[
433]
Chapter 18: the Capital secured.--Maryland secessionists Subdued.--contributions by the people.
- Departure of the New York Seventh Regiment, 433.
-- troops under General Butler
-- spirit of the people, 434.
-- Butler's expedition to Maryland, 435.
-- frigate Constitution saved, 436.
-- National troops at Annapolis, 437.
-- preparations to March through Maryland, 438.
-- the March to Annapolis Junction, 439.
-- the New York Seventh in Washington
-- Winans's steam
-- gun, 440.
-- exasperation against Baltimore, 441.
-- plans of Scott and Butler against Baltimore, 442.
-- opposing forces in Maryland, 443.
-- loyal troops pass through Baltimore, 445.
-- Butler's descent on Baltimore, 446.
-- Butler's proclamation, 447.
-- Butler recalled from Baltimore, 448.
-- exercise of War powers by the President
-- the writ of Habeas corpus, 449.
-- imprisonment of alleged disloyalists, 450.
-- movements in the National Capital, 452.
-- preparations of the conspirators for War
-- darkening of Light — houses, 453.
It has been observed that the Seventh Regiment of New York left that city for
Washington on the memorable 19th of April.
It was the favorite military corps of the metropolis, and was composed mostly of young men, a large majority of them connected with families of the higher social positions.
It was known that they were to leave in the afternoon, and all New York appeared to turn out to see them depart, and bid them God speed.
The regiment was formed on Lafayette Place, where an immense National flag was waving over the
Astor Library.
Just as it was about to march, it received intelligence of the attack on the Massachusetts Sixth, in the streets of
Baltimore.
Forty-eight rounds of ball-cartridges were served out to each man, and then they moved through Fourth Street into
Broadway, and down that great thoroughfare to Courtlandt Street and the
Jersey City Ferry.
The side-walks all the way were densely packed with men, women, and children.
Banners were streaming everywhere.
Banners from balcony, banners from steeple,
Banners from house to house, draping the people;
Banners upborne by all-men, women, and children,
Banners on horses' fronts, flashing, bewild'ring!
The shipping at the ferry was brilliant with flags.
Already the Eighth Massachusetts Regiment,
Colonel Timothy Monroe,
1 accompanied by
General Benjamin F. Butler, one of the most remarkable men of our time, had passed through the vast throng that was waiting for the New York Seventh, and being greeted with hearty huzzas and the gift of scores of little banners by the people.
At sunset all had gone over the
Hudson — the New York Seventh and
Massachusetts Eighth--and crossed
New Jersey by railway to the banks of the
Delaware.
It had been a
 |
|
Private of the Seventh Regiment.. |
day of fearful excitement in New York, and the night was one of more fearful anxiety.
Slumber was wooed in vain by hundreds, for they knew that
[
434]
their loved ones, now that blood had been spilt, were hurrying on toward great peril.
Regiment after regiment followed the Seventh in quick succession,
2 and within ten days from the time of its departure, full ten thousand men of the
city of New York were on the march toward the
Capital.
3
The
Massachusetts regiment had been joined at
Springfield by a company under
Captain H. S. Briggs, and now numbered a little over seven hundred men. It reached
Philadelphia several hours before the New York Seventh arrived there, and was bountifully entertained at the
Girard House by the generous citizens.
There
Butler first heard of the attack on the Sixth, in
Baltimore.
His orders commanded him to march through that city.
It was now impossible to do so with less than ten thousand armed men. He counseled with
Major-General Robert Patterson, who had just been appointed commander of the “Department of Washington,” which embraced the States of
Pennsylvania,
Delaware, and
Maryland, and the District of Columbia, and whose Headquarters were at
Philadelphia.
Commodore Dupont, commandant of the
Navy Yard there, was also consulted, and it was agreed that the troops should go by water from
Perryville, at the mouth of the
Susquehanna River, to
Annapolis, and thence across
Maryland to
Washington City.
Butler was ordered to take that route, seize and hold
Annapolis and
Annapolis Junction, and open and thoroughly guard a military pathway to the
Capital.
4
[
435]
Late in the evening
General Butler summoned all of his officers, thirteen in number, to his room.
It was a singular council of war.
On his table lay thirteen revolvers.
“I propose,” said the
General, substantially, “to join with
Colonel Lefferts, of the Seventh Regiment of New York, sail for
Annapolis from
Havre de Grace, arrive there to-morrow afternoon at four o'clock, occupy the capital of
Maryland, and call the
State to account for the death of
Massachusetts men, my friends and neighbors.
If
Colonel Lefferts thinks it best not to go, I propose to take this regiment alone.”
Then, taking up one of the revolvers, he said: “I am ready to take the responsibility.
Every officer willing to accompany me will please take a pistol.”
Not one hesitated; and then the
General sketched a plan of his proposed operations, to be sent to
Governor Andrew after his departure.
He proposed to hold
Annapolis as a means of communication, and, by a forced march with a part of his command, reach the
Capital in accordance with his orders.
He telegraphed to the
Governor to send the
Boston Light Battery to
Annapolis to assist in the march on
Washington.
5
Colonel Lefferts did not feel at liberty to accept
General Butler's proposition, and the latter made preparations to go on with the
Massachusetts troops alone.
The President of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railway Company placed their great steam ferry-boat
Maryland, at
Perryville, at his disposal; and two companies were ordered to go forward early in the morning and take possession of it. Word came meanwhile that the insurgents had already seized and barricaded it, and
Butler resolved to push on with his whole force and capture it. “If I succeed,” he wrote to
Governor Andrew, “success will justify me. If I fail, purity of intention will excuse want of judgment, or rashness.”
6
Butler left
Philadelphia at eleven o'clock in the morning,
and when near the
Susquehanna his troops were ordered from the cars, placed in battle order, and marched toward the ferry, in expectation of a fight.
Rumor had been untrue.
There were no insurgents in arms at
Perryville or
Havre de Grace; and there lay the powerful ferry-boat in the quiet possession of her regular crew.
The troops were soon embarked, and at six o'clock in the evening the huge vessel — with a captain who seemed to need watching by the vigilant and loyal eyes of the soldiers, lest he should run them into
Baltimore or aground — went out toward
Chesapeake Bay.
Making good time, she was off the old capital of
Maryland at a little past midnight, when, to
Butler's surprise,
Annapolis and the Naval Academy were lighted up, and the people were all astir.
The town and the Academy were in possession of the secessionists.
They were expecting some insurgents from
Baltimore, and they intended, with united force, to seize the venerable frigate
Constitution, then moored there as a school-ship, and add her to the “Confederate navy.”
For four days and nights her gallant commander,
[
436]
Captain Blake,
Superintendent of the Academy, had kept her guns double-shotted, expecting an attack every moment.
The arrival of the
Massachusetts troops was just in time to save the
Constitution. Communication was speedily opened between
General Butler and
Captain Blake, and a hundred of the troops, who were seamen at home, with the
Salem Zouaves as a guard, were detailed to assist in getting the
Constitution from the wharf, and putting her out beyond the bar in a place of safety.
With the help of the
Maryland, acting as a tug, this was accomplished.
That venerable vessel, in which
Hull, and
Bainbridge, and
Stewart had won immortal honors in the Second War for Independence, was built in
Boston, and was first manned by
Massachusetts men; now she was preserved to the uses of the
Government, for whose sovereignty she had gallantly fought, by the hands of
Massachusetts men. “This,” said
General Butler, in an order thanking the troops for the service, “is a sufficient triumph of right; a sufficient triumph for us. By this the blood of our friends, shed by the
Baltimore mob, is so far avenged.”
We will add, that the
Constitution was soon afterward taken to New York; and when the naval school was removed to
Newport, Rhode Island, she became a school-ship there.
In assisting to get out the
Constitution, the
Maryland grounded on a sand-bank.
The suspected captain was confined, and the vessel was put under the management of seamen and engineers from among the
Massachusetts troops.
7 There she lay helpless all that day and the next night, to the great discomfort of her passengers.
Her water-casks were nearly emptied, and their provisions were almost exhausted.
In the mean time
Governor Hicks, who was in
Annapolis, and still under the malign control of the secessionists, was urging
Butler not to land “Northern troops.”
“The excitement here is very great,” he said; “and I think that you had better take your men elsewhere.”
Butler, in reply, spoke of his necessities and his orders, and took the occasion to correct the
Governor's sectional phraseology by saying of his force: “They are not ‘
Northern troops;’ they are a part of the whole militia of the
United States, obeying the call of the
President.”
This was the root of the matter.
Therein was the grand idea of nationality as opposed to State Supremacy, in which the
General acted throughout with the clearest advantage.
Butler now went ashore, and had a personal conference with the
Governor and the
Mayor of
Annapolis.
“All
Maryland,” they said, “is at the point of rushing to arms.
The railway is broken up, and its line guarded by armed men. It will be a fearful thing for you to land and attempt to march on
Washington.” --“I
must land,” said the
General, “for my troops are hungry.” --“No one in
Annapolis will sell them any thing,” replied these authorities of the
State and city.
Butler intimated that armed men were not always limited to the necessity of
purchasing food when famishing; and he gave both magistrates to understand that the orders and demands of his Government were imperative, and that he should land and march on the
Capital as speedily as possible, in spite of all opposition.
At the same time
[
437]
he assured them that peaceable citizens should not be molested, and that the laws of the
State should be respected.
And more.
He was ready to co-operate with the local authorities in suppressing a slave insurrection, or any other resistance to law. The Governor contented himself with simply protesting against the landing of troops as unwise, and begged the
General not to halt them in
Annapolis.
All the night of the 21st, the
Maryland lay aground, and immovable by wind or tide.
At dawn on the 22d, another steamer appeared approaching.
It was the
Boston, bearing the New York Seventh Regiment.
Colonel Lefferts had become convinced that he could not pass through
Baltimore, so he chartered this steamer at
Philadelphia with the intention of going to
Washington by way of the
Potomac.
They embarked at four o'clock in the afternoon.
Only a few officers were intrusted with the secret; the men had no knowledge of their route.
Quietly they passed down the
Delaware to the ocean, on a beautiful April evening, and entered the waters of
Virginia between its great Capes, Charles and Henry.
Informed of batteries near
Alexandria, and finding no armed vessel to convoy the
Boston,
Colonel Lefferts deemed it prudent to follow
General Butler to
Annapolis; so they went up the
Chesapeake, and came in sight of the grounded
Maryland at dawn.
The Seventh cheered the old flag seen at her fore, and the two regiments soon exchanged greetings.
The
Boston now attempted to get the
Maryland from the ground.
For many hours both regiments worked faithfully, but in vain.
The
Massachusetts  |
|
Landing at the Naval Academy8 grounds. |
troops were without a drop of liquid of any kind to drink for twelve hours, and were suffering intensely.
Finally it was agreed that the
Boston should land the Seventh at the Naval Academy's wharf, and then take the Eighth from the
Maryland and put them ashore at the same place.
This was done,
[
438]
and in the course of the afternoon both regiments were landed and quartered in the buildings of the Academy (the
National property), when the members of the Seventh hastened to share their rations with their famished friends.
The threat of the secessionists, that if
Butler should land with the intention of passing over the railway to
Washington, the track should be destroyed, was carried out. The rails were removed and hidden, and locomotives were taken in pieces and concealed.
Terrible stories of the gathering of insurgents at
Annapolis Junction, and other places on the route to
Washington, now came to the ears of
General Butler and
Colonel Lefferts.
The former did not believe half that was told him. He had positive information that the secessionists had torn up much of the railway between
Annapolis and the
Junction, and carried off the materials, and that bitterness of spirit prevailed everywhere; yet he resolved to move forward at once and rebuild the road, for over it supplies, and also other troops, must follow him. He again invited
Colonel Lefferts to join him. At first that prudent commander declined, thinking it best to wait for reenforcements.
9 He changed his mind, and early the next morning the two regiments joined hands in vigorous preparations for that strange, eventful march on the
Capital, which has no parallel in history.
In the mean time, two companies of the
Massachusetts troops had seized the railway station, and there found a locomotive engine disabled and concealed.
“Does any one know any thing about this machine?”
inquired
General Butler. “Our shop made that engine, General,” said
Charles Homans, of the Beverly Light Guard, as he looked sharply at it. “I guess I can put her in order and run her.” --“Do it,” said the
General; and it was soon done, for that regiment was full of engineers, workers in metal, and mechanics of all kinds.
It seemed like a providential organization, made expressly, with its peculiar leader, for the work in hand.
Such impediments of civil authority, hostile feeling, armed resistance, and destructive malignity, would have appalled almost any other man and body of men; but
Butler generally exhibited an illustration of the truth of the saying, “Where there's a will there's a way,” and the
Massachusetts Eighth was an embodiment of the axiom.
The engine was speedily repaired; the rails hidden, some in thickets, and some in the bottom of streams, were hunted up, and on the evening of the 23d, the troops were nearly ready for a forward movement, when
General Butler formally took military possession of the
Annapolis and Elkridge Railway.
Governor Hicks protested against such occupation, on the ground that it would prevent the assembling of the Legislature, called to meet at
Annapolis on the 26th.
General Butler reminded the
Governor that his
Excellency had given as a reason why the troops should not land, that they could not pass over the road because “the
Company had taken up the rails, and they were private property.
It is difficult to see,” said the
General, “how it can be, that if my troops could not pass over the railroad one way, the members of the Legislature could pass the other way.”
10 He told the
Governor that he was there to maintain the laws, and, if possible, protect the road from destruction by a mob. “I am endeavoring,” he said, “to save and
[
439]
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 necessity of encumbering your beautiful city while the Legislature is in session.”
This logic and this irony were unanswerable, and the
General was never again troubled with the protests of the
Maryland Executive.
On the morning of the 24th, the combined regiments moved forward at the rate of about a mile an hour, laying the track anew and building bridges.
Skirmishers went ahead and scouts on the flanks.
The main column was led by a working party on the road, behind which followed a car with a howitzer loaded with grape-shot, in charge of
Lieutenant Bunting.
It was a hot April morning, and the men suffered much from heat and fatigue.
They had a stretch of twenty-one miles to go over between
Annapolis and the
Junction.
A shower in the afternoon, and balmy air and bright moonlight in the evening, with the freshness of early spring, gave them pleasure in the midst of their toil.
All night long they moved forward, keeping very vigilant eyes upon the surrounding country, but falling in with none of those terrible Marylanders which the
Governor and the
Mayor of
Annapolis had predicted would be upon them.
These braves seemed to have a wholesome fear of the “Yankees,” and made their observations, if at all, at a safe distance.
The country appeared to be depopulated.
The inhabitants had fled or hidden, with the evident expectation of an invasion by almost savage men. “I know not,” said a member of the Seventh,
11 “if I can describe that night-march.
I have a dim recollection of deep cuts through which we passed, gloomy and treacherous-looking, with the moon shining full on our muskets, while the banks were wrapped in shade, each moment expecting to see the flash and hear the crack of the rifle of the
Southern guerrillas. . . . On all sides dark and lonely pine woods stretched away, and, as the night wore on, the monotony of the march became oppressive.”
The troops reached
Annapolis Junction on the morning of the 25th, when the co-operation of the two regiments ceased, the Seventh New York going on to
Washington, and the Eighth Massachusetts remaining to hold the road they had just opened.
Before their departure from
Annapolis, the
Baltic, a large steam-ship transport, had arrived there with troops, and others speedily followed.
General Scott ordered
General Butler to remain there, hold the
town and the road, and superintend the forwarding of troops to the
Capital.
The “Department of Annapolis,” which embraced the country twenty miles on each side of the railway, as far as
Bladensburg, was created, and
General Butler was placed in
[
440]
command of it, with ample discretionary powers to make him a sort of military dictator.
This power, as we shall observe presently, he used with great efficiency.
The railway from
Annapolis Junction to
Washington was uninjured and unobstructed, and the Seventh Regiment reached the
Capital early in the afternoon of the 25th, where they were heartily welcomed by the loyal people.
They were the first troops that arrived at the seat of Government after the sad tragedy in
Baltimore six days befere,
and they were hailed as the harbingers of positive safety for the
Capital.
Although they were wearied and footsore, they marched up Pennsylvania Avenue with the firm and united step which always characterized their parade marches in
Broadway, and halted only when they arrived at the front of the “
White House,” whither they went to pay homage to the
President, whom they had come to protect and support.
Their discipline and fine appearance were a marvel, and loyal crowds followed them to the
President's house, and filled the air with vociferous cheering.
12 Then they marched to the
Capitol, and made their quarters there; and that night the anxious loyal citizens of
Washington went to rest with a sense of positive security.
That security was well assured the next day, when the Seventh, Twelfth, and Seventy-first New York Volunteer Regiments arrived, and reported the Fifth, Eighth, and Sixty-ninth at
Annapolis.
Baltimore, in the mean time, had become firmly grasped by the secessionists; and the authorities there, civil and military, had prepared to dispute the passage of any more loyal troops through their city.
Armed men flocked into the, town from the country, with all sorts of weapons, scarcely knowing for what purpose; while the secessionists in the city were organized for treasonable work under
Colonel J. R. Trimble and others.
On Sunday, the 21st, cannon were exercised openly in the streets.
A remarkable piece of ordnance, called a steam-gun, invented by
Charles S. Dickinson, and manufactured by
Ross Winans, a wealthy iron-worker of
Baltimore, was purchased by the city authorities at the price of twenty-five hundred dollars. Much was expected of this invention, for it was claimed that it could throw two hundred balls a minute a distance of two miles. It was supposed to be ball-proof, and admirably adapted to the purposes of city defense.
13 Marshal Kane, under the direction of a city ordinance, passed
[
441]
by the Common Council, ordered the
National flag to be humbled for thirty days, by forbidding its display during that time, under the pretense that it would cause “a disturbance of the public peace.”
The old flag suddenly disappeared, and on the day when the order went forth, only a single banner was seen in the harbor of
Baltimore, and that was a secession ensign floating over the steamer
Logan.
For a few days, it seemed as if all patriotism, all national feeling had suddenly died out in
Maryland, and the exasperation felt toward the city of
Baltimore in the Free-labor States was intense and universal.
The stand taken by its authorities was perilous to its very existence.
That action was considered a national insult; and, so long as that gate stood barred across the great highway to the
Capital against the passage of troops summoned for its protection, the nation was dishonored.
The people could hardly be restrained from banding in thousands and tens of thousands, for the purpose of opening that way. “Turn upon it the guns of
Fort McHenry!”
cried one.--“Lay it in ashes!”
cried another.--“Fifty thousand men may be raised in an hour,” exclaimed a third, “to march through
Baltimore.”
Bow down in haste thy guilty head!
God's wrath is swift and sore:
The sky with gathering bolts is red--
Cleanse from thy skirts the slaughter shed,
Or make thyself an ashen bed,
O Baltimore!
wrote
Bayard Taylor.
And an active citizen of New York (George Law), in a letter to the
President, in which he declared that the people of the Free-labor States demanded of the
Government measures to open and establish lines of direct communication with the
Capital, said: “Unless this is done, they will be compelled to take the matter into their own hands, let the consequences be what they may, and let them fall where they will.”
The same sentiment animated the
Government as soon as
 |
|
Railway Battery. |
it felt assured of its own safety by the presence of many troops, and measures were speedily adopted for taking military possession of
Baltimore.
Preparations were made to repair the burnt bridges between Havre
[
442]
de Grace and
Baltimore; and a singular railway battery was constructed in
Philadelphia, to be used for the protection of the men engaged in the work.
It was a car made of heavy boiler iron, musket-proof, with a 24-pound cannon mounted at one end, on a gun-carriage.
This was to fire grape, canister, and chain shot, while a garrison of sixty men inside would have an opportunity to employ musketry, through holes pierced in the sides and ends for the purpose.
General Scott planned a grand campaign against
Baltimore.
“I suppose,” he said, in a letter to
General Butler,
General Patterson, and others,
“that a column from this place [Washington] of three thousand men, another from
York of three thousand men, a third from
Perryville, or
Elkton, by land or water, or both, of three thousand men, and a fourth from
Annapolis, by water, of three thousand men, might suffice.”
Twelve thousand men, it was thought, might be wanted for the enterprise.
They were not in hand, for at least ten thousand troops were yet needed at the capital, to give it perfect security.
The
Lieutenant-General thought some time must elapse before the expedition could be under-taken against the rebellious city.
General Butler had other views.
He had become satisfied that the secession element in
Baltimore was numerically weak, and that the
Union men, with a little help,. might easily reverse the order of things there.
He hastened to
Washington to consult with
General Scott.
He did not venture to express any dissent to the plans of the
General-in-chief.
He simply asked permission to take a regiment or two from
Annapolis, march them to the
Relay House, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, nine miles from
Baltimore, and hold it, so as to cut the secessionists off from facile communication with
Harper's Ferry.
It was granted.
He then inquired, what were the powers of a General commanding a Department.
“Absolute,” replied the
Lieutenant-General; “he can do whatever he thinks best, unless restricted by specific orders or military law.”
14 Butler ascertained that Baltimore was within his Military Department, and, with a plan of bold operations teeming his brain, he returned to
Annapolis.
At the close of April,
General Butler had full ten thousand men under his command at
Annapolis, and an equal number were guarding the seat of Government.
Already the Unionists of
Maryland were openly asserting their rights and showing their strength.
An extraordinary session of the Legislature, called by
Governor Hicks at
Annapolis, was not held there, for obvious reasons, but was opened on the 27th,
at
Frederick, about sixty miles north of
Baltimore, and far away from National troops.
In his message to that body, the
Governor said it was his solemn conviction that the only safety for
Maryland lay in its maintaining a neutral position in the controversy, that State having “violated no right of either section.”
He said: “I cannot counsel
Maryland to take sides against the
General Government, until it shall commit outrages upon us which would justify us in resisting its authority.
As a consequence, I can give no other counsel than that we shall array ourselves for Union and peace, and thus preserve our soil from being polluted with the blood of brethren.
Thus, if war
[
443]
must be between the
North and the
South, we may force the contending parties to transfer the field of battle from our soil, so that our lives and property may be secure.”
The secessionists in the Legislature, doubtful of gaining control of
Maryland by constitutional means, if not made circumspect by a threat, said to have been made by
General Butler, that he would arrest them all if they should pass an Ordinance of Secession, changed their tactics.
They procured a vote against the secession of the
State, and then.
proceeded to appoint a State Board of Public Safety, which was invested with full powers to control the organization and direction of all the military forces in the commonwealth, and to “adopt measures for its safety, peace, and defense.”
The members of the Board were all active secessionists, excepting
Governor Hicks.
They were not required to take the usual oath to support the
Constitution of the United States, and were left free to act in accordance with their revolutionary proclivities.
It was evident from the composition of the Board, and the character of the men who established it — men who openly advocated the secession of
Maryland, and uniformly denounced the acts of the
National Government as tyrannical — that it was to be used as a revolutionary machine, fraught with immense power to do mischief.
The loyal people of the
State, perceiving with amazement the practical patriotism of the inhabitants of the Free-labor States, and feeling the tread of tens of thousands of armed men hurrying across
Maryland to the defense of the
Government, recovered, in the presence of this new danger, from the paralysis produced by the terrible events of the 19th, and were aroused to action.
A Home Guard of
Unionists was formed in
Frederick, under the direct observation of the disloyal Legislature.
Similar action was taken in other parts of the
State, especially in the more northern portion; and, on the evening of the 4th of May, an immense Union meeting was held in
Baltimore, whereat the creation of the Board of Public Safety and other revolutionary acts of the Legislature were heartily condemned.
On the same day,
Otho Scott,
Robert McLane, and
W. J. Ross, a Committee of that Legislature, were in
Washington, remonstrating with the
President and
Secretary of War against the military occupation, by National troops, of the capital of
Maryland and of some of the railways of the
State.
They returned to their constituents “painfully confident,” they said, “that a war was to be waged to reduce all the seceding States to allegiance to the United States Government, and that the whole military power of the
Federal Government would be exerted to accomplish that purpose.”
15
General Butler was aware of the latent force of the Unionism of
Maryland, and of its' initial developments, and felt that it was time for him to move.
He had proposed to himself to do at once, with a few men, what the
Lieutenant-General, with more caution, had proposed to do at some indefinite time in the future, with twelve thousand men, namely, seize and hold the city of
Baltimore.
Accordingly, on Saturday afternoon, the 4th of May, while the
Commissioners of the Maryland Legislature were protesting before the
President against
Butler's occupation of their political capital, he issued orders for the Eighth New York and Sixth Massachusetts regiments, with
Major A. M. Cook's battery of the
Boston Light Artillery, to be
[
444]
ready to march at two o'clock the next morning.
These troops were in
Washington City.
At dawn on the 5th, they left the
Capital in thirty cars; and about two hours later they alighted at the
Relay House, within nine miles of
Baltimore, seized the railway station there, spread over the hills in scouting parties, and prepared to plant cannon so as to command the
Washington Junction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway at the great viaduct
 |
|
The Relay House in 1864. |
over the
Patapsco Valley, and the roads leading to
Baltimore and
Harper's Ferry.
General Butler accompanied the troops, and established a camp on the hills, a quarter of a mile from the
Relay House, near the residences of
P. O'Hern and
J. H. Luckett.
The writer visited this interesting spot late in 1864.
Brigadier-General John R. Kenly, whose meritorious services in
Baltimore will be noticed presently, was then in command there.
On the bights back of the
Relay House, near which
General Butler encamped, was a regular earthwork, called
Fort Dix, and a substantial block-house built of timber, which is seen in our little picture.
It was a commanding position, overlooking the narrow valley of the Patapsco above the viaduct toward
Ellicott's mills, up which passes the railway to
Harper's Ferry, and the expanding valley and beautifully rolling country below the viaduct, wherein may be seen, nestling at the foot of hills, the ancient village of Elkridge Landing, to which, in former days, the
Patapsco was navigable.
Near here, on a range of lofty hills running northward
 |
|
Great viaduct at the Washington Junction. |
from
Elkridge, are the residences of several gentlemen of wealth, among them
J. H. B. Latrobe, a distinguished citizen of
Maryland, whose house may be observed on the wooded hills seen beyond the viaduct in the little accompanying picture.
General Butler remained a little more than a week at the
Relay House, preparing to carry out his plan for seizing
Baltimore.
Meanwhile
General Patterson, anxious to vindicate the dignity and honor of his Government,
[
445]
and to teach the secessionists of
Maryland a practical lesson of its power, and compel them to submit to lawful authority, sent the. First Pennsylvania Volunteer Artillery (Seventeenth in the line) and
Sherman's Battery, in all nine hundred and thirty men, under the command of his son,
Francis E. Patterson, to force a passage through
Baltimore.
These troops left
Philadelphia on the 8th of May, and on the following morning, accompanied by a portion of the Third Infantry Regiment of regulars from
Texas, embarked on the steamers
Fanny Cadwalader and
Maryland, and went down
Chesapeake Bay.
The whole force under
Colonel Patterson was about twelve hundred.
They debarked at
Locust Point, near
Fort McHenry, under cover of the guns of the
Harriet Lane and a small gunboat, at about four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, in the presence of the
Mayor of
Baltimore, the
Police Commissioners, and
Marshal Kane and a considerable police force.
16 A counter-revolution in public sentiment was then making the Unionists of
Maryland happy.
The presence of troops at the
Relay House was promoting and stimulating the
Union feeling amazingly, and these troops landed and passed through the city on their way toward
Washington without molestation.
The wharves were crowded with excited citizens when the debarkation took place, and hundreds of these gave the Pennsylvanians hearty shouts of welcome.
These were the first of that immense army that streamed through
Baltimore without hinderance, thousands after thousands, while the great war that ensued went on.
General Butler was visited at the
Relay House by many
Unionists from
Baltimore, who gave him all desired information; and he received such communications from
General Scott, on application, that he felt warranted in moving upon the town.
He had informed
Scott of the increasing power of the Unionists in
Baltimore; reminded him that the city was in the Department of Annapolis; and expressed the belief that, with his force in hand at the
Relay House, he could march through it.
Colonel (afterward General)
Schuyler Hamilton, who had accompanied the New York Seventh to
Washington, was then on the staff of the
General-in-chief.
He had learned the metal of
General Butler, and was not inclined to cast any obstacles in his way. The orders of
General Scott, prepared by him, gave
Butler permission to arrest secessionists in and out of
Baltimore, prevent armed insurgents from going to join those already in force at
Harper's Ferry, and to look after a large quantity of gunpowder said to be stored in a church in
Baltimore for the use of the secessionists.
To do this,
Butler must use force; and as no word that came from the
General-in-chief forbade his going into
Baltimore with his troops, he prepared to do so. Already a party of the Sixth Massachusetts had performed good service, in connection with a company of the New York Eighth and two guns of the
Boston Light Artillery, all under
Major Cook, in capturing
Winans's steam-gun at
Ellicott's Mills,
together with
Dickinson,
17 the inventor.
Butler had promised
Colonel Jones, of the Sixth, which had fought its way through
Baltimore
[
446]
on the 19th of April, that his regiment should again march through that city, and now it was invited to that duty.
Toward the evening of the 13th, the entire Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, and a part of the New York Eighth, with the
Boston Light Artillerymen and two field-pieces — about one thousand men in all — and horses belonging to the
General and his staff, were on a train of cars headed toward
Harper's Ferry.
Before this train was a short one, bearing fifty men, who were ordered up to
Frederick to arrest
Winans.
When these trains moved up along the margin of the
Patapsco Valley, a spy of the
Baltimore conspirators started for that city with two fast trotting horses, to carry the important: information.
The trains moved slowly for about two miles, and then backed as slowly to the
Relay House, and past it, and at twilight had backed to the
Camden Street Station in
Baltimore.
Intensely black clouds in the van of an approaching thunder-storm were brooding over the city, threatening a
fierce tempest, and few persons were abroad, or aware of this portentous arrival.
The
Mayor was informed of it in the course of the evening, and at once wrote a note to
General Butler, saying that the sudden arrival of a large body of troops would create much surprise, and he would like to know whether the
General intended to remain at the station, that the police might be notified, and take proper precautions for preserving the peace.
Butler and his troops had disappeared in the gloom when the messenger with this note arrived at the
Station; but the inquiry was fully answered, to the astonishment of the whole city, loyal and disloyal, early the next morning, by a proclamation from the
General in the columns of the faithful
Clipper, dated “
Federal Hill,
Baltimore, May 14, 1861,” in which it was announced that a detachment under his command occupied the city, “for the purpose, among other things, of enforcing respect and obedience to the laws, as well of the
[
447]
State, if requested thereto by the civil authorities, as of the
United States laws, which are being violated within its limits by some malignant and traitorous men; and in order to testify the acceptance by the
Federal Government of the fact, that the city and all the well-intentioned portion of its inhabitants are loyal to the
Union and the
Constitution, and are to be so regarded and treated by all.”
How came
Butler and his men on
Federal Hill?
was a question upon thousands of lips on that eventful morning.
They had moved stealthily from the station in the gloom, at half-past 7 in the evening, piloted by
Colonel Robert Hare, of
Ellicott's Mills, and
Captain McConnell, through
Lee,
Hanover,, Montgomery, and Light Streets, to the foot of
Federal Hill.
The night was intensely dark, made so by the impending storm.
The flashes of lightning and peals of thunder were terrific, but the rain was withheld until they had nearly reached their destination.
Then it came like a flood, just as they commenced the ascent of the declivity.
“The spectacle was grand,” said the
General to the writer, while on the
Ben Deford, lying off
Fort Fisher one pleasant evening in December, 1864. “I was the first to reach the summit.
The rain was falling in immense volumes, and the lightning flashes followed each other in rapid succession making the point of every bayonet in that slow-moving
column appear like a tongue of flame, and the burnished brass cannon like sheets of fire.”
Officers and men were tho roughly drenched, and on the summit of the, hill they found very little shelter.
A house of refreshment, with a long upper and lower piazza, kept by a German, was taken possession of and made the
General's Headquarters; and there, dripping with the rain, he sat down and wrote his proclamation, which appeared in the morning.
His men had procured wood when the storm ceased, lighted fires, and were making themselves comfortable.
At eight o'clock, long after his proclamation had been scattered over the town, he received the
Mayor's message of the previous evening.
Important events had transpired since it was written, twelve hours before.
The
Massachusetts Sixth had again marched through
Baltimore, not, as before, the objects of assault by a brutal mob, but as a potential force, to hold that mob and also clothers in subserviency to law and order, and welcomed as deliverers by thousands of loyal citizens.
So confident was
General Butler in the moral and physical strength of his position, and of the salutary influence of his proclamation, in which he promised security to the peaceful and true, punishment to the turbulent and false, and justice to all, that he rode through the city with his staff on the day after his arrival, dined leisurely at the
Gillmore House, and had conferences with friends.
In that proclamation he forbade transportation of sup plies to the insurgents; asked for commissary stores, at fair prices, to the amount of forty thousand rations, and also clothing; forbade all assemblages of irregular military organizations; directed State
military officers to report
[
448]
to him; offered aid to the corporate authorities of
Baltimore, in the due administration of law; forbade the display of any secession flags or banners; and assured the people that he had such confidence in their loyalty that of the many thousands of troops which he might immediately concentrate there, he had come with scarcely more than a guard.
He made some important seizures of materials of war intended for the insurgents;
19 cast
Ross Winans into
Fort McHenry, in accordance with orders from
Washington, and was preparing to try him by court-martial for his alleged crimes, when a letter, bearing a sting of reproof, came from
General Scott, saying:--“Your hazardous occupation of
Baltimore was made without my knowledge, and, of course, without my approbation.
It is a God-send that it was without a conflict of arms.
It is also reported that you have sent a detachment to
Frederick, but this is impossible.
Not a word have I heard from you as to either movement.
Let me hear from you.”
The operations of a night with a thousand men and a ready pen had made a future campaign with twelve thousand men, which the
General-in-chief had planned, unnecessary.
The
Lieutenant-General thought that the
Brigadier had used too daringly the “absolute” power accorded to a “commander of a department,” unless “restricted by specific orders or military law,” and overlooking, for the moment, the immense advantages gained for the
Government by such exercise of power, he insisted upon the recall of
General Butler from
Baltimore.
It was done.
Viewed in the light of to-day, that recall appears like an almost fatal mistake.
“I always said,” wrote
Mr. Cameron, then
Secretary of War, from
St. Petersburg, many
 |
|
The Department of Annapolis. |
months afterward, “that if you had been left in
Baltimore, the rebellion would have been of short duration.”
20
There was no rebuke :in
President Lincoln's recall of
General Butler
[
449]
from
Baltimore, in compliance with the wishes of
General Scott.
On the contrary, it had the appearance of commendation, for he immediately offered him the commission of a
Major-General of Volunteers, and the command of a much more extended military district, including
Eastern Virginia and the two Carolinas, with his Headquarters at
Fortress Monroe.
He was succeeded in command at
Baltimore by
General Cadwalader, of
Philadelphia, and the troops were temporarily withdrawn.
Afterward the Fifth New York Regiment (Zouave),
Colonel Abraham Duryee, occupied
Federal Hill, and thereon built the strong earthwork known as Fort
Federal Hill, whose cannon commanded both the town and
Fort McHenry.
The 14th of May was a memorable one in the annals of
Maryland, as the time when the tide of secession, which for weeks had been threatening to ingulf it in revolution, was absolutely checked, and the Unionists of the
State were placed upon solid vantage-ground, from which they were never driven a line, but were strengthened every hour.
On that day
General Butler broke the power of the conspirators, by the military occupation of
Baltimore and the promulgation of his proclamation, which disarmed treason.
On that day the dangerously disloyal Legislature adjourned, and
Governor Hicks, relieved of the pressure of rampant treachery around him, and assured by the
Secretary of War that
Maryland troops would not be ordered out of the
State, issued a proclamation calling for the four regiments named in the
Secretary's requisition for militia as the quota of that Commonwealth.
Thenceforth the tongues of loyal Marylanders were unloosed, and treason became weaker every hour; and their State was soon numbered among the stanchest of loyal Commonwealths, outstripping in practical patriotism
Delaware,
Kentucky, and
Missouri.
On that eventful 14th of May, the veteran
Major W. W. Morris, in command at
Fort McHenry.
near
Baltimore (which had lately been well garrisoned), first gave practical force to the suspension of the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus, which the exigency of the times seemed to give constitutional sanction for.
21 A man claiming to be a soldier of the Maryland State Militia, was imprisoned in
Fort McHenry.
Judge Giles, of
Baltimore, issued a writ of
habeas corpus for his release, which
Major Morris refused to obey.
His letter to the
Judge was a spirited protest against the treasonable practices around him, and seemed to be a full justification of his action.
“At the date of issuing your writ,” he said, “and for two weeks previous, the city in which you live, and where your court has been held, was entirely under the control of revolutionary authorities.
Within that period
United States soldiers, while committing no offense, had been perfidiously attacked and inhumanly murdered in your streets;
no punishment had been awarded, and, I believe, no arrests had been made for these atrocious crimes;
22 supplies of provisions intended for this garrison had been stopped; the intention to capture
[
450]
this fort had been boldly proclaimed; your most public thoroughfares were daily patrolled by large numbers of troops, armed and clothed, at least in part, with articles stolen from the
United States; and the
Federal flag, while waving over the
Federal offices, was cut down by some person wearing the uniform of a Maryland soldier.
23 To add to the foregoing, all assemblage elected in defiance of law, but claiming to be the legislative body of your State, and so recognized by the
Executive of
Maryland, was debating the
Federal compact.
If all this be not rebellion, I know not what to call it. I certainly regard it as sufficient legal cause for suspending the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus.”
He added:--“If, in an experience of thirty-three years, you have never before known the writ to be disobeyed, it is only because such a contingency in political affairs as the present has never before arisen.”
Since the 19th of April, the
Government had felt compelled to resort to extraordinary measures for its preservation, and much was done “without due form of law,” excepting what the exercise of the war powers of the
President might justify.
On the day after the massacre at
Baltimore, the
original dispatches in the telegraph offices in all the principal cities in the Free-labor States, received during a year previously, were, by order of the
Government, issued on the 19th,
seized by the
United States Marshals at the same hour, namely, three o'clock in the afternoon.
The object was, to obtain evidence of the complicity of politicians in those States with the conspirators.
Every dispatch that seemed to indicate such complicity was sent to
Washington, and the
Government was furnished with such positive evidence of active sympathy with the insurgents that the offenders became exceedingly cautious and far less mischievous.
At about the same time, the necessity for arresting and imprisoning seditious persons in the Free-labor States seemed clear to the apprehension of the
Government, and such were made on simply the warrant of the
Secretary of State.
These offenders were confined in
Fort McHenry, at
Baltimore; Fort Lafayette, near New York, and
Fort Warren, in
Boston harbor.
Writs of
habeas
[
451]
corpus were issued for their release.
At first some of them were obeyed, but finally, by order of the
Government, they were disregarded, and their issue ceased.
The most notable of these cases, at the beginning, was that of
John Merryman, a member of the Maryland Legislature, who was cast into
Fort McHenry late in May.
The
Chief-Justice of the
United States (
R. B. Taney), residing in
Baltimore, took action in the matter, but
General Cadwalader, the commander of the department, refused to obey the mandates of this functionary, as well as that of the inferior judge, and the matter was dropped, excepting in the form of personal, newspaper, and legislative discussions of the subject, the chief questions at issue being, Which branch of the
Government has the power to suspend the privilege of the writ?
and Do circumstances warrant the exercise of that power?
We will not discuss that question here.
Many arrests were made; among them a large number of the members of the Maryland Legislature, the Mayors of
Baltimore and
Washington,
Marshal Kane and the Police
Commissioners of
Baltimore, and a number of other prominent men throughout the country.
Within the space of six months after the tragedy in
Baltimore, no less than one hundred prisoners of state, to whom the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus was denied, were confined in Fort Lafayette alone.
The Government not only resorted to these extreme measures, but made greater preparations for a conflict of arms, plainly perceiving that
insurrection was rapidly assuming the proportions of formidable and extended
rebellion. By a proclamation on the 27th of April, the blockade
24 was extended to the ports of
North Carolina and
Virginia; and by another proclamation on the 3d of May, the
President called into the service of the
United States forty-two thousand volunteers for three years; ordered an increase of the regular Army of twenty-two thousand seven hundred and fourteen officers and enlisted men, for not less than one year nor more than three years; and for the enlistment of eighteen thousand seamen for the naval service.
This was the first call for
volunteers, the former requisition being for the militia of the several States,
25 full one hundred and fifty thousand of whom were organized or were forming at the close of April.
The response to this was equally if not more remarkable.
The enthusiasm of the people was unbounded.
Money and men were offered in greater abundance than the
Government seemed to need.
The voluntary contributions offered to the public treasury, and for the fitting out of troops and maintaining their families, by individuals, associations, and corporations, amounted, at the beginning of May, to
full forty millions of dollars!
Six weeks earlier than this, that sagacious Frenchman,
Count Agenor de Gasparin, one of the few foreigners who seemed to comprehend the
American people, and the nature and significance of the impending struggle, wrote, almost prophetically, saying:--“At the present hour, the Democracy of the
South is about to degenerate into demagogism.
But the
North presents quite a different spectacle.
Mark what is passing there; pierce beneath ap. pearances, beneath the inevitable wavering of a
debut, so well prepared for
[
452]
by the preceding Administration, and you will find the firm resolution of a people uprising.
Who speaks of the end of the
United States?
This end seemed approaching but lately, in the hour of prosperity; then, honor was compromised, esteem for the country was lowered, institutions were becoming corrupted apace; the moment seemed approaching when the confederation, tainted with Slavery, could not but perish with it. Now, every thing has changed in aspect.
The friends of
America should take confidence, for its greatness is inseparable, thank God!
from the cause of justice.
Justice can not do wrong. I like to recall this maxim, when I consider the present state of
America.”
26
At the middle of May,
Washington City was safe, for thousands of well-armed loyal men were within its borders.
Troops were quartered in the immense Patent Office building.
The
Capitol was a vast citadel Its legislative halls, its rotunda, and other rooms were filled with soldiery, and its basement galleries were converted into store-rooms for barrels of beef, pork, and other materials for army rations in great abundance.
Under the direction of
Lieutenant T. J. Cate, of the Massachusetts Sixth, the vaults under the broad terrace on the western front of the
Capitol were converted into bakeries, where sixteen thousand loaves of bread were bake d every day. The chimneys of the ovens pierced the terrace at the junction of the freestone pavement and the grassy slope of the glacis, as seen in the picture; and there for months,
 |
|
Government bakeries at the Capitol. |
smoke poured forth in dense black columns like the issues of a smoldering volcano Before the summer had begun
Washington City was an immense garrisoned town, and strong fortifications
[
453]
were rapidly growing upon the hills around it. And yet the conspirators still dreamed of possessing it. Two days after their Convention at
Montgomery adjourned to meet in
Richmond on the 20th of July,
Alexander H. Stephens, in a speech at
Atlanta,
in
Georgia, after referring to the occupation of the
National edifices at
Washington by the soldiery, said:--“Their filthy spoliation of the public buildings and the works of art at the
Capitol, and their preparations to destroy them, are strong evidences to my mind that they do not intend to hold or defend that place, but to abandon it, after having despoiled and laid it in ruins.
Let them destroy it, savage-like, if they will.
We will rebuild it. We will make the structures more glorious.
Phenix-like, new and more substantial structures will rise from its ashes.
Planted anew, under the auspices of our superior institutions, it will live and flourish throughout all ages.”
At the beginning of May, by fraud, by violence, and by treachery, the conspirators and their friends had robbed the
Government to the amount of forty millions of dollars; put about forty thousand armed men in the field, twenty-five thousand of whom were at that period concentrating in
Virginia; sent emissaries abroad, with the name of Commissioners, to seek recognition and aid from foreign powers; commissioned numerous pirates to prey upon the commerce of the
United States; extinguished the lights of light-houses and beacons along the coasts of the Slave-labor States, from
Hampton Roads to the
Rio Grande,
27 and enlisted actively in their revolutionary schemes the
Governors of thirteen States, and large numbers of leading politicians in other States.
Insurrection had become rebellion; and the loyal people of the country, and the
National Government, beginning to comprehend the magnitude and potency of the movement, accepted it as such, and addressed themselves earnestly to the task of its suppression.
 |
|
Tail-piece — Light extinguished. |
