William Schouler, A history of Massachusetts in the Civil War: Volume 1

[286] the State, and raised by direct taxation upon the property in the Commonwealth. Upwards of half a million of dollars had been expended in the purchase of Enfield rifles, and about twenty-four thousand dollars for English infantry equipments. Five thousand more Enfield rifles had been contracted for in England; but the English Government had placed an interdict against the export of arms and munitions of war to this country, which prevented, for a time, the completion of the contract. The Governor also referred, at considerable length, to the coast defences of Massachusetts, and the exertions which he had made to have them placed in proper condition.

Next to the harbor defences of Boston in importance was the harbor of Provincetown, at the end of Cape Cod, which was accessible in all weathers without a pilot, with excellent anchorage, in which whole navies might ride in safety. It was best adapted to be the base of naval operations. It was utterly undefended, and could easily be taken from us by the enemy. The Governor, in referring to other matters, not of a military character, speaks of the national cause; and as the result of the war, which is but the revolt of slavery, he regards its ultimate extinction as inevitable. ‘Yet I mean, as I have done since the beginning of secession, to continue to school myself to silence; nor can I suspect that my opinions can be misconceived; nor do I believe that the faith of Massachusetts can be mistaken or misinterpreted.’

The only question which he could entertain is what to do, and, when that was answered, is what next to do; ‘for by deeds, and not by words, is this people to accomplish their salvation.’ The great rebellion was to be put down, and its promoters crushed beneath the ruins of their own ambition; and now, he says,—

When the beauty of their Israel has been slain in our high places, and when her Lee and Revere, Rockwood and Bowman, lie in felon's cells, and hundreds of her sons wear out their hearts in sad captivity,—victims of their valor, and devotion to our Union,—one irrepressible impulse moves our people, and inspires our people in the field; one prayer to see the day when an army of loyal Americans shall hammer at the doors of their prison-houses, and with both hands