ARLINGTON HOUSE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.

423 destroy his Government, and to build upon its ruins a hideous empire founded upon human slavery. How altered the aspect! The mighty oaks of the fine old forest in the rear of the mansion had disappeared, and strewn thickly over the gently undulating ground, and shaded by a few of the smaller trees that the ax had spared, were the green graves of seven thousand of our countrymen-many of them of the flower of the youth of the Republic-who had died on the battle-field, in the camp, or in the hospital. It was a vast cemetery, belonging to the National Government, having long graveled lanes among the graves. Even in the garden, and along the crown of the green slope in front of the mansion, were seen little hillocks, covering the remains of officers. In the midst of this garner of the ghastly fruits of the treason of Lee and his associates fruits that had been literally laid at his door-were the beautiful white marble monuments erected to the memory of the venerable Custis and his life-companion-the founders of "Arlington House" and the parents of Lee's wife. On that of the former we read the sweet words of Jesus, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Then we thought of Belle Island, in the James River, which we had just visited, and of the hundreds of our starved countrymen held there as prisoners in the blistering summer's sun and the freezing winter's storm, into whose piteous faces, where every lineament was a tale of unutterable suffering vainly pleading in mute eloquence for mercy, Robert E. Lee might have looked any hour of the day with his field-glass from the rear gallery of his elegant brick mansion on Franklin Street, in Richmond. It seemed almost as if there was a voice in the air, saying, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay."

While army and navy officers were abandoning their flag, it was painfully evident to the President and his Cabinet that Washington City was full of resident traitors, who were ready to assist in its seizure. Many of the District militia, who had been enrolled for the defense of the Government, were known to be disloyal; and when, on the 18th of April, word came to some guests-true men-at Willard's Hotel, that a large body of Virginians were to seize Harper's Ferry and its munitions of war, and the rolling stock of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, that evening, and, during the night, make a descent upon the Capital, while secessionists in Washington were to rise rebellion, set fire to barns and other combustible buildings, and, in the conf sion and terror that conflagration would produce, join the invaders, an make the seizure of the President and his Cabinet, the archives of the Gov ernment, and public buildings an easy task, it seemed as if the prophecy o Walker, at Montgomery, was about to be fulfilled. It was one of those

3

farms in the neighborhood. A greater portion of the one thousand acres of the Arlington estate was then under excellent cultivation as such farms. The village originated in an order from the Secretary of War, directing the then commandant at Arlington to supply the aged negroes on the estate with subsistence. Mr. Custis, in his Will, directed that his slaves should all be set free five years after his decease, which occurred in October, 1857. It is said that when Colonel Lee abandoned his home and his flag to make war on his Government, he took with him all the slaves exeepting the aged and infirm. The writer saw some of the latter whom he had known when Mr. Custis was master of Arlington House. Among these was Ephraim, the butler; Daniel, the coachman; and "Aunt Eleanor," who was the nurse of Mrs. Lee in her infancy. These were all over seventy years of age, and were well cared for by their true friends, the officers of the Government. St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, xii. 19.

The regular Army oath was administered to these troops by Adjutant-General Thomas, when many refused to take it, and were dismissed. Some of these, then ready to betray the Government into the hands of its enemies, afterward joined the ranks of the insurgents.

zee page 839.

424

PREPARATIONS TO DEFEND THE CAPITAL.

moments upon which have hung the fate of empires. Happily, the men at Willard's at that time, to whom the startling message came, comprehended the magnitude of the danger and had nerve to meet it. They assembled in secret all the loyal guests in that house, and, forming them into committees, sent them to the other hotels to seek out guests there who were known to be true, and invite them to a meeting in a church on F Street, in the rear of Willard's,' that evening. A large number assembled at the appointed hour. They took a solemn oath of fidelity to the old flag, and signed a pledge to do

every thing in their power in defense of the Capital, and to be ready for action at a moment's warning, when called by General Scott. Cassius M. Clay, the distinguished Kentuckian, was among them. He was appointed their leader, and thus was formed the notable CASSIUS M. CLAY BATTALION, composed of some of the noblest and most distinguished men in the country, in honor, wealth, and social position. They chose efficient officers; and all that night they patroled the streets of the city to guard against incendiaries, and prevent the assembling of the secessionists. Another party, commanded by General Lane, of Kansas, went quietly to the "White House"-the Presidential mansion-to act as a body-guard to his Excellency. They made the great East Room their quarters, where they remained until the danger was passed. The principal passages of the Treasury building were guarded by howitzers. The Pennsylvanians, as, we have observed, occupied the Halls of Congress, in the Capitol; and General Scott took measures to make that building a well garrisoned citadel. Thither stores and munitions of war were carried, and in it howitzers were planted; and behind the massive walls of that magnificent structure, with a few hundred men as defenders, the President and his Cabinet and the archives of the nation would have been safe until the thousands of the men of the loyal North, then aroused and moving, could reach and rescue them.

CASSIUS M. CLAY.

Although the President and his Cabinet were not actually compelled to take refuge in the well-guarded Capitol, yet for several days after the affair in Baltimore, and the interruption of communication with the Free-labor States, they and the General-in-chief were virtually prisoners at the seat of Government. Soldiers from the Gulf States and others below the Roanoke, with those of Virginia, were pressing eagerly toward the Capital, while the Minute-men of Maryland and the secessionists of Washington were barely restrained from action by the Pennsylvanians and the Cassius M. Clay Battalion, until the speedy arrival of other troops from the North gave absolute present security to the Government.

1 This church had lately been attached to Willard's Hotel for the purpose of a concert-room, and was the hall in which the Peace Convention assembled a few weeks before. See page 236.

THE CAPITAL IN DANGER.

425

The massacre in the streets of Baltimore," and the dangers that threatened the isolated Capital, produced the most intense anxiety and excitement throughout the Free-labor States, while the conspira- April 19, tors and insurgents were jubilant, because they regarded the stand taken by the secessionists of that city as a sure promise of the active

1861.

and effective co-operation of all Marylanders in the work of seizing the Capital. That massacre seemed to the loyal people as an imperative call to patriotic duty, and like one of the repetitions of history. It was on the 19th of April, 1775, that the blood of the citizen soldiery of Massachusetts, the

This is the great room in the Presidential mansion in which the attendants upon the public receptions of the President are assembled. It is so called, because it is in the extreme tastern portion of the White House. It is an elegantly finished and furnished room.

The glorious conduct of Maryland," said the Richmond Enquirer, "decides the contest at hand. With a generous bravery, worthy of her ancient renown, she has thrown herself into the pathway of the enemy, and made of her body a shield for the South. She stands forth in our day the leader of the Southern cause. . . . The heart of all Maryland responds to the action of Baltimore, and that nursery of fine regiments, instead of being the camping-ground of the enemy, preparing to rush upon the South, will speedily become the camping-ground of the South, preparing to cross the line of Mason and Dixon. . . . To have gained Maryland is to have gained a host. It insures Washington City, and the ignominious expulsion of Lincoln from the White House. It transfers the line of battle from the Potomac to the Pennsylvania border. It proclaims to the North that the South is a unit against them, henceforth and forever. It gives us the entire waters of the Chesapeake. It runs up the Southern seaboard to the mouth of the Delaware. It rounds out the fairest domain on the globe for the Southern Confederation."

In a speech at Atlanta, in Georgia, on the 30th of April, when on his return to Montgomery from his mission to Richmond, Alexander II. Stephens said:-" As I told you when I addressed you a few days ago, Lincoln may bring his seventy-five thousand soldiers against us; but seven times seventy-five thousand men can never conquer us. We have now Maryland and Virginia and all the Border States with us. We have ten millions of people with us, heart and hand, to defend us to the death. We can call out a million of people if need be; and when they are cut down, we can call out another, and still another, until the last man of the South finds a bloody grave, rather than submit to their foul dictation. But a triumphant victory and independence, with an unparalleled career of glory, prosperity, and progress await us in the future. God is on our side, and who shall be against us? None but His Omnipotent hand can defeat us in this struggle." And so this conspirator went from place to place, deceiving the people with false hopes, arousing their baser passions, and precipitating them into the gulf of a horrid rebellion, to endure woes unutterable.

426

THE MARTYRS OF THE BALTIMORE MASSACRE.

first that was shed in that revolution in which the liberties of the American people were secured, moistened the green sward at Lexington; now, on the 19th of April, 1861, the blood of the citizen soldiery of Massachusetts was the first that was shed in defense of those liberties endangered by a malig. nant internal foe. The slain at Lexington, in 1775, and the slain in Baltimore, in 1861, were regarded as equal martyrs; and with the hot indignation that burned in every loyal bosom was mingled a reverential recognition of the dignity and significance of that sacrifice, for thoughtful men read in it a prophecy of the purification and strengthening of the nation by the good providence of God.

LUTHER C. LADD.

Luther C. Ladd, a young mechanic of Lowell, only a little more than seventeen years of age; Addison O. Whitney, another young mechanic of Lowell, but twenty-one years of age; and Charles A. Taylor, a decorative painter, of Boston, who were killed outright,' and Sumner H. Needham, of Lawrence, a plasterer by trade, who was mortally wounded, were the slain of the New England troops in Baltimore. "I pray you, cause the bodies of our Massachusetts soldiers, dead in battle," telegraphed Governor Andrew to Mayor Brown, "to be immediately laid out, preserved in ice, and tenderly sent forward by express to me. All expenses will be paid by this Commonwealth." The Mayor promised acquiescence in the request; reminded the Governor that the Massachusetts troops were considered invaders of the soil of Maryland; told him that the wounded were "tenderly cared for," and said: "Baltimore will claim it as her right to pay all expenses incurred." The Governor thanked the Mayor for his kind attention to the wounded and dead, and then, with rebukeful words that will ever be remembered, he exclaimed: "I am overwhelmed with surprise that a peaceful march of American citizens over the highway to the defense of our common Capital, should be deemed aggressive to Baltimore. Through New York the march was triumphal," It was several days before the bodies of the young martyrs reached Boston. On the 6th of May," those of Ladd and Whitney arrived at Lowell by a special train. The day was dark and stormy. All the mills of the city were stopped running, the stores were closed, and all business was suspended. The bodies were received by a great concourse of citizens and six military companies just organized for the war, and escorted to Huntington Hall, which was draped in black. There funeral services were held, during which, the Rev. W. R. Clark, of the Methodist Church, preached an impressive sermon before the authorities of the city and the people; and then the two bodies were laid in a vault

.1861.

1 Ladd was pierced by several bullets, and Whitney by only one, which entered his breast and passed downwards in his body. It evidently came from a window above him.

2 All denominations engaged in the services. The Scriptures were read by the Rev. W. C. Himes. Episco palian; the Rev. Dr. Cleaveland, Congregationalist, prayed: an original hymn was read by the Rev. J. J.

FUNERAL OF THE FIRST MARTYRS.

427

in the Lowell Cemetery. A little more than four years afterward, the remains of these "first martyrs" were laid beneath a beautiful monument of Concord granite, erected, to commemorate their history, in Merrimack Square, in Lowell. It was formally

dedicated on the 17th of June, 1865, in the presence of nearly twenty thousand people, who were addressed by the same chief magistrate of the Commonwealth who had besought the Mayor of Baltimore to send the bodies of the young men "tenderly " to him. In the mean time Maryland had disappointed the hopes of the conspirators, and dissipated the cloud that then hung over her like a pall. Baltimore had soon attested and vindicated its loyalty and attachment to the Union; and Maryland had not only spurned the traitors, but had purged her soil of the evil root of slavery,' for the perpetuation of which they had taken up arms. And more. At the conclusion of the consecrating ceremonies at the tomb of the young martyrs in Lowell, Lieutenant-Colonel Morris, of the staff of Governor Brad

MARTYRS' MONUMENT.2

ford, of Maryland, presented to Governor Andrew, as the representative of Massachusetts, a beautiful National banner, made of silk, and wrought by

Twiss, Universalist; the closing prayer was by the Rev. D. Mott, Baptist; and the benediction was pronounced by the Rev. F. Hinckley, Unitarian. Over the rostrum were displayed the words:

"APRIL 19, 1775; APRIL 19, 1861."

1 By the act of a Convention of the people in the autumn of 1862, and by the ratification of the Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, abolishing Slavery, by act of the Maryland General Assembly, February 3, 1865.

* The monument is of Concord granite, and its entire hight twenty-seven feet six inches. The plan is eruciform, the larger arms measuring fifteen feet, and the shorter, twelve feet. It consists of a central shaft placed upon a plinth, with a high base, upon two sides of which, forming the longer arms, are two sarcophagi, having on each side, respectively, the names of the young martyrs. Inserted in the ends are raised laurel wreaths. The cornices of the sarcophagi are ornamented with thirteen raised stars each. Upon the other two sides of the base, forming the shorter arms, are two plinths, the same hight as the sarcophagi, with inscriptions. On the Merrimack Street side are the words:

"ADDISON O. WHITNEY, BORN IN WALDO, ME., OCT. 30, 1889; LUTHER C. LADD, BORN IN ALEXANDRIA, N. H., DEC. 22, 1843; MARCHED FROM LOWELL IN THE SIXTH M. V. M. TO THE DEFENSE OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL, AND FELL MORTALLY WOUNDED IN THE ATTACK ON THEIR REGIMENT WHILE PASSING THROUGH BALTIMORE, APRIL 19TH, 1861. THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS AND THE CITY OF LOWELL DEDICATE THIS MONUMENT TO THEIR MEMORY."

"APRIL 19, 1865."

On the Moody Street side are the following words:"NOTHING IS HERE FOR TEARS, NOTHING TO WAIL OR KNOCK THE BREAST; NO WEAKNESS, NO CONTEMPT, DISPRAISE OR BLAME; NOTHING BUT WELL AND FAIR, AND WHAT MAY QUIET US IN A DEATH SO NOBLE."

"1861."

The horizontal lines are merged into the vertical ones by fluted trusses, with raised stars resting upon the four arms, and above these is a plinth, on two sides of which are bronzed medallions of the arms of Massachusetts and the city of Lowell. The engraving is from a photograph kindly sent to me by Major-General Butler.

This monument was dedicated on the 17th of June, 1865, with imposing ceremonies by the Masonic frater