April 19, 1861. |
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| Winans's steam-gun. |
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command of it, with ample discretionary powers to make him a sort of military dictator.
This power, as we shall observe presently, he used with great efficiency.
The railway from Annapolis Junction to Washington was uninjured and unobstructed, and the Seventh Regiment reached the Capital early in the afternoon of the 25th, where they were heartily welcomed by the loyal people.
They were the first troops that arrived at the seat of Government after the sad tragedy in Baltimore six days befere,
and they were hailed as the harbingers of positive safety for the Capital.
Although they were wearied and footsore, they marched up Pennsylvania Avenue with the firm and united step which always characterized their parade marches in Broadway, and halted only when they arrived at the front of the “White House,” whither they went to pay homage to the President, whom they had come to protect and support.
Their discipline and fine appearance were a marvel, and loyal crowds followed them to the President's house, and filled the air with vociferous cheering.1 Then they marched to the Capitol, and made their quarters there; and that night the anxious loyal citizens of Washington went to rest with a sense of positive security.
That security was well assured the next day, when the Seventh, Twelfth, and Seventy-first New York Volunteer Regiments arrived, and reported the Fifth, Eighth, and Sixty-ninth at Annapolis.
Baltimore, in the mean time, had become firmly grasped by the secessionists; and the authorities there, civil and military, had prepared to dispute the passage of any more loyal troops through their city.
Armed men flocked into the, town from the country, with all sorts of weapons, scarcely knowing for what purpose; while the secessionists in the city were organized for treasonable work under Colonel J. R. Trimble and others.
On Sunday, the 21st, cannon were exercised openly in the streets.
A remarkable piece of ordnance, called a steam-gun, invented by Charles S. Dickinson, and manufactured by Ross Winans, a wealthy iron-worker of Baltimore, was purchased by the city authorities at the price of twenty-five hundred dollars. Much was expected of this invention, for it was claimed that it could throw two hundred balls a minute a distance of two miles. It was supposed to be ball-proof, and admirably adapted to the purposes of city defense.2 Marshal Kane, under the direction of a city ordinance, passed
1 This is the almost universal testimony. There is one dissenting voice. In a letter to the author, dated “Arlington House, May 1, 1861,” the writer says:--“I was in Washington the day the Seventh Regiment arrived, the one most entitled perhaps to a warm reception here, and their march through the city resembled a funeral procession. Not a single cheer was raised from even a small boy among the motley crowd that followed them, and the countenances of the citizens were dark and sad. I saw tears in the eyes of several. When the regiment reached the President's house, there was some cheering from men hired for the purpose, I am told. These are plain facts and speak for themselves.”
2 This gun was protected by a ball-proof cone of iron, and, with its motive-power apparatus, mounted on four wheels, so as to be quickly moved from place to place. It could be made to project missiles of any size, from a bullet to a 100-pound cannon-ball. It was believed that one of these, of musket-ball caliber, would be terribly destructive in front of an army, mowing down regiments like grass. It was specially recommended for sea-fights. Its efficiency was never tested. It was captured from the insurgents in less than a month after the city of Baltimore purchased it, by Colonel Jones, of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, when on its way to the insurgent camp at Harper's Ferry, and was placed in position to guard the viaduct over the Patuxent of the Washington Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway.
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