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

Distinguished honors have been paid this regiment, as the historic regiment of the war. Distinguished ladies volunteered to nurse the sick and wounded. Poets sung its praises in heroic verse. The loyal ladies of Baltimore presented it with a national flag; and the citizens of Bergen Point, in New Jersey, with another, as a ‘slight acknowledgment of their appreciation of its moral and soldierly deportment, its gallantry at Baltimore, and timely rescue from danger of the capital of our common country.’ The United-States House of Representatives unanimously voted these soldiers the thanks of the House for their ‘prompt response to the call of duty,’ and ‘their patriotism and bravery in fighting their way through Baltimore to the defence of the capital;’ and, in so doing, spoke the sentiments of the loyal men of the nation.

The Eighth Regiment reached Philadelphia, as we have before stated, on the evening of April 19. There they learned that the Sixth Regiment had been attacked in Baltimore, and compelled to fight its way through the city. This intelligence gave new energy and enthusiasm to the men, and made them more eager to press forward to Washington. They had expected to reach the capital by way of Baltimore; but that route was now closed, and a new one had to be opened, which served as the military highway to Washington for Eastern troops until sedition was suppressed in Baltimore, and that city assumed a loyal attitude. The new route was by the Susquehanna and Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis, the capital of Maryland. A branch railroad of seventeen miles connected Annapolis with the Baltimore and Washington Railroad. By this route, Washington could be reached without touching Baltimore. It was a flank movement; and the honor of suggesting and making it successful belongs to Samuel M. Felton, Esq. The honors due him for this service can only be measured by the important ends which it accomplished. General Butler was in Philadelphia with the Eighth. His orders were to march to Washington by way of Baltimore. That was now impossible. Mr. Parton, in his ‘Life of General Butler,’ says,—