Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1.

[354] revolt,¹ had spoken out for the Union in a monster meeting of men of all political and religious creeds, gathered around the statue of Washington, at Union Square,

April 20, 1861.

where all party feeling was kept in abeyance, and only one sentiment — the Union shall be preserved — was the burden of all the oratory.

That New York meeting the type of others all over the land, had a peculiar significance, and a vast and salutary influence. That city had been regarded as eminently “conservative” and friendly to “the South,” on account of the many ties of commercial interest. Politically it was opposed to the Administration by thirty thousand majority. The

The Battery, New York, in May, 1861.

voice of the metropolis, at such a crisis was therefore listened for with the most anxious solicitude. It could not keep silence. Already the insurgents had commenced their movements for the seizure of the seat of Government. Harper's Ferry and the Gosport Navy Yard were just passing into the hands of rebellious men. Already the blood of Union soldiers had been spilt in Baltimore, and the cry had come up from below the Roanoke: “Press on toward Washington!” Already the politicians of Virginia had passed an Ordinance of Secession,

April 17.

and were inviting the troops from the Gulf States to their soil. The secessionists of Maryland were active, and the National Capitol, with its archives, was in imminent peril of seizure by the insurgents. It was under such a condition of public affairs that the meeting had assembled, on the 20th of April. Places of business were closed, that all might participate in the proceedings. It was estimated, that at least one hundred thousand persons were in attendance during the afternoon. Four stands were erected at points equidistant around Union Square; and the soiled and tattered flag that Anderson had brought away from Fort Sumter, was mounted on a fragment of its staff, and placed in the hands of the statue of Washington. The meeting was organized by the appointment of a President at each of the four stands, with a large number of assistants;² and it was addressed by representative men of all political parties, who,