418

COMMUNICATION WITH THE CAPITAL CUT OFF.

portions of them were speedily consumed. Another party went up the Northern Central Railway to Cockeysville, about fifteen miles north of Baltimore, and destroyed the two wooden bridges there, and other smaller structures on the road. In the mean time the telegraph wires had been cut on all the lines leading out of Baltimore, excepting the one that kept the conspirators in communication with Richmond by the way of Harper's Ferry. Thus, all communication by railway or telegraph between the seat of government and the loyal States of the Union was absolutely cut off, or in the hands of the insurgents.1

The Committee sent to the President by Governor Hicks and Mayor Brown had an interview with him at an early hour on the morning of the 20th. The President and General Scott had already been in consultation on the subject of the passage of troops through Baltimore, and the latter had hastily said: "Bring them around the city." Acting upon this hint, the President assured the Committee that no more troops should be called through Baltimore, if they could pass around it without opposition or molestation. This assurance was telegraphed by the Committee to the Mayor, but it did not satisfy the conspirators. They had determined that no more troops from the North should pass through Maryland, and so they would be excluded from the Capital. Military preparations went actively on in Baltimore to carry out this determination, and every hour the isolation of the Capital from the loyal men of the country was becoming more and more complete.

The excitement in Washington was fearful; and at three o'clock on the morning of the 21st (Sunday) the President sent for Governor Hicks and Mayor Brown. The former was not in the city. The latter, with Messrs. Dobbin and Brune, and S. T. Wallis, hastened to Washington, where they arrived at ten o'clock in the morning. At that interview General Scott pro

1 For a few days succeeding the riot, no person was allowed to leave Baltimore for the North without a pass from the President of the Board of Police, approved by the Mayor:* and these permissions were sparingly issued. Neither were the mails allowed to go North, for it was desirable to keep the people of the Free-labor States ignorant of affairs at Washington until the seizure of the Capital, by the insurgents, should be accomplished.

8

The first mail-bag that passed through Baltimore after the riot there, was carried by James D. Gay, a member of the Ringgold Artillery from Reading, already mentioned. He left Washington for home on the evening of the 19th of April, with a carpet-bag full of letters from members of his company to their friends. He was in Baltimore during the fearful night of the 19th, when the railway bridges were burned: and, after escaping many personal perils. he managed to reach Cockeysville, in a carriage with some others, on the 20th. where. north of the burnt bridges, he took the cars for home on the Northern Central Railway. He reached York that night, and Reading the next day, where the contents of his bag were soon distributed. These letters, some of which were addressed to editors and were published, gave the first authentic intelligence to the loyal people of the state of affairs at the Capital, and in a degree quieted the apprehensions for its safety. That private mail-bag, which, for the time, took the place of the United States mail. was afterwards placed among the curiosities of the Pennsylvania Historical Society.

THE PRIVATE MAIL-BAG.

*The following is a copy of one of the passes, now before me —

"OFFICE OF BOARD OF POLICE,
BALTIMORE, April 22, 1861.

“Messrs. Edward Childe and P. H. Birkhead being about to proceed to the North upon their private business, and having Mra. Steinbrenner under their charge, we desire that they be allowed by all persons to pass without molestation by the way of Port Deposit, or York, Pennsylvania, or otherwise, as they may see fit.

"By order of the Board:

The Mayor of the City concurs in the above.
"By his private Secretary,
Mr. F. Meredith Dryden will accompany the party.

CHARLES HOWARD. Preet

GEORGE HUNT Brown.
ROBERT D. BROWN,

"CHARLES HOWARD, President Board of Police."

DEGRADING PROPOSITIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT.

419 posed to bring troops by water to Annapolis, and march them from there, across Maryland, to the Capital, a distance of about forty miles. The Mayor and his friends were not satisfied. The soil of Maryland must not be polluted anywhere with the tread of Northern troops; in other words, they must be kept from the seat of government, that the traitors might more easily seize it. They urged upon the President, "in the most earnest manner, a course of policy which would give peace to the country, and especially the withdrawal of all orders contemplating the passage of troops through any part of Maryland.""

When the Mayor and his friends reached the cars to return, they were met by an electrograph from Mr. Garrett, President of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, informing them that a large number of troops were at Cockeysville, on their way to Baltimore. They immediately returned to the President, who summoned General Scott and some of the members of the Cabinet to a conference. The President was anxious to preserve the peace, and show that he had acted in good faith in calling the Mayor to Washington; and he expressed a strong desire that the troops at Cockeysville should be sent back to York or Harrisburg. "General Scott," said the Mayor in his report, "adopted the President's views warmly, and an order was accordingly prepared by the Lieutenant-General to that effect, and forwarded by Major Belger of the Army," who accompanied the Mayor to Baltimore.

Even this humiliation of the Government did not appease the conspirators and their friends, and they so far worked viciously upon the courage and firmness of Governor Hicks, that he was induced to send a message to the President on the 22d, advising him not to order any more troops to pass through Maryland, and to send elsewhere some which had already arrived at Annapolis. He urged him to offer a truce to the insurgents to prevent further bloodshedding, and said: "I respectfully suggest that Lord Lyons [the British Minister] be requested to act as mediator between the contending parties of our country." To these degrading propositions Secretary Seward replied, in behalf of the President, in which he expressed the deepest regret because of the public disturbances, and assured the Governor that the troops sought to be brought through Maryland were "intended for nothing but the defense of the Capital." He reminded his Excellency that the route chosen by the General-in-chief for the march of troops absolutely needed at the Capital, was farthest removed from the populous cities of the State; and then he administered the following mildly drawn but stinging rebuke to the chief magistrate of a State professing to hold allegiance to the Union, who had so far forgotten his duty and the dignity of his Commonwealth as to make such suggestions as Governor Hicks had done. "The President cannot but remember," he said, "that there has been a time in the history of our country [1814] when a General [Winder] of the American Union, with forces designed for the defense of its Capital, was not unwelcome anywhere in the State of Maryland, and certainly not at Annapolis, then, as now, the capital of that patriotic State, and then, also, one of the capitals of the Union. If eighty years could have obliterated all the other noble sentiments of that age in Maryland, the President would be hopeful, nevertheless, that there is

Mayor Brown's report of the interview.

420

THE PRESIDENT, AND BALTIMORE EMBASSIES.

one that would ever remain there as everywhere. That sentiment is, that no domestic contention whatever, that may arise among the parties of this Republic, ought in any case to be referred to any foreign arbitrament, least of all to the arbitrament of a European monarchy."

Still another embassy, in the interest of the secessionists of Baltimore, waited upon the President. These were delegates from five of the Young Men's Christian Associations of that city, with the Rev. Dr. Fuller, of the Baptist Church, at their head. The President received them cordially, and treated them kindly. He met their propositions and their sophisms with Socratic reasoning. When Dr. Fuller assured him that he could produce peace if he would let the country know that he was "disposed to recognize the independence of the Southern States-recognize the fact that they have formed a government of their own; and that they will never again be united with the North," the President asked, significantly, "And what is to become of the revenue?" When the Doctor expressed a hope that no more troops would be allowed to cross Maryland, and spoke of the patriotic action of its inhabitants in the past, the President simply replied, substantially, "I must have troops for the defense of the Capital. The Carolinians are now marching across Virginia to seize the Capital and hang me. What am I to do? I must have troops, I say; and as they can neither crawl under Maryland, nor fly over it, they must come across it." With these answers the delegation returned to Baltimore. The Government virtually declared that it should take proper measures for the preservation of the Republic without asking the consent of the authorities or inhabitants of any State; and the loyal people said Amen! Neither Governor Hicks, nor the Mayor of Baltimore, nor the clergy nor laity of the churches there, ever afterward troubled the President with advice so evidently emanating from the implacable enemies of the Union.

The National Capital and the National Government were in great peril, as we have observed, at this critical juncture. The regular Army, weak in numbers before the insurrection, was now utterly inadequate to perform its duties as the right arm of the nation's power. Twiggs's treason in Texas had greatly diminished its available force, and large numbers of its officers, especially of those born in Slave-labor States, were resigning their commissions, abandoning their flag, and joining the enemies of their country.'

Among those who resigned at this time was Colonel Robert Edmund Lee, of Virginia, an accomplished engineer officer, and one of the most trusted and beloved by the venerable General-in-chief. His patriotism had become weakened by the heresy of State Supremacy, and he seems to have been easily

1 Letter of Secretary Seward to Governor Hicks, April 22, 1861.

2 Notwithstanding a greater number of those who abandoned their flag and joined the insurgents at that time were from the Slave-labor States, a large number of officers from those States remained faithful. From a Carefully prepared statement made by Edward C. Marshall, author of The History of the Naval Academy, it appears that in 1860, just before the breaking out of the war, there were seven hundred and forty-seven graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, to which might be added seventy-three who graduated in June, 1861, making a total of eight hundred and twenty. These were all officers. At the close of 1861, the number of graduates who had resigned or had been dismissed within the year was only one hundred and ninetyseven, leaving six hundred and seventeen graduates who remained loyal. The number of graduates from the Slave-labor States was three hundred and eleven, of whom one hundred and thirty-three remained loyal. The remainder were disloyal. To these add nineteen who were born in Free-labor States, and we have the total of only one hundred and ninety-seven, of the eight hundred and twenty graduates, who were unfaithful.

RESIGNATION OF COLONEL LEE.

421

seduced from his allegiance to his flag by the dazzling offers of the Virginia conspirators. So early as the 14th of April, he was informed by the President of the Virginia Convention that that body would, on the nomination of Governor Letcher, appoint him commander of all the military and naval forces of the Commonwealth.' When, on the 17th, the usurpers, through violence and fraud, passed an ordinance of secession, he said, in the common phrase of the men of easy political virtue, "I must go with my State;" and, on the 20th, in a letter addressed to General Scott, from his beautiful seat of "Arlington House," on Arlington Hights, opposite Washington and

3

Georgetown, he proffered the resignation of his commission in terms of wellfeigned reluctance. He then hastened to Richmond, and offered his services to the enemies of his country. He was received by the 1861. Convention with profound respect, for he was the representative

• April 22,

of one of the most distinguished families of the State, and brought to the conspirators an intimate knowledge of General Scott's plans, and the details of the forces of the National Government, with which he had been fully intrusted. Alexander H. Stephens, Lieutenant Maury of the National

1 Richmond Correspondence of the Charleston Mercury.

This view of Arlington House, the seat of the late George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of Washington, and father-in-law of Colonel Lee, was drawn by the author in 1860.

• The following is a copy of Colonel Lee's letter to General Scott:

"ARLINGTON HOUSE, April 20, 1861. "GENERAL:-Since my interview with you on the 18th inst., I have felt that I ought not longer to retain my commission in the Army. I therefore tender my resignation, which I request you will recommend for acceptance. It would have been presented at once, but for the struggle it has cost me to separate myself from a service to which I have devoted all the best years of my life and all the ability I possessed.

"During the whole of that time-more than a quarter of a century-I have experienced nothing but kindness from my superiors and the most cordial friendship from my comrades. To no one, General, have I been so much indebted as to yourself for uniform kindness and consideration, and it has always been my ardent desire to merit your approbation. I shall carry to the grave the most grateful recollections of your kind consideration, and your name and fame will always be dear to me.

"Save in defense of my native State, I never desire again to draw my sword. Be pleased to accept my most earnest wishes for the continuance of your happiness and prosperity, and believe me, most truly yours, "R. E. LEE.

"Lieutenant-General WINFIELD SCOTT, Commanding United States Army."

At that time, according to the correspondent of the Charleston Mercury, Lee knew that he was to be the General-in chief of the Virginia forces, and had necessarily resolved to draw his sword not only in defense of his native State, but against the National Government, whenever the conspirators should order him to do so.

422

LEE'S INDUCEMENTS TO BE LOYAL.

Observatory,' Governor Letcher, and others who were present, joined in the reception of Lee, standing. He was then greeted by the President, who made a brief speech, in which he announced to the Colonel that the Convention had, on that day, on the nomination of Governor Letcher, appointed him General-in-chief of the Commonwealth; to which the recipient replied in a few words, accepting the so-called honor. In time, Lee became the General-in-chief of all the armies in rebellion against his Government, at whose expense he had been educated, and whose bread he had eaten for more than thirty years.3

No man had stronger inducements to be a loyal citizen than Robert E. Lee. His ties of consanguinity and association with the founders of the Republic, and the common gratitude of a child toward a generous and loving foster-parent, should have made him hate treason in its most seductive forms, instead of embracing it in its most hideous aspect. He was a grandson of the "Lowland Beauty," spoken of by the biographer as the object of Washington's first love. He was a son of glorious "Legion Harry Lee," who used his sword gallantly in the old war for independence and the rights of man, in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and especially in the Southern States, and who was the leader of an army to crush an insurrection. He was intimately associated with the Washington family, having married the daughter of an adopted son of the Father of his Country (George Washington Parke Custis); and his residence, "Arlington House," was filled with furniture, and plate, and china, and pictures, from Mount Vernon, the consecrated home of the patriot. It was one of the most desirable residences in the country. Around it spread out two hundred acres of lawn, and forest, and garden; and before it flowed the Potomac, be-yond which, like a panorama, lay the cities of Washington and Georgetown. A charming family made this home an earthly paradise. The writer had been a frequent guest there while the founder of Arlington House (Mr. Custis) was yet alive. He was there just before the serpent of secession beguiled the later master. It was his ideal of a home that should make the possessor grateful for the blessings, political and social, that flow from our beneficent Government, under which all rights are fully secured to every citi

zen.

War came and wrought great changes in the relations of men and things. The writer visited Arlington House again with two traveling companions (F. J. Dreer and Edwin Greble, of Philadelphia), not as a guest, but as an observer of events that sadden his heart while he makes the record. It was just before sunset on a beautiful day in early May, 1865, when the possessor of Arlington had been engaged for four years in endeavors to

1 See note 3, page 394.

5

2 Richmond Enquirer, April 24, 1861.

He was graduated at West Point Military Academy in June, 1825.

4 The Whisky Insurrection" in Western Pennsylvania.

The Arlington estate was not the actual property of Colonel Lee. The late Mr. Custis, by his Will, left it to his daughter, Mrs. Lee, during her life, when it was to become the property of her eldest son, who also became a general in the army in rebellion against his Government. The property, therefore, was not liable to confiscation. It came into the possession of the Government when it was sold to liquidate a claim for unpaid taxes. The grounds near the mansion were dedicated by the Government as the resting-place of the remains of soldiers, a few of whom belonged to the Confederate Army. Among them were the remains of a large number of colored soldiers. The whole number of graves at that time was a little more than seven thousand.

On another part of the estate was a freedman's village, containing about one hundred neat dwellings, a church, and a school-house. There were residing the families of freedmen who were mostly employed on the Government