CHAPTER VII. JULY, 1861. MEETING OF CONGRESS-PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE-CHIEF COMMANDERS ON BOTH SIDES AT THIS TIME-THE "ON TO RICHMOND CRY-THE QUESTION OF APPEARANCE OF-ARTILLERY FUNDS LACK OF STATESMEN IN CONGRESS-THE RADICAL ELEMENT-IN- Ο O The the 4th of July, Congress, in pursuance of the President's proclamation, assembled in the Capitol, and elected Galusha A. Grow of Pennsylvania, speaker. President's message to which the country looked with a good deal of solicitude, did not meet the public expectation. It consisted chiefly of a detailed history of the secession movement, and an argument to prove that the doctrine of state rights, on which it was founded, was unsound and ruinous. But this had been fully discussed and disposed of long ago. The country demanded energetic action. The long-abused and forbearing north had finally got thoroughly roused. It had done with argument the moment it had drawn the sword, and was impatient of any appeal except the trumpet call to battle. It was providential that the President took a calmer survey of affairs. The excited state of public feeling needed the restraining power of his well balanced mind to prevent rash measures which might cripple our resources and endanger our ultimate success. With all his conservatism he could not wholly save us from disaster, by which we learned more, perhaps too great, caution. 106 "ON TO RICHMOND' CRY. At this time the chief divisions of the army along our line of defense under Scott, were commanded as follows: General Butler at Fortress Monroe, General Banks at Annapolis, McDowell in front of Washington, Patterson near Harper's Ferry, McClellan in Western Virginia, Anderson, the hero of fort Sumter, in Kentucky, and Harney in Missouri. On the rebel side Beauregard was at Manassas, J. E. Johnston opposed to Patterson up the Potomac. Bishop Polk of Louisiana, made major-general, on the Mississippi, Sidney A. Johnson, a traitor from the United States army in California, in the south-west, and Price in Missouri. Davis had called out man for man to offset the army of the north, and everything was supposed to turn on the result of the first meeting of these two mighty armies. In the far west, among the Indians bordering on Kansas under our protection, and in the barren regions of New Mexico, the rebels were hard at work stirring up treason, and assailing the weak detachments of the army stationed on our outposts. In the south, fort Pickens, the only stronghold we still held on the gulf, was menaced. It was soon apparent that politicians in congress, pushed forward by reckless partisan newspapers, were bent on a sudden advance of the army on the Potomac. Some of the most influential of these kept flying at the head of their columns, "ON TO RICHMOND." The military sagacity of Scott was ridiculed as "old fogyism," his cautious, wise policy pronounced to be the result of disinclination to invade his native state, and the elaborate fortifications he was erecting across the Potomac laughed at as evidences of imbecile old age. In short, military science and experience were derided, and the organization and proper preparation of an army for an arduous campaign in the ordinary way stigmatized as a proceeding of the "circumlocution office. The southerners were dastards, the north invincible, and hence these elaborate preparations and delays totally uncalled for. We had the power, and all that was necessary to assure success was to let it loose. Never before in the history of the world did popular passion at the beginning of a fearful mighty war, so overslaugh military science. Out of this state the nation must be extricated, by reason and moderation, or startled from it by a thunder clap of misfortune that would make every heart stand still with terror. The probable cost of the war had hardly yet received the attention of the people. We had been so accustomed to believe our wealth and resources absolutely exhaustless, that money, the first thing that should have been thought of, was apparently the last. Funds for immediate use were of course wanted. The President, in his message, had called for $400,000,000. But Congress, taking a more moderate view of the public exigencies, proposed a loan bill authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow $250,000,000 on the faith of the United States-the revenue of the government being pledged to the payment of the interest. This gave to the small opposition in the house an excellent opportunity to make an onslaught upon the administration, and a spirited debate ensued in which Vallandigham of Ohio led off against It passed, however, July 11th, by an overwhelming vote. The fact that Congress thought this sum would be sufficient, and that the necessary expenses could be met without resorting to extraordinary taxation, shows how destitute of well read statesmen that body was. Such men as Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and others, who illustrated the Congress that carried us through the war of 1812, were wanting, and thoughtful men, in this most trying period of our existence, looked anxiously around for the leading, controlling mind, which could embrace the full measure of our wants and our dangers. A portion of the more ultra republicans seemed to see in this appalling crisis of the country. only an excellent opportunity to push their measures for the the measure. 108 INCREASING THE NAVY. abolition of slavery. The loyal members from the border states became alarmed at this, and evinced great uneasiness. Western Virginia, having formed a provisional government, with Pierpont as governor, sent members of Congress to Washington. Owen Lovejoy of Illinois, having offered a resolution to repeal the fugitive slave law, these were instructed by the Legislature in session at Wheeling, the improvised capital, to vote against it, while at the same time they were directed to vote for money and men to carry on the war. The Senate seemed to have a more correct view of the magnitude of the struggle on which we had entered, and passed a bill authorizing the employment of five hundred thousand volunteers, and voting for an appropriation of half a million of dollars. The southern congress, thinking the north was playing simply a game of brag, responded with a similar call for men and money. Thus, whether the movers in the matter comprehended it or not, the war was assuming proportions so vast that the mind shrunk aghast at the contemplation. Acts were also passed sanctioning the blockade proclaimed by the President, and providing for the collection of the revenues of the seceding states. In the mean time, news having reached the country that the privateer Sumter was burning our ships on the high seas, a bill was passed authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to purchase or contract for such vessels, and to make such increase in the naval force, as he might deem necessary to suppress privateering, and enforce the blockade, and appropriated $3,000,000 for the purpose. Having done what it thought its duty in the present emergency, it was anxious to see the army begin its work. Scott, whose far reaching sagacity saw that the public expectation of a great and decisive battle which should end the rebellion was doomed to disappointment, and that an immediate advance on the enemy even if victorious could not be followed up to any decisive result, scarcely knew what THE ARMY TO MOVE. 109 course to adopt. In the first place, the troops assembled before Washington were mostly enlisted for three months, and if they were disbanded without being allowed to strike a blow the public would be disheartened, and future enlistments might be rendered difficult. Besides the public expected something of this vast army-it could not see why, if the war was ever to begin, it should not commence at once while the Capital was threatened. Our troops were certainly as brave, numerous, and better armed than the enemy. It could not see the vast difference between raw and unskilled troops moving to attack a foe in a strong position of his own choosing, and one standing on the defensive behind its intrenchments. Congress was pressed by politicians, the President and Cabinet by Congress, and Scott by both, till finally a forward movement was determined upon. But difficulties, which none but a military commander could see, lay in the way. Regiments already formed and equipped could with our railroad facilities be transferred with comparative ease to the Capital, but provisions, the means of transportation, and all the appliances and accessories necessary to the movement of a great army, were not so easily improvised. Still after full deliberation it was resolved to force a battle. Manassas was supposed to be in immense force, a moment dreamed of a defeat. The enemy at yet no one for Beauregard commanded at this point, while J. E. Johnston, at the head of some thirty thousand men, was in the neighborhood of Harper's Ferry. General Patterson, who had commanded a division of volunteers in the Mexican war, was assigned to the troops which had been concentrating at Hagerstown and Williamsport, to operate against him, and on the second of July crossed the Potomac driving the rebels before him. In a skirmish near Haynesville, the army had behaved well, and much was expected of him. He was, however, bordering on his three-score-and-ten, and not being distin |