John G. Nicolay, The Outbreak of Rebellion

[101] committee formal notice that he would not thereafter again interfere to change mere military details. This order was, at the time, the occasion of much outcry against the President from excited critics who totally misapprehended its scope and spirit. It simply changed a dangerous, perhaps impossible march, to one practicable and comparatively secure; it did not surrender a general right, but only yielded a non-essential point to gain a real military advantage for Washington.

The burning of the railroad bridges east and north of Baltimore had permanently interrupted communication before daylight, on the morning of Saturday, April 20th; on Sunday night, April 21st, the insurrectionary authorities in the same place took possession of the telegraph offices and wires, and Washington went into the condition of an isolated and blockaded city. Both from the Virginia and the Maryland side there came exaggerated rumors of gathering hostile forces, and preparations for a coup de main against the capital; and, though not actually or visibly threatened, the city was in the very nature of things forced into the privations and inconveniences of a siege. Military arrangements and military regulations became everywhere the rule. The public buildings were hedged with barricades and guarded by sentinels. The little steamers on the Potomac, and the stores of flour and grain in the Georgetown mills wore seized by the Government. Squads of cavalry dashed through the streets. Business practically ceased; the life and bustle of the city was hushed. Mere sojourners, and even many residents, took alarm, and hurried away by private conveyance. The hotels, which had a week before been thronged to overflowing, became deserted, or were haunted by only a few mute and white-faced guests, who looked like apparitions in contrast with their recent gayety.