell and splinters showered un- 
 ceasingly on them for two days, and be- 
 ing nearly fire-proof, being built of 
 brick and covered with slate, I could 
 not succeed in firing them, my hot shot 
 nor shells not having any power of 
 igniting them. The steamer Time, which 
 was at the wharf at the time, was aban- 
 doned on the first day and exposed to 
 our fire, which probably entirely dis- 
 abled her. The fire was again continued 
 till dark, and with mortars occasionally, 
 until 2 o'clock the next morning, when 
 the combat ceased. This fort, at its 
 conclusion, though it has received a great 
 many shot and shell, is, in every respect, 
 save the disabling of one gun carriage 
 and the loss of service of six men, as 
 efficient as it was at the commencement 
 of the combat ; but the ends I proposed 
 in commencing having been attained, 
 except one, which I find to be impracti- 
 cable with my present means, I do not 
 deem advisable further to continue it 
 unless the enemy think proper to do so, 
 when I shall meet him with alacrity. 
 The attack on ' Billy Wilson's' camp, the 
 attempted attack on my batteries, and 
 the insult to our glorious flag have been 
 fully and fearfully avenged. I have no 
 means of knowing the loss of the enemy, 
 and have no disposition to guess at it. 
 The firing on his batteries was very 
 heavy, well-directed and continuous for 
 two days, and could hardly fail of hav- 
 ing important results. Our loss would 
 have been heavy but for the foresight 
 which, with great labor, caused us to 
 erect elaborate means of protection, and 
 which saved many lives. I lost one pri- 
 vate killed, one sergeant, one corporal 
 and four men (privates) wounded, only 
 one severely." 
 
 To this light bill of casualties, unhap- 
 
 pily, was added a disaster, one of many 
 such, growing out of carelessness or in- 
 experience during the war, in the ex- 
 plosion of a shell after the bombardment 
 had terminated. To prevent such an 
 accident Colonel Brown had ordered all 
 the shot and shell of the enemy to be 
 collected, and as this was being done the 
 thing happened which he was endeavor- 
 ing to avoid. One of the men was reck- 
 lessly bent upon emptying one shell by 
 knocking it against another, when the 
 concussion produced an explosion. It 
 was in the midst of a crowd, and five 
 men were instantly killed and seven 
 wounded. The fatal result of this acci- 
 dent showed how carefully the com- 
 mander had shielded his men during the 
 action from the effect of these death- 
 dealing missives. 
 
 The Niagara was employed both days 
 in the bombardment, but necessarily, 
 from the shallow water, at such long 
 range that her guns, though by no means 
 ineffective, were unable to accomplish as 
 much as might have been expected from 
 the laborious and skillful handling of her 
 picked crew. An 84-pound rifle which 
 she carried, however, told with good 
 effect. The enemy had more powerful 
 guns, the shots from which passed be- 
 yond the ship, and in two instances 
 penetrated her side. Not a man, how- 
 ever, was injured. The companion of 
 the Niagara, the Richmond, was less for- 
 tunate. As her draft was lighter, she 
 was enabled to approach nearer the 
 shore. Whilst receiving the fire of one 
 of the batteries, the captain of one of her 
 guns was killed at his post in the act of 
 firing, and seven men wounded by the 
 same discharge. This happened the first 
 day, and being also seriously disabled 
 by a shot at the water-line, she was not 
 
620 
 
 WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 again in the action. A vast quantity of 
 ammunition was expended in this affair. 
 The Niagara fired two hundred and 
 twenty-five shell, a number of which 
 were loaded with sand for breaching the 
 fort. A passage from a letter of one of 
 the officers will give the reader an idea 
 of the scene on board this noble ship 
 during the engagement. He is reciting 
 the incidents of the second day: "All 
 hands had a good warm breakfast, at 
 9 o'clock we went to prayers. At half- 
 past nine signals were made to Fort 
 Pickens, and at ten we weighed anchor, 
 and steamed in nearly to our position. 
 As soon as we approached the new bat- 
 tery in the wood disclosed itself, and 
 although it burst shell very near us it 
 could not do us much harm. The other 
 battery in the wood now consists of two 
 pieces. Fort Pickens opened fire a 
 little after ten. We came to anchor at 
 forty minutes past ten, and fired the 
 first gun at a quarter to eleven. At this 
 time all the batteries were hard at work. 
 There were between forty and fifty guns 
 playing into Fort Pickens. As we ex- 
 pected, masked batteries had disclosed 
 themselves all along the beach. Our 
 firing was very slow, owing to our in- 
 ability to reach them, except with the 
 rifled gun. The wind, which was quite 
 strong, was directly against us, and very 
 much in favor of the rebels. The charges 
 of powder were increased from fifteen to 
 seventeen pounds, arid still our shots fell 
 short. About a dozen of their shell ex- 
 ploded quite near enough for comfort. 
 The men took matters quite coolly. 
 The commodore, in his address in the 
 morning, told them he did not want so 
 
 many lookers-on to be on deck. Said 
 he, ' one watch go below and sleep and 
 be ready to relieve the other when 
 wanted.' As I passed along the birth- 
 deck I saw many of them stretched out 
 fast asleep, and not a few playing back- 
 gammon and checkers. 
 
 " Finding that all our shots fell short, 
 we weighed anchor at half-past two, and 
 moved in a little closer. Hardly had 
 we dropped it before a shot went whiz- 
 zing in between our smoke pipes and fell 
 in the water half a mile the other side 
 of us. Immediately there came another 
 and then another, and while they came 
 thick and fast, our guns returned the 
 compliment. But it was no use ; our 
 shot all fell short. The wind was too 
 strong and our ship was dangerously 
 near the bottom. The charges of pow- 
 der were increased to twenty pounds, 
 five more than the regular charge, and 
 finding that that did us no good, we 
 weighed anchor and stood out. Even 
 after we had moved out a long distance 
 several of the shots of this new gun 
 carne directly over our quarter. It 
 could have been no other than a ten- 
 inch columbiad, or else one of the rifled 
 one hundred and twenty-pounders, said 
 to have been brought over by the 
 Bermuda. One of our men says he 
 could hear it say, 'secesh, secesh, se- 
 cesh sechong !' as it landed in the 
 water. Had one of the secesh villains 
 hit us it would have bored us through 
 and through. We got out of their 
 range at last, and then we had the 
 satisfaction of watching the grand con- 
 flagration." * 
 
 * Correspondence Providence Evening Press. Dec. 12, 1861 
 
F