Volume Iii Part 19 (2/2)
When it was known that the old flag had been fired upon, a thrill of pa.s.sionate rage electrified the North from Maine to Oregon. Then was witnessed an uprising unparalleled in our history if not in that of mankind. From every city, town, and hamlet, loud and earnest came the call, ”The Union must be preserved! Away with compromise! Away with further attempts to conciliate traitors! To arms!” Slavery might do all else, so little did most northerners yet feel its evil, but it could not rend the Union. Pulpit, platform, and press echoed with patriotic cries.
Everywhere were Union meetings, speeches, and parades. Union badges decked everyone's clothing, and the Stars and Stripes were kept unfurled as only on national holidays before. In New York City a ma.s.s-meeting of two hundred thousand declared for war. The New York Herald changed its sneer to a war-blast. Party lines were thrown down. Democrats like Butler, Ca.s.s, and d.i.c.kinson were in the Union van. Senator Douglas, lately Lincoln's antagonist, and at first strongly opposed to coercion, went through the West arousing the people by his patriotic eloquence.
”There can be no neutrals now,” were his words, ”only patriots and traitors.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: Route of the Sixth Ma.s.sachusetts Troops through Baltimore.]
April 15th, President Lincoln issued a call for seventy-five thousand volunteers, and each free State responded with twice its quota.
Enlisting offices were opened in every town and hamlet, and the roll of the drum and the tramp of armed men with faces set southward were heard all over the North. First to march was the Sixth Ma.s.sachusetts Regiment.
Forming on Boston Common it took cars for Was.h.i.+ngton on April 17th, reaching Baltimore on the morning of the 19th.
Maryland was trembling in the balance between Union and disunion. A determined disunionist minority was working with might and main to drag the State into secession. Baltimore was white-hot with southern zeal, determined that the Bay State troops should never reach Was.h.i.+ngton through that metropolis. Eight of the cars containing the soldiers were drawn safely across the city. The next was a.s.sailed by a hooting mob, and the windows smashed in by bricks and paving stones. Some of the soldiers were wounded by pistol shots, and a scattering fire was returned. Sand, stones, anchors, and other obstructions were heaped upon the track. The remaining four companies therefore left the cars and started to march. They soon met the mob, flying a secession flag. A melee ensued. The troops moved double-quick toward the Was.h.i.+ngton depot, surrounded by a seething ma.s.s of infuriated secessionists filling the air with their brick-bats and stones, while bullets whizzed from sidewalks and windows. The troops returned the fire, and several in the crowd fell. The chief of police with fifty officers appeared on the scene, who, by presenting c.o.c.ked revolvers, held the rioters in check for a while, till the distressed troops could join their comrades.
Baltimore was in the hands of this secessionist band for the rest of the day. The bridges north of that city were also burned, so that no more troops could reach Was.h.i.+ngton by this route.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Waterfront; s.h.i.+ps and buildings.]
Scene of the First Bloodshed, at Baltimore.
Meanwhile the capital city was in great peril, devotees of the South being each moment expected to make an attack upon it. Only fifteen companies of local militia and six of regulars were present at inauguration time, stationed by General Scott at critical points in the city. Pickets were posted continually on roads and bridges outside. Four hundred Pennsylvania troops happily arrived on April 18th, and the next day came the Sixth Ma.s.sachusetts. But the city was not yet secure. There were reports that large bodies of men were gathering in Maryland and Virginia for a descent upon it. Was.h.i.+ngton was put in a state of siege, the public buildings barricaded and provided with sentinels. The Government seized the Potomac steamers and also all the flour within reach. Business ceased. Alarmed by rumors of a military impressment, hundreds of government clerks, besides officers in the army and navy, came out in their true colors and fled south. Enemies at Baltimore had cut off telegraphic communication between Was.h.i.+ngton and the North.
Reports came that re-enforcements were on the way, but day followed day without witnessing their arrival. The President and all Unionists were in an agony of suspense.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Map of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia.]
The Routes of Approach to Was.h.i.+ngton.
Russell & Struthers, Eng's, N. York.
On April 22d the Eighth Ma.s.sachusetts, under General B. F. Butler, and the famous Seventh Regiment from New York City, met at Annapolis. Here they were delayed several days. Governor Hicks had warned them not to land on Maryland soil. The railroad to Was.h.i.+ngton had been torn up for many miles and the engines damaged. Among his troops Butler found the very machinists who had made the engines. Repairs were promptly effected, the track re-laid, and about noon of the 25th the gallant New Yorkers landed in Was.h.i.+ngton amid the joyful shouts of the loyal populace. Up Pennsylvania Avenue swept the solid ranks, bands playing and colors flying, to gladden the heart of the careworn President as he welcomed them at the White House. A sudden change came over the city.
Secessionists slunk away, the faces of the loyal beamed with joy. The national capital was safe.
CHAPTER IV.
WAR BEGUN
[1861]
It was now apparent to both North and South that war was inevitable. Yet neither side believed the other in full earnest or dreamed of a long struggle. Sanguine northerners looked to see the rebellion stamped out in thirty days. The more cautious allowed three months.
The President, however, soon saw that more troops, enlisted for a longer term, would be necessary. At the outset the South certainly possessed decided advantages: greater earnestness, more men of leisure aching for war and accustomed to saddle and firearms, a militia better organized, owing to fear of slave insurrections, and now for a long time in special training, and withal a certain soldierly fire and dash native to the people. The South also had superior arms. Enlistments there were prompt and abundant. The troops were ably commanded, 262 of the 951 regular army officers whom secession found in service, including many very high in rank, joining their States in the new cause, besides a large number of West Point graduates from civil life.
Accordingly on May 3d Mr. Lincoln issued a new call for troops, 42,000 volunteers to serve three years or during the war, 23,000 regulars, and 18,000 seamen. It was of first importance to secure Maryland for the Union. On the night of May 13th, under cover of a thunderstorm, General Butler suddenly entered rebellious Baltimore with less than 1,000 men, and entrenched upon Federal Hill. Overawed by this bold move, the secessionists made no resistance. A political reaction soon set in throughout the State, which became firmly Unionist. Baltimore was once more open to the pa.s.sage of troops, who kept steadily hurrying to the front.
Meanwhile the Confederate forces were getting uncomfortably close to Was.h.i.+ngton. From the White House a secession flag could be seen flying at Alexandria, which was occupied by a small pro-secession garrison.
There was fear lest that party would occupy Arlington Heights, across from Was.h.i.+ngton, and thence pour shot and sh.e.l.l into the city. At two o'clock on the morning of May 24th, eight regiments crossed the Potomac and took possession of these hills as far south as Alexandria, and fortified them. The latter place was entered by Colonel Ellsworth with his famous New York Zouaves. No resistance was made, as the Confederates had retired, but Ellsworth was brutally a.s.sa.s.sinated while hauling down the secession flag.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Portrait.]
Captain Nathaniel Lyon.
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