This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
[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,1 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!2 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.3
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
1 This man, supposed to have been a runaway slave, was known by the name of “Nick Biddle.” He had resided for a number of years in Pottsville, where he sometimes sold oysters in the winter and ice-cream in the bummer. He attended the Washington Artillery company on its target and other excursions. His excursion through Baltimore was never pleasant in his memory. He was heard to say that he would go through the infernal regions with the Artillery, but would never again go through Baltimore. His was almost the first blood shed in the rebellion, that of the wounded at Fort Sumter being the first by a few days.
2 This rumor was started by James D. Gay, a member of the Ringgold Light Artillery, who was in Washington City on business at the time of their arrival. He was already an enrolled member of a temporary homeguard in Washington, under Cassius M. Clay, which we shall consider presently, and was working with all his might for the salvation of the city. After exchanging greetings with his company at the Capitol, he hastened to Willard's Hotel to proclaim the news. In a letter to the writer, he says:--“The first man I met as I entered the doors was Lieutenant-Colonel Magruder [who afterward abandoned his flag and was a General of the” Confederate army“]. I said, ‘ Colonel, have you heard the good news?’ ‘ What is it?’ he asked. I told him to step to the door. He did so. Pointing to the lights at the Capitol, I said, ‘ Do you see that?’ ‘ Yes,’ he answered, ‘ but what of that?’ ‘Two thousand soldiers,’ I said, ‘have marched in there this evening, Sir, armed with Minie rifles.’ ‘ Possible! so much!’ he exclaimed, in an excited manner. Of course what I told him was not true, but I thought that, in the absence of sufficient troops, this false report might save the city.” Mr. Gay's “pious fraud” had the desired effect.
3 I am indebted to Francis B. Wallace, Esq., editor of the Miner's Journal, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, for the facts concerning this movement of Pennsylvania troops, and also for the muster-roll of the five companies who so patriotically hastened to the defense of the Capital. Mr. Wallace was an officer of the Washington Artillery Company, and was a participant in the exciting-scenes of a three months campaign.
Scanned printed text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.