Volume I Part 20 (1/2)

When the call was made for seventy-five thousand men, the Sixth Regiment of Ma.s.sachusetts was one of the first to respond. On the night of the 16th of April some, if not all, of the regiment, were quartered in Boston. I called upon Company B, of Groton, then in the hall over the Williams Market. I found that they understood that the movement meant war and duty. One of the men said to me:

”Some of us will never see Ma.s.sachusetts again.”

After the affair in Baltimore on the 19th of April, Governor Andrew asked me to go to Was.h.i.+ngton with despatches for Mr. Lincoln and General Scott. The message was communicated to me through Mr. John M.

Forbes. In his letter of request and appointment Governor Andrew said:

”We need your information, influence and acquaintance with the Cabinet, and knowledge of Eastern public sentiment, to leave immediately for Was.h.i.+ngton. Hope you will proceed at once and open and preserve communication between you and myself.” This letter was dated April 22.

Under the same date the Governor wrote to President Lincoln:

”Ex-Governor Boutwell has been appointed Agent of the commonwealth to proceed to Was.h.i.+ngton to confer with you in regard to the forts in Ma.s.sachusetts and the militia.” I was instructed also to see General Wool in New York. I received a package of letters, the contents of which were disclosed to me, one hundred dollars in gold, and a small revolver loaded.* I took with me a young man named Augustus Bixby, who then lived in Groton, but who had seen something of the world, and was not daunted by the uncertainties of life. He was afterwards a cavalry officer. During the war I one day read in the papers that Bixby had been promoted for gallantry in an affair in the Shenandoah Valley. Within a few days after I met him in Was.h.i.+ngton on a crutch, or walking with the help of a cane. He had been wounded in the contest. I said:

”Bixby, what did you do?” He replied:

”I don't know, except I sailed in.”

At New York I telegraphed Vice-President Hamlin, then in Maine, that he should come as far South as New York, that he might be in a situation to act in case of the death or capture of Mr. Lincoln, of whom we then knew nothing. At New York, April 24, I telegraphed Governor Andrew:

”General Wool and Vice-President Hamlin are in favor of your taking the responsibility of sending two regiments to take charge of the forts, and to furnish and arm three vessels for the protection of the coast.

You can exercise the power, under the circ.u.mstance, better than anybody else.” The same day I sent this dispatch: ”Send without delay a steamer with provisions for General Butler's command at Annapolis.”

At Perryville, at the mouth of the Susquehanna, I sent Bixby with the despatches by the first boat to Annapolis, with instructions to make his way to Was.h.i.+ngton at the earliest moment. I followed in the next boat. Upon my arrival at General Butler's headquarters, I learned that Bixby had left on foot. As the troops were at work in re-laying the track, there was no danger. Indeed, the small squads of men who had burned bridges and torn up tracks disappeared with the arrival of troops. At nine o'clock in the evening, a train, the first train, carrying the New York Sixty-ninth Regiment, left for Annapolis Junction, at which place we arrived at one o'clock in the morning.

The only light upon the train was the headlight, and we moved only the length of the train at each inspection of the road. I made a pillow of my small valise, and a bed of my blanket, and camped on the floor of one of the small houses at Annapolis Junction. In the morning I found Colonel b.u.t.terfield of the New York Twelfth and Colonel Scott, a nephew of General Scott, who a.s.sumed the direction of affairs. He afterwards joined the rebels. I observed also that our encampment was commanded by hills on the north and east, and Colonel b.u.t.terfield informed me that the picket line was a long way inside the base of the hills. At about six o'clock in the evening, a train with troops and three civilians was made ready for Was.h.i.+ngton. The American flag was displayed at many of the houses on the line of the road.

I arrived in Was.h.i.+ngton the 27th day of April. I annex a copy of a letter that I wrote to Governor Andrew the day following:

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, April 28, 1861.

To His Excellency Governor Andrew.

Sir:--I arrived in Was.h.i.+ngton to-day, after a journey of forty-eight hours from Philadelphia by Annapolis. There have been no mails from the North for a week; and you may easily understand that the mighty public sentiment of the Free States is not yet fully appreciated here.

The President and Cabinet are gaining confidence; and the measures of the Administration will no longer be limited to the defence of the capital. Secretary Welles has already sent orders to Captain Hudson to purchase six steamers, with instructions to consult you in regard to the matter. I regret that the Secretary was not ready to put the matter into the hands of commissioners, who would have acted efficiently and promptly.

Mr. Welles will accept, as a part of the quota, such vessels as may have been purchased by Mr. Forbes.

Senator Grimes of Iowa will probably give Mr. Crownins.h.i.+eld an order for arms. The United States Government may do the same; but no definite action has yet been taken.

Martial law will be proclaimed here to-morrow. Colonel Mansfield will be appointed general, and a.s.signed to this district. He is one of the most efficient officers in the country.

Baltimore is to be closed in from Havre-de-Grace, from the Relay House, from the Carlisle line, and by an efficient naval force. She will be reduced to unconditional submission. The pa.s.sage of the troops through Maryland has had a great moral effect. The people are changing rapidly in the country places. Many instances of a popular revolution, in towns through which troops have pa.s.sed or been stationed, have come to my knowledge. I came to Was.h.i.+ngton with the Twelfth New York Regiment; and from Annapolis Junction there were cheers from three fourths of the houses by the wayside.

Everything appears well at Annapolis, where General Butler commands in person. There is a large body of troops, the people are gradually gaining confidence in the army and the Government, and the regulations seem to be effective. General Butler is popular with the officers whom I met. He has taken command of the highlands that command the town and the encampment. All sorts of rumors are spread among the troops concerning an attack upon the Annapolis Station; but the place can be defended under any conceivable circ.u.mstances. I am sorry to say, that everything is in confusion at Annapolis Junction, and a moderate force might, in a single night, break off the connection of this city with the North. Each colonel, as he moves towards Was.h.i.+ngton, commands for twelve or twenty-four hours. My own belief, however, is, that Maryland will never see two thousand men together as a military organization in opposition to the Government.

I presume that your Excellency has means of obtaining information concerning the condition of Ma.s.sachusetts men, morally and physically; but, as I am here, I shall try to obtain and transmit any information that seems important. I may say now, that the Eighth Regiment is quartered in the rotunda of the Capitol; and a military man, not of Ma.s.sachusetts, says, that they are already suffering from the cold and dampness of the place. He advises tents and out-door encampment.

I repeat what is every hour and in my hearing, that Ma.s.sachusetts has taken her place at the head of the column in support of the Government; and our regiments are everywhere esteemed as n.o.ble examples of citizen soldiers. I, for one, feel anxious that everything that is proper should be done.

I have written this communication in great haste; and I have only time to subscribe myself your Excellency's obedient servant.

GEORGE S. BOUTWELL.