Benjamnin F. Butler, Butler's Book: Autobiography and Personal Reminiscences of Major-General Benjamin Butler

Chapter 4: the call for troops.

• Gov. Andrew sees need of military preparation
-- legislature appropriates ,000 for an emergency fund -- overcoats for the militia -- military correspondence suppressed -- facts regarding appointment as Brigadier-General -- the start for Washington -- found advisable to go around Baltimore -- a useful pamphlet and George Washington's opinion of it -- preparing to capture the ferry-boat Maryland -- a soldier who was anxious to fight and another who Wasn't -- arrival at Annapolis and the naval Academy -- “Oh, won't you save the Constitution?” -- Militiamen should know how to cook -- arrival of the New York Seventh -- the Colonel's West Point dry nurse -- private Homans and the locomotive -- some remarks on the New York Seventh -- episode of Lieutenant-Colonel Keyes, also of West Point

I explained to him that while we were quite well equipped with arms for service, yet there was not to my knowledge a military overcoat in the possession of any volunteer soldier, except some fancy overcoats owned by two or three of the city companies; that the 4th of March was a very inclement season in Washington, and that it would be utterly impossible for the troops to go without overcoats. Besides, there was not, to my knowledge, a haversack among the equipments of our soldiers in which rations could be carried, and their uniforms were holiday affairs, which might, however, stand the rough usage of a short campaign.

I then called to his mind the fact that our volunteer soldiers were largely young men, and pretty largely young Democrats, and suggested that if they were called upon to march by the order of a Republican governor to fight their party associates, they might hesitate. Said he:--

“How can this be obviated?”

“Let each company,” I replied, “be quietly called to its armory, and the question put to every soldier, ‘Are you ready to march, when called upon to defend the national capital?’ I think the [162] adjutant-general should be instructed to have this proceeding taken at once, but with great secrecy. In my brigade, I will see that the order is fully executed, and I will report to you when the brigade is ready to march. I hope that you will ask the legislature in secret session,--because we don't want to show any alarm,--to provide you with an emergency fund out of which these necessary articles can be procured.”

He was somewhat incredulous, and thought I was unnecessarily moved. I told him it would do no harm to equip our soldiers properly, and also to ascertain their readiness and willingness to march, as it might do great harm not to have them in full readiness, since it was the firm belief of many in the South that a portion of our soldiers would not fight.

I had several interviews with Governor Andrew upon these topics at his suggestion, and on the 16th of January General Order No. 4 was issued in the words following:--

headquarters, Boston, January 16, 1861.
General Order No. 4.

Events which have recently occurred, and are now in progress, require that Massachusetts should be at all times ready to furnish her quota of troops upon any requisition of the President of the United States to aid in the maintenance of the laws and the peace of the Union. His excellency the commander-in-chief therefore orders:

That the commanding officer of each company of volunteer militia examine with care the roll of his company, and cause the name of each member, together with his rank and place of residence, to be properly recorded and a copy of the same to be forwarded to the office of the adjutant-general. Previous to which commanders of companies shall make strict inquiry whether there are men in their commands who, from age, physical defect, business or family causes, may be unable or indisposed to respond at once to the orders of the commander-in-chief made in response to the call of the President of the United States; that they be forthwith discharged, so that their places may-be filled by men ready for any public exigency which may arise, whenever called upon.

That order was distributed to the commanders of the militia. It came to Lowell, and our enlisted men and their arms and equipments were examined, and the questions embraced in the order were put to every man. Col. Edward F. Jones, in command of the Sixth [163] Regiment, and myself a part of the time, were present at the examination; and to the honor of the Lowell militia, no able-bodied man of suitable years said he would not go if called upon, and we so reported.

On the 19th of January, 1861, the following resolution, passed by the field officers and commanders of companies of the Sixth Regiment, was sent to the governor:--

Resolved, That Colonel Jones be authorized and requested forthwith to tender the services of the Sixth Regiment to the commander-in-chief and legislature, when such services may become desirable, for the purposes contemplated in General Order No. 4.

That resolution went to the governor on the 22d of January. and on the same day Governor Andrew sent the following message to the House of Representatives:--

I transmit herewith, for the information of the General Court, a communication offering to the commander-in-chief and the legislature the services of the Sixth Regiment, Third Brigade, Second Division of the Volunteer Militia of the Commonwealth, which was this day received by me from the hands of Brigadier-General Butler.

This was the only regiment that tendered its services. Not that all would not have done so if they had had an opportunity or full instruction; but in Lowell about that time there happened to be a couple of live men,--Colonel Jones, who is now the lieutenant-governor of the great State of New York, and myself,--who believed beyond peradventure that we should soon be called upon.

In accordance with this message of the governor, the legislature on the 23d day of January, passed a resolve, a portion of which is as follows:--

Whereas, Several States of the Union have through the action of their people and authorities assumed the attitude of rebellion against the national government; and whereas, treason is still more extensively diffused; and whereas, the State of South Carolina, having first seized the Post-Office, Custom House, moneys, arms, munitions of war, and fortifications of the Federal Government, has, by firing upon a vessel in the service of the United States, committed an act .of war; and whereas, the forts and property of the United States, in Georgia, Alabama, [164] Louisiana, and Florida have been seized with hostile and treasonable intention; and whereas, senators and representatives in Congress avow and sanction these acts of treason and rebellion; therefore,

Resolved, That the legislature of Massachusetts now, as always, convinced of the inestimable value of the Union, as the necessity of preserving its blessing to ourselves and our posterity, regard with unmingled satisfaction the determination evinced in the recent firm and patriotic special message of the President of the United States to apply and faithfully discharge his constitutional duty of enforcing the laws and preserving the integrity of the Union, and we proffer to him, through the Governor of the Commonwealth, such aid in men and money as he may require, to maintain the authority of the national government.

Resolved, That the Union-loving and patriotic authorities, representatives, and citizens of those States whose loyalty is endangered or assailed by internal or external treason, who labor in behalf of the Federal Union with unflinching courage and patriotic devotion, will receive the enduring gratitude of the American people.

Resolved, That the governor be requested to forward, forthwith, copies of the foregoing resolutions to the President of the United States and the governors of the several States.

These resolutions followed the message to Congress of President Buchanan. So the matter stood until the 5th of February, when Mr. Tyler, of Boston, for the Committee on Finance, reported that an emergency bill ought to pass, and said that the committee had received information of an alarming character, which rendered it necessary that the Executive should at once be provided with means of defence. Mr. Slack said lie supposed he violated no confidence in saying that within the last twenty-four hours the Finance Committee had received the most alarming information. It might be that an attack would be made upon Washington, within the next fifteen days. Mr. Davis, of Greenfield, said he was in favor of the bill, but thought the information could not properly be communicated to the public, and he therefore moved that the House go into secret session. The motion was agreed to, and sitting with closed doors, the House passed the bill, as follows:--

There is hereby appropriated the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, to be designated as the Emergency Fund, which shall be paid out of the treasury of this Commonwealth, from ordinary revenue, on any [165] warrants of the governor, which may be drawn from time to time, for such amounts, not exceeding in the aggregate one hundred thousand dollars, as in the judgment of the governor, by and with the consent of the council, may be necessary for the public service: Provided, that no part of this sum shall be expended for services or objects for which there are or may be subsisting appropriations contained in any act or resolve which has been or may be passed at the present session of the General Court; and an account shall be rendered to the next General Court, on or before the 15th day of January next, of the manner in which said fund, or any part thereof, has been disbursed.

This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Although not a member of the legislature, I was present in that secret session, and gave such testimony as I had. That emergency bill was passed on the 5th of February, appropriating a hundred thousand dollars as an emergency fund to put the militia in proper readiness for war.

Colonel Jones went with me to tell the governor that his regiment and my brigade, while in as good condition as any other part of the militia, were in such plight that they could not march out of the State, that the men had only holiday uniforms, and must be furnished with overcoats, knapsacks, haversacks, blankets, and other needed equipments for camping. The governor said: “Put that information in writing.” Whereupon Colonel Jones wrote this able and opportune letter:--

Boston, Feb. 5, 1861.
to his excellency the commander-in-chief:

At our interview this morning, you requested me to put the matter which I wished to communicate in writing. In accordance therewith, I make the following statement as to the condition of my command, and take the liberty to forward the same directly to you, passing over the usual channel of communication for want of time.

The Sixth Regiment consists of eight companies, located as follows, viz.: Four in Lowell, two in Lawrence, one in Acton, and one in Boston, made up mostly of men of families, “who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow,” men who are willing to leave their homes, families, and all that man holds dear, and sacrifice their present and future as a matter of duty.

Four companies of the regiment are insufficiently armed (as to quantity) with a serviceable rifle musket; the other four with the old musket, [166] which is not a safe or serviceable arm, and requiring a different cartridge from the first, which would make confusion in the distribution of ammunition.

Two companies are without uniforms, having worn them out, and were proposing to have new the ensuing spring. Six companies and the band have company uniforms of different colors and styles, but insufficient in numbers, and which are entirely unfit for actual service, from the fact that they are made of fine cloth, more for show and the attractive appearance of the company on parade than any other purpose, being cut tight to the form and in fashionable style.

I would (after being properly armed and equipped) suggest our actual necessary wants, viz., a cap, frock coat, pantaloons, boots, overcoat, knapsack, and blanket to each man, of heavy, serviceable material, cut sufficiently loose and made strongly, to stand the necessities of the service. Such is our position, and I think it is a fair representation of the condition of most of the troops in the State. Their health and their efficiency depend greatly upon their comfort.

My command is not able pecuniarily to put themselves in the necessary condition, and should they, as a matter of right and justice, be asked so to do, even were they able? What is the cost in money to the State of Massachusetts, when compared to the sacrifices we are called upon to make?

Respectfully,

Edward F. Jones, Colonel Sixth Regiment.

P. S. I would also suggest that it would require from ten to fourteen days as the shortest possible time within which my command could be put in marching order.

The adjutant-general at once by telegraph asked for proposals to furnish cloth for two thousand overcoats, and it fell to the lot of a Lowell corporation — the Middlesex Company--to have the means of furnishing this on the same 5th of February.

The outfits of these men were prepared with the utmost diligence.

The South evidently desired to gain time, as it was not in any readiness to make an attack on Washington on the 4th of March. Floyd, who was Secretary of War under Buchanan, aided to make ready the Southern States, by ordering large quantities of arms to be sent South, both small arms and ordnance, and this was continued up to the time he left his office, on the 4th day of March. [167]

Many of the Southern senators resigned earlier, but Floyd took care to hold on to his office, so as to be purveyor of military supplies of the United States to the South as long as he could.

As a means by which time was gained; the State of Virginia expressed a desire to meet her sister States in convention in Washington. This gathering was commonly called the “Peace convention,” and it resulted, of course, in nothing but talk (and some of it very foolish talk), and the desired delay. Ex-President John Tyler, of Virginia, had learned that the commandant at Fortress Monroe was mounting a heavy piece of ordnance on the ramparts, pointing overland, most of the ordnance being directed to the sea. Whereupon Tyler called the attention of the “Peace convention,” in a florid speech, to the fact that the United States was mounting a gun on Fortress Monroe, the muzzle of which pointed over “the sacred soil of Virginia.”

On the same 5th of February, it was resolved by the Massachusetts legislature as follows:--

Whereas, Questions of grave moment have arisen touching the powers of the government and the relations between the different States of the Union; and,

Whereas, The State of Virginia has expressed a desire to meet her sister States in convention at Washington; therefore,

Resolved, That the Governor of this Commonwealth, by and with the advice and consent of the council, be and he hereby is, authorized to appoint seven persons as commissioners, to proceed to Washington to confer with the General Government, or with the separate States, or with any association of delegates from such States, and to report their doings to the legislature at its present session.

The resolution expressly declared that the acts of the commission should at all times be under the control and subject to the approval or rejection of the legislature.

This commission reported on the 25th of March that it had finished its work, the convention not having amounted to anything except to convince the unthinking that the whole trouble would end in smoke. There was no emeute or interference with Lincoln's trip to Washington and his inauguration, except that he was obliged to smuggle himself through in the night-time to escape assassination, travelling alone at an unusual hour, so that his passage through [168] Baltimore was not expected or known. As the South was not yet ready to march on Washington, and as Mr. Lincoln's inaugural address purposely under the advice of Seward left it wholly uncertain whether he would attempt to retake Forts Pickens and Moultrie, it became a very important question who should strike the first blow, and when and where it should be struck.

It was thought best to wait for the South to strike it at Sumter, where some three thousand armed men had been assembled, and batteries erected with which to defend Charleston and attack Sumter.

This state of things so far satisfied our legislature that war was neither near nor probable, that on the 10th day of April it repealed unanimously, so far as any roll call shows, the emergency appropriation, leaving only money enough to pay for the expenditures already incurred.

How well I remember the tone of the articles in the newspapers at this time, which accused me of a desire to feed the moths with overcoats, and praised my shrewdness in getting up the scare so as to get for the company in which I was a stockholder the contract for cloth to feed the insects.

On the 11th day of April, the legislature, having practically disarmed the Commonwealth (for its troops could not be moved without the expenditure of appropriated money), adjourned without delay, and went home in happiness, at the bright prospect of lasting peace.

Another event happened on that same 11th day of April, which showed how little the legislature of Massachusetts knew of the condition of the country, and of the determination of the South to make war. The rebels opened fire on Fort Sumter.

Gen. William Schouler, who was the first adjutant-general appointed by Governor Andrew, and who remained in that office during the war, published a book in 1869, entitled “The history of Massachusetts in the civil War,” in which he relates with great particularity, all that he claims was done in Massachusetts to prepare her to take her illustrious part in the contest, which was begun on the 11th of April, 1861. It is well known that an unfortunate variance of opinion occurred between Governor Andrew and myself, arising out of an offer of the services of myself and troops to [169] Governor Hicks, of Maryland, on the 21st day of April, 1861, when at the capital of Maryland, to put down a threatened negro insurrection. Of that I shall speak hereafter more at length. In consequence of this antagonism, Schouler makes no mention of any efforts of myself or my friend, Colonel Jones, to put the troops in perfect order, or to have anything done which would enable the Massachusetts troops to be first of all to get into the field.

The military correspondence of Governor Andrew was so manipulated, presumably after his death, as to extinguish, as far as possible, any memory of the poor services I had rendered, as above documentarily shown. When I became Governor of the Commonwealth, in 1883, I found in the executive office at the State House, several large volumes purporting to contain all the military correspondence of Governor Andrew, copied out in the best manner. Curiously enough, that copy begins on the 15th day of April, 1861, and omits all that passed between Governor Andrew and myself, and all that Governor Andrew had written to me or about me previously to my leaving for the field on the evening of the 18th of April. So that there appears no word in these copies that will give any information to anyone who should seek the history of what I did or tried to do before that date in aiding to prepare Massachusetts and her troops for the war.

Of course, Mr. Schouler ex industria omits all reference to me, except to state the fact that I was detailed as brigadier-general to command the brigade which first went to the war. I may be pardoned, therefore, in order that the truth of history may be set forth, for recalling attention to the documents which show what I had done, as well as to my statement of what I had done, because if as to the last my memory should have failed me, which I do not think possible, the documentary evidence is irreversible.

It appears, then, that upon the very first days of January, even before his inauguration, I reported the condition of things to Governor Andrew, and urged the necessity that our troops should be put in full readiness to march.

On the 19th of January, in my brigade, resolutions were passed tendering the services of my home regiment to Governor Andrew and the legislature.

On January 22 those resolutions were received by Governor Andrew, and immediately communicated to the legislature as being [170] received from my hands. On the 5th of February, the legislature appropriated one hundred thousand dollars to put the troops in readiness and provide for their transportation. This emergency bill was passed at a secret session, at which I was present to give information to the legislature.

On the same 5th of February the governor and council authorized the making of contracts to supply the troops with equipments and clothing.

So that it is a matter of history that I took part in all that was done to have Massachusetts ready for the war, and Schouler did all he could to-have those facts forgotten.

On the 15th of April, Cameron, Secretary of War, sent a requisition by telegraph to Governor Andrew, to send forward at once fifteen hundred men, and in the course of the same day a formal request was received for two full regiments.

On that day I was trying a case before a court in Boston. As I sat at the trial table the order was placed in my hands, as brigadier-general, that the Sixth Regiment of my brigade should report at Faneuil Hall, on the morning of the 16th. That regiment was distributed over an extent of territory nearly forty miles square. After glancing over the order, I arose, and said to the presiding justice:--

“I am called to prepare troops to be sent to Washington, and I must ask the court to postpone this case.”

This was immediately done, and I left the court house at quarter before five, in time to reach my headquarters at Lowell by the five o'clock train.

And that case, so continued, remains unfinished to this day.

Being well acquainted with Secretary Cameron, as we had been Democrats together in the former years, I telegraphed him through Senator Wilson, then chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs:--

You have called for a brigade of Massachusetts troops; why not call for a brigadier-general and staff? I have some hope of being detailed.

During the night a requisition came to the governor for a brigadier-general, and I was notified by telegraph from Washington that such requisition had been made.

As will be seen by those who read these pages, I was fully acquainted with the financial condition of Massachusetts in regard [171] to its appropriations, and I knew that under the law no money in the treasury could be used for the purpose of moving troops, until appropriation could be made by the legislature, which had adjourned. While reflecting upon this in the train on my way to Boston next day, I observed in the same car with me James G. Carney, Esq., president of the Bank of Mutual Redemption, of Boston, who lived in Lowell, and was going down to his duties. I took a seat near him, and explained the situation, as I have above stated it, and asked him if it were not possible for his bank to allow the governor to draw upon it for money to a considerable amount in order to put the troops in motion; and if it could be done, I desired to take to the governor a letter making the tender. I also asked him if he would recommend my detail as brigadier-general. He assured me that he would see if the money could be tendered, and I took a carriage with him, and rode down to his bank. On our arrival, Mr. Carney wrote the following letter, which I carried to the governor:--

bank of mutual redemption, Boston, Mass., April 16, 1801.
his excellency, John A. Andrew, Governor:

Sir:--Supposing it to be not impossible that the sudden exigencies of the case may call for the use of more money than may be at the immediate command of the Treasurer of the Commonwealth, in the treasury, I write to offer to place to the credit of the State, the extreme amount the law now allows us to loan it, and remain,

Very respectfully,

Your ob. st.,

Jas. G. Carney, Prest.

Mr. Carney also said he would himself go around to the other banks, and see if they would not all make a like offer. He told me he did this, and the result was that there was more than three and a half million dollars to the credit of the Commonwealth, upon a draft of the governor, before night.

With President Carney's letter in my possession, I went to Governor Andrew, and asked him to detail me to command the troops that were to go to the seat of war. The governor received me very kindly and said:-- [172]

“General, there is a difficulty; we have two brigadier-generals in the militia who are your seniors, and one of them, General Peirce, is now outside, I suppose waiting to see me to ask for the detail.”

“Well, Governor,” I said, “you know Brigadier-General Peirce,. and you know me. Isn't this a case where the officer should be appointed who is supposed to be most instructed in affairs with which he is to deal?”

Massachusetts State House, Beacon Hill (Boston).

“I suppose I can detail any brigadier,” said the governor.

“So do I,” said I.

While this conversation was going on, the Treasurer of the Commonwealth, Gen. Henry K. Oliver, came into the governor's room, and after salutation, said:--

“ Governor, as you requested, I have been examining the condition of the affairs of the treasury since the repeal of the emergency act, and I cannot find a single dollar appropriated for transporting these troops that you have ordered out, and other like expenses. You will have to call an extra session of the legislature, and that will delay matters very [173] considerably, and we understand by the telegram that there is great urgency for haste in getting troops to Washington.” The governor said: “What shall we do?” Oliver answered: “We shall have to call a meeting of the legislature, and get an appropriation, but that will delay matters considerably. Perhaps we can use our current income.”

“Governor,” said I, “I was aware of this condition of things, and I can remedy it. Coming down in the cars, I saw President Carney of the Bank of Mutual Redemption, and he has authorized me to say that fifty thousand dollars of the funds of that bank is at the disposal of the Commonwealth, and that the other banks will answer drafts to that amount, and he recommends that I be selected as the brigadier to take command. Here is his letter.”

Oliver said:--

“Well, Governor, as General Butler has found the means to go, I think he ought to go.”

“I don't know but he had,” said the governor; “I will take it into consideration.”

I believed then that the matter the governor wanted to consider was whether it would do to send me, I having been the Breckenridge candidate against him at his election.

Later in the day I received the detail. With the leave of the governor, I established my headquarters in a room in the State House, and from that time the business of organizing and getting the troops ready to go forward was turned over to me.

Meanwhile, a direction came from Washington to send two regiments to Fortress Monroe, which was supposed to be threatened by the Confederates in Virginia. Indeed, a battery had then been commenced on the shore of Hampton Creek, opposite the fort, and a very curious letter was written to Colonel Dimmick, who was in command, which I saw afterwards, asking if the ladies of Hampton threw up a battery there, whether he would fire upon them while doing the work. That puzzled the gallant old colonel, as he told me, but he returned an answer in substance, that he could not allow anybody to erect a battery within the reach of the guns of Fortress Monroe, but that he would refer the matter to Washington.

Transportation being furnished by water for the troops, the Third and Fourth Regiments sailed, one on the 17th of April, and one on [174] the morning of the 18th. The latter regiment arrived at Fortress Monroe on the 20th.

It was agreed that Colonel Jones' regiment, strengthened by the addition of two companies, should march as soon as possible, and he took the cars on the night of the 17th of April. His route to New York was an ovation. His reception there was one of extravagant and tumultuous joy. By the invitation of Mr. Stetson, the host of the Astor House, his regiment was treated to a sumptuous breakfast, and at eleven o'clock, on the 18th, they took the cars for Philadelphia, arriving there at night. The authorities and citizens of Philadelphia encamped them at the Girard House. They were under orders to go to Washington via Baltimore, and not a word had been said to them or to anybody else, that the route through Baltimore was not open. The direct orders from the Secretary of War to Governor Andrew being that they should go through Baltimore, they left Philadelphia for Baltimore, arriving on the 19th.

I stayed behind to see that the other two regiments sailed for Fortress Monroe, and to finish all needed preparations, and to wait for the Eighth Regiment, under Col. Timothy Munroe, to get in readiness with equipments.

During the 18th of April, the utmost diligence was used. In the afternoon the regiment was paraded before the State House, where Governor Andrew made a very appropriate, patriotic, and brilliant address, to which I added a few words. While we were speaking to the soldiers, the tailors busied themselves in the rear of the regiment, sewing the buttons on the backs of the overcoats of the men.

There was still another reason for the delay of the day. The railroad company found it difficult to provide suitable cars, the weather being cold, sufficient to transport the regiment. It was then about nine hundred strong, and it was to have another company added to it when we reached Springfield,--that of Capt. Henry S. Briggs.

We left Boston at six o'clock, and were received everywhere on the route with loud plaudits, cheers, and the blessings of all the good people. We arrived at Springfield somewhere between nine and ten o'clock, where Captain Briggs' company, from Pittsfield, joined us. Here we were welcomed in the most friendly manner, and here, too, an incident occurred which gave me personally very [175] much pleasure. My old colleague in the Charleston convention, Mr. Chapin, the president of the Boston & Albany Railroad, a firm old Democrat, met me with great cordiality, thanking me for what I was doing, and offering to provide every facility for our transportation to New York. I remember he apologized to me for not having a sleeping-car at his disposal in which myself and officers could be accommodated. As it was, I tested early the discomforts of campaigning by sitting up in the cars all night.

We arrived in the morning at New York in good health, and the regiment accepted the invitation of Mr. Stetson to breakfast with him at the Astor House. Myself and staff accepted a like invitation from Mr. Paran Stevens, the landlord of the Fifth Avenue Hotel. There I first met Senator Baker, of Oregon, afterwards General Baker, and who was detailed to me at Fortress Monroe. As we stood together on the balcony of the hotel, my regiment passed by, cheering me very lustily. Baker, who had been in the Mexican War, turned to me and said: “All very well, General, for them to cheer you when they go out, but take care of them so that they will cheer you on their return.”

We embarked at Jersey City about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, as soon as the trains could be prepared; There was a little delay there because the railroad people said they could not get cars to carry us without discommoding their passenger trains; and I said to the official that we must go whether the passenger trains went or not. With some hesitation he yielded to necessity.

We arrived at Philadelphia between four and five o'clock in the evening, and the regiment was quartered at the Girard House. Upon invitation of Mr. Stevens, myself and staff took quarters at the Continental.

As soon as I got to my hotel, the extras of the Philadelphia Press were brought to me, containing accounts of what was supposed to have happened to the Sixth Regiment in Baltimore. These were sufficiently distressing, because at first the telegrams were that the regiment, or a large portion of it, had been captured in Baltimore. If that were a fact, it was a question of duty whether I ought not to go through and rescue them. But later in the evening I got more reliable information, which I transmitted by telegraph to Governor Andrew. [176]

While the attack upon the Sixth Regiment in its march through Baltimore was in fact of small moment, in view of the subsequent events of the war, yet it was an event that had so much effect upon the country and upon public sentiment that it is well enough that an authentic history of it should be preserved. I therefore give a condensed statement from an account of Colonel Jones, now lieutenant-governor of New York.

The Sixth arrived at Philadelphia on the afternoon of the 18th of April, and was bivouacked at the Girard House. The officer stationed there to furnish sustenance and means of transportation and further orders as to their proceeding, was so impressed with fear that the troops would be assaulted if they should attempt to pass through Baltimore that he declined to take the responsibility of ordering Colonel Jones to proceed, and left him to determine the question. Jones at once said that his orders were to get to Washington as soon as possible, and that he must therefore proceed at once, if transportation could be procured. Thereupon General Davis warmly shook the colonel's hand and replied: “While I won't give you the order to go, yet if you go I will go with you,” and he did.

Jones then applied to Felton, the president of the Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, who advised the colonel that it would be better not to go through Baltimore in the night time, as he was quite certain from reports that his march would be opposed, but to take the train very early in the morning. Jones then said to Felton: “I am willing to lose as many men as necessary in conflict, but I don't want them murdered in a railroad accident. Will the railroad therefore see that the bridges are guarded, the road watched, and a pilot engine run a short distance ahead of us, the train running at a slow speed?” To this Felton assented.

Soon after midnight Jones embarked his men on a train of ten cars and started. Nothing occurred until the train passed the ferry at Havre de Grace, about two or three hours from Baltimore. Jones then went through each car and gave distinct orders to the men, telling them that they might be assaulted in Baltimore, but whatever was done to them either by abuse or by missiles thrown, they should not fire until they were fired upon, and then only at the command of an officer, and to take their aim at the men actually firing.

At that time the cars were hauled through Baltimore by horses. But it had been arranged between the colonel and the railroad [177] [178] [179] officials that his regiment should march by the shortest route through the city from the station at which the train entered to the Camden station, as the railroad could not undertake to carry them through in the cars.

Owing to the early hour at which the arrival at Baltimore would take place, and to the fact that telegraphic communications showed that there was no mob then in waiting, the railroad officials changed their purpose and concluded to take the regiment through in the cars, but did not inform Colonel Jones of that change of plan. When the cars stopped the colonel jumped from the first car for the purpose of re-forming the regiment. It had been in due order in the train, but had been disordered by the shifting of the cars at the ferry.

Instantly upon the stopping of the train the horses had been hitched on to the first car, and it started on. Horses were then hitched to the next car, and so on to the third, when the colonel was told of this change in the mode of transportation. Thereupon he sprang upon the next car going and went on, there being no appearance of any special difficulty at that time. With great despatch seven of the cars were drawn through to the Camden station without detention. The three later cars were opposed on Pratt Street by a mob which had gathered there, and the cars were prevented from proceeding further.

Thereupon the troops disembarked and commenced their march in columns of sections. They were immediately assailed, at first with every sort of verbal abuse, then smaller missiles were thrown and then larger ones. The troops marched steadily forward. At length some pistol shots were fired, and then other shots, and one man in the front section fell dead. Thereupon the officer in command gave the order to fire. Then, when the way was partially cleared, the movement was increased to quick step.

Up to this time the mob evidently thought that the troops had no pistols and no ammunition in their guns. The firing finally became general. Six of our men were killed and thirty were wounded. The band, which was in the rear, had been cut off when the troops arrived at Camden station.

The first intimation that Colonel Jones received of trouble of any sort was by a man reporting to a government official who stood beside him, that there was trouble with the troops. The next [180] report was that the troops were firing upon the citizens; and immediately the head of the attacked column appeared at the station. The first inclination in Colonel Jones' mind was to form his men and march out into the square adjoining the station, which was now filled with an infuriated mob, and avenge his soldiers. When he disclosed that intention to the railroad men, they besought him in the most anxious terms, “For God's sake not to do that.” That did not chance his purpose; but at the same moment a telegram was put in his hand addressed to him from General Scott, in these words:--

Let there be no possible delay in your coming.

This to a soldier was an order; and whatever Colonel Jones' feelings or wishes may have been, he did not feel at liberty to disregard that order, especially as the master of transportation, a good, true, and loyal man, William P. Smith, said: “For God's sake, give the order for the cars to move; the mob is already trying to tear the tracks up in front of us. If you don't, no one of your men will leave here alive.” Thereupon Colonel Jones gave the order.

The train started and went on a short distance. Then it stopped, and the conductor informed the colonel that he could take the train no further toward Washington. “Very well,” said Colonel Jones, “I paid for being carried there and shall go, and I have men that can run your engine and train as well as you can.” The conductor started the train once more, and there was no further interference with the progress of the troops, although Mr. Smith had information, as he said to Colonel Jones, that the rebels were attempting to blow up the viaduct at the Relay House.

When the regiment arrived in Washington President Lincoln met it at the depot. He shook Colonel Jones warmly by the hand, and said: “Thank God, you have come; for if you had not Washington would have been in the hands of the rebels before morning.”

Colonel Jones was afterwards in command of the Relay House, where I left him after the taking of Baltimore. There he remained until his term of service expired. Then he re-enlisted his regiment, as we shall see, and served with me during the Campaign of the Gulf, where his personal services as a commander were of the highest order. [181]

His political opponents have criticised him because he was in a place of safety at the time this riot was going on in Baltimore. He was where he should have been, at the head of his regiment, and he had no intimation that there was any more dangerous place than that until it was too late to act. No one not a newspaper editor or a stump orator who did not take part in the war ever questioned his conduct or his courage.

That night, Mr. S. M. Felton, the president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, and Captain Dupont called upon me. From Mr. Felton's story, based on the telegrams he had received, we got a clear comprehension of the situation, and of the events substantially as they had occurred. We learned that the Sixth Regiment had passed through Baltimore on its way to Washington. It was believed it had arrived at Washington in safety, although no telegrams to that effect had come over the wires.

I learned also, that the mayor of Baltimore had got a promise from Mr. Felton by telegraph, that no more troops should be sent through Baltimore, and the further fact, that the Gunpowder Creeks bridges, which were very long trestle-works some miles from Baltimore, had been burned, so that no troops could be sent by rail. The question then arose, how should I get to Washington?

My orders were distinct that I should go through Baltimore; but under the circumstances I had no difficulty in disregarding them. In further conversation they told me that General Patterson had from General Scott some sort of military position in Philadelphia, but what it was they did not know. I inquired if they thought he would give me orders, and they said that they had consulted him, and he said he had no military control over me. If he had any military position under the United States, it was that of major-general, and I could not understand why he would not give me orders, because the Articles of War required that when troops of the United States met, whether regulars or militia, the senior officer should take command. They said that he would advise that I should go through Annapolis.

Captain Dupont and I consulted the map to see what the march would be. There was a branch railroad connecting with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad down through Annapolis, but of course if my march was to be opposed, it would be impossible to make use of that, and [182] it would be a march of some thirty odd miles from Annapolis to Washington. The Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad could send me to Perryville, on the northerly side of the Susquehanna River, opposite Havre de Grace, and the march from Havre de Grace was but a little longer than that from Annapolis. My regiment could be ferried across the Susquehanna on the steamer Maryland, the railroad ferry-boat between Perryville and Havre de Grace. But there was apprehension that the steamer had been seized, or would be before we could get there. To that it was answered by Captain Dupont that I could take boats from Philadelphia and go to Annapolis, so that I had the two routes open to me through Annapolis.

I inquired into the soundings of the harbor at Annapolis, and into all other matters pertaining to such movement. Then I suggested still another plan, which I finally adopted, with the full concurrence of Mr. Felton and Captain Dupont. It was this: Colonel Lefferts, with the New York Seventh Regiment, would be in Philadelphia in the morning. If he would co-operate with me, it would bring up our forces to about fifteen hundred men, and we could then march to Perryville, crossing the river perhaps at Havre de Grace, with force enough to meet any enemy that there could be in Maryland, although I was told that all Maryland had arisen as one man to oppose my march.

But I have never believed much in camp rumors,

If Lefferts did not co-operate, I still determined to march in the morning with my own regiment, seize the ferry-boat Maryland, and go to Annapolis, and hold the town with such aid as I could get from the Naval Academy, which could probably furnish me with provisions. The premises of the academy were surrounded on three sides by a heavy wall, and overlooked the water on the fourth, so that they could easily be protected with their guns. I believed I could hold Annapolis until reinforced by troops coming from the North by water, and I thought that to be, under the circumstances, the best plan to get relief to Washington.

Mr. Felton enthusiastically seconded me in both propositions. He said that he would put the Maryland at my disposal, and that he would have her provided with water and coal, if the enemy had not taken possession of her. She should take me to Annapolis, unless Lefferts went with me and we landed at Havre de Grace. Felton [183] tried to get these instructions to the commander of the steamer. But they failed to reach him, the telegraph wires being cut, for no train was to be sent over the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad to Perryville until my troops went.

I then sent out my brother, who accompanied me as a civilian, to purchase pick-axes and shovels and wood-axes for entrenching tools, and to obtain the proper camp kettles and other means for encamping the regiment, in case we had to march. All of these were made ready and taken with us.

It was three o'clock in the morning before the whole matter was determined upon. I then sat down and wrote hurriedly the following despatch to Governor Andrew:--

I have detailed Captain Devereux and Captain Briggs, with their commands, supplied with one day's rations and twenty rounds of ammunition, to take possession of the ferry-boat at Havre de Grace for the benefit of this expedition. This I have done with the concurrence of the present master of transportation. The Eighth Regiment will remain at quarters, that they may get a little solid rest after their fatiguing march. I have sent to know if the Seventh (New York) Regiment will go with me.

I propose to march myself at the hour of seven o'clock in the morning, to take the regular 3.15 o'clock train to Havre de Grace. The citizens of Baltimore, at a large meeting this evening, denounced the passage of northern troops. They have exacted a promise from the president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad not to send troops over that road through Baltimore, so that any attempt to throw troops into Baltimore entails a march of forty miles and an attack upon a city of two hundred thousand at the beginning of the march. The only way, therefore, of getting communication with Washington for troops from the North is over the Baltimore & Ohio railroad or marching from the West. Commander Dupont, at the navy yard, has given me instructions on the facts in accordance with these general statements upon which I rely. I have therefore thought I could rely upon these statements, and will undertake to proceed in marching order from Havre de Grace to Washington. My proposition is to join with Colonel Lefferts of the Seventh Regiment of New York. I propose to take the fifteen hundred troops to Annapolis, arriving there about four o'clock and occupying the capital of Maryland, and thus call the State to account for the death of Massachusetts men, my friends and neighbors. It Colonel Lefferts thinks it more in accordance with the [184] tenor of his instructions to wait rather than go through Baltimore, I still propose to march with this regiment. I propose to occupy the town, and hold it open as a means of communication. I have then but to advance by a forced march of thirty miles to reach the capital, in accordance with the orders I at first received, but which subsequent events, in my judgment, vary in their execution, believing from the telegraphs that there will be others in great numbers to aid me. Being accompanied by officers of more experience, who will be able to direct the affair, I think it will be accomplished. We have no light batteries. I have, therefore, telegraphed to Governor Andrew to have the Boston Light Battery put on shipboard at once to-night to help me in marching on Washington. In pursuance of this plan, I have detailed Captains Devereux and Briggs, with their commands, to hold the boat at Havre de Grace. At 11 A. M. Colonel Lefferts has refused to march with me. I go alone at three o'clock to execute this imperfect plan. If I succeed, success will justify me. If I fail, purity of intention will excuse want of judgment or rashness.

B. F. Butler.

I desire here and now to give Mr. S. M. Felton the highest praise for his loyalty, his energy, and his advice and hearty co-operation. Before I left him I said: “But, Mr. Felton, if we capture the Maryland, it may be necessary to burn her or sink her.” He immediately gave me an order on her officer to do either.

Among the considerations which pressed upon my mind to determine me to make the attempt to hold Annapolis, and open the way to Washington, was the remembrance of a little bit of history:--

Washington had determined upon placing the capital where it now is. He had substantially laid out the plan which brought the capitol building, in the final location of it, close to the top of a slope which commands a view of the very large and substantially level ground east of the capitol where, by this plan, the city was to be built. But this level tract took in a large piece of the ground belonging to Mr. Carroll, and some belonging to the Custis family. On this account, Edmund Randolph, Washington's attorney-general, attacked him in a pamphlet, which was the mode of political warfare in those days. He urged that the location of the capital, and especially the plan of the city, was simply the result of nepotism on the part of the President, who desired to give great value by the [185]

Map of Chesapeake Bay and interior. From United States topographical map.

The attack was exceedingly coarse and severe. The man who acted as Washington's assistant engineer in laying out the city, and locating the public buildings, and more than possibly in advising the choice of the site, was Major L'Enfant, a very able French engineer. To the pamphlet of Randolph, a reply was made which was supposed to have been written by L'Enfant. With that reply, we have nothing to do here, except in regard to the naval and military situation of the capital.

Major L'Enfant upon these questions, replied in substance, that the person who wrote the pamphlet evidently was not a military man, and did not understand the views which led to the location of the capital. In the first place, the advantage of little depth of water of the Potomac River, its ease or difficulty of access, had nothing to do with the location of the capital. The port of Annapolis in Chesapeake Bay was the port and harbor of Washington, as Havre was of Paris, and it was situated about the same distance from the capital as Havre was from Paris. That while the port of Annapolis was held, the whole country would have access to Washington in a most certain and easy manner, especially for the conveyance of troops, as the great bays Delaware and Chesapeake were in precise and easy connection with it. Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads would protect the fleets of the world, and it was not thought desirable among military men, in looking at the defence of a capital, to have it situated close upon the shores of large open seas where it would always be at the mercy of naval attacks and raids of troops by water. The very difficulty of getting up the Potomac, and the ease with which war vessels could be prevented from ascending the [187] river, was one of the protections of Washington. Great numbers of troops, concluded Major L'Enfant, could readily be brought down the Susquehanna River, and landed anywhere upon its banks or in the bays, and so march to protect Washington.

I had read those pamphlets in earlier days, and now that I saw our means of access by railroad in the hands of hostile States, I was at once put in mind of the advantage of holding the port of Annapolis as the port and harbor of Washington. This would give the North, by means of its naval superiority, at all times the possibility of marching upon Washington, or marching for the purpose of carrying on war with the South. And thus my want of military experience was instructed in that regard by reading these two political pamphlets which are not taught at West Point, and probably had never been read by any West Point man then alive. And the knowledge thus derived determined me upon the proposition with which I set out as the last and best resort for defending Washington.

How much the Father of his Country was disturbed by the Randolph pamphlet will appear by a little anecdote which I beg leave to transcribe for the benefit of some of my younger readers if not most of the older ones:--

Mr. James Ross, of Pittsburg, was Washington's agent for the sale of his lands in Pennsylvania. He came to Philadelphia to settle his account, and sent word to the President that he would wait upon him at his pleasure, and was invited to breakfast with him the next morning. On arriving, he found all the ladies — the Custises, Lewises, Mrs. Washington, and others in the parlor, obviously in great alarm. Mr. Ross described them as gathered together in the middle of the room like a flock of partridges in a field when a hawk is in the neighborhood. Very soon the President entered and shook hands with Mr. Ross, but looked dark and lowering. They went in to breakfast, and after a little while the Secretary of War came in and said to Washington: “Have you seen Randolph's pamphlet?” “I have,” said Washington, “and by the eternal God he is the damnedest liar on the face of the earth;” and as he spoke he brought his fist down upon the table with all his strength, and with a violence which made the cups and plates start from their places. Ross said he felt infinitely relieved; for he feared that [188] something in his own conduct had occasioned the blackness of the President's countenance.¹

I did my very best to persuade Colonel Lefferts to go with me and make our march from Havre de Grace, or go with me to Annapolis. He was not to be persuaded, and in violation of the Articles of War, refused to be commanded. He was going to take a steamer and go up the Potomac to Washington, and I left him. He never suggested that he had any orders or instructions to go to Annapolis. His orders were to go through Baltimore, and if he could not go through Baltimore, he was to go around by sea to the mouth of the Potomac, and then up the Potomac to Washington.

I thereupon, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, after having waited for three or four hours for him to make up his mind, embarked on board the train for Wilmington. I was told by Mr. Felton, who was the last man I shook hands with as I got on the train, and directed it to move, that he believed the steamer Maryland had been captured by Baltimore “roughs,” as he expressed it. He advised me to take care not to be found on board the cars when I got in the neighborhood of the steamer. I thanked him and busied myself the first part of the way in preparing my regiment for action. I went through the cars, saw every man, examined his rifle, found it in good order, stood over him while he loaded it, and saw that it was all right. I then told all of them that when we got to Perryville, we expected to make an assault on the ferry-boat Maryland, and to take it away from the Confederates who had captured it; that it was to be done by an attack in columns of platoons; that we were to go on the boat at all hazards, whatever resistance was made, and that I would lead the column, as this undertaking was very important, and I chose to share the danger with them. I said that we probably should lose a considerable number of men, and that they had nothing to do but each in his own way to prepare himself for the event in the three or four hours that were left us. By calling on my secretary, all would be supplied with paper and envelopes to write letters to their friends, if they so desired, to be left with the conductor, who would return with the train after the assault.

When I got all through, I returned to the forward car. There a curious incident was in progress, which showed the disposition of [189] our men. I found Captain Briggs, who was in command of the Pittsfield company, in what appeared to be an altercation with one of his men. Captain Briggs had possession of the man's rifle, and the man was crying between rage and indignation. The soldier was not of age.

“What is the matter, my man?” I asked.

“The captain has taken away my rifle,” he replied, “and tells me I shall stay in the car with the baggage. Now, I don't want to stay with the baggage; I came here to fight, and the captain ought not to prevent it.”

I turned to Captain Briggs and said: “What is your explanation of this?”

“Well,” said he, “I want one man to stay with the baggage of my company, and I have chosen this young man because he is the least experienced man I have got, and I am going to take his rifle because I can do something with it. With this,” pointing to his sword, “I can do nothing.”

I told the man that he must obey the orders of the captain; that he was doing right, and that settled the matter.

We had about an hour and a half more before the train would stop some three quarters of a mile from the boat, and everything being done that I could do I sat down, not having had my clothes off since I left Boston, and, according to my habit, went to sleep, after cautioning the conductor to put the train to the highest speed she could make. I seemed hardly to have closed my eyes when the cry of “a man overboard” awakened me. The train stopped. I looked out of the window of the car, and saw that one of my men, who proved to be a sergeant, had stripped himself of everything but his trousers and shoes, and was going across the fields. He had jumped from the train when it was running at full speed, incurring more danger of death thereby than he would have done probably during the war,--certainly more than during his three months service. Some of the men were off the car chasing him. Not willing to lose time, I ordered the bugle to sound recall for the men, and told three or four track-men that he had deserted, and that there was a reward of thirty dollars offered for him; that I was going to Annapolis, and if they would bring him to me there they should have the reward. That was the first information the men had as to where they were going. [190]

After I had been at Annapolis three or four days, the man was brought in. He was a man of intelligence. The shock had been too much for him. I told him I could not allow him to serve in arms with the company, but if he chose to stay there and cook for them, and take care of them, and did well, I would not punish him further for the desertion. This he did, and afterwards showed himself to be a man whose only fault was that he had had his first fright.

When the train arrived within three quarters of a mile of the Maryland at Perryville, it was halted, and I detailed the Salem Zouaves, my best drilled company, to act as skirmishers, and threw them out on each side of the road into the forest. The regiment was then formed in platoons and we marched down without sound of drum until we got in sight of the boat, myself marching at their head.

A little incident which shows the civilian's idea of war occurred here. My brother came alongside me as we were marching down to the boat, and I observed that he had in his hand a heavy pick-axe handle.

“What in the world are you going to do with that?” I asked.

“Why,” said he, “you expect to fight, don't you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I shall go along; I know how to handle this weapon in a hand to hand fight, and can do more execution with it than with any other.”

As he was a man six feet two in his stockings, and weighed one hundred and eighty pounds without being fleshy, I said to him: “I think you are quite right, come on;” and he stepped on board the ferry-boat with me.

But all this preparation was needless. There was nobody there but some of the officers and crew of the boat, the others having deserted. I found no preparations made, no coal on board, more than enough to cross the river, and the regiment went to work immediately to coal her. There were tracks on the upper deck for the transportation of cars. We put four cars loaded with coal upon those tracks; we could not stop to stow it. There was no water, aboard for drinking, but we found at the landing quite a number of empty whiskey barrels, which we filled with good water and took with us. Three days rations of chicken, turkey, and tongue, had been given us at the Continental Hotel, but [191] all that had been eaten on the march, as might have been expected of raw volunteers.

With this outfit we steamed for Annapolis. It was a fine night, although quite dark. We got into Annapolis Harbor and steamed up toward the wharf of the academy, where lay the good ship Constitution. As nobody knew that we were coming, we expected that the old town would be perfectly quiet and that we should take the people by surprise. But as it was, they took us by surprise, for as soon as we got fairly in sight the “assembly” was beaten, men were forming, the lights were glancing, the academy was all lighted up, and it was quite evident that we were expected. We came to anchor and lay quiet. No guns were fired and no attack made, and the men

Annapolis in 1861.

After thinking the matter over carefully, I concluded to send somebody on shore to find out what all this meant. I selected Capt. Peter Haggerty of my staff to take a letter from me to whoever was in command. Just as our yawl was putting off, my brother said to me: “I will go with him.” Accordingly he stepped into the boat, and handing his revolver to the officer of the deck said: “Here, take this. I shall not capture Annapolis with this if I have it, and if they take me I don't want them to get a good revolver.” In about an hour, as I stood at the gangway, I heard the sound of oars, apparently muffled. Directly I could see a boat with five people in it, four [192] rowing. When they got fairly within gunshot, I called out: “What boat is that?” “What steamer is that?” was the reply. The answer went back: “None of your business. Come alongside or I will fire into you.”

A few strokes of the oar brought alongside the boat a young gentleman in the uniform of the United States navy. When he was fairly on deck two soldiers seized him and held him fast.

“Who are you, and what are you here for?” I asked.

“I am Lieutenant Matthews, sent by Commodore Blake, commandant of the Naval Academy, to learn what steamer this is.”

“Very well, I can tell you that easily. But whether I shall allow you to communicate it to Captain Blake is another question. This is the steamer Maryland, which plies as a ferry-boat between Havre de Grace and Perryville. I am General Butler, of Massachusetts, and my troops here are Massachusetts men, and we propose landing here.” I was thus careful, because I had heard that a great many of the naval officers had quit the service.

“I am rejoiced to hear it,” said the young lieutenant, “and so will be Captain Blake. He is afraid that this boat holds a lot of Baltimore roughs who have come to capture the station.”

“Very well,” I said, “you must remain here. I have sent a boat ashore to Captain Blake,--you must have passed it somewhere,--with the information that he wants.”

Just as day was breaking, Captain Haggerty came back with my brother and Commodore Blake. I invited the commodore to the quarter-deck where we could be alone, and told him who I was, and why I was there, and asked him what he desired. The old man burst into tears, and shed them like rain for a moment, and then broke out:--

“Thank God! thank God! Won't you save the Constitution?”

I did not know that he referred to the ship Constitution, and I answered:

Yes, that is just what I am here for.

“Are those your orders? Then the old ship is safe.”

“I have no orders,” said I; “I am carrying on war now on my own hook; I cut loose from my orders when I left Philadelphia. What do you want me to do to save the Constitution?”

“I want some sailor men,” he answered, “for I have no sailors;. I want to get her out, and get her afloat.” [193]

“Oh, well,” said I, “I have plenty of sailor men from the town of Marblehead, where their fathers built the Constitution.”

“Well,” said he, “can you stop and help me?”

“I must stop,” I replied. “I can go no further at present, and I propose to stop here and hold this town.”

“Oh, well,” said he, “you can do that as long as we can keep off any force by sea. This peninsula is connected with the mainland by a little neck not half a mile wide, and a small body of troops there posted, can hold off a large force. Now, General,” he added, “won't you come over with me and take breakfast, and then we can talk of this matter wider.”

I accepted his invitation, and after consultation with him, I assured myself that with my force I could hold the place for some time to come, at least long enough for reinforcements to get to me from the North, and thus against all the efforts possible to shut off troops from the capital. I then came to the conclusion to hold the town, and did so, and from that time forth Annapolis was in the hands of the Union side.

Early on the morning of Sunday the 21st, I breakfasted at headquarters with CommodoreBlake and Mrs. Blake, and their son, who was then an officer in the United States navy. After a breakfast eaten with a rapidity which astonished the accomplished wife of the commodore, I got the first glimpse of what a civil war meant. I was beginning to say something to Commodore Blake about getting the Constitution out of her dock. As I was speaking, I caught the eye of Mrs. Blake, and saw that I was saying something that I ought not to say. I changed the topic of conversation at once into a descant upon the peculiar toothsomeness of deviled hard-shelled crabs, which formed a considerable portion of my breakfast. Meanwhile Lieutenant Blake, the son, rose and went out, as did his father, leaving the lady and myself at the table. Then she remarked: “General, I observed that you took the hint I tried to give you to keep the conversation upon general topics, and I think it my duty now, however painful it is, to give you the reason. My son, I regret to say, sides with secession; and while I feel certain that nothing you could say would be communicated to the enemies of the country by him, yet we find lately that one cannot be too careful.” [194]

Here, where I found at the threshold a son arrayed against his father, both of whom must soon become deadly enemies, I was most forcibly impressed with a realization of what that contest in which I was taking part was to be.

Before I went ashore, Captain Haggerty, who, as I have said, had returned on board the steamer, gave me two notes which had been received, one from the governor of the State, and one from Lieutenant Miller, who was a quartermaster of the army at the post. The governor's note reads as follows:--

I would most earnestly advise that you do not land your men at Annapolis. The excitement here is very great, and I think it prudent that you should take your men elsewhere. I have telegraphed to the Secretary of War against your landing your men here.

This was addressed to the “Commander of the Volunteer Troops on Board the Steamer.” The quartermaster, Capt. Morris J. Miller,. wrote thus:

Having been intrusted by General Scott with the arrangements for transporting your regiments hence to Washington, and it being impracticable to procure cars, I recommend that the troops remain on board the steamer until further orders can be received from General Scott.

This letter from Miller I knew was an entire romance on his part, and I suspected him of disloyalty. When I got into Washington I reported him to General Scott who relieved him, and another quartermaster was sent to me, a very efficient and loyal man, who did. me great service.

To the governor I answered as follows:--

I had the honor to receive your note by the hands of Lieutenant Matthews, of the United States Naval School at Annapolis. I am sorry that your excellency should advise against my landing here. I am not provisioned for a long voyage. Finding the ordinary means of communication cut off by the burning of railroad bridges by a mob, I have been obliged to make this detour, and hope that your excellency will see, from the very necessity of the case, that there is no cause of excitement in the mind of any good citizen because of our being driven here by an extraordinary casualty. I should at once obey, however, an order from the Secretary of War.

Immediately after breakfast I detailed a company, the Salem Zouaves, Captain Devereux, the best drilled company I had, as guard on board the Constitution. I also detailed a company of Marbleheaders, who were fishermen, to help work the ship under the command of Lieutenant (afterwards Admiral) Rogers. He worked with a will, and I shall never forget my delight at his efficiency. He transferred all the upper deck guns and their carriages on board the Maryland, thus lightening the ship. We got up her anchors, which were several feet deep in the mud, and after very strenuous efforts on the part of all of us, the Constitution, attached to the Maryland, was worked around and down the bay into deep water. The Maryland on returning got hard and fast aground, and that closed the day of Sunday.

On Monday morning I went ashore at the academy, and received Governor Hicks at headquarters. He was accompanied by the mayor of Annapolis, and both of them exhorted me not to think of landing.

They said all Maryland was ready to rush to arms; that the enthusiasm of the people in Annapolis could not long be restrained, and that the railroad towards Washington had been torn up and was fully guarded. I replied that I certainly should land and go on through to Washington, but that I could not march then as I had no provisions. I said that I desired to purchase the provisions I needed, as Maryland was to be treated as a State which had not seceded. They then said that I could not buy an ounce of provisions in Annapolis. The mayor assured me that no patriot would sell to Yankee troops provisions with which to march to Washington. I replied that I had hoped better things than that from Annapolis, the city in which the only sign of life that I could see was the United States Naval School. The refusal to sell provisions and the objections to my landing were urged again and again.

At last being a little aroused, I said: “I suppose there are sufficient provisions in this capital of Maryland to feed a thousand men, and if the people will not sell those provisions, a thousand hungry, armed men have other means of getting what they want to eat. besides buying it.” They were obdurate, however, and we parted for the time.

Meanwhile Commodore Blake furnished me with such provisions as he could spare from the academy. But cooking their own rations. [196] was not one of the exercises in which my men had been drilled; and when so many pounds of salt beef and hard bread were told out to them, and a few cords of wood distributed among them to cook the rations with, their condition of entire uncertainty as to what they could or would do was one of the most laughable incidents of the war. Further it shows the folly of the system of holding State encampments of militia regiments to prepare the men for duties in war, while permitting them to hire a caterer to furnish and cook their rations elsewhere,--a very ludicrous and useless performance. If a regiment of volunteer militia is put into camp, the men should have their camp utensils for cooking, and be taught how to cook and prepare their food. The militia regiments of to-day, if brought into tile field now, would be as helpless about their food in camp as was the Eighth Regiment on the parade ground of the Naval Academy, in 1861.

A few days of the presence of our troops changed the minds of the governor and mayor, for within thirty days the mayor of Annapolis was an applicant for the place of post sutler. He did not get it from me, however. The governor changed the place of meeting of the legislature, which had been called to meet at that time in Annapolis, to Frederick, upon the ground that it was improper for it to meet in a city which was held by United States troops. Yet within fifteen days thereafterwards, he brought to me the great seal of the State of Maryland, and placed it in my safe keeping so that it could not be attached to an ordinance of secession, if the Maryland legislature should pass one. Thus I had another offer thrust upon me of the honors of which I could not boast, to wit, the keeper of the great seal.

On that same Monday morning, there came up the bay the steamer Boston, having on board the New York Seventh Regiment, which had been thirty-six hours coming from Philadelphia. Colonel Lefferts, their commander, had run down to the mouth of the Potomac River in pursuance of his declaration that he proposed to go to Washington by water. But it seemed that when he got to the light-ship he asked the secessionists, who were keepers of the light-ship, whether he had best go to the relief of the capital, and was told by them that there were batteries on the banks of the Potomac for the purpose of preventing the advance of troops. Having received such [197] authentic (?) information, he called a council of war, and it was voted not to be quite safe to go up the Potomac. It was thought best to come back to Annapolis and seek the aid and protection of the Massachusetts troops.

I supposed that the Articles of War were in force in New York and Annapolis, and known to the New York troops, as they were to the Massachusetts troops. I refer more particularly to the following paragraphs:--

The militia, when called into actual service of the United States for the suppression of rebellion against and resistance to the laws of the United States, shall be subject to the same rules and articles of war as the regular troops of the United States. （Rev. Stats. U. S., Sec. 1644; Feb. 28, 1795.)

If, upon marches, guards, or in quarters, different corps of the army happen to join or do duty together, the officer highest in rank of the line of the army, marine corps or militia, by commission, there on duty or in quarters, shall command the whole, and give orders for what is needful to the service, unless otherwise specially directed by the President, according to the nature of the case.

Finding this regiment joining me, I supposed it came under my command. At any rate, as will be seen hereafter, General Scott put it under my command very quickly when he heard of the trouble. At this time, however, I proceeded to take command, and thereupon issued the following order:--

At five o'clock A. M. the troops will be called by companies to be drilled in the manual of arms, especially in loading at will and firing by file, and in the use of the bayonet, and these specialties will be observed in all subsequent drills in the manual. Such drills will continue until seven o'clock. Then all the arms may be stacked upon the upper deck, great care being taken to instruct the men as to the mode of stacking their arms, so that a firm stack, not easily overturned, shall be made. Being obliged to drill at times with the weapons loaded, great damage may be done by the overturning of the stack and the discharge of a piece. This is important. Indeed, an accident has already occurred in the regiment from this cause, and although slight in its consequences, yet it warns us to increased diligence in this regard.

The purpose, which could only be hinted at in the orders of yesterday, has been accomplished. The frigate Constitution has lain for a long time [198] at this port substantially at the mercy of the armed mob which sometimes paralyzes the otherwise loyal State of Maryland. Deeds of daring, successful contests, and glorious victories had rendered Old Ironsides so conspicuous in the naval history of the country, that she was fitly chosen as the school in which to train the future officers of the navy to like heroic acts. It was given to Massachusetts and Essex County first to man her; it was reserved to Massachusetts to have the honor to retain her for the service of the Union and the laws. This is a sufficient triumph of right, a sufficient triumph for us. By this, the blood of our friends shed by the Baltimore mob is in so far avenged. The Eighth Regiment may hereafter cheer lustily upon all proper occasions, but never without orders. The old Constitution by their efforts, aided untiringly by the United States officers having her in charge, is now safely “possessed, occupied, and enjoyed” by the Government of the United States, and is safe from all her enemies.

We have been joined by the Seventh Regiment of New York, and together we propose peaceably, quietly, and civilly, unless opposed by some mob or other disorderly persons, to march to Washington in obedience to the requisition of the President of the United States; and if opposed, we shall march steadily forward.

My next order I hardly know how to express. I cannot assume that any of the citizen soldiery of Massachusetts or New York could, under any circumstances whatever, commit any outrages upon private property in a loyal and friendly State. But fearing that some improper person may have by stealth introduced himself among us, I deem it proper to state that any unauthorized interference with private property will be most signally punished, and full reparation therefor made to the injured party, to the full extent of my power and ability. In so doing, I but carry out the orders of the War Department. I should have done so without those orders.

Colonel Monroe will cause these orders to be read at the head of each company before we march. Colonel Lefferts' command not having been originally included in this order, he will be furnished with a copy for his instruction.

Colonel Lefferts reported to me at my headquarters on the grounds of the academy. As the steamer Maryland was hard and fast, and could not be floated until she was relieved of her troops, I asked him to allow the Boston to land the Seventh Regiment at the grounds of the Naval Academy, and then to land at the same place the Massachusetts Eighth. This was done, and the men of the regiments [199] fraternized, and the officers apparently, until after a consultation with Colonel Lefferts as to the best way of opening the road and marching to Washington. In this consultation I endeavored to impress upon him the necessity of immediate action. I was informed by him, however, that he had held a consultation with his officers, and had concluded to remain there until more reinforcements should arrive. I suggested that waiting there would only give the rebels outside further time to tear up the railroad, which I was assured was not then in a very bad condition, and could be repaired very quickly. I urged him, as I had in the meantime got news that the Fifth Massachusetts was coming very soon, to march out at once with his regiment, and lay out on the road and repair it. The difficulty as to provisions having been relieved so far as the Eighth was concerned, and no such difficulty existing in his own regiment, I impressed upon him as strongly as I could the necessity for marching at once. Meantime I had been reliably informed that this was the desire of some of the officers of the Seventh.

The trouble with Lefferts appeared to be that he had picked up somewhere a man who had once been at West Point, to accompany and cosset him in his command. Lefferts never called upon me without him, and he at times was somewhat officious, and not always too courteous. But I pardoned that on account of the color of his nose, and because I was not seeking difficulties.

I then got the acquiescence of Lefferts that I should address his officers on parade ground, at dress parade, on the necessity of an immediate march for the relief of Washington. I did so address them, and, I thought, got their assent; for, as I made my points they turned their eyes very steadfastly on Lefferts and his dry nurse. Some time after parade had been dismissed, Lefferts informed me that upon further consultation, his officers declined to march.

“Colonel Lefferts,” said I, “war is not carried on in this way. A commander doesn't consult his regiment as to the propriety of obeying his orders; he must judge of what those orders should be. Now, by the Articles of War, I am in command, as brigadier-general of the United States militia, called into service, and actually in service. I take the responsibility of giving you an order to march, and shall expect it to be obeyed.”

Here Red Nose lighted up and said:-- [200]

“General Butler, you don't appear to be aware that a general of United States militia has no right to command New York State troops.”

“No, sir,” said I, “I am not aware of that, and it is not the law. Have you got a copy of the Articles of War in your pocket?”

“No, sir.”

“Have you examined them?”

“No, sir; but I was educated at West Point.”

That was the first time in carrying on war, that West Point had ever interfered to render my movements abortive, but not the last time by a great deal, as we shall see hereafter. It stirred me then, as it always has stirred me since.

I turned to Lefferts and said: “What rank does this man hold in your command?”

“None at all.”

“Well, then, I have nothing to do with him.” And I asked Lefferts once again: “Will you march?” I spoke with considerable emphasis, and added: “I hope you won't refuse to obey my order.”

Then Red Nose said: “Well, what will you do if the colonel refuses to march?”

“If he refuses to march, I certainly have this remedy: I will denounce him and his regiment as fit only to march down Broadway in gala dress to be grinned at by milliners' apprentices.”

I then called an orderly and sent for Lieutenant-Colonel Hincks, of the Eighth Regiment, to report to me at once. It so happened that he was at the very door, and came in. I said: “Colonel Hincks, take two companies of the Eighth Regiment and march out two miles on the Elkton railroad towards Washington, and hold it against all comers until I reinforce you, if necessary, and report to me in the morning. Colonel Lefferts with his whole regiment is afraid to go, Colonel, but you will obey orders.” Colonel Hincks bowed, and did obey orders instantly.

Red Nose then said: “Such language as that, General, requires reparation among officers and gentlemen.”

“Oh, well,” said I, “as far as Colonel Lefferts is concerned, I shall be entirely satisfied with him if he shows a disposition to fight anybody anywhere; let him begin on me. But as for you, if you interrupt this conversation again, and if you do not leave the room [201] instantly, I will direct my orderly to take you out. Good afternoon, Colonel Lefferts.” And that was the last communication that I had in person with Colonel Lefferts of the Seventh New York

The question has been asked me, “Would you have fought him if he had called upon you?” and I have answered that I thought I should have been justified in doing so, and probably should have done so. The rebels did not believe that we would fight at all, and it would have been a good example to show them that we would fight each other if nobody else.

All these circumstances were known to two gentlemen who were connected with the New York Seventh. One was Major Winthrop, one of the noblest of God's noblemen, and the other was Col. Schuyler Hamilton, who had been in the service of the United States in Mexico, where he distinguished himself for gallantry and conduct, and was made military secretary to General Scott while in Mexico. Both Winthrop and Hamilton were, then acting as privates in the New York Seventh, and Winthrop had enlisted for the time only which the Seventh had agreed to go to war. Hamilton was accepted by me as a volunteer aid on my staff, and I told Winthrop to serve out his time with the regiment, because those were the terms of his enlistment, and then to come to me wherever I was and I would give him a place on my staff. This I did thirty-two days later at Fortress Monroe, Virginia.

I at once mounted my horse, and marched with Hincks and his two companies outside of the grounds of the academy, to seize the railroad depot. All of the buildings but one were taken possession of without any opposition on the part of the keeper. I asked him what this particular one contained. He said:--

“Nothing.”

I told him to give me the key. He replied that he did not have it.

“Where is it?”

“I don't know.”

I ordered the doors to be forced, and they were driven in at once, and there was found therein a small, rusty, dismantled locomotive, portions of which had been removed in order to disable her. I turned to the men, who stood in line in front of the depot, and said: “Do any of you know anything about such a machine as this?” [202]

Charles Homans, a private of Company E, stepped forward and took a good look at the engine and replied: “That engine was made in our shop; I guess I can fit her up and run her.”

“Go to work, and pick out some men to help you.”

Homans at once began his work, and in a short time the missing parts were found, adjusted, and the engine was in usual repair.

I immediately made an order for the muster of a detail of all the men of the regiment who had ever had anything to do with laying railroad track, and some twenty men reported for duty. Lieutenant-Colonel Hincks, with whom we shall hereafter have to do as Major-General Hincks, made his reconnoissance two miles out on the road that night. Lefferts, up to three o'clock the next morning, had no intention of marching, because at that hour he sent out a messenger in an open boat for New York, bearing despatches asking for reinforcements and supplies. His message was that he had positive knowledge of four rebel regiments at the Junction,² where the grand attack was to be made upon the United States troops.

At sunrise, however, it appeared that the guard at the depot had not been massacred, and that the engine had been run out upon the road, where Colonel Hincks and his men were all found safe and awaiting orders to march. Then the officers of the Seventh Regiment concluded that the regiment ought to march, and it did march. So did the Eighth Massachusetts.

From that time forward the men of the two regiments worked together admirably. Nor was there the least fault to find, nor had there ever been, with the New York Seventh Regiment as a body of men. I met many of them then, and I have met many of them since the war, and I speak of them with that highest and fullest respect which I have always felt for them. But the whole difficulty was with their commander, who never went outside of the academy grounds, but kept within its closed walls, and had no communication with anybody, save with the secessionists. Nor, for the matter of that, had I, save with the loyal scholars at the academy, and their brave and noble officers, the noblest one of all being their highest officer, which, as we have seen, is not always the case. [203]

The social standing of the New York Seventh brought the cards of the leading secessionists to Lefferts, and the rebels filled his mind with the most terrible reports and stories of armed men, great bodies of troops, and a rising through all Maryland, which the United States would alone hardly have the power to overcome. I was not afflicted with such reports, because those who spread them did not call upon me except when I sent for them, and that was generally for the purposes of discipline; so that I did not get frightened, for I had not up to that time seen, nor did I ever afterwards see, any force of Maryland secessionists that could not have been overcome with a large yellow dog.

The march of the Eighth Massachusetts and Seventh New York is told in that beautiful story by Major Winthrop, which reads like a poem. I do not care to go into the detail of the incidents of the march, for the story of that first advance for the relief of Washington can never be better told. That the New York Seventh did no more was not the fault of the men, but their misfortune. Their habits of life no more fitted them for the hardships of war than for repairing a disabled locomotive or weighing the anchor of the good ship Constitution. While Winthrop was a member of the Seventh, and wished in his loyalty to give it all the credit to which it was fairly entitled, anyone who reads the report of that march will see that the hard working fishermen, mechanics, and laboring men of the Eighth Massachusetts must have done the larger portion of the work, and suffered the greater share of the hardships of the march. The regiment under the command of Lefferts, reached Washington and encamped there during its term of service. But its members never heard a hostile shot fired, and never fired one; and at the end of their short picnic excursion they marched back to New York, having suffered one great privation. When they marched from Annapolis it was necessarily in light marching order, so they left behind them a thousand velvet carpet-covered camp stools. Although frequent requisitions came for them to be sent forward while I was in command at Annapolis, forcing through troops from the North for the defence of the capital, I never had any vacant space in the cars into which those camp stools could be stowed in exclusion of recruits to be forwarded, and the loss of these camp-stools was a hardship which taught them all they learned of the horrors of war. [204]

Let me be just: There were more officers taken from the enlisted men of that regiment afterwards during the war, who did their duty bravely and well so far as I know, than from any other regiment ever in the service of the United States. Their own history boasts that because of the social and influential position of the men composing the battalion there were taken from its numbers during the war six hundred and six officers. And as their force was only about eight hundred men, it appears that no more than two hundred of them served as privates only.³

As an illustration of the accuracy with which history is written, and especially in that book entitled “Abraham Lincoln, a history,” I beg leave to quote from that work the following description of the entrance of the Seventh Regiment into the beleaguered capital, as showing its effect upon the despairing government:--

Promptly debarking and forming, the Seventh marched up Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. As they passed up the magnificent street, with their well-formed ranks, their exact military step, their soldierly bearing, their gaily floating flags, and the inspiring music of their splendid regimental band, they seemed to sweep all thought of danger and all taint of treason out of that great national thoroughfare and out of every human heart in the federal city. The presence of this single regiment seemed to turn the scales of fate. Cheer upon cheer greeted them, windows were [205] thrown up, houses opened, the population came forth upon the streets as for a holiday. It was an epoch in American history. For the first time, the combined spirit of power and liberty entered the nation's capital.

Yet the Sixth Massachusetts, passing through fire and blood, and bearing their wounded comrades with them, had come there several days before, guarding the lives of four hundred unarmed Pennsylvanians from the plug-ugly murderous' mobs of Baltimore. The Eighth Massachusetts would have followed the Sixth on the next day if, as we have seen, they had not been obliged to wait and guard the New York Seventh to the capital.

I had scarcely dispatched the troops from Annapolis upon their way to Washington, when I was visited by Lieutenant-Colonel Keyes, who introduced himself to me as a member of General Scott's staff. He informed me that he had been sent to the governor of New York about recruiting troops; that he had done that business and was returning to Washington, and in the meantime he found the way through Baltimore blocked up and had come to Annapolis. Here, finding no “regular” officer in command, he deemed it his duty to take command. I said: “Have you any instructions from General Scott to so do?” He said he had not, but that it was proper that he should, and that he would do so. He stated that his orders from General Scott, when he sent him out, were such that it was his duty to do anything that he thought was for the service of the United. States.

I had just finished one conflict upon my right to command at Annapolis, and I was waiting for a day or two when I could get communication with General Scott. My troops were then close upon the Junction, and would be, I hoped, in Washington the next day, and I was reluctant to have any trouble, as there was no hurry, and I was doing nothing but forwarding troops as fast as I could. I thereupon said:--

“Well, I suppose that you will need my services here to press forward these troops as fast as I can.”

“Oh, yes; I only take command to see that everything is done right, owing to your inexperience.”

“Very well,” I said, “give me your orders in writing so that I can be sure exactly what I have got to do.” [206]

So he commenced giving me General Order No. 1, General Order No. 2, and I think he got up to about No. 4. I consulted with Colonel Hamilton about them, and he said:--

“Don't obey them; he has no right to give aly such orders.”

“Oh, well,” I said, “I will take care of him.”

Meantime I gathered them up, and as soon as I heard that the way was open between Annapolis and Washington, I put Hamilton on board the very first train to go to General Scott and explain Mr. Keyes' performances, and show him the orders. It took some time for Hamilton to get through, for he had other business, and meantime General Scott laid his hand upon him for his own private secretary after he had reported to me, so that I lost his services during the war, which would have been invaluable to me. But our friendship ever remains as bright as a chain of new molten gold.

While I was waiting for Hamilton to return, Lieutenant-Colonel Keyes, who didn't seem to have much to do except to issue a series of general orders which tended to show that he was at the helm, used to come into my office and give me instructions in the art of war, telling me how this thing ought to be clone, and how that thing ought to be clone, what I ought to do so, and what I ought not to do that way. He spent considerable time with me in such performances, and was not always careful to give me those instructions when I was alone, so that I appeared before visitors at headquarters to be receiving daily and minute tuition in my duties from this person, who took care to do much of that in the presence of any distinguished man who called upon me. As everybody who came from the North and East to Washington, had to pass through Annapolis, and had to come to my headquarters to get passes to go on the railroad, I seemed always in Keyes' keeping.

Late at night Colonel Hamilton reported from General Scott what he had been sent to ascertain. When Scott heard of Keyes' proceedings, he said:--

“What! Has Keyes been appointed Field Marshal? I had not heard of it. Why, nobody but a Field Marshal could have issued such orders as these, while I am Lieutenant-General, commanding the United States armies. Tell General Butler to order Field Marshal Keyes to report to me forthwith, and I will take care of him.” [207]

Armed with that power I went into the office the next morning. My first visitor was Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, who had just arrived from the North, and who naturally had a little respect for my opinions, because we had acted together for a number of years politically. In a few moments Lieutenant-Colonel Keyes came in and was introduced to Senator Wilson, and Keyes took part in our conversation, which he soon turned to giving some instructions to me as to what was necessary to make a good officer in war. What those qualifications were I led him on to detail in full, listening with great gravity and apparent interest. At last I said to him:--

“Do you think of any other qualification beside those you have described to me and the senator here, which is necessary to make a good officer of the army?”

“No,” said he, “I don't think of anything that I need to add.”

“Well,” I said, “Colonel, I think there is one thing more that is necessary, which you have not named, and which you evidently don't know anything about.”

“ Ah, General, what is that?”

“Brains Colonel Keyes, brains! You haven't any, and you have bothered me here long enough. I have reported you to General Scott, and here is your order to report to him forthwith, and here is a pass for you to go, and if you don't go by the next train, I will send you under guard. Good-morning, sir.”

And as long as General Scott had anything to do with the army, Colonel Keyes was not Field Marshal.

Among the orders that came to me from Scott, was one creating the military department of Annapolis. It read as follows:--

War Department, Adjutant-General's office, April 27, 1861.

A new military department to be called the Department of Annapolis, headquarters at that city, will include the country for twenty miles on each side of the railroad from Annapolis to the city of Washington, as far as Bladensburg, Maryland.

Brigadier-General B. F. Butler, Massachusetts Volunteers, is assigned to the command.

L. Thomas, Adjutant-General.

So I was again out of the shadow of West Point. There are one or two episodes which enlivened the routine of superintending the transportation of troops to Washington, which may not be uninteresting if made a part of this narrative. Governor Hicks had protested to me against the landing of my troops, and he had also protested to the President, to whom he made the amazing proposition that the national controversy between the North and South be submitted to the arbitration of Lord Lyons, the British Minister. Finding all his protests unavailing, and his proposal for arbitration rejected, and preparation being made to forward troops from Annapolis to Washington, he hit upon another equally remarkable obstacle to the defence of the national capital. He issued a proclamation calling upon the Maryland legislature to meet at Annapolis, on Friday, the 26th of April, for the purpose of taking action in that behalf. He then made a protest against my taking possession of the railroad, because it would prevent the members of the legislature from getting to Annapolis. His letter is as follows:--

executive chamber, Annapolis, Friday, April 23, 1861.

Dear Sir:--Having by virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution of Maryland, summoned the legislature of the State to assemble on Friday, the 26th inst., and Annapolis being the place in which, according to law, it must assemble, and having been creditably informed that you have taken military possession of the Annapolis & Elk Ridge Railroad, I deem it my duty to protest against this step; because, without at present assigning any other reason, I am informed that such occupation of said road will prevent the members of the legislature from reaching this city.

Very respectfully yours,

Thomas H. Hicks.

To this letter I replied as follows:--

headquarters U. S. Militia, Annapolis, Md., April 23, 1861.
to his excellency, Thomas H. Hicks, Governor of Maryland:

You are creditably informed that I have taken possession of the Annapolis & Elk Ridge Railroad. It might have escaped your notice, but at the official meeting which was had between your excellency and the mayor of Annapolis, and the committee of the government, and myself, [209] as to the landing of my troops, it was expressly stated as a reason why I should not land, that my troops could not pass the railroad because the company had taken up the rails, and they were private property. It is difficult to see how it can be that if my troops could not pass over the railroad one way, members of the legislature could pass the other way. I have taken possession for the purpose of preventing the execution of the threats of the mob, as officially represented to me by the master of transportation of the railroad in this city, “that if my troops passed over the railroad, the railroad should be destroyed.”

If the government of the State had taken possession of the road in any emergency, I should have long hesitated before entering upon it; but as I had the honor to inform your excellency in regard to another insurrection against the laws of Maryland, I am here armed to maintain those laws, if your excellency desires, and the peace of the United States, against all disorderly persons whomsoever. I am endeavoring to save and not to destroy; to obtain means of transportation, so that I can vacate the capital prior to the sitting of the legislature, and not be under the painful necessity of encumbering your beautiful city while the legislature is in session.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully,

Your excellency's obedient servant,

B. F. Butler, Brigadier-General.

The result of this correspondence was that the governor ordered the legislature to convene at Frederick City instead of Annapolis.

Before my landing, the governor came to me with the announcement that he was informed that there was an intended rising of the negroes against the people of Annapolis, and that citizens were fleeing from their homes. His excellency was in a state of great excitement and fear, and I immediately wrote him the following letter:--

I did myself the honor in my communication of yesterday, wherein I asked permission to land on the soil of Maryland, to inform you that the portion of the militia under my command were armed only against disturbers of the peace of the State of Maryland and of the United States. I have understood within the last hour that some apprehension is entertained of an insurrection of the negro population of this neighborhood. I am anxious to convince all classes of persons that the forces under my command are not here in any way to interfere or countenance [210] an interference with the laws of the State. I, therefore, am ready to co-operate with your excellency in suppressing most promptly and efficiently any insurrection against the laws of the State of Maryland. I beg, therefore, that you announce publicly, that any portion of the forces under my command is at your excellency's disposal, to act immediately for the preservation of the peace of this community.

The effect of that offer was extremely beneficial. It brought back all the inhabitants who had fled. It allayed the fears that we were undertaking a servile war. It brought me at once into personal, friendly relations with Governor Hicks, who was not at heart a secessionist, but only a very timid and cautious man.

I informed him in a private, friendly conversation, that he must not recommend, in his message to the legislature, any discussion of the question of secession, and that if he did I should certainly proceed against him. He assured me that nothing was further from his wish or thought than secession, and that he would never permit the great seal of Maryland to be affixed to any such ordinance or give force and validity to it, if it were passed; and as a guarantee of his good faith in that regard, he placed the seal for safe keeping in my hands, and I so held it during the session of that legislature.

I also told him that if the legislature undertook with or without his recommendation to discuss an ordinance of secession, I should hold that to be an act of hostility to the United States, and should disperse that legislature, or, more properly speaking, would shut them up together where they might discuss it all the time, but without any correspondence or reporting to the outer world.

I had no one fitted to advise with upon this question until the late lamented General Devens came as its major with the Worcester (Mass.) battalion. I had sent to Washington all my Massachusetts troops, and very glad was I to see the major and his stalwart loyal Worcester men. Fearing the legislature would meet at Annapolis on Friday, I consulted with General Devens upon the question whether his men could be relied upon to carry out my orders faithfully in regard to the legislature. He assured me that while he had not examined into the question of the propriety or legality of any such action as dispersing or arresting the members of the legislature in the contingency mentioned, he had reported to me for orders, and he should obey any order that I gave, and his men would obey [211] any order that he gave, leaving the responsibility for giving them upon the commanding general.

The effect of this communication upon Governor Hicks, I have never doubted, was to have him order the meeting of the legislature at Frederick, the other capital. I also believed that the protest about seizing the railroad was to get an excuse for making that change of place of meeting without giving the true reason. I am convinced that from the hour of my announcement of my purpose to so use the troops in keeping the peace, Maryland was as firmly a loyal State as any in the Union, so that I congratulated myself on the good effect of my announcement to the people of that State that the United States troops, and especially the troops of anti-slavery Massachusetts, had not come to Maryland to inaugurate a servile war or to promote negro insurrection.

Imagine, if you can, my surprise, but not my grief or consternation, at what followed at home. We had no telegraphic communication with the outer world, save at Perryville, where a member of the governor's staff, Major Ames, was stationed to forward me all communications by messenger from the governor, and to receive from me and transmit home such as were committed to him. Postal communication had been shut off. Major Ames had faithfully communicated all that had taken place, and Governor Andrew felt called upon to reprimand me for what I had done on the slave question, upon which our people were as sensitive one way as the people of the South were the other.

Will the reader appreciate my position? I was a life-long Democrat, and but lately the Breckenridge candidate for governor, and held, therefore, slavery as a constitutional institution. I was in command of Massachusetts troops, eight tenths of whom were antislavery men. I had been reprimanded by my governor for refusing to aid slaves in attempting to recover their freedom, and, worse than that, for offering the services of those troops to prevent a negro insurrection. Many of the people of Massachusetts had almost deified John Brown for his raid into Virginia.

Till May 6 no mail brought me information as to the manner in which the matter was received or understood. But after that I could imagine the platforms and the press denouncing what I had believed to be the most patriotic act of my life. Added to the labor of preparing my defence, was the fact that under the orders of General [212] Scott, I was prepared to march to the Relay House, within eight miles of Baltimore, and hold that very important point against I did not know what force or under what circumstances.

What ought I to do; stand to what I had done if right, and defend it, or resign my commission and go home? This is what I did do. Here is the governor's letter of reprimand and my reply:--

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

executive Department, council chamber Boston, April 25, 1861.

General:--I have received through Major Ames a despatch transmitted from Perryville, detailing the proceedings at Annapolis from the time of your arrival off that port until the hour when Major Ames left you to return to Philadelphia. I wish to repeat the assurance of my entire satisfaction with the action you have taken with a single exception. If I rightly understood the telegraphic despatch, I think that your action in tendering to Governor Hicks the assistance of our Massachusetts troops to suppress a threatened servile insurrection among the hostile people of Maryland was unnecessary. I hope that the fuller despatches, which are on their way from you, may show the reasons why I should modify my opinion concerning that particular instance; but in general I think that the matter of servile insurrection among the community in arms against the Federal Union is no longer to be regarded by our troops in a political, but solely in a military, point of view, and is to be contemplated as one of the inherent weaknesses of the enemy, from the disastrous operations of which we are under no obligation of a military character to guard them, in order that they maybe enabled to improve the security which our arms would afford, so as to prosecute with more energy their traitorous attacks upon a federal government. The mode in which such outbreaks are to be considered should depend entirely upon the loyalty or disloyalty of the community in which they occur; and, in the vicinity of Annapolis, I can on this occasion perceive no reason of military policy why a force summoned to the defence of the federal government, at this moment of all others, should be offered to be diverted from its immediate duty, to help rebels who stand with arms in their hands, obstructing its progress toward the city of Washington. I entertain no doubt that whenever we shall have an opportunity to interchange our views personally on this subject, we shall arrive at entire concordance of opinion.

Yours faithfully,

John A. Andrew.

[213]

Department of Annapolis. Headquarters, Annapolis, May 9, 1861.
to his excellency, John A. Andrew, Governor and commander-in-chief:

Sir:--I have delayed replying to your excellency's despatch of the 25th of April, in my other despatches, because as it involved disapprobation of an act done, couched in the kindest language, I suppose the interests of the country could not suffer in the delay; and incessant labor up to the present moment has prevented me giving full consideration to the topic. Temporary illness which forbids bodily activity, gives me now a moment's pause.

The telegraph, with more than usual accuracy, has rightly informed your excellency that I had offered the services of the Massachusetts troops under my command to aid the authorities in Maryland in suppressing the threatened slave insurrection. Fortunately for us all, the rumor of such an outbreak was without a substantial foundation. Assuming, as your excellency does in your despatch, that I was carrying on military operations in an enemy's country when a war a l'outrance was to be waged, my act might be a matter of discussion. And in that view, acting in the light of the Baltimore murders, and the apparent hostile position of Maryland, your excellency might, without mature reflection, have come to the conclusion of disapprobation expressed in your despatch. But the facts, especially as now aided by their results, will entirely justify my act, and reinstate me in your excellency's good opinion.

True, I landed on the soil of Maryland against the formal protest of its governor and of the corporate authorities of Annapolis, and expecting opposition only from insurgents assembled in riotous contempt of the laws of the State. Before by letter, at the time of landing, by personal interview I had informed Governor Hicks that the soldiers of the Union, under my command, were armed only against the insurgents and disturbers of the peace of Maryland and of the United States. I received from Governor Hicks assurances of the loyalty of the State to the Union,--assurances which subsequent events have fully justified. The mayor of Annapolis also informed me that the city authorities would in no wise oppose me, but that I was in great danger from the excited and riotous crowds of Baltimore, pouring down upon me, and in numbers beyond the control of the police. I assured both the governor and the mayor that I had no fear of a Baltimore or other mob, and that, supported by the authorities of the State and city, I should suppress all hostile demonstrations against the laws of Maryland and the United States, and that I would protect both myself and the city of Annapolis from any disorderly [214] persons whatsoever. On the morning following my landing, I was informed that the city of Annapolis and environs were in danger from an insurrection of the slave population, in defiance of the laws of the State. What was I to do? I had promised to put down a white mob and to preserve and enforce the laws against that. Ought I to allow a black one any preference in the breach of the laws? I understood that I was armed against all infractions of the laws, whether by white or black, and upon that understanding I acted, certainly with promptness and efficiency; and your excellency's shadow of disapprobation, arising from a misunderstanding of the facts, has caused all the regret I have for that action. The question seemed to me to be neither military nor political, and was not to be so treated. It was simply a question of good faith and honesty of purpose. The benign effect of my course was instantly seen. The good but timid people of Annapolis, who had fled from their houses at our approach, immediately returned; business resumed its accustomed channels; quiet and order prevailed in the city; confidence took the place of distrust, friendship of enmity, brotherly kindness of sectional hate, and I believe to-day there is no city in the Union more loyal than the city of Annapolis. I think, therefore, I may safely point to the results for my justification. The vote of the neighboring county of Washington, a few days since, for its delegate to the legislature, wherein four thousand out of five thousand votes were thrown for a delegate favorable to the Union, is among the many happy fruits of firmness of purpose, efficiency of action, and integrity of mission. I believe, indeed, that it will not require a personal interchange of views, as suggested in your despatch, to bring our minds in accordance; a simple statement of the facts will suffice.

But I am to act hereafter, it may be, in an enemy's country, among a servile population, when the question may arise, as it has not yet arisen, as well in a moral and Christian as in a political and military point of view, What shall I do? Will your excellency bear with me a moment. while this question is discussed?

I appreciate fully your excellency's suggestion as to the inherent weakness of the rebels, arising from the preponderance of their servile population. The question, then, is, In what manner shall we take advantage of that weakness? By allowing, and of course arming, that population to rise upon the defenceless women and children of the country, carrying rapine, arson, and murder — all the horrors of San Domingo a million times magnified — among those whom we hope to reunite with us as brethren, many of whom are already so, and all who are worth preserving will be, when this horrible madness shall have passed away or be threshed out of them? Would your excellency advise the troops [215] under my command to make war in person upon the defenceless women and children of any part of the Union, accompanied with brutalities too horrible to be named? You will say, “God forbid.” If we may not do so in person, shall we arm others to do so over whom we can have no restraint, exercise no control, and who, when once they have tasted blood, may turn the very arms we put in their hands against ourselves, as a part of the oppressing white race? The reading of history, so familiar to your excellency, will tell you the bitterest cause of complaint which our fathers had against Great Britain in the War of the Revolution was the arming by the British Ministry of the red man with the tomahawk and the scalping knife against the women and children of the colonies, so that the phrase, “May we not use all the means which God and Nature have put in our power to subjugate the colonies?” has passed into a legend of infamy against the leader of that ministry who used it in Parliament. Shall history teach us in vain? Could we justify ourselves to ourselves? Although with arms in our hands amid the savage wildness of camp and field, we may have blunted many of the finer moral sensibilities in letting loose four millions of worse than savages upon the homes and hearths of the South. Can we be justified to the Christian community of Massachusetts? Would such a course be consonant with the teachings of our holy religion? I have a very decided opinion on the subject, and if anyone desires, as I know your excellency does not, this unhappy contest to be prosecuted in that manner, some instrument other than myself must be found to carry it on. I may not discuss the political bearings of this topic. When I went from under the shadow of my roof tree, I left all politics behind me, to be resumed only when every part of the Union is loyal to the flag, and the potency of the government through the ballotbox is established.

Passing the moral and Christian view, let us examine the subject as a military question. Is not that State already subjugated which requires the bayonets of those armed in opposition to its rulers, to preserve it from the horrors of a servile war? As the least experienced of military men, I would have no doubt of the entire subjugation of a State brought to that condition. When, therefore,--unless I am better advised,--any community in the United States who have met me in honorable warfare, or even in the prosecution of a rebellious war in an honorable manner, shall call upon me for protection against the nameless horrors of a servile insurrection, they shall have it, and from the moment that call is obeyed, I have no doubt we shall be friends and not enemies.

The possibilities that dishonorable means of defence are to be taken by the rebels against the government, I do not now contemplate. If, as has [216] been done in a single instance, my men are to be attacked by poison, or as in another, stricken down by the assassin's knife, and thus murdered, the community using such weapons may be required to be taught that it holds within its own border a more potent means for deadly purposes and indiscriminate slaughter than any which it can administer to us.

Trusting that these views may meet your excellency's approval, I have the honor to be,

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Benj. F. Butler.

I have not one word, or one letter, to alter or change in the communication I then wrote. The only argument attempted to be set up against my position was by one of Governor Andrew's staff officers, that I had no right to use Massachusetts troops, which I was ordered to take directly to Washington, for the purpose of putting down a servile insurrection, entirely ignoring the fact that the servile insurrection was placed before me in a loyal State as a reason for opposing my being allowed to land in that loyal State. I was to be opposed in my march because the people of an always loyal State believed I was landing on its soil, not with the intent of going to the defence of the capital, but for the purpose of aiding their slaves in a servile war. That fear being withdrawn, neither my troops nor any other of the United States forces met the least opposition from the people of that State in their march to Washington.

The only notice that I took thereafter of this question was when it appeared that Governor Andrew had so dealt with his own letter that injurious comments were published in the newspapers upon this action and his reprimand, before I had made my reply to it. I published both letters in self-defence,--one such article issued in the New York Tribune of May 4, 1861.