Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1.

[382]

Chapter 16: Secession of Virginia and North Carolina declared.--seizure of Harper's Ferry and Gosport Navy Yard.--the first troops in Washington for its defense.

• A. H. Stephens in the Virginia Convention, 382.
-- military league with the conspirators at Montgomery, 383. -- the people at an election awed by bayonets -- Senator Mason's letter, 384. -- North Carolina ruled by usurpers -- Ordinance of Secession adopted, 385. -- seizure of the Arsenal at Fayetteville -- mischievous work begins in Tennessee, 386. -- Tennessee leagued with the “Confederacy,” 387. -- usurpation and fraud in Tennessee, 388. -- designs against Harper's Ferry, 390. -- destruction at Harper's Ferry, 391. -- the Navy Yard and vessels at Gosport, 392. -- effect of treachery and weakness, 394. -- Admiral Paulding -- stormy [11] events at Norfolk, 395. -- burning of the Gosport Navy Yard, 396. -- advantages gained by the insurgents, 398. -- false pretenses of the conspirators, 399. -- secessionists in Washington, 400. -- Massachusetts troops called for, 401. -- response of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 402. -- arming in Connecticut and New Jersey, 403. -- Pennsylvanians marching for the Capital, 404. -- riotous movements in Baltimore, 405. -- the first defenders of the Capital, 406.

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The reception of Alexander H. Stephens by the Convention of Virginia politicians, the authorities of the State, and the excited populace in Richmond, gave him instant assurances of the success of his mission. He saw the “Confederate flag” waving everywhere, and heard no complaint because of the usurpation. He perceived that in Virginia, as in the Gulf States, the heel of the usurper was firmly planted on the necks of the loyal people, and that despotism was substantially triumphant. His soul was filled with gladness, and he addressed the Virginians with the eloquence and earnestness of a man whose heart was in his work. “The fires of patriotism,” he said, “I have seen blazing brightly all along my track, from Montgomery to the very gates of your city, and they are enkindling here with greater brilliancy and fervor. That constitutional liberty which we vainly sought for while in the old Union, we have found, and fully enjoy in our new one. . . . What had you, the friends of liberty, to hope for while under Lincoln? Nothing. Beginning in usurpation, where will he end? He will quit Washington as ignominiously as he entered it, and God's will will have been accomplished. Madness and folly rule at Washington, but Providence is with us, and will bless us to the end. The people of Virginia and the States of the South are one in interest, in feeling, in institutions, and in hope; and why should they not be one in Government? Every son of the South, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, should rally beneath the same banner. The conflict may be terrible, but the victory will be ours. It remains for you to say whether you will share our triumphs.” ¹

Stephens, as we have observed, was in Richmond for the purpose of negotiating a treaty for the admission of Virginia into the “Southern Confederacy.” The Convention appointed Ex-President John Tyler, William Ballard Preston, S. McD. Moore; James P. Holcombe, James C. Bruce, and Lewis E. Harvie, Commissioners to treat with him. They entered upon the business at once, and on the 24th of April agreed to and signed a “Convention [383] between the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Confederate States of America,” which provided that, until the union of Virginia with the league should be perfected, “the whole military force and military operations, offensive and defensive, of said Commonwealth, in the impending conflict with the United States,” should be under the chief control and direction of Jefferson Davis. So eager were the Virginia conspirators to “perfect the Union,” that on the following day,

April 25, 1861.

the Convention, appealing to the Searcher of all hearts for the rectitude of their conduct, passed an ordinance ratifying the treaty, and adopting and ratifying the

Signatures of the Commissioners.2

Provisional Constitution of the Montgomery League.³ They proceeded to appoint delegates to the Confederate Congress that was to assemble on the 29th;

April.

authorized the banks of the State to suspend specie payments; made provision for the establishment of a navy for Virginia, and for enlistments for the State army, and adopted other measures preparatory for war. They also invited Jefferson Davis and his confederates to make Richmond their Headquarters. The so-called annexation of the Commonwealth to the “Confederacy” was officially proclaimed [384] by Governor Letcher; and the “Mother of States,” the “Mother of Presidents,” and equally the Mother of Disunion, was forced into the position of an important member of the league against the Republic. Eastern and Northern Virginia soon became the theater of great battles, fought by immense armies, at various times during the war that ensued.

When the time approached for the people of Virginia to vote on the Ordinance of Secession, in accordance with its own provisions, Senator James M. Mason, one of the most malignant and unscrupulous of the conspirators, addressed a letter to them from his home near Winchester, in which, after saying that the Ordinance “withdrew the State of Virginia from the Union, with all the consequences resulting from the separation,” annulling “all the Constitution and laws of the United States within its limits,” and absolving “its citizens from all obligations or obedience to them,” he declared that

James M. Mason.

a rejection of the Ordinance by the people would reverse all this, and that Virginia would be compelled to fight under the banner of the Republic, in violation of the sacred pledge made to the “Confederate States,” in the treaty or “Military league” of the 25th of April. He then said:--“If it be asked, What are those to do who, in their conscience, 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; and if they retain such opinions, they must leave the State.” ⁴ The answer was, indeed, “simple and plain,” and in exact accordance with the true spirit of the conspirators, expressed by their chosen leader:--“All who oppose us shall smell Southern powder and feel Southern steel.” Submission or banishment was the alternative offered by Mason, in the name of traitors in power, to Virginians who were true to the principles of the Father of his Country, whose remains were resting within the bosom of their State, and to the old flag under which the independence of their common country had been achieved. He well knew that his words would be received as expressions of the views of the usurpers at Richmond, and that thousands of citizens would thereby be kept from the polls, for in Virginia the votes were given openly, and not by secret ballot, as in other States.

Mason's infamous suggestion was followed by coincident action. Troops had been for some time pouring into Virginia from the more Southern States, and the vote on the Ordinance of Secession was taken toward the close of May,

May 23, 1861.

in the midst of bayonets thirsting for the blood of Union men. Terror was then reigning all over Eastern Virginia. Unionists were hunted like wild beasts, and compelled to fly from [385] their State to save their lives; and by these means the conspirators were enabled to report a vote of one hundred and twenty-five thousand nine hundred and fifty for secession, and only twenty thousand three hundred and seventy-three against it. This did not include the vote in Northwestern Virginia, where the people had rallied around their true representatives in the Convention, and defied the conspirators and all their power. They had already placed themselves boldly and firmly upon earnest professions of loyalty to the Union, and in Convention assembled at Wheeling, ten days before the voting, they had planted, as we shall observe hereafter, the vigorous germ of a new Free-labor Commonwealth.

The conservative State of North Carolina, lying between Virginia and the more Southern States, could not long remain neutral. Her disloyal politicians, with Governor Ellis at their head, were active and unscrupulous. We have already observed their efforts to array the State against the National Government, and the decided condemnation of their schemes by the people.⁵ Now, taking advantage of the excitement caused by the attack on Fort Sumter, and the call of the President for troops, they renewed their wicked efforts, and with better success. Ellis issued a proclamation,

February 17, 1861.

calling an extraordinary session of the Legislature on the 1st of May, in which he shamelessly declared that the President was preparing for the “subjugation of the entire South, and the conversion of a free republic, inherited from their fathers, into a military despotism, to be established by worse than foreign enemies, on the ruins of the once glorious Constitution of Equal Rights.” With equal mendacity, the disloyal politicians throughout the State stirred up the people by making them believe that they were about to be deprived of their liberties by a military despotism at Washington. Excited, bewildered, and alarmed, they became, in a degree, passive instruments in the hands of men like Senator Clingman and others of his party. The Legislature acted under the same malign influences. It authorized a convention to consider the subject of the secession of the State, and ordered an election of delegates therefor, to be held on the 13th of May. It gave the Governor authority to raise ten thousand men, and appropriated five millions of dollars for the use of the State. It empowered the treasurer to issue notes to the amount of five hundred thousand dollars, in denominations as low as three cents; and by act defined treason to be the levying of war against the State, adhering to its enemies in establishing a government within the State without the consent of the Legislature, and in holding or executing any office in such government.

The Convention assembled on the 20th of May, the anniversary of the “Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence,” ⁶ and on the same day an Ordinance of Secession was adopted by a unanimous vote. In the mean time the Governor had issued an order for the enrollment of thirty thousand [386] minute-men, and the forces of the State had seized, for the second time, the National forts on the sea-coast;⁷ also the Mint at Charlotte,

April 20, 2861.

and the Government Arsenal at Fayetteville,

April 23.

in which were thirty-seven thousand stand of arms, three thousand kegs of gunpowder, and an immense amount of munitions of war. Within three weeks

Arsenal at Fayetteville, North Carolina.

after the passage of the Ordinance of Secession, there were not less than twenty thousand North Carolina volunteers under arms. They adopted a flag which was composed of the colors red, white, and blue, differently arranged from those in the National flag.⁸

North Carolina flag

The Governor of Tennessee (Harris) and a disloyal majority of the Legislature now commenced the work of infinite mischief to the people of their State. Harris called the Legislature together on the 25th of April, and delivered to that body a message, in which he strongly urged the necessity for the immediate secession of the State. Remembering that less than eighty days before

February 9, 1861.

the people had declared in favor of the Union by sixty-five thousand majority, he was unwilling to trust the question of secession to them now. He argued, that at the opening of a revolution so vitally important, there was no propriety in wasting the time required to ascertain the will of the people by calling a convention, when the Legislature had the power to submit an ordinance of secession to [387] them without “encumbering them with the election of delegates.” He accordingly recommended the Legislature to adopt such an ordinance at once, and call upon the people to vote upon it speedily.

A few days after the Governor's message was submitted to the Legislature, Henry W. Hilliard, a leading member of the “Methodist Church South,” appeared before that body

April 30, 1861.

as a commissioner of Jefferson Davis and his confederates, clothed by them with authority to negotiate a treaty of alliance between the State of Tennessee and the “Confederate States of America,” similar to that already completed between the Virginia politicians and the conspirators at Montgomery. He was allowed to submit his views to the Legislature. He regarded the question at issue “between the North and the South” as one “of constitutional liberty, involving the right of the people to govern themselves.” He believed there was not a true-hearted man in the South who would not rather die than submit to “the Abolition North.” The idea of reconstruction must be utterly abandoned. They would never think of “going back to their enemies.” He considered the system of government founded on Slavery, which had been established at Montgomery, as the only permanent form of government that could be maintained in America. His views were warmly supported by some prominent Tennesseans. Ex-Governor Neil S. Brown, in a letter published at about that time, expressed his belief that it was “the settled policy of the Administration” and of “the whole North, to wage a war of extermination against the South,” and urged the people to arm themselves, as the Border States, he believed, would be the battleground. Ex-Congressman Felix R. Zollicoffer declared that Tennessee was “already involved in war,” and said, “We cannot stand neutral and see our Southern brothers butchered.”

On the 1st of May the Legislature authorized the Governor to enter into a military league with the “Confederate States,” by which the whole military rule of the Commonwealth should be subjected to the will of Davis. He appointed Gustavus A. Henry, Archibald O. W. Totten, and Washington Barrow as commissioners for the purpose. They and Mr. Hilliard negotiated a treaty, and on the 7th

May.

the Governor announced to the Legislature the conclusion of the business, and submitted to it a copy of the “Convention.” By it Davis and his confederates were authorized to exercise absolute military control in Tennessee until that Commonwealth should become a member of the “Confederacy” by ratifying its permanent constitution. The vote on the treaty in the Senate was fourteen ayes to six noes, and in the lower House, forty-two ayes to fifteen noes. Eighteen of the members, chiefly from East Tennessee, were absent or did not vote.⁹ [388]

The Legislature, in the mean time, had passed an act, to submit to a vote of the people a “Declaration of Independence, and an Ordinance dissolving the Federal Relations between the State of Tennessee and the United States of America ;” and also an Ordinance for the adoption of the Constitution of the “Provisional Government of the Confederate States.” ¹⁰ The Governor was empowered to raise fifty-five thousand volunteers “for the defense of the State,” and, if it should become necessary, to call out the whole available military strength of the Commonwealth, to be under the absolute control of the Governor. He was also authorized to issue the bonds of the State to the amount of five millions of dollars, to run ten years and bear an annual interest of eight per cent. Thus the purse and the sword of the violated Commonwealth were placed in the hands of its bitterest enemy, and before the day had arrived on which the vote was to be taken on the question of Separation or No Separation,

June 8, 1861.

Harris had organized twenty-five thousand volunteers and equipped them with munitions of war, a greater portion of which had been stolen from National arsenals, and brought to Nashville by the disloyal Ex-Congressman Zollicoffer, who had been sent by the Governor to Montgomery on a treasonable mission, at the middle of May.¹¹ The people found themselves practically dispossessed of the elective franchise, one of the most sacred rights of freemen, by a usurper — the head of a military despotism, in complicity with the conspirators at Montgomery. That despotism had been of quick and powerful growth under the culture of men in authority, and was possessed of amazing energy. Its will was law. The people were slaves. Its mailed heel was upon their necks, and they perceived no way to lift it. They knew that their voice at the ballot-box might be silenced by the bayonet, yet they ventured to speak; and it is asserted by the most competent authority, that a decided majority of the votes cast were against the disunion schemes of the Governor and his friends, who at once inaugurated a system of terrorism such as the history of tyrants has seldom revealed. Fraud and violence were exercised everywhere on the part of the disloyalists, and after the operation of a concerted plan for making false election returns, and the changing of figures in the [389] aggregates, at Nashville, by the Governor and his confederates, Harris asserted, in a proclamation issued on the 24th of June, that the vote in the State was one hundred and four thousand nine hundred and thirteen for Separation, and forty-seven thousand two hundred and thirty-eight against it, or a majority in favor of disunion of fifty-seven thousand six hundred and seventy-eight.¹² Even this false report showed that East Tennessee--the mountain region of the State, which, like Western Virginia, was not seriously poisoned by the virus of the Slave system — was loyal to the Republic by a heavy majority. It is said that one-half of the votes cast in favor of Separation in East Tennessee were illegal, having been given by soldiers of the insurgent army, who had no right to vote anywhere.¹³ All through the war that ensued East Tennessee remained loyal, but at the cost of fearful suffering, as we shall observe hereafter.

Thus Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, by the treasonable action of their respective governors, their legislatures, and their conventions, were placed in an attitude of hostility to the National Government, positively and offensively, before the people were allowed to say a word on the subject officially. These usurpers raised armies and levied war before the people gave them power to enlist a soldier, to buy an ounce of ammunition, or to move a gun.

The conspirators of Virginia had not only talked boldly and resolved courageously, but had, from the moment of the attack on Fort Sumter, labored zealously and vigorously in preliminary movements for the seizure of Washington and the National Government. Within twenty-four hours after the passage of the Secession Ordinance,

April 17, 1861.

as we have observed, they had set forces in motion for the capture of Harper's Ferry and the arms and ammunition there, and of the Navy Yard at Gosport, near Norfolk, with its vast amount of ordnance and stores.

Harper's Ferry is a small village in Jefferson County, Virginia, clustered around the base of a rugged hill at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, where the conjoined streams pass through the lofty range of the Blue Ridge, between fifty and sixty miles northwest from Washington City. It is on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the powerful commercial links which connect Maryland, and especially Baltimore, with the great West. There is the outer gate of the Shenandoah or great Valley of Virginia, and was, at the time we are considering and throughout the war, a point of much strategic importance as a military post. There, for many years, a National Armory and Arsenal had been situated, where ten thousand muskets were made every year, and from eighty to ninety thousand stand of arms were generally stored. [390]

When the secession movement began, at the close of 1860, the Government took measures for the security of this post. Orders were received there on the 2d of January for the Armory Guard, Flag Guard, and Rifle Company to go on duty; and these were re-enforced a few days afterward by sixty-four unmounted United States dragoons, under the command of Lieutenant Roger Jones, who were sent there as a precautionary measure. Colonel Barbour, of Virginia, was superintendent of the post.

Profound quiet prevailed at Harper's Ferry until after the attack on Fort Sumter, when it was disturbed by rumors that the Virginians were preparing to seize the Armory and Arsenal there. The rumor was true, and was soon verified. On the morning of the 18th of April, orders were received

Harper's Ferry in May, 1861.14

from Richmond, by the militia commanders at Winchester and Charlestown, for the seizure of the Armory and Arsenal that night, and a march in force into Maryland, when the Minute-men of that State were expected to join them in an immediate attack on Washington. Notice was given to about three thousand men, but, owing to some misunderstanding, only Jefferson County troops, about two hundred and fifty strong, under Colonel Allen, were at Halltown, the designated place of rendezvous, at eight o'clock in the evening. This was a little village about half way between Charlestown Court House and Harper's Ferry, and four miles from each. Other troops, in the vicinity of Winchester, were on their march toward the Ferry at that time. [391]

As a surprise seemed important to secure success, the little detachment at Halltown moved forward between nine and ten o'clock. They had four miles to march in the gloom. The infantry led, and were followed by one piece of artillery and about twenty of the Fauquier Cavalry, led by Captain Ashby, who afterward became a noted leader of horsemen in the “Confederate army.”

The march was silent. When within a mile of the Ferry, the troops met sentries, who challenged them. The former halted, loaded their guns, and the officers held a consultation. Suddenly there was seen a flash of light, followed by an explosion, in the direction of the Ferry. This was quickly repeated, and in a few minutes the mountain hights in the neighborhood were lighted by an immense and increasing flame. Captain Ashby dashed forward to the town, and soon returned with the report that the Arsenal and Armory were on fire, and that the National troops had crossed the river, and taken the mountain road in the direction of Carlisle Barracks, in Pennsylvania.

Captain Ashby was correctly informed. Lieutenant Jones had been secretly warned, twenty-four hours before, of the plan for seizing the post that night. He had indications around him of trouble being nigh. The militia of the place, who had professed to be loyal, had resolved to disband that day, and the laborers who were acting as guards manifested significant uneasiness. It was evident that the secession feeling was predominant among all classes. He was satisfied that his little force of only forty trusty men could not withstand the overwhelming number of insurgents reported to be in readiness for the attack; so he caused the arms at the post, about fifteen thousand in number, to be secretly piled in heaps in the Arsenal buildings, and surrounded with combustibles for their destruction, that they might not fall into the hands of the insurgents. Suitable materials were also placed in order for burning the Government buildings, between which trains of gunpowder were laid.

At a few minutes past ten o'clock on the evening of the 18th, a sentinel notified Lieutenant Jones that the Virginians, reported to be two thousand in number, were within twenty minutes march of the Ferry. The commander instantly fired the trains; and three minutes afterward both of the Arsenal buildings containing the arms, together with the carpenters' shop, which was at the upper end of a large and connected series of workshops of the Armory proper, were in a blaze. Every window in the buildings had been thrown open, so as to increase the fury of the conflagration. When this work was accomplished, Jones and his little garrison of forty men crossed the Potomac over the covered bridge, followed by an excited crowd of citizens, who threatened him with direst vengeance. He wheeled his men at the bridge, and threatened to fire upon the pursuers, when they fell back. He then fled up the canal, crossed the hills, and, wading streams and swamps, reached Hagerstown at about seven o'clock in the morning. There he procured vehicles to convey his command to Chambersburg,¹⁵ and from [392] thence they went by railway to Carlisle Barracks, their destination, where they arrived at about two o'clock in the afternoon of the 19th. The Government highly commended Lieutenant Jones for his judicious act, and his officers and men for their good conduct; and the commander was immediately promoted to the office of Assistant Quartermaster-General, with the rank of captain.¹⁶

Harper's Ferry instantly became an important post, menacing Washington City. By the 20th of May full eight thousand insurgent troops were there, composed of Virginians, Kentuckians, Alabamians, and South Carolinians. They occupied Maryland Hights and other prominent points near the Ferry, on both sides of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, and threw up fortifications there.

Preparations for seizing the Navy Yard near Norfolk were commenced a little earlier than the march upon Harper's Ferry. So early as the night of the 16th of April (the day before the passage of the Ordinance of Secession in the Virginia Convention), two light-boats of eighty tons each were sunk in the channel of the Elizabeth River, below Norfolk, to prevent the egress of the several ships-of-war lying near the Navy Yard. “Thus,” said a dispatch sent to Richmond by the exultant insurgents, “we have secured three of the best ships of the Navy.” These ships were much coveted prizes. These, with the immense number of cannon and other munitions of war at that post, the Virginia conspirators intended to seize for the use of the “Confederacy.”

The Navy Yard here spoken of was at Gosport, a suburb of Portsmouth, on the side of the Elizabeth River opposite Norfolk. It was a sheltered spot on the margin of a deep and narrow body of tide-water, whose head was at the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina. The station was one of the oldest and most extensive of its kind in the United States. The establishment covered an area of three-fourths of a mile in length and one-fourth of a mile in width. The largest vessels of war could float there. Ship-houses, machine-shops, officers' quarters, and an immense, Dry-dock built of granite, with materials for building and fitting out war-vessels, were seen there in the greatest perfection. The quantity of arms and munitions laid up there was enormous. There were at least two thousand pieces of heavy canon fit for service, three hundred of which were new Dahlgren guns. It was estimated that the various property of the yard, of all kinds, was worth between nine and ten millions of dollars. Besides this property on land, several war-vessels were afloat there, among which was the immense three-decker Pennsylvania, of one hundred and twenty guns, which was constructed in 1837, but had never ventured upon a long ocean voyage. The others were the ships-of-the-line Columbus, eighty; Delaware, eighty-four, and New York, eighty-four, on the stocks: the frigates United States, fifty; Columbia, fifty; and Raritan, fifty: the sloops-of-war Plymouth, twenty-two, and Germantown, twenty-two: the brig Dolphin, four; and the steam-frigate Merrimack, afterward made famous by its attack on the National squadron in Hampton Roads and a contest with the Monitor. Of these vessels, one was on the stocks, others were out of order, and only the [393] Merrimack and Germantown were in a condition to be speedily put to use. The Merrimack needed repairs, but the Germantown was nearly ready for sea.

Notwithstanding the importance of the Gosport Navy Yard as a military post, and the immense value of the property there, not only to the Government but to the insurgents, the late Administration, in its endeavors to avoid irritating the secessionists of Virginia, had left the whole exposed to seizure or destruction by them. The post was circumvallated by a low structure, incompetent to offer resistance to cannon. There was neither fort nor garrison to cover it in case of an assault. In fact, it was invitingly weak, and offered strong temptations for even a few bold men to attempt its seizure. The new Administration seemed to be equally remiss in duty prescribed by common prudence until it was too late. Finally, after the lapse of more than a month from its inauguration, and when it was resolved to give aid to Forts Pickens and Sumter, Commodore Charles S. McCauley, who was in command of the Gosport station, was admonished to exercise “extreme caution and circumspection.” On the 10th of April, he was instructed to “put the shipping and public property in condition to be moved and placed beyond danger, should it become necessary;” at the same time, he was warned to “take no steps that could give needless alarm.” ¹⁷

Informed that with the workmen then employed on the engine of the steam-frigate Merrimack, it would take thirty days to repair it, and anxious for the safety of the vessel, the Government sent Engineer-in-chief B. F. Isherwood, who discredited the report, to put the machinery in order as quickly as possible. At the same time McCauley was directed to expedite the work, and Captain Alden was ordered to take charge of the vessel, and, when ready for sea, to go with it to Philadelphia. Isherwood arrived at the yard on Sunday morning, the 14th,

April 1861.

and by applying labor night and day, he reported to McCauley on the 17th that the engine was ready for use.

In the mean time, Captain, now (1885) Rear-Admiral Paulding had arrived from Washington with instructions from the Secretary of the Navy for McCauley to lose no time in arming the Merrimack; “to get the Plymouth and Dolphin beyond danger; to have the Germantown in a condition to be towed out, and to put the more valuable property, ordnance stores, et coetera, on shipboard, so that they could, at any moment, be moved beyond danger.” The Secretary also instructed him to defend the vessels and other property committed to 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.” On the same day, in accordance with advice offered by Paulding, the frigate Cumberland, which had been anchored below, with a full crew and armament on board, was moved up to a position so as to command the entire harbor, the Navy Yard, the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and the channel through which they were approached. After seeing these precautionary arrangements completed, Paulding returned to Washington.

The Merrimack being ready for sea on the 17th, Mr. Isherwood proposed to have her fires lighted at once, that she might depart before other channel [394] obstructions should be laid by the insurgents. “To-morrow morning will be in time,” said the Commodore, and the lighting was deferred. At an early hour the next day,

April 18, 1861.

the fires were glowing, and soon every thing was in readiness for departure. Again the Commodore proposed delay. “But the orders are peremptory,” said Isherwood; and he suggested that, after another day's delay, it might be difficult to pass the obstructions which the secessionists were planting between Sewell's Point and Craney Island. But the vessel was kept back, and, to the astonishment of the Engineer-in-chief and other officers, the Commodore finally gave directions not to send the Merrimack away at all, and ordered the fires to be extinguished.¹⁸ McCauley afterward asserted that he was influenced in his action at that time by the advice of several of his junior officers, born in Slave-labor States, believing that they were true to their flag. “How could I expect treachery on their part?” he said. “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. 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, Commodore; we will never desert you; we will stand by you to the last, even to the death.’ ” ¹⁹ Yet these men, false to every principle of honor, after having disgracefully deceived their commander, and accomplished the treasonable work of keeping the Merrimack and other vessels at the Navy Yard until it was too late for them to escape, offered their resignations on the 18th (the day after the Virginia Ordinance of Secession was passed), abandoned their flag, and joined the insurgents.²⁰

General Taliaferro, the commander of all the forces in southeastern Virginia, arrived at Norfolk with his staff on the evening of the 18th, and at once took measures for the seizure of the Navy Yard and the ships of war. The naval officers who had abandoned their flag joined him, and the secessionists of Norfolk were eager for the drama to open. On the following day, the workmen in the yard, who had been corrupted by the disloyal [395] officers, were absent from roll-call, yet the day passed without any hostile demonstrations. But on Saturday, the 20th, Norfolk was fearfully excited by conflicting rumors. One was that the yard was to be attacked, when the Cumberland would doubtless fire on the town; another, that she was about to leave, with valuable property belonging to the Government, and that the other vessels were to be scuttled; and still another, that the yard was to be destroyed. The military companies of Norfolk and Portsmouth were called out and paraded under arms. Four companies of riflemen and infantry had arrived from Petersburg, numbering in all four hundred men, and on that day were joined by two hundred more. The Richmond Grays had also arrived that morning, bringing with them fourteen pieces of heavy rifled cannon, and an ample stock of ammunition. With these re-enforcements, Taliaferro felt certain of success. McCauley felt equally certain that he could not withstand an assault from the insurgent force, so large and so well armed, and at noon he sent Taliaferro word that not one of the vessels should be moved, nor a shot fired, excepting in self-defense. This quieted the people.

Not doubting that an immediate attack would be made upon the vessels, McCauley gave orders, on the return of his flag from Norfolk, for the scuttling of all of them, to prevent their falling into the hands of the insurgents. This was done at four o'clock in the afternoon. The Cumberland only was spared. This work had been just accomplished when Captain Paulding again appeared. As soon as the Secretary of the Navy heard of

Hiram Paulding.

the detention of the Merrimack--that “fatal error,” as he called it — he dispatched Paulding in the Pawnee with orders to relieve McCauley, and, with “such officers and marines as could be obtained, take command of all the vessels afloat on that station, repel force by force, and prevent the ships and public property, at all hazards, from passing into the hands of the insurrectionists.” Paulding added to his crew, at Washington, one hundred marines; and at Fortress Monroe he took on board three hundred and fifty Massachusetts volunteers, under Colonel David W. Wardrop, the first regiment detailed for service from that State, who had arrived that day. He reached Norfolk just as the scuttling of the vessels was completed. But for that act every vessel afloat might have been saved.

Paulding saw at a glance the fatal error, if error it was, of McCauley, and also that much more than scuttling must be done to render the ships useless to the insurgents. He also perceived that with only the Pawnee and Cumberland, and the very small land force at his command, he could not defend the Navy Yard; so, using the discretionary power with which he was clothed, he at once prepared to burn the slowly sinking ships, destroy the cannon, and commit to the flames all the buildings and public property in [396] the Navy Yard, leaving the insurgents nothing worth contending for. One hundred men were sent, under Lieutenant J. H. Russell, with sledge-hammers, to knock off the trunnions of the cannon; Captain Charles Wilkes was intrusted with the destruction of the Dry-dock; Commanders Allen and Sands were charged with the firing of the ship-houses, barracks, and other buildings; and Lieutenant Henry A. Wise was directed to lay trains upon the ships and to fire them at a given signal. The trunnions of the Dahlgren guns resisted the hammers, but those of a large number of the old pattern guns were destroyed. Many of the remainder were spiked, but so indifferently that they were soon repaired. Commander Rogers and Captain Wright, of the Engineers, volunteered to blow up and destroy the Dry-dock.

At about two o'clock in the morning,

April 21, 1861.

every thing was in readiness. The troops, marines, sailors, and others at the yard, were taken on board the Pawnee and Cumberland, leaving on shore only as many as were required to start the conflagration. At three o'clock, the Yankee, Captain Germain, took the Cumberland in tow; and twenty minutes later Paulding sent up a rocket from the Pawnee, which was the signal for the incendiaries to apply the match. In a few minutes a grand and awful spectacle burst upon the vision of the inhabitants of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and of the country for leagues around. The conflagration, starting simultaneously at different points, became instantly terrific. Its

Burning of the vessels at the Gosport Navy Yard.21

roar could be heard for miles, and its light was seen far at sea, far up the James and York Rivers, and Chesapeake Bay, and far beyond the Dismal Swamp. The ships and the ship-houses, and other large buildings in the Navy Yard, were involved in one grand ruin. To add to the sublimity of the fiery tempest, frequent discharges were heard from the monster ship-of-the-line Pennsylvania, as the flames reached her loaded heavy guns.

When the conflagration was fairly under way, the Pawnee and the Cumberland, towed by the Yankee, went down the river, and all who were [397] left on shore, excepting two, reaching their boats in safety, followed by the light of the great fire, and overtook the Pawnee off Craney Island, where the two vessels broke through the obstructions and proceeded to Hampton Roads. The two officers left behind were Commander Rogers and Captain Wright, who failed to reach the boats. They were arrested after day-dawn and were taken to Norfolk as prisoners of war.

The great object of the conflagration was not fully accomplished. The attempt was, in fact, a failure. The Dry-dock was very little injured. The mechanics' shops and sheds, timber-sheds, ordnance building, foundries, sawmill,

View of the Navy Yard after the fire.22

provisions, officers' quarters, and all other buildings in the yard, were saved, excepting the immense ship-houses, the marine barracks, and riggers, sail, and ordnance lofts. The insurgents immediately took possession of all the spared buildings and machinery, the Dry-dock, and the vast number of uninjured cannon, and proceeded at once to make use of them in the work of rebellion. Several of the heavy Dahlgren guns were mounted in battery

Temporary three-gun Battery.23

along the river-bank, at the Navy Yard, and other places near; and soon afterward the fortifications in the Slave-labor States were supplied with heavy guns from this post. The gain to the insurgents and loss to the National Government, by this abandonment of the Gosport Navy Yard at that time, was incalculable.²⁴ The mere money value of the property [398] destroyed, estimated at seven millions of dollars, was the least of the loss to the one and the gain to the other. It also swelled amazingly the balance of advantages for the insurgents, who were quick to discern and to be encouraged by it. And it was made the topic of special discourses from the pulpit, from which disloyal ministers were continually giving words of encouragement to the conspirators.²⁵

Only a portion of the vessels at the Gosport station were absolutely destroyed. The New York, on the stocks in one of the ship-houses, was totally consumed. The Pennsylvania, Dolphin, and Columbia had nothing saved but the lower bottom timbers; the Raritan was burnt to the water's edge; the Merrimack was burnt to her copper-line and sunk; the Germantown was also burnt and sunk; while the useless old United States, in which Decatur won glory, was not injured; and the Plymouth was not burned, but scuttled and sunk. The same fate overtook the Columbus and Delaware. The Plymouth was afterward raised; so was the Merrimack, and converted into a powerful iron-clad vessel of war.²⁶

The insurgents seized old Fort Norfolk, situated a short distance below the city of Norfolk, on the 21st. It had been used as a magazine, and contained about three hundred thousand pounds of gunpowder and a large quantity of loaded shells and other missiles. On the same day, General Taliaferro issued an order prohibiting the Collector of the port of Norfolk from accepting drafts from the National Government, or allowing the removal of money or any thing else from the Custom House. At the same time troops were hastening to Norfolk from lower Virginia; and on the 22d, three companies of soldiers from Georgia arrived in the express train from Weldon, a portion of whom took post at the Marine Hospital on the Portsmouth side of the river. The hull of the old ship United States was towed down the river, and moored and sunk in the channel, a mile below Fort Norfolk; and a battery of heavy guns was immediately erected at Sewell's Point, and another on Craney Island, to command the entrance to the Elizabeth River and the harbor of Norfolk. The insurgents had now secured a most important military position, as well as valuable materials [399] of war; and they held that post, to the great hurt of the National cause, until early in May the following year, when they fled at the approach of troops under Major-General John E. Wool.

By obtaining possession of Harper's Ferry and the Gosport Navy Yard, the most important preliminary movements for the seizure of Washington City were successfully accomplished within a week after the evacuation of Sumter. The practical annexation of a greater part of Virginia to the Southern Confederacy within eight days after these movements, and the assembling of troops upon its soil from the more Southern States, gave increased value to those acquisitions. Fire had materially lessened their immediate value, yet they were vitally important. It now only remained for the Marylanders to follow the bad example of the Virginians, to make the seizure of the National Capital an apparently easy achievement.

Map of Norfolk and vicinity.

Let us consider the events at that Capital and its vicinity at this critical period in its history.

Notwithstanding the protestations of the leading conspirators everywhere, before the attack on Fort Sumter, that they had no aggressive designs against the Republic; notwithstanding the Legislature of Virginia had, on the day when the Peace Convention assembled at Washington and the Convention of conspirators began at Montgomery,

February 4, 1861.

endeavored to lull the National Government into a sense of security most fatal to its life, by resolving that there were “no just grounds for believing that citizens of Virginia meditate an attack on or seizure of the Federal property, or invasion of the District of Columbia, and that all preparations to resist the same are unnecessary, so far as this State is concerned,” it was too well known that leading and powerful politicians in Maryland and Virginia were secretly preparing to seize the Capital, when a proper opportunity should offer, to allow the Government to relax its vigilance or its preparations for the defense of its seat, for a moment. And yet, when the crisis came — when the secession of Virginia was proclaimed, and the movements against Harper's Ferry and Gosport were begun — the foes of the Union developed such amazing proportions, vitality, and strength, that the Government was in imminent peril. The public offices were swarming with disloyal men, and the Capital held thousands [400] of malignant secessionists of both sexes, secret and open.²⁷ Secession flags flaunted defiantly from many a window, and secession badges were sold openly at the doors of the Avenue hotels. It was evident to the

Costume of A rebellious woman.

least observant that the disloyal elements of society there were buoyant with pleasant anticipations. Information had reached the Government that the Minutemen of Virginia and Maryland, and their sympathizers in the District of Columbia, were unusually active. The leading secessionists of the city of Baltimore, comprising the “State-rights Association,” were in conference every evening; and Governor Hicks had been continually importuned to call an extraordinary session of the Legislature, that a secession convention might be authorized Because he refused to do so, knowing h ow large a portion of its members were disloyal, he was abused without stint.

The Government was soon made painfully aware that the call for troops to put down the rising rebellion was not an hour too soon. There was a general impression in the Free-labor States that the Capital would be the first point of attack, and thitherward volunteers instantly began to march in large and hourly increasing numbers. Within three days after the President's call for troops went forth,

April 15, 1861.

probably not less than one hundred thousand young men were leaving their avocations to prepare for war. The movement was simultaneous in all the Free-labor States, and the armories of volunteer companies were ever where thronged with enthusiastic men eager to fly to the protection of the President, his Cabinet, the archives, and the Capital.

The Governor of Massachusetts (Andrew) had been the first of the State Executives, as we have observed,²⁸ to prepare for war. On the 1st of January, Brigadier-General E. W. Peirce, of the Massachusetts militia, wrote [401] to the Governor, tendering his services to the country; and on the 5th, Andrew sent agents to the Governors of the other New England States, to press upon them the importance of placing the militia of the respective Commonwealths in condition for a prompt movement in defense of the Capital. At the same time the volunteer companies of the State, five thousand strong, began drilling nightly at their armories. Early in February, as we have observed, the Governor sent a staff officer (Ritchie) to Washington, to consult with the General-in-Chief concerning the forwarding of troops to the Capital if they should be needed; and the Massachusetts Senators (Sumner and Wilson) urged the President to call for these well-drilled companies, should the Capital be in apparent danger.

That exigency occurred when Fort Sumter was attacked; and on the day when the President called for seventy-five thousand men, Senator Wilson telegraphed to Governor Andrew to dispatch twenty companies to Washington City immediately. A few hours later, the formal requisition of the Secretary of War arrived;²⁹ and so promptly was the call from the Capital responded to by the Governor, that before sunset of the same day, orders were in the hands of Colonel Wardrop, of the Third Regiment, at New Bedford; of Colonel Packard, of the Fourth, at Quincy; of Colonel Jones, of the Sixth, at Lowell; and of Colonel Munroe, of the Eighth, at Lynn, to muster forthwith on Boston Common. As in 1775, so now, the first companies that appeared, in response to the call of authority for the protection of the liberties of the people, came from Marblehead. These appeared on the evening of the 15th, and early the following day the four regiments called for were on Boston Common, mustered in regular order, with banners flying and bayonets gleaming, and each company with full ranks. These companies had arrived by different railways. They had left their homes with the blessings of neighbors and friends, who assured them that their families should be taken care of during their absence, as adopted children. They were cheered on the way by the huzzas of the people in villages and at the waysides, and were welcomed in Boston with every demonstration of delight. The citizens of the New England metropolis had forgotten their usual avocations, and were intent only upon the business of saving the Republic. The old warspirit of Faneuil Hall--the “Cradle of Liberty” --was aroused; and all over Boston there were

Banners blooming in the air,

in attestation of the patriotism of the people.

On the 16th, Senator Wilson again telegraphed for a “brigade of four regiments.” These were then in readiness on Boston Common; and on the morning of the 17th, the Governor commissioned Benjamin F. Butler, of Lowell (then a Brigadier-General of Militia), the commander of the brigade. Butler knew the chief conspirators well. He had passed evenings with Davis, Hunter, Mason, Slidell, Benjamin, and other traitors at Washington, three months before, and had become convinced of their determination to destroy the Republic, if possible. Impelled by this conviction, he had not ceased to counsel the authorities of his State to have the militia of the Commonwealth [402] prepared for war. He and Governor Andrew worked in unison to this end; and on the day before his appointment, he was instrumental in procuring from the Bank of Redemption, in Boston, a temporary loan to the Commonwealth, for the use of the troops, of the sum of fifty thousand dollars.

It was determined that the Sixth Regiment, Colonel Jones, which was a part of Butler's old brigade, should go forward at once to Washington, by way of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. It consisted of eleven companies. To these were added the companies of Captains Sampson and Dike, making a corps of thirteen full companies. They were addressed by Governor Andrew and General Butler, in the presence of a vast multitude of citizens, and, in the afternoon,

April 17, 1861.

departed for Washington by railway. At about the same time, Colonel Wardrop and his regiment embarked on a steamer for Fortress Monroe, in Virginia, then defended by only two companies of artillery, and in imminent peril of seizure by the insurgents of

Benjamin F. Butler.

that State. These were followed by Colonel Packard and his regiment. The Eighth, under Colonel Munroe, accompanied by the General, departed for Washington on the evening train.

Rhode Island and Connecticut, through which these troops passed, were in a blaze of excitement. Governor Sprague, of the former State, had promptly tendered to the Government the services of a thousand infantry and a battalion of artillery, and called the Legislature together on the 17th. That body promptly provided for the State's quota, and appropriated five hundred thousand dollars for war purposes. The banks offered adequate loans to the State; and large sums were tendered by individuals. Within five days after the call for troops, the Rhode Island Marine Artillery, with eight guns and one hundred and ten horses, commanded by Colonel Tompkins, passed through New York on their way to Washington; and the First Regiment of Infantry, twelve hundred strong, under Colonel Burnside, was ready to move. It was

Rhode Island Marine Artillery.

composed of many of the wealthier citizens of the State, and was accompanied to Washington by Governor Sprague, as Commander-in-chief of the forces of Rhode Island. [403]

Governor Buckingham, of Connecticut, whose labors throughout the war were unceasing and of vast importance, responded to the President's call for troops by issuing a proclamation on the same day, urging the citizens of the State to volunteer their services in aid of the Government. The banks offered all the money necessary to equip the regiment of men required by the circular letter of the Secretary of War. So enthusiastic were the people, that the Governor, in a message to the Legislature on the 1st of May, averred that forty-one volunteer companies had already been accepted. The prediction that there would be a divided North--that blood would flow in New England, in the event of an attempt of the National Government to enforce the laws against Southern insurgents,³⁰ was most signally falsified.

New York, as we shall observe presently, responded nobly to the call; and the neighboring inhabitants of New Jersey were so full of enthusiasm, that they became

Burnside's riflemen.

impatient of the seeming lukewarmness and tardiness of Governor Olden and others in authority. The Governor was so startled by the demonstrations of patriotism around him, that he ordered Company A of the City Battalion of Trenton, the capital of the State, to watch the Arsenal, and see that the people did not run away with the arms. Two days after the President's call, he issued a formal proclamation, calling for the quota of New Jersey to assemble at the State capital. The Trenton banks tendered a loan to the State of twenty-five thousand dollars; and the authorities of the city of Newark appropriated one hundred thousand dollars for the maintenance of the families of volunteers, and five thousand dollars for the equipment of the soldiers. The Legislature met on the 30th of April, in extraordinary session, when Major-General Theodore Runyon was appointed commander of the New Jersey forces, and the movements of troops toward Washington began.

Wm. A. Buckingham.

Pennsylvania, like Massachusetts, had been watchful and making preparations for the crisis. Her militia force was about three hundred and fifty thousand. The resources of the State had been pledged by the Legislature, in January, to the support of the [404] National Government.³¹ The vigilant Governor Curtin saw the storm-clouds continually thickening, and, in a message to the Legislature on the 9th of April, he recommended the adoption of immediate measures for re-organizing the militia of the State and establishing an efficient military system. He referred to the menacing attitude of certain States, and urged the immediate attention of the Legislature to the deplorable militia system of the Commonwealth, saying: “Pennsylvania offers no counsel and takes no action in the nature of a menace.” An Act, in accordance with the Governor's wishes, became law on the 12th of April, and half a million of dollars were appropriated for arming and equipping the militia of the State.

When intelligence of the attack on Fort Sumter reached Philadelphia, the chief city of Pennsylvania, the excitement of the people was intense. This was hightened by the call of the President for troops, and the manifest existence of disloyal men in the city. Great exasperation was felt against those known to be disloyal, or suspected of sympathy with the insurgents; and, at one time, full ten thousand of the populace were in the streets, engaged in putting out of the way every semblance of opposition to the Government. The Mayor managed to control them, and when offending parties threw out the American flag the people were generally satisfied.³² That banner was everywhere displayed over public and private buildings, and a Union pledge was circulated throughout the city, and signed by thousands without distinction of party. The Governor called

April 20, 1861.

an extraordinary session of the Legislature to meet at Harrisburg on the 30th; but, before that time, thousands of Pennsylvanians were enrolled in the great Union Army. The Secretary of War (Mr. Cameron), immediately after issuing his call for troops, sent his son into Pennsylvania to expedite the work of recruiting; and within the space of three days he had the satisfaction of welcoming to Washington troops from his native State. The Legislature authorized the organization of a reserved corps, to be armed, equipped, clothed, subsisted, and paid by the State, and drilled in camps of instruction. It also authorized a loan of three millions of dollars for war purposes.

Pennsylvania has the honor of having furnished the troops that first arrived at the Capital in the hour of its greatest peril. These composed five companies from the interior of the State, namely, the “Washington Artillery,” and “National Light Infantry,” of Pottsville, Schuylkill County; the “Ringgold Light Artillery,” of Reading, Berks County; the “Logan Guards,” of Lewistown, Mifflin County, and the “Allen Infantry,” of Allentown, Lehigh County. At the call of the President, the commanders of these companies telegraphed to Governor Curtin that they were full, and ready for service. He immediately ordered them to assemble at Harrisburg, the State capital. They were all there on the evening of the 17th, but [405] mostly without arms, expecting to receive new and improved equipments there. These were not ready. The imminence of the danger to the National Capital would admit of no delay, not even long enough for the companies to be organized as a regiment. They were ordered forward the next morning by the Northern Central Railway, to Baltimore, in company with about forty regular soldiers, who were going to re-enforce the little garrison at Fort McHenry. The battery of the Ringgold Artillery was left at Harrisburg. The muskets in the hands of the regulars, and thirty others borne by the volunteers, were the only weapons with which these prospective defenders of the Capital entered a hostile territory--Maryland being essentially such at that time. At home and on their way to Harrisburg they were cheered by the patriotic zeal and unbounded enthusiasm of the people. Men, women, and children joined in the acclamation.³³

Baltimore, through which all troops traveling by railway from the North and East to Washington were compelled to pass, was then under the complete control of the secessionists. The wealthier classes were attached by ties of blood and marriage with the people of the South, and the system of slavery common to both was a powerful promoter of the most cordial sympathy. The dominant classes in the city were at that time disloyal, yet a large majority of the inhabitants were true to the old flag. Most of those in authority were disunionists, including the Marshal of Police (Kane³⁴), and were passive, if not secretly active friends of the secession movement.

It was known that the Pennsylvania troops would go through Baltimore at a little past noon, and the Marshal, doubtless for the purpose of concealing dark designs, issued an order for his force to be vigilant, and preserve the peace, while the officers of the “State-rights Association” hastened to publicly assure him, in the most solemn manner, that no demonstrations should be made against National troops passing through Baltimore. The Mayor (George W. Brown), whose sympathies were with the disunionists, issued a proclamation invoking all good citizens to preserve the peace and good order of the town. Notwithstanding these apparent efforts of the authorities to prevent disturbance, when the Pennsylvanians arrived, at near two o'clock in the afternoon, they were surrounded by an angry, howling mob, who only lacked the organization to which they attained twenty-four hours later, to have been the actors in a fearful tragedy on that day, instead of on the next.

News had just arrived of the passage of the Ordinance of Secession by the Virginia Convention, and it was spreading rapidly over the city. The excited multitude, of whom a large proportion were South Carolinians and [406] Georgians, then sojourning in Baltimore, followed the troops all the way from one railroad station to the other, offering the most indecent insults; shouting, “Welcome to Southern graves!” uttering the most blasphemous language, and throwing a few missiles which slightly injured some of the men. A colored man, over sixty years of age,³⁵ in military dress, attached as a servant to the Washington Artillery Company, greatly excited their ire. They raised the cry of “Nigger in uniform!” and stones and bricks were hurled at him. He received a severe wound on the face and head, from which blood flowed freely.

The Pennsylvanians left Baltimore at four o'clock and reached Washington City at about seven, where they were received by the anxious loyal inhabitants and the officers of the Government with heart-felt joy, for the rumbling volcano of revolution threatened them with an eruption every moment. For a day or two the city had been full of rumors of the movement of Virginia and Maryland secessionists for the seizure of the Capital, and many families had fled affrighted. Troops from Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania had been. hourly expected all that day, and when evening approached, and they did not appear, the panic increased. When the Pennsylvanians came, they were hailed as deliverers by an immense throng, who greeted them with prolonged cheers, for they were the first promise of hope and safety. The fears of the inhabitants were immediately quieted.

The Pennsylvanians were at once marched to the Capitol grounds, where they were reviewed by General McDowell; and then assigned quarters in the hall of the House of Representatives, in the south wing of the Capitol. They had been without food all day, but were soon supplied. The halls were at once lighted up and warmed, and the startling rumor spread over the city, that two thousand Northern troops, well armed with Minie rifles, were quartered in the Capitol!³⁶ The real number was five hundred and thirty. It was the intention of the Government to arm them with muskets from Harper's Ferry, but the armory there was destroyed that very evening.³⁷

It is believed by the best informed, that these troops arrived just in time to awe the conspirators and their friends, and to save the Capitol from [407] seizure. It is believed that if they had been delayed twenty-four hours--had they not been there when, on the next day, a tragedy we are about to consider was performed in the streets of Baltimore — the President and his Cabinet, with the General-in-chief, might have been assassinated or made prisoners, the archives and buildings of the Government seized, and Jefferson Davis proclaimed Dictator from the great eastern portico of the Capitol, where Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated only forty-five days before. These citizen soldiers well deserved the thanks of the nation voted by Congress at its called session in July following,³⁸ and a grateful people will ever delight to do homage to their patriotism.³⁹ [408]