438 PREPARATIONS TO MARCH THROUGH MARYLAND. and in the course of the afternoon both regiments were landed and quartered in the buildings of the Academy (the National property), when the members of the Seventh hastened to share their rations with their famished friends. The threat of the secessionists, that if Butler should land with the intention of passing over the railway to Washington, the track should be destroyed, was carried out. The rails were removed and hidden, and locomotives were taken in pieces and concealed. Terrible stories of the gathering of insurgents at Annapolis Junction, and other places on the route to Washington, now came to the cars of General Butler and Colonel Lefferts. The former did not believe half that was told him. He had positive information that the secessionists had torn up much of the railway between Annapolis and the Junction, and carried off the materials, and that bitterness of spirit prevailed everywhere; yet he resolved to move forward at once and rebuild the road, for over it supplies, and also other troops, must follow him. He again invited Colonel Lefferts to join him. At first that prudent commander declined, thinking it best to. wait for reenforcements.' He changed his mind, and early the next morning the two regiments joined hands in vigorous preparations for that strange, eventful march on the Capital, which has no parallel in history. In the mean time, two companies of the Massachusetts troops had seized the railway station, and there found a locomotive engine disabled and concealed. "Does any one know any thing about this machine?" inquired General Butler. "Our shop made that engine, General," said Charles Homans, of the Beverly Light Guard, as he looked sharply at it. "I guess I can put her in order and run her."-"Do it," said the General; and it was soon done, for that regiment was full of engineers, workers in metal, and mechanics of all kinds. It seemed like a providential organization, made expressly, with its peculiar leader, for the work in hand. Such impediments of civil authority, hostile feeling, armed resistance, and destructive malignity, would have appalled almost any other man and body of men; but Butler generally exhibited an illustration of the truth of the saying, "Where there's a will there's a way," and the Massachusetts Eighth was an embodiment of the axiom. The engine was speedily repaired; the rails hidden, some in thickets, and some in the bottom of streams, were hunted up, and on the evening of the 23d, the troops were nearly ready for a forward movement, when General Butler formally took military possession of the Annapolis and Elkridge Railway. Governor Hicks protested against such occupation, on the ground that it would prevent the assembling of the Legislature, called to meet at Annapolis on the 26th. General Butler reminded the Governor that his Excellency had given as a reason why the troops should not land, that they could not pass over the road because "the Company had taken up the rails, and they were private property. It is difficult to see," said the General, "how it can be, that if my troops could not pass over the railroad one way, the members of the Legislature could pass the other way." He told the Governor that he was there to maintain the laws, and, if possible, protect the road from destruction by a mob. "I am endeavoring," he said, "to save and 1 Letter of Colonel Lefferts to General Butler, Monday night, April 22, 1861. THE MARCH TO ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION. 439 not to destroy; to obtain means of transportation, so that I can vacate the capital prior to the sitting of the Legislature, and not be under the necessity of encumbering your beautiful city while the Legislature is in session." This logic and this irony were unanswerable, and the General was never again troubled with the protests of the Maryland Executive. On the morning of the 24th, the combined regiments moved forward at the rate of about a mile an hour, laying the track anew and building bridges. Skirmishers went ahead and scouts on the flanks. The main column was led by a working party on the road, behind which followed a car with a howitzer loaded with grape-shot, in charge of Lieutenant Bunting. It was a hot April morning, and the men suffered much from heat and fatigue. They had a stretch of twenty-one miles to go over between Annapolis and the Junction. A shower in the afternoon, and balmy air and bright moonlight in the evening, with the freshness of early spring, gave them pleasure in the midst of their toil. All night long they moved forward, keeping very vigilant eyes upon the surrounding country, but falling in with none of those terrible Marylanders which the Governor and the Mayor of Annapolis had predicted would be upon them. These braves seemed to have a wholesome fear of the "Yankees," and made their observations, if at all, at a safe distance. The country appeared to be depopulated. The inhabitants had fled or hidden, with the evident expectation of an invasion by almost savage men. "I know not," said a member of the Seventh, "if I can describe that night-march. I have a dim recollection of deep cuts through which we passed, gloomy and treacherous-looking, with the moon shining full on our muskets, while the banks were wrapped in shade, each moment expecting to see the flash and hear the crack of the rifle of the Southern guerrillas. . . . On all sides dark and lonely pine woods stretched away, and, as the night wore on, the monotony of the march became oppressive." The troops reached Annapolis Junction on the morning of the 25th, when the co-operation of the two regiments ceased, the Seventh New York going on to Washington, and the Eighth Massachusetts remaining to hold the road they had just opened. Before their departure from Annapolis, the Baltic, a large steamship transport, had arrived there with troops, and others speedily followed. General Scott ordered General Butler to remain there, hold the town and the road, and ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION IN 1861. superintend the forwarding of troops to the Capital. The "Department of Annapolis," which embraced the country twenty miles on each side of the railway, as far as Bladensburg, was created, and General Butler was placed in Fitz James O'Brien, a young and brilliant writer, who afterward gave his life to the cause. 440 THE NEW YORK SEVENTH IN WASHINGTON. command of it, with ample discretionary powers to make him a sort of military dictator. This power, as we shall observe presently, he used with great efficiency. The railway from Annapolis Junction to Washington was uninjured and unobstructed, and the Seventh Regiment reached the Capital early in the afternoon of the 25th, where they were heartily welcomed by the loyal 1861. people. They were the first troops that arrived at the seat of April 19, Government after the sad tragedy in Baltimore six days befere,* and they were hailed as the harbingers of positive safety for the Capital. Although they were wearied and footsore, they marched up Pennsylvania Avenue with the firm and united step which always characterized their parade marches in Broadway, and halted only when they arrived at the front of the "White House," whither they went to pay homage to the President, whom they had come to protect and support. Their discipline and fine appearance were a marvel, and loyal crowds followed them to the President's house, and filled the air with vociferous cheering.' Then they marched to the Capitol, and made their quarters there; and that night the anxious loyal citizens of Washington went to rest with a sense of positive security. That security was well assured the next day, when the Seventh, Twelfth, and Seventy-first New York Volunteer Regiments arrived, and reported the Fifth, Eighth, and Sixty-ninth at Annapolis. Baltimore, in the mean time, had become firmly grasped by the secession ists; and the authorities there, civil and military, had prepared to dispute the passage of any more loyal troops through their city. Armed men flocked into the town from the country, with all sorts of weapons, scarcely knowing for what purpose; while the secessionists in the city were organized for treasonable work under Colonel J. R. Trimble and others. On Sunday, the 21st, cannon were exercised openly in the streets. A remarkable piece of ordnance, called a steam-gun, invented by Charles S. Dickinson, and manufactured by Ross Winans, a wealthy iron-worker of Baltimore, was purchased by the city authorities. at the price of twenty-five hundred dollars. Much was expected of this invention, for it was claimed that it could throw two hundred balls a minute a distance of two miles. It was supposed to be ball-proof, and admirably adapted to the purposes of city defense.? Marshal Kane, under the direction of a city ordinance, passed WINANS'S STEAM-GUN. 1 This is the almost universal testimony. There is one dissenting voice. In a letter to the author, dated "Arlington House, May 1, 1861," the writer says:-"I was in Washington the day the Seventh Regiment ar rived, the one most entitled perhaps to a warm reception here, and their march through the city resembled a funeral procession. Not a single cheer was raised from even a smail boy among the motley crowd that fol lowed them, and the countenances of the citizens were dark and sad. I saw tears in the eyes of several. When the regiment reached the President's house, there was some cheering from men hired for the purpose, I am told. These are plain facts and speak for themselves." 2 This gun was protected by a ball-proof cone of iron, and, with its motive-power apparatus. mounted on EXASPERATION AGAINST BALTIMORE. 441 by the Common Council, ordered the National flag to be humbled for thirty days, by forbidding its display during that time, under the pretense that it would cause "a disturbance of the public peace." The old flag suddenly disappeared, and on the day when the order went forth, only a single banner was seen in the harbor of Baltimore, and that was a secession ensign floating over the steamer Logan. For a few days, it seemed as if all patriotism, all national feeling had suddenly died out in Maryland, and the exasperation felt toward the city of Baltimore in the Free-labor States was intense and universal. The stand taken by its authorities was perilous to its very existence. That action was considered a national insult; and, so long as that gate stood barred across the great highway to the Capital against the passage of troops summoned for its protection, the nation was dishonored. The people could hardly be restrained from banding in thousands and tens of thousands, for the purpose of opening that way. "Turn upon it the guns of Fort McHenry!" cried one.-"Lay it in ashes!" cried another.-"Fifty thousand men may be raised in an hour," exclaimed a third, "to march through Baltimore." "Bow down in haste thy guilty head! God's wrath is swift and sore: The sky with gathering bolts is red- wrote Bayard Taylor. And an active citizen of New York (George Law), in a letter to the President, in which he declared that the people of the Free-labor States demanded of the Government measures to open and establish lines of direct communication with the Capital, said: "Unless this is done, they will Le compelled to take the matter into their own hands, let the consequences be what they may, and let them fall where they will." The same sentiment animated the Government as soon as BAILWAY BATTERY. it felt assured of its own safety by the presence of many troops, and measures were speedily adopted for taking military possession of Baltimore. Preparations were made to repair the burnt bridges between Havre four wheels, so as to be quickly moved from place to place. It could be made to project missiles of any size, from a bullet to a 100-pound cannon-ball. It was believed that one of these, of musket-ball caliber, would be terribly destructive in front of an army, mowing down regiments like grass. It was specially recommended for sea-fights. Its efficiency was never tested. It was captured from the insurgents in less than a month after the city of Baltimore purchased it, by Colonel Jones, of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, when on its way to the insurgent camp at Harper's Ferry, and was placed in position to guard the viaduct over th Patuxent of the Washington Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway. 442 PLANS OF SCOTT AND BUTLER AGAINST BALTIMORE. de Grace and Baltimore; and a singular railway battery was constructed in Philadelphia, to be used for the protection of the men engaged in the work. It was a car made of heavy boiler iron, musket-proof, with a 24-pound cannon mounted at one end, on a gun-carriage. This was to fire grape, canister, and chain shot, while a garrison of sixty men inside would have an opportunity to employ musketry, through holes pierced in the sides and ends for the purpose. 1861. General Scott planned a grand campaign against Baltimore. "I suppose," he said, in a letter to General Butler, General Patterson, April 29, and others," "that a column from this place [Washington] of three thousand men, another from York of three thousand men, a third from Perryville, or Elkton, by land or water, or both, of three thousand men, and a fourth from Annapolis, by water, of three thousand men, might suffice." Twelve thousand men, it was thought, might be wanted for the enterprise. They were not in hand, for at least ten thousand troops were yet needed at the capital, to give it perfect security. The LieutenantGeneral thought some time must elapse before the expedition could be undertaken against the rebellious city. General Butler had other views. He had become satisfied that the secession element in Baltimore was numerically weak, and that the Union men, with a little help, might easily reverse the order of things there. He hastened to Washington to consult with General Scott. He did not venture to express any dissent to the plans of the General-in-chief. He simply asked permission to take a regiment or two from Annapolis, march them to the Relay House, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, nine miles from Baltimore, and hold it, so as to cut the secessionists off from facile communication with Harper's Ferry. It was granted. He then inquired, what were the powers of a General commanding a Department. "Absolute," replied the Lieutenant-General; "he can do whatever he thinks best, unless restricted by specific orders or military law." Butler ascertained that Baltimore was within his Military Department, and, with a plan of bold operations teeming his brain, he returned to Annapolis. At the close of April, General Butler had full ten thousand men under his command at Annapolis, and an equal number were guarding the seat of Government. Already the Unionists of Maryland were openly asserting their rights and showing their strength. An extraordinary session of the Legislature, called by Governor Hicks at Annapolis, was not held there, › April. for obvious reasons, but was opened on the 27th, at Frederick, about sixty miles north of Baltimore, and far away from National troops. In his message to that body, the Governor said it was his solemn conviction that the only safety for Maryland lay in its maintaining a neutral position in the controversy, that State having "violated no right of either section." He said: "I cannot counsel Maryland to take sides against the General Government, until it shall commit outrages upon us which would justify us in resisting its authority. As a consequence, I can give no other counsel than that we shall array ourselves for Union and peace, and thus preserve our soil from being polluted with the blood of brethren. Thus, if war 1 Parton. |