DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/generalbutlerinn01part_0 GENERAL BUTLER IN NEW ORLEANS HISTORY OF THE ADMINISTRATION OP THE DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF IN THE TEAR 1862: C-* WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS, AND A SKETCH OF THE PREVIOUS CAREER OF THE GENERAL, CIVIL AND MILITARY. By JAMES PABTON, AUTHOE OP THE “LIFE AND TIMES OF AAEON BURR,” “ LTFP. OP ANDREW JACKSON,” ETC., ETC. ELEVENTH EDITION. NEW YORK: MASON BROTHERS, 5 & 7 MERCER STREET. BOSTON: MASON & HAMLIN. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. LONDON: D. APPLETON & CO., 16 LITTLE BRITAIN. 1864. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1SG3, By MASON BROTHERS, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. C. A. ALVORD, 8TEREOTYPER AND PRINTER. f y & s pZ7f “WHATEVER THEY GAEL HIM, WHAT CARE I! — Aristocrat, Democrat, Autocrat, — one Who can rule and dare not lie.” — 2Iaud. PREFACE. It can not be necessary to apologize for an attempt to relate the history of the most remarkable episode of the war, respecting which opinions so violently contradictory are expressed, both at home and abroad. The vindication of the country itself seems to require that a policy should, at least, be understood, which the country has accepted as just, wise, and humane, and which the, enemies of the country, foreign and domestic, denounce as arbi- trary, savage, and brutal. It is, however, of the first necessity to state how this book came to be written, and from what sources its contents have been de- rived. In common with the other devotees of the Union and the Flag, I had watched the proceedings of General Butler in Louisiana with interest and approval ; and shared also the indignation with which they regarded the perverse misinterpretation put upon his measures by the faction which has involved the Southern States in ruin, and by their “ neutral” allies abroad. ( Upon the return of General Butler to the North, I wrote to him, saying that I should like to write an account of his administration of the Department of the Gulf, as well as a slighter sketch of the previous military career of a man who, wherever he had been em- ployed, has shown an ability equal to the occasion ; but that this could not be done, and ought not to be attempted, without his consent and co-operation. To this, the general thus replied : “ I am too much flattered by your request, and will endeavor to give you every assistance in the direction you mention. My letter 8 PREFACE. and order books shall be at your disposal, as well as the official and unofficial correspondence directed to me. If I can, by personal con- versation, elucidate many matters wherein otherwise history might be a perversion of the truth, I will be at your service. “ One thing I beg shall be understood between us, however (as I have no doubt it Avould have been without this paragraph), that while I will furnish you with every possible facility to learn every- thing done by me in New Orleans and elsewhere, it will be upon the express condition that you shall report it in precisely the man- ner you may choose, without the slightest sense of obligation * aught to extenuate ’ because of the source from which you derive the material of your work ; and farther, that no sense of delicacy of position, in relation to myself, shall interfere with the closest investigation of every act alleged to have been done or permitted by me. I will only ask that upon all matters I may have the privi- lege of presenting to your mind the documentary and other evi- dences of the fact.” I had not the pleasure of General Butler’s personal acquaintance, but our correspondence ended with my going to Lowell, where I lived for a considerable time in the general’s own house, and re- ceived from him, from his staff, and from Mrs. Butler, every kind of aid they could render for the work proposed. We talked ten hours a day, and lived immersed in the multitudinous papers and letters relating to the events which have excited so much contro- versy. The general placed at my disposal the whole of those papers and letters, besides giving the most valuable verbal elucidations, and relating many anecdotes previously unrecorded. Respecting the manner in which the material should be used, he did not then, and has not since, made a single suggestion of any kind. He left me perfectly free in every respect. Nor has he seen a line of the manuscript, nor asked a question about it. Therefore, while the whole value and the greater part of the interest of this volume are due to the aid afforded by General Butler, he is not to be held responsible for anything in it except his own writings. If I have misunderstood or misinterpreted any TREFACE. 9 event or person, or used the papers injudiciously, at my door let all the blame be laid, for it is wholly my fault. And farther : I must explicitly declare, that if I have been led to form an unfavorable opinion of the conduct of any person men- tioned in these pages, I did not derive that ill opinion from any thing said by him. So far as his own conduct is concerned, Gen- eral Butler is one of the most candid of men ; and he is particularly so with regard to any of his acts which have brought obloquy upon him, or which he may himself regret. It is foreign to his nature to conceal or qualify or justify his own conduct. But with regard to the conduct of others, and especially of his superiors in the gov- ernment, he is reticent and charitable. To be plain: I have never heard him say a word respecting the persons who are supposed to have thwarted him, or to have been instrumental in his recall, which might not be repeated in their hearing without giving them offense. I have been solicitous to preserve as much as possible of the remarkable writings of General Butler. He was always at bay in Louisiana. Assailed by consuls, “neutrals,” and traitors, whose misrepresentations found their way to Washington, he was contin- ually obliged to defend himself by relating the truth. With what point, humor, and cogency he would do this, the public do not need to be told. Of the three great writers of the war — General Butler, President Lincoln, and Mr. Wilkes, of the Spirit of the Times — he had the advantage of a position entirely unique in the history of warfare, and his writings are instinct both with his own originality and the originality of his position. As Mr. Richard Grant White has observed : “ General Butler’s orders and official correspondence at Hew Orleans, for hitting the nail square upon the head, and clinching it with a twist of humor, have not been surpassed by any writings of their kind. By reading them, the man weary of the grand style, or fretted with the flippancy of the familiar, may obtain real mental refreshment.” These writings, too, contain the heart of the matter. If the United States is right in this great contest, the argument of those compositions is sound, 10 PREFACE. and the measures which they explain were just. If the United States is in the wrong, those writings are fallacious, and those measures were unjustifiable. In word and deed General Butler is, at least, logical. I have related, at some length, the civil and military career of General Butler previous to the capture of New Orleans. This was chiefly done, that the reader might judge whether such a man as General Butler was before he went to New Orleans was likely to do such things there as the enemies of his country say he did. It is of the most momentous importance to the future of the United States, that whatever is written respecting this war should be written truly. Upon the class of writers it chiefly devolves to garner up, for our future warning, solace, and instruction, the expe- rience gained by such an appalling expenditure of life and of the means of living. Let us leave all lying, all delusion, all boasting, all unworthy suppressions, to the malignants who know no better. For us, the truth, though it blast us. We owe it to the heroic dead, who died that we might more worthily live. We owe it to the living, who are so anxious and so perplexed, through the in- completeness of their knowledge. We owe it to the inconceivable multitude of our brethren and fellow-citizens unborn. For myself, I can say that every page of this volume has been prepared with the single object of conveying to the reader’s mind a correct impression of the facts related. My grateful acknowledgments are due to Mr. Samuel F. Glenn, advocate, of New Orleans, who relinquished, in my favor, a project he had formed of writing a volume on the same subject. He had made, indeed, some progress in the work, sufficient to render its relinquishment an act of great generosity. I told him that the record of an eye-witness would have a value of its owm, not to be affected by publications of another nature ; but he kindly preferred to retire from the field, and resume his professional labors in New Orleans. New York, October 20 1863. CONTENTS. CHAPTER L pack General Butler before the war 13 CHAPTER IL In the Charleston Convention 45 CHAPTER III. Massachusetts ready 59 CHAPTER IT. Annapolis 75 CHAPTER T. Baltimore 100 CHAPTER VI. Fortress Monroe 120 CHAPTER VII. Great Bethel. 139 CHAPTER VIII. Consequences of Great Bethel 14S CHAPTER IX. Becall from Virginia 163 CHAPTER X. Hatteras 170 CHAPTER XI. Recruiting for special service 179 CHAPTER XII. Ship Island *195 CHAPTER XIII. Reduction of the forts 21 CHAPTER XIV. The Panic in New Orleans 2i CHAPTER XV. New Orleans will not surrender iff CHAPTER XVI. Landing in New Orleans 279 12 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVII. page Feeding and employing the poor 300 CHAPTER XVIII. The woman order 3‘22 CHAPTER XIX. Execution of Mumford 846 CHAPTER XX. General Butler and the foreign consuls 354 CHAPTER XXI. Efforts toward restoration 407 CHAPTER XXII. The effect in New Orleans of our losses in Virginia 436 CHAPTER XXIII. The sheep and the goats 449 CHAPTER XXIV. The confiscation act 467 CHAPTER XXV. More of the iron hand 475 CHAPTER XXVI. The negro question — first difficulties 489 CHAPTER XXVII. General Butler and General Phelps 495 CHAPTER XXVIII. General Butler arms the free colored men, and finds work for the fugitive slaves 510 CHAPTER XXIX. Representative negro anecdotes 532 CHAPTER XXX. Military operations 551 CHAPTER XXXI. Routine of a day in New Orleans 586 CHAPTER XXXII. Recall 593 CHAPTER XXXIII. At home 618 CHAPTER XXXIV. Summary 625 Appendix * 631 Index 635 GENERAL BUTLER IN NEW ORLEANS. CHAPTER i. GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. He came of fighting stock. His father’s father, Captain Zeph. aniah Butler, of Woodbury, Connecticut, fought under General Wolfe at Quebec, and served in the continental army in the war of the revolution. A large, old-fashioned powder-horn, covered with quaint carving, done by this old soldier’s own hand and jack- knife, which was slung at his side when he climbed the hights of Quebec, and the sword which he wore during the war for indepen- dence, now hang in the library of General Butler at Lowell, the relics of an honorable career. The mother of General Butler de- scends from the Cilleys of Hew Hampshire, a doughty race of Scotch- Irish origin ; one of whom fought at the battle of the Boyne on the wrong side. That valiant Colonel Cilley, who at the battle of Bennington commanded a company that had never seen a cannon, and who, to quiet their apprehensions, sat astride of one while it was discharged, was an ancestor of our general. Mr. Cilley, member of congress from Maine, who was shot in a memorable duel, twenty-five years ago, was the general’s cousin. Thus the tide that courses the veins of Benjamin Franklin Butler is com- posed, in about equal parts, of that blood which we call Anglo- Saxon, and of that strenuous fluid which gives such tenacity and audacity to the Scotch-Irish. Such a mixture affords promise of a mitigated Andrew Jackson or of a combative Benjamin Franklin. The father of General Butler was John Butler, of Deerfield, New Hampshire; captain of dragoons during the war of 1812 ; a faith- ful soldier who served for a while under General Jackson at New 14 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. Orleans, and there conceived such love for that tough old hero, as to name his first hoy Andrew Jackson. After the war, he engaged in the West India trade, sailing sometimes as supercargo, some- times as merchant, sometimes as captain of the schooner, enjoying for several years a moderate sufficient prosperity. In politics, a democrat, of the pure Jeffersonian school ; and this at a time when in New Hampshire to he a democrat was to live under a social han. He was one of the few who gave gallant support to young Isaac Hill, of the New Hampshire Patriot, the paper which at length brought the state into democratic line. He was a friend, personal as well as political, of Isaac Hill, and shared with him the odium and the fierce joy of those early contests with powerful and arro- gant federalism. A ‘ hearted’ democrat was Captain Butler ; one whose democracy was part of his religion. In Deerfield, where he lived, there were but eight democratic voters, who formed a little brotherhood, apart from their fellow townsmen, shunned by the fed- eralists as men who would have been dangerous from their princi- ples if they had not been despicable from their fewness. His boys, therefore, were born into the ranks of an abhorred but positive and pugnacious minority — a little spartan band, always battling, never subdued, never victorious. In March, 1819, Captain Butler, while lying at one of the West India Islands with his vessel, died of yellow fever, leaving to the care of their mother his two boys, Benjamin being then an in- fant five months old. A large part of his property he had with him at the time of his death, and little of it ever found its way to his widow. She was left to rear her boys as best she could, with slender means of support. But it is in such circumstances that a New England mother shows the stuff she is made of. Capable, thrifty, diligent, devoted, Mrs. Butler made the most of her means and opportunities, and succeeded in giving to one of her boys a good country education, and helped the other on his way to college, and to a liberal profession. She lives still, to enjoy in the success of both of them, the fruit of her self-denying labors and wise management ; they proud to own that to her they owe whatever renders them worthy of it, and thanking God that she is near them to dignify and share their honors and their fortune. Of late, the world has heard a good deal of that variety of the human being called the Yankee. Our Southern ex-brethren have GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 15 bestowed much strong language upon him. Mr. Russell, of the London Times , has given him passing notice. Some orations have been pronounced upon him, and numberless anecdotes told of him. He has, also, as usual, had something to say upon the sub- ject himself; for the Yankee, I regret to say, is somewhat given to boasting of the qualities and exploits of his race. The various ac- counts do not harmonize. If Dr. Bellows regards the Yankee as the consummate man, Jefferson Davis considers him a companion less desirable than the hyena. It is with the Yankee as with other noted personages, the more that is printed about them, the more difficult it becomes to get any knowledge of them. In these cir- cumstances, it may be edifying to some readers to have a recent specimen of this curious and renowned people caught and ex- amined ; his growth and formation briefly narrated ; his peculi- arities and capabilities noted. General Butler is a Yankee. He has traits which are peculiar to himself and to his family ; but in the great outlines, both of his career and of his character, he shows himself a Yankee of that type, of which his namesake, Benjamin Franklin, is the perfect and immortal example. Behold, then, in the paragraphs following, the process by which a Yankee becomes the creature we find him in these very days now passing over us. General Butler was born at Deerfield, an agricultural town of NewHampshire, on Guy Faux day, the fifth of November, 1818. The fatherless boy was small, sickly, tractable, averse to quar- rels, and happy in having a stout elder brother to take his part. Reading and writing seem to come by nature in New England, for few of that country can recollect a time when they had not those accomplishments. The district school helped him to spelling, figures, a little geography, and the rudiments of grammar. He soon caught that passion for reading which seizes some New Eng- land boys, and sends them roaming and ravaging in their neighbor- hood for printed paper. His experience was like that of his father’s friend, Isaac Hill, who limped the country round for books, reading almanacs, newspapers, tracts, “ Law’s Serious Call,” the Bible, fragments of histories, and all printed things that fell in his way. The boy hunted for books as some boys hunt for birds’-nests and early apples ; and, in the great scarcity of the article, read the few he had so often as to learn large portions of them by heart ; de- vouring with special eagerness the story of the revolution, and all 16 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. tales of battle and adventure. The Bible was his mother’s sufficient library, and the boy pleased her by committing to memory long passages ; once, the whole book of Matthew. His memory then, ! as always, was something wonderful. He can, at this hour, repeat more poetry, perhaps, than any other person in the country who has not made the repeating of poetry a profession. His mother, observing this gift, and considering the apparent weakness of his constitution, early conceived the desire of giving him a liberal edu- cation, cherishing also the fond hope, as New England mothers would in those days, that her boy would be drawn to enter the ministry. One chilly morning in November, 1821, when he was in his fourth year, half a dozen sharp-eyed Boston gentlemen, Nathan Appleton being one of them, might have been seen (but were not) tramping about in the snow near the Falls of the Merrimac. There was a hamlet near by of five or six houses, and a store, but these gentlemen wandered along the banks of the river among the rocks and trees, unobserved, conversing with animation. The result of that morning’s walk and talk was the city of Lowell, now a place of forty thousand inhabitants, with thirteen millions invested in cotton and woolen mills, and two hundred thousand dollars a month paid in wages to operatives. In 1828, when our young friend was ten years old, and Lowell was a thriving town of two thousand inhabitants, his mother removed thither with her boys. It was a fortunate move for them all. The good mother was , enabled to increase her income by taking a few boarders, and her book-loving son had better schools to attend, and abundant books at command. He improved these opportunities, graduating from a common school to the high school, and, at a later day, preparing for college at the academy of Exeter in his native state. As the time approached for his entering college, the question was anxiously discussed in the family, What college ? Probably one 1 half the boys in the United States, even in those piping times of peace, had a lurking desire to enter the military academy at West I Point. At present, every boy has such a desire, except those who I prefer the naval school at Newport. Perhaps the boys are right. In those institutions the fundamental conditions of manly education } ! are complied with in a respectable degree. There is physical tram- , ing ; there is science ; there modern languages have their propr GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE "WAR. 17 place ; there drawing and dancing, riding and fencing are taught ; there is due suppression of those rooted obstacles to all useful ac- quisition, Latin and Greek ; there is that sweet and noble thing, so dear to ingenuous youth, discipline ; there, if anywhere, a rude cub of a boy can be transformed into that beautiful creature, the true fighting animal, but the man nowhere out of place — a Gentle- man ! In them, too, the education that fits a man for life proceeds simultaneously with that which prepares him for his profession — schooling and apprenticeship going hand in hand — which is the only system by which any considerable proportion of the youth of a country can ever be liberally educated. Would that venerable Harvard, venerable Yale, Amherst, Williams, Columbia, and the rest, would heed the lessons the times are teaching us, and place themselves, by a sweeping revolution, upon a footing worthy of the age, and prepare to give the education which the youth of the country are so eager to receive. If existing institutions refuse it, a hundred West Points will spring into being, and the glory of the good old colleges will depart for ever. The boy was decided in favor of West Point. Nor was a cadet- ship unattainable, in the days of Jackson and Isaac Hill, to the son of Captain John Butler. But the cautious mother hesitated. She feared he would forget his religion, and disappoint her dream of seeing him in the pulpit of a Baptist church. She consulted her minister upon the subject. He agreed with her, and recommended Waterville college, in Maine, recently founded by the Baptists, with a special view to the education of young men for the ministry. It promised, also, the advantage of a manual labor department, in which the youth, by working three hours a day, could earn part of his expenses. At Waterville, moreover, -there could be no danger of the student’s neglecting religion, since the great object of the college was the inculcation of religion, and all the influences of the place were religious. The president himself was a clergyman, several of the professors were clergymen. Attendance at church on Sundays was compulsory, and there was even a fine of ten cents for every unexcused absence from prayers. With such safe- guards, what danger could there be to the religious principles in- stilled into the mind of the young man from his earliest childhood ? Thus argued the minister. The mother gave heed to his opinions, and the youth was consigned to Waterville. 18 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. He was a slender lad of sixteen, small of stature, health infirm, of fair complexion, and hair of .reddish brown ; his character con- spicuously shown in the remarkable form of his head. Over his eyes an immense development of the perceptive powers, and the upper forehead retreating almost like that of a flat-head Indian. A youth of keen vision, fiery, inquisitive, fearless ; nothing yet de- veloped in him but ardent curiosity to know, and perfect memory to retain. Phrenologists would find proof of their theory hi com- paring the portrait of the youth with the well-rounded head of the man mature, his organs developed by a quarter of a century of in- tense and constant use of them. His purse was most slenderly furnished. His mother could afford him little help. A good New Hampshire uncle gave him some assistance now and then, and he worked his three hours a day in the manual labor department at chair-making, earning wages ridiculously small. He was compelled, to remain in debt for a considerable part of his college expenses. Mr. Carlyle observes that the natural history of a hawk written by a sparrow could not be flattering to the hawk. lS r or could it be just. Sedate and orthodox professors are the natural prey of a lad like this, born into a minority, trained to the audacious advo- cacy of unpopular opinions, and accustomed to regard the powers that be in the light of objects of attack. I fear, therefore, that the college career of this student, if it should be related by his instruc- tors, would not present him to us in a favorable light. Perhaps, there is something in the clerical character and training which, in some degree, disqualify a man for gaining an ascendency over the minds of youth. The example of Arnold may be cited against such an opinion, but Arnold was an exceptional man, in an excep- tional sphere. The professors attached to New England colleges present certain varieties of character and position : — The president, a grave and awful Doctor of Divinity, highest in place, sometimes lowest in accomplishment, owing his appointment to his ecclesiastical impor- tance rather than to his learning ; sometimes the butt of the college, often deeply loved and venerated. There is the professor renowned beyond the college walls, its advertisement and boast, not always highly valued in the class-room. There is the absorbed professor, book-worm and devotee of his subject, who knows not the name of the president of the United States, and never heard of Dickens and GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE AVAR. 19 Thackeray. There is the unpopular professor, a prying, meddling gentleman, keen in the scent of a furtive cigar, prompt to appear at the moment he is least expected and desired. There is the be- loved professor, the students’ gentle friend and father, whom to insult or annoy rouses the retributive wrath of the whole class. There is the professor of doubtful scholarship, often wrong in his dicta, the tortxrred victim of the knowing ones, who have explored the shallows of his mind, and know what questions he cannot answer. There is the dandy professor, deliverer of flowery ora- tions, or of sermons trivial and showy. There is the professor who is writing a book, and gets students of the softer sort to copy for him. There is the professor who once wrote an article for the “North American Review,” and gives the number containing it to his favorites. There is the foreign-born professor of immense learn- ing, not too fond of attending morning prayers, totally unable to keep order in his class. And there is the lynx-eyed professor, whom no one attempts to cheat ; and the absent-minded professor, who sits cogitating his next sermon, regardless of the written transla- tion, or the forbidden “ key.” AT aterville was a young college, but it could boast most of these varieties ; and to as many as there were, our yoimg friend was oc- casionally an affliction. Most of them were clergymen and theolo- gians more than they were instructors of youth ; their object being to make good Baptists as well as good scholars. But the college was of vast benefit to our young friend, as any college must have been, conducted in the interests of virtue, and attended by a hundred and seventy-five young men from the simple and industrious homes of New England; most of them eager to improve, and perfectly aware that upon themselves alone depended the success of their future career. If he was prone to undervalue some parts of the college course, he made most liberal use of the college library. He was an omnivorous reader. All the natural sciences were interesting to him, particularly chemistry ; and his fondness for such studies inclined him long to choose the medical profession. No student went better prepared to the class-room of the professor of natural philosophy. Seduced by his example, there arose a party in the college op- posed to the regular course of studies, advocates of an unregulated browse among the books of the library, each student to read only 20 GEaXERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE 'WAR. such subjects as interested him. There was a split in the Literary Society. Of the retiring body, after immense electioneering, young Butler was elected president, and the question was then debated with extreme earnestness for several weeks, whether the mind would fare better by confining itself to the college routine, or by reading whatever it had appetite for. I know not which party car- ried the day ; but our friend was foremost in maintaining both by speech and example, that knowledge was knowledge, however ob- tained, and that the mind could get most advantage by partaking of the kind of nutriment it craved. He laid a wager with a noted plodder of the college, that he would continue for a given term his desultory reading, and yet beat him in the regular lessons of the class. The wager was won by an artifice. He did continue his desultory reading, as well as his desultory wanderings about the country, but late at night, when all ihe college slept, he spent some hours in vigorous cram for the next day’s lesson. His memory was such, that he found it easier to commit to memory such lessons as “Wayland’-s Moral Philosophy,” than to prepare them in the usual way. He astonished his plodding friend one day, by repeat- ing thirteen pages of Wayland, without once hesitating. He came into collision with his reverend instructors on a point of college discipline. The fine of ten cents imposed for absence from prayers, was a serious matter to a young gentleman natu- rally averse to getting up before daylight, and who earned not more than two or three ten cent pieces daily in the chair shop. But it was not of the fine that he complained. It was a rule of the college, that the fine should carry with it a loss of standing in class. This our student esteemed unjust, and he thought he had good rea- son to complain since, though, upon the whole, a good scholar, he was always on the point of expulsion from the loss of marks for his morning delinquency. He took an opportunity, at length, to protest against this apparent injustice in a highly audacious and character- istic manner. One of the professors, a distinguished theologian, preached in the college church, a sermon of the severest Calvinistic type, in the course of which he maintained propositions like these : 1. The Elect, and the Elect alone, will be saved. 2. Of the people commonly called Christians, probably not more than one in a hun- dred will be saved. 3. The heathen have a better chance of salva- tion than the inhabitants of Christian countries who neglect their GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 21 opportunities. Upon these hints, the young gentleman spake. He drew up a petition to the faculty, couched in the language of pro- found respect, asking to be excused from further attendance at prayers and sermons, on the grounds so ably sustained in the dis- course of the preceding-Sunday. If, he said, the doctrine of that sermon was soimd, of which he would not presume to entertain a doubt, he was only preparing for himself a future of more exquisite anguish by attending religious services. He begged to be allowed to remind the faculty, that the church in which the sermon was preached, had usually a congregation of six hundred persons, nine of whom were his revered professors and tutors ; and as only one in a hundred of ordinary Christians could be saved, three even of the faculty, good men as all of them were, were inevitably damned. Could he, a mere student, and not one of the most exemplary, ex- pect to be saved before his superiors ? Far be from him a thought so presumptuous. Shakspeare himself had intimated that the lieutenant cannot expect salvation before his military superior. Nothing re- mained, therefore, for him but perdition. In this melancholy pos- ture of aflairs, it became him to beware of hightening his future torment by listening to the moving eloquence of the pulpit, or availing himself of any of the privileges of religion. But here he was met by the college laws, which compelled attendance at chapel and chinch ; which imposed a pecuniary line for non-attendance, and entailed a loss of the honors due to his scholarship. Threatened thus with damnation in the next world, bankruptcy and disgrace in this, he implored the merciful consideration of the faculty, and asked to be excused from all further attendance at prayers and at church. This unique petition was drawn with the utmost care, and the reasoning fully elaborated. Handsomely copied, and folded into the usual form of important public documents, it was sent to the president. The faculty did not take the joke. Before the whole college in chapel assembled, the culprit standing, he was repri- manded for irreverence. It was rumored at the time, that he nar- rowly escaped expulsion. He had a friend or two in the faculty who, perhaps, could forgive the audacity of the petition, for the sake of its humor. It must be owned, that the Calvinistic theology in vogue at Waterville, did not commend itself to the mind of this young ma n. oo GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR, He was formed by nature to be an antagonist ; and youth is an antagonist regardless of remote consequences. At West Point he would have battled for his hereditary tenets against all who had questioned them. At Waterville, nothing pleased him better than to measure logic with the staunchest .doctor of them all. It chanced toward the close of his college course, that the worthy president of the institution delivered a course of lectures upon miracles, maintaining these two propositions : 1. If the miracles are true, the gospel is of Divine origin and authority. 2. The miracles are true, because the apostles, who must have known whether they were true or false, proved their belief in their truth by their martyrdom. At the close of each discourse, the lecturer invited the class to offer objections. Young Butler seized the op- portunity with alacrity, and plied the doctor hard with the usual arguments employed by the heterodox. He did not fail to furnish himself with a catalogue of martyrs who had died in the defense, and for the sole sake of dogmas now universally conceded to be erroneous. All religions, he said, boasted their army of martyrs ; and martyrdom proved nothing — not even the absolute sincerity of the martyr. And as to the apostles, Peter notoriously denied his : Lord, Thomas was an avowed skeptic, James and John were slam to please the Jews, and the last we heard of Paul was, that he was living in his own hired house, commending the government of Nero. The debate continued day after day, our youth cramming diligently ■ for each encounter, always eager for the fray. He chanced to find in the village a copy of that armory of unbelief, “Taylor’s Die- gesis of the New Testament;” and from this, he and his comrades secretly drew missives to let fly at the president after lecture. The doctor maintained his ground ably and manfully, little thinking that he was contending, not with a few saucy students, but with the ac- cumulated skeptical ingenuity of centuries. All this, I need scarcely say, was mere intellectual exercise and sport. The youth came out of college as good a Christian as ho went in. Christianity, hardened down into a system of opinions, has long been an object of crit icism ; every young and fearless in- tellect, during the last century and a half, has tried itself upon it. Christianity, as a controller of action, as organized Virtue, as the benign inspirer of motives, as the tamer of the human savage, as the weekly monitor and rest, rescuer of a whole day in seven from the GEiSTERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 23 routine of toil, ten years of possible millennium in every unabbre- viated life — who has ever quarreled with that? I suppose our student would have heartily subscribed the remark of John Adams, in one of those delightful letters of his old age to Mr. Jefferson, upon the materialistic controversy. “ You and I,” said the old man, “ have as much authority to settle these disputes as Swift, Priestley, Dupuis, or the Pope ; and if you will agree with me, we will issue our bull, and enjoin it upon all these gentlemen to be silent, until they can tell us what matter is, and what spirit is, and, in the mean- time, to observe the commandments and the Sermon on the Mount.” His college course was done. He would have graduated with honor, if his standing as a scholar had not been lost through his delinquencies as a rebel. As it was, it was touch-and-go, whether he could be permitted to graduate at all. He was, however, as- signed a low place in the graduating class, and bore off as good a piece of parchment as the best of them. He had outlived his early preference for the medical profession. In one of his last years at college, he had witnessed in court a well-contested trial, and as he marked with admiration the skillful management of the opposing counsel, and shared the keen excitement of the strife, he said to himself: “ This is the work for me.” He left college in debt, and with health impaired. He weighed but ninety-seven pounds. In all the world, there was no one to whom he could look for help, save himself alone. Yet, in the nick of time, he found a friend who gave him just the aid he needed most. It was an uncle, captain of a fishing schooner, one of those kind and brave old sailors of Yankee land, who, for two hundred years, have roamed the northern seas in quest of some- thing to keep the pot boiling on the rock-bound shores of Home. The good-hearted captain observed the pale visage and attenuated form of his nephew. “ Come with me, lad, to the coast of Labra- dor, and heave a line this summer. I’ll give you a bunk in the cabin, but you must do your duty before the mast, watch and watch, like a man. I’ll warrant you’ll come back sound enough in the fall.” Thus, the ancient mariner. The young man went to the coast of Labrador ; hove a line ; ate the flesh and drank the oil of cod ; came back, after a four months’ cruise, in perfect health, and had not another sick day in twenty years. His constitution developed into 24 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. the toughest, the most indefatigable compound of brain, nerve and muscle lately seen in New England. A gift of twenty thousand ; dollars had been a paltry boon in comparison with that bestowed upon him by this worthy uncle. He returned to Lowell in his twentieth year, and took hold of life with a vigorous grasp. The law office which he entered as a - l: i student was that of a gentleman who spent most of his time in Boston, and from whom he received not one word of guidance or instruction ; nor felt the need of one. He read law with all his might, and began almost immediately to practice a little in the police courts of Lowell, conducting suits brought by the factory girls i against the mill corporations, and defending petty criminal cases ; glad enough to earn an occasional two dollar fee. The presiding , justice chanced to be a really learned lawyer and able man, and | thus this small practice was a valuable aid to the student. Small '! indeed were his gains, and sore his need. One six months of his ■ two years’ probation, he taught a public school in Lowell, in order to procure decent clothing; and he taught it well, say his old pupils. What with his school, his law studies, and his occasional practice, | he worked eighteen hours in the twenty-four. At this time he joined the City Guard, a company of that Sixth regiment of Massachusetts militia, so famous in these years for its bloody march through Baltimore. Always fond of military pursuits and exercises, he has served in every grade — private, cor- poral, sergeant, third lieutenant, second lieutenant, first lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brigadier-general; making it a point to hold every one of these positions in due suc- cession. For many years, the drills, parades and annual encampings of his regiment were the only recreation for which he would find leisure — much to the wonder of his professional friends, wdio were wont, in the old, peaceful times, to banter him severely upon what seemed to them a rather ridiculous foible. “ What a fool you are,” they would say, “to spend so much time in marching around town in soldier-clothes!” This young gentleman, however, was one of those who take hold of life as they find it ; not disdaining the duties J of a citizen of a free country, but rejoicing in them, and making them serve his purposes, as they should. There is a ‘ set ’ in Mas- sachusetts who hold aloof from the homely, vigorous life around j them, contemplating the world from library windows, and reserving GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 25 all their sympathies for other and distant civilizations — to their own infinite and irreparable damage. Our young student-at-law was not, and could not be one of these. He took much of his knowledge, not diluted and corrupted by literary decoction, but at the original sources — in the street, the police court, the school-room, the political meeting, the parade ground, and grew, at least, robust upon that fresh, substantial fare. A trifling incident of these early years marks at once the Yankee and the man. That every-day wonder of the modern world, a loco- motive, was then first seen at Lowell. Many of us remember see- ing our first locomotive, and how we comported ourselves on the interesting occasion. Our young lawyer behaved thus : In com- pany with his friend, the engineer, he visited the wondrous engine at its own house, and spent five hours in studying it, questioning both it and its master until he understood the tvhy and the where- fore of every part, and felt competent to navigate the machine to Boston. This small anecdote contains the essence of old Hew England ; which is expressed, also, in one of the country exclama- tions : “ I want to know!'" I thought I had a very pretty story to tell here of the manner in which our young student-at-law won the affections of the Lowell mill-girls : How one of the girls brought a suit against a wealthy corporation of mill-owners for a small sum of disputed wages, and employed Mr. B. F. Butler to prosecute her claim : How he looked about the mills of the company to find a piece of property to “ at- tach,” of “about the value” of the amount demanded : How he could not attach the real estate of the company, because that would have entailed upon him the necessity of giving a bond for an odd mil- lion or so, which neither he nor his client could do ; and how the same difficulty arose when he proposed to lay the sheriff’s paraly- zing hand upon the looms, or even vqron one of them : How he fixed, at length, upon the water-wheel of the principal mill, and placed a keeper in charge of the same, to forbid its making a single revolution until his client was satisfied : How the managers of the mill were brought to reflection by this maneuver, and hastened to compromise with the girl ; and how the ingenuity and audacity of the young student called the attention of the whole community of girls to his talents, and caused him to be employed in all their 26 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. little suits against the mill-owners, and so gave him an excellent start in his profession. The story has been told and printed a thousand times, and it is to this day one of the stock anecdotes of Lowell. General Butler informs me, however, that the story is totally destitute of truth. No event at all resembling it has ever occurred in his career. Moreover, the ruse is a legal impossibility. In 1840, being then twenty-two years of age, he was admitted to the bar. An early incident brought him into favor with some of the mill-owners. There was a strike among his friends and patrons, the girls; two or three thousand of whom assembled in a grove near Lowell, to talk over their grievances and organize for their redress. They invited the young lawyer to address them, and he accepted the invitation. It was a unique position for a gentleman of twenty-two, not wanting in the romantic element, to stand before an audience of three thousand young ladies, the well-instructed daughters of New England farmers and mechanics. He gave them sound advice, such as might have come from an older head. Ad- mitting the justice of their claims, he showed the improbability of their obtaining them at a time when labor was abundant, and places in the mills were sought by more girls than could be employed. The mill-owners, he said, could, at that time, allow their mills to stand idle for a considerable period without serious loss — perhaps, even with advantage ; but could the girls afford to lose any con- siderable part of a season’s wages ? Strikes were always a doubt- ful, often a desperate measure, and entailed suffering upon the operatives a thousand times greater than the evils for which they sought redress. The time might come when a strike would be the only course left them ; but, at present, he counseled other mea- sures. He concluded by strongly advising the girls to return to their work, and endeavor by remonstrance, and, if that failed, by appeals to the legislature, to procure a shorter day and juster com- pensation. The gii’ls took his advice and returned to work. The day’s work in the mills was then thirteen hours — a literally lulling period. Thirteen hours a day in a mill means this : inces- sant activity from five in the morning until nine in the evening the year round. It means a tired and useless Sunday. It means torpid- ity or death to all the nobler faculties. It means a white and bloated face, a diseased and languid body, a premature death. As much as GEXEKAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 27 to any other man in Massachusetts the subsequent change to eleven hours was owing to “ the girl’s lawyer,” as we shall see in a moment. His advice to the girls, at their mass-meeting in the grove, was well pleasing to the lords of the mill, some of whom, from this time, gave him occasional employment. But our young friend remained a democrat — a democrat during the administration of General .Jackson — a democrat in Lowell , sup- posed to be the creation of that protective tariff which a democratic majority had reduced and was reducing! It was like living at Cape Cod and voting against the fishing bounties, or in Louisiana and opposing the sugar duty. And this particular democrat was a man without secrets and without guile ; positive, antagonistic and twenty-two ; a friend and disciple of Isaac Hill, and one who had seen that little lame hero of democracy assaulted by the huge Upham in the streets of Exeter, with feelings not unutterable. In such odium were his opinions held in Lowell at that time, that he could not appear at the tavern table in court time without being tabooed or insulted. The first day of his sitting at dinner with the bar, the discussion grew so hot that the main business of the occa- sion was neglected, and he concluded that if he meant to take sus- tenance at all he must dine elsewhere. He did so for one day ; but feeling that such a course looked like abandoning the field, he re- turned on the day following, and faced the music to the end of the session. His audacity and quickness stood him in good stead at this pe- riod. One of his first cases being called in court, he said, in the usual way, “ Let notice be giv,en !” “ In what paper ?” asked the aged clerk of the court, a strenuous whig. “ In the Loicell Advertiser was the reply ; the Lowell Adver- tiser being a Jackson paper, never mentioned in a Lowell court ; of whose mere existence, few there present would confess a knowl- edge. “The Lowell Advertiser?' 1 '' said the clerk, with disdainful non- chalance, “ I don’t know such a paper.” “ Pray, Mr. Clerk,” said the lawyer, “ do not interrupt the pro- ceedings of the court ; for if you begin to tell us what you don’t know, there will be no time for anything else.” He was always prompt with a retort of this kind. So, at a later 2 28 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. day, when he was cross-questioning a witness m not the most re- spectful manner, and the court interposing, reminded him that the witness was a professor in Harvard college, he instantly replied ; “ I am aware of it, your honor ; we hung one of them the other day.” His politics were not, in reality, an obstacle to his success at the bar, though his friends feared they would be. There are two sides to every suit ; and as people go to law to win, they are not likely to overlook an advocate who, besides the ordinary motives to exer- tion, has the stimulus of political and social antagonism. He won his way rapidly to a lucrative practice, and with sufficient rapidity, to an important, leading, conspicuous practice. He was a bold, diligent, vehement, inexhaustible opponent. He accepted the the- dry of his profession without limitation or reserve, conceiving it to be his duty to save or serve his client with not the slightest regard to the moral aspects of the matter in dispute. That is the concern of the law-maker and the court ; the advocate’s business, in his opinion, is simply and solely, to serve his client’s interests. And if there should be lawyers at all, this is, beyond question, the correct theory of the vocation. In some important particulars, General Butler surpassed all his contemporaries at the New England bar. His memory was such, that he could retain the whole of the testimony of the very longest trial without taking a note. His power of labor seemed unlimited In fertility of expedient, and in the lightning quickness of his de- vices, to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, his equal has sel- dom lived. To these gifts, add a perseverance that knew no dis- couragement, and never accepted defeat while one possibility of triumph remained. One who saw him much at the bar in former times, wrote of him three years ago : “ His devices and shifts to obtain an acquittal and release are ab- , solutely endless and innumerable. He is never daunted or baffled until the sentence is passed and put into execution, and the reprieve, : pardon, or commutation is refused. An indictment must be drawn with the greatest nicety, or it will not stand his criticism. A ver- dict of guilty is nothing to him ; it is only the beginning of the case ; he has fifty exceptions ; a hundred motions in arrest of judgment ; and after that the habeas corpus and personal replevin. The op- posing counsel never begins to feel safe until the evidence is all in ; GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 29 for he knows not what new dodges Butler may spring upon him. He is more fertile in expedients than any man who practices law among us. His expedients frequently fail, but they are generally plau- sible enough to bear the test of trial. And faulty and weak as they oftentimes are, Butler always has confidence in them to the last ; and when one fails, he invariably tries another. If it were not that there must be an end to everything, his desperate cases would never be finished, for there would be no end to his expedients to obtain his case.” An old friend and fellow-practitioner of General Butler, Mr. J. Q. A. A. Griffin, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, favors the reader with some interesting reminiscences of the general’s career at the bar : “ General Butler,” he remarks, “ has the power possessed by but few men, of attending to several important mental operations at the same time. An incident will show you my meaning : “In a trial of a quite important matter, in the year 1860, I was counsel on the same side with General Butler. It was a busy season of the year for lawyers like him who always had an over- flowing docket. The trial began just after his return from the nomination of Breckinridge. He was to make a report of his doings to his constituents at Lowell. The meeting was called to be held at night. Dissatisfaction existed in the party, and the General therefore must speak with care and consideration. He determined to write what he was to say. But the court began early and sat late. He took his seat in court, and while the adverse party ex- amined their witnesses in chief, he wrote out his speech, appa- rently absorbed therein. But he cross-examined each witness at great length, with wonderful thoroughness and acuteness, evincing a perfect knowledge, not only of what the witness had said in sub- stance, but when needful, of the phrases in which he had uttered it. At noon, over our dinner, he read over what he had written and made such corrections as were needful, which were quite as few, I thought, as would have been found if the speech had been written in the quiet of his study. In the afternoon he went through the same routine, and at night made his speech. This is but an in- stance. Amid confusion of transactions, where other men became indecisive, he always saw his way clear. Whatever his occupa- tions, however intently his mind was employed, it was always safe to interrupt him by suggestions or inquiries about the matter in 30 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. hand, or anything else, for he could answer on the instant, clearly and without the slightest confusion, or distraction of his purpose. “ Unexampled success attended his professional efforts, so char- acterized by shrewdness and zeal. When the war summoned him from these toils, he had a larger practice than any other man in the state. I have no doubt, he tried four times more causes, at least, than any other lawyer, during the ten years preceding the war. The same qualities which make him efficient in the war, made him efficient as a lawyer. F ertile in resources and stratagem ; earnest and zealous to an extraordinary degree ; certain of the integrity of his client’s cause, and not inclined to criticise or inquire whether it was strictly ‘constitutional’ or not, but defending the whole line with a boldness and energy that generally carried court and jury alike. His ingenuity is exhaustless. If he makes a mistake in speech or action, it has no sinister effect, for the reason that he will himself discover and correct the error, before any ‘barren spec- tator’ has seized upon it. “ He is faithful and tenacious to the last degree. There is no possibility of treachery in his conduct. ‘ He would not betray the devil to his fellow.’ Every other prominent Massachusetts demo- crat, when it became profitable to do so, condemned a previous coalition that had been entered into between them and the free- soilers after they had taken and consumed its fruits. General But- ler’s political interests strongly urged him to the same dishonor. But he never hesitated an instant, and uniformly justified the coalition, and openly defended it in every presence and to the most unwilling ears. In his personal relations the same traits are obser- vable. He is quite too ready, I have sometimes thought, to for- give (he never forgets) injuries, but his memory never fails as to his friends. “ ‘ The basis of Napoleon’s character,’ says Gourgand, ‘ was a pleasant humor.’ ‘ And a man who jests,’ continues Victor Hugo, ‘ at important junctures, is on familiar terms with events.’ “ A pleasant humor and a lively wit, and their constant exercise, are the possession and the habit of General Butler. Everybody has his anecdote of him. Let me refer to one anecdote of him in this respect, and that shall suffice for the hundreds that I might recall. “The general was a member of our house of representatives GEJLEEAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 31 one year, when his party was in a hopeless and impotent minority, except on such occasions as he contrived to make it efficient by tactics and stratagems of a technical, parliamentary character. The speaker was a whig, and a thorough partisan. The whigs were well drilled and had a leader on the floor of very great capacity, Mr. Lord, of Salem. During one angry debate, General Butler attempted to strangle an obnoxious proposal of the majority by tactics. Accordingly he precipitated upon the chair divers ques- tions of order and regularity of proceeding, one after the other. These were debated by Mr. Lord and himself, and then decided by the speaker uniformly according to the notions advanced by Mr. Lord. The general bore this for some time without special com- plaint, contenting himself with raising new questions. At length, however, he called special attention to the fact that he had been overruled so many times by the chair, within such a space of time, and that, as often, not only had the speaker adopted the result of Mr. Lord’s suggestions, but generally had accepted the same words in which to announce it ; and, said he, ‘ Mr. speaker, I cannot com- plain of these rulings. They doubtless seem to the speaker to be just. I perceive an anxiety on your part to be just to the minority and to me, by whom at this moment they are represented, for, like Saul, on the road to Damascus, your constant anxiety seems to be. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?’ “ Xo man in America can remember facts, important and unim- portant, like General Butler. Whatever enters his mind remains there for ever. And his knowledge, as I have said, is available the instant it is needed, without confusion or tumult of thought. The testimony delivered through days of dreary trials, without minutes or memoranda of any kind, he could recall in fresher and more ac- curate phrases, remembering always the substance, and generally all the important expressions, with far more precision than the other counsel and the court could gather it from their ‘ writing books,’ wherein they had endeavored to record it. Practice for a long series of years had so disciplined his mind in this respect that I think it quite impossible for him to forget. And as he has mingled constantly with every business and interest of humanity since he was admitted to the bar - , he has become possessed of a marvelous extent and variety of knowledge respecting the affairs of mankind.” These passages, written by men conversant with the bar ot 32 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. Massachusetts, and who “knew him before he had become known to the nation, are better for our purpose than the observations of later friends. They illustrate the main position, that General Butler used all the means known to the law to get his cases, leaving the lohole responsibility of maintaining justice to those who made and those who administered the laws. One example of what a writer styles General Butler’s legerde- main. A man in Boston, of respectable connections and some wealth, being afflicted with a mania for stealing, was, at length, brought to trial on four indictments ; and a host of lawyers were assembled, engaged in the case, expecting a long and sharp con- test. It was hot summer weather ; the judge was old and indo- lent ; the officers of the court were weary of the session, and anxious to adjourn. General Butler was counsel for the prisoner. It is a law in Massachusetts, that the repetition of a crime by the same offender, within a certain period, shall entail a severer punishment than the first offense. A third repetition, involves more severity, and a fourth, still more. According to this law, the prisoner, if convicted on all four indictments, would he liable to imprisonment in the penitentiary, for the term of sixty years. As the court was assembling, General Butler remonstrated with the counsel for the prosecution, upon the rigor of their proposed proceedings. Surely, one indictment would answer the ends of justice ; why condemn the man to imprisonment for life for what was, evidently, more a disease than a crime ? They agreed, at length, to quash three of the indictments, on condition that the prisoner should plead guilty to the one which charged the theft of the greatest amount. The- prisoner was arraigned. “ Are you guilty, or not guilty ?” “ Say guilty, sir,” said General Butler, from his place in the bar, in his most commanding tone. The man cast a helpless, bewildered look at his counsel, and said nothing. “Say guilty, sir,” repeated the General, looking into the- prison- er’s eyes. The man, without a will, was compelled to obey, by r very con- stitution of his infirm mind. “ Guilty,” he faltered, and sunk down into his seat, crushed with a sense of shame. GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. t53 “ How, gentlemen,” said the counsel for the prisoner, “ have I, or have I not, performed my part of the compact ?” “You have.” “ Then perform yours.” This urns done. A JVol. Pros, was duly entered upon the three indictments. The counsel for the prosecution immediately moved for sentence. General Butler then rose, with the other indictment in his hand ? and pointed out a flaw in it, manifest and fatal. The error con- sisted in designating the place where the crime was committed. “Your honor perceives,” said the general, “that this court has no jurisdiction in the matter. I move that the prisoner be dis- charged from custody.” Ten minutes from that time, the astounded man was walking out of the court-room tree. The flaw in the indictment, General Butler discovered the mo- ment after the compact was made. If he had gone to the prisoner, and spent five minutes in inducing him to consent to the arrange- ment, the sharp opposing counsel, long accustomed to his tactics, would have suspected a ruse, and eagerly scanned the indictment. He relied, therefore, solely on the power which a man, with a will, has over a man who has none, and so merely commanded the plea of guilty. The court, it is said, not unwilling to escape a long trial, laughed at the maneuver, and complimented the successful lawyer upon the excellent “discipline” which he maintained among his clients. This was a case of legal “ legerdemain.” Many of General But- ler’s triumphs, however, were won after long and perfectly con- tested struggles, which fully and legitimately tested his strength as a lawyer. Perhaps, as a set-off to the case just related, I should give one of the other description. A son of one of the general’s most valued friends made a voyage to China as a sailor before the mast, and returned with his consti- tution ruined through the scurvy, his captain having neglected to supply the ship with the well-known antidotes to that disease, lime juice and fresh vegetables. A suit for damages was instituted on the part of the crew against the captain. General Butler was re- tained to conduct the cause of the sailors, and Mr. Rufus Choate defended the captain. The trial lasted nineteen working days. 34 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. General Butler’s leading positions were : 1. That the captain was bound to procure fresh vegetables if he could ; and, 2. That he could. In establishing these two points, he displayed an amount of learning, ingenuity and tact, seldom equaled at the bar. The whole of sanitary science and the whole of sanitary law, the nar- ratives of all navigators and the usages of all navies, reports of parliamentary commissions and the diaries of philanthropical in- vestigators, ancient log-books and new treatises of maritime law ; the testimony of mariners and the opinions of physicians, all were made tributary to his cause. He exhibited to the jury a large map of the world, and, taking the log of the ship in his hand, he read its daily entries, and as he did so, marked on the map the ship’s course, showing plainly to eye of the jury, that on four different occasions, while the crew were rotting with the scurvy, the ship passed within a few hours’ sail of islands, renowned in all those seas for the abundance, the excellence, and the cheapness of their vege- tables. Mr. Choate contested every point with all his skill and eloquence. The end of the daily session was only the beginning of General Butler’s day’s work ; for there Avere neAV points to be in- vestigated, other facts to be discovered, more witnesses to be hunted up. He rummaged libraries, he pored over encyclopedias and gazetteers, he ferreted out old sailors, and went into court every morning Avith a mass of new material, and followed by a train of old doctors or old salts to support a position shaken the day before. In the course of the trial, he had on the Avitness-stand nearly every eminent physician in Boston, and nearly every sea-captain and ship- owner. Justice and General Butler triumphed. The jury gave damages to the amount of three thousand dollars ; an aAvard which to-day protects American sailors on every sea. Such energy and talent as this, could not fail of liberal reward. After ten years of practice at LoAvell, with frequent employment in Boston Courts, General Butler opened an office in Boston, and thence- forward, in conjunction with a partner in each city, carried on two distinct establishments. For many years he was punctual at the depot in Lowell at seven in the morning, summer and winter ; at Boston soon after eight ; in court at Boston from half past nine till near five in the afternoon ; back to Lowell, and to dinner at half- past six ; at his office in Lowell from half past seven till midnight, or later. When the war broke out, he had the most lucrative prac- GEXEKAE BUTLEE BEFOEE THE W>B. 35 tice in New England — worth, at a moderate estimate, eighteen thousand dollars a year. At the moment of his leaving for the scene of war, the list of cases in which he was retained numbered five hundred. Happily married at an early age to a lady, in whom are united the accomplishments which please, and the qualities that inspire esteem, blessed with three affectionate children, he enjoyed at his beautiful home, on the lofty banks of the tumbling Merri- mac, a most enviable domestic felicity. At the age of forty, though he had lived liberally, he was in a condition to retire from business if he had so chosen. Such particulars, in an ordinary sketch of a living man, would, perhaps, be out of place. In the present instance they constitute part of the case. I hold this opinion: that no man is fit to he entrusted with public affairs who has not successfully managed his own. And this other opinion : the fact that a man has conducted his own afiairs with honorable success is a reason for believing that his management of public afiairs has been just and wise. Mr. Griffin well remarks that a lawyer in great practice as an advocate has peculiar opportunities of acquiring peculiar knowl- edge. That famous scurvy case, for example, made him acquainted with the entire range of sanitary science. A great bank case opens all the mysteries of finance ; a bridge case the whole art of bridge building ; a railroad case the law and usages of all railroads. A few years ago when General Butler served as one of the examiners at West Point, he put a world of questions to the graduating class upon subjects connected with the military art, indicating unexpected specialities of knowledge in the questioner. “But how did you know anything about that ?” his companions would ask. “ Oh, I once had a case which obliged me to look into it.” This answer was made so often that it became the jocular custom of the com- mittee, when any knotty point arose in conversation, to ask General Butler whether he had not had a case involving it. The knowing- ness and direct manner of this Massachusetts lawyer left such an impression upon the mind of one of the class, (the lamented Gene- ral George G. Strong,) that he sought service under him in the war five years after. This curious speciality of information, particularly •his intimate knowledge of ships, banks, railroads, sanitary science, and engineering, was of the utmost value to him and to the country at a later day. 2 * 86 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. And now a few words upon the political career of General But ler in Massachusetts. Despite his enormous and incessant labors at the bar, he was a busy and eager politician. From his twentieth year he was wont to stump the neighboring towns at election time, and from the year 1844, never failed to attend the national conven- tions of his party. Upon all the questions, both of state and national politics, which have agitated Massachusetts during the last twenty years, his record is clear and ineffaceable. Right or wrong, there is irot the slightest difficulty in knowing where he has stood or stands. He has, in perfection, what the French call “the courage of opinion which a man could not fail to have who has passed his whole life in a minority, generally a hopeless minority, but a minor- ity always active, incisive, and inspired with the audacity which comes of having nothing to lose. I need not remind any American reader that during the last twenty-five years the democratic party in Massachusetts has seldom had even a plausible hope of carrying an election. If ever it has enjoyed a partial triumph, it has been through the operation of causes which disturbed the main issue, and enabled the party to combine with factions temporarily severed from a majority otherwise invincible. The politics of an American citizen, for many years past, have been divided into two parts: 1. His position on the questions af- fected by slavery. 2. His position on questions not affected by slavery. Let us first glance at General Butler’s course on the class of subjects last named. As a state politician, then, the record of which lies before me in a heap of pamphlets, reports, speeches, and proceedings of delibera- tive bodies, I find his course to have been soundly democratic, a champion of fair play and equal rights. In that great struggle which resulted in the passage of the eleven-hour law, he was a can- didate for the legislature, on the “ ten-hour ticket,” and fought the battle with all the vigor and tact which belonged to him. A few days before the election, as he was seated in his office at Lowell, a deputation of workingmen came to him, excited and alarmed, with the news, that a notice had been posted in the mills, to the effect, that any man who voted the Butler ten-hour ticket would be dis- charged. “ Get out a hand-bill,” said the general, “ announcing that I will address the workingmen to-morrow evening.” GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 37 The hall was so crammed with people that the speaker had to he passed in over the heads of the multitude. He began his speech with imwonted calmness, amid such breathless silence as falls upon an assembly when the question in debate concerns their dearest interests — their honor, and their livelihood. He began by saying that he was no revolutionist. How could he be in Lowell, where were invested the earnings of his laborious life, and where the value of all property depended upon the peaceful labors of the men before him? Nor would he believe that the notice posted in the mills was authorized. Some underling had doubtless done it to propitiate distant masters, misjudging them, misjudging the workingmen of Lowell. The owners of the mills were men too wise, too just, or, at least, too prudent, to authorize a measure which absolutely extinguished government ; which, at once, invited, justified, and necessitated anarchy. For tyranny less monstrous than this, men of Massachusetts had cast off their allegiance to the king of Great Britain, and plunged into the bloody chaos of revo- lution ; and the directors of the Lowell mills must know that the sons stood ready, at any moment, to do as their sires had done before them. But this he would say : If it should prove that the notice was authorized ; if men should be deprived of the means of earning their bread for having voted as their consciences directed, then, woe to Lowell! “The place that knows it shall know it no more for ever. To my own house, I, with this hand, will first apply the torch. I ask but this : give me time to get out my wife and children. All I have in the world I consecrate to the flames!” Those who have' heard General Butler speak can form an idea of the tremendous force with which he would utter words like these. He is a man qapable of infinite wrath, and, on this occasion, he was stirred to the depths of his being. The audience were so power- fully moved, that a cry arose for the burning of the town that very night, and there was even the beginning of a movement toward the doors. But the speaker instantly relapsed into the tone and line of remark with which he had begun the speech, and' concluded with a solemn appeal to every voter present to vote as his judg- ment and conscience directed, with a total disregard to personal consequences. The next morning the notice was no more seen. The election Dassed peacefully away, and the ten-hour ticket was elected. Two 38 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. priceless hours were thus rescued from the day of toil, and added to those which rest and civilize. The possibility of high civilization to the whole community— the mere possibility — depends upon these two things : an evening of leisure, and a Sunday without exhaustion. These two, well im- proved during a whole lifetime, will put any one of fair capacity in possession of the best results of civilization, social, moral, intel- lectual, esthetic. And this is the meaning and aim of democracy — to secure to all honest people a fair chance to acquire a share of those things, which give to life its value, its dignity, and its joy. Justly, therefore, may we class measures which tend to give the laborer a free evening as democratic. In the legislature, to which General Butler was twice elected, once to the assembly, and once to the senate, he led the opposition to the old banking system, and advocated that which gives perfect security to the New York bill-holder, and which' is often styled the New York system, recently adopted as a national measure. He had the courage, too, to report a bill for compensating the proprietors of the Ursuline convent of Charlestown, destroyed, twenty years ago, by a mob, and standing now a blackened ruin, reproaching the commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is said, that he would have succeeded in getting his bill passed, had not an in- tervening Sunday given the Calvinistic clergy an opportunity to bring their artillery to bear upon it. He represented Lowell in the convention to revise the constitution of Massachusetts, a few years ago, and took a leading part in its proceedings. With these ex- ceptions, though he has run for office a hundred times, he has figured only in the forlorn hope of the minority, climbing toward the breach in every contest, with as much zeal as though he ex- pected to reach the citadel. “ But why so long in the minority ? why could he and Massa- chusetts never get into accord?” This leads us to consider his position in national politics. Gentlemen of General Butler’s way of thinking upon the one national question of the last twenty years have been styled “ pro- slavery democrats.” This expi’ession, as applied to General Butler, is calumnious. I can find no utterance of his which justifies it ; but on the contrary, in his speeches, there is an evidently purposed avoidance of expressions that could be construed into an approba- GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 39 tion of slavery. The nearest approach to anything like an apology for the “ institution” which appears in his speeches, is the expression of an opinion, that sudden abolition would be ruin to the master, and a doubtful good to the slave. On the other hand, there is no word in condemnation of slavery. There is even an assumption that with the moral and philanthropic aspects of slavery, we of the north had nothing to do. He avowed the opinion, that we were bound to stand by the compromises of the constitution, not in the letter merely, but in the spirit, and that the spirit of those compromises bound the government to give slavery a chance in the territories. I have been curious to inquire of Hunker Democrats in Massa- chusetts how this subject presented itself to their minds in former years, so as to lead them to an opinion violently opposed to the moral feeling of the communities in which they lived. This is the more puzzling, from the fact that many of the ablest of them had not the slightest expectation or desire of political position, but maintained their ground for half a lifetime from the purest convic- tion. I have read to some of these gentlemen the conversation, published a year or two since, between Commodore Stuart and Mr. Calhoun in 1812, of which the following is the material portion : Mr. Calhoun: “ I admit your conclusion in respect to us South- rons. That we are essentially aristocratic, I cannot deny, but we can and do yield much to democracy. This is our sectional policy ; we are, from necessity, thrown upon, and solemnly wedded to that party, however it may occasionally clash with our feelings for the conservation of our interests. It is through our affiliation with that party in the middle and western states that we hold power ; but when we cease thus to control this nation, through a disjointed democracy, or any material obstacle in that party which shall tend to throw us out of that rule and control, we shall then resort to the dissolution of the Union. The compromises in the constitution, under the circumstances, were sufficient for our fathers, but under the altered condition of our country from that period, leave to the South no resource but dissolution ; for no amendments to the con- stitution can be reached through a convention of the people under their three-fourths rule.” Commodore Stuart (laughing incredulously), “Well, Mr. Cal- houn, ere such can take place, you and I will have been so long non t st, that we can now laugh at its possibility, and leave it with com- 40 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. placency to our children’s children, who will then have the watch on deck.” Here was the southern programme frankly disclosed just fifty years ago. I have, also, pointed out the constantly aggressive policy of the southern leaders ; their arrogance, their ceaseless and violent agitation of the slavery question ; absolutely fore incj it upon the northern mind, and constantly supplying the abolitionists of the north with new arguments and new motives. Now, the puzzling question is this : How could men of spirit and discernment, hav- ing no political aspirations, submit so long to be used by these people for their purposes, and those purposes bad ? Perhaps, I can now throw a little light upon this subject. Even in the errors of honest men there is something of nobleness. The basis of General Butler’s interest in politics, and that of his hunker friends was, and is an entire and fond belief in the principles upon which this government was founded, and an intense desire that the great Experiment should gloriously succeed. Among edu cated Americans, there are two kinds of men, namely, democrats and snobs. The gentlemen, of wuom I speak, are democrats. In the very strength of their attachment to democratic principles, is to be found the cause of their ignoring the claims upon our con- sideration of the four million black laborers, who earn an import- ant part of the country’s revenue. They thought that any ques- tion of their rights was petty in comparison with the mighty stake of mankind in the union of these states, and the triumph of demo- cratic institutions. The only danger to the Union, as they thought, arose from the agitation of questions respecting slavery, and they strove with all their might to avert or defer it. Again: The leading democrats of the North were personally acquainted with the leaders of the South, and knew that they were prepared to fight for slavery. Republicans were incredulous on this point, down to the time of the- bombardment of Fort Sumter. They were accustomed to laugh at Mr. Buchanan’s terrors as those of a weak and timorous old man, and to despise the threats of the southern fire-eaters as the vaporings of demagogues and braggado- cios. Democrats knew better. They were perfectly aware that the South was, at all times, ready to take up arms the moment it should feel really alarmed for the safety of the thing they call their ‘ institution.’ As Mr. Choate, one day, was about to make a ‘ union GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 41 saving’ speech, his partner and son-in-law, Major Bell, said to him : “ Don't you think the people are getting tired of this sort of thing ?” “Yes,” said Mr. Choate, “they are perfectly sick of it. They don’t believe the Union in danger. But if they knew the South as I know it, they would he more frightened than I am.” Such men as Mr. Choate saw the open abyss, and could see be- yond it — nothing! The spell of the Union once broken, what could come but chaos ? This terror of an immeasurable danger ; this dread of a convulsion which, having occurred, no man could foresee any probable end of any kind ; this look-out upon a sea of difficulty, of which nothing could be known except that it was tempest-tossed, and full of all perils ; it was this that made so many honest patriots shut their eyes, on principle, to the moral aspects of slavery questions, and impelled them to concede, and concede, and concede to the slave power. And thus it was, that the very love of freedom worked to the support of slavery. At the same time, democrats, though they had some external familiarity with slaveholders, knew nothing about slavery. They did not wish to know anything about it. They would not know anything about it. They shut their ears, on principle, to the cry of the slave, the pleading of the abolitionist, and the arguments of the statesmen who strove to keep the giant evil from spreading. How easily the human mind excludes from itself unwelcome knowledge, is known to all who have observed the workings of their own minds. Besides : If the South used the democratic party, the democratic party used the South. Each was absolutely dependent upon the other for any constitutional success. And yet again: Democrats, looking at the subject through southern eyes, were compelled to consider questions respecting slavery in a practical manner — as questions affecting the power, the property, the existence of their friends and others. Men of the other party contemplated the subject more in the spirit of a moral essavist ; it did not threaten business or firesides ; it was somethin" abstract and remote. One party propounded moral truths and philanthropic sentiments; the other had always the question upper- most in their minds : “Well, what is to be done about it?” I do not suppose that the fear of impending danger was conscious- 42 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. ly present in the mind of General Butler in those years ; hut it doubtless had its influence. A ruling motive with him was a keen sense of the sacredness of compacts. Add to this a strong, heredi- tary party spirit, and some willful pleasure in acting with a minority. In his speeches on the slavery question there is candor, force and truth ; and their argument is unanswerable, if it be granted that slavery can have any rights whatever not expressly granted by the letter of the constitution. There is nothing in them of base sub- serviency, nothing of insincerity, nothing uncertain, no vote-catch- ing vagueness. When the wretched Brooks had committed the assault upon Charles Sumner in the senate chamber, there were men of Massa- chusetts who, surpassing the craven baseness of Brooks himself gave him a supper, and stooped even to sit at the table and help him to eat it. General Butler, blazing with divine wrath, publicly denounced the act in Washington in such terms as became a man, and called upon Mr. Sumner to express his horror and his sympa- thy. He suav with his own eyes, and felt with his own hands, that the wounds could only have been given while the senator was bend- ing low over his desk, absorbed and helpless. When John Brown, the sublime madman, or else the one sane man in a nation mad, had done the deed for which unborn pilgrims will come from afar, to look upon the sod that covers his bones, | General Butler spoke at a meeting held in Lowell, to reassure the alarmed people of the South. This speech very fairly represents j his habit of thought upon the vexed subject before the war. He spoke in strong reprobation of northern abolitionists, and southern fire-eaters, as men equally guilty of inflaming and misleading their fellow-citizens ; so that, at length, it had come to pass, that neither section understood the other. “ The mistake,” said he, “ is mu- tual. We look at the South through the medium of the aboli- tionist orators — a very distorted picture. The South see us only as rampant abolitionists, ready to make a foray upon their rights and I property.” “It is,” he continued, “ the province of such meetings as this, which are now being hohlen throughout the North, to correct on our part this picture of ourselves to our southern brethern, to convince them of the truth, as we believe and know it — that by far the largest portion of the North are true in heart and spirit in their devotioD to the Union, and in their determination GEIfEEAi BUTLER BEEOEE THE WAR. 43 to carry out the only principles by which its full benefit can be enjoyed in the fair, just and honest fulfillment of every constitutional requirement, both in spirit and in letter, with each state, and to the whole country. “And let us not be taunted with ‘truckling to the South,’ or seeking to curry favor by so doing. It is not so ; and it is neither correct nor manly so to state it. Let us fairly appreciate the difference of our position. These questions, which to us locally are of so little practical consequence as hardly to call our attention, are to them the very foundations of society — ominous of rapine, murder, and all the horrors of a servile war, in their practical application. “ And because the discussions of the question about negro emancipation do not disquiet us here, we should be blind indeed not to see the wide difference of such discussions to them, if the results are reduced to practice. Then may we not, ought we not, who are so little, as to ourselves, practically interested in this matter, take the first step, if need be, toward allaying their excitement on this subject? “We claim to be in proportion of fifteen millions of freemen to six millions. Can it fairly be said to be ‘ truckling,’ to hold out to them the hand of amity upon a cause of real or supposed grievances ? It would not be so thought amongst belligerent foreign countries. ¥e are the stronger, as we consider ourselves. To make overtures of peace to the weaker ought to be considered our part among friendly states. “Therefore, I began by saying: ‘It is well for us to he gathered here.’ Let us proclaim to all men, that the Union, first and foremost of all the good gifts of God, must and shall he preserved. That it is a duty we recognize and will fulfill, to grant to every part of the country its rights as guaranteed by the constitution, and due by the compact. That we will, and every part of the country shall, respect those institutions of every other part of the country, with which they and we have nothing to do, save to let them alone, whether they are palatable to us or not. “We have the right to form our own domestic institutions as we please, to our own liking, and not to any other community’s liking, and will exer- cise that right, and under the constitution, must be protected in that right. Every other state has the same right to please herself in her own institu- tions, and is not obliged to please us in her selection of them ; and as in duty, and of right bound to do, we will protect her in that right, whether we like them or not. “ Thus doing our duty, and claiming our rights, and granting those of others, as every man will do, who is a just man, and not a thief — must not the union be perpetual? Let no man mistake upon the matter. This Union, this republic, the great experiment of equal rights, this power of self-government by the people, this great instrument of civilization, the banding together of the intellectual and political power of those races 44 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. which are to civilize the world by their energy of action, is not to fail, and human progress be set back a thousand years, because of the difference of opinion as to the supposed rights and interests of a few negroes. “ As well might the peasant expect the Almighty to stay the thunder storm, which, by its beneficent action, clears the atmosphere of a nation from pestilence, lest the lightning bolt should in its flash kill his cow. This Union is strong enough to take care of itself, to protect each and every part from foreign aggression or internal dissension, to keep everybody in it that is desirable to have in it, to take in everybody that ought to be in it, and to keep out everybody that is not wanted in it. “It is not like a family, because its members must never separate and divide the homestead. It is not like a partnership, because it contains no elements or period of dissolution. It is not like a confederation, because it contains no clause or means by which one or more of its members can with- draw. It is either organization or chaos. It is possible that it may crum- ble into atoms. It cannot be split in fragments. A despotism may be erected upon its ruins, but little, snarling, imbecile republics can never be made from its pieces. “ ‘ It is well, then, to be gathered here.’ To pledge each other and the South, that we are true to each other and to them. To assure them that we and we alone speak the true voice of the North. That threats of dis- union will never terrify us into being just to her and ourselves. That the North shall and will be just to her, because she respects herself as well as the South. To assure her that we appreciate her difficulties, and sympa- thize with our southern brethren, because we understand the great ques- t tions which agitate them. To us here they so little enter into our affairs as to hardly call the attention of any of us who have anything to do, save to | annoy our neighbors. Yet to them they are questions of order or anarchy, life or death. “ ‘ It is well, then, to be gathered here.’ Again to pledge ourselves to each other, that whenever occasion demands, we will march as one man to protect our beloved country from all dismemberment, and to bury the traitor who shall by overt act attempt it, whether he be a member of the Hartford . convention, aggrieved because of a commercial question, or a South Caro- linian, aggrieved because of a tariff question, or an abolition incendiary who seeks civil war and bloodshed at Harper’s Ferry. “ That to us no ‘ star in our glorious banner differeth from another star in glory,’ but all must and shall shine on together in one constellation, to 1 bless the wmrld with its benign radiance for ever.” Sucli were the sentiments of General Butler, in February of the j year for ever memorable to Americans — 1860. IN THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION. 45 CHAPTER H. IN THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION. General Butler -was elected a delegate to the democratic con- vention, held at Charleston, in April, 1860. He went to Charleston with two strong convictions on his mind. One was, that concessions to the South had gone as far as the northern democracy could ever he induced to sustain. The other was, that the fair nomination of Mr. Douglas, by a national demo- cratic convention was impossible. When the convention had been organized, by the election of Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, to the chair, a committee was appoint- ed of one member from each state, for the purpose of constructing that most perplexing piece of political joinery, a Platform. In this committee, General Butler represented the state of Massachu- setts. The committee met. May we not say, that in the room which it occupied began the contention which now desolates large por- tions of the southern country. What transpired in the committee room has been related, with exactness and brevity, by General But- ler himself. “ As a member of the committee,” he says,* “ I felt that I had but one course to pursue, and I held that with unwavering tenacity of purpose. It was to obtain the affirmation of these democratic principles, -laid down at Cincinnati, with which we had outrode the storm of sectionalism in 1856. * * * * “ With these views, I proposed, in committee, the following reso- lution : “ ‘ Resolved , That we, the democracy of the Union, in convention assembled, hereby declare our affirmance of the democratic resolu- tions unanimously adopted and declared as a platform of principles at Cincinnati, in the year 1856, without addition or alteration ; be- * Speech at Lowell, May 15. 18G0. 46 IN THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION. lieving that democratic principles are unchangeable in their nature, when applied to the same subject-matter.’ “ After a long and animated discussion, this was rejected by a vote of seventeen states to sixteen ; young Oregon giving the cast- ing vote against the Cincinnati platform, to which and the democ- racy she owed her existence as a sovereign state. “ There was but one additional resolution which, it was pro- posed, should be added, and that is as follows : “ ‘ Resolved , That it is the duty of the United States to extend its protection alike over all its citizens, whether native or natural- ized.’ “ This was to meet the case of the contradictory interpretations of the rights of foreign-born citizens, when abroad, made by the State Department. To this I had pledged myself, when the case arose. It is but just to add, that to this resolution, no opposition was made. The propositions of a majority of the committee were then brought forward, and by the same majority of one, were passed through the committee. They provided, in substance, for a slave code for the territories, and upon the high seas. “ Upon these two jtropositions, the committee divided ; sixteen free states one way, and fifteen slave states, with Oregon and California, the other ; and the difference was apparently irreconcila- ble. Without impugning the motives, or too closely criticising the course of any member of the committee, I saw, or thought I saw, that this disagreement was rather about men than principles. It seemed to me, that gentlemen of the extreme South were making demands which they did not consider it vital to be passed, lest a man should he nominated distasteful to them , and men from the North were willing to make concessions not desired by the South, and which would not be justified, either by democratic principles or their northern constituencies, in order to the success of their favorite candidate. “ Subsequent events showed the correctness of this opinion, be- cause, after the minority and majority of the committee had sepa- rated, sixteen to seventeen, and each had retired to make up its report, and when the sixteen northern states had nothing to do save to report the Cincinnati platform, pure and simple, then it was that three gentlemen came into the room where the minority of the committee were in consultation, and announced themselves as a sub- IN THE CHARLESTON CONTENTION. 47 committee of a caucus of the friends of Judge Douglas, charged with a resolution which his friends desired to be reported to the convention, in order, as the chairman said, ‘ to help the southern friends of Judge Douglas.’ One member of the committee on resolutions (General Butler) immediately raised a point of order. He said that the committee of the convention of the whole democ- racy, could not act under the dictation of a caucus of anybody’s friends ; that his self-respect would forbid — that the report of the minority of the committee would lose all moral power, if they adopted such a resolution thus presented. The point of order of that member of the committee was overruled, and the caucus reso- lution was received and adopted in the minority report, almost in the words in which it was presented and passed in the caucus, as fallows : “ ‘ Resolved , That all questions in regard to the rights of property in states or territories, arising under the constitution of the United States, are judicial in their character; and the democratic party is pledged to abide by, and faithfully carry out such determination of these questions, as has been, or may be made by the Supreme Court of the United States.’ “ This resolution was insisted upon by the committee, as then constituted, because it would give aid and ground to stand upon at home to the southern friends of Judge Douglas. Not advocated on principle, not claimed for the North, but a concession to the South, which, as the sequel showed, the South neither desired, would adopt or accept. A piece of expediency, which your dele- gate would ‘ neither adhere to nor carry out.’ “ To him it seemed quite immaterial whether a slave-code was made by congress or the decision of the courts. He had seen some of the most obnoxious laws made by judicial decisions, both in England and in this country. Indeed, a congressional slave-code were preferable to one made by a court, because the former could be defined, and if unjust, could be repealed, while the latter might be indefinite, shifting to meet the exigency of the case, and only limited by the partnership, or restrained by the consciences of judges holding office by a life-tenure, even if they were appointed like the midnight judges ‘of John Adams,’ in the last hour of an expiring administration, upon which the people set the seal of rep- robation.” 48 IN THE CHARLESTON CONTENTION. So the committee could not agree. General Butler adhered to his proposal of the Cincinnati platform ; the majority adhered to their demand for a slave-code for the territories and protection to the slave trade ; the minority adhered to the resolution framed by Mr. Douglas, which left all questions relating to slavery in the ter- ritories to the decision of the Supreme Court. On returning to the convention, therefore, the committee furnished three reports, one from the majority, one from the minority, and one from General Butler ; all agreeing in recommending the Cincinnati platform as a basis ; all differing as to the nature of the additional “ planks.” The majority report proposed four additional resolutions re. specting slavery : “ 1 . Resolved, That the democracy of the United States hold these car- dinal principles on the subject of slavery in the territories: First, That con- gress has no power to abolish slavery in the territories. Second, That the territorial legislature has no power to abolish slavery in any territory, nor to prohibit the introduction of slaves therein, nor any power to exclude slavery therefrom, nor any power to destroy or impair the right of property in slaves by any legislation whatever. “2. Resolved , That the enactments of state legislatures to defeat the faith- ful execution of the fugitive slave law, are hostile in character, subversive of the constitution, and revolutionary in their effect. “ 3. Resolved, That it is the duty of the federal government to protect, when necessary, the rights of persons, and property on the high seas, in the territories, or wherever else its constitutional authority extends. (De- signed to protect the reopened slave trade.) “ 4. Resolved, That the national democracy earnestly recommend the' ac- quisition of the Island of Cuba at the earliest practicable period.” The minority report, introduced by Mr. Payne of Ohio, also pre- sented the Cincinnati platform, with sundry additions, of which the following are the important ones : “1. Resolved, That all questions in regard to the rights of property in states or territories, arising under the constitution of the United States, are judicial in their character ; and the democratic party is pledged to abide by and faithfully carry out such determination of these questions as has been or may be made by the Supreme Court of the United States. “ 2. Resolved, That the democratic party are in favor of the acquisition of the Island of Cuba, on such terms as shall be honorable to ourselves, and just to Spain. IN THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION. 49 “ 3. Hesolved , That the enactments of state legislatures to defeat the faith- ful execution of the fugitive slave law, are hostile in character, subversive of the constitution, and revolutionary in their effect.” General Butler reported the two resolutions given in his narra- tive. Such were the three reports. The first was supposed to express the sentiments of the party who afterward selected Mr. Breckin- ridge as their candidate. The second Was the Douglas platform. The third conveyed the sense of northern democrats, who were aware that the Cincinnati platform conceded all to the South, that the North could concede. Mr. Douglas perfectly understood that, and he invented the device of the Supreme Court, to delay or confuse the issue. Each of the reports was explained and advo- cated at much length ; the first by Mr. Avery of North Carolina, the chairman of the committee ; the second by Mr. Payne of Ohio. Toward the close of the day, General Butler obtained the floor, and spoke in support of his views to a house crowded and excited be- yond description, amid interruptions more entertaining to the audi- ence than helpful to the speaker. His speech was ingenious and amusing, particularly that part of it which aimed to deprive the Douglas men of capital borrowed from the Supreme Court. Some of the personal hits produced prodigious effect. He began by asking members around him why, if the Cincinnati platform was so defective, they had given it such enthusiastic in- dorsement in 1856. “Iam told that it maybe subjected to two interpretations. Will any man here attempt to make a platform that will not be subject to two or more interpretations ? Why, sir, when Omniscience sends us the Divine law for our guidance through life and our hope in death, for 2,000 years almost bands of men have been engaged in different interpretations of that Divine law, and they have sealed then' honesty of purpose with blood — they have burned their fellow creatures at the stake as an evidence of the sincerity of their faith.” (Laughter.) Adverting to the resolution which was evidently designed to throw the protection of the national flag over the slave trade, he humorously affected to be ignorant of its real purpose. “ Our carping opponents ,” said he, “will see in it what I am sure southern gentlemen do not mean — the reopening of the African slave trade, 50 IN THE CHARLESTON CONTENTION. and it will be so construed that no man can get rid of the interpre- tation. It will be proclaimed from every stump, flaunted from every pulpit, thundered from every lyceum in the North, until we, your friends— and in no boasting spirit I say, without us you are power less— the last refuge of the constitutional rights of the South within the Union arc stricken down powerless for ever ; so that without farther modification it would be impossible for me to adopt the majority report.” He proceeded to show the utter nothingness of the minority reso- lution, referring questions in dispute to the Supreme Court : “ Now, men of the North, suppose that the Supreme Court should decide upon questions of property arising in the states — and I hope that there is no danger of their so deciding — that slavery exists in Mas- sachusetts, and that it was forced upon us by the constitution of the United States— are you ready to carryout that decision? You might have to submit to that, but would you not move at once for an alteration of that state constitution to prevent such decision tak- ing effect, and adopt such other remedies as your good judgment might devise ? You, men of the South, suppose you were foolishly to go apart from us, and Mr. Seward were to be elected president. There sit to-day upon the bench of the Supreme Court nine judges, eight of whom are seventy years old, three of them so debilitated that they may never take their seats again. What happens? Without any act of congress, Mr. Seward being president of the United States, that court is reorganized, and it decides that slavery nowhere exists by natural law, and that man can hold no property in man. What are you to do then? Are you to abide by the decision ?” Here, Mr. Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, made a remark im- j plying that it became the representative of a state which never gav^ I I a democratic majority to be modest in oflering advice to a demo J ■ cratic convention. The retort was ready : j i “You may taunt me with the fact that I am speaking for poor old J Massachusetts, that has never given a democratic vote since the days | >i of Jefferson. She did give a democratic vote then. By that vote (1 the South acquired the rich inheritance of Louisiana, and I see here Tt from the gulf states men who but for that vote I never would have fei had the pleasure of meeting, except as subjects of Napoleon HI. 19 Then do not taunt me with speaking for a state that can not give an it IN THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION. 51 electoral vote. I feel mortified enough about it. I do not like to be taimted with it ; I do not think it quite kind in my friend from Maryland to make the remark he did. I would have thought it more unkind if my friend from Mississippi had said anything of the kind, but I thought it especially unkind in my friend from Maryland, because he violated the well-known maxim in my country, that the “pot should never call the kettle black.” (Laughter.) Mr. J ohnson : “ While Maryland obeys the laws of the Union, as she has ever done and does now, she considers herself equal to all other states ; but w r hen she refuses to acknowledge even the force of the constitution, and the laws made in pursuance thereof, she will then be more modest in the expression of her opinions.” General Butler : “ Comparisons are odious, but I say that any man in Massachusetts can walk up to the polls and vote for anybody on earth without having his head broken by a cudgel.” (Great laughter.) Mr. J ohnson attempted to reply, but General Butler would not yield the floor. “Very well, then,” said the Marylander, “have it so.” The speaker continued : “ I will say this to the gentleman, that everything that the democratic party could do in his state has been nobly done to protect men in then rights. Will he give old Massa- chusetts the same credit, that everything the democracy of Massa- chusetts could do to stand by the constitution and the Union, the rights of his state and my own, has been done without fear, favor, affection, or hope of reward ? (Applause.) Therefore, I say again, that I do not like to be told that this platform is only represented by states which are sure to give electoral votes for the democratic i candidate. Let me call the attention of the gentleman from Mary- land to the fact, that by the vote from his state the house of repre- sentatives got a black republican organization. (Applause.) And my gallant friends from Tennessee — are your skirts quite clear ? And how stands Kentucky — the dark and bloody battle-ground ? She has five to five in the house of representatives, is a cipher there, and if they do not take care, will be a cipher in the electoral vote. And how stands the old state of North Carolina. Four and four in the house of representatives. These states I have enumera- 1 ted were never reliable democratic states, and, therefore, I have ventured to say, that I have a good right to speak here for the 3 52 IN TIIE CHARLESTON CONVENTION. gallant states of the 1ST orth, who have sometimes given, and always want to give, democratic votes.” General Butler concluded by advising the convention to adopt his report, and then “nominate some firm, trustworthy, out-and-out, hard working democrat for president, and go home and elect him.” The convention, after debates that threatened to be endless, fol- lowed this advice in part. They adopted the report of General Butler, with non-essential alterations, by a vote of 230 to 40. Then came the tug of war. The platform completed, it remained to select a man to stand upon it. “ The whole discussion of the platform,” says General Butler, in the narrative quoted above, “ led .me to the belief that the difference was about men, not principles ; and the unfortunate and unjustifiable secession of eight of the southern states by their delegates, in i whole or in part, justifies the statement. When they went out of the convention, we had adopted no principles but those to which every seceding state, and many of the seceding delegates, had been pledged only four years since. There was in this, therefore, no disruption, no casus belli , no justification for so serious a step as the dismemberment of the democratic party, and endangering the harmony and safety of the Union. “ What then was feared by the seceding states ? Evidently, that the majority of the convention, composed of northern delegates, | would force the nomination of Judge Douglas, who had given an interpretation to that platform to which the southern democracy would not, and, as their delegates claimed, could not agree. They said, ‘ You, of the North, have the platform; and if you will put a man upon it that has given an interpretation hostile to the South, then we can not sustain ourselves at home, if we would,’ and the more ardent of the southern men added, ‘ we would not, if we could.’ “ That there was this fear of his nomination, was made certain j by the act of Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Kentucky, who remained in the convention, but by their delegates j insisted, that if a resolution was not passed, requiring two-thirds of the whole electoral college to make a nomination, they, too, would j withdraw from the convention ; and thereby the convention must have been dissolved, as California and Oregon would have gone j with them, leaving only a minority of the states in number, with a IN THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION. 53 loss of every democratic state. The passage of this resolution made the nomination of Judge Douglas simply impossible ; and, although New York cast her thirty-five votes steadily for him afterward, yet she voted for this rule which would render her vote for Douglas useless, as it was evident to all that more than one-third the convention was unalterably opposed to his nomina- tion. “ I believe there was a majority opposed to him in fact. Grant that he received upon one ballot a bare majority of the whole vote. But how was that majority made up ? Simply, by the unit rule, which stifled minorities in northern states, under instructions. In New York, there were fifteen votes opposed to Judge Douglas, from first to last, yet these thirty-five votes were cast for him on every ballot. In Ohio six votes, in Indiana five votes, and Minne- sota two votes were opposed to him, yet by that rule cast for him, so that the majority was more apparent than real. The southern states generally acting without direct instructions, by a cunningly devised resolution of the committee on organization, were for the most part voting separately, so that all of Judge Douglas’s strength in the southern delegations, substantially appeared. Now, with the South opposed to Judge Douglas, even to the dis- ruption of the party ; with every democratic free state voting against him; with two-thirds of the great state of Pennsylvania firmly against him; with one-half, nearly, of New York hostile; New Jersey divided, and the only state in New England where the de- mocracy can have much hope, Connecticut, nearly equally balanced, what was it the part of wisdom for your delegate to do ? Should he, coming from a state where there was no hope of a democratic electoral vote, persistently endeavor to force upon the democratic states a candidate distasteful to them, as shown by those votes, inso- much that they were ready to sunder all political ties, rather than submit to his nomination? Were his preferences and yours for a given man to be insisted on at all hazards ? He thought not then ; he thinks not still. * * * * * * “We must accept facts as we find them. A truth is a truth, however unpalatable. N o man can act wisely who disregards facts and truths in shaping his course, whether in political or other ac- tions. ‘ I would,' must always wait upon ‘ I ought? For these reasons before stated, I found Judge Douglas’s nomination an im- 54 US THE CHARLESTON CONTENTION. possibility, 'without a disruption of the party and throwing away all chance of success. “ You may say this is a great misfortune. Be it so. It is a fact upon which you and I, fellow-democrats, must judge and act. I found a very large majority of the democratic states unalterably opposed to hi m . ‘ ’Tis true ’tis a pity, and pity ’tis, ’tis true.’ I found him in a bitter feud with a democratic administration, and without caring to inquire which is to blame for it, such conflict is not a help to democratic votes in a closely contested election, es- pecially when the democracy desire to carry the state of Pennsyl- vania, where, to say the least, the administration has both prestige and power. “ I found also that Judge Douglas was in opposition to almost the entire democratic majority of the senate of the United States. No matter who is right or who is wrong, this is not a pleasant position for the candidate of the democratic party. I found him opposed by a very large majority of the democratic members of the house of repre- sentatives. It is doubtless all wrong that this should be so, yet so it is. I have heard that the ‘ sweetest wine makes the sourest vine- gar,’ but I never heard of vinegar sour enough to make sweet wino. Cold apathy and violent opposition are not the jirolific parents of votes. I found, worse than all for a democratic candidate for the presidency, that the clerk of the republican house of representatives was openly quoted as saying that the influential paper, controlled by him, would either support Douglas or Seward, thus making him- self, apparently, an unpleasant connecting link between them. “ With these facts before me, and impressing upon me the con- viction that the nomination of Judge Douglas could not be made with any hope of safety to the democratic party, what was I to do? I will tell you what I did do, and I am afraid it is not what I ought to have done. Yielding to your preferences, I voted seven times for Judge Douglas, although my judgment told me that my votes were worse than useless, as they gave him an appearance of strength in the convention which I felt he had not in the democratic party. If this was an error it was your fault. “ I then looked round to throw my vote where, at least, it would not mislead anybody. I saw a statesman of national fame and reputation, who had led his regiment to victory at Buena Vista, a democrat with whom I disagreed in some things, but with whom I IN THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION. 5.1 could act in most. Loving his country first, his section next, hut just to all — so that through his endeavors in the senate of the United States, Massachusetts obtained from the general government her just dues, deferred for forty years, of hundreds of thousands of dollars, a feat which none of her agents had ever been able to accom- plish. Besides, his friends were not pressing his name before the convention, so that he was not a partisan in the personal strife the r e going on. I thought such a man deserved, at least, the poor com- pliment of a vote from Massachusetts, and therefore I threw my vote for Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi ; and I claim, at least, that that vote was guided by intelligence. “ Through a series of fifty-seven ballotings, the voting did not materially change. Afterward, almost by common consent, an adjournment was carried, and we are to go to Baltimore, on the 18th of June next, to finish our work.” General Butler went to Baltimore. All possibility of uniting the party was there prevented by the immovable resolve of the friends of Mr. Douglas to force his nomination. The convention was again divided, aiM General Butler went out with the delegates who had a determination equally fixed to defeat the nomination of Mr. Doug- las. The Douglas men nominated their chief for the presidency. They selected, as a candidate for the second office, Ilerschell John- son, of Georgia, an avowed disunionist, and an open advocate of the slave trade, who, at a public meeting in industrial Philadelphia, had permitted himself to say, that he thought “ it was the best plan for capital to own its labor.” The retiring body nominated for the presidency, Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, and Mr. Lane, of Ore- gon, for the vice-presidency. These candidates received from Gen- eral Butler an energetic, an unwavering support — the only kind of support he ever gave to anything. Let us see how the four parties stood in the contest of that year. The Cincinnati platform of 1856 said: Let the people in each territory decide, when they form a constitution, whether they will come into the Union as a slave state or as a free state. But the delay in the admission of Kansas, gave intense interest to the question, whether slavery could exist in a territory before its admission. This was the issue in 1860. The republican platform said: Ko, it cannot exist. Freedom is 56 IN THE CHARLESTON CONTENTION. the normal condition of all territory. Slavery can exist only hy local law. There is no authority anywhere competent to legalize slavery in a territory of the United States. The Supreme Court can not do it. Congress can not do it. The territorial legislature can not do it. The Douglas platform said : We do not know whether slavery can exist in a territory or not. There is a difference of opinion among us upon the subject. The Supreme Court must decide, and its decision shall be final and binding. The Breckinridge platform said: Slavery lawfully exists in a territory the moment a slave-owner enters it with his slaves. The United States is bound to maintain his right to hold slaves in a ter- ritory. But when the people of the territory frame a state consti- tution, they are to decide whether to enter the Union as a slave or as a free state. If as a slave state, they are to be admitted without question. If as a free state, the slave owners must retire or emanci- pate. The Bell and Everett party, declining to construct a platform, expressed no opinion upon the question at issue. Thus, of the four parties in the field, two only had the courage to look the state of things in the face, and to avow a positive convic- tion, namely, the republicans and the Breckinridge men. These two, alone, made platforms upon which an honest voter could intel- ligently stand. The other parties shirked the issue, and meant to shirk it. The most pitiable spectacle ever afforded in the politics of the United States, was the stump wrigglings of Mr. Douglas du- ring the campaign, when he taxed all his great ingenuity to seem to say something that should win votes in one section, without losing votes in the other. Tragical as the end Avas to him, all men felt that his disappointment was just, though they would have gladly seen him recover from the shock, take the bitter lesson to heart, and join with his old allies in saving the country. Before leaving Baltimore, the leaders of the Breckinridge party came to an explicit understanding upon two important points. First, the northern men received from Mr. Breckinridge and his southern supporters, not merely the strongest possible declarations of devotion to the Union and the Constitution, but a particular dis- avowal and repudiation of the cry then heard all over the South, that in case of the success of the republican party, the South would US' THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION. 57 secede. There is no doubt in the minds of the well-informed, that Mr. Breckinridge was sincere in these professions, and it is known that he adhered to the Union, in his heart, down to the time when war became evidently inevitable. There is reason, too, to believe that he has since bitterly regretted having abandoned the cause of his country. Secondly, the Breckinridge leaders at Baltimore arranged them programme of future operations. They were aware of the certainty of their defeat. In all probability, the republicans would come into power. That party (as the Breckinridge democrats supposed) be- ing unused to govern, and inheriting immense and unexampled difficulties, would break down, would quarrel among themselves, would become ridiculous or offensive, and so prepare the way for the triumphant return of the democracy to power in 1865. Mr. Douglas, too, they thought, would destroy himself, as a political power, by having wantonly broken up his party. The democrats, then, would adhere to their young and popular candidate, and elect him ; if not in 1864, then in 1868. Having concluded these arrangements, they separated, to meet in Washington after the election, and renew the compact, or else to change it to meet any unexpected issue of the campaign. On his return to Lowell, General Butler found himself the most unpopular man in Massachusetts. Hot that Massachusetts approved the course or the character of Mr. Douglas. Not that Massachu- setts was incapable of appreciating a bold and honest man, who stood in opposition to her cherished sentiments. It was because she saw one of her public men acting in conjunction with the party which seemed to her identified with that which threatened a dis- ruption to the country if it should be fairly beaten in an election. The platform of that party was profoundly odious to her. It ap- peared to her, not merely erroneous, but humoral and monstrous, and she could not but feel that the northern supporters of it were guilty of a kind of subserviency that bordered upon baseness. She did not understand the series of events which would have compelled Mr. Douglas, if he had been elected, to go to unimagined lengths in quieting the apprehensions of the South. She could not, in that time of intense excitement, pause to consider, that if General But- ler’s course was wrong, it was, at least, disinterested and unequivocal. He was hooted in the streets of Lowell, and a public meeting, at 58 IN THE CHARLESTON CONTENTION. which he was to give art account of his stewardship, was broken up by a mob. A second meeting was called. General Butler then obtained a hearing, and justified his course in a speech of extraordinary force and cogency. He characterized the Douglas ticket as “ two-faced,” designed to win both sections, by deceiving both. “ Hurrah for Johnson! he goes for intervention. Hurrah for Douglas ! he goes for non-intervention unless the Supreme Court tells him to go the other way. Hurrah for J ohnson ! he goes against popular sovereignty. Hurrah for Douglas ! he goes for popular sovereignty if the Su- preme Court will let him! Hurrah for Johnson! he is for disun- ion! Hurrah for Douglas ! he is for the Union.” He met the charge brought against Mr. Breckinridge of sym- pathy with southern disunionists. “ In a speech, but a day or two since at Frankfort, in the presence of his life-long friends and po- litical opponents, who could have gainsayed the declaration if it were not true, Mr. Breckinridge proudly said : — ‘ I am an Ameri- can and a Kentuckian, who never did an act nor cherished a thought that was not full of devotion to the constitution and the Union.’ Proud words, proudly spoken, and incapable of contradiction. Yet we, who support this gallant and conservative leader, are called dis- unionists, and charged with being untrue to democracy. By whom is this charge made ? By Pierre Soule, an avowed disunionist, in Louisiana; by John Forsyth and the ‘Atlanta Confederacy,’ in Georgia, which maintains the duty of the South to leave the Union if Lincoln is elected ; and yet these same men are the foremost of the southern supporters of Douglas ; by Gaulding, of Georgia, who is now stumping the state for Douglas, making the same speech that he made in the convention at Baltimore, where he argued that non-intervention meant that congress had no power to prevent the exportation of negroes from Africa, and that the slave trade was the true popular sovereignty in full expansion. “Would you believe it, fellow-citizens, this speech was ap- plauded in the Douglas convention, and that too, by a delegate from Massachusetts, ay, and from Middlesex county. “ When I left that convention, I declared that I would no longer sit where the African slave trade, made piracy and felony by the laws of my country, was openly advocated and applauded. Yet such, at the South, are the supporters of Douglas.” MASSACHUSETTS READY. 59 General Butler was the Breckinridge candidate for the governor- ship of Massachusetts. He had been a candidate for the same office a few years before, and had received the full support of his party, about 50,000 votes. On this occasion only 6,000 of his fellow-citizens cast their votes for him ; the whole number of voters being more than 170,000. CHAPTER HI. MASSACHUSETTS READY. Perhaps the commonest mistake made in commenting upon human actions, is to overrate the understanding, and underrate the moral worth of the actor. We flatter ourselves that we are very great and very bad beings ; the humiliating truth seems to be, that we are rather good and extremely little. Mr. Dickens has a char- acter in one of his novels, who was fond of giving out that he was born in a ditch, and struggled up from that lowly estate to the po- sition of a man whose check was good for any number of thousands of pounds ; but it came out at last, that he was born of “ poor but respectable parents,” who had given him the rudiments of educa- tion in the most ordinary and common-place way. The blustering fool could not face the homely, creditable truth of his origin, and so invented the flattering lie, that he was the castaway offspring of a stroller. A vanity of this kind is common to the race. We do not, as a general thing, purposely deceive ourselves, but it appears to be universally taken for granted, that man is a tremendous crea- ture, capable of seeing the end from the beginning, and accustomed to form plans which contemplate and cause the actual issue. This delusion, I suppose, is nourished, by our constantly viewing the re- sults of human ingenuity in vast accumulation. We omit to con- sider, that it took all the lifetime of man to build the Great Eastern, and that a new suit of Sunday clothes is the result of the severe cogitation and laboriously gathered knowledge of all the ingenious tailors that ever lived, to say nothing of the inventive weavers, cur- riers, and shoemakers. 3* 80 MASSACHUSETTS HEADY. Hence, when a great thing has occurred, like this rebellion of the slave power against the power which alone could protect it, we are apt to imagine that it was all deliberately and deeply planned before- hand. The final history of the war, when it comes to be written, many years hence, will probably disclose that there was not much actual planning. The event was of the nature of a conflagration. There had been, indeed, for thirty years, a most diligent collection of combustible matter. Every oratorial demagogue had wildly tossed his bundle of painted sticks upon the heap, and such men as Calhoun had burrowed through the mass, and inserted some solid- looking timbers of false doctrine ; and the necessities of despotism had built a wall around it, so that the fire-apparatus of outside civi- lization could not be brought to bear. In such circumstances, there is no great need of plan, when mere destruction is the object. A few long heads, like John Slidell, with the aid of a few madmen in Charleston, were competent to apply the requisite number of matches, and blow upon the incipient flames. It will probably ap- pear, that those who have since been most conspicuous in control- ling the movement, were men who hung back from inaugurating it ; men who would have preferred to ”emain in the Union, and who were as much “ carried away” by the rush of events, as the planters of North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana, are known to have been. In December, 1860 , Mr. Lincoln having been elected, and con- gress met, General Butler went to Washington, according to the agreement at Baltimore, in June, to confer with democratic lead- ers upon the future course of the party. South Carolina had gone through the form of seceding from the Union, and her three com- missioners were at the capital, to present to the president the ordi- nance of secession, and negotiate the terms of separation. Regard- ing themselves in the light of ambassadors, and expecting a long negotiation, they had taken a house, which served as the head- quarters of the malcontents. Excitement and apprehension per- vaded all circles. General Butler, in visiting his southern friends, found that most of them considered secession a fact accomplished, nothing remaining but to arrange the details. Mr. Breckinridge, however, still steadfast to his pledges, indignant, sorrowful, was using his influence to bring about a convention of the border states, wdfich should stand between the two hostile bodies, and conrpel MASSACHUSETTS READY. 61 both to make the concessions supposed to be necessary for the preservation of the Union. By day and night, he strove to stem the torrent of disaffection, and bring the men of the South to reason. He strove in vain. The movement which he endeavored to effect was defeated by Virginians, particularly by Mason and Hunter, rinding his plan impossible, he went about Washington, pale and haggard, the picture of despair, and sought relief, it is said, where despairing southern men are too apt to seek it, in the whisky bottle. “What does all this mean?” asked General Butler, of an old southern democrat, a few hours after his arrival in Washington. “ It means simply what it appears to mean. The Union is dead. The experiment is finished. The attempt of two communities, hav- ing no interest in common, abhorring one another, to make believe that they are one nation, has ceased for ever. W e shall establish a sound, homogeneous government, with no discordant elements. We shall have room for our northern friends. Come with us.” “ Have you counted the cost ? Do you really think you can break up this Union? Do you think so yourself?” “Ido.” “ You are prepared, then, for civil war? You mean to bring this thing to the issue of arms ?” “ Oh, there will be no war. The North won’t fight.” “The North will fight.” “The North won’t fight.” “The North will fight.” “The North can't fight. We have friends enough at the North to prevent it.” “ You have friends at the North as long as you remain true to the constitution. But let me tell you, that the moment it is seen that you mean to break up the country, the North is a imit against you. I can answer, at least, for Massachusetts. She is good for ten thousand men to march, at once, against armed secession.” “ Massachusetts is not such a fool. If your state should send ten thousand men to preserve the Union against southern secession, she will have to fight twice ten thousand of her own citizens at home wdio will oppose the policy.” “ No, sir ; when we come from Massachusetts we shall not leave a single traitor behind, unless he is hanging on a tree.” 62 MASSACHUSETTS HEADY. “Well, we shall see.” “ You will see. I know something of the North, and a good deal about New England, where I was born and have lived forty-two years. We are pretty quiet there now because we don’t believe that you mean to carry out your threats. W e have heard the same story at every election these twenty years. Our people don’t yet believe you are in earnest. But let me tell you this: As sure as you attempt to break rip this Union, the North will resist the attempt to its last man and its last dollar. You are as certain to fail as that there is a God in Heaven. One tiling you may do : you may ruin the southern states, and extinguish your institution of slavery. From the moment the first gun is fired upon the American flag, your slaves will not be worth five years’ purchase. But as to break- ing up the country, it can not be done. God and nature, and the blood of your fathers and mine have made it one ; and one country it must remain.” And so the war of words went on. The general visited his old acquaintances, the South Carolina commissioners, and with them he had similar conversations ; the substance of all being this : Secessionists: “The North won’t fight.” General. Butler : “The North will fight.” Secessionists: “If the North fights, its laborers will starve and overturn the government.” General Butler : “ If the South fights, there is an end of slavery.” Secessionists : “ Do you mean to say that you yourself would fight in such a cause ?” General Butler : “ I would ; and, by the grace of God, I will.” The general sat at the table, once more, of Jefferson Davis, for whom he had voted in the Charleston convention. Mr. Davis, at that time, appeared still to wish for a compromise and the preserva- tion of the Union. But he is a politician. He gave in to the sen- timent, that he owed allegiance, first, to the state of Mississippi ; secondly, to the United States ; which is the same as saying that he owed no allegiance to the United States at all. So, if a majority of the legislature of Mississippi should pronounce for secession, he was bound to abandon that which, for fifty years, he had been proud to call his “ country.” In times like those, every man of originating mind has his scheme. If in the multitude of counselors there were safety, no country had MASSACHUSETTS KEADY. 63 A been safer than this country was in December, 1860 , when Mr. Bu- chanan was assailed and confounded with advice from all quarters, near and remote, from friends and foes. General Butler, too, had an idea. As a leading member of the party in power, he was en- titled to be listened to, and he was listened to. Mr. Black, the legal adviser of the government, had given it as his opinion, that the proceedings of South Carolina were legally definable as a “riot,” which the force of the United States could not be lawfully used in suppressing. General Butler said to the attorney-general : — “ Tou say that the government can not use its army and navy to coerce South Carolina in South Carolina. Very well. I do not agree with you; but let the proposition be granted, blow, secession is either a right, or it is treason. If it is a right, the sooner we know it the better. If it is treason, then the presenting of the ordinance of seces- sion is an overt act of treason. These men are coming to the White House to present the ordinance to the president. Admit them. Let them present the ordinance. Let the president say to them : — ‘ Gentlemen, you go hence in the custody of a marshal of the United States, as prisoners of state, charged with treason against your country.’ Summon a grand jury, here in Washing- ton. Indict the commissioners. If any of your officers are back- ward in acting, you have the appointing power ; replace them with men who feel as men should, at a time like this. Try the commis- sioners before the Supreme Court, with all the imposing forms and stately ceremonial which marked the trial of Aaron Burr. I have some reputation at home as a criminal lawyer, and will stay here and help the district attorney through the trial without fee or re- ward. If they are convicted, execute the sentence. If they are acquitted, you will have done something toward leaving a clear path for the incoming administration. Time will have been gained ; but the great advantage will be, that both sides will pause to watch this high and dignified proceeding ; the passions of men will cool ; the great points at issue will become clear to all parties ; the mind of the country will be active while passion and prejudice are allayed. Meanwhile, if you can not use your army and navy in Charleston harbor, you can certainly employ them in keeping order here.” This was General Butler’s contribution to the grand sum total of 64 MASSACHUSETTS BEADY. advice with which the administration was favored. Mr. Black seemed inclined to recommend the measure. Mr. Buchanan was of opinion, that it would cause a fearful agitation, and probably in- flame the South to the point of beginning hostilities forthwith. Be- sides, these men claimed to be ambassadors ; and though we could not admit the claim, still they had voluntarily placed themselves in our power, and seemed to have a kind of right to be, at least, warn- ed away, before we could honorably treat them as criminals or ene- mies. In vain General Butler urged that his object was simply to get their position defined by a competent tribunal ; to ascertain whether they were, in reality, ambassadors or traitors. His scheme was that of a bold and steadfast patriot, prepared to go all lengths for his country. It could not but be rejected by Mr. Buchanan. General Butler frankly told the commissioners the advice he had given. “ Why, you would’nt hang us, would you ?” said Mr. Orr. “ Oh, no,” replied the General ; “ not unless you were found guilty.” Then came the electric news of Major Anderson’s “ change of base” from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter; one of those trivial . events which generally occur at times like those to decide the ques- tion of peace or war. The future historian will probably tell us, that there was never a moment after that event when a peaceful solution of the controversy was possible. He will probably show that it was the skillful use of that incident, at a critical moment, which enabled the secessionists of Georgia, frustrated till then, to commit that great state to the support of South Carolina ; and Georgia, is the empire state of the cotton South, whose defection in- volved that of all the cotton states, as if by a law of nature. The president of the United States had allowed himself to prom- ise the South Carolina commissioners that no military movement should occur in Charleston harbor during the negotiation at Wash- ington. They promptly demanded the return of Major Anderson to Fort Moultrie. Floyd supported their demand, Mr. Buchanan consented. Then the commissioners, finding the president so pliant, demanded the total withdrawal of the troops from South Carolina, and Floyd supported them in that modest demand also. While t the president stood hesitating upon the brink of this new infamy, the enormous frauds in Floyd’s department came to light, and his. MASSACHUSETTS READY. 65 influence was at an end. The question of withdrawal being pro- posed to the cabinet, it was negatived, and the virtuous Floyd re- lieved his colleagues by resigning. Mr. Holt succeeded him ; the government stiffened ; the commissioners went home ; and General Butler, certain now that war was impending, prepared to depart. He had one last, long interview with the southern leaders, at which the whole subject was gone over. For three hours he rea- soned with them, demonstrating the folly of their course, and warn- ing them of final and disastrous failure. The conversation was friendly, though warm and earnest on both sides. Again he was invited to join them, and was offered a share in their enterprise, and a place in that “ sound and homogeneous government” which they meant to establish. He left them no room to doubt that he took sides with his country, and that all he had, and all he was, should be freely risked in that country’s cause. Late at night they separated to know one another no more except as mortal foes. The next morning, General Butler went to Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, an old acquaintance, though long a political oppo- nent, and told him that the southern leaders meant war, and urged him to join in advising the governor of their state to prepare the mili tia, of Massachusetts for taking the field. At that time, and for some time longer, the southern men were divided among themselves respecting the best mode of beginning hostilities. The bolder spirits were for seizing Washington, pre- venting the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, and placing Breckinridge, if he would consent, or some other popular man if he would not, in the presidential mansion, who should issue a proclamation to the whole country, and endeavor to rally to his support a sufficient number of northern democrats to distract and paralyze the loyal states. That more prudent counsels prevailed was not from any sense of the turpitude of such treason, but from a conviction that if anything could rouse the North to armed resistance, it would be the seizure of the capital. Nothing short of that, thought the se- cessionists, would induce a money-making, pusillanimous people to leave their shops and their counting-houses, to save their country from being broken to pieces and brought to naught. The dream of these traitors was to destroy their country without fighting ; and so the scheme of a coup d'etat was discarded. But General B utler left Washington believing that the bolder course was the one which 66 MASSACHUSETTS READY. •would be adopted. 'He believed this the more readily, because it was the course which he would have advised, had he, too, been a traitor. One thing, however, he considered absolutely certain: there was going to be a war between Loyalty and Treason ; between the Slave Power and the Power which had so long protected and fostered it. He found the North anxious, but still incredulous. He went to Governor Andrew, and gave him a full relation of what he had heard and seen at Washington, and advised him to get the militia of the state in readiness to move at a day’s notice. He suggested that all the men should be quietly withdrawn from the militia force who were either unable or unwilling to leave the state for the de- fense of the capital, and their places supplied with men who could and would. The governor, though he could scarcely yet believe that war was impending, adopted the suggestion. About one-half the men resigned their places in the militia ; the vacancies were quickly filled; and many of the companies, during the winter months, drilled every evening in the week, except Sundays. General Butler further advised that two thousand overcoats be made, as the men were already provided with nearly every requisite for marching, ex- cept those indispensable garments, which could not be extemporized. To this suggestion there was sturdy opposition, since it involved the expenditure of twenty thousand dollars, and that for an exigency which Massachusetts did not believe was likely to occur. One gen- tleman, high in office, said that General Butler made the proposal in the interest of the moths of Boston, which alone would get any good of the overcoats. Others insinuated that he only ^wanted a good contract for the Middlesex Woolen Mills, in which he was a large shareholder. The worthy and patriotic governor, however, strongly recommended the measure, and the overcoats were begun. The last stitches in the last hundred of them were performed while the men stood drawn up on the common waiting to strap them to their knapsacks before getting into the cars for Washington. Having thus assisted in preparing Massachusetts to march, Gene- ral Butler resumed his practice at the bar, vibrating between Boston and Lowell as of old, not without much inward chafing at the hu- ' miliating spectacle which the country presented during those dreary, shameful months. One incident cheered the gloom. One word was uttered at Washington which spoke the heart of the country. One MASSACHUSETTS READY. 67 man in the cabinet felt as patriots feel -when the flag of their coun- try is threatened with dishonor. One order was given which did not disgrace the government from which it issued. “ If any one ATTEMTTS TO HAUL DOWN THE AMERICAN FLAG SHOOT HIM ON THE spot !” “ When I read it,” wrote General Butler to General Dix long after, “my heart bounded with joy. It was the first bold stroke in favor of the Union under the past administration.” He had the pleasure of sending to General Dix, from New Orleans, the identical flag which was the object of the order, and the con- federate flag which was hoisted in its place; as well as of recom- mending for promotion the sailor, David Ritchie, who contrived to snatch both flags from the cutter when traitors abandoned and burnt her as Captain Farragut’s fleet drew near. The fifteenth of April arrived. Fort Sumter had fallen. The president’s proclamation calling for troops was issued. In the morn- ing came a telegram to Governor Andrew from Senator Wilson, asking that twenty companies of Massachusetts militia be instantly dispatched to defend the seat of government. A few hours after, the formal requisition arrived from the secretary of war calling for two full regiments. At quarter before five that afternoon, General Butler was in court at Boston trying a cause. To him came Colonel Edward F. Jones, of the Sixth regiment, bearing an order from Governor Andrew, directing him to muster his command forthwith in Boston common, in readiness to proceed to Washington. This regiment was one of General Butler’s brigade, its headquarters being Lowell, twenty-five miles distant, and the companies scattered over forty miles of country. The general endorsed the order, and at five Colonel Jones was on the Lowell train. There was a good deal of swift riding done that night in the region round about Lowell; and at eleven o’clock on the day following, there was Colonel Jones with his regiment on Boston common. Not less prompt were the Third and Eighth regiments, for they began to arrive in Boston as early as nine, each company welcomed at the depot by applauding thousands. The Sixth regiment, it was deter- mined, should go first, and the governor deemed it best to strengthen it with two additional companies. “ It was nine o’clock, on the evening of the 16 th,” reports Adjutant-General Schouler, “before your excellency decided to attach the commands of Captains Samp- son and Dike to the Sixth regiment. A messenger was dispatched 68 ^MASSACHUSETTS READY. to Stoneham, with orders for Captain Dike. He reported to me at eight o’clock the next morning, that he found Captain Dike at his house in Stoneham, at two o’clock in the morning, and placed your excellency’s orders in his hands ; that he read them, and said : ‘ Tell the adjutant-general that I shall he at the state house with my full company by eleven o’clock to-day.’ True to his word, he reported at the time, and that afternoon, attached to the Sixth, the company left for Washington. Two days afterward, on the 19th of April, during that gallant march through Baltimore, which is now a matter of history, Captain Dike was shot down while leading his company through the mob. Several of his command were killed and wounded, and he received a wound in the leg, which will render him a cripple for life.” The general, too, was going. During the night following the 15th of April, he had been at work with Colonel Jones getting the Sixth together. On the morning of the 16th, he was in the cars, as usual, going to Boston, and with him rode Mr. James G. Carney, of Lowell, president of the Bank of Redemption, in Boston. “ The governor will want money,” said the general. “ Can not the Bank of Redemption offer a temporary loan of fifty thousand dollars to help off the troops ?” It can, and shall, was the reply, in substance, of the president ; and in the course of the morning, a note offering the loan was in the governor’s hands. General Butler went not to court that morning. As yet, no brigadier had been ordered into service, but there was one brigadier who was on fire to serve ; one who, from the first summons, had been resolved to go, and to stay to the end of the fight, whether he went as private or as lieutenant-general. Farewell the learned plea, and the big fees that swell the lawyers’ bank account ! Farewell the spirit-stirring speech, the solemn bench, and all the pomp and circumstance of glorious law! General Butler’s occupation was about to be changed. He telegraphed to Mr. Wilson, asking him to remind Mr. Cameron, that a brigade required a brigadier ; and back from Washington came an order calling for a brigade of four full regiments, to be commanded by a brigadier-general. That point gained, the next was to induce Governor Andrew to select the particular brigadier whom General Butler had in his mind when he dispatched the telegram to Mr. Wilson. There MASSACHUSETTS READY. 69 were two whose commissions were of older date than his own ; General Adams and General Pierce ; the former sick, the latter de- siring the appointment. General Pierce had the advantage of being a political ally of the governor. On the other hand, General But- ler had suggested the measures which enabled the troops to take the field, had got the loan of fifty thousand dollars, had procured the order for a brigadier. He was, moreover, Benjamin F. Butler, a gentleman not unknown in Boston, though long veiled from the general view by a set of obstinately held unpopular political opin- ions. These considerations, aided, perhaps, by a little wire-pulling, prevailed; and in the morning of the P7th, at ten o’clock, he re- ceived the order to take command of the troops. All that day he worked as few men can work. There were a thousand things to do ; but there were a thousand willing hearts and hands to help. The Sixth regiment was off in the afternoon, addressed before it moved by Governor Andrew and General But- ler. Two regiments were embarked on board a steamer for Fort- ress Monroe, then defended by two companies of regular artillery — a tempting prize for the rebels. Late at night, the General went home to bid farewell to his family, and prepare for his final de- parture. The next morning, back again to Boston, accompanied by his brother, Colonel Andrew Jackson Butler, who chanced to be on a visit to his ancient home, after eleven years’ residence in California ; where, with Broderick and Hooker, he had already done battle against the slave power, the lamented Broderick having died in his arms. He served now as a volunteer aid to the General, - and rendered good service on the eventful march. At Boston, General Butler stopped at his accustomed barber-shop. While he was under the artist’s hands, a soldier of the departed Sixth regi ment came in sorrowful, begging to be excused from duty ; saying that he had left his wife and three children crying. “ I am not the man for you to come to, sir,” said the General, “ for I have just done the same,” and straightway sent for a police- man to arrest him as a deserter. A hurried visit to the steamer bound for F ortress Monroe. All } was in readiness there. Then to the Eighth regiment, in the Com- mon, which he was to conduct to Washington, by way of Balti- more ; no intimation of the impending catastrophe to the Sixth having yet been received. The Eighth marched to the cars, and 10 MASSACHUSETTS READY. rolled away from the depot, followed by the benedictions of assem- bled Boston ; saluted at every station on the way by excited mul- titudes. At Springfield, where there was a brief delay to procure from the armory the means of repairing muskets, the regiment was joined by a valuable company, under Captain Henry S. Briggs. Thence, to 1ST ew Y ork. The Broadway march of the regiment ; their breakfast at the Metropolitan and Astor ; their push through the crowd to Jersey City; the tumultuous welcome in New Jersey; the continuous roar of cheers across the state ; the arrival at Phila- delphia in the afternoon of the memorable nineteenth of April, who can have forgotten ? Fearful news met the general and the regiment at the depot. The Sixth regiment, in its march through Baltimore that afternoon, had been attacked by the mob, and there had been a conflict, in which men on both sides had fallen ! So much was fact ; but, as inevitably happens at such a time, the news came with appalling exaggerations, which could not be corrected ; for soon the tele- graph ceased working, the last report being that the bridges at the Maryland end of the railroad were burning, and that Washington, threatened with a hostile army, was isolated and defenseless. Never, since the days when “ General Benjamin Franklin” led a little army of Philadelphians against the Indians after Braddock’s defeat, the Indians ravaging and scalping within sixty miles of the city, and expected soon to appear on the banks of the Schuylkill, had Philadelphia been so deeply moved with mingled anger and apprehen- sion. The first blood shed in a war sends a thrill of rage and horror through all hearts, and this blood shed in Baltimore streets, was that of the countrymen, the neighbors, the relatives of these newly arrived troops. A thousand wild rumors filled the air, and nothing was too terrible to be believed. He was the great man of the group, who had the most incredible story to tell ; and each listener went his way to relate the tale with additions derived from his own frenzied imagination. General Butler’s orders directed him to march to Washington by way of Baltimore. That having become impossible, the day being far spent, his men fatigued, and the New York Seventh coming, he marched his regiment to the vacant Girard House for a night’s rest, where hospitable, generous Philadelphia gave them bountiful en- tertainment. The regiment slept the sleep that tired soldiers know. i \ .MASSACHUSETTS READY. m For General Butler there was neither sleep nor rest that night, nor for his fraternal aid-de-camp. There was telegraphing to the governor of Massachusetts ; there were consultations with Commo- dore Dupont, commandant of the Navy Yard; there were inter- views with Mr. Felton, president of the Philadelphia and Baltimore railroad, a son of Massachusetts, full of patriotic zeal, and prompt with needful advice and help ; there was poring over maps and gazetteers. Meanwhile, Colonel A. J. Butler was out in the streets, buying pickaxes, shovels, tinware, provisions, and all that was necessary to enable the troops to take the field, to subsist on army rations, to repair bridges and railroads, and to throw up breast- works. All Maryland was supposed to be in arms ; but the gen- eral was going through Maryland. Before the evening was far advanced, he had determined upon a plan of operations, and summoned his officers to make them ac- quainted with it — not to shun responsibility by asking their opin- ion, nor to waste precious time in discussion. They found upon his table thirteen revolvers. He explained his design, pointed out its probable and its possible dangers, and said that, as some might censure it as rash and reckless, he was resolved to take the sole responsibility himself. Taking up one of the revolvers, he invited every officer who was willing to accompany him to signify it by accepting a pistol. The pistols were all instantly appropriated. The officers departed, and the general then, in great haste, and amid ceaseless interruptions, sketched a memorandum of his plan, to be sent to the governor of Massachusetts after his departure, that his friends might know, if he should be swallowed up in the maelstrom of secession, what he had intended to do. Many sen- tences of this paper betray the circumstances in which they wmre written. “My proposition is to join with Colonel Lefierts of the Seventh regiment of New York. I propose to take the fifteen hundred troops to Annapolis, arriving there to-morrow about four o’clock, and occupy the capital of Maryland, and thus call the state to ac- count for the death of Massachusetts men, my friends and neigh- bors. If Colonel Lefierts thinks it more in accordance with the tenor of his instructions to wait rather than go through Baltimore, I still propose to march with this regiment. I propose to occupy the town, and hold it open as a means of communication. I have then 12 MASSACHUSETTS READY. but to advance by a forced march of thirty miles to reach the capi- tal, in accordance with the orders I at first received, but which sub- sequent events in my judgment vary in their execution, believing from the telegraphs that there will be others in great numbers to aid me. Being accompanied by officers of more experience, who will be able to direct the affair, I think it will be accomplished. We have no light batteries ; I have therefore telegraphed to Gover- nor Andrew to have the Boston Light Battery put on shipboard at once, to-night, to help me in marching on Washington. In pursu- ance of this plan, I have detailed Captains Bevereux and Briggs, with their commands, to hold the boat at Havre de Grace. “ Eleven, a. m. Colonel Lefferts has refused to march with me. I go alone at three o’clock, r. m., to execute this imperfectly writ- ten plan. If I succeed, success will justify me. If I fail, purity of intention will excuse want of judgment or rashness.” The plan was a little changed in the morning, when the rumor prevailed that the ferry-boat at Havre de Grace had been seized and barricaded by a large force of rebels. The two companies were not sent forward. It was determined that the regiment should go in a body, seize the boat and use it for transporting the troops to Annapolis. “ I may have to sink or burn your boat,” said the general to Mr. Eelton. “ Ho so,” replied the president, and immediately wrote an order authorizing its destruction, if necessary. It had been the design of General Butler, as we have seen, to leave Philadelphia in the morning train ; but he delayed his depart- ure in the hope that Colonel Lefferts might be induced to share in the expedition. The Seventh had arrived at sunrise, and General Butler made known his plan to Colonel Lefferts, and invited his co-operation. That officer, suddenly intrusted with the lives (but the honor also) of nearly a thousand of the flower of the young men of New York, was overburdened with a sense of responsi- bility, and felt it to be his dirty to consult his officers. The con- sultation was long, and, I believe, not harmonious, and the result was, that the Seventh embarked in the afternoon in a steamboat at Philadelphia, with the design of going to Washington hy the Potomac river, leaving to the men of Massachusetts the honor and the danger of opening a path through Maryland. It is impossible MASSACHUSETTS READY. 73 for a ISTew Yorker, looking at it in the light of subsequent events, not to regret, and keenly regret, the refusal of officers of the favorite Yew York regiment to join General Butler in his bold and wise movement. But they had not the light of subsequent events to aid them in their deliberations, and they, doubtless, thought that their first duty was to hasten to the protection of Washington, and avoid the risk of detention by the way. It happened on this occa- sion, as in so many others, that the bold course was also the pru- dent and successful one. The Seventh was obliged, after all, to •take General Butler’s road to Washington. At eleven in the morning of the twentieth of April, the Eighth Massachusetts regiment moved slowly away from the depot in Broad street toward Havre de Grace, where the Susquehannah river emp- ties into the Chesapeake Bay— forty miles from Philadelphia, sixty-four from Annapolis. General Butler went through each car explaining the plan of attack, and giving the requisite orders. His design was to halt the train one mile from Havre de Grace, advance his two best drilled companies as skirmishers, follow quickly with the regiment, rush upon the barricades and carry them at the point of the bayonet, pour headlong into the ferry- boat, drive out the rebels, get up steam and start for Annapolis. Having assigned to each company its place in the line, and giv- en all due explanation to each captain, the general took a seat and instantly fell asleep. And now, the bustle being over, upon all those worthy men fell that seriousness, that solemnity, which comes to those who value their lives, and whose lives are valuable to others far away, but who are about, for the first time, to incur mortal peril for a cause which they feel to be greater and dearer than life. Goethe tells us that valor can neither be learned nor forgotten. I do not believe it. Certainly, the first peril does, in some degree, appall the firmest heart, especially when that peril is quietly approached on the easy ' seat of a railway car during a two hours’ ride. Scarcely a word • was spoken. Many of the men sat erect, grasping their muskets firmly, and looking anxiously out of the windows. One man blenched, and one only. The general was startled from i his sleep by the cry of, “ Man overboard !” The train was stopped. A soldier was seen running across the fields as though pursued by a mad dog. Mad Panic had seized him, and he had jumped from a 74 MASSACHUSETTS HEADY. car, incurring ten times the danger from which he strove to escape The general started a group of country people in pursuit, offering them the lawful thirty dollars if they brought the deserter to Havre de Grace in time. The train moved again ; the incident broke the sp. 'll, and the cars were filled with laughter. The man was brought hi. His sergeant’s stripe was torn from his arm, and he was glad to compound his punishment by serving the regiment in the capacity of a mfenial. At the appointed place, the train was stopped, the regiment was formed, and marched toward the ferry-boat, skirmishers in advance. It mustered thirteen officers and seven hundred and eleven men.* * EIGHTH KEGIMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS IEFAHTEY. FIELD AND STAFF. Colonel. ...... Timothy Munroe, Lynn. Afterwards Edward W. Hinks, Lynn. Lieutenant- Colonel Andrew El well, Gloucester. Major Ben. Perley Poore, Newburyport. Adjutant George Creasey, Newburyport. Quartermaster E. Alfred Ingalls, Lynn. Paymaster Poland G. Usher, Lynn. Surgeon Bowman B. Breed, Lynn. Assistant- Surgeon Warren Tapley, Lynn. Chaplain Gilbert Haven, Malden. Sergeant-Major John Goodwin, jr., Marblehead. Quartermaster - Ser g eant . . . Horace E. Monroe, Lynn. Drum-Major Samuel Roads, Marblehead. Total, Field and Staff 13 COMPANIES AND COMMANDERS. A) — Newburyport Captain Albert W. Bartlett, Newburyport. B, — Marblehead Captain Richard Philips, Marblehead C\ — Marblehead Captain Knott V. Martin, Marblehead..., — Lynn. Captain George T. Newhall, Lynn E \ — Beverly Captain Francis E. Porter, Beverly F , — Lynn Captain James Hudson, jr., Lynn O , — Gloucester Captain Addison Center, Gloucester If — Marblehead Captain Francis Boardman, Marblehead.. J, — Salem Captain Arthur F. Devereux, Salem -ptUv-ficirt j Captain Henry S. Briggs, Pittsfield ’ J 1 Captain Henry H. Richardson, Pittsfield. . 80 58 63 69 72 89 66 52 72 77 Total, Officers and Men 711 — Report of Adjutant- General Schouler , for 1SG1. antstapolis. 75 CHAPTER IV. ANTS' APOLIS. It was a false alarm. There was not an armed enemy at Havre de Grace. The ferry-boat Maryland lay at her moorings in the peaceful possession of her crew ; and nothing remained hut to get up steam, put on hoard a supply of coal, water and provisions, emhark the troops, and start for Annapolis. "Whether the captain and crew were loyal or treasonable — whether they were likely to steer the boat to Annapolis or to Baltimore, or run her ashore on some traitorous coast, were questions much dis- cussed among officers and men. The captain professed the most ardent loyalty, and General Butler was more inclined to trust him than some of his officers were. There were men on hoard, however, who knew the way to Annapolis, and were abundantly capable of navigating any craft on any sea. It was resolved, therefore, to permit the captain to command the steamer, but to keep a sharp lookout ahead, and an unobserved scrutiny of the engine-room. Upon the first' indication of treachery, captain and engineers should find themselves in an open boat upon the Chesapeake, or stowed away in the hold, then’ places supplied with seafaring Marbleheaders. Never before, I presume, had such a variously skilled body of men gone to war as the Massachusetts Eighth. It was not merely that all trades and professions had their representatives among them, but some of the companies had almost a majority of college-bred men. Major Winthrop did not so much exaggerate when he said, that if the word were given, “ Poets to the front !” or “ Painters present arms !” or “ Sculptors charge bayonets !” a baker’s dozen out of every company would respond. Navigating a steamboat was the simplest of all tasks to many of them. At six in the evening they were off, packed as close as negroes in the steerage of a slave ship. Darkness closed in upon them, and the men lay down to sleep, each with his musket in his hands. The general, in walking from one part of the boat to another, stumbled over and trod upon many a growling sleeper. He was too anxious 4 78 ANNAPOLIS. upon the still unsettled point of the captain’s fidelity to sleep; so he went prowling about among the prostrate men, exchanging notes I with those who had an eye upon the compass, and with those who were observing the movements of the engineers. There were mo- ! ments when suspicion was strong in some minds ; but captain and engineers did their duty, and at midnight the boat was olf the ancient city of Annapolis. They had, naturally enough, expected to come upon a town wrapped in midnight slumber. There was no telegraphic or other communication with the North; how could Annapolis, then, know that they were coming? It certainly could not; yet the whole town was evidently awake and astir. Rockets shot up into the sky. Swiftly moving lights were seen on shore, and all the houses in sight were lighted up. The buildings of the Naval Academy were lighted. There was every appearance of a town in extreme commotion. It had been General Butler’s intention to land quietly while the city slept, and astonish the dozing inhabitants in the morning with a brilliantly executed reveille. Noting these signs of disturbance, he cast anchor, and determined to delay his landing till daylight. Colonel Andrew Jackson Butler volunteered to go on shore alone, and endeavor to ascertain the cause of the commotion. He was almost the only man in the party who wore plain clothes. The general consenting, a boat was brought round to the gang- way, and Colonel Butler stepped into it. As he did so, he handed his revolver to a friend, saying, that he had no intention of fighting a town full of people, and if he was taken prisoner, he preferred that his pistol should fight, during the war, on the Union side. The brother in command assured him, that if any harm came to him in Annapolis, it would be extremely bad for Annapolis. The gallant colonel settled himself to his work, and glided away into the dark- ness. The sound of oars was again heard, and a boat was descried ap- . proaching the steamer. A voice from the boat said : “ What steamer is that ?” The steamer was as silent as though it were filled with dead men. “ What steamer is that ?” repeated the voice. No answer. The boat seemed to be making off. AJ5TNAP0LIS. 77 “ Come on board,” thundered General Butler. No reply from the boat. “ Come on board, or I’ll fire into you,” said the general. The boat approached, and came alongside. It was rowed by four men, and in the stern sat an officer in the uniform of a lieuten- ant of the United States navy. The officer stepped on board, and was conducted by General Butler to his cabin, where, the door being closed, a curious colloquy ensued. “ Who are you ?” asked the lieutenant. “ Who are you f" said the general. He replied that he was Lieutenant Matthews, attached to the Naval Academy, and was sent by Captain Blake, commandant of the post, and chief of the Naval Academy, who directed him to say that they must not land. He had, also, an order from Governor Hicks to the same effect. The United States quartermaster, too, had requested him to add from Lieutenant General Scott, that there were no means of transportation at Annapolis. General Butler was still uncommunicative. Both gentlemen were in a distrustful state of mind. The truth was that Captain Blake had been, for forty-eight hours, in momentary expectation of an irruption of “ plug uglies” from Baltimore, either by sea or land. He was surrounded by a popula- tion stolidly hostile to the United States. The school-ship Consti- tution, which lay at the academy wharf, was aground, and weakly manned. He had her guns shotted, and was prepared to fight her to the last man ; but she was an alluring prize to traitors, and he was in dread of an overpowering force. “ Large parties of seces- sionists,” as the officers of the ship afterward testified, “ were round the ship every day, noting her assailable points. The militia of the county were drilled in sight of the ship in the day time ; during the night signals were exchanged along the banks and across the river, but the character of the preparation, and the danger to the town in case of an attack, as one of the batteries of the ship was pointed directly upon it, deterred them from carrying out their'plans. Dur- ing this time the Constitution had a crew of about twenty-five men, I and seventy-six of the youngest class of midshipmen, on board. The ship drawing more water than there was on the bar, the seces- ! sionists thought she would be in their power whenever they would be in sufficient force to take her.” In these circumstances, Captain . 78 AXNAPOLIS. Blake, a native of Massachusetts, who had grown gray in his coun- try’s service, as loyal and steadfast a heart as ever beat, was, tor- tured with anxiety for the safety of the trust which his country had committed to him. Upon seeing the steamer, he had conclud- ed that here, at last, were the Baltimore ruffians, come to seize his ship, and lay waste the academy. Secessionists in the town were prepared to sympathize, if not to aid in the fell business. All Annapolis, for one reason or another, was in an agony of desire to know who and what these portentous midnight voyagers were. Captain Blake, his ship all ready to open fire, had sent the lieuten- ant to make certain that the new-comers were enemies, before begin- ning the congenial work of blowing them out of the water. General Butler and the lieutenant continued for some time to question one another, without either of them arriving at a satis, factory conclusion as to the loyalty of the other. The general, at length, announced his name, and declared his intention of marching by way of Annapolis to the relief of Washington. The lieutenant informed him that the rails were torn up, the cars removed, and the people unanimous against the marching of any more troops over the soil of Maryland. The general intimated that the men of his command could dispense with rails, cars, and the consent of the people. They were hound to the city of Washington, and expected to make their port. Meanwhile, he would send an officer with him on shore, to confer with the governor of the state, and the authori ties of the city. Captain P. Haggerty, aid-de-camp, was dispatched upon this errand. He was conveyed to the town, where he was soon con- ducted to the presence of the governor and the mayor, to whom he gave the requisite explanations, and declared General Butler’s intention to land. Those dignitaries finding it necessary to confer together, Captain Haggerty was shown into an adjoining room, where he was discovered an hour or two later, fast asleep on a lounge. Lieu- tenant Matthews was charged by the governor with two short notes to General Butler, one from himself, and another from the aforesaid quartermaster. The document signed by the governor, read as follows : “ I would most earnestly advise, that you do not land your men at Annapolis. The excitement is very great, and I think it prudent that you should take your men elsewhere. I have AN3TAPOLIS. 79 telegraphed to the secretary of war against yonr landing your men here.” This was addressed to the “ Commander of the Volunteer troops on Board the Steamer.” The quartermaster, left Captain Morris J. Miller, wrote thus: “ Having been intrusted by General Scott with the arragnements for transporting your regiments hence to W ashington, and it being impracticable to procure cars, I recommend, that the troops re- main on board the steamer until further orders can be received from General Scott.” This appears to have been a mere freak of the captain’s imagina- tion, since no troops were expected at Annapolis by GeneralScott. Captain Haggerty returned on board “the steamer,” and the notes were delivered to the general commanding. What had befallen Colonel Butler, meanwhile ? Upon leaving the steamer, he rowed toward the most prominent object in view, and soon foimd himself alongside of what proved to be a wharf of the Naval Academy. He had no sooner fastened his boat, and stepped ashore, than he was seized by a sentinel, who asked him what he wanted. “ I want to see the commander of the post.” To Captain Blake he was, accordingly, taken. Colonel Butler is a tall, fully developed, imposing man, devoid of the slightest resem- blance to the ideal “ Plug Ugly.” Captain Blake, venerable with years and faithful service on many seas, in many lands, was not a person likely to be mistaken for a rebel. Yet these two gentlemen eyed one another with intense distrust. The navy had not then been sifted of all its traitors ; and upon the mind of Captain Blake, the apprehension of violent men from Baltimore had been working for painful days and nights. He received the stranger with reticent civility, and invited him to be seated. Probing questions were asked by both, eliciting vague replies, or none. These two men were Tankees, and each was resolved that the other should declare him- self first. After long fencing and “beating about the bush,” Col- onel Butler expressed himself thus : “ Captain Blake, we may as well end this now as at any other time. They are Yankee troops on board that boat, and if I don’t get back pretty soon, they will open fire upon you.” The worthy Captain drew a long breath of relief. Pull explana- 80 ANNAPOLIS. tions on both sides followed, and Captain Blake said he would visit General Butler at daybreak. Colonel Butler returned on board the Maryland. The general was soon ready with replies to the notes of Governor Hicks and Captain Miller. To the governor : “ I had the honor to receive your note by the hands of Lieutenant Matthews of the United States Naval i School at Annapolis. I am sorry that your excellency should advise against my landing here. I am not provisioned for a long voyage. Finding the ordinary means of communication cut off by the burning of railroad bridges by a mob, I have been obliged to make this detour, and hope that your excellency will see, from the very necessity of the case, that there is no cause of excitement in the mind of any good citizen because of our being driven here by an extraordinary casualty. I should, at once, obey, however, an order from the secretary of war.” To Cajitain Miller : “ I am grieved to hear that it is impractica- ble for you to procure cars for the carriage of myself and command to Washington, D. C. Cars are not indispensable to our progress. I am not instructed that you were to arrange for the transporting of my command ; if so, you would surely have been instructed as to our destination. We are accustomed to much longer journeys on foot in pursuance of our ordinary avocations. I can see no objec- tion, however, to our remaining where we are until such time as orders may be received from General Scott. But without further explanation from yourself, or greater inconveniences than you sug- gest, I see no reason why I should make such delay. Hoping for the opportunity of an immediate personal interview, I remain, etc.” Captain Blake came off to the steamer at dawn of day, and soon found himself at home among his countrymen. “ Can you help me off with the Constitution ? Will your orders permit you ?” “ I have got no orders,” replied the general. “ I am making war on my own hook. But we can’t be wrong in saving the Constitu- tion. That is, certainly, what we came to do.” How the regiment now went to work with a will to save the I Constitution ; how the Maryland moved up along side, and put on board the Salem Zouaves for a guard, and a hundred Marblelieaclers for sailors ; how they tugged, and tramped, and lightened, and AJSTtvAPOLIS. 81 heaved, and tugged, and tugged again ; how groups of sulkj secesh stood scowling around, muttering execrations ; how the old frigate was started from her bed of mud at length, amid such cheers as Annapolis had never heard before, and has not heard since Cap- tain Blake bursting into tears of joy after the long strain upon his nerves ; these things have been told, and have not been forgotten. But the ship was not yet safe, though she was moving slowly toward safety. General Butler had now been positively assured that the captain of his ferry-boat was a traitor at heart, and would like nothing better than to run both steamer and frigate on a mud bank. He doubted the statement, which indeed was false. The man was half paralyzed with terror, and was thinking of nothing but how to get safely out of the hands of these terrible men. Nevertheless, the general deemed it best to make a remark or two by way of fortifying his virtuous resolutions, and neutralizing any hints he may have received from people on the shore. The engine- room he knew was conducted in the interest of the United States, for he had given it in charge to four of his own soldiers. He had no man in his command who happened to be personally acquainted with the shallows of the river Severn. “ Captain,” said he, “ have you faith in my word?” “ Yes,” said the captain. “ I am told that you mean to run us aground. I think not. If you do, as God lives, and you live, I’ll blow your brains out.” The poor captain, upon hearing these words, evinced symptoms of terror so remarkable, as to convince General Butler that if any mishap befell the vessels, it would not be owing to any disaffection on the part of the gentleman in the pilot-house. All seemed to be going well. The general dozed in his chair. He woke to find the Maryland fast in the mud. Believing the cap- tain’s protestations, and the navigation being really difficult, he did not molest his brains, which were already sufficiently discomposed, but ordered him into confinement. The frigate was still afloat, and was, soon after, towed to a safe distance by a tug. The Eighth Massachusetts could boast that it had rendered an important ser- vice. But there the regiment was upon a bank of mud ; provisions nearly consumed; water casks dry ; -and the sim doing its duty. There was nothing to be done but wait for the rising of the tide, and, in the mean time, to replenish the water casks from the shore. 82 ANISTAPOLIS. The men were tired and hungry, black with coal dust, and tor- mented with thirst, but still cheerful, and even merry ; and in the twilight of the Sunday evening, the strains of religious hymns rose from groups who, on the Sunday before, sang them in the choirs of village churches at home. The officers, as they champed their bis- cuit, and cut their pork with pocket knives, laughingly alluded to the superb breakfast given them on the morning of their departure from Philadelphia by Paran Stephens at the Continental. Mr. Stephens, a son of Massachusetts, had employed all the resources of his house in giving his countrymen a parting meal. The sudden plunge from luxury brought to the perfection of one of the tine arts, to army rations, scant in quantity, ill-cooked, and a short allowance of warm water, was the constant theme of jocular com- parison on board the Maryland. It was a well-worn joke, to call for delicate and ludicrously impossible dishes, which were remem- bered as figuring in the Continental’s bill of fare ; the demand being gravely answered by the allowance of a biscuit, an inch of salt pork, and a tin cup half full of water. General Butler improved the opportunity of going onshore. He met Governor Hicks and the mayor of Annapolis, who again urged him not to think of landing. All Maryland, they said, was on the point of rushing to arms ; the railroad was impassable, and guarded by armed men ; terrible things could not fail to happen, if the troops attempted to reach Washington. “ I must land,” said the general ; “ my men are hungry. I could not even leave without getting a supply of provisions.” They declared that no one in Annapolis would sell him anything. To which the general replied, that he hoped better things of the people of Annapolis ; but, in any case, a regiment of hungry soldiers were not limited to the single method of procuring supplies usually practiced in time of peace. There were modes of getting food other than the simple plan of purchase. Go to Washington he must and should, with or without the assistance of the people of Annapolis. The governor still refused his consent, and, the next day, put his refusal into writing ; “protesting against the movement, which, in the excited condition of the people of this state, I can not but con- sider an unwise step on the part of the government. But,” he added, “ I must earnestly urge upon you, that there shall be no halt made by the troops in this city.” No halt? Seven hundred AXXAPOLIS. 83 and twenty-four famishing men, with a march of thirty miles before them, were expected to pass by a city abounding in provisions, and not halt ! Great is Buncombe ! Another night was passed on board the Maryland. The dawn of Monday morning brought with it a strange apparition — a steamer approaching from the sea, crammed with troops, their arms soon glittering in the rays of the rising sun. Who could they be ? They cheered the stars and stripes waving from the mast of the rescued Constitution ; so they were not enemies, at least. The steamer proved to be the Boston, with the New York Seventh on board, thirty-six hours from Philadelphia. They had steamed toward the mouth of the Potomac, but, on speaking the light-ships, were repeatedly told that the secessionists had stationed batteries of artillery on the banks of the river, for the purpose of preventing the ascent of troops. There was no truth iu the story, but it seemed probable enough at that mad time; and, therefore, Colonel Lefferts, after the usual consultation, deemed it most pru- dent to change his course, and try General Butler’s road to the capital ; the regiment by no means relishing the change. The two regiments exchanged vigorous volleys of cheers, and preparations were soon made for getting the Maryland afloat. General Butler, counting now upon Colonel Lefferts’s hearty co- operation, issued to his own troops a cheering order of the day : — At five o’clock a, m. the troops will be called by companies to be drilled in the manual of arms, especially in loading at will and firing by file in the use of the bayonet, and these specialties will be observed in all subsequent drills in the manual ; such drills will continue until 7 o’clock ; then all the arms may be stacked upon the upper deck, great care being taken to instruct the men as to the mode of stacking their arms, so that a firm stack, not easily overturned, shall be made. Being obliged to drill at times with the weapons loaded, great damage may be done by the overturning of the stack and the dis- charge of apiece. This is important. Indeed, an accident has already oc- curred in the regiment from this cause, and although slight in its consequences, yet it warns us to increased diligence in this regard. '•The purpose which could only be hinted at in the orders of yesterday has been accomplished. The frigate Constitution has lain for a long time at this port substantially at the mercy of the armed mob which sometimes paralyzes the otherwise loyal state of Maryland. Deeds of daring, success- ful contests, and glorious victories had rendered Old Ironsides so conspicuous in the naval history of the country, that she was fitly chosen as the school 4 * 84 AiTNAJPOLIS. in which to train tne future officers of the navy to like heroic acts. It was given to Massachusetts and Essex County first to man her ; it was reserved to Massachusetts to have the honor to retain her for the service of the Union and the laws. This is a sufficient triumph ot right — a sufficient triumph for us. By this the blood of our friends shed by the Baltimore mob is in so far avenged. The Eighth regiment may hereafter cheer lustily upon all proper occasions, but never without orders. The old ‘ Constitution.’ by their efforts, aided untiringly by the United States officers having her in charge, is now safely ‘possessed, occupied, and enjoyed’ by the government of the United States, and is safe from all her enemies. “ We have been joined by the Seventh regiment of New York, and together we propose peaceably, quietly, and civilly, unless opposed by some mob or other disorderly persons, to march to Washington in obedience to the re- quisition of the President of the United States ; and if opposed, we shall march steadily forward. My next order, I hardly know how to express. I cannot assume that any of the citizen soldiery of Massachusetts or New York could, under any circumstances whatever, commit any outrages upon private property in a loyal and friendly state; but fearing that some im- proper person may have, by stealth, introduced himself among us, I deem it proper to state that any unauthorized interference with private property will be most signally punished, and full reparation therefor be made to the injured party, to the full extent of my power and ability. In so doing I but carry out the orders of the War Department. I should have done so with- out those orders. “ Colonel Monroe will cause these orders to be read at the head of each com- pany before we march. Colonel Lefferts’s command not having been originally included in this order, he will be furnished with a copy for his instruction.” The Maryland could not he floated. The men threw overboard coal and crates, and all heavy articles that could be spared. The Boston tugged her strongest. The Eighth ran in masses from side to side, and from end to end. After many hours of strenuous exer- tion, the men suffering extremely from thirst and hunger, the gene- ral himself not tasting a drop of liquid for twelve hours, the attempt was given up, and it was resolved that the Boston should land the Seventh at the grounds of the Naval Academy, and then convey to the same place the Massachusetts Eighth. Desirous not to seem wanting in courtesy to a sovereign state, General Butler now sent to Governor Hicks, a formal written request for permission to land. The answer being delayed and his men almost fainting for water, he then dispatched a respectful note announcing his intention to land forthwith. It was to these notes AjVXAPOLIS. 85 that Governor Hicks sent the reply, already quoted, protesting against the landing, and urging that no halt be made at Annapolis. In the course of the afternoon, both regiments were safely landed at the academy grounds, and the Seventh hastened to share all they had of provender and drink with their new friends. The men of the two regiments fraternized immediately and completely ; nothing occurred, during the laborious days and nights that followed, to disturb, for an instant, the perfect harmony that reigned between them. The only contest was, which should do most to help, and cheer, and relieve the other. I regret to be obliged to state that this pleasant state of affairs did not extend at all times, to the powers controlling the two regiments. An obstacle, little expected, now arose in General Butler’s path. From the moment when the Seventh had entered the grounds of the naval school, systematic attempts appear to have been made to alarm Colonel Lefferts for the safety of his command. Messengers came in with reports that the academy was surrounded with rebel troops ; and even the loyal middies could testify, that during that very day, a force of Maryland militia had been drilling in the town itself. True, this force consisted of only one company of infantry and one of cavalry ; but probably the exact truth was not known to Colonel Lefferts’s informants. Certain it is, that he was made to believe that formidable bodies of armed men only waited the issue of the regiments from the gates of the walled inclosure in which they were, to give them battle, if, indeed, the inclosure itself was safe from attack. Accordingly he posted strong guards at the gates, and ordered that no soldier should be allowed to pass out. Nor were his apprehensions allayed when a Tribune reporter, who, ac- companied by two friends, had strolled all over the town unmolest- ed, brought back word that no enemy was in sight, and that the storekeepers of Annapolis were perfectly civil and willing to sell their goods to Union soldiers. Colonel Lefferts was assured that the hostile troops were purposely keeping out of sight, to fall upon the regiment where it could fight only at a fatal disadvantage. Consequently, he determined not to march with General Butler. He placed his refusal in writing, in the following words : — “ Annapolis, Academy, Monday Might, April 22d, 1861. “G-eneral B. F. Butlee, Commanding Massachusetts Volunteers. “ Sib:— Dpon consultation with my officers, I do not deem it proper, under 86 AjSTNAPOLIS. the circumstances, to co-operate in the proposed march by railroad, laying track as we go along — particularly in view of a large force hourly expected, and with so little ammunition as wo possess. I must be governed by my officers in a matter of so much importance. I have directed this to be handed to you upon your return from the transport ship. “I am, sir, yours respectfully, Maeshall Leffeets.” It was handed to the general on his return from the transport ship. He sought an interview with Colonel Lefferts, and endea- vored to change his resolve. Vain were arguments; vain remon- strance ; vain the biting taunt. Colonel Lefferts still refused to go. General Butler then said he would go alone, he and his regiment, and proceeded forthwith to prepare for their departure. He in- stantly ordered two companies of the Massachusetts Eighth to march out of the walled grounds of the academy, and seize the rail- road depot and storehouse. With the two companies, he marched himself to the depot, and took possession of it without opposition. At the storehouse, one man opposed them, the keeper in charge. “ What is inside this building ?” asked the general. “ Nothing,” replied the man. “ Give me the key.” “ I hav’nt got it.” “Where is it ?” “ I don’t know.” “ Boys, can you force those gates ?” The boys expressed an abundant willingness to try. “Try, then.” They tried. The gates yielded, and flew open. A small, rusty, damaged locomotive was found to be the “ noth- ing,” which the building held. “ Does any one here know anything about this machine ?” Charles Homans, a private of company E, eyed the engine for a moment, and said : “ Our shop made that engine, general. I guess I can put her in order and run her.” “ Go to work, and do it.” Charles Homans picked out a man or two to help, and began, at once, to obey the order. Leaving a strong guard at the depot, the general viewed the a’ack, and ascertained that the rails had, indeed, been torn up, and ANNAPOLIS. 87 thrown aside, or carelessly hidden. Returning to the regiment, he ordered a muster of men accustomed to track-laying ; who, with the dawn of the next day, should begin to repair the road. At simset that evening, the Seventh regiment, to the delight of a concourse of midshipmen and other spectators, performed a brilliant evening parade, to the music of a full band. Two members of this regiment (many more than two, but two especially), preferred the work that General Butler was doing, and implored him to give them an humble share in it. One of them was Schuyler Hamilton, grandson of one of the men whose names he bore, and great-grandson, of the other ; since distinguished in the war, and now General Hamilton. The other was Theodore Winthrop. General Butler found a place on his staff for Schuyler Hamilton, who rendered services of the utmost value ; he was wise in counsel, valkant and prompt to execute. To Winthrop the general said : “Serve out your time in your regiment. Then come to me, wherever I am, and I will find something for you to do.” Happily, a change came over the minds of the officers of the'' Seventh the next morning. As late as three o’clock at night, Colonel Lefferts was still resolved to remain at Annapolis ; for, at that hour, he sent off a messenger, in an open boat, for New York, bearing dispatches asking for reinforcements and supplies. He informed the messenger that he had certain information of the presence of four rebel regiments at the Junction, where the grand attack was to be made upon the passing troops. But when the day dawned, and the cheering sun rose, and it became clear that the Massachusetts men at the depot had not been massacred, and were certainly going to attempt the march, then the officers of the Seventh came into General Butler’s scheme, and agreed to join their breth- ren of Massachusetts. From that time forward, there was no hang- ing back. Both regiments worked vigorously in concert — Win- throp foremost among the foremost, all ardor, energy and merri- ment. Campaigning was an old story to him, who had roamed the world o^ er in quest of adventure ; and few men, of the thousands who were then rushing to the war, felt the greatness and the holi- ness of the cause as he felt it. Before leaving home, he had solemnly given his life to it, and, in so doing, tasted, for the first time, perhaps, a joy that satisfied him. 88 ANISTAPOLIS. It would be unfair to censure Colonel Lefferts for his excessive prudence. He really believed the stories told him of the resistance he was to meet on the way. Granting that those tales were true, his course was, perhaps, correct. The. general had one great advan- tage over him in the nature of his professional training. General Butler is one of the most vigorous and skillful cross-questioners in New England. In other words, he had spent twenty years of his life in detecting the true from the plausible ; in dragging up half- drowned Truth, by her dripping locks, from the bottom of her well. Such practice gives a man at last a kind of intuitive power of detecting falsehood ; he acquires a habit of balancing probabilities, he scents a lie from afar. Doubtless, he believed their march might be opposed at some favorable point ; but, probably, he had too a tolerable certainty that slow, indolent, divided Maryland, could not, or would not, on such short notice, assemble a force on the line of railroad, capable of stopping a Massachusetts regiment bound to Washington on a legitimate errand. He had had, at Havre de Grace, a striking instance of the difference between truth and ru- mor, and his whole life had been full of such experiences. Colonel Lefferts, as a New York merchant, had passed his life among people who generally speak the truth, and keep their word. He was unprepared to believe that a dozen people could come to him, all telling substantially the same story, many of them believing what they told, and yet all uttering falsehoods. ~Lb Tuesday was a busy day of preparation for the march. Rails' were hunted up and laid. Parties were pushed out in many direc- tions but found no armed enemies. Lieutenant-Colonel Hinks, with two companies of the Massachusetts Eighth, advanced along the railroad three miles and a half, without meeting the slightest appearance of opposition. Soldiers strolled about the town, and discovered that the grimmest secessionist was not unwilling to exchange such commodities as he had for coin of the United States. Negroes gave furtive signs of good will, and produced baskets of cakes for sale. Madame Rumor was extremely diligent ; there were bodies of cavalry here, and batteries of artillery there, and gangs of Plug-Uglies coming from terrible Baltimore. The soldiers worked away, unmolested by anything more formidable than vague threats of cominsr vengeance. General Butler received and wrote divers brief epistles in the ANTSTAPOLIS. 8 ^ course of the day. Early in the morning he took the liberty of in- quiring of the master of transportation, whether the rails of the road had been taken up “ for the purpose of hindering the transpor- tation of the United States militia under my charge to Washington. An immediate and explicit answer is desired.” An immediate and explicit answer was returned, that the rails had been removed for the purpose mentioned ; a mob having threatened to destroy the road if any troops of the United States should pass over it to Wash- ington. The master of transportation desired to know by what authority General Butler had taken possession of the property of the railroad company. The general replied : “ I will answer your inquiry with the same explicitness that you did mine. My authority is the order of the government. My jus- tification, the necessity for transportation. Your reparation, the pledge of the faith of the government.” He also informed the gentleman that a list of the property seized, and a receipt therefor, had been given to the person found in charge. A startling rumor prevailed in the morning that the negroes hi the vicinity of Annapolis were about to rise against their masters, and do something in the St. Domingo style — as per general expec- tation. The commanding general thought it proper to address to Governor Hicks the letter which became rather famous in those days : “I did myself the honor, in my communication of yesterday, wherein I asked permission to land on the soil of Maryland, to inform you that the portion of the militia under my command were armed only against the disturbers of the peace of the state of Mary- land and of the United States. “ I have understood within the last hour that some apprehension is entertained of an insurrection of the negro population of this neighborhood. I am anxious to convince all classes of persons that the forces under my command are not here in any way to interfere, or countenance an interference, with the laws of the state. I, there- fore, am ready to co-operate with your excellency in suppi'essing most promptly and efficiently any insurrection against the laws of the state of Maryland. I beg, therefore, that you announce publicly, that any portion of the forces under my command is at your excellency’s disposal, to act immediately for the preservation of the peace of this community.” The governor gave immediate publicity to this letter, and it is 90 ANNAPOLIS. said to have had a remarkable effect in quieting the apprehensions of the people. Many who had lied from their homes returned to them, and gave aid and comfort to the troops. The governor, however, was still in a protesting humor. His next communi- cation to the general was the following : “ Having, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the constitu- tion of Maryland, summoned the legislature of the state to assemble on Friday, the 26th instant, and Annapolis being the place in which, according to law, it must assemble ; and having been credibly in- formed that you have taken military possession of the Annapolis and Elk Ridge railroad, I deem it my duty to protest against this step ; because, without at present assigning any other reason, I am informed that such occupation of said road will prevent the mem- bers of the legislature from reaching this city.” To which General Butler replied : “ You are correctly informed that I have taken possession of the Annapolis and Elk Ridge railroad. It might have escaped your notice, but at the official meeting which was had, between your excellency and the mayor of Annapolis and the committee of the government and myself, as to the landing of my troops, it was ex- pressly stated, as the reason why I should not land, that my troops could not pass the railroad, because the company had taken up the rails, and they were private property. It is difficult to see 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. I have taken possession for the purpose of preventing the execution of the threats of the mob, as officially represented to me by the master of transportation of the railroad in this city, ‘ that if my troops passed over the railroad, the railroad should be destroyed.’ “ If the government of the state had taken possession of the road in any emergency, I should have long hesitated before entering upon it ; but as I had the honor to inform your excellency in regard to another insurrection against the laws of Maryland, I am here armed to maintain those laws, if your excellency desires, and the peace of the United States against all disorderly persons whatsoever. I am endeavoring to save and not to destroy ; to obtain means of trans- portation, so that I can vacate the capital prior to the sitting of the legislature, and not be under the painful necessity of incumbering your beautiful city while the legislature is in session.” .VXXAPOI IS. 91 All was in readiness for the start before the men slept that night. The engine had been tried, and found sufficient. A few platform cars had been discovered. The general in command, issued the order for the march, in which he endeavored to provide for all probable events: “ The detachment of the Eighth, under command of Lieutenant- Colonel Hints, which has already pushed forward and occupied the railroad three and one-half miles, will remain at its advance until joined by two companies of the Hew Tort Seventh, which will take the train now in our possession, and push forward as far as the track is left uninjured by the mob. These companies will then leave the cars, and, throwing out proper skirmishers, carefully scour the country along the line of the road, while the working party of the Eighth is repairing the track ; taking care, however, not to advance so fast as not to be in reach of the main body, in case of an attack. The train of cars will return, and take up the advanced detachment of the Eighth now holding possession of the depot. These will again go forward as far as can be done with safety, on account of the state of the track, when they will leave the train, assist the party repairing it, and push forward as rapidly as possible, taking care that the track is put in order for the passage of the train. In the mean time, the train will return to the depot, and taking on board such a portion of the baggage as may be proper, will again go forward. The remaining portions of the Massachusetts and Hew York regiments will put themselves on the march, and consolidate the two regiments as rapidly as possible.” Minute directions fol- low respecting the supply of provisions, the halt of two hours in the middle of the day, the sacredness of private property, and the measures to be used, if the troops were attacked. Early the next morning, the troops were in motion. It was a bright, warm spring day, the sun gleaming along the line of bayo- nets, the groves vocal with birds, the air fragrant with blossoms. The engine driven by Charles Homans, — a soldier with fixed bayonet on each side of him, — came and went panting through the line of marching troops. As the sun climbed toward the zenith, the morning breeze died away, and the air in the deeper cuttings be- came suffocatingly warm. The working parties, more used to such a temperature, plied the sledge and the crowbar unflaggingly, but the daintier Hew Yorkers reeled under their heavy knapsacks, 92 -ANNAPOLIS. and were glad, at length, to leave them to the charge of Homans. With all their toil, the regiments could only advance at the rate of a mile an hour, for the farther they went, the more complete was the destruction of the road. Bridges had to he repaired, as well as rails replaced. A shower in the afternoon gave all parties a wel- come drenching, and left the atmosphere cool and bracing ; but when night closed in, and the moon rose, they were still many miles from the junction. “ O Gottschalk !” exclaims Winthrop, “ what a poetic night march we then began to play, with our heels and toes on the rail- road track !” “ It was full-moonlight and the night inexpressibly sweet and serene. The air was cool, and vivified by the gust and shower of the afternoon. Fresh spring was in every breath. Our fellows had forgotten that this morning they were hot and disgusted. Every one hugged his rifle as if it were the arm of the Girl of his Heart, and stepped out gayly for the promenade. Tired or foot-sore men, or even lazy ones, could mount upon the two freight-cars we were using for artillery-wagons. There were stout arms enough to tow the whole. “ It was an original kind of march. I suppose a battery of howit- zers never before found itself mounted upon cars, ready to open fire at once, and bang away into the offing with shrapnel or into the bushes with canister. Our line extended a half-mile along the track. It was beautiful to stand on the bank above a cutting and watch the files strike from the shadow of a wood into a broad flame of moonlight, every rifle sparkling up alert as it came forward. A beautiful sight to see the barrels writing themselves upon the dim- ness, each a silver flash. “ By-and-by, ‘ Halt !’ came, repeated along from the front, com- pany after company. ‘ Halt ! a rail gone.’ “ From this time on we were constantly interrupted. Hot a half- mile passed without a rail up. Bonnell was always at the front lay- ing track, and I am proud to say that he accepted me as aid-de- camp. Other fellows, unknown to me in the dark, gave nearly help. The Seventh showed that it could do something else than drill. “At one spot, on a high embankment over standing water,, the ’•ail was gone, sunk probably. Here we tried our rails, brought ANNAPOLIS. 93 from the turn-out. They were too short. We supplemented with a length of plank from our stores. We rolled our cars carefully over. They passed safe. But Homans shook his head. He could not venture a locomotive on that frail stuff. So Ave lost the society of the ‘ J. H. Nicholson.’ Next day the Massachusetts commander called for some one to dive in the pool for the lost rail. Plump into the water went a little wiry chap and grappled the rail. ‘ When I come up,’ says the brave fellow afterward to me, ‘ our officer out with a twenty-dollar gold piece and Avanted me to take it. ‘ That a'n’t what I come for,’ says I. ‘ Take it,’ says he, ‘ and share with the others.’ ‘ That a’n't what they come for,’ says I. But I took a big cold,’ the diver continued, ‘ and Pm condemned hoarse yit,’ — which was the fact. “Farther on Ave foimd a whole length of track torn up, on both sides, sleepers and all, and the same thing repeated with alternations of breaks of single rails. Our howitzer-ropes came into play to hoist and haul. We were not going to be stopped.” In the afternoon of the day folloAving, the Seventh marched by the White House, and saluted the President of the United States. N ot an armed foe had been seen by them on the way. It had been General Butler’s intention to accompany the troops to Washington ; but before they had started the steamer Baltic ar- rived, loaded with troops from New York, giving abundant em- ployment to the general and his extemporized staff. Before they had been disposed of, other vessels arrived, and, on the day fol- lowing, came an order from General Scott, directing General Butler to remain at Annapolis, hold the town and the road, and superin- tend the passage of the troops. Before the week ended, the “ de- partment of Annapolis,” embracing the country lying twenty miles on each side of the railroad, was created, and Brigadier-General Butler placed in command; with ample powers, extending even to the suspension of habeas corpus, and the bombardment of Annapo- lis, if such extreme measures should be necessary for the mainte- nance of the supremacy of the United States. During the next ten days, General Butler’s unequaled talent for the dispatch of business, and his unequaled powers of endurance, were taxed to the uttermost. Troops arrived, thousands in a day. The harbor Avas filled with transports. Every traveler from North or South was personally examined, and his passport indorsed by 94 ANNAPOLIS. the general in command. Spies were arrested. The legislature of Maryland was closely watched, and no secret was made of General Butler’s intention to arrest the entire majority if an ordinance ol secession was passed. It was not known to that body, I presume, that one of their officers had consigned to General Butler’s custody the Great Seal of the Common wealth, without which no act of theirs could acquire the validity of law. Such was the tact, however. In the total inexperience of commanding officers, every detail of the disembarkation, of the encampments, of the supply, and of the march, required the supervision of the general. From daylight until mid- night he labored, keeping chaos at bay. One night as the clock was striking twelve, when the general, after herculean toils, had cleared his office of the last bewildered applicant for advice or orders, and he was about to trudge wearily to bed, an anxious-looking corre- spondent of a newspaper came in. “ General,” said he, “ where am I to sleep to-night ?” This was, really, too much. “ Sir,” said the tired commander of the Department of Annapolis “ I have done to-day about everything that a man ever did in this world. But I am. not going to turn chambermaid, by Jove !” And, so saying, he escaped from the room. We need not linger at Annapolis. General Butler’s services there were duly appreciated by the president, the lieutenant-gen- eral, Governor Andrew, and the country. One act alone of his elicited any sign of disapproval ; it was his offer of the troops of Massachusetts to the governor of Maryland, to aid in suppressing an insurrection of the slaves. It is proper that we should place on convenient record here his reasons for that step, with the letter of Governor Andrew, which called them forth. GOVERNOR ANDREW TO GENERAL BUTLER. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Executive Department, Council Chamber, Boston, April 25, 1861. General : I have received, through Mayor Ames, a dispatch transmitted from Perryville, detailing the proceedings at Annapolis from the time of your arrival off that port until the hour when Major Ames left you to re- turn to Philadelphia. I wish to repeat the assurance of my entire satisfac- tion with the action you have taken, with a single exception. If I rightly Annapolis. 95 understood the telegraphic dispatch, I think that your action in tendering to Governor Hicks the assistance of our Massachusetts troops to suppress a threatened servile insurrection among the hostile people of Maryland was^ unnecessary. I hope that the fuller dispatches, which are on their way from you, may show reasons why I should modify my opinion concerning that particular instance ; but, in general, I think that the matter of servile insurrection among a community in arms against the Federal Union, is no longer to be regarded by our troops in a political, but solely in a military point of view, and is to be contemplated as one of the inherent weaknesses of the enemy, from the disastrous operations of which we are under no obligation of a military character to guard them, in order that they may be enabled to improve the security which our arms would afford, so as to prosecute with more energy their ftitorous attacks upon the Federal gov- ernment and capital. The mode in which such outbreaks are to be con- sidered, should depend entirely upon the loyalty or disloyalty of the com- munity in which they occur, and in the vicinity of Annapolis, I can, on this occasion, perceive no reason of military policy, why a force summoned to the defense of the Federal government, at this moment of all others, should be offered to be diverted from its immediate duty, to help rebels, who stand with arms in their hands, obstructing its progress toward the city of "W ashington. I entertain no doubt that whenever we shall have an opportunity to interchange our views personally on this subject, we shall arrive at entire concordance of opinion. Tours faithfully, John A. Andbew. GENEEAL BUTLEE TO GOVEENOE ANDBEW. Department of Annapolis, Head-quaetees, Annapolis, May 9, 1861 To His Excellency John A. Andeew, Governor and Commander-in-Chief Sie : — I have delayed replying to your excellency’s dispatch of the 25th April, in my other dispatches, because as it involved only disapprobation of an act done, couched in the kindest language, I supposed the interest of the country could not suffer in the delay ; and incessant labor up to the present moment, has prevented me giving full consideration to the topic. Temporary illness, which forbids bodily activity, gives me now a moment’s pause. The telegraph, with more than usual accuracy, had rightly informed your excellency that I had offered the services of the Massachusetts troops under my command to aid the authorities of Maryland in suppressing a threatened slave insurrection. Fortunately for us, all the rumor of such an outbreak was without substantial foundation. Assuming, as your excellency does, in your dispatch, that I was carrying on military operations in an enemy’s 96 ANNAPOLIS. country, when a war d Voutrcmce was to he waged, my act might ho a mat- ter of discussion. And in that view, acting in the light of the Baltimore murders, and the apparent hostile position of Maryland, your excellency might, without mature reflection, have come to the conclusion of disappro- bation expressed in your dispatch. But the facts, especially as now aided hy their results, will entirely justify my act, and reinstate me in your excel- lency’s good opinion. True, I landed on the soil of Maryland against the formal protest of its governor and of the corporate authorities of Annapolis, but without any armed opposition on their part, and expecting opposition only from insur- gents assembled in riotous contempt of the laws of the state. Before, by letter, and at the time of landing, by personal interview, I had informed Governor Hicks that soldiers of the ^Jnion, under my command, were armed only against the insurgents and disturbers of the peace of Maryland and of the United States. I received from Governor Hicks assurances of the loyalty of the state to the Union — assurances which subsequent events have fully justified. The .mayor of Annapolis also informed me that the city authorities would in no wise oppose me, but that I was in great dan- ger from the excited and riotous mobs of Baltimore pouring down upon me, and in numbers beyond the control of the police. I assured both the governor and the mayor that I had no fear of a Baltimore or other mob, and that, supported by the authorities of the state and city’ - , I should repress all hostile demonstrations against the laws of Maryland and the United States, and that I would protect both myself and the city of Annap- olis from any disorderly persons whatsoever. On the morning following my landing I was informed that the city of Annapolis and environs were in danger from an insurrection of the slave population, in defiance of the [ laws of the state. What was I to do ? I had promised to put down a white mob and to preserve and enforce the laws against that. Ought I to i allow a black one any preference in a breach of the laws? I understood that I was armed against all infractions of the law r s, -whether by white or black, and upon that understanding I acted, certainly with promptness and efficiency. And your excellency’s shadow of disapprobation, arising from a misunderstanding of the facts, has caused all the regret I have for that action. The question seemed to me to be neither military nor political, and was not to be so'treated. It was simply a question of good faith and hon- esty of purpose. The benign effect of my course was instantly seen. The good but timid people of Annapolis who had fled from their houses at our approach, immediately returned; business resumed its accustomed chan- l nels ; quiet and order prevailed in the city ; confidence took the place of ' distrust, friendship of enmity, brotherly kindness of sectional hate, and I believe to-day there is no city in*the Union more loyal than the city of Annapolis. I think, therefore, I may safely point to the results for my ANNAPOLIS. 97 justification. The vote of the neighboring county of "Washington, a few days since, for its delegate to the legislature, wherein 4,000 out of 5,000 votes were thrown for a delegate favorable to the Union, is among the many happy fruits of firmness of purpose, efficiency of action, and integrity of mission. I believe, indeed, that it will not require a personal inter- change of views, as suggested in your dispatch, to bring our minds in accordance ; a simple statement of the facts will suffice. But I am to act hereafter, it may be, in an enemy’s country, among a servile population, when the question may arise, as it has not yet arisen, as well in a moral and Christian, as in a political and military point of view. What shall I do ? Will your excellency bear with me a moment while this question is discussed? I appreciate fully your excellency’s suggestion as to the inherent weak- ness of the rebels, arising from the preponderance of their servile popula- tion. The question, then, is, In what manner shall we take advantage of that weakness ? By allowing, and, of course, arming, that population to rise upon the defenseless women and children of the country, carrying rapine, arson and murder — all the horrors of San Domingo, a million times magnified — among those whom we hope to reunite with us as brethren, many of whom are already so, and all who are worth preserving, will be, when this horrible madness shall have passed away or be threshed out of them? Would your excellency advise the troops under my command to make war in person upon the defenseless women and children of any part of the Union, accompanied with brutalities too horrible to be named? You will say, “God forbid!” If we may not do so in person, shall we arm others so to do, over whom we car. have no restraint, exercise no control, and who, when once they have tasted blood, may turn the very arms we put in their hands against ourselves, as a part of the oppressing white race ? The reading of history so familiar to your excellency, will tell you the bitterest cause of complaint which our fathers had against Great Britain in the war of the Revolution, was the arming by the British ministry of the red man with the tomahawk and the scalping-knife against the women and children of the colonies, so that the phrase, “ May we not use all the means which God and nature have put in our power to subjugate the colonies?” has passed into a legend of infamy against the leader of that ministry who used it in parliament. Shall history teach us in vain ? Could we justify ourselves to ourselves, although with arms in our hands, amid the savage wildness of camp and field, we may have blunted many of the finer moral sensibilities, in letting loose four millions of worse than savages upon the homes and hearths of the South? Can we be justified to the Christian community of Massachusetts? Would such a course be consonant with the teachings of our holy religion ? I have a very decided opinion upon the subject, and if any one desires, as I know your excellency does not, this 98 Annapolis. unhappy contest to be prosecuted in that manner, some instrument other than myself must he found to carry it on. I may not discuss the political bearings of this topic. When I went from under the shadow of my roof- tree, I left all politics behind me, to be resumed only when every part of the Union is loyal to the flag, and the potency of the government through the ballot-box is established. Passing the moral and Christian view, let us examine the subject as a military question. Is not that state already subjugated which requires the bayonets of those armed in opposition to its rulers, to preserve it from the horrors of a servile war? As the least experienced of military men, I would have no doubt of the entire subjugation of a state brought to that condition. When, therefore — unless I am better advised — any community in the United States, who have met me in honorable warfare, or even in the prosecution of a rebellious war in an honorable manner, shall call upon me for protection against the nameless horrors of a servile insurrection, they shall have it, and from the moment that call is obeyed, I have no doubt we shall he friends and not enemies. The possibility that dishonorable means of defense are to be taken by the rebels against the government, 1 do not now contemplate. If, as has been done in a single instance, my men are to be attacked by poison, or as in another, stricken down by the assassin’s knife, and thus murdered, the community using such weapons may be required to be taught that it holds within its own border a more potent means for deadly purposes and indis- criminate slaughter than any which it can administer to us. Trusting that these views may meet your excellency’s approval, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Benj. F. Butler. We all remember how universal the expectation was, at the be ginning of the war, that the negroes would everywhere embrace the opportunity to rise upon their masters, and commit frightful outrages. That expectation grew out of our general ignorance of the character and feelings of the southern negro ; and none of us were so ignorant upon these points as hunker democrats. If they had some acquaintance with slaveholders, they knew nothing about j slavery, because they would know nothing. It is a propensity of j the human mind, to put away from itself unwelcome truths. American democrats, I repeat, know nothing of American slavery. | It was pleasant and convenient for them to think, that Mr. Wen- i dell Phillips, Mr. Garrison, Mrs. Stowe, and Mr. Sumner, were per- sons of a fanatical cast of character, whose calm and very moderate I AJS^APOLIS. 09 exhibitions of slavery were totally beneath consideration — dis- torted, exaggerated, incredible. It was with the most sincere astonishment , that General Butler and his hunker staff discovered, when they stood face to face with slavery, and were obliged to ad- minister the law of it, and tried to do justice to the black man as well as to the white, that the worst delineations of slavery ever pre- sented to the public fell far short of the unimaginable truth.* They were ready to confess their ignorance of that of which they had been hearing and reading all their lives, and that this ‘ patriarchal institution,’ for which some of them had pleaded or apologized, was simply the most hellish thing that ever was in this world. Nevertheless, there has never been the slightest danger of an in- surrection of the slaves. The real victim of slavery is the white man, not the black. Whatever little good there is in the system, the black man has had ; while most of the evil has fallen to the white man’s share. Under slavery, the black man has deeply suf- fered and slowly improved ; the white man has ignobly enjoyed and rapidly degenerated. Three or four, or five generations of ser- vitude have extirpated whatever of warlike and rebellious energy the negro may have once possessed ; and, of late years, the Chris- tian religion, in a rude and tropical form— much feeling and little knowledge — has exerted a still more subduing influence upon them. Some more or less correct version of the story of the Cross has be- come familiar to them all, as well as the sentiments of the Sermon on the Mount. To no people, of all the suffering sons of men, has that wondrous tale come home with such power as to these sad and docile children of Africa. Are not they, too, men of sorrow ? Are not they, too, acquainted with grief ? Have not they, too, to suffer and be silent? — revenge impossible, forgiveness divinely com- manded ? Insurrection ! If a Springfield musket and a Sheffield bowie- knife were this day placed in every negro hut in the South, and every master gone to the war, the negroes might use those weap- ons, but it would be to defend, not to molest, their masters’ wives * “ On reading Mrs. Stowe's boot, ‘ Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ I thought it to be an overdrawn, highly- wronght picture of southern life : but I have seen with my own eyes, and heard with my own ears, many things which go beyond her book, as much as her book does beyond an ordinary school-girl's novel .” — Speech of General Butler at the Fiftn Avenue Hotel , Hew York, on hi* return from Hew Orleans. Januay S, 1S63. 5 100 BALTIMORE. and children. There is many a negro in the southern states who does actually stand in the same Icind of moral relation to his mas- ter as that which Jesus Christ bore to the Jews, when he said, “ Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And not moral relation only ; for the negro often has a clear mental per- ception of the fact stated. He sometimes stands above his master, at a hight which the master can neither see nor believe in. CHAPTER V. BALTIMORE. W hen war breaks out in a country after a long peace, it is nat- ural that the people should look for guidance first to men who won distinction in the wars of the past. The history of wars shows us that this is generally an error, fruitful of disaster. It gave us Washington, it is true; but Washington was but forty-four years of age when he left Philadelphia to take command of the armies of the revolution ; and he had passed the twenty years which had elapsed since Braddock’s defeat, not in the routine of a military office, but in hunting the fox, and in managing a great estate, which involved the control of some hundreds of human beings. The al- most sovereign lord of a little principality, he spent half his days in the saddle, and was constantly engaged in pursuits somewhat akin to those of a commander of armies. JST either his mind nor his [ blood could stagnate, roaming those extensive fields and forests, foreseeing, calculating, providing, governing. But the rule usually holds good, that a war develops its own hero ; the heroes of the past not proving adequate to the new emergency. At the beginning of this rebellion, there was an officer at the seat of government who had been a general in the service of the United States for forty-nine years. Two generations had been accustomed to regard him as the ablest of American soldiers ; and for a long series of years, he had been highest in place, as well as highest in the confidence of the public. The reputation of a living person has BALTIMORE. 101 in it a principle of growth,. If a man has done something which so enters into the history of his nation, that children necessarily be- come familiar with his name at school, he may sit still for thirty years, and yet find his reputation growing ; until, by the death of cotemporaries, it becomes, perhaps, unique and overshadowing. The haze of antiquity gathers round it, veiling and yet magnifying the basis of fact upon which it rests. And if, perchance, the an- cient hero, emerging from the vast, dim halo of his name, presents him- self to view, in his old age, at the head of a conquering army, thun- dering at the gates of an enemy’s capital, vague reverence is chang- ed to conscious enthusiasm, and no one doubts that here, indeed, is the “ first captain of the age.” When the war began, therefore, and rumors of an impending attack upon the capital alarmed the coun- try, the name of Winfield Scott appeared sufficient to allay appre- hension. It seemed of itself a tower of strength ; it was a rallying point for the gathering forces of the country ; it gave assurance to millions of minds that the resources of the nation, so lavishly offer- ed, would be employed with intelligence and success. If there was a moment when some men feared that the mania of secession might seize even him, the fear was quickly dispelled, when he was seen renewing his oath of allegiance, and responding in unequivocal language to the cheers of arriving regiments. There he was, the center of attraction, conspicuous among the conspicuous, apparently rolling up the whirlwind, and elaborating the storm that was sup- posed to be about to sweep over the rebellious states resistless. Fatal delusion ! General Scott was seventy-five years of age. An old wound partly disabled him. A recent accident had shaken him severely. He could not mount a horse. He could not walk a mile. The motion of a carriage soon fatigued him. His vast form was itself a heavy burden. He required a great deal of sleep. He moved, thought, and acted slowly. Accustomed for fifty years to the petti- est details of a small, widely scattered army,' he was now suddenly ! called upon to organize many armies, and direct their movements i against enemies in the field. A task more difficult than ever Napo- leon or Wellington performed, was laid upon a man who, in his best days, would have been signally unequal to it ; for he had not been gifted by nature with that genius for command which alone could have formed invincible anmes out of masses of loosely organ- 102 BAETIMOEE. ized men, having nothing that belongs to soldiers except arms and a willingness to use them for the restoration of their country. He was a man of exact, formal, unpliant mind. Accustomed long to the first place — accustomed also to that extravagant adulation which we used to bestow upon conspicuous persons, he was less likely to suspect his infinite insufficiency. This was well known, however, to every thinking man familiar with Washington. Mr. Lincoln was not familiar with Washington. He, too, had been accustomed to survey General Scott from a great distance, and he took for granted the correctness of the popular estimate, which pronounced him the first captain of the age ! Mr. Cameron, the secretary of war, was totally ignorant of the first rudiments of the military art ; and he had, too, a painful sense of his ignorance, which he frequently expressed. Hence, the military resources of the country were laid, as it were, humbly at the feet of General Scott, for him to use or misuse according to his good pleasure. Baltimore was the ruling topic in those days. Baltimore, still severed from all its railroad connections with the North, and still under control of the secession minority. One of the last reporters who made his way through the city, two or three days after the at- tack of the mob upon the Sixth Massachusetts, gave a striking- narrative of his adventures, which kept alive the impression that Baltimore had gone over, as one man, to the side of the rebels, and meant to resist to the death the passage of Union troops. “ In the streets,” he wrote, “ of the lower part of the city, there were immense crowds, warm discussions, and the high pitch of ex- citement which discussion engenders. The mob — for Baltimore street was one vast mob — was surging to and fro, uncertain in what way to move, and apparently without any special purpose. Many had small secession cards pinned on their coat collars, and not a few were armed with guns, pistols and knives, of which they made the most display. “ I found the greatest crowd surging around the telegraph office, waiting anxiously, of course, for news. The most inquiry was as to the whereabouts of the New York troops — the most frequent topic, the probable results of an attempt on the part of the Seventh regi ment to force a passage through Baltimore. All agreed that the fotce could never go through — all agreed that it would make the BALTIMORE. 103 attempt if ordered to do so, and none seemed to entertain a doubt that it would leave a winrow of the dead bodies of those who as- sailed it in the streets through which it might attempt to pass. “ I found the police force entirely in sympathy with the seces- sionists and indisposed to act against the mob. Marshal Kane and the commissioners do not make any concealment of their proclivi- ties for the Southern Confederacy. Mayor Brown, upon whom I called, seemed to be disposed to do his duty — providing he knew what it was, and could do it safely. He was in a high state of ex- sitement when I mentioned my name and purpose. He manifested a disposition to be civil, and to give me information, but was evi- dently afraid that I was a Northern aggressor, with whom it was indiscreet for him to be in too close communication. Seeing his condition, I left him and went out in the crowd to gather public opinion again.” Wild rumors were afloat. 44 At one time government had backed down — then it was going ahead ; Virginia was coming — Virginia was not coming. The New Yorkers, Pennsylvanians, the Massachu- setts men and the Rhode Islanders, were at one time marching one hundred abreast over the state, looking neither to the right nor the left — at another, no ‘ d — d Yankee’ would dare thus to pollute the sacred soil of Maryland. One told that Fort McHenry had been blown up, another that it was going to 4 shell’ the city, a third that it was only garrisoned by a handful, while a fourth was positive that at least a force double the full war allotment was within its walls. There was some talk that the fort would be attacked, but the opinion that there was a full garrison, having generally obtained, the attacking part of the programme was postponed. Though large crowds remained in the streets until morning, no unusual events transpired. Curiosity to see what was going on ap- peared to be the prevailing motive with those who were tramping about. * * * “About eight o’clock the next morning, the streets began again to be crowded. The bar-rooms and public resorts were closed, so that the incentive to precipitate action might not be too readily accessible. Nevertheless, there was much excitement, and among the crowds this morning, there were many men from the country, who carried shot and duck guns, and old-fashioned horse- pistols, such as the 4 Maryland’ line might have carried from the 104 BALTIMORE. first to the present war. The hest weapons appeared to he in the hands of young men — hoys of eighteen, with the physique and dress and style of deportment, cultivated hy the ‘ Hook Boys’ and ‘ Dead Rabbits’ of Hew York, as villainous looking compounds of reckless rascality as were ever produced in any community. “About ten o'clock, a cry was raised that 3,000 Pennsylva- nia troops were at the Calvert street depot of the Pennsylvania railroad, and were about to take up their line of march through the city. With a portion of the crowd, I made my way to the depot to find it by far the most quiet place in the city. There it was said that the 3,000 were at Pikesville, about fifteen miles from the city, and were going to fight their way around the city. The crowd did not seem disposed to interfere with a movement that required a preliminary tramp of fifteen miles through a heavy sand. But the city authorities, however, rapidly organized and armed some three or four companies and sent them toward Pikesville. Ten of the Adams express wagons passed up Baltimore, loaded with armed men. In one or two there were a number of mattresses, as if wounded men were anticipated. A company of cavalry also started for Pikesville, I supposed to sustain the infantry that had been ex- pressed. “ All through the day, the accessions from the country were com- ing in. Sometimes a squad of infantry, sometimes a troop of horse, and once a small park of artillery. It was nothing extraordinary to see a ‘ solitary horseman’ riding in from the counties, with shot- gun, powder-horn and flask. Some came with provender lashed to the saddle, prepared to picket out for the night. Boys came with their fathers, accoutered apparently with the war sword and holster- pistols that had done service a century ago. There were strange contrasts between the stern, solemn bearing of the father, and the buoyant, excited, enthusiastic expressions of the boy’s face. I had frequent talks with these people, and could not but be impressed with their devotion and patriotism ; for, mistaken as they were, they were none the less actuated by the most unselfish spirit of loyalty. They hardly knew, any of them, for what they had so sud- denly come to Baltimore. They had a vague idea only, that Mary- land had been invaded, and that it was the solemn duty of her sons to p’otect their soil from the encroachments of an invading force.”* * JK T. Daily Times , April 24th, 1S6L BALTIMOEE. 105 Upon reading such letters as this, a great cry arose in the X orth for the re-opening of the path to W ashington through Baltimore, even if it should involve the destruction of the rebellious city. The proceedings of General Butler at Annapolis, and the departure from Baltimore of the leading spirits of the mob to join the rebel army in Virginia, quieted the city, and gave the Union men some chance to make their influence felt. But this change was not immediately understood at Washington, and General Scott was meditating a great strategic scheme for the conquest of the city. His plan, as officially communicated on the 29th of April, to General Butler, General Patterson, and others who were to co- operate. were as follows : “ I suppose,” wrote the lieutenant-gen- eral, “that a column from this place (Washington) of three thou- sand men, another from York of three thousand men, a third from Perryrille, 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. But it may be, and many persons think probable, that Baltimore, before we can get ready, will re-open the communi- cation through that city, and beyond, each way, for troops, army supplies, and travelers, voluntarily. When can we be ready for the movement on Baltimore on this side ? Colonel Mansfield has satisfied me that we want, at least, ten thousand additional troops here to give security to the capital ; and, as yet, we have less than ten thousand, including some very indifferent militia from the dis- trict. With that addition, we will be able, I think, to make the detachment for Baltimore.” A day or two after the receipt of this letter, General Butler went to Washington to confer with the general-in-chie£ He conversed with him fully upon the state of affairs. One suggestion offered on this occasion, by General Butler, has peculiar interest in view of subsequent events. He was of opinion, with Shakspeare, that the place to fight the wolf is not at your own front door, but nearer its own den. Manassas .Junction he suggested, not Arlington Heights, was the place where W ashington should first be defended ; and he offered to march thither with two thousand men, destroy the rail- road connections with the South, and fortify the position. As there were then no rebel troops at the Junction, this could have been done without loss or delay. General Scott negatived the proposaL The Committee on the Conduct of the War have since character- 106 BALTIMORE. ized the omission to seize Manassas Junction at this time, as “the great error of that campaign.” “ The position at Manassas,” add the Committee, “ controlled the railroad communication iii all that section of country. The forces which were opposed to us at the battle of Bull Run were mostly collected and brought to Manassas during the months of June and July. The three months’ men could have made the place easily defensible against any force the enemy could have brought against it ; and it is not at all probable that the rebel forces would have advanced beyond the line of the Rap- pahannock had Manassas been occupied by our troops.” General Butler strongly urged his scheme of seizing Manassas, both in conversation and in writing, to various influential persons. General Scott’s veto was decisive. The reduction of Baltimore was, however, the chief topic of dis- cussion between General Butler and the commander-in-chief. General Scott was still of opinion that some time must elapse be- fore troops could be spared for the attempt ; but he consented to General Butler’s taking a regiment or two, and holding the Relay House, a station nine miles from Baltimore. Before leaving on this expedition, he asked General Scott what were the powers of a general commanding a department. The reply was, that, except as limited by specific orders and by military law, his powers were absolute ; he could do whatever he thought best. Upon receiving this information, General Butler privately consulted an officer of engineers, who ascertained for him, by reference to authoritative maps, that the city of Baltimore was within the Department of Annapolis, as defined in the order creating it. Saturday afternoon, May 4th, the Eighth New York, the Sixth Massachusetts, and Cook’s battery of artillery received the wel- come order to be ready to march by two o’clock the next morning. General Butler had given a solemn promise to the Sixth, his own home regiment, which he had joined before his beard was grown, that they should, one day, if his advice was taken, march again through Baltimore. His selection of the regiment on this occasion was the beginning of the fulfillment of that promise. At daylight on Sunday morning, a train of thirty cars glided from the depot at Washington ; from which, two hours later, the regiments issued at the Relay House, where they seized the depot and swarmed ovcj the adjoining hills, reconnoitering. BALTIMORE. 107 No enemy was discovered; there was no formidable enemy at that time anywhere near Washington, and there had not been; hut every man they met had something terrible to tell them of rebel dragoons hovering near. Cannons were planted on the heights. Camps were formed, and scouting parties sent out. Officers were detailed to go through all passing trains and seize articles contraband of war — such as weapons, powder, and intrench- ing tools. The general wrote to Washington to know if he might not arrest certain prominent traitors who lived near — members of the Carroll family and others. He concluded his first dispatch with these words : “ I find the people here exceedingly friendly, and I have no doubt that with my present force I could march through Baltimore. I am the more convinced of this because I learn that, for several days, many of the armed secessionists have left for Har- per's F errv, or have gone forth plundering the country. I trust my acts will meet your approbation, whatever you may think of my suggestions.” General Butler remained a week at the Relay House. Large numbers of friendly people from Baltimore drove out to his camp, and, with them, some who were not friendly. He became perfectly well informed of the condition of the city. General Scott wrote approvingly of his acts, and authorized him to use his discretion in arresting the disaffected, and in seizing contraband articles. He also informed him that he need not remain at the Relay House “ longer than he deemed his presence there of importance.” He did not. Incidents occurred in camp at the Relay House, which created, at the time, a general sensation. A man from Baltimore, lounging about among the New York soldiers, said to some of them, that the Baltimore mob was right in attacking the Massachusetts regi- ment, and would give them a still warmer reception on their return. Two officers at once arrested the man. In general orders of the next morning, General Butler thanked the officers for doing so, and consigned the culprit to prison at Annapolis. In the same order, the general alluded to other events in a characteristic manner. “Two incidents of the gravest character marked the progress of yesterday. Charles Leonard, private, Company G, Eighth regiment of New York, was accidentally killed instantaneously by 108 BALTIMORE. the discharge of a musket from which he was drawing the charge. He was buried with all the honors, amidst the gloom and sorrow of every United States soldier at this post, and the tender sym- pathies of many of the loyal inhabitants in our neighborhood. * * * The first offering of New York of the life of one of her sons upon the country’s altar, his blood mingling on the soil of Maryland with that of the Massachusetts men murdered at Baltimore, will form a new bond of union between us and all loyal states, so that without need of further incentive to our duty, we are spurred on by the example of the life and death of Leonard. “ The other matter to which the general desires to call the atten- tion of the troops is this : Wishing to establish the most friendly relations between you and this neighborhood, the general invited all venders of supplies to visit our camp, and replenish our some- what scanty commissariat. But, to his disgust and horror, he finds well-authenticated evidence that a private in the Sixth regiment has been poisoned, by means of strychnine administered in the food brought into the camp by one of these peddlers. I am happy to be informed that the man is now out of danger. This act will, of course, render it necessary for me to cut off all purchases from unauthorized persons. “ Are our few insane enemies among the loyal men of Maryland prepared to wage war upon us in this manner? Do they know the terrible lesson of warfare they are teaching us ? Can it be that they realize the fact, that we can put an agent, with a word, into every household, armed with this terrible weapon ? In view of the terrible consequences of this mode of warfare, if accepted by us from their teaching, with every sentiment of devotional prayer, may we not exclaim, ‘Father, forgive them; they know not what they do !’ Certain it is, that any such other attempt, reasonably authenticated as to the persons committing it, will be followed by the swiftest, surest, and most condign punishment.” Such events as this could not but confirm the impression upon the minds of the troops, that they were posted in an enemy’s coun- try. The vigilance of some of the officers was carried to a trouble- some extreme. One rainy night, the whole body of the troops, seventeen hundred in number, were called to arms four times by false alarms. On the last occasion, the general in command ad- dressed a peculiar reproof to the officer whose inexperience had BALTMORE. 109 given the troops so many needless drenchings. This gentleman being a tailor by trade, the general roared out : “ In God’s name, Colonel , where are the other eight ?” General Butler managed the case of this over-zealous, but wo- fully ignorant officer with good-natured tact. He opened a way for his quiet transfer to a clerkship in a custom-house, where he served his country well. On the 13th of May, General Butler arrived at the conclusion that his presence at the Relay House was no longer necessary. Early in the morning, he telegraphed to General Scott, among other things, that Baltimore was in the department of Annapolis. An answer came back from Colonel Schuyler Hamilton, then on the staff of the lieutenant-general, which certainly Could not be con- strued as forbidding the movement contemplated. “ General Scott desires me to invite your attention to certain guilty parties in Baltimore, namely, those connected with the guns and military cloths seized by your troops (at the Relay House), as well as the baker who furnished supplies of bread for Harper’s Ferry. It is probable that you will find them, on inquiry, proper subjects for seizure and examination. He acknowledges your telegram of this morning, and is happy to find that Baltimore is within your department.” Later in the day, arrived a second dispatch from Colonel Hamil- ton : — “ General Scott desires me to inform you that he has received in- formation, believed to be reliable, that several tons of gunpowder, designed for those unlawfully combined against the government, are stored in a church in Baltimore, in the neighborhood of Cal- houn street, between Baltimore and Fayette streets. He invites your attention to the subject.” It is said that General Scott, who required much sleep, and who was oppressed with a multiplicity of business, did not always scru- tinize very closely the dispatches sent in his name, when they were supposed to relate to matters of mere detail. It may be that the meaning and tendency of these dispatches escaped his attention. Colonel Hamilton, who had enjoyed the opportunity at Annapolis of becoming acquainted with the quality of the Massachusetts brigadier, was, certainly, not inclined to place any obstacles in his way. 110 BALTIMORE. At four o’clock iu the afternoon of May 13th, the rebel spies at the Relay House felt sure, that at length, they were about to have - something important to communicate to their employers at Balti- more. Two trains of cars stood upon the track, both headed toward Harper’s Ferry, both loaded with troops. One was a short train, with a force of fifty men on board. The other was of im- mense length. It contained the whole of the Sixth Massachusetts, some companies of the New York Eighth, and two pieces of artil- lery, in all nine hundred men. The general’s white horse, horses for the staff and artillery were on the train. When everything was in readiness, word was brought to the general that two fast Balti- more trotters were harnessed in a stable near by, which were to convey the tidings of the movement to Baltimore the moment the trains had started. “ Let them go,” said the general. The two trains moved slowly toward Harper’s Ferry. The fast nags, at the same moment, were put on the road to Baltimore. General Butler secretly resolved to give them plenty of time to reach the city. Except himself and a few members of his staff, every man in the train was ignorant of his real design. Two miles from the Relay House, both trains halted a while. Then the smaller train kept on 'ts way. It was bound to Fred- erick, where the troops were ordered to seize the millionaire, Ross Winans, and the machine then figuring ominously in the newspapers, or Winans’s steam gun ; a useless rattle-trap, as it proved. Winans was a thorough-going traitor, and one who, from his prodigious wealth (fifteen millions, it was thought), could give his fellow traitors abundant aid and very solid comfort. Already, he had manufactured five thousand pikes for the use of the Balti- more mob against the forces summoned by his country to defend its capital. An arch-traitor, and an old ; gray hairs did what they could to “ make his folly venerable.” If ever treason was com- mitted, he had committed it ; for he had not even the empty excuse of the passage of an ordinance of secession by the legislature of his state. General Butler will interpret his orders with exact literal- ness, if this hoary-headed traitor falls into his hands, while he remains in command of the department of Annapolis, including the city of Baltimore. About six o’clock in the evening, the long train, with its nine BALTIMORE. Ill hundred men, the artillery and the horses, backed slowly past the Relay House again, and continued backing until it reached the depot at Baltimore. A thunder-storm of singular character, extraordinary both for its violence and its extent, hung over the city, black as midnight. It was nearly dark when the train arrived. ISTo rain had yet fallen; but the whole city was soon enveloped in rushing clouds of dust. Flashes of lightning, vivid, incessant — peals of thunder, loud and continuous, gave warning of the coming deluge. The depot was nearly deserted, and scarcely any one was in the streets. By the time the troops were formed, it had become dark, except when the flashes of lightning illumined the scene, as if with a thousand Drummond lamps. This continuous change, from a blinding glare of light to darkness the most complete, was so bewildering, that if the general had not had a guide familiar with the city, he could scarcely have advanced from the depot. This guide was Mr. Robert Hare, of Philadelphia, son of the celebrated chemist, who, after rendering valuable services to the general elsewhere, had joined him at the Relay House, and now volunteered to pilot him to Federal Hill. The word was given, and the troops silently emerged from the depot ; the general, Mr. Hare, and the staff in the advance. The orders were, for no man to speak a needless word ; no drums to beat ; and if a shot was fired from a house, halt, arrest every in- mate, and destroy the house, leaving not one brick upon another. When the line had cleared the depot, the storm burst. Such tor- rents of rain ! Such a ceaseless blaze of lightning ! Such crashes and volleys of thunder ! At one moment the long line of bayonets, the ranks of firm white faces, the burnished cannon, the horses and their riders, the signs upon the houses, and every minutest object, would flash out of the gloom with a distinctness inconceivable. The next, a pall of blackest darkness would drop upon the scene. Not a countenance appeared in any window; for, so incessant was the thunder, that the tramp of horses, the tread of the men, the rumble of the cannon, were not heard ; or if heard for a moment, not distinguished from the multitudinous noises of the storm. As the general and his staff gained the summit of Federal Hill, which rises abruptly from the midst of the town, and turned to look back upon the troops winding up the steep ascent, a flash of unequalcd 112 BALTIMORE. brilliancy gave such startling splendor to the scene, that an exclam- ation of wonder and delight broke from every lip. The troops were formed upon the summit, the cannon were planted, and Balti more was their own. Except a shanty or two, used in peaceful times as a lager-beer garden, there was no shelter on the hill. The men had to stand still in the pouring rain, with what patience they could. When the storm abated, scouts were sent out, who ferreted out a wood- yard, from which thirty cords of wood ivere brought ; and soon the toj) of the hill presented a cheerful scene and picturesque ; arms stacked and groups of steaming soldiers standing around fifty blaz- ing fires, each man revolving irregularly on his axis, trying to get himself and his blanket dry. ' General Butler established his head-quarters in the German shan- ty. An officer, who had been scouting, came to him there in con- siderable excitement, and said : “ I am informed, general, that this hill is mined, and that we are all to be blown up.” “ Get a lantern,” replied the general, “ and you and I will walk round the base of the hill, and see.” They found, indeed, deep cavities in the side of the hill, but these proved to be places whence sand had been dug for building. After a thorough examination, the general said : “ I don’t think we shall be blown up ; but if we are, there is one comfort, it will dry us all.” Returning to his shanty, General Butler, still as wet as water could make him, set about preparing his proclamation. At half-past eight in the morning, he received a note from the mayor, which showed how completely his movements had been con- cealed by the storm. The note had been written during the pre- vious evening. “ I have just been informed,” wrote the mayor, “ that you have arrived at the Camden Station with a large body of troops under your command. As the sudden arrival of a force will create much surprise in the community, I beg to be informed whether you pro- pose that it shall remain at the Camden Station, so that the police may be notified, and proper precautions may be taken to proven' any disturbance of the peace.” The mayor had not long to wait for information. An extra Clip BALTIMORE. 113 per of the morning, containing General Butler’s proclamation, advised all Baltimore of his intentions. That document read as follows : “ PROCLAMATION". “Department of Annapolis, “Federal Hill, Baltimore, May 14, 1861. “A detachment of the forces of the Federal government, under my com- mand, have occupied the city of Baltimore for the purpose, among other things, of enforcing respect and obedience to the laws, as well of the state, if requested thereto by the civil authorities, as of the United States laws, which are being violated within its limits by some malignant and traitorous men; and in order to testify the acceptance by the Federal government, of the fact that the city and all the well-intentioned portion of its inhabi- tants are loyal to the Union and the Constitution, and are to he so regarded and treated by all. To the end, therefore, that all misunderstanding of the purpose of the government may be prevented, and to set at rest all un- founded, false, and seditious rumors ; to relieve all apprehensions, if any are felt, by the well-disposed portion of the community, and to make it thor- oughly understood by all traitors, their aiders and abettors, that rebellious acts must cease ; I hereby, by the authority vested in me, as commander of the department of Annapolis, of which Baltimore forms a part, do now command and make known that no loyal and well-disposed citizen will be disturbed in his lawful occupation or business ; that private property will not be interfered with by the men under my command, or allowed to be in- terfered with by others, except in so far as it may be used to afford aid and comfort to those in rebellion against the government whether here or else- where, all of which property, munitions of war, and that fitted to aid and support the rebellion, will be seized and held subject to ' onfiscation, and, therefore, all manufacturers of arms and munitions of war are hereby re- quested to report to me forthwith, so that the lawfulness of their occupation may be known and understood, and all misconstruction of their doings may he avoided. Flo transportation from the city to the rebels of articles fitted to aid and support troops in the field will be permitted ; and the fact of such transportation, after the publication of this proclamation, will be taken and received as proof of illegal intention on the part of the consignors, and will render the goods liable to seizure and confiscation. “ The government being now ready to receive all such stores and supplies, arrangements will be made to contract for them immediately to the owners ; and manufacturers of such articles of equipment and clothing, and munitions of war and provisions, are desired to keep themselves in communication with the commissary-general, in order that their workshops may be em- 114 BALTIMORE. ployed for loyal purposes, and the artisans of the city resume and carry on their profitable occupations. “ The acting assistant-quartermaster and commissary of subsistence of the United States here stationed, has been instructed to proceed and fur nish, at fair prices, 40,000 rations for the use of the army of the United . States ; and further supplies will be drawn from the city to the full ex- tent of its capacity, if the patriotic and loyal men choose so to furnish sup- plies. “ All assemblages, except the ordinary police, of armed bodies of men, other than those regularly organized and commissioned by the state of Mary- land, and acting under the orders of the governor thereof, for drill and other purposes, are forbidden within the department. “All officers of the militia of Maryland, having command within the lim- its of the department, are requested to report through their officers forth- with to the general in command, so that he may be able to know and dis- tinguish the regularly commissioned and loyal troops of Maryland, from armed bodies who may claim to be such. “ The ordinary operations of the corporate government of the city of Baltimore, and of the civil authorities, will not be interfered with ; but on the contrary, will be aided by all the power of the commanding general, upon proper call being made ; and all such authorities are cordially invited to co-operate with the general in command, to carry out the purposes set forth in the proclamation, so that the city of Baltimore may be shown to the country to be what she is in fact, patriotic and loyal to the Union, the Constitution, and the laws. “Mo flag, banner, ensign or device of the so-called Confederate States, or any of them, will be permitted to be raised or shown in this department ; and the exhibition of either of them by evil disposed persons will be deem- ed, and taken to be, evidence of a design to afford aid and comfort to the enemies of the country. To make it the more apparent that the govern- ment of the United States far more relies upon the loyalty, patriotism, and zeal of the good citizens of Baltimore and vicinity, than upon any exhi- bition of force calculated to intimidate them into that obedience to the laws which the government doubts not will be paid from inherent respect and love of order, the commanding general has brought to the city with him, of the many thousand troops in the immediate neighborhood, which might be at once concentrated here, scarcely more than an ordinary guard ; and until it fails him, he will continue to rely upon that loyalty and patriot- ism of the citizens of Maryland, which have never yet been found wanting to the government in time of need. The general in command desires to greet and treat in this part of his department all the citizens thereof as friends and brothers, having a common purpose, a common loyalty, and a common country. Any infractions of the laws by the troops under his BALTIMORE. 115 command, or any disorderly, unsoldierlike conduct, or any interference with private property, he desires to have immediately reported to him, and pledges himself that if any soldier so far forgets himself as to break those laws that he has sworn to defend and enforce, he shall he most rigorously punished. ‘‘The general believes that if the suggestions and requests contained in this proclamation are faithfully carried out by the co-operation of all good and Union-loving citizens, and peace, and quiet, and certainty of future peace and quiet are thus restored, business will resume its accustomed chan- nels, trade take the place of dullness and inactivity, efficient labor displace idleness, and Baltimore will be in fact, what she is entitled to be, in the front rank of the commercial cities of the nation. “ Given at Baltimore the day and year herein first above written. “Bexj. F. Butler, “ Brigadier-general commanding department of Annapolis." Not the slightest disturbance of the peace occurred. The sug- gestions and requests of the general were observed. There was plenty of private growling, and some small, furtive exhibitions of disgust, but nothing that could be called opposition. Contraband gunpowder, pikes, arms and provisions were seized. The Union flag was hoisted upon buildings belonging to the United States, and the flag of treason nowhere appeared. The camp equipage of the troops was brought in, and camps were formed upon the hill. Early in the afternoon, General Butler and his staff mounted their horses, and rode leisurely through the streets to the Gilmore house, where they dismounted, and strolled into the dining-room and dined; after which they remounted, and enjoyed a longer ride in the streets, meeting no molestation, exciting much muttered re- mark. General Butler does not mount a horse quite in the style of a London guardsman. Li mounting before the Gilmore house, across a wide gutter, he had some little difficulty in bestriding his horse, which, a passing traitor observing, gave rise to the report, promptly conveyed to Washington, that the general was drunk that day, in the streets of Baltimore. Such a misfortune is it to have short legs, with a gutter and a horse to get over. From that time, the soldiers, in twos and threes, walked freely about the city, exhilarated, now and then, by a little half-suppressed vituperation from men, and a ludicrous display of petulance on the part of lovely woman. Often they were stopped in the streets by Union men. 116 BALTIMORE. who shook them warmly by the hand, and thanked them for coming to their deliverance. There is a limit to the endurance of man. General Butler per- formed that day, one of his day’s work. At night, exhausted to an extreme, for he had not lain down in forty hours, and racked with headache, he ventured to go to bed; leaving orders, however, that he was to be instantly notified if anything extraordinary occurred. It perversely happened that many extraordinary things did occur that night. Some important seizures were made ; some valuable information was brought in ; many plausible rumors gained a hear- ing ; and, consequently, the general was disturbed about every half I hour during the night. He rose in the morning unrefreshed, fever- ish, almost sick. Ilis feelings may be imagined, when, at half-past j eight, he received the following dispatch from the lieutenant-gene- ral, dated May 14th: “ Sir,— Your hazardous occupation of Baltimore was made without my knowledge, and, of course, without my approbation. It is a God-send, that it was without conflict of arms. It is, also, reported, that you have sent a detachment to Frederick ; but this is impos- sible. Not a word have I received from you as to either move- ment. Let me hear from you.” This epistle was not precisely what General Butler thought was ! due to an officer who, with nine hundred men, had done what General Scott was preparing to do with twelve thousand. It was a damper. It looked like a rebuke for doing his duty too well. The sick general took it much to heart; npt for his own sake mere- ly; he could not but augur ill of the conduct of the war if a neat and triumphant little audacity, like his march into Baltimore, was to be rewarded with an immediate snub from head-quarters. Being only a militia brigadier, he did not clearly see how a war was to be carried on without incurring some slight risk, now and then, of a conflict of arms. But there was little time for meditation. There were duties to be done. For one item, he had Ross Winans a prisoner in Fort McHenry ; his pikes and steam-gun being also in safe custody, with other evidence of his treason. He was preparing to try Mr. Wi- nans by court-martial, and telegraphed to Mr. Cameron, asking him not to interfere, at least, not to release him, until General Butler could go to Washington and explain the turpitude of his guilt. It BALTIMORE. 117 was, and is, the general’s opinion, that the summary execution of a traitor worth fifteen millions, would have been an exhibition of moral strength on the part of the government, such as the times re- quired. His guilt was beyond question. If there is, or can he, such a crime as treason against the United States, this man had com- mitted it, not in language only, but in overt acts, numerous and aggravated. Mr. Seward, I need scarcely say, took a different mew of the matter. Winans was released. Why his pikes and his steam- gun were not returned to him, does not appear. A few months after, it was found necessary to place him again in confinement. Nothing would appease General Scott short of the recall of Gen- eral Butler from Baltimore, and the withdrawal of the troops from Federal Hill. General Butler was recalled, and General Cadwal- lader ruled in his stead. The troops were temporarily removed, and General Butler returned to Washington. That the president did not concur with the rebuke of General Scott, was shown by his immediately offering General Butler a com- mission as major-general, and the command of Fortress Monroe. That the secretary of war did not concur with it, I infer from a passage of one of his letters from St. Petersburgh. “ I always 1 said,” wrote Mr. Cameron, “ that if you had been left at Baltimoi-e, the rebellion would have been of short duration a remark, the full significance of which may, one day, become apparent to the American people. I believe I may say, without improperly using the papers before me, that more than one member of the cabinet held the opinion, that General Butler’s recall from Baltimore was solely due to his frustration of the sublime strategic scheme of k taking the city by the simultaneous advance of four columns of three thousand men each. The people made known their opinion of General Butler’s con- duct in all the usual ways. On the evening of his arrival in Wash- ington, he was serenaded, and most abundantly cheered. His little speech on this occasion was a great hit. The remarkable feature of it was, that it expressed, without exaggeration, as with- out suppression, his habitual feeling respecting the war into which the nation was groping its way. He talked to the crowd just as he had often talked, and talks to a knot of private friends : “ Feexow-Citizexs : — Your cheers for the old commonwealth of Massa- chusetts are rightly bestowed. Foremost in the ranks of those who fought 118 BALTIMORE. for tho liberty of the country in the revolution were the men of Massachu- setts. It is a historical fact, to which I take pride in now referring, that in the revolution, Massachusetts sent more men south of Mason and Dixon’s line to fight for the cause of the country, than all the southern colonies put together; and in this second war, if war must come, to proclaim the Dec- laration of Independence anew, and as a necessary consequence, establish the Union and the constitution, Massachusetts will give, if necessary, every man in her borders, ay, and woman! [Cheers.] I trust I may be excused for speaking thus of Massachusetts ; but I am confident there are many within the sound of my voice whose hearts beat with proud memories of the old commonwealth. There is this difference, I will say, between our southern brothers and ourselves, that while we love our state with the true love of a son, we love the Union and the country with an equal devo- tion. [Loud and prolonged applause.] We place no ‘state rights’ before, above, or beyond the Union. [Cheers.] To us our country is first, because it is our country [three cheers], and our state is next and second, because she is a part of our country and our state. [Renewed applause.] Our oath of allegiance to our country, and our oath of allegiance to our state, are interwreathed harmoniously, and never come in conflict nor clash. He who does his duty to the Union, does his duty to the state ; and he who does his duty to the state does his duty to the Union — ‘one inseparable, now and for ever.’ [Renewed applause.] As I look upon this demonstra- tion of yours, I believe it to be prompted by a love of the common cause, and our common country — a country so great and good, a government so kind, so beneficent, that the hand from which we have only felt kindness is now for the first time raised in chastisement. [Applause.] Many things in a man’s life may be worse than death. So, to a government there may be many things, such as dishonor and disintegration, worse than the shed- ding of blood. [Cheers.] Our fathers purchased our liberty and country for us at an immense cost of treasure and blood, and by the bright heavens above us, we will not part with them without first paying the original debt, and the interest to this date! [Loud cheers.] We have in our veins the same blood as they shed ; we have the same power of endurance, the same love of liberty and law. We will hold as a brother Mm who stands by tho Union ; we will hold as an enemy him who would strike from its constella- tion a single star. [Applause.] But, I hear some one say, ‘ Shall we carry on this fratricidal war? Shall we shed our brothers’ blood, and meet in arms our brothers in the South V I would say, ‘ As our fathers did not hesitate to strike the mother country in the defense of our rights, so wo should not hesitate to meet the brother as they did the mother.’ If this unholy, this fratricidal war, is forced upon us, I say, ‘ Woe, woe to them who have made the necessity. Our hands are clean, our hearts are pure; but the Union must be preserved [intense cheering. When silence was restored, he continued] at all hazard of money, and, if need be, of every BALTIMORE. 119 life this side the arctic regions. [Cheers.] If the 25,000 northern soldiers who are here, are cut off, in six weeks 50,000 will take their place ; and if they die by fever, pestilence, or the sword, a quarter of a million will take their place, till our army of the reserve will be women with their broom- sticks, to drive every enemy into the gulf. [Cheers and laughter.] I have neither fear nor doubt of the issue. I feel only horror and dismay for those who have made the war. God help them! we are here for our rights, for our country, for our flag. Our faces • are set south, and there shall be no footstep backward. [Immense applause.] He is mistaken who supposes we can be intimidated by threats or cajoled by compromise. The day of compromise is past. “The government must be sustained [cheers] ; and when it is sustained, we shall give everybody in the Union their rights under the constitution, as we always have, and everybody outside of the Union the steel of the Union, till they shall come under the Union. [Cheers, and cries of ‘good, go on.’] It is impossible for me to go on speech making; but if you will go home to your beds, and the government will let me, I will go south fight- ing for the Union, and you will follow me.”* A different scene awaited him the next morning in the office of the lieutenant-general, respecting which it is best to say little. He bore the lecture for half* an hour without replying. But General Butler’s patience under unworthy treatment is capable of being ex- hausted. It was exhausted on this occasion. Indeed, the specta- cle of cumbrous inefficiency which the head-quarters of the army then presented, and continued long to present, was such as to grieve and alarm every man acquainted with it, who had also an adequate knowledge of the formidable task to which the country had addressed itself. I am not ashamed to relate, that General Butler, on reaching his apartment, was so deeply moved by what had passed, and by the inferences he could but draw by what had passed, that he burst into hysteric sobs, which he found himself, for some minutes, unable to repress. And, what was worse, he had serious thoughts of declining the proffered promotion, and going home to resume his practice at the bar. Not that his zeal had flagged in the cause ; but it seemed doubtful whether, in the cir- cumstances, a man of enterprise and energy would be allowed to do anything of moment to promote the cause. *' JT. Y. Daily Times. 120 FORTRESS MONROE. CHAPTER VL FORTRESS ■ MONROE. ' The president had no lecture to bestow upon General Butler ; but, on the contrary, compliment and congratulation. He urged him to accept the command of Fortress Monroe, and use the same energy in retaking Norfolk as he had displayed at Annapolis and Baltimore. After a day’s consideration, the general said he was willing enough to accept the proffered promotion and the command of the fortress, if he could have the means of being useful there. As a base for active operations, Fortress Monroe was good ; he only objected to it as a convenient tomb for a troublesome militia general. Could he have four Massachusetts regiments, two batteries of field artillery, and the other requisites for a successful advance? Not that Massachusetts troops were better than others, only he knew them better, and they him. Yes, he could have them, and should, and whatever else he needed for effective action. An active, energetic campaign was precisely the thing desired and expected of him, and nothing should be wanting on the part of the government to render such a campaign possible. This being understood, he joyfully accepted the commission and the command. General Butler’s commission as major-general dates i from May 16th, two days after his thunderous march into Balti- more. He is now, therefore, in reality , the senior major-general in the service of the United States. On that day, General McClellan and General Banks were still in the pay of their respective railroad companies ; General Dix was at home ; General Fremont was in Europe, attending to his private affairs. May 20th, General Butler received orders from General Scott for his guidance at the scene of his future labors : “ You will proceed,” wrote the lieutenant-general, “to Fortress Monroe and assume the command of that post, when Colonel Dimmick will limit his command to the regular troops composing a part of its garrison, but EOKTJKESS AIONKOE. 121 wiil, by himself and his officers, give such aid in the instruction of the volunteers as you may direct. “ Besides the present garrison of Fortress Monroe, consisting of such com- panies of regular artillery, portions of two Massachusetts regiments of volunteers, and a regiment of Vermont volunteers, nine additional regi- ments of volunteers from Mew York may soon be expected there. Only a small portion, if any, of these can be conveniently quartered or encamped in the fort, the greater part, if not the whole area of which will be neces- sary for exercises on the ground. The nine additional regiments must, therefore, be encamped in the best positions outside of and as near the fort as may be. For this purpose it is hoped that a pine forest north of the fort, near the bay, may be found to furnish the necessary ground and shade for some three thousand men, though somewhat distant from drink- ing and cooking water. This, as well as feed, it may be necessary to bring to the camp on wheels. The quartermaster’s department has been instructed to furnish the necessary vehicles, casks, and draft animals. The war garrison of Fortress Monroe, against a formidable army, provided with an adequate siege train, is about 2,500 men. Yon will soon have there, in- side and out, near three times that number. Assuming 1,500 as a garrison adequate to resist any probable attack in the next six mouths, or, at least, for many days or weeks, you will consider the remainder of the force, un- der your command, disposable for aggressive purposes and employ it ac- cordingly. “ In respect to more distant operations, you may expect specific instruc- tions at a later date. In the mean time, I will direct your attention to the following objects: 1st. Mot to let the enemy erect batteries to annoy For- tress Monroe; 2d. To capture any batteries the enemy may have within a half day’s march of you, and which may be reached by land ; 3d. The same in respect to the enemy’s batteries, at or about Craney Island, though requiring water craft ; and 4th. To menace and to recapture the navy yard at Gosport, in order to complete its destruction, with its contents, except what it may be practicable to bring away in safety. It is expected that you put yourself into free communication with the commander of the U. S. naval forces in Hampton Roads, and invite his cordial co-operation with you in all operations, in whole or in part, by water, and no doubt he will have received corresponding instructions from the Mavy Depart- ment. “ Boldness in execution is nearly always necessary ; but in planning and . fitting out expeditions or detachments, great circumspection is a virtue. In i important cases, where time clearly permits, be sure to submit your plans and ask instructions from higher authority. “ Communicate with me often and fully on all matters important to the service.” 122 FORTRESS MONROE. May 22a, at eight o’clock in the morning, the guns of the for- tress saluted General Butler as the commander of the post ; and as soon as th« ceremonies of his arrival were over, he proceeded to look about him, to learn what it was that had fallen to his share. In the course of the day, he made great progress in the pursuit oi knowledge. Fortress Monroe is a sixty-five acre field, with a low, massive stone wall around it ; big, black guns peering through arid over the top of the wall ; and a mile and a half of canal wound round its base. Inside, are long barracks, hospitals, a little chapel, trees, avenues of trees, gardens, parade-grounds, green lawns, gravel walks ; and, m the midst, surrounded by trees and garden, a solid, broad, slate-peaked mansion, the residence of the commander of the post. Old Point Comfort, broadening at the extremity, so as to form a peninsula, seems made to be the site of a fort, and such it must remain as long as man wages war. Whoever holds it, and knows how to use it, is master of Virginia and North Carolina; for it either commands or threatens, and can be used so as to con- trol their navigable rivers, their harbors, and their railroad connec- tions with the South. The Southern Confederacy, so called, must have it, or retire to the Gulf. Without it, the Confederacy is noth- ing ; and the place can only be taken by a naval power superior to that of the United States, or by treachery. If it had been built with a prophetic view to the events of the last three years, the site j i could not have been better selected for the purposes of the United States. That it has not been used with all the effect it might have been, was not the fault of the new commandant, as shall soon be demonstrated. The country around it, on the main land, is level ; the soil, as Wintrirop describes it, a fine fertile loam, easily running to dust as ; i the English air does to fog ; the woods dense and beautiful ; the roads, miserable cart tracks ; the cattle “ scallawags,” the people ditto ; the farm houses dilapidated and mean ; such dens as a northern drayman would have disdained, and a hod-carrier only occupied on compulsion. A country settled for two hundred and thirty years, but not as pleasant, nor as commodious, nor as popu- lated, nor as civilized, as a county of Minnesota only surveyed ten years ago. But many of the people, though of incredibly con- tracted intelligence, were kind and hospitable, and, as events have FORTRESS MONROE. 123 shown, bra to and enduring. If life seemed stagnant in that region, there was in it a latent energy and force, which poor Winthrop did not suspect, but which, however misdirected, he would have been among the first to recognize. Life stagnant is not so fatal as life wasted of its raw material. This huge fort was one of the hinges of the stable-door which was shut after the horse had been stolen, in the war of 1812. It had never been used for warlike purposes, and had been, usually, garrisoned by a company or two, or three, of regular troops, who paraded and drilled in its wide expanses with listless punctuality, and fished in the surrounding waters, or strolled about the adjacent village. Colonel Dimmick was the commandant of the post when the war broke out ; a faithful, noble-minded officer, who, with his one man to eight yards of rampart, kept Virginia from clutching the prize. Two or three thousand volunteers had since made their way to the fortress, and were encamped on its grounds. General Butler soon discovered that of the many things necessary for the defense of the post, he had a sufficiency of one only, namely, men. There was not one horse belonging to the garrison; nor one cart nor wagon. Provision barrels had to be rolled from the land- ing to the fort, three-quarters of a mile. There was no well or spring within the walls of the fortress ; but cisterns only, filled with raiu-water, which had given out the summer before when there were but four hundred men at the post. Of ammunition, he had but five thousand rounds, less than a round and a half per man of the kind suited to the greater number of the muskets brought by the volunteers. The fort was getting over-crowded with troops, and more were hourly expected; he would have nine more regi- ments in a few days. Room must be found for the new comers outside the walls. He found, too, that he had, in his vicinity, an active, numerous, increasing enemy, who were busy fortifying points of land opposite or near the fort ; points essential for his purposes. The garrison was, in effect, penned up in the peninsula ; a rebel picket a mile distant ; a rebel flag waving from Hampton Bridge in sight of the fortress ; rebel forces preparing to hem in the fortress on every side, as they had done Sumter ; rumor, as usual, magnifying their numbers tenfold. Colonel Dimmick had been able to seize and hold the actual property of the government; no more. Water being the most immediate necessity, General Butler di- 6 124 FORTRESS MOJSTROE. reeled his attention, first of all, to securing a more trustworthy sup- ply. Can the artesian well be speedily finished, which was begun long ago, and then suspended ? It could, thought Colonel de li Russy, of the engineers, who, at once, at the general’s request, con- i suited a contractor on the subject. There was a spring a mile from the fortress, which furnished 700 gallons a day. Can the water be | conducted to the fortress by a temporary pipe ? It can, reported i the colonel of engineers ; and the general ordered it done. Mean- f while, water from Baltimore, at two cents a gallon. To-morrow, ; Colonel Phelps, with his Vermonters, shall cross to Hampton, reconnoiter the country, and see if there is good camping ground in that direction ; for the pine forest suggested by General Scott was reported by Colonel de Russy to be unhealthy as well as waterless. In a day or two, Commodore Stringliam, urged thereto by General Butler, would have shelled out the rising battery at Sewall’s Point, if he had not been suddenly ordered away to the blockade of Charleston harbor. Already the general had an eye upon Newport News, eleven miles to the south, directly upon one of the roads he meant to take by and by, when the promised means of offensive warfare arrived. Word was brought that the enemy had an eye upon it, too; and General Butler determined to be there before them. That rolling of barrels from the landing would never do ; on this first day, the general ordered surveys and esti- mates for a railroad between the wharf and the fortress. The men were eating hard biscuit : he directed the construction of a new bake-house, that they might have bread. The next day, as every one remembers, Colonel Phelps made his reconnoissance in Hampton and its vicinity— not without a show of opposition. Upon approaching the bridge over Hampton Creek, Colonel Phelps perceived that the rebels had set fire to the bridge. Rushing forward at the double-quick, the men tore off the burning planks and quickly extinguished the fire ; then marching into the village, completed their reconnoissance, and performed some evolu- tions for the edification of the inhabitants. Colonel Phelps met there several of his old West Point comrades, whom he warned of the inevitable failure of their bad cause, and advised them to aban- don it in time. The general himself was soon on the ground, and took a ride of seven miles in the enemy’s country that afternoon, still eager in the pursuit of knowledge. EOKTRESS MONROE. IU5 One noticeable thing was reported by the troops on their return. It was, that the negroes, to a man, were the trusting, enthusiastic friends of the Union soldiers. They were all glee and welcome ; and Colonel Phelps and his men were the last people in the world to be backward in responding to their salutations. No one knew better than he that in every worthy black man and woman in the South the Union could find a helping friend if it would. By what- ever free-masonry it was brought about, the negroes received the impression, that day, that those Vermonters and themselves were ©n the same side. This Colonel Phelps is one of the remarkable figures of the war. A tall, loose-jointed, stout-hearted, benignant man of fifty, the sold of honesty and goodness. It had been his fortime, before his retire- ment from the army, to be stationed for many years in the South. For the last thirty years, if any one had desired to test, with the ut- most possible severity, a New Englander’s manhood and intelligence, the way to do it was to make him an officer of the United States army, and station him in a slave state. If there was any lurk- ing atom of baseness in him, slavery would be sure to find it out, and work upon it to the corruption of the entire man. If there was even defective intelligence or weakness of will, as surely as he continued to live there, he would, at last, be found to have yielded to the seducing influence, and to have lost his moral sense : first enduring, then tolerating, defending, applauding, participating. For slavery is of such a nature, that it must either debauch or violently repel the man who is obliged to live long in the hourly con- templation of it. There can be no medium or moderation. No man can hate slavery a little, or like it a little. It must either spoil or madden him if he lives with it long enough. Colonel Phelps stood the test ; but, at the same time, the long dwelling upon wrongs which he could do nothing to redress, the long contempla- tion of suffering which he could not stir to relieve, impaired, in some degree, the healthiness, the balance of his mind. He seemed, at times, a man of one idea. With such tenderness as his, such quick- ness and depth of moral feeling, it is a wonder he did not go raving mad. When the war began, he was at home upon his farm, a man of wealth for rural Vermont; and now he was at Fortress Monroe, commanding a regiment of three months’ militia ; a very model of a noble, brave, modest, and righteous warrior, full in the belief that 126 EOKTKESS MONKOE. the longed-for time of deliverance had come. It was a strange coming together, this of the Massachusetts democrat and the Ver- mont abolitionist — both armed in the same cause. General Butler felt all the worth of his new friend, and they worked together with abundant harmony and good-will. Colonel Phelps’s reconnoissance led to the selection of a spot be- tween Hampton and the fort for an encampment. The next day, General Butler went in person to Newport News, and, on the fifth day after taking command of the post, had a competent force at that vital point, intrenching and fortifying. Meanwhile, in exten-. sive dispatches to head-quarters, he had made known to General Scott his situation and his wants. He asked for Torses, vehicles, ammunition, field-artillery, and a small force of cavalry. Also (for attacks upon the enemy’s shore batteries), he asked for fifty surf- boats, “ of such construction as the lieutenant-general caused to be prepared for the landing at Vera Cruz, the efficiency and adapt- edness of which has passed into history.” He asked for the comple- tion of the artesian well, and the construction of the short railroad. He justified the occupation of Newport News, on the ground that it lay close to the obvious highway, by water, to Richmond, upon which already General Butler had cast a general’s eye. On the evening of the second day after his arrival at the post, the event occurred which will for ever connect the name of General Butler with the history of the abolition of slavery in America. Colonel Phelps’s visit to Hampton had thrown the white inhabitants into such alarm that most of them prepared for flight, and many left their homes that night, never to see them again. In the confu- sion three negroes escaped, and, making their way across the bridges, gave themselves up to a Union picket, saying that their master, Colonel Mallory, was about to remove them to North Caro- lina to work upon rebel fortifications there, far away from their wives and children, who were to be left in Hampton. They were brought to the fortress, and the circumstance was reported to the general in the morning. He questioned each of them separately, and the truth of their story became manifest. He needed laborers. He was aware that the rebel batteries that were rising around him were the work chiefly of slaves, without whose assistance they could not have been erected in time to give him trouble. He wished to keep these men. The garrison wished them kept. The FORTRESS MONROE. 127 country would have deplored or resented the sending of them away. If they had been Colonel Mallory’s horses, or Colonel Mal- lory’s spades, or Colonel Mallory’s percussion caps, he would have seized them and used them, without hesitation. Why not property more valuable for the purposes of the rebellion than any other ? He pronounced the electric .words, “ These men are Contraband of War ; set them at work.” “ An epigram,” as Winthrop remarks, “ abolished slavery in the United States.” The word took ; for it gave the country an excuse for doing what it was longing to do. Every one remem- bers how relieved the “ conservative” portion of the people felt, when they found that the slaves could be used on the side of the Union, without giving Kentucky a new argument against it, Ken- tucky, at that moment, controlling the policy of the administra- tion. “The South,” said Wendell Phillips, in a recent speech, “fought to sustain slavery, and the North fought not to have it hurt. But Butler pronounced that magic word, ‘ contraband,’ and summoned the negro into the arena. It was a poor word. I do not know that it is sound law ; but Lord Chatham said, ‘ nullus liber homo ’ is coarse Latin, but it is worth all the classics. Con- traband is a bad word, and may be bad law, but it is worth all the Constitution ; for in a moment of critical emergency it sum- moned the saving elements into the national arena, and it showed the government how far the sound fiber of the nation extended.” By the time the three negroes were comfortably at work upon the new bake-house, General Butler received the following brief epistle, signed, “ J. B. Carey, major-acting, Virginia volunteers “ Be pleased to designate some time and place when it will be agreeable to you to accord me a personal interview.” The general complied with the request. In the afternoon two groups of horsemen might have been seen approaching one another on the Hampton road, a mile from the fort. One of these consisted of General Butler and two of his staff, Major Fay and Captain Haggerty ; the other, of Major Carey and two or three friends. Major Carey and General Butler were old political allies, having acted in concert both at Charleston and at Baltimore — hard-shell democrats both. After an exchange of courteous salutations, and the introduction of companions, the conference began. The conver- sation was, as nearly as can be recalled, in these words : 128 FORTRESS MONROE. Major Carey : “ I have sought this interview, sir, for the pur- pose of ascertaining upon what principles you intend to conduct the war in this neighborhood.” The general bowed his willingness to give the information de- ] sired. Major Carey : “ I ask, first, whether a passage through the j blockading fleet will be allowed to the families of citizens of Virginia, who may desire to go north or south to a place of safety.” General Butler : “ The presence of the families of belligerents is always the best hostage for their good behavior. One of the ] objects of the blockade is to prevent the admission of supplies I of provisions into Virginia, while she continues in an attitude j hostile to the government. Reducing the number of consum- ers would necessarily tend to the postponement of the object in < view. Besides, the passage of vessels through the blockade would I involve an amount of labor, in the way of surveillance, to prevent abuse, which it would be impossible to perform. I am under the necessity, therefore, of refusing the privilege.” Major Carey: “Will the passage of families desiring to go j north be permitted ?” General Butler: “With the exception of an interruption at | Baltimore, which has now been disposed of, the travel of peaceable f citizens through the North has not been hindered ; and as to the in- ternal line through Virginia, your friends have, for the present, en- ’ tire control of it. The authorities at Washington can judge better than I upon this point, and travelers can well go that way in reach- ' mg the North.” Major Carey : “lam informed that three negroes, belonging to Colonel Mallory, have escaped within your lines. I am Colonel Mallory’ agent, and have charge of his property. What do you intend to do with regard to those negroes ?” General Butler : “ I propose to retain them.” Major Carey: “Do you mean, then, to set aside your constitu- tional obligations ?” General Butler : “ I mean to abide by the decision of Virginia, as expressed in her ordinance of secession, passed the day before yesterday. I am under no constitutional obligations to a foreign • country, which Virginia now claims to be.” FORTRESS MONROE. 129 Major Carey : “ But you say, we can't secede, and so you can not consistently detain the negroes.” General Butler : “ But you say, you have seceded, and so you can not consistently claim them. I shall detain the negroes as con- traband of war. You are using them upon your batteries. It is merely a question whether they shall be used for or against the government. Nevertheless, though I greatly need the labor which has providentially fallen into my hands, if Colonel Mallory will come into the fort and take the oath of allegiance to the United States, he shall have his negroes, and I will endeavor to hire them from him.” Major Carey: “ Colonel Mallory is absent.” The interview here terminated, and each party, with polite fare- well, went its way. This was on Friday, May 24. On Sunday morning, eight more negroes came in, and were received. On Monday morning, forty- seven more, of all ages ; men, women, and children ; several whole families among them. In the afternoon, twelve men, good field hands, arrived. And they continued to come in daily, in tens, twenties, thirties, till the number of contrabands in the various camp? numbered more than nine hundred. A commissioner of negro affairs was appointed, who taught, fed, and governed them ; who reported, after several weeks’ experience, that they worked well and cheerfully, required no urging, and perfectly compre- hended him when he told them*that they were as much entitled to freedom as himself. They were gentle, docile, careful and efficient laborers ; their demeanor dignified, their conversation always decent. General Butler’s correspondence with the government on this subject is not forgotten ; but it is proper that it should be repeated here. He merely related his interview with Major Carey in his first letter to General Scott, and asked for instructions. In his ), second dispatch, dated May 27th, he referred to the subject again. “ Since I wrote my last,” he observed, “ the question in regard to slave property is becoming one of very serious magnitude. The inhabitants of Virginia are using their negroes in the batteries, and are preparing to send their women and children south. The es- capes from them are very numerous, and a squad has come in this morning, and my pickets are bringing their women and children. 130 FORTRESS MONROE. Of course these can not he dealt with upon the theory on which I designed to treat the services of able-bodied men and women who might come within my lines, and of which I gave you a detailed account^in my last dispatch. “ I anl in the utmost doubt what to do with this species of prop- erty. Up to this time I have had come within my lines men and women, with their children, entire families, each family belonging to the same owner. I have, therefore, determined to employ, as I can do very profitably, the able-bodied persons in the party, issuing proper food for the support of all, and charging against their ser- vices the expense of care and sustenance of the non-laborers, keep- ing a strict and accurate account as well of the services as of the expenditures, having the worth of the services, and the cost of the expenditure determined by a board of survey hereafter to be de- tailed. I know of no other manner in which to dispose of this sub- ject*, and the questions connected therewith. As a matter of prop- erty, to the insurgents it will be of very great moment, the number that I now have amounting, as I am informed, to what in good times would be of the value of $60,000. “ Twelve of these negroes, I am informed, have escaped from the erection of the batteries on Sewall’s Point, which fired on my expe- dition as it passed by out of range. As a means of offense, there- fore, in the enemy’s hands, these negroes, when able-bodied, are of great importance. Without them the batteries could not have been erected, at least for many weeks. *\s a military question, it would seem to be a measure of necessity, and deprives their master of their services. “ How can this be done ? As a political question, and a question of humanity, can I receive the services of a father and a mother, and not take the children ? Of the humanitarian aspect I have no doubt ; of the political one I have no right to judge. I therefore submit all this to your better judgment ; and, as these questions have a political aspect, I have ventured, and I trust I am not wrong in so doing, to duplicate the parts of my dispatch relating to this subject, and forward them to the secretary of war.” The secretary replied, May 30th : “ Your action in respect to the negroes who came within your lines, from the service of the rebels, is approved. The department is sensible of the embarrassments, which must surround officers conducting military operations in a EOETRESS MOIXEOE. 131 state, by the laws of which slavery is sanctioned. The govern- ment can not recognize the rejection by any state of its federal obli- gation ; resting upon itself, among these federal obligations, how- ever, no one can be more important than that of suppressing and dispersing any combination of the former for the purpose of over throwing its whole constitutional authority. While, therefore, you will permit no interference, by persons under your command, with the relations of persons held to service under the laws of any state, you will on the other hand, so long as any state within which your military operations are conducted, remain under the control of such armed combinations, refrain from surrendering to alleged masters any persons who come within your lines. You will employ such persons in the services to which they will be best adapted, keeping an account of the labor by them performed, of the value of it, and the expenses of their maintenance. The ques- tion of their final disposition will be reserved for future determina- tion.” So the matter rested for two months, at the expiration of which events relived the question. Meanwhile, General Butler was ob- servant of the conduct and the character of the negroes, and had divers reflections upon the tendency of the patriarchal institution. The negroes accepted readily enough their new name of Contra- bands, without being able to get any one to answer intelligibly their frequent question, why the white folks called them so. Many strange scenes occurred in connection with this flight of the negroes to “Freedom Fort,” as they styled it ; for one of which, perhaps, space may be spared here. It gives us a glimpse into one of those ancient Virginia homes suddenly desolated by the war. Major Winthrop, I should premise, had now arrived at the fortress. He came just in time to take the place of military secretary to the general commanding, which had been vacant only a day or two, and [was now a happy member of the general’s family, winning his rapid way to all hearts. I mention him here because his comrades remem- ber how intensely amused he was at the interview about to be de- scribed. If he had lived a few days longer than he did, he would probably have told it himself, in his brief, bright, graphic manner. The office of the general at head-quarters was the place where the scene occurred. Enter, an elderly, grave, church-warden looking gentleman, ap- 6 * 132 FORTRESS MONROE. parently oppi’essed with care or grief. He was recognized as a respectable farmer of the neighborhood, the owner, so called, of thirty or forty negroes, and a farm-house in the dilapidated style of architecture, which might be named the Virginian Order. Ad- vancing to the table, he announced his name and business. He said he had come to ask the officer commanding the post for the return of one of his negroes — only one ; and he proceeded to relate the circumstances upon which he based his modest request. But he told his tale in a manner so measured and woful, revealing such a curious ignorance of any other world than the little circle of ideas and persons in which he had moved all his life, with such naive and comic simplicity, that the hearers found it impossible to take a se- rious view of his really lamentable situation. He proceeded in something like these words : — “ I have always treated my negroes kindly. I supposed they loved me. Last Sunday, I went to church. When I returned from church, and entered into my house, I called Mary to take off my coat and hang it up. But Mary did not come. And again I called Mary in a louder voice, but I received no answer. Then I went into the room to find Mary, but I found her not. There was no one in the room. I went into the kitchen. There was no one in the kitchen. I went into the garden. There was no one in the gar- den. I went to the negro quarters. There was no one at the ne- gro quarters. All my negroes had departed, sir, while I was at the house of God. Then I went back again into my house. And soon there came to me James, who has been my body-servant for many years. And I said to James : “ ‘ James, what has happened ?’ “And James said, ‘All the people have gone to the fort.’ - “‘While I was gone to the house of God, James?’ “And James said, ‘Yes, master; they’re all gone.’ “And I said to James, ‘Why didn’t you go too, James?’ “And James said, ‘ Master, I’ll never leave you.’ “‘Well James,’ said I, ‘as there’s nobody to cook, see if you can get me some cold victuals and some whisky.’ “ So James got me some cold victuals, and I ate them with a heavy heart. And when I had eaten, I said to James : “ ‘ James, it is of no use for us to stay here. Let us go to your mistress.’ FORTRESS MONROE. 133 “ His mistress, sir, had gone away from her home, eleven miles, fleeing from the dangers of the war. ‘“And, so, James/ said I, ‘harness the best horse to the cart, and put into the cart our best bed, and some bacon, and some corn meal, and, James, some whisky, and we will go onto your mis- tress.’ “ And James did even as I told him, and some few necessaries besides. And we started. It was a heavy load for the horse. I trudged along on foot, and James led the horse. It was late at night, sir, when we arrived, and I said to James : “‘ James, it is of no use to unload the cart to-night. Put the horse into the barn, and unload the cart in the morning.’ “ And James said, ‘ Yes, master.’ “ I met my wife, sir ; I embraced her, and went to bed ; and, not- withstanding my troubles, I slept soundly. The next morning, James was gone ! ’Then I came here, and the first thing I saw, when I got here, was James peddling cabbages to your men out of that very cart.” Up to this point, the listeners had managed to keep their counte- nances under tolerable control. But the climax to the story was drawled out in a manner so lugubriously comic, that neither the general nor the staff could longer conceal then' laughter. The poor old gentleman, unconscious of any but the serious aspects of his case, gave them one sad, reproachful look, and left the fort with- out uttering another word. He had fallen upon evil times. General Butler, meanwhile, had been studying the coimtry around him with a true general’s eye. His dispatches to head-quarters teem with evidence that, inexperienced as he was in the business of waging war, he comprehended the advantages and opportunities of his position. The uppermost thought in his mind was, that the way to Richmond was by the James river — not through the mazes of Manassas and the wilderness beyond him. Hear him : May 27, the fourth day of his command : “ The advantages of Newport News are these : There are two springs of very pure water there. The bluff is a fine, healthy situation. It has two good, commodious wharves, to which steamers of any draft of water may come up at all stages of the tide. It is as near any point of operation as Fortress Monroe, where we are obliged to lighten all vessels of draft over ten feet, and have but one wharf. 134 FORTRESS MONROE. The News, upon which I propose to have a water battery of four eight-inch guns, commands the ship channel of James river, and a force there is a perpetual menace to Richmond. My next point of operation, I propose, shall he Pig Point battery, which is exactly opposite the News, commanding Nansemond river. Once in com- mand of that battery, which I believe can easily be turned, I can then advance along the Nansemond and easily take Suffolk, and there either hold or destroy the railroad connection both between Richmond and Norfolk, and between Norfolk and the South. With a perfect blockade of Elizabeth river, and taking and holding Suffolk, and perhaps York, Norfolk will be so perfectly hemmed in, that starvation will cause the surrender, without risking an attack on the strongly fortified intrenchments around Norfolk, with great loss, and perhaps defeat. If this plan of operations does not meet the approbation of the lieutenant-general, I would be glad of his in- structions specifically. If it is desirable to move on Richmond, James and York rivers, both thus held, would seem to be the most eligible routes. I have no co-operation, substantially, by the navy, the only vessels now here being the Cumberland and the Harriet Lane ; the former too unwieldy to get near shore to use her bat- tery ; the other so light in her battery as not to be able to cope with a single battery of the rebels. I have great need of surf-boats for sea-coast and river advances, and beg leave to suggest the mat- ter again to you.” June 4 — eight days later. “I have here, altogether, about six thousand effective men. I am, as yet, without transportation or surf-boats, which I must have, in order to make a movement. * * I am preparing myself, however, to be able to land, by causing one regiment, at least, to be drilled in embarking in and landing from boats. I have also sent up to the mouth of the Susquehannah, to charter or purchase ten of a kind of boat which, I am informed by a gentleman connected with the squadron, will be the best possible, excepting regularly constructed surf-boats, for the purpose of land- ing troops.” June 6. “The intrenchments at Newport News will have been completed by the time this report reaches you, and the place is really very strong. A battery of four eight-inch columbiads will command the channel of the river upon one side, but still leaves open the channel on the Nansemond side. On that side, as you will EOETEESS MONBOE. 135 perceive, is Pig Point, upon which the rebels have erected bat- teries, which they are striving now to finish, mounting seven gums, thirty-twos and forty-fours. If we were in possession of Pig Point, the James and Nansemond would be both under our control, and the services of our blockading vessels might be dispensed with, which are now required to prevent water communication between Richmond and Wilfiamsburgh, and between Norfolk and Suffolk. My proposition is, therefore, to make a combined land and naval attack upon Pig Point, and endeavor to carry the batteries, both by turning them, and by direct attack upon the naval force. If we succeed, then to intrench ourselves there with what speed we may, and re-establish the battery. But, at the same time, to push on, with the same fiotilla of boats with which we landed, up the Nansemond, which is navigable for boats, and, I believe, fight- draught steamers, to Suffolk, a distance of twelve miles. When once there, the commanding general's familiarity with the country” (his native region), “ora glance at the map, will show that we are in possession of all the railroad communication between Richmond, Petersburgh and Norfolk, and also of the great shore fine con- necting Virginia with North Carolina, via Weldon, by which the guns taken at the navy yard will be sent south, whenever opera- tions in that direction demand. “By going eight and a half miles further by the Jericho Canal, we enter Drummond Lake, a sheet of water some six miles by four. From this lake the feeders of the Dismal Swamp Canal may be cut, and that means of transport cut off. Once at Suffolk, with three fines of the enemy’s communication cut oft', Norfolk must fall with her own weight. Starvation, to be brought on simply by gathering up the provisions of Princess Anne Coimty, will make her batteries and the theft of the navy yard guns substantially valueless, and will save many fives which would be otherwise spent in their reduction. “ I am not insensible to the disadvantages and difficulties of the project, the advantages of which I may have painted with too much coukur cle rose. “I do not recognize as among the most formidable the reduction of Pig Point battery, as there is plenty of depth of water within point-blank range, to float the Cumberland ; but the battery once reduced, there must be a pretty active march on Suffolk to prevent 136 FORTRESS MONROE. troublesome fortifications there, which I believe have not yet been undertaken “ If I am right in the importance which I attach to this position, then I must expect all the force of the rebels, both from Norfolk and Richmond, brought thither by railroad, to be precipitated upon me, and be prepared to meet it in the open field. Could they do i otherwise ? N orfolk would be hemmed in. Am I able to with- ' stand such an attack, between two forces which may act in con- J junction, with the necessary drafts from my forces to keep open the line of communication by the Nansemond with Newport News, < ! which would then be the right flank of my base of operations ? All these questions, much more readily comprehended by the gene- ral-in-chief than by myself, with the thousand suggestions that will at once present themselves to his mind, are most respectfully sub- mitted. “ May I ask for full and explicit instructions upon the matter ?” This was the scheme. It meant, Begin the war here. Strike at Richmond from this point. Sever Virginia from the South, by darting lienee upon her railroad centers. Make war where your navy can co-operate. Use the means which God and nature have given you, and which Colonel Dimmick preserved. Don’t sit there in Washington, puttering upon forts and defenses, listening anxious- - ly to the roar from the N orth, “ On to Richmond but give the enemy something to do elsewhere, far away from your capital and your sacred things, yet made near to you by your command of the sea. General Butler’s plans might not have been completely success- ful ; but if they had been adopted we should have had no Bull Run ; and, perhaps, no Merrimac — the true cause of the failure of the peninsular campaign. Other disasters we might have suffered, .but surely nothing so bad as Bull Run and the Merrimac, the most costly calamities that ever befell a country. The reply to General Butler’s eager dispatches present to us a curious study. The reader must make what he can of it. Date, , June 10th : “ Sir, — Your letters of the 1st and 6th instant are received. The general-in-chief desires me to say in reply, that he highly com- mends your zeal and activity, which oblige the enemy to strengthen his camps and posts in your vicinity, and hold him constantly on | FORTRESS MONROE. 137 the alert. The principal value of your movement upon Suffolk is, that it would be the easiest route to the Gosport Navy Yard, and the objects (including many ships of war) which our people on the former occasion left im destroyed. The possession of Norfolk in it- self is of no importance whilst we blockade Hampton Roads ; but the destruction of the railroads leading from that city, as far as you may find it practicable, would be a valuable coercive measure. The naval commander should aid you in the collection of boats, and the secretary of war has said that he would cause some eighty horses to be bought and shipped to you for a light battery.” These were the “ full and explicit instructions” for which General Butler had written. He must have been puzzled to decide whether the letter was designed to sanction or discourage his enterprise. Nor was it easy to see what the naval commander could do in the way of providing the requisite number of boats. If, however, the words of - the commander-in-chief were equivocal, his conduct was not. No horses were sent, nor battery of field artillery, nor vehicles, nor cavalry, nor boats. No objection to the railroad, the Artesian well, the bake-house, the intrenched camps ; but whatever was needful for an advance beyond half a day’s march was withheld. Such was the scarcity of horses that the troops were constantly seen drawing wagon loads of supplies. A reporter writes : “ A picture in the drama of the camp has this moment passed my quarters. It is a gang of the Massachusetts boys hauling a huge military wagon, loaded. They have struck up ‘ The Red, White and Blue.’ They believe in it, and consequently render it with true patriotic inspira- tion. They pause and give three rousing cheers ; and now they dash oft' like firemen, which they are, shouting and thundering along at a pace that makes the drowsy horses they pass prick up their ears.” To supply the most pressing occasions, General Butler had nine horses of his own brought from Lowell, and these were all he had for the public service for more than two months. Another reporter writes, June 28th: “Among the passengers on board the steamer to the fortress was Colonel Butler, brother of the general, who went to Washington last week to get orders for the purchase of horses, without which not a single step can be made in advance, simply because the forces here are entirely destitute of the means of transportation. He got orders and succeeded in buying one hundred and thirty-five very good horses, mainly in Baltimore, t 138 FORTRESS MONROE. whereupon the government immediately sent up and took one hun- dred of them for the artillery service at Washington. This was | pretty sharp practice, and gives rise to comment on the inability of the authorities at the capital to see anything but Washington worthy of a moment’s thought in connection with the present war.” The state of things certainly gave rise to comment, as the replies of official persons in Washington to General Butler’s solicitations, abundantly show. One gentleman, who was necessarily acquainted with all that was going on at the seat of government, expressed himself with remarkable freedom in a letter to our general. June 8th, “I received your letter and dispatch, and, contrary to your orders, I read both to the president, under the seal of confi- dence, however. I have told him that would never let you have any troops to make any great blow, and I read the dispatch to show that I understood my man. He intended to treat you as he did , and as he has always treated those whom he knew would be effective if he gave them the means, retaining everything in his own power and under his own immediate control, so as to monop- olize all the reputation to be made. “ I have been a little afraid lest you might attempt more than your means justified, under the impression that you would other- wise disappoint the country. But I am pleased to see that you have not made this mistake. You must work on patiently till you feel yourself able to do the work you attempt, and not play into your enemies’ hands, or those of the miserable do-nothings here, by attempting more than in your cool judgment the force you have can effect. You will gradually get the means, and then you may make an effective blow. Unfortunately, indeed, the difficulties increase as your force increases, if not more rapidly. We have forty thou- sand men, I believe, and provisions and transportation enough to take them to Richmond any day, and yet our lines do not extend five miles into Virginia, where there are not, in my opinion, men enough to oppose the march of half the number to Richmond. Old is at with 20,000 men, and is moving as cau- tiously toward the Potomac as if the banks were commanded by an army of Bonaparte’s best legions, instead of a mob, composed for the most part of men who only wait for an opportunity to desert a flag they detest. This war will last for ever if something does not hap- pen to unseat old . * in the West, with 60,000 men under GREAT BETHEL. 139 canvas, has not made a movement except let a few regiments march np the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, at the urgent solicitations of the people. So we go. Congress will probably catch us without our having performed any service worthy of the great force we have under pay.” “ I grumble this way all the time, and to every body, in the hope that I may contribute to push on the column. I am very much in hopes we shall be pushed into action by the indignation of the peo- pie, if not by our own sense of what is due to the cause we have taken in hand.” CHAPTER VII. GREAT BETHEL. Whex this letter reached the fortress, General Butler was im- mersed in the last details of a movement, the result of which was to show him, and show the country, that sitting in an office arranging a masterly plan of action is one thing, and the successful execution of the same is another. His correspondent read the answer to his letter in the newspapers ; first with exultation, then with bewilder- ment, lastly with dismay. For the news of Great Bethel came to us as so much of the news of the war has come ; first, in enormous flattering lies ; secondly, in exaggerated contradictory rumors of disaster ; finally, and gradually, in a dim resemblance to the truth. “ Severe engagement near Fortress Monroe — Two hours’ fight at Big Bethel — Terrible mistake of the Seventh and Third regi- ments — Masked batteries of Rifled Cannon open on our troops — Twenty-five killed, and one hundred wounded — •Withdrawal from the Field — Renewal of the Battle by General Butler — The Rebel Batteries Captured, and One Thousand Prisoners taken.” Thus was the disaster first Heralded. Then came news, that our unfortunate regiments had been hurled upon a battery armed with thirty pieces of rifled cannon, protected in front by an impassable creek, from which, after standing “a terrific fire” for an hour and a half, they had recoiled, with a loss, variously stated, from twenty ] 40 GREAT BETHEL. five to a hundred. Other accounts assured us that our men were on the point of taking the battery, when an order came from some unknown source to retire. The whole truth about Great Bethel does not appear to have been anywhere published. Mr. Pollard’s rebel account is a little nearer the truth than any other which I have seen ; though, of course, it is distorted by the insanity of hatred common to all our “ Southern brethren.”* Our “ Southern brethren” excel in the business of hating through constant practice. Mr. Pollard would have been a man of honor and truth if he had been reared five de- grees north of Richmond. As it is, he only escapes being one, when certain imaginary beings, whom he names Yankees , are the theme of his vigorous pen. The affair of Great Bethel happened thus : The forced inaction of General Butler had the effect of making the enemy bolder in approaching his lines. They would send par- ties from Yorktown, who would come down within sight of the Union pickets near Hampton, and seize both Union men and ne- groes, conscripting the former, using the latter on their batteries. Major Winthrop, always on the alert, learned from a contraband, George Scott by name, that the rebels had established themselves at two points between Yorktown and the fort, where they had thrown up intrenchments, and whence they nightly issued, seizing and plundering. George Scott described the localities with perfect correctness, and Winthrop himself, accompanied by George repeat- edly reconnoitered the road leading to them. On one point only was the negro guide mistaken : he thought the rebels were two thousand in number; wheieas, when he saw them, five hundred was about their force. They had eleven or twelve hundred men in the two Bethels on the day of the action, but not more than five hundred took part in it ; the rest having arrived, on a run, from Yorktown while the “battle” was proceeding, and, before they had recovered breath, it was over. Major Winthrop reported to General Butler, who resolved to at- tempt the capture of the two posts. Ilis orders restricted him tc advances of half a day’s march. Great Bethel being nine miles distant, might be considered within the limit. * “First year of the war.’' New York Edition, p. 77. GEEAT BETHEL. 141 Now, all was excitement and activity at head-quarters — no one so happy as TVmthrop, who threw himself, heart and soul, into the a flair. The first rough plan of the expedition, drawn up in his own hand, lies before me ; brief, hasty, colloquial, interlined ; resem- bling the first sketch of an “ article” or a story ; such as, doubtless, he had often dashed upon paper at Staten Island. PLAN OF ATTACK BY TWO DETACHMENTS UPON LITTLE BETHEL AND BIG BETHEL. A regiment or battalion to march from Newport News, and a regiment to march from Camp Hamilton — Dur yea's. Each will be supported by suf- ficient reserves under arms in camp, and with advanced guards out on the ro«d of march. Duryea to push out two pickets at 10 p. m. ; one two and a half miles beyond Hampton', on the county road, but not so far as to alarm the enemy. This is important. Second picket half as far as the first. Both rackets to keep as much out of sight as possible. No one whatever to be allowed to pass out through their lines. Persons to be allowed to pass in- ward toward Hampton — unless it appears that they intend to go rounda- bout and dodge through to the front. At 12, midnight, Colonel Duryea will march his regiment, with fifteen rounds cartridges, on the county road towards Little Bethel. Scows will be provided to ferry them across Hampton Creek. March to be rapid ; hut not hurried. A howitzer with canister and shrapnel to go. A wagon with planks and material to repair the Newmarket Bridge. Duryea to have the 200 rifles. He will pick the men to whom to intrust them. Bocket to be thrown up from Newport News. Notify Commodore Pen- dergrast of this to prevent general alarm. Newport News movement to be made somewhat later, as the distance is less. % If we find the enemy and surprise them, men will fire one volley, if desi- rable ; not reload , and go ahead with the bayonet. As the attack is to be by night, or dusk of morning, and in two detach- ments, our people should have some token, say a white rag (or dirty white rag) on the left arm. Perhaps the detachments who are to do the job should be smaller than a regiment 800 or 500, as the right and left of the attack would be more easily bandied. If we bag the Little Bethel men, push on to Big Bethel, and similarly *ba g them. Burn both the Bethels, or blow up if brick. 142 GREAT BETHEL. To protect onr rear in case we take the field-pieces, and the enemy should march his main body (if he has any) to recover them, it would he well to have a squad of competent artillerists, regular or other, to handle the captured guns on the retirement of our main body. Also spikes to spike them, if retaken. , George Scott to have a shooting-iron. Perhaps Duryea’s men would be awkward with a new arm in a night or early dawn attack, -where there will be little marksman duty to perform. Most of the work will be done with the bayonet, and they are already handy with the old ones. “ George Scott to have a shooting-iron !” So, the first sugges- tion of arming a black man in this war came from Theodore Win- throp. George Scott had a shooting-iron. This plan, the joint production of the general and Ms secretary, was substantially adopted, and orders in accordance therewith were issued. The command of the expedition was given to Brigadier-General E. W. Pierce, of Massachusetts, a brave and good man, totally without military experience except upon parade-grounds on train- ing days. General Butler, as we have before said, was his junior in the militia of Massachusetts, and had been selected by Governor Andrew to command the first brigade which left the state, over the head of General Pierce, who desired to go. It was by way of atonement to General Pierce for having taken the place which be- longed by seniority to him, that General Butler assigned him to the command. The motive was honorable to his feelings as a man. On Boston Common the act would have been highly becoming and quite unobjectionable. But, alas ! the theater of action was not Boston Common. General Butler has an eye for the man he wants. *This was the first time, and the last time, in his military career, that he has se- lected an officer for an independent command, for any other reason but a conviction that he was the best man at hand for the duty to be done. General Pierce was a brave and good man ; reputed then to be such ; since proved to be such ; but he was not the best man at Hand for the duty to be done. Out of a good citizen you can make a good soldier in four months; but a good officer is a creature slowly produced. Seven years in peace, one year in war, may do it, but he must have served an apprenticeship, before he is fit to be in-* . • ' \ ■ . ' r/.sf/f// t 'm /JOSp&h/r /// />!< , v j ' y/ntsrttlh/ xo. | lovvxLsei I i x The t/i.vfturtr Cr.nu H fo /hr hrutt/r t.s at ton/ hn/Cf/ att/r . I' fo/it (ii'iJ)lr .V f/f/t/ f n//ic /, 'tn//rrv ■ ttht)n/ ,’■{/)/> \v//y/v. Skelih (>r COUNTY BRIDGE . /h nr / tifi /. I > VJk w ii 1 1 y <; K . WA H K K N, Major (reiirval of I T S Volimt eers . GREAT BETHEL. 143 trusted with the lives of men and the honor of a country. The day before Bethel, General Butler had the brains of a general, the cour- age of a general, the toughness of a general, the technical knowl- edge of a general ; but to fit him for independent command, he still needed some such harsh and bitter experience as now awaited him. The day after Bethel, he had made a prodigious stride in his mili- tary education, for he is a man who can take a hint. The whole secret of war was revealed in the flash and thunder, the disaster and shame, of that sorry skirmish. All went well until near the dawn of day, June 10th, when the forces were to form their junction near Little Bethel. There Colo- nel Bendix’s regiment saw: approaching over the crest of a low hill what seemed, in the magnifying dusk, a body of cavalry. It was Colonel Townsend’s regiment which they saw. Knowing that General Butler had no cavalry, Colonel Bendix concluded, of course, that they were a body of mounted rebels. The fatal order was given to fire, and ten of Colonel Townsend’s men fell ; two killed and eight wounded. The fire was returned in a desultory manner, without loss to the regiment of Colonel Bendix. Of the confusion that followed, the double-quick counter-marching, the alarm to friends and foes, I need not speak. The dawn of day revealed the error, and then the question arose, whether to advance or to return to the fortress. A surprise was no longer possible, and the inhabi- tants of the country concurred in stating the force of the enemy at four or five thousand, with formidable artillery. Colonel Duryea had already captured the picket at Little Bethel. The enemy, therefore, fully warned, must be concentrated at Great Bethel. Major Winthrop and Lieutenant Butler, both of the com- manding general’s staff, united in most earnestly advising an ad- vance, and General Pierce gave no reluctant assent. He had sent back for re-enforcements which were soon on the march to join him. At half past nine, he had arrived ‘within a mile of the enemy, with two regiments and four pieces of cannon of small caliber, one of which was the gim of Lieutenant Greble of the regular artillery. Two other regiments were approaching. The ground may be roughly described thus : An oblong piece of open country, sur- rounded on three sides by woods, General Pierce entering at the end where there was no wood. The enemy's position was near the upper end, but behind a strip of wood which concealed it. It 144 GREAT BETHEL. was, in some slight degree, protected in front by a creek twelve feet w ide and three deep. Their battery consisted of four pieces of field artillery, one of which becoming disabled through the dis- arrangement of the trigger-apparatus, was useless. The earth- works, hastily thrown up in front of the guns, added scarcely any strength to the position, for they were less than three feet high on the outside. A boy ten years old could have leaped over them; a boy ten years old could have Avaded the creek. The breastworks were, in fact, so low that the wheels of the enemy’s guns were embedded in the earth, in order to get the carriages low enough to be protected. These facts I learn from a Union officer of high rank, who afterward became familiar with the ground. Behind these ■ trivial works were five hundred rebel troops, who were re-enforced ; Avhile the action was going on with six hundred more from York- I town, thoroughly blown with running. This was the real strength I of the enemy, whom General Pierce firmly believed to consist of four or five thousand troops strongly posted, and well supplied with artillery. General Pierce and his command then stood, at half-past nine, on the high road leading from Hampton to York town, a mile from the enemy, whose battery commanded the road. That battery was so placed that it could have been approached within fifty yards I without the attacking party leaving the woods. Nor was there any i serious obstacle to turning it either on the right or on the left. I This not being immediately perceived, Colonel Duryea and Lieuten- ant Greble marched along the high road into the enemy’s fire, and I soon the cannon balls began to play over their heads, falling far to the rear. The men gave three cheers and kept on their way. Soon, however, the enemy fired better, and some men Avere struck ; not many, for the total loss of Colonel Duryea’s regiment that day was four killed, and twelve wounded. To these troops, in theii inexperience, it seemed that work of this kind could not be down in the programme. They also received the impression that the enemy’s three pieces of cannon were thirty at least, and that, upon the whole, this was not the right road to the battery. So they sidled off into the woods, and there remained waiting for some one to tell them what to do next. Greble kept on to a point three hun- dred yards from the enemy, where he planted his gun, and main- tained a steady and effective fire upon them for an hour and a half. GEEAT BETHEL. 145 I say effective. It did not kill a rebel ; but it bad the effect of keep- ing them within their works, and giving them the idea that they were attacked. After Colonel Duryea had retired to the woods, there was a long pause in the operations, during which a good plan was matured for turning the enemy’s battery, and getting in behind it. It was agreed that Colonel Townsend should keep well away to the left, near the wood, or through the wood, and go on to the Yorktown road beyond the battery ; then turn down upon it, and dash in. Colonel Duryea and Colonel Bendix were to march through the woods on the right, and penetrate to the same road below the bat- tery, and then rush in upon it simultaneously with Colonel Town- send. It was an excellent and most feasible scheme, certain of success if -executed with merely tolerable vigor and resolution. Colonel Duryea again advanced, this time through the woods. He went as far as the creek, and concluding it to be impassable by his “ Zouaves,” retired a second time, with some trifling loss ; Lieutenant- Colonel Warren, and a few brave men remaining long enough to bring away the body and the gun of poor Greble, shot by the ene- my's last discharge. Meanwhile Colonel Townsend was making his way far on the other side of the road. He was going straight to victory; Major Winthrop among the foremost, full of ardor and confidence, and the men in good heart. In five minutes more he would have gained a position on the Yorktown road beyond the battery, from which they could have marched upon the enemy, as in an open field. Then occurred a fatal mistake. In the haste of the start, two companies of the regiment had marched on the other side of a stone fence ; and, anxious to get forward, were coming up to the front at some distance from the main body in the open field. Colonel Townsend seeing these troops, supposed that they were a body of the enemy coming out to attack him in flank. . He ordered a halt, and then returned to the point of departure to meet this imaginary foe. Winthrop, as is supposed, did not hear the order to retire. With a few troops he still pressed on, and when the y halted, still advanced, and reached a spot thirty yards from the enemy’s battery. With one companion, private John M. Jones of Y ermont, he sprang upon a log to get a view of the position, which he alone that day clearly saw. A ball pierced his brain. He almost instantly breathed his last. His body being left on the 146 GREAT BETHEL. field fell into the hands of the foe. In their opinion, he was the only man in the Union force who displayed “ even an approxima- tion to courage,” and they gave his remains the honorable burial due to the body of a hero, and returned his watch and other effects to his commanding officer. General Pierce, with the advice of all the colonels except Col Duryee, gave the order to retire! and so the “battle” of Great Bethel ended. Some of the companies retired in tolerable order. But there was a great deal of panic and precipitation, though the pursuit was late and languid. The noble Chaplain Winslow and the brave Lieutenant-Colonel G. K. Warren,* with a few other firm men, remained behind ; and, all exhausted as they were, drew the wounded in wagons nine miles, from the scene of the action to the nearest camp. Lieutenant-Colonel Warren reports: “ I remained on the ground about an hour after all the force had left. As Colonel Carr retired, Captain Wilson, of his regiment, , carried off the gun at which Lieutenant Greble had been killed, but left the limber behind. I withdrew this along with Lieutenant Greble’s body, assisted by Lieutenant Duncan and twelve men of the N. Y. First, and sent it on to join the piece. I remained with Chaplain Winslow, and a few men of the N. Y. Third, Fifth, and Seventh, getting the wounded together, whom we put into carts and wagons, and drew off' by hand. There were three or four mortally wounded and several dead, whom we had to leave from inability to carry them. I sent several messengers to get assistance ; and as we moved slowly, finding no one, I pushed ahead as fast as I could go on foot (having given the animal I rode to a wounded man). I overtook none but the worn-out stragglers till I came up to Captain Kapff, of the N. Y. Seventh, who with seven or eight men stopped, as also did Captain McNutt of the Second, detailed by Colonel Carr. They both rendered essential service in checking the advance of the enemy’s horsemen, who finally came on and pursued up to New Market Bridge. “ The noble conduct of Chaplain Winslow, and the generous- hearted men who remained behind to help the wounded, deserves the highest praise ; and the toilsome task which they accomplished * 8ince brigadier-general and chief of staff to General Meade — distinguished on many fields, particularly at the battles in Pennsylvania in June, 1S63. GREAT BETHEL. 14V of dragging the rude vehicles, filled with their helpless comrades, over a weary road of nine miles in their exhausted condition, with the prospect of an attack every minute, bespeak a goodness of heart and a bravery never excelled. Besides the wounded and dead left behind, there were a number of canteens and haversacks, and a few muskets and bayonets, all of which I think was caused by a mis- understanding. Our regiment did not think we were going hack more than a few hundred yards to rest a little, out of fire, and then make another attack. There was no pursuing force, or the least excuse for precipitancy. No shots were fired at the little party who carried away the limber of Lieutenant Grehle’s gun, and the long while which elapsed without any one appearing in front of the enemy’s lines, would indicate that he was very weak in numbers, or perhaps had begun to retire. The force which the enemy brought into action was not, I think, greater than 500 men. His great advantage over us was artillery protected from our fire. I still am of the opinion that the position, as we found it, was not difficult to take with experienced troops, and could have been turned on our left. The trees protected our approach, and sheltered us from their battery till we were quite close, and the march in front was practicable for footmen. We labored under great disad- vantage in want of experience in firing, and in the exhaustion of our men from want of sleep, long marching, and hunger. “ The enemy had a rifled gun or two, shooting bolts of about the caliber of four-pounders, and eight inches long, with soft metal base ; some of them were hollow, with a Boarman fuse at the point, and all did not burst. Some of their twelve-pounder shells also failed to explode. There were probably three to five guns sheltered by a breastwork, and one or two that were moved around to different points. “ The breastwork was placed so that the guns enfiladed the little bridge. The gun placed to sweep the long reach of road before you came to the bridge was driven away by Lieutenant Greble’s fire, which prevented our loss from being far greater than it was. The skill and bravery displayed by Lieutenant Greble could not have been surpassed ; and the fortune which protected him from the enemy’s fire only deserted him at the last moment. The discharge which killed him was one of the last made by the memy’s guns. His own guns were never silenced by the enemy’s 7 148 CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT BETHEL. ■fire, and the occasional pauses were to husband his ammuni tion.” The Union loss in killed and permanently disabled was twenty- five. The rebel loss, one man killed and three wounded. A few hours after the action, Great Bethel was evacuated. If General Pierce had withdrawn his men out of fire, and caused them to sit down and eat their dinner, it is highly probable the enemy would have retreated ; for they were greatly outnumbered, and were per- fectly aware that one regiment of steady and experienced troops, led by a man who knew his business, could have taken them all prisoners in twenty minutes. For the most part, our men, I am assured, behaved as well as could have been expected. All they wanted was commanders who knew what was the right thing to do, and who would go forward and show them how to do it. One well-compacted, well-sustained rush from any point of approach, and the battery had been theirs. CHAPTER YHI. CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT BETHEL. Great Bethel was a trifling skirmish ; but, occurring just when it did, it was a calamity. It was the first shock of arms between the belligerents, and gave the key-note to at least the overture of the war — the first campaign. Splendid fighting has since been done, and a great deal of it. There has, also, been much bad fighting, many ill-concerted movements, much misconduct on the part of officers, some shameful flights and panics. It does not appear cer- tain that we have yet learned to comply with all the fundamental conditions of successful war. We still seem capable, occasionally, of starting back in affright from phantoms, instead of marching forward and preventing phantoms from becoming realities. We all know what allowances were to be made for these Bethel regi- ments. We knew how they had left their counting-rooms and shops for a long frolic at soldiering, with officers who were, per- CONSEQUENCES OE GREAT BETHEL. 149 haps, more ignorant of their new profession than if they had n^ver shone on parade, or distinguished themselves in the drill room. There is a kind of knowledge which deludes more than total igno- rance, since it seems to conceal our ignorance from ourselves and from others. It was rather surprising than otherwise that the first fighting of the war was done as well as it was done, since all the influences of our education and business had long tended to abate that exuber- ance of spirit, that confidence in our strength, which makes men mighty to dare and to overcome. The training which diminishes a man's fighting power is not culture, but effeminacy. But if we had not learned the true secret of successful warfare, we are learning it ; we shall learn it. Much creditable fighting has been done by the Union armies. But, contending as we are with a desperate foe, our armies must acquire the coherency which is only obtained by supplying them with otficers whose superiority of knowledge will command the confidence of the men in critical moments. For many a year to come, perhaps, the elite of the young men of America will have to be bred to arms as a profession. The day after Bethel was a sad one at Fortress Monroe. Lieu- tenant Greble’s father was on his way to visit his son, and arrived only to take back his remains to his family, followed by the sorrow of the whole command. The fate of Winthrop was not yet known ; he was reported only among the “ missing.” Before leaving head- quarters he had borrowed a gun of the general, saying, gayly, “I may want to take a pop at them.” In the course of the morn- ing, this gun was brought in, with such information as led to the conclusion that he must have fallen ; perhaps, thrown his life pur- posely away. During his short residence at head-quarters he had endeared himself to all hearts ; to none more than to the general and Mrs. Butler. He was mourned as a brother by those who had known him but sixteen days. As Mr. Curtis beautifully says in his fine sketch of his friend’s ca- reer, “ Theodore Winthrop’s life, like a fire long smoldering, sud- denly blazed up into a clear bright flame, and vanished. Descended from John Winthrop and Jonathan Edwards, numbering among his ancestors seven presidents of Yale College, of which he was him- self a distinguished graduate, with fine gifts, powerful friends, good opportunities, he lived thirty-three years without finding work that 150 CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT BETHEL could absorb and content him, unless it -were literature, and for that he seemed to lack the something — bodily stamina, confidence in his powers, force of ambition or pressure of necessity — which could convert his longing into a career. His desk was full of manuscripts, since rightly valued; but his name was unknown to the public till lie wrote the story of the march of the Seventh regiment. It was not force of vitality that he wanted. He had been everywhere, seen everything ; walked over Scotland, Italy, Switzerland; ridden over our western plains and deserts. A short, slight, most active figure. “Often,” says Mr. Curtis, “after writing for a few hours in the morning, he stepped out of doors, and, from pure love of the fun, leaped and turned summersets upon the grass, before going up to town. In walking about Staten Island, he constantly stopped by the roadside fences, and, grasping the highest rail, swung him- self swiftly and neatly over and back again, resuming the walk and the talk without delay.” Overwork at school and college had robbed him of that unchecked growth without Avhich there can be no sustained fullness of endeavor. Unlearning what he had learned amiss, learning essential things of which the schools had given him no hint, chasing the world over after health — so passed the years of his maturity. To the mother of his dead comrade, General Butler addressed the following letter: “ Head-quarters Department of Virginia, “ June Uth, 1861. “ My Dear Madam : — The newspapers have anticipated me in the sorrow- ful intelligence which I have to communicate. Your son Theodore is no more. He fell mortally wounded from a rifle shot, at County Bridge. I have conversed with private John M. Jones, of the North held company in the Vermont regiment, who stood beside Major Winthrop when he fell, and supported him in his arms. “Your son’s death was in a few moments, without apparent anguish. After Major Winthrop had delivered the order with which he was charged, to the commander of the regiment, he took his rifle, and while his guide held his horse in the woods in the rear, with ‘too daring bravery, went to the front ; while there, stepping upon a log to get a full view of the force, he received the fatal shot. His friend, Colonel Wardrop, of Massachusetts, had loaned him a sword for the occasion, on which his name was marked in full, so that he was taken by the enemy for the colonel himself. JOXSEQTTEiN'CES OF GREAT BETHEL. 151 “ Major Winthrop had advanced so close to the parapet, that it -was not thought expedient by those in command to send forward any party to bring off the body, and thus endanger the lives of others in the attempt to secure his remains, as the rebels remorselessly fired upon all the small parties that went forward for the purpose of bringing off their wounded comrades. ‘‘ Had your gallant son been alive, I doubt not he would have advised this course in regard to another. I have assurances from the officer in com- mand of the rebel forces at County Bridge, that Major Winthrop received at their hand a respectful and decent burial. “ His personal effects found upon him, will be given up to my flag of truce, with the exception of his watch, which has been sent to Yorktown, and which I am assured will be returned through me to yourself. “ I have given thus particularly these sad details, because I know and have experienced the fond inquiries of a mother’s heart respecting her son’s acts. “My dear madam! although a stranger, my tears will flow with yours in grief for the loss of your brave and too gallant son. my true friend and brother. “I had not known him long, but his soldierly qualities, his daring cour- age, his true-hearted friendship, his genuine sympathies, his cultivated mind, his high moral tone, all combined to so win me to him, that he had twined himself about my heart with the cords of a brother’s love. “ The very expedition which resulted so unfortunately for him, made him all the more dear to me. Partly suggested by himself, he entered into the necessary preparations for it with such alacrity, cool judgment, and careful foresight, in all the details that might render it successful, as gave great promise of future usefulness in his chosen profession. When, in answer to his request to be permitted to go with it, I suggested to him that my cor- respondence was very heavy, and he would be needed at home, he play- fully replied: ‘0 general, we will all work extra hours, and make that up when we get back. The affair can't go on without me, you know.’ The last words I heard him say before his good-night, when we parted, were, ‘ If anything happens, I have given my mother’s address to Mr. Green.’ His last thoughts were with his mother; his last acts were for his country and her cause. “ I have used the words ‘ unfortunate expedition for him !’ Hay, not so ; too fortunate thus to die doing his duty, his whole duty, to his country, as a hero, and a patriot. Unfortunate to us only who are left to mourn the loss to ourselves and our country. “ Permit me, madam, in the poor degree I may, to take such a place in your heart that we may mingle our griefs, as we already do our love and admiration for him who has only gone before us to that better world where, through the ‘ merits of Him who suffered for us,’ we shall all meet together. “ Most sincerely and affectionately, “Yours, Bexj. P. Butlek.” 152 CONSEQUENCES OP GREAT BETHEL. It may not be improper to add to this just and affecting tribute, a note addressed by the sister of the deceased officer to Mrs. Butler : “Staten Island, June 10th, 1861. “Deae Hes. Butler: — I can not let this opportunity pass ■without ex- pressing my gratitude to you, and General Butler, for your great kindness to my dear brother, and for your tenderness to us in our grief. It is a great comfort to ns to know that we have your sympathy ; to know that you valued Theodore, and appreciated him. We must always feel a warm friendship for you and yours, with whom he spent the last weeks of his life, the most eventful, the most useful, and the happiest, perhaps, he had ever spent. You know in some degree what we have lost, and I trust we shall one day meet as friends, and talk of things of the deepest interest to us, and which I am sure are not without interest to you. It does make us stronger to bear our sorrow, when we think of the cause for which our dear brother died ; a cause long dear to us all, and now far dearer than ever. I trust our country will be nobler and worthier than ever of our love, after this dark hour of trial is past. May she not have, like Rachel, to weep for many more of her children. Yet truth and freedom can not be too dearly bought, by r blood and tears. “It is a great satisfaction to us to know from Theodore’s letters, that some of the last acts of his life were kindnesses to an oppressed race, a race ho never forgot, as a part of the Nation whose battle he fought. “My mother and sisters join with me in affectionate remembrances, and in the hope of expressing in person at some future time our heartfelt grati- tude, our interest and friendship for you as well as General Butler, whose career we watch with warm interest and admiration. Yours affectionately, “Lauka ~W. Johnson.” I must not leave this melancholy subject without mentioning the noble, and, I believe, unique atonement made by General Pierce for whatever errors he may have committed at Great Bethel. He served out his term of three months in such extreme sorrow as almost to threaten his reason. He then enlisted as a private in a three years regiment, and served for some time in that honorable lowliness. Appointed, at length, to the command of a regiment, he served with distinction through the campaign of the peninsula, where, in one of the battles, he was severely wounded. General Butler, as we all remember, did not escape the censures of the press on this occasion. He was frequently favored with comments like the following : “Men can not be required to stand in front of a rampart, thirty CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT BETHEL. 153 feet from the muzzles of mounted guns, loaded with grape, and canister, and musket-halls, doing nothing. When they are com- manded to march through fire, and reach the ditch, they must be provided with the means to cross it, or jump into it, and sticking their bayonets into the slope of the scarp, form with them ladders by means of which the more active can mount the parapet. But before men are sent into a position — recollecting that every ditch will be swept by a flank fire — they must not only be instructed in their duties, but supported by a steady fire upon the enemy. Ad- vantage must be taken of darkness or the weather ; false assaults must be made in conjunction with the true one, and so supported, too, that the false attack may, if circumstances favor it, be followed up and made the real one.” Indeed, the great calamity of Bethel was, that it concealed from the country for a time the merit of the man who, more than most, was able to give it the service it needed. The country wanted a man who could not be scared by phantoms, and whose energy and talents could keep phantoms from growing into grim realities. The man was at hand, but imperfectly recognized. A complete success at Great Bethel, added to the fame of Baltimore and Annapolis, would have given General Butler a position before the country which could not have been disregarded. The failure there nearly cost him a rejection by the senate. He was saved by two votes only, and that bare majority he owed to the friendly exertions of that Colonel Baker whose life was squandered at Ball’s Bluff. Colonel Baker had served with his regiment at Fortress Monroe. An interesting correspondence between General Butler and Colo- nel Magruder, shows us that the question of the exchange of pris- oners was not regarded as a difficult one, at that stage of the war, by either of those officers. Colonel Magruder had been an acquaintance of General Butler in happier times. They had last met, I believe, at a ball at Newport : COLONEL MAGETTDEE TO GENERAL BUTLER. “ Head-Quarters, Yorktown, Virginia, June 12th, 1861. “Major-General B. F. Butler, Commanding F ortress Monroe, &c. ‘■Sir: — Our people had orders to bring any communications intended for the commander of the forces at ‘ County Bridge’ or Bethel to this place, and by a particular route — hence the delay. 154 CONSEQUENCES OF GKEAT BETHEL. “ I understood from Captain Davies, the bearer of the flag, that you have four prisoners, to wit: One trooper and three citizens; Messrs. Carter, Whiting, Lively and Mariam, the latter three being citizens of Virginia, in your possession ; and you state that you are desirous to exchange them for a corresponding number of federal troops, who are prisoners with me. I accept your offer, so far as the trooper, who was a vidette, in question, and will send to-morrow, at four o’clock in the afternoon, if it will suit your convenience, a federal soldier in exchange for him. With respect to the wounded, my first care was to have them attended to. Medical advice and Careful nursing have been provided, and your dead I had buried on the field of battle, and this was done in sight of the conflagration which was devas- tating the homes of our citizens. “ The citizens in your possession are men who doubtless defended their homes against a foe who, to their certain knowledge, had, with or without the authority of the federal government, destroyed the private property of their neighbors, breaking up even the pianos of the ladies, and committing depredations, numberless and of every description. The federal prisoners, if agreeable to you, will be sent to or near Hampton, by a sergeant, who will receive the vidette (Carter) who was captured by your troops. I do not think a more formal proceeding necessary, you having but one pris- oner,. and he not taken in battle. “ If my proposition to deliver one federal prisoner at or near Hampton in charge of a sergeant, to be exchanged for private Carter, the captured vi- dotte, be accepted, please inform me or the officer in command at Bethel church, and it shall be done. “ It is scarcely necessary to say that the gentlemen who bear your flag have been received with every courtesy by our citizens, as well as our- selves. I have the honor to be, “Very respectfully, your obedient servant, “J Bankhead Magruder, Colonel Commanding." GENERAL BUTLER TO COLONEL MAGRUDEK. Head-Quarters Department of Virginia, Fortress Monroe, June 13 th, 1861. “Colonel J. B. Magruder, Commanding Forces at Yorktown. “ Sir : — Your favor of June 12, by Captain Davies, with a flag of truce, was this morning received. I desire first to thank you for the courtesy shown to the flag and its messengers. I will accept the exchange for private Carter- The two citizens, 'Whiting and Lively, were taken with arms in their hands, one of which was discharged from the house of Whiting upon the column of our troops when all resistance was useless, and when his attack was sim- CONSEQUENCES OE GREAT BETHEL. 155 ply assassination, and when no offense had been committed against him. The house from which this shot was fired, and a building which formed a part of your outpost are the only conflagrations caused by the troops un- der my command. And the light of these had ceased hours before your men ventured out from under their earthworks and ditches, to do us the .courtesy of burying our dead, for which act you have my sincere thanks. 1 “ After our troops returned from the field — hours after — a building was burned which had furnished our wounded some shelter, and from which we had removed them, but not by our men. For your kind treatment of any wounded you may have, please accept my assurance of deep obligation, with the certainty that at any and every opportunity such courtesy and kindness will be reciprocated. I am sorry that an officer so distinguished in the ser- vice of the United States as yourself could for a moment suppose that the wanton destruction of private property would in any way he authorized or tolerated by the federal government and its officers, many of whom are your late associates. Even now, while your letter is being answered, and this is on its way to you, a most ignominious and severe punishment, in the presence of all the troops, is being inflicted upon men who had enlisted in the ser- vice of the United States — not soldiers — -for plundering private property. All private property which would not, by the strictest construction, be con- sidered contraband of war, as means of feeding and aiding the enemy, which has been brought within my lines or in any way has come in the pos- session of my troops and discovered, with the strictest examination has been taken account of and collected together to he given to those peaceable citizens who have come forward to make claim for it. A board of survey has been organized, and has already reported indemnity for the property of peaceable citizens necessarily destroyed. In order to convince you that no wrong has been done to private property by any one in authority in the service of the United States, I do myself the honor to inclose a copy of a general order from this department, which will sufficiently explain itself. And the most active measures have been taken rigidly to enforce it, and to punish violations thereof. That there have been too many sporadic acts of wrong to private property committed by bad men under my command, I admit and most sincerely regret, and believe they will in the future be sub- stantially prevented ; and I mean they shall be repaired in favor of all loyal citizens so far as lies in my power. “ You have done me the honor to inform me that vidette Garter is not a prisoner taken in battle. That is quite true. He was asleep on his post, and informs me that his three companions left in such haste that they neg- lected to wake him up. And they being mounted and my men on foot, the race was a difficult one. If it is not the intention of your authorities to treat the citizens of Virginia taken in actual conflict with the United States, as soldiers, in what light shall they be considered ? Please inform 156 CONSEQUENCES OE GREAT BETHEL. me in what light you regard them. If not soldiers, must they not he as- sassins? l; A sergeant of Captain Davies’s command will be charged to meet your sergeant at four o’clock, at the village of Hampton, for the purpose of ex- change of private Carter. I need not call your attention to the fact that there will be unauthor- ized acts of violence committed by those who are not sufficiently under re- straint of their commanding officers. My men complain that the ambu lance having the wounded was fired into by your cavalry. And I am in- formed that if you have any prisoners, they were taken while engaged in pious duty to their wounded comrades, and not in battle. It has not oc- curred to my mind that either firing into the ambulance or capturing per- sons in charge of the wounded men was an act either authorized, recog- nized, or sanctioned by any gentleman in command of the forces in Virginia. Before this unhappy strife, I had not been so accustomed to regard the acts of my late associate citizens of the United States, and I have seen nothing in the course of this contest in the acts of those in authority, to lead me to a different conclusion. “ I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant, “Benj. F. Butler, “ Major-General Commanding United States Forces." General Butler learned the lesson first taught by the failure at Great Bethel, since repeated on so many disastrous fields. That lesson was, the utter insufficiency of the volunteer system as then organized, and the absolute necessity of officers morally and profes- sionally superior to the men under their command. The southern social system, at least, leads to the selection of officers to whom the men are accustomed to look up. Our officers, on the contrary, must have a real superiority, both of knowledge and of character, in order to bind a regiment into coherency and force. General Butler had under his command captains, majors and colonels who owed their election chiefly to their ability to bestow unlimited drinks. There were drunkards and thieves among them ; to say nothing of those who, from mere ignorance and natural inefficiency, could maintain over their men no degree whatever of moral or military ascendancy. The general saw the evil. In a letter to the secretary of war, June 26tli, he pointed out the partial remedy which was afterward adopted. “ I desire,” he wrote, “ to trouble you upon a subject of the last importance to the organization of our volunteer regiments. Many CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT BETHEL. 157 of the volunteers, both two and three years men, have chosen their own company officers, and in some cases their field officers, and they have been appointed without any proper military examination before a proper board, according to the plan of organization of the volunteers. There should be some means by which these officers can be sifted out. The efficiency and usefulness of the regiment depend upon it. To give you an illustration : In one regiment I have had seven applications for resignation, and seventeen applica- tions for leave of absence ; some on the most frivolous pretexts, by every grade of officers under the colonel. I have yielded to many of these applications, and more readily than I should otherwise have done, because I was convinced that their absence was of benefit rather than harm. Still, this absence is a virtual fraud upon the United States. It seems as if there must be some method other than a court-martial of ridding the service of these officers, when there are so many competent men ready, willing, and eager to serve their country. Ignorance and incompetency are not crimes to be tried by court martial, while they are great misfortunes to an officer. As at present the whole matter of the organization is in- formal, without direct authority of law in its details, may not the matter be reached by having a board appointed at any given post, composed of three or five, to whom the competency, efficiency, and propriety of conduct of a given officer might be submitted ? And that upon the report of that board, approved by the commander and the department, the officer be dropped without the disgrace attending the sentence of a court-martial ?” Meanwhile, the general labored most earnestly to raise the stand- ard of discipline in the regiments. The difficulty was great, amounting, at times, to impossibility. At one time there w r ere thirty-eight vacancies among the officers of the blew York regi- ments alone. The men, accustomed to active industry, and now compelled to endure the monotony of a camp, sought excitement in drink. It was, for some weeks, a puzzle at head-quarters where the soldiers obtained such abimdant supplies of the means of intoxica- tion. “We used,” said General Butler, in his testimony before the war committee, “ to send a picket guard up a mile and a half from Fortress Monroe. The men would leave perfectly sober, yet every night when they came back we would have trouble with them on account of their being drunk. "Where they got their liquor from 158 CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT BETHEL. we could not tell. Niglit after night, we instituted a rigorous examination, but it was always the same. The men were examined over and over again ; their canteens were inspected, and yet we could find no liquor about them. At last it was observed that they seemed to hold their guns up very straight, and, upon examination being made, it whs found that every gun-barrel was filled with whisky ; and it was not always the soldiers who did this.” Further investigation disclosed facts still more distressing. An eye-witness reports : “ General Butler ascertained that what was professedly the sut- ler’s store of one of the regiments, was but a groggery. This he visited, and stove the heads of some half dozen barrels, and spilled all the liquor of every sort to be found. He found a book, in which the account with a single regiment was kept, which disclosed a state of things truly startling. Scarcely an ofiicer of the regiment but had an open account, footing up for the single month amounts ranging from $10 to $1,000. The items charged, and the space of time within which the liquor was obtained, and, of course, con- sumed, was truly astonishing, and proved the depth of demoraliza- tion to which the officers, and, I fear, consequently, the entire regi- ment, had become reduced. I purposely suppress a narrative of the scenes of debauchery and violence in the camp at Newport News, where the regiment has lately been removed, a few evenings since, resulting in the shooting, if not the death, of a soldier, fired cn by an officer while both were intoxicated. “ General Butler having possessed himself of the book in ques- tion, went to Newport News yesterday afternoon, having previ- ously summoned all the commissioned officers of the regiment to meet him alone on the boat on his arrival. They came as sum- moned. General Butler told them frankly and pointedly what was the object of the meeting ; exhibited to them the evidence that was in his hands of the astonishing amounts of liquor which they as offi- cers had purchased ; pointed them to the consequences as seen in the demoralized condition of the regiments ; the late scenes of vio- lence, the waste of money, the injustice of such conduct toward New York, after she had been to the expense of giving them a lib eral outfit, and, with a princely liberality, was supporting so man} of the families of soldiers and others ; and, more than all, the de plorable consequences that must ensue to the cause from such indul- CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT BETHEL. 159 gence. General Butler said there must and should he a stop put to it. He said he himself was not a total-abstinence man, but he pledged to the officers he addressed his word of honor as an officer and a man that, so long as he remained in this department, intoxi- cating drinks should be banished from his quarters, and that he would not use them except when medicinally prescribed ; and he wanteu the officers present to give him their pledge that henceforth this should be the rule of their- conduct. As he had determined to tell no man to go, where he could not say come, so, in this matter, he required no officer to do that which he would not first do him- self. General Butler enforced his views and the grounds of the de- termination he had formed feelingly and forcibly, and the affirm- ative response was unanimous, with only one exception, he being a captain, whose resignation Colonel Phelps announced was then in his hands, and which General Butler instantly accepted. “ This interview over, General Butler directed Captain Davis, :he provost-marshal, and his deputy, W. H. Wiegel, to proceed to search every place known to sell liquor, or suspected of being en- gaged in the traffic, and to destroy the same. Within one hour jetween twenty and thirty barrels of whisky, brandy, and other loncoctions were emptied on the ground, amid the cheers of the uldiers. The proceeding elicited the warmest approbation of the vhole camp, and especially of the men, who, as patrons of the sut- ers, had been swindled by them. The sutlers themselves, and all jthers guilty of having contributed to demoralize the troops, were aken into custody and brought to the fortress, and will be sent lence.” General Butler’s order on the subject of intoxicating drinks is too haracteristic to be omitted. “ Head-qttaetees, Depaetmext* Viegixia, “Foet Monroe, Ya., August 2, 1861. ‘ Gexebal Op.dee, Mo. 22. — The general commanding was informed on he first day of the month, from the books of an unlicensed liquor dealer ear this post, and by the effect on the officers and soldiers under his com- mand, that the use of intoxicating liquors prevailed to an alarming extent mong the officers of his command. He had already taken measures to pre- ent its use among the men, but had presumed that officers and gentlemen fight be trusted ; but he finds that as a rule, in some regiments, that as- umption is ill-founded, while there are many honorable exceptions to this 160 CONSEQUENCES OP GREAT BETHEL. unhappy state of facts; yet, for the good of all, some stringent measure! I upon the subject are uecessary. “ Hereafter, all packages brought into this department for any officer of whatever grade, will be subjected to the most rigid inspection; and all spir ituous and intoxicating liquors therein will be taken and turned over to tin use of the medical department. Any officer who desires may be present ai the inspection of his own packages. “ No sale of intoxicating liquor will be allowed in this department, and anj citizen selling will be immediately sent out. “ If any officer finds the use of intoxicating liquor necessary for his health.; or the health of any of his men, a written application to the medical direc-j 1 tor will be answered; and the general is confident that there is a sufficient ! store for all necessary purposes. “ The medical director will keep a record of all such applications, the nann of the applicant, date of application, amount and kind of liquor delivered, to be open at all times for public inspection. “ In view of the alarming increase in the use of this deleterious article, the ! general earnestly exhorts all officers and soldiers to use their utmost exer- • tions, both of influence and example, to prevent the wasting effects of this scourge of all armies. “ The general commanding does not desire to conceal the fact that he has been accustomed to the use of wine and liquors in his own quarters, and to fur- nish them to his friends ; but as he desires never to ask either officers or men to undergo any privation which he will not share with them, he will not ex- , empt himself from the operation of this order, but will not use it in his owd quarters, as he would discourage its use in the quarters of any other officer. ' Amid the many sacrifices of time, property, health and life, which the offi- cers and soldiers of his command are making in the service of their country, 1 the general commanding feels confident that this, so slight, but so necessa-; . ry a sacrifice of a luxury, and pandering to appetite, will be borne most cheerfully, now that its evil is seen and appreciated. “ This order will be published by reading it at the head of every battalion | at their several evening parades. , “ By command of “Major-General Butler. “T. J. Haines, A. A. A. General.' 1 '' The whisky at Fortress Monroe inspired one piece of wit, whici amused the command. This was the time when it was customarj to “administer the oath” to arrested secessiomsts, and set them at liberty. A scouting party having brought in a rattlesnake the question arose what should be done with it. A drunkei CONSEQUENCES OF GBEAT BETHEL. 161 jldier hiccoughed out: “d — n him, swear him in and let. him o.”* With equal vigor, General Butler made war upon a practice hich no commanding officer has ever been able entirely to sup- ;ess, that of plundering abandoned houses. The possession of a lair, a table, a piece of carpet, an old kettle, or even a piece of ank, adds so much to the comfort of men in camp, that the temp- lion to help themselves to such articles is sometimes irresistible. * any man could have prevented plundering, W ellington was that dividual ; but he could not, though he possessed and used the 3wer to hang offenders on the spot. Subsequent investigation proved * It also gave rise to the following correspondence: “Astoria, N. Y., July 26, 1S61. ‘General B. F. Butler — Sir: You are aware of the interest felt by the loyal people of this antry in their army. Men and women are ready to do all in their power to sustain and encour- 3 the noble men who have gone forth to defend our country. This very day many of the ladies this village have been seen hard at work making up garments and other things for hospital use. ir ladies here sent a large quantity of articles to Fort Monroe, and have others ready to send. I nbt not in other places thousands have been similarly employed. This being the case, we feel it everything affecting the character of our army concerns us. A lady in the village has receiv- a letter from a soldier under your command, a reliable man , who says, one of the officers has ?n drunk a week. An army in which such conduct is tolerated , is of course demoralized. I ■t it my duty as a citizen to inform you of the impression made by such a statement on all who it it. Our cause is hopeless if such men are to hold office in our army, or if such conduct does t receive condign punishment. Most respectfully yours, “ B. F. Stead, Pastor of the Presbyterian church , Astor ia , Z. IP “Head-quarters, Department of Virginia, July 29, 1861. ‘My dear Sir : Y our note received. I am pained by its contents. ‘ A reliable man says that officer has been drunk for a week. 1 .‘I did not appoint this officer. I do not know who he is. I have no means of knowing unless '‘reliable man ’ Mill complain of him to me. I do not ‘ tolerate 1 such conduct. Why did the ople of bis county, who must have known that officer’s habits, allow him to be commissioned? hy did this reliable man vote for him ? .‘I have established a scrutiny over the packages sent to the men to have them cleared of li- j or given by misguiding friends: and have taken away to be turned over to hospital as many as e hundred and five packages of liquor a day from one express company. ‘I have assumed that the officers chosen and commissioned by the state of New York could be isted to receive unopened packages from their Mends. If in your judgment they can not be so isted, please apply to the governor, and upon his suggestion I will have the stores and boxes it to New York officers seized and searched. •‘No spirituous liquors are permitted to be sold within the lines in ray department; and every rrel of whisky not under the charge of an officer, when there is reason to believe sales have been ide, has been stove and contents spilled, and the seller sent out of the lines. I have no power ; discharge a drunken or incompetent officer- I can only call a court-martial when charges are | jeferred. If I prefer charges 1 can not call a court I assure you, sir, a court-martial is as un- eldv a machine for investigating a certain class of offenses as a council of ministers would be. iave appeared before both tribunals as advocate, and know how difficult it is to convict in either. -•‘But, sir, have the charges made, and the reliable man sent as a witness, and I will have the icer punished if possible. Thanking you for the interest you take in the case, “I am, most respectfully yours, Benjamin F. Butler . 11 162 CONSEQUENCES OP GREAT BETHEL. that our troops around F ortress Monroe plundered little, conside j ing their opportunities and their temptation. But that little we disgraceful enough, and gave rise to much clamor. All that an man could have done to prevent and punish olfenses of this natur was done by the commanding general.* No man abhorred plundei i lg more than Colonel Phelps ; but he could not quite prevent i Coming in to dinner one day, he saw upon the table a porcelai dish filled with green peas. He stood for a moment with eye. fixed upon the suspicious vessel, wrath gathering in his face, “ Take that dish away,” said he, in a tone of fierce command fo so gentle a man. The alarmed contraband prepared to obey, but ventured to as, : what he should do with the peas. “ Put them into a wash-basin, if you can’t find anything bettei I But take that dish away, and never let me see it again.” The dish was removed, and Colonel Phelps ordered it to be take) to the hospital for the use of the sick. One truth became very clear to General Butler while he hel< command in Virginia. It was, that men enlisted for short term, can not, as a rule, be relied upon for effective service. When thi time of the three months men was half expired, all other feeling; seemed to be merged in the longing for release. Like boys a, school before the holidays, they would cut notches in a stick am erase one every day ; and, as the time of return home drew nearer * The following order on this subject was issued during the first week of General Butler’s com 1 in and : — “ Head-Quarters, Department of Virginia, May 26, 1861. “The general in command of this department has learned with pain that there are instance! of depredation on private property, by some persons who have smuggled themselves among thj j soldiers under his command. This must not and shall not be. The rights of private property | and of peaceable citizens must be respected. When the exigencies of the service require tha' ^ private property be taken for public use, it must be done by proper officers, giving suitablj I vouchers therefor. It is made the special duty of every officer in command of any post of troopi ! on detached service, or in camp, to exercise the utmost vigilance in this behalf, to cause all offend| ers in the matter of this order to be sent to head-quarters for punishment, and such measure oj justice will then be meted out to them as is due to thieves and plunderers. “ If any corps shall share or aid in receiving such plundered property or offenders, such corp shall be dealt "with in its organization in such a manner as to check such practices. “This order will be promulgated by being three times read with distinctness to each battalioi! at evening parade. “Any citizen at peace with the United States, despoiled in his person or property by any of thj troops in this department, will confer a favor by promptly reporting the outrage to the nearcs, officer. “Benj. F. Butler, Major-Gmaral Commanding? By order of EE CALL FROM VIRGINIA. 163 hey would cut half a notch away at noon. It appeared that short- 3 rm troops are efficient for not more than half their time of en- stment; after that, their hearts are at home, not in their duty, "he general was of opinion, that an army, if possible, should be ulisted not for any definite term, but for the war ; thus supplying le men with a most powerful motive for efficient action ; the home- ward path lying through victory over the enemy. CHAPTER IX. RECALL, FROM VIRGINIA. The visitors attracted to the fortress severely taxed the time and aspitality of the general in command and of the gracious lady who resided at his table. Senators, representatives, governors, editors, ficers, private persons, crowded that table to the number of thirty day. Some enterprising individuals even projected grand excur- ons to the fortress, threatening it with steamboat loads of pleasure ■ekers. Am order was issued to prevent such an untimely irrup- on, and requiring a special permit to land. Mr. Russell of the London Times has given us an amusing record ' his visit to the fortress. General Butler went the rounds with ,m. “ The day,” he reports, “ was excessively hot, and many of the fidiers were lying down in the shade of arbors formed of branches om the neighboring pine wood, but most of them got up when ey heard the general was coming round. A sentry walked up id down at the end of the street, and as the general came up to m he called out ‘Halt.’ The man stood still. ‘I just want to -ow you, sir, what scoundrels our government has to deal with tns man belongs to a regiment which has had new clothing recently rved out to it. Look what it is made of.’ So saying the general uck his fore-finger into the breast of the man's coat, and with a pid scratch of his nail tore open the cloth as if it was of blotting iper. ‘Shoddy, sir. Nothing but shoddy. I wish I had these mtractors in the trenches here, and if hard work would not make *164 RECALL SROM VIRGINIA. honest men of them, they’d have enough of it to he examples fc the rest of their fellows.’ “ In the course of our rounds we were joined by Colonel Phelpi who was formerly in the United States army, and saw service i Mexico, hut retired because he did not approve of the manner i which promotions were made, and who only took command of Massachusetts regiment because he believed he might he instil mental in striking a shrewd blow or two in this great battle o. Armageddon — a tall, saturnine, gloomy, angry-eyed, sallow mai soldier-like too, and one who places old John Brown on a lew with the great martyrs of the Christian world. * * “‘Yes, I know them well. I’ve seen them in the field. I’ve sc with them at meals. I’ve traveled through then- country. Thes Southern slaveholders are a false, licentious, godless people. Eithc we, who obey the laws and fear God, or they, wffio know no Go except their own will and pleasure, and know no law except thei passions, must rule on this continent : and I believe that Heave will help its own in the conflict they have provoked. I grant yo they are brave enough, and desperate too, hut, surely justice, trut aud religion, will strengthen a man’s arm to strike down those wh have only brute force and a bad cause to support them.’ * “In the afternoon the boat returned to Fortress Monroe, an the general invited me to dinner, where I had the pleasure of meei ing Mrs. Butler, his staff, and a couple of regimental officers froi the neighboring camp. As it was still early, General Butler pit posed a ride to visit the interesting village of Hampton, which lie some six or seven miles outside the fort, and forms his advanc post. A powerful charger, with a tremendous Mexican saddle fine housings, blue and gold-embroidered saddle-cloth, was brougli to the door for your humble servant, and the general mounte< ’ another, which did equal credit to his taste in horseflesh ; but I ow I felt rather uneasy on seeing that he wore a pair of large bras , spurs, strapped over white jean brodequins. He took with him hi aide-de-camp and a couple of orderlies. In the precincts of the for j outside, a population of contraband negroes has been collected whom the general employs in various works about the place, rnii | tary and civil ; but I failed to ascertain that the original scheme 01 a debit and credit account between the value of their labor and th cost of their maintenance had been successfully carried out. Th RECALL FROM VIRGINIA. 165 eneral was proud of them, and they seemed proud of themselves, fluting him with a ludicrous mixture of awe and familiarity as he ode past. ‘ How-do, Massa Butler ? How-do, general ?’ accom- anied by absurd bows and scrapes. ‘ J ust to think,’ said the gen- ral, ‘that every one of these fellows represents some 1,000 dollars t least out of the pockets of the chivalry yonder.’ ‘Nasty, idle, irty beasts,’ says one of the staff, sotto voce, ‘ I wish to Heaven hey were all at the bottom of the Chesapeake. The general insists n it that they do work, but they are far more trouble than they re worth.’ “The road towards Hampton traverses a sandy spit, which, owever, is more fertile than would be supposed from the soil nder the horses’ hoofs, though it is not in the least degree inter- sting. A broad creek or river interposed between us and the iwn, the bridge over which had been destroyed. Workmen were nsy repairing it, but all the planks had not yet been laid down or ailed, and in some places the open space between the upright ifters allowed us to see the dark waters flowing beneath. The ide said, ‘ I don't think, general, it is safe to cross ;’ but his chief id not mind him imtil his horse very nearly crashed through a lank, and only regained its footing with unbroken legs by marvel- us dexterity; whereupon we dismounted, and, leaving the horses a be carried over in the ferry-boat, completed the rest of the ransit, not without difficulty. * * * * * * “Most of the shops were closed; in some the shutters were still own, and the goods remained displayed in the windows. ‘ I have flowed no plundering,’ said the general ; ‘ and if I find a fellow rying to do it, I will hang him as sure as my name is Butler. See lore,’ and as he spoke he walked into a large woolen-draper’s shop rhere bales of cloth were still lying on the shelves, and many arti- les, such as are found in a large general store in a country town, rere disposed on the floor or counters ; ‘ they shall not accuse the len under my command of being robbers.’ The boast, however, .as not so well justified in a visit to another house occupied by ome soldiers. ‘Well,’ said the general, with a smile, ‘I dare say ou know enough of camps to have found out that chairs and ables are irresistible ; the men will take them off to their tents, hough they may have to leave them next morning.’ “Having inspected the works — as far I could judge, too extend- 166 RECALL FROM VIRGINIA. ed, and badly traced — which I say with all deference to the abi young engineer who accompanied ns to point out the varioi objects of interest — the general returned to the bridge, where v remounted, and made a tour of the camps of the force intended t defend Hampton, falling back on Fortress Monroe in case of nece: sity. Whilst he was riding ventre d tcrre, which seems to be hi favorite pace, his horse stumbled in the dusty road, and in his effoi to keep his seat the general broke his stirrup-leather, and the poi derous brass stirrup fell to the ground ; but, albeit a lawyer, h neither lost his seat nor his sang froicl, and calling out to hi orderly “ to pick up his toe-plate,” the jean slippers were closel pressed, spurs and all, to the sides of his steed, and away we wen once more through dust and heat so great that 1 was by no mean sorry when he pulled up outside a pretty villa, standing in , garden, which was occupied by Colonel Max Weber, of the Gei; man Turner regiment, once the property of General Tyler. * “The shades of evening were now filling, and as I had been U 1 before five o’clock in the morning, I was not sorry when Gener; Butler said, ‘ Now we will go home to tea, or you will detain th< steamer.’ He had arranged before I started that the vessel, which) in ordinary course, would have returned to Baltimore at eigh o’clock, should remain till he sent down word to the captain to “We scampered back to the fort, and judging from the dial lenges and vigilance of the sentries, and inlying pickets, I am no quite so satisfied that the enemy could have surprised the place At the tea-table there were no additions to the general’s family, he therefore spoke without any reserve. Going over the map, hd explained his views in reference to future operations, and showed cause, with more military acumen than I could have expected fron a gentleman of the long robe, why he believed Fortress Monroi was the true base of operations against Richmond. * * * “ But whilst the general and I are engaged over our maps and mint juleps,* time flies, and at last I perceive by the clock that it 1 time to go. An aide is sent to stop the boat, but he returns ere leave with the news that ‘ She is gone.’ Whereupon the genera sends for the quartermaster, Talmadge, who is out in the camps: and only arrives in time to receive a severe ‘ wigging.’ It so hap pened that I had important papers to send off by the next mai * This visit occurred before the promulgation of the liquor order. RECALL FROM VIRGINIA. 167 om New York, and the only chance of being able to do so de- eded on my being hi Baltimore next day. General Butler acted ith kindness and promptitude in the matter. ‘ I promised you :iould go by the steamer, but the captain has gone oft’ without •ders to leave, for which he shall answer when I see him. Mean- ue it is my business to keep my promise. Captain Talmadge, >u will at once go down and give orders to the most suitable ansport steamer or chartered vessel available, to get up steam at ice, and come up to the wharf for Mr. Russell.’ ” A steamer was prepared, the general’s promise w r as kept, and r. Russell reached Washington in time to witness the final prep- ations for the advance upon Richmond, by way of Manassas. The battle that ensued ended General Butler’s hopes of being ;eful at Fortress Monroe. It was on the very day of the battle ' Bull Rim that he first received the means of moving a battery of ■Id artillery, and of completing his preparations for sweeping clear ‘armed rebels the Virginia tip of the peninsula, of which Maryland mis the greater part. Colonel Baker was to command the ex- 'dition. Two days after the retreat came a telegram from Gene- : 1 Scott : “ Send to this place without fail, in three days, four gi ments and a half of long-term volunteers, including Baker’s giment and a half.” The troops were sent, and the expedition as necessarily abandoned. The news of the great defeat created at the fortress a degree of nsternation almost amounting to panic ; for, at once, the rumor read that the victorious enemy were about to descend upon the rtress, and overwhelm it. General Butler was not alarmed at is new phantom. One of the first cheering voices that reached e administration was his. A few hours after reading the news, v wrote to his friend, the postmaster-general : “We have heard the sad news from Manassas, but are neither smayed nor disheartened. It will have the same good eflect >on the army in general that Big Bethel has had in my division, teach us wherein we are weak and they are strong, and how to iply the remedy to our deficiences. Let not the administration i disheartened or discouraged. Let no compromises be made, or avering be felt. God helping, we will go through to ultimate •sured success. But let us have no more of the silk glove in Trying on this war. Let these men be considered, what they have 168 RECALL FROM VIRGINIA. made themselves, ‘ our enemies,’ and let their property of all kind whenever it can he useful to us, be taken on the land where th< have it, as they take ours upon the sea where we have it. The seems to me now but one of two ways, either to make an advan from this place with a sufficient force, or else, leaving a simp garrison here, to send six thousand men that might be spared < the other line ; or, still another, to make a descent upon the southej coast. I am ready and desirous to move forward in either.” In another part of this letter he strongly recommends Colon Phelps for promotion : “ Although some of the regular officers \vi when applied to, say that he is not in his right mind — the only ei dence I have seen of it, is a deep religious enthusiasm upon tl subject of slavery, which, in my judgment, does not unfit him i fight the battles of the North. As I never had seen him until 1 came here, as he differs with me in politics, I have no interest ' the recommendation, save a deliberate judgment for the good of tl cause after two months of trial.” He had soon after the pleasui of handing to Colonel Phelps the shoulder straps of a brigadie general. “ I am as much obliged to you, general,” said he, “ as though yc had done me a favor.” The withdrawal of so large a number of his best troops, cor pelled the evacuation of Hampton. He was even advised, an that, too, by a member of the cabinet, as well as by many office] high in rank at the post, to abandon Newport News ; but he woul not let go his hold upon a point so important to the future mov ment which he had advised. The evacuation of Hampton was tl event which called forth his well-known letter to the secretary c war upon the disposition of the contrabands. GENERAL BUTLER TO MR. CAMERON. “Head-Quarters, Department of Virginia, “Fortress Monroe, July 30, 1861. “ Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War : “ Sir : — By an order received on the morning of the 26th July from Majon General Dix, by a telegraphic order from Lieutenant-General Scott, I w. commanded to forward, of the troops of this department, four regimeni and a half, including Colonel Baker’s California regiment, to Washington via Baltimore. This order reached me at 2 o’clock a. m., by special bo from Baltimore. Believing that it emanated because of some pressing exj RECALL FROM VIRGINIA. i«9 ;ency for the defense of Washington, I issued my orders before daymeak or the embarkation of the troops, sending those who were among the very jest regiments I had. In the course of the following day they were all em- barked for Baltimore, with the exception of some four hundred, for whom ' had not transportation, although 1 had all the transport force in the hands >f the quartermaster here to aid the hay line of steamers, which, by the nine order from the lieutenant-general, was directed to furnish transpor- ation. Up to, and at the time of the order, I had been preparing for an ldvanee movement, by which I hoped to cripple the resources of the enemy it Yorktown, and especially by seizing a large quantity of negroes who ,vere being pressed into their service in building the intrencliments there, i had five days previously been enabled to mount, for the first time, the irst company of light artillery, which I had been empowered to raise, and hey had but a single rifled cannon, an iron six-pounder. Of course, every- hing must and did yield to the supposed exigency and the orders. This ordering away the troops from this department, while it weakened the josts at Newport News, necessitated the withdrawal of the troops from Hampton, where I was then throwing up intrenched works to enable me ‘0 hold the town with a small force, while I advanced up the York or James River. In the village of Hampton there were a large number of negroes, composed in a great measure of women and children of the men who had ded thither within my lines for protection, who had escaped from maraud- ng parties of rebels who had been gathering up able-bodied blacks to aid hem in constructing their batteries on the James and York Rivers. I had jmployed the men in Hampton in throwing up intrencliments, and they were working zealously and efficiently at that duty, saving our soldiers from that labor under the gleam of the mid-day sun. The women were earning substantially their own subsistence in washing, marketing, and taking care of the clothes of the soldiers, and rations were being served out to the men who worked for the support of the children. But by the evacuation of Hampton, rendered necessary by the withdrawal of troops, leaving me scarcely five thousand men outside the fort, including the force at Newport Yews, all these black people were obliged to break up their homes at Hamp- ton, fleeing across the creek within my lines for protection and support. Indeed, it was a most distressing sight to see these poor creatures, who had crusted to the protection of the arms of the United States, and who aided the troops of the United States in their enterprise, to be thus obliged to dee from their homes, and the homes of their masters who had deserted them, and become fugitives from fear of the return of the rebel soldiery, who had threatened to shoot the men who had wrought for us, and to carry off the women who had served ns, to a worse than Egyptian bondage. I have, therefore, now within the peninsula, this side of Hampton Creek, nine hundred negroes, three hundred of whom are able-bodied men, thirty 1 1 70 KISCALL FROM VIRGINIA. of whom are men substantially past hard labor, one hundred and seventy- five women, two hundred and twenty-five children under the age of ten years, and one hundred and seventy between ten and eighteen year's, and many more coming in. The questions which this state of facts present are very embarrassing. “ First. What shall be done with them? and, Second. What is their state ! and condition? “ Upon these questions I desire the instructions of the department. “The first question, however, may perhaps be answered by considering the last. Are these men, women, and children slaves? Are they free? Is their condition that of men, women, and children, or of property, or is it a mixed relation ? What their status was under the constitution and laws, we all know. What has been the effect of a rebellion and a state of war upon that status ? When I adopted the theory of treating the able-bodied negro I fit to work in the trenches as property liable to be used in aid of rebellion, | and so contraband of war, that condition of things was in so far met, as I then and still believe, on a legal and constitutional basis. But now a new series of questions arise. Passing by women, the children, certainly, can not be treated on that basis ; if property, they must be considered the in- cumbrance rather than the auxiliary of an army, and, of course, in no pos- sible legal relation could be ti'eated as contraband. Are they property? If the}' were so, they have been left by their masters and owners, deserted, thrown away, abandoned, like the wrecked vessel upon the ocean. Their former possessors and owners have causelessly, traitorously, rebelliously, and, to carry out the figure, practically abandoned them to be swallowed up by the winter storm of starvation. If property, do they not become the property of the salvors? But we, their salvors, do not need and will not hold such property, and will assume no such ownership : has not, therefore, all proprietary relation ceased? Have they not become, there- upon, men, women, and children ? No longer under ownership of any kind, the fearful relicts of fugitive masters, have they not by their masters’ acts, ' and the state of war, assumed the condition, which we hold to be the nor- I mal one, of those made in God’s image ? Is not every constitutional, legal, and moral requirement, as well to the runaway master as their relinquished 1 slaves, thus answered? I confess that my own mind is compelled by this reasoning to look upon them as men and women. If not free born, yet free, manumitted, sent forth from the hand that held them never to be re- claimed. Of course, if this reasoning, thus imperfectly set forth, is correct, my duty as a humane man is very plain. I should take the same care of these men, women, and children, houseless, homeless, and unprovided for, as I would of the same number of men, women, and children, who, for their attach- ment to the Union, had been driven or allowed to flee from the Confederate RECALL FROM: VIRGINIA. 171 States. I should have no doubt on this question, had I not seen it stated that an order had been issued by General McDowell in his department, sub- stantially forbidding all fugitive slaves from coming within his lines, or be- ing harbored there. Is that order to be enforced in all military depart- ments ? If so, who are to be considered fugitive slaves ? Is a slave to be considered fugitive whose master runs away and leaves him ? Is it forbid- den to the troops to aid or harbor within their lines the negro children who are found therein, or is the soldier, when his march has destroyed their means of subsistence, to allow them to starve because he has driven off the rebel masters ? Mow, shall the commander of a regiment or battalion sit in judgment upon the question, whether any given black man has fled from his master, or his master fled from him? Indeed, how are the free born to be distinguished? Is one any more or less a fugitive slave because he has labored upon the rebel intrenchments ? If he has so labored, if I under- stand it, he is to be harbored. By the reception of which are the rebels most to be distressed, by taking those who have wrought all their rebel masters desired, masked their battery, or those who have refused to labor and left the battery unmasked ? “I have very decided opinions upon the subject of this order. It does not become me to criticise it, and I write in no spirit of criticism, but sim- ply to explain the full difficulties that surround the enforcing it. If the enforcement of that order becomes the policy of the government, I, as a soldier, shall be bound to enforce it steadfastly, if not cheerfully. But if left to my own discretion, as you may have gathered from my reasoning, I should take a widely different course from that which it indicates. “ In a loyal state, I would put down a servile insurrection. In a state of rebellion I would confiscate that which was used to oppose my arms, and take all that property which constituted the wealth of that state, and fur- nished the means by which the war is prosecuted, beside being the cause of the war ; and if, in so doing, it should be objected that human beings were brought to the free enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- piness, such objection might not require much consideration. “ Pardon me for addressing the secretary of war directly upon this ques- tion, as it involves some political considerations as well as propriety of mili- tary action. I am, sir, your obedient servant, ‘‘Benjamin F. Butlee.” ME. CAMEEON TO &ENEEAL BUTLEE. “Washington, August 8, 1861. “ Geneeal : — The important question of the proper disposition to be made of fugitives from service in the states in insurrection against the federal government, to which you have again directed my attention, in your letter 8 172 BECAT.T, FROM VIRGINIA. of July 30, has received my most attentive consideration. It is the desire j of the president that all existing rights in all the states be fully respected and maintained. The war now prosecuted on the part of the federal gov- ernment is a war for the Union, for the preservation of all the constitu- tional rights of the states and the citizens of the states in the Union; hence no question can arise as to fugitives from service within the states and territories in which the authority of the Union is fully acknowledged. The ordinary forms of judicial proceedings must be respected by the military and civil authorities alike for the enforcement of legal forms. But in the j states wholly or in part under insurrectionary control, where the laws of the United States are so far opposed and resisted that they can not be effec- tually enforced, it is obvious that the rights dependent upon the execution of these laws must temporarily fail ; and it is equally obvious that the rights dependent on the laws of the states within which military operations are conducted must necessarily be subordinate to the military exigencies created by the insurrection, if not wholly forfeited by the treasonable conduct of the parties claiming them. To this the general rule of the right to service forms an exception. The act of Congress approved August 6, 1861, de- clares if persons held to service shall be employed in hostility to the United j States, the right to their services shall be discharged therefrom. It follows i of necessity that no claim can be recognized by the military authority of the Union to the services of such persons when fugitives. “ A more difficult question is presented in respect to persons escaping from the service of loyal masters. It is quite apparent that the laws of the state under which only the services of such fugitives can be claimed must needs be wholly or almost wholly superseded, as to the remedies, by the insur- rection and the military measures necessitated by it ; and it is equally ap- parent that the substitution of military for judicial measures for the enforce- ment of such claims must be attended by great inconvenience, embarrass- ■ ments, and injuries. Under these circumstances, it seems quite clear that the substantial rights of loyal masters are still best protected by receiving such fugitives, as well as fugitives from disloyal masters, into the service of the United States and employing them under such organizations and in such occupations as circumstances may suggest or require. Of course a record should be kept showing the names and descriptions of the fugitives, the names and characters, as loyal or disloyal, of the masters, and such facts as may be necessary to a correct understanding of the circumstances of each case. “ After tranquillity shall have oeen restored upon the return of peace, congress will doubtless properly provide for all the persons thus received into the service of the Union, and for a just compensation to loyal masters. In this way only, it would seem, can the duty and safety of the government and just rights of all be fully reconciled and harmonized. You will there’ RECALL FROM VIRGINIA. 173 fore consider yourself instructed to govern your future action in respect to fugitives from service by the premises herein stated, and will report from time to time, and at least twice in each month, your action in the premises to this department. You will, however, neither authorize nor permit any interference by the troops under your command with the servants of peace- able citizens in a house or field, nor will you in any manner encourage such servants to leave the lawful service of their masters, nor will you, except in cases where the public good may seem to require it, prevent the voluntary return of any fugitive to the service from which he may have escaped. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, “ Simon Cameeon, Secretary of War." Mr. Cameron handled the topic gingerly. The administration had not yet taken oil’ its gloves. General Butler’s letter pleased most the party most opposed to the one with which he had been all his life identified. We find Mr. Lewis Tappan writing to him applaudingly, and the general replying in a friendly spirit. He wrote to Mr. Tappan, August 1 Oth : “ I have the honor to acknowledge the many kind expressions of approbation of my acts. I have endeavored to do my duty, follow- ing the best light I have, and the event must be in the hands of Him who ordereth all things well. I am of opinion, that it Would not he profitable to the negroes to be sent north. There is plenty of waste land for them here, and they can he better and more cheaply cared for here than amid the rigor of our northern winter. “ They are at present, in my judgment, earning the subsistence furnished them by the United States, and if any benevolent in- dividual desires to show active sympathy in their behalf, I would recommend that the committee you suggest, furnish a number of suits of substantial cheap clothing fit for winter service, for the women and children. Shoes are especially desirable. I will see that such clothing is distributed among them according to their necessities. The clothing for the men will soon he worn out, and as you are aware, we have no supply. Many of them are now dressed in the cast-off clothing and uniforms of the soldiers. “ This is all the particular aid, I think, we are in a situation to receive for them at this time. “ To send them north, amid the stagnation of business, and at a season when all agricultural • operations, except harvesting, are about to be suspended, to fill our towns with a new influx of 174 KECAX.L FROM VIRGINIA. people, where labor is not wanted, while here in Virginia there is land enough cultivated, and houses enough deserted, amid scenes to which they are attached, where they may live, would in my judgment, be unwise. “If the war continues, they will be safe here. If the war ends, the wisdom and the care of the government will be exerted for their protection here or elsewhere. This part of the state is but little more cultivated than in the days of Powhattan ; and it would seem hardly prudent to take away from it a class of mostly agri- cultural laborers, who are fitted to the soil. “ The most of them would not desire to go north, if they can be assured (as I can assure them) of their safety at the south. I shall continue to receive and protect all the negroes, especially women and children, who come to me, as well for reasons of humanity as for strategical policy, of which it is not now best to speak.” The southern people, it is worth remarking, had already shown their sense of General Butler’s services to his country. They knew their enemy. It has been their cue to compliment some of the generals conspicuous in the service of the United States ; but for Aim, who first established the rule of employing the courtesies which mitigate the horrors of war, they have had only vitupera- tion. They were right in their instinctive perceptions, for he was also the first to recognize them as enemies incurable, whose destruc- tion as a power was essential to the restoration of the country. Few readers can have forgotten the biography of General Butler which circulated in southern newspapers in these months. It ran thus : “ He is the son of a negro barber, who, early m the century, did business on Poydras street, in New Orleans. The son, in early manhood, emigrated to Liberia, where an indisposition for labor and some talent turned his attention to the bar, to prepare for which he repaired to Massachusetts. Having mastered his profes- sion, he acquired a fondness for theological studies, and became an active local preacher, the course of his labors early leading him to New York, where he attracted the notice of Mr. Jacob Barker, then in the zenith of his fame as financier, and who, discovering the peculiar abilities in that direction of the young mulatto, sent hbn to northern New York to manage a banking institution. There RECALL PROM TIRGLNLA. 175 lie divided his time between the counting-house and the court-room, the prayer-meeting and the printing-office,” etc. This, with a variety of comments, was the southern response to Annapolis and Baltimore. The North seemed slower to recognize his services. After the withdrawal of the four regiments, he found himself in a false posi- tion at F ortress Monroe, incapable of acting, yet expected by the country to act. His embarrassment was not diminished by discov- ering that the intention to remove his troops was known and pub- lished before the battle of Bull Run, and that they were still detained at Baltimore inactive. “ As soon,” he wrote to Colonel Baker, “ as I began to look like activity, my troops are all taken away. And almost my only friend and counselor, on whose advice I could rely, is taken away by name. * * * * What ought I to do under these circumstances ? I ought not to stay here and be thus abused. Tell me as a true friend, as I know you are, what ought to be done in justice to myself. To resign, when the country needs service, is un- patriotic. To hold office which government believes me unfit for, is humiliating. To remain here disgraced and thwarted by every subordinate who is sustained by the head of the department, is un- bearable.” The government resolved his doubts. A day or two after the reply to General Butler’s contraband letter had been dispatched, he was removed from the command of the department, and General Wool appointed in his stead. Whether the two acts had any con- nection, or whether the removal was a compliance with the sugges- tions of a leading newspaper, has not been disclosed. “ General Wool,” commented the New York Times , “ is assigned the com- mand of Fortress Monroe. So far, so good. The nation Avas deeply dissatisfied, not to say indignant, at the fact that one of the bra\*est, as well as one of the most skillful and experienced of American generals, was persistently kept in quiet retreat at Troy, N. Y., while political brigadiers were fretting away the spirit of the army by awkward blunderings upon masked batteries.” There had, indeed, been much clamor of this kind, and worse. One gal- lant colonel, removed from his command for drunkenness, had caused letters to be published, accusing General Butler of disloy- alty. Other officers, who had left the service for the service’s good, 176 HATTERAS. were not silent, and one or two reporters, who had been ordered away from the post, still had the use of their pens. Nor had the public the means of understanding the causes of General Butler’s inactivity. They saw the most important military post in the pos- session of the United States, apparently well supplied with troops, contributing nothing to the military strength of the country. The blame was naturally laid at the door of the general commanding it. On the eighteenth of August, General Butler gracefully resigned the command of the department to his successor. In his farewell order he said : “ The general takes leave of the command of the officers and soldiers of this department with the kindest feelings toward all, and Avith the hope that in active service upon the held, they may soon signalize their bravery and gallant conduct, as they have shown their patriotism by fortitude under the fatigues of camp duty. No personal feeling of regret intrudes itself at the change in the command of the department, by which our cause acquires the services in the field of the veteran general commanding, in whose abilities, experience and devotion to the flag, the whole country places the most implicit reliance, and under whose' guidance and command all of us, and none more than your late commander, are proud to serve.” He had been in command of the department of Virginia two months and twenty-seven days. CHAPTER X. HATTERAS. The order which relieved General Butler from command in Vir- ginia assigned him to no other duty. He was simply ordered to resign his command to General Wool. Whether he was to remain at the fortress, or repair to head-quarters, or go home, Avas left to conjecture. What should he do? Where should he go? Friends unanimously advised : ‘ Go home. The government plainly inti- mates that it does not Avant you.’ The game is lost ; throw up your HATTERAS. 177 hand. “ No,” said he, “ whatever I do, I can’t go home. That were the end of my military career, and I am in for the war.” It ended in his asking General W ool for something to do ; and Gen- eral Wool, who could not but see what efficient service he had ren- dered at the post, and heartily acknowledged it, gave him the com- mand of the volunteer troops outside the fortress.* So he vacated the mansion within the walls, and served where he had been wont to rule. A week after, the expedition to reduce the forts at Hatteras Inlet was on the point of sailing. It was a scheme of the general’s own. A Union prisoner being detained at the inlet, had brought the requisite information to the fortress many weeks before. He said, that through that gap in the long sand-island which runs along the coast of North Carolina, numberless blockade runners found access to the main land. His report being duly conveyed to head-quarters, a joint expedition, military and naval, was ordered to take the forts, destroy them, block up the inlet with sunken stone, and return to Fortress Monroe. Preparations for this expedition were at full tide when General Butler was superseded. Nine hundred troops were detailed to accompany it ; a small corps for a major-general. Gen- eral Butler volunteered to command them, and General Wool ac- cepted his offer ; kind friends whispering, “ infra dig.'" He went. Every one remembers the details of that first cheering success after the summer of our discontent. It seemed to break the spell of disaster, and gave encouragement to the country, dispro portioned to the magnitude of the achievement. General Butler enjoyed a share of the eclat, which restored much of the public favor lost at Great BetheL Two points of the general’s conduct on this occasion, we may notice before passing on to more stirring scenes. The reader has not forgotten, that the rebel commander first offered to surrender, provided the garrison were allowed to retire, and that General But- * “ Heat>-quarters, Department of Virginia, “Fortress Monroe, Virginia, August 21, 1S61. “Special Orders. Xo. 9. “ Major-General B. F. Butler is, hereby placed in command of the volunteer forces in this depart- ment. exclusive of those at Fort Monroe. His present command at Camps Butler and Hamilton will include the First, Second, Seventh, Kinth, and Twentieth regiments, the battalion of Massa- chusetts volunteers, the Union Coast Guard, and the Mounted Rifles. “C. C. Churchill, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. “ By command of Major-General Wool." 1*78 HATTERAS. ler refused the terms, demanding unconditional surrender. “ The Adelaide,” he reports, “ on carrying in the troops, at the moment my terms of capitulation were under consideration by the enemy, had grounded upon the bar. * * At the same time, the Harriet Lane, in attempting to enter the bar had grounded, and remained fast ; both were under the guns of the fort. By these accidents, a valuable ship of war, and a transport steamer, with a large portion of my troops, were within the power of the enemy. I had demand- ed the strongest terms, which he was considering. He might re- fuse, and seeing our disadvantage, renew the action. But I deter- mined to abate not a tittle of what I considered to be due to the dignity of the government ; nor even to give an official title to the officer in command of the rebels. Besides, my tug was in the inlet, and, at least, I could carry on the engagement with my two rilled six-pounders, well supplied with Sawyer’s shell.” It was an anx- ious moment, but his terms were accepted, and the victory was complete. One of the guns of the Minnesota was worked during the action by contrabands from Fortress Monroe. The danger was slight, for the enemy’s balls fell short. But it was observed and freely acknowledged on all hands, that no gun in the fleet was more steadily served than theirs, and no men more composed than they when danger was supposed to be imminent. In action and out of action their conduct was everything that could be desired. The other matter which demands a word of explanation, relates to General Butler’s sudden return from Hatteras, which elicited sundry satirical remarks at the time. He had been ordered not to hold but to destroy the port. But on surveying the position, he was so much impressed with the importance of retaining it, that he resolved to go instantly to Washington and explain his views to the gov- ernment. He did so, and the government determined to hold the place. Nor was haste unnecessary, since supplies had been brought for only five days. The troops must have been immediately with- drawn or immediately provisioned. And now again he was without a command. The government did not know what to do with him, and he did not know what to do with himself. Recruiting was generally at a stand still, and there were no troops in the field that had not their full allowance of major generals. West Point influence was in the ascendant, as EECEU1TIJSTG FOE SPECIAL SEEYICE. 179 surely it ought to be in time of war ; and this lawyer in epaulets seemed to be rather in the way than otherwise. CHAPTER XI. EECETJITIXG FOE SPECIAL SEEYICE. General Butler now recalled the attention of the government to his scheme for expelling rebel forces from the Virginia penin- sula, which had been suspended by the sudden transfer of Colonel Baker and his command from Fortress Monroe. He obtained authority from the war department to recruit troops in Massachu- setts for this purpose. Recruiting seemed to be proceeding some- what languidly in the state, although her quota was yet far from full ; and it was supposed, that General Butler could strike a vein of hunker democrats which would yield good results. X ot that hunker democrats had been backward in enlisting; but it was thought that many of them who still hesitated would rally to the standard of one who had so often led them in the mimic war of elections. On going home, however, he found that General Sher- man was before him in special recruiting, and that to him Gover- nor Andrew had promised the first regiments that should be com- pleted. He hastened back to Washington. He had been engaged to speak in Faneuil Hall, but left a note of excuse, ending with these words : “ That I go for a vigorous prosecution of the war is best shown by the fact that I am gone.” At Washington, a change of programme. He penned an order, dated Sept. 10th, enlarging his sphere of operations to all Xew England, which the secretary of war signed : — “Major-General B. F. Butler is hereby authorized to raise, or- ganize, arm, uniform, and equip a volunteer force for the war, in the Xew England states ; not exceeding six (6) regiments of the maximum standard, of such arms, and in such proportions, and in such manner as he may judge expedient ; and for this purpose his orders and requisitions on the quartermaster, ordnance, and other 8 * 180 RECRUITING FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. staff departments of the army, are to he obeyed and answered : provided the cost of such recruitment, armament, and equipment does not exceed, in the aggregate, that of like troops, now or here- after raised, for the service of the United States.” To make assurance doubly sure, he asked the additional sanction of the president’s signature. The cautious president, always punc- tiliously respectful to state authority, first procured by telegraph the assent of all the governors of New England, and then signed the order. It was upon General Butler’s return to New England to raise these troops, that the collision occurred between himself and the governor of Massachusetts, which caused so much perplexity to all the parties concerned. Without wishing to revive the ill feeling of a controversy between gentlemen equally devoted to the common cause, it appears, nevertheless, unavoidable to explain the point of collision. At first, I was inclined to think that General Butler, in the impetuosity of his desire to take the field, had given the gover- nor just cause of offense. Upon a review of the whole case, as published in divers pamphlets, official and unofficial, it appears clearly enough, that Governor Andrew was justified in taking of- fense ; but it is equally clear that no offense was intended by Gene- ral Butler ; and that, hurried as he was, he employed reasonable means to come to a friendly understanding with the governor. The case, as I understand it, illustrates the old Spanish maxim, that when two honest men differ, both are in the right. Perhaps, there was already a slight soreness in the governor’s mind owing to the publication by General Butler of the corres- pondence relating to the offer of Massachusetts troops to Governor Hicks, for the suppression of an insurrection of the slaves. General Butler published these letters, because the Boston correspondent of the Tribune had informed the public that Governor Andrew dis- approved the offer of the troops for such a purpose. The act was also freely commented upon in the newspapers. A question arose as to the source of the correspondent’s information. General But- ler emphatically exonerated the governor, but intimated that, per- haps, some clerk or copyist had betrayed his trust. The private secretary of the governor, who alone had charge of the governor’s papers, conceived that this intimation was pointed at him, and re- sented it accordingly. A private secretary, posted as he is close to EECETTITLVG FOE SPECIAL SEEYICE. 181 the ear of his chief, can not but hare considerable influence over hitn. A private secretary has sometimes been a governor’s gover- nor, a general’s general, a prime minister’s prime minister. Private secretaries have ruled empires. It is, at least, not desirable to have the ill-will of a private secretary if you wish to stand well with his chief. You might almost as well slight the king’s mistress, and then ask a favor of the king. I do not suppose that the worthy and patriotic governor of Massachusetts was unduly influenced by his secretary. But he is a human being, and his secretary felt ag- grieved at General Butler. The true cause of the difficulty was the chaos that reigned in the war department at Washington. Mr. Cameron was a faithful and most laborious minister ; but probably no man ever existed capa- ble of really doing the work suddenly accumulated upon the sec- retary of war by the stupendous scale upon which the military operations of the government were undertaken. W e did not em- brace the war as the settled business of the country for years, but as if preparing for two or three enormous raids into an enemy’s country. Hurry, confusion, incoherence, marked all our first pro- ceedings. Mr. Cameron did what he could ; but much remained undone ; much was done amiss ; much was necessarily left to sub- ordinates. There was no time for deliberation ; everything had to be decided on the instant. In such circumstances, a man must have the memory of a Butler to avoid giving contradictory orders. It should be also noted, that General Butler is one of those gentle- men who can say X o, with delightful promptness and unmistakable emphasis, but to whom it is difficult to say 1ST o ; and both the president and the secretary of war were disposed to comply with the desires of a man whose talents and energy they appre- ciated. General Sherman, as we have said, was already in Massachusetts recruiting for Port Royal. Another gentleman had also received authority from the war department to raise a regiment in Massa- chusetts. The governor objecting to this special recruiting, re- monstrated, and the secretary promised, August 28, that no more such authorizations should be issued. The president, also, Septem- ber 6th, spoke of “ the impossibility of relying upon the states to respond promptly to regular requisitions for troops, if their recruit- ing system should be harassed by the competition of individuals 182 KECKUITING FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. engaged in recruiting under independent permissions ; but he said such independent permissions as had hitherto been issued, had been extorted by the pressure of certain persons, ivho, if they had been refused, would have accused the government of rejecting the ser- vices of so many thousands of imaginary men ; a pressure, of the persistency of which, no person not subjected to it could conceive. He said that perhaps he had been in error in granting such inde- pendent permissions at all, even under this pressure.” Hence, before sanctioning General Butler’s scheme of raising six regiments in New England, the president procured by telegraph the consent of all the governors. Now, the jioint of collision between Governor Andrew and Gen- eral Butler was this : The governor desired to fill the regiments already begun before any others were started ; the general was anxious to open his vein of hunkers at once, and avail himself im- mediately of his personal popularity. He thought he could enlist men who would not join regiments already begun ; and he was right ; for more than* a thousand men enlisted under his banner as soon as it was set up. When General Butler presented himself at the State House, September 14th, armed with authority to raise six regiments in New England, Governor Andrew received him with all his wonted cordiality, and promised hearty co-operation. He requested, how- ever, that he would announce no new regiments till General Sher- man’s were filled, which would require another week. The general consented and went to Maine, where his efforts, promptly seconded by the governor of that State, were immediately successful. He returned to Boston, to find that Governor Andrew had caused a formal order to be published, which forbade new recruiting until regiments already begun were completed." Two of these incom- plete regiments he had, indeed, assigned to General Butler, one of which existed only in skeleton. General Butler fearing delay, and desiring himself to have a voice in selecting the officers who were to accompany him, hit upon an expedient to remove the unexpected obstacle. He flew to Washington, and to General Scott. Result, the following order : “ The six New England States will temporarily constitute a sepa- rate military department, to be called the Department of New Eng- land. Head-quarters, Boston. Major-General B. F. Butler, United RECRUITIN' G EOR SPECIAL SERVICE. 183 states Volunteer Service, while engaged in recruiting his division ,yill command.” Next he went to Mr. Cameron, who signed an order giving half i month’s pay in advance to all troops enlisted hy General Butler :or special service. Surely, thought the general, all is right now. Returning to New England, he again set to work, published his new powers, adver- ted for recruits, opened offices, established camps. His activity nas wonderful. One day we see him addressing a legislature ; :he next conferring with a governor; anon, haranguing the. troops, then, consulting with officers; now in Vermont, to-morrow in Maine, the next day in New Hampshire. Men flocked in. In a month he would have been ready to march but for one powerful opposing in- fluence, which emanated from the state house at Boston. Governor Andrew, wedded to his own system, puzzled and indignant at the contradictory orders from Washington, would not sanction the proceedings of General Butler, but opposed them by all the means he could command. Endless perplexity and recrimination followed ; the governor, by telegraph and by letter, remonstrating with the lepartment of war ; Mr. Cameron standing in torment between two Sres, vainly endeavoring to quiet the governor by real applause md apparent concession ; the Massachusetts senators mediating ; the president putting in a conciliatory word now and then ; Gen- eral Butler keeping steadily to his object of getting the six regi- nents ready in the shortest possible time, pausing a moment to iictate a hurried reply to voluminous remonstrance, then rushing iway to a remote camp, always under a full head of steam. While the unhappy difference was still capable of adjustment, General Butler asked an interview with the governor, thinking that i few minutes’ frank conversation could hardly fail to bring them o friendly co-operation. Unhappily, Governor Andrew, being ;xceedingly pressed by business, declined the interview, naming no ime when he could accord one. The tongue is an unruly member ; rat the pen, too, is a mischievous implement ; it is a tongue free fom the restraints imposed by the presence of the person ad- lressed. One of General Butler’s letters, couched in most respect- ul language, gave extreme offense to the governor, through an !rror of the copyist. It was written in the third person, and the Governor was designated by the words “ His Excellency,” which 184 RECRUITING FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. occurred fourteen times. The person who made the copy sent t the governor, with perverse uniformity, placed inverted comma before and after those words, as if to intimate that the author o the letter used them reluctantly, and only in obedience to a custom It looked like an intentional and elaborate affront, and served t. embitter the controversy. When, at length, the general was madi acquainted with the mishap, he was not in a humor to give a com plete explanation ; nor, indeed, is it a custom with him to get ou of a scrape by casting blame upon a subordinate.* Time did not heal the breach. The governor refused to issu commissions to the officers recommended by General Butler. Man;' offensive things were said and done on both sides, and the quarre soon escaped from the state house into the newspapers ; from news! papers into pamphlets. Let us draw a veil over these painfu scenes. A quarrel is divided into two parts. Part first embrace; all that is said and done while both parties keep their temper : par second, all that is said and done after one or both of the parties loses it. The first part may be interesting, and even important the second is sound and fury, signifying nothing. Governor An drew felt that General Butler was interfering with his prerogative General Butler, intent on the work in hand, was exasperated at tilt obstacles thrown in his way by Governor Andrew. General But ler, who had had bitter experience of subaltern incompetency, was anxious to secure commissions to men in whom he could confide Governor Andrew naturally desired to give commissions to meri in whose fitness he could himself believe. General Butler’s friends were chiefly of the hunker persuasion ; Governor Andrew was better acquainted with gentlemen of his own party. Both were honest and zealous servants of their country. Long may both of them live to serve and honor it. The six thousand troops were raised. But the delay in Mass a-: chusetts deprived General Butler of the execution of his peninsula scneme, which fell to the lot of General Dix, who well performed il in November. So General Butler went to Washington to learr what he was to do with his troops, now that he had them. For many months the government had been silently preparing foi the recovery of the southern strongholds, which had been seized atj * This explanation of the much-discussed quotation points, I derived from a confidential mens- Der of General Butler’s stall', the late General Strong. RECRUITING FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. 185 ■ e outbreak of the war, while the last administration was holding trley with treason at the capital. Commodore Porter was busy , the Brooklyn X avy Yard with his fleet of bomb-boats. The ivy had been otherwise strengthened, though the day of iron-clads id not yet dawned in Hampton Roads. Immense provision had gen ordered of the cumbrous material used in sieges. But, as yet, :eparations only had been made ; the points first to be attempted id not been selected ; the chief attention of the government being ill directed to the increase and organization of the army of the otomac, held at bay by the phantom of tw r o hundred thousand ibels, and endless imaginary masked batteries at Manassas. The •rival of General Butler at Washington recalled the consideration f the government to more distant enterprises. Mobile was then the favorite object, both at the head-quarters of le army and at the navy department ; and General Butler was fleeted to report upon the best rendezvous for an expedition gainst Mobile. Maps, charts, gazetteers, encyclopedias, and sea iptains were zealously overhauled. In a day or two, the general as ready with his report, which named Ship Island as the proper :ndezvous for operations against any point upon the gulf coast, hip Island it should be then. To New England the general uickly returned, and started a regiment or two for the rendezvous nder General Phelps, whose services he had especially asked. Then ) W ashington once more, where he foimd that Mobile was not in igh favor with the rifling member of the cabinet, who thought 'exas a more immediately important object. It was natural that e should so regard it, as he was compelled by his oflice to look at le war in the light shed from foreign correspondence. General •utler was now ordered to prepare a paper upon Texas, and the est mode of reannexing it. Nothing loath, he rushed again at le maps and gazetteers, collaring stray Galvestonians by the way. m elaborate paper upon Texas was the prompt result of his labors, production justly complimented by General McClellan for its lucid ampleteness. Texas was in the ascendant. Texas should be i^e. anexed ; the F rench kept out ; the German cotton planters deliv- red ; the rebels quelled ; the blockading squadron released. Home- r ard sped the general to get more of his troops on the way. The onstitution, which had conveyed General Phelps to Ship Island ad returned, was again loaded with troops. Two thousand men 186 RECRUITING FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. ■were embarked, and the ship was on the point of sailing, when telegram from Washington arrived of singular brevity: — “ Don’t Sail. Disembark.” No explanation followed ; nor did General Butler wait long f( one. The next day he was in Washington, in quest of elucidatioi The explanation ivas simple. Mason and Slidell were in Fo Warren ; England had demanded their surrender ; war wit England was possible, not improbable. If war Avere the issue, tl Constitution would be required, not to convey troops to Ship Islam but to bring back those already there. Nothing remained for General Butler but to return home, an wait till the question was decided. He Avent, but not till he ha avowed his entire conviction that justice and policy united in dJi mauding that the rebel emissaries should be retained. He tliougl that NeAV England alone, drained as she was of men, Avould follow him to Canada, that winter, with fifty thousand troops, and seiz the commanding points before the April sun had let in the Englis navy. The country, he thought, was not half aAvalce — had not pu forth half its strength. He felt that in such a quarrel, Americ would do as Greece had done when Xerxes led his myriads agains her — every man a soldier, and every soldier a hero. He did no despair of seeing, first the border states, and then the gulf states fired with the old animosity, and joining against the hereditary foe Knowing Avhat England had done in the way of violating the fla; of neutrals, he regarded her conduct in this affair as the very sub, lime of impudence. He boiled with indignation whenever b thought of it, and he thought of little else during those memorabb 1 Aveeks. Fortunately, as most of us think, other counsels prevailed a Washington, and a bloAv Avas struck at the rebellion, by the siu render of the men, of more effect than the winning of a great bat, 1 tie. The restoration of the Union wdll itself avenge the wrong ■ and cut deeper into the power that has misled England than th< lq^s of many Canadas. The dispute with the governor continued. It Avas a question • whether the troops raised by him in Massachusetts, in oppositioi to the governor, would be entitled to the aid granted by the legis; lature to the families of volunteers. The folloAving letter touche, 1 i uuon this subject : RECRTJITITIG FOE SPECIAL SERVICE. 18 V “ Caup Seward, Pittsfield, Tuesday, Jan. V, 1862. ■Lieut. Col. Mhei.den, Commanding Western Bay State Regiment: “ Colonel : — I have been much gratified with the appearance, discipline md proficiency of yonr regiment, as evidenced by the inspection of to-day. Jf the order, quiet, and soldierly conduct of the camp, the commanding general cannot speak in too much praise. : “Notwithstanding the difficulties of season, opposition and misrepre- sentation, the progress made would be creditable if no such obstacles had existed. “ In the matter of the so-called state aid to the families of the volunteers inder your command, I wish to repeat here, most distinctly, the declara- ion heretofore made to you. I will personally, and from my private neans, guarantee to the family of each soldier the aid which ought to be urnished to him by his town, to the same extent and amount that the late would be bound to afford to other enlisted men, from and after this late, if the same is not paid by the commonwealth to them as to other Massachusetts soldiers ; and all soldiers enlisting in your regiment may do ■o upon the strength of this guarantee. “I have no doubt upon this subject whatever. The commonwealth will ibt permit her soldiers to suffer or be unjustly dealt with, under whose- oever banner they may enlist. “The only question that will be asked will be, Are these men in the ervice of their country, shedding their blood in defense of its constitution nd laws? If so, they stand upon an equality with every other man who 3 fighting for his country, and will be treated by the state with the same qual justice, whatever may be the wounded pride or overweening vanity f any man or set of men. , “ I love and revere the justice, the character, the equity, the fame and ame of our glorious old commonwealth too much to doubt of this for a loment, and will at any time peril whatever I may have of private irtune, upon the faith engendered by that love and reverence. . “ Accept for yourself, personally, and for your officers, my most earnest aanks for the energetic services which you have rendered in the recruit lent of your excellent regiment. “ Most truly your friend, “Benj. F. Bijtlee, “ Major-General Commanding.'' 1 General Butler was, indeed, most ably seconded by the officers 'bom be bad selected to accompany bim. Captain Paul It. George, of Lowell, a retired officer of tbe army, istinguisbed in tbe Mexican war, afterward successful in business, 188 RECRUITING FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. was liis quartermaster. To the remarkable talents and long exp< rience of Captain George, the country owed it, that the expeditio was fitted out with unrivaled completeness and economy, affordin another proof that a man who conducts his own affairs wisely, ca serve the public with the same energetic tact. Captain George foi soolc ease and luxury to aid General Butler, and labored for man weeks in the details of the equipment with admirable assiduity an skill. A cabal caused his rejection by the senate before the last do tachment sailed, and the general was thus deprived of assistant upon which be had relied, and which he needed then more tha: ever. General Butler was most fortunate, too, in his chief of stafi 1 Major George C. Strong, a graduate of West Point; one of thosj cadets who had marked and liked the ways of the Massachusetts lav yer, when he served as an examiner of the military academy. H met the general iu Washington — being a lieutenant then upon tli staff of the commander-in-chief, and gladly left all to follow his foi tunes. His West Point comrades marveled that an officer s« clearly in the way of promotion, high in the confidence of the chiel of the army, should choose to serve under a general not trained ti arms in the highlands of the Hudson river. But there are people who know a man when they see one. West Point, however, is righ in pluming itself upon its graduates, for no one can deny that mos of the good soldiering done in this war, on either side, has beei done under West Point men. How well General Strong appreci ated the merits of the military academy, we may now all see k his pleasant little book, “ Cadet Life at West Point,” the authoi ship of which he modestly concealed during his lifetime. But k was not a West Point bigot. Happy, too, was General Butler in the aid of Lieutenant Weil zel, chief engineer to the expedition, who graduated second in hi class at West Point ; afterward long employed in completing tb forts below New Orleans, acquiring perfect familiarity with th adjacent country. He, too, reflected honor upon the military acao emy, as he has recently done upon the country, by his splendid corj duct at Port Hudson. General Butler, in common with his whol| command, held the character and talents of Lieutenant Weitzel ij the profoundest esteem. One of the volunteer aids stands boldly out from the group sui KECEtrrrrNTG foe special seeyice. 189 ounding the general, Major J. M. Bell, of Boston, a distinguished lember of the bar of New England, son-in-law and partner of the ite Rufus Choate. Major Bell, who had, I believe, retired from ractice, asked his old hunker chieftain, if there was any work for im to do in the new, mysterious enterprise. General Butler hailed he offer with gladness, well knowing the worth and capacity of im who made it. Major Bell found unexpected work in the soutli- rn country, which forced him to furbish his legal weapons, and eep them exceedingly bright. Colonel Andrew Jackson Butler, as chief commissary, lent a pow- rful and a dexterous hand to the equipment of the expedition, till e, too. was rejected by the senate. Captain Peter Haggerty, . horn we saw going ashore at Annapolis, was still by the general’s ide, as aide-de-camp. Lieutenant J. B. Kinsman, another Boston iwyer, joined at the last moment, for a six weeks’ cruise, but erred to the end. W e shall meet those gentlemen again, and their omrades on the general’s staff. It is here only requisite to note, bat it' the expedition was fitted out with extraordinary dispatch nd thoroughness, it was because General Butler, himself a mighty chiever, knows how to pick out from the mass of indifferent men he individuals who have it in them to achieve. This is the supreme, be all-including talent of a commander. A little of that talent, the Tiited States, three years ago, might have paid one thousand mil .ons of dollars for, and yet saved money by the operation. Mason and Slidell were given up. The troops sailed for F ortress lonroe. General Butler, early in January, 1862 , went to Wash agton to conclude the last arrangements, intending to join his ommand in Hampton Roads. At the war department mere con- usion reigned, for this was the time when Mr. Cameron was going nt, and Mr. Stanton coming in. Nothing could be done; the roops remained at F ortress Monroe ; the general was lost to finite iew in the mazes of Washington. We catch a brief glimpse of him, however, testifying before the ommittee on the conduct of the war.. No reader can have for- •otten that the great question then agitating the country was, why leneral McClellan, with his army of two hundred thousand men, ad remained inactive for so many months, permitting the blockade f the Potomac, and allowing the superb weather of November nd December to pass unimproved into the mud and cold of Janu- 190 RECRUITING FOE SPECIAL SERVICE. ary. The established opinion at head-quarters was, that the reb army before Washington numbered about two hundred and fori thousand men. Upon this point General Butler, from much stud of the various sources of information, had arrived at an opinic which differed from the one in vogue, and this he communicate to the committee ; and not the opinion only, but the grounds c the opinion. He presented an argument on the subject, bavin thoroughly got up the case as he had been wont to do for gentl men of the jury. Subjecting General Beauregard’s report of th two actions near Manassas to a minute analysis, he showed that th rebel army at the battle of Bull Run numbered 36,600 men. II cross-examined those reports, counting first by regiments, second! by brigades, and found the results of both calculations the sann He then computed the quotas of the various rebel states, and coi eluded that the entire Confederate force on the day of the battl of Bull Run was about 54,000. He next considered the increas to the rebel armies since the battle of Bull Run. We, with on greatly superior means of transportation, with our greater popul: tion, and the command of the ocean, had been able, by the mos strenuous exertions, to assemble an army before Washington o little more than 200,000. Could the rebels have got togethe half that number in the same time ? It was not probable, it wa scarcely possible. Then the extent of country held by the rebe army was known, and forbade the supposition entertained at heat quarters. Upon the whole, he concluded that the armies menacin; Washington consisted of about 70,000 men; which proved to b within 5,000 of the truth. This opinion was vigorously pooh-poohed in the higher circles oi the army, but leading members of the committee were evident! convinced by it. One officer of high rank, a frequenter of the offic of the general-in-chief, was good enough to say, when General Bui ler had finally departed, that he hoped they had now found a hoi big enough to bury that Yankee general in. During the delay caused by the change in the department o: war, an almost incredible incident occurred, which strikingly illus trates the confusion sometimes arising from having three centers oi military authority — the president, the secretary of war, and th commander-in-chief. By mere accident General Butler heard on day that his troops had been sent, two weeks before, from Fortres RECRUITING FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. 191 onroe to Port Royal. “What!” he exclaimed, “have I been ayed with all this time ?” He discovered, upon inquiry, that ch an order had indeed been issued. He procured an interview ith Mi*. Stanton, gave him a history of his proceedings, and asked i explanation of the order. Mr. Stanton knew nothing about it ; r. Cameron knew nothing about it ; General McClellan knew ithing about it. Nevertheless, the order in question had reall} >en sent. Mr. Stanton readily agreed to countermand the order, ovided the troops had not already departed. The general hur- ?d to the telegraph office, where, under a rapid fire of messages, still more wonderful fact was disclosed. The mysterious order id been received in Baltimore by one of General Dix’s aids, who id put it into his pocket, forgotten it , and carried it about with m tico weeks! From the depths of his pocket it was finally •ought to light. The troops were still at the fortress. Mr. Stanton soon made himself felt in the dispatch of business, eneral Butler obtained an ample hearing, and the threads of his iterprise were again taken up. One day (about January 10th), ward the close of a long conference between the general and e secretary, Mr. Stanton suddenly asked : “Why can’t New Orleans be taken ?” The question thrilled General Butler to the marrow. “It can !” he replied. This was the first time New Orleans had been mentioned in Gen- al Butler’s hearing, but by no means the first time he had thought ' it. The secretary told him to prepare a programme ; and for e third time the general dashed at the charts and books. General 'cClellan, too, was requested to present an opinion upon the feasi- lity of the enterprise. He reported that the capture of New Or- ans would require an army of 50,000 men, and no such number >uld be spared. Even Texas, he thought, should be given up for ie present. But now General Butler, fired with the splendor and daring of e new project, exerted all the forces of his nature to win for it the msent of the government. He talked N ew Orleans to every mem- -T of the cabinet. In a protracted interview with the president, ; argued, he urged, he entreated, he convinced. Nobly were his forts seconded by Mr. Fox, the assistant secretary of the navy, a itive of Lowell, a schoolmate of General Butler’s. His whole 192 EECEUITING FOE SPECIAL SEE VICE. heart was in the scheme. The president spoke, at length, the dec sive word, and the general almost reeled from the White House i the intoxication of his relief and joy. One difficulty still remained •. and that was the tight clutch of General McClellan upon the troop At Ship Island there were 2,000 men; on ship-hoard 2,200 ; read, in New England, 8,500; total, 12,700. General Butler demande a total of 15,000. As the general-in-chief would not hear of sparin men from Washington, three of the Baltimore regiments wei assigned to the expedition ; and these were the only ones in Gen ral Butler’s division which could he called drilled. Not one ci 1 his regiments had been in action. About January 23cl, the last impediment was removed, and Ge> eral Butler went home, for the last time, to superintend the en barkation of the rest of the New England troops. The trooj detained so long at Fortress Monroe, were hurried on board tl Constitution, and started for Ship Island. Other transports wei rapidly procured; other regiments dispatched. A month late General Butler was again in Washington to receive the final order; the huge steamship Mississippi, loaded with his last troops, lyin in Hampton Roads, waiting only for his coming to put to sea. J „ may interest some readers to know, that the total cost of raisin the troops and starting them on their voyage, was about a millio and a half of dollars. It was not without apprehensions that General Butler appro ache' the capital on this occasion — there had been so many changes o programme. But all the departments smiled propitiously, and th final arrangements were soon completed. A professional spy, wh 1 had practiced Bis vocation in Virginia too long for him to ventur : again within the enemy’s lines with much chance of getting on again, was on his way to New Orleans, having agreed to meet th general at Ship Island with a full account of the state of affairs i the crescent city. A thousand dollars, if he succeeds. The depart ment of the gulf was created, and General Butler formally place, in command of the same. The following were the orders of th commander-in-chief : “ Head-quakteks oe the Aemy, 1 ; “ February 23 d, 1862. “ Major-General B. F. Butler, United States Army : “ General Y on are assigned to the command of the land forces de; ■ EECETTITLNG FOE SPECIAL SEKYICE. 193 ined to co-operate with the navy in the attack upon New Orleans. Yon rill use every means to keep the destination a profound secret, even from our staff officers, with the exception of your chief of staff, and Lieu- enant Wietzel, of the engineers. 5" “The force at your disposal will consist of the first thirteen regiments amed in your memorandum handed to me in person, the Twenty-first In- iana, Fourth "Wisconsin, and Sixth Michigan (old and good regiments •om Baltimore) — these three regiments will await your orders at Fort lonroe. Two companies of the Twenty-first Indiana are well drilled at eavy artillery. The cavalry force already en route for Ship Island, will be efficient for your purposes. After full consultation with officers well ac- uainted with the country in which it is proposed to operate, I have ar- ived at the conclusion that three light batteries fully equipped and one •ithout horses, will be all that will he necessary. 1 “This will make your force about 14,400 infantry, 275 cavalry, 580 ar- Ilery, total 15,255 men. t “ The commanding general of the department of Key West is authorized 5 loan you, temporarily, two regiments; Fort Pickens can probably give ou another, which will bring your force to nearly 18,000. The object of our expedition is one of vital importance — the capture of New Orleans, he route selected is up the Mississippi river, and the first obstacle to be neountered, perhaps the only one, is in the resistance offered by Forts t. Philip and Jackson. It is expected that the navy can reduce the works; 1 that case, you will, after their capture, leave a sufficient garrison in them ) render them perfectly secure ; and it is recommended that on the up- 1 'ard passage a few heavy guns and some troops be left at the pilot sta- on, at the forks of the river, to cover a retreat in the case of a disaster, le troops and guns will of course be removed as soon as the forts are ) fiptured. ; 1 “ Should the navy fail to reduce the works, you will land your forces and ege train, and endeavor to breach the works, silence their fire, and carry iem by assault. “ The next resistance will be near the English Bend, where there are >me earthen batteries ; here it may be necessary for you to land your oops, to co-operate with the naval attack, although it is more than proba le that the navy, unassisted, can accomplish the result. If these works are iken, the city of New Orleans necessarily falls, r “In that event it will probably be best to occupy Algiers with the mass ! t your troops, also the eastern bank of the river above the city — it may be | ecessary to place some troops in the city to preserve order ; though if lere appears sufficient Union sentiment to control the city, it may be best < ir purposes of discipline to keep your men out of the city. , “After obtaining possession of New Orleans, it will be necessary to re- 104 RECRUITING FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. auce all the works guarding its approaches from the east, and particularly i : to gain the ManchacPass. “ Baton Rouge, Berwick Bay, and Fort Livingston will next claim youf j attention. 1 1 “A feint on Galveston may facilitate the objects we have in view. ]| - need not call your attention to the necessity of gaining possession of all the rolling stock you can, on the different railways, -and of obtaining control of. | : the roads themselves. The occupation of Baton Kouge, by a combined naval and land force, should be accomplished as soon as possible after you have gained New Orleans; then endeavor to open your communication with the northern column of the Mississippi, always bearing in mind the necessity of occupying Jackson, Mississippi, as soon as you can safely do so, either after or before you have effected the junction. Allow nothing to divert you from ohtaiuing full possession of all the approaches to New Or- leans. When that object is accomplished to its fullest extent, it will be necessary to make a combined attack on Mobile, in order to gain possession of the harbor and works, as well as to control the railway terminus at the city. In regard to this, I will send more detailed instructions, as the opera- tions of the northern column develop themselves. I may simply state that the general objects of the expedition are first, the reduction of New Orleans and all its approaches, then Mobile, and all its defenses, then Pensacola, Galveston, etc. It is probable that by the time New Orleans is reduced, it | will be in the power of the government to re-enforce the land forces suffi- | ciently to accomplish all these objects ; in the mean time you will please give all the assistance in your power to the army and navy commanders in your vicinity, never losing sight of the fact that the great object to be achieved is the capture and firm retention of New Orleans. “Very respectfully, your obedient servant, “ George B. McClellan, ‘‘ Major-General Commanding , &c ., &cfi 1 'j February 24th was General Butler’s last day in Washington. “Good-by, Mr. President. We shall take New Orleans, or you’11 never see me again.” Mr. Stanton : “ The man that takes New Orleans is made a lieu- tenant-general.” February 25th, at nine in the evening, the steamship Mississippi sailed from Hampton Roads, with General Butler and his staff, and fourteen hundred troops on board. Mrs. Butler, the brave and kind companion of her general in all his campaigns hitherto, was: still at his side on the quarter-deck of the Mississippi. Except him-i self Major Strong, and Lieutenant Wietzel, no man in the ship,i SHIP ISLAND. 105 and no man on the island to which they were bound, knew the object of the expedition. Articles and maps had appeared in the Herald , calculated to lead the enemy to suppose that New Orleans, if attacked at all, would be attacked from above, not from the gulf. The northern public were completely in the dark ; no one even guessed New Orleans. C HAPTEN XII. SHIP ISLAND. Ship Island is a long wave of whitest, finest sand, that glistens n the sun, and drifts before the wind like New England snow. It s one of four islands that stretch along ten or twelve miles from she gulf coast, forming Mississippi sound. It was to one of these ;and islands that the British troops repaired after their failure be- 'ore New Orleans in 1815, where they lived for several weeko, miusing themselves with fishing and play-acting. Ship Island, ;even miles long and three quarters of a mile wide, containing two square miles of land — the best of the four for a rendezvous — is sixty-five miles from New Orleans, ninety-five from the mouths of he Mississippi, fifty from Mobile bay, ten from the nearest point of he state of Mississippi, of which the island is a part. It lies so ow among the white, tumbling waves, that, when covered with ents, it looked like a camp floating upon the sea. Land and water ire menacingly blended there. Numberless porpoises, attracted by he refuse of the camps, floundered all around the shore, which vas lined with a living fringe of sea-gulls, flapping, plunging, div- ng, and screaming. The waves and the wind seemed to heave :nd toss the sand as easily as they did the water. In great storms he island changes its form ; large portions are severed, others su'b- nerged ; new bays and inlets appear. On landing, the voyager foes not so much feel that he has come on shore as that he has ■;ot down over the ship’s side to the shifting bottom of the sea. 9 196 SHIP ISLAND. raised for a moment by the mighty swell of waters, threatening again to sink and disappear. Terra firma , it is not. It was observed that the first aspect of this island struck death to the hopes of arriving troops. They faintly strove to cheer their spirits with jocular allusions to the garden of Eden and to Coney Island ; and one of General Phelps’s men, on looking over the ship’s side upon the desolate scene of his future home, raised a doleful laugh by exclaiming, in the language of Watts : “ Lord, what a wretched land is this, Which yields us no supplies 1” Appearances, however, were deceptive. The wretched land was found to yield abundant supplies of commodities and conveniences, most essential to soldiers. At the western end there is a really superior harbor, safe in all winds, admitting the largest vessels. At the eastern extremity groves of pine and stunted oak have succeeded in establishing themselves, and afford plenty of wood. For fresh water, it is only necessary to sink a barrel three feet ; it imme- diately fills with rain water, pure from the natural filter of the sand. Oysters of excellent quality can be had by wading for them ; fish abound ; and the woods, strange to relate, furnished the means of raccoon-hunting. The climate, too, in the whiter months, is more enjoyable than Newport in midsummer, and the bathing not infe- rior. Nevertheless, it must be owned, that with all these advanta- ges, Ship Island was never regarded by the troops with high favor ; they never recovered from the first shock of disappointment. Before the arrival of General Phelps, in December, 1861 , the island had been the theater of many events. The breaking out of the rebellion found workmen, in the service of the United States, building a fort for the defense of the harbor. They soon abandoned the place, and the rebels immediately landed, burned the houses, damaged the fort, destroyed the lantern of the light-house, and re- tired. Then the blockading squadron appeared, captured many prizes, and nearly stopped the coasting trade between Mobile and New Orleans. But the coast being clear for a few days, a rebel force again landed, and proceeded to repair the damage they had done, mounting heavy guns upon the fort, and erecting extensive works, Commodore McKean unable to reach them with the guns of the Massachusetts. In September, alarmed by rumors of a com SHIP ISLAXTD. 197 ing expedition, the rebels again abandoned the island ; but, in so doing, rvere so much accelerated by the vigilant McKean, that, though they took their guns with them, they left the fort standing, and the commodore captured a vessel laden with timber, hewn and cut for the defensive works. From September to December, Commodore McKean, with a hundred and seventy sailors and marines, under Lieutenant McKean Buchanan, had held the harbor, and labored to remount the fort, and complete the works begun by the enemy ; darting out occasionally, and pouncing upon venture- some schooners from Mobile, or blockade-runners from Nassau. Five or six prizes were there w T hen General Phelps hove in sight, and two light-draft steamers among them, invaluable for landing troops. During the next three months the island presented a busy scene. The huge steamer Constitution landed her little army of troops, sailed, and returned with more ; General Phelps and Com- modore McKean striving, meanwhile, to complete the defenses, and to prepare in all ways for coming events, whatever those events might be ; neither of them knowing the designs of the gov- ernment, General Phelps, a strict disciplinarian, assiduously drilled and reviewed the troops. He signalized his brief tenure of command by issuing his well-remembered proclamation, which must be pronounced the most unexpected piece of composition which the war has elicited. A reporter records, that during the last days of the voyage of the Constitution, General Phelps was observed to spend more time than usual in the solitude of his cabin. “ He did not come so promptly as the rest of the officers to the table, and when he did appear, seemed more occupied with his own thoughts than with the current of conversation. The cause of this temporary reticence was explained on the day follow- ing our arrival at Ship Island. Observing that he was more than usually busy about some interesting matter, your correspondent, in the exercise of that watchfulness which is requisite in the reporter, but, at the same time, with that diffidence not always characteristic of the profession, seized a favorable moment for putting himself en rapport with the commander, and ascertained that he was about to issue a very important paper, defining the animus of the expedition to the people of the country. General Phelps explained that he regarded the occasion as a peculiarly fitting one for setting forth, 198 SHIP ISLAND. in a frank and at the same time a tolerant spirit, the sentiments which would govern his conduct in prosecuting the war against rebellion in the southwest. The document was copied in a plain hand, and on the evening of our arrival in Ship Island Roads, it was read aloud in the presence of the passengers and officers, who were convened in the steamer’s saloon. On the following morning, other copies were made, one of which was read to the officers on board the United States steamer Massachusetts, in the hearing of several secession prisoners who had been taken on board of the rebel steamers and other prizes in port.”* The document, it should be observed, was addressed to the loyal people of the southwest, not to the enemies of the United States. PROCLAMATION. “ Head-quarters Middlesex Brigade, Snip Island, “Mississippi, Dec. 4, 18G1. “ To the loyal citizens of the Southwest: “ Without any desire of my own, hut contrary to my private inclinations, I again find myself among you as a military officer of the government. A proper respect for my fellow-countrymen renders it not out of place that I ' should make known to you the motives and principles by which my com- mand will be governed. “ We believe that every state that has been admitted as a slave state into the Union, since the adoption of the constitution, has been so admitted in direct violation of that constitution. “We believe that the slave states which existed, as such, at the adoption of our constitution, are, by becoming parties to that compact, under the | highest obligations of honor and morality to abolish slavery. “It is our conviction that monopolies are as destructive, as competition I is conservative, of the principles and vitalities of republican government; that slave labor is a monopoly which excludes free labor and competition ; that slaves are kept in comparative idleness and ease in a fertile half of our arable national territory, while free white laborers, constantly augmenting in numbers from Europe, are confined to the other half, and are often dis- tressed by want; that the free labor of the North has more need of expan- sion into the southern states, from which it is virtually excluded, than slavery had into Texas in 1840 ; that free labor is essential to free institu- tions; that these institutions are naturally better adapted and more conge- Correspondence '.4 the At F. Daily Times, December 17, 1861. SHIP ISLAND. 199 nial to the Anglo-Saxon race, than are the despotic tendencies of slavery; and, finally, that the dominant political principle of this North American continent, so long as the Caucasian race continues to flow in upon us from Europe, must needs be that of free institutions and free government. Any obstructions to the progress of that form of government in the United States must inevitably be attended with discord and war. “ Slavery, from the condition of a universally recognized social and moral evil, has become at length a political institution, demanding political recog- nition. It demands rights to the exclusion and annihilation of those lights which are insured to us by the constitution ; and we must choose between them which we will have, for we can not have both. The constitution was made for freemen, not for slaves. Slavery, as a social evil, might for a time be tolerated and endured ; but as a political institution it becomes imperi- ous and exacting, controlling, like a dread necessity, all whom circumstan- ces have compelled to live under its sway, hampering their action and thus impeding our national progress. As a political institution it could exist as a co-ordinate part only of two forms of governments, viz : the despotic and the free ; and it could exist under a free government only where public sentiment, in the most unrestricted exercise of a robust freedom, leading to extravagance and licentiousness, had swayed the thoughts and habits of the people beyond the bounds and limits of their own moderate constitutional provisions. It could exist under a free government only where the people in a period of unreasonin g extravagance had permitted popular clamor to overcome public reason, and had attempted the impossibility of setting up permanently, as a political institution, a social evil which is opposed to moral law. “By reverting to the history of the past, we find that one of the mowt destructive wars on record, that of the French Revolution, was originated by the attempt to give political character to an institution which was not susceptible of political character. The church, by being endowed with political power, with its convents, its schools, its immense landed wealth, its associations, secret and open, became the ruling power of the state, and thus occasioned a war of more strife and bloodshed, probably, than any other war which has desolated the earth. “ Slavery is still less susceptible of political character than was the church. It is as fit at this moment for the lumber-room of the past, as was in 1793 the monastery, the landed wealth, the exclusive privilege, etc., of the Catholic Church in France. It behooves us to consider, as a self-governing people, bred, and reared and practiced in the habits of self-government, whether we can not, whether we ought not to revolutionize slavery out of existence, without the necessity of a conflict of arms like that of the French Revo- lution. “ Indeed, we feel assured, that the moment slavery is abolished, from that 200 SHIP ISLAND. moment our southern brethren, every ten of whom have probably seven rel- atives in the north, would begin to emerge from a hateful delirium. From that moment, relieved from imaginary terrors, their days become happy, and their nights peaceable and free from alarm : the aggregate amount of labor, under the new stimulus of fair competition, becomes greater day by day ; property rises in value, invigorating influences succeed to stagnation, degen- eracy and decay ; and union, harmony and peace, to which we have so long been strangers, become restored, and bind us again in the bonds of friend- ship and amity, as when we first began our national career, under our glo- rious government of 1789. “ Why do the leaders of the rebellion seek to change the form of your an- cient government? Is it because the growth of the African element of your population has come at length to render the change necessary ? Will you permit the free government under which you have thus far lived, and which is so well suited for the development of true manhood, to be altered to a nar- row and belittling despotism, in order to adapt it to the necessities of igno- rant slaves, and the requirements of their proud and aristocratic owners ? Will the laboring men of the south bend their necks to the same yoke that is suited to the slave? We think not. We may safely answer that the time has not yet arrived when our southern brethren, for the mere sake of' keep- ing Africans in slavery, will abandon their long cherished free institutions, and enslave themselves. “ It is the conviction of my command, as a part of the national forces of the United States, that labor— manual labor — is inherently noble ; that it cannot be systematically degraded by any nation without ruining its peace, happiness and power ; that free labor is the granite basis on which free in- stitutions must rest ; that it is the right, the capital, the inheritance, the hope of the poor man everywhere ; that it is especially the right of five millions of our fellow-countrymen in the slave states, as well as of the four millions of Africans there, and all our efforts, therefore, however small or great, whether directed against the interference of governments from abroad, or against rebellious combinations at home, shall be for free labor. Our motto and our standard shall be, here and everywhere, and on all occa- sions, Free Labor and Workingmen's Eights. It is on this basis, and this basis alone, that our munificent government, the asylum of the nations, can be perpetuated and preserved. “J. W. Phelps, “ Brigadier -General of Volunteers Commanding .” It is a proof of the very great respect entertained for the good general, that the issue of such a proclamation, in the name of the troops, provoked little more than a feeling of astonishment. There was, it is true, some foolish talk of resigning commissions ; SHIP ISLAND. 201 ana one naval commander relieved his mind by tearing a copy in pieces and throwing it overboard. “ What,” ashed General Phelps, on hearing of these adverse opinions, “ did these officers come down here for? Was it to sac- rifice their ease, to waste their time, and perhaps to lay down their lives in a war, simply that a few persons may hold slaves ? I did not come for any such purpose. I came to fight, and if anybody is afraid, they had better go home. These people, among whom we have come, do not ask any favors of us, and I ask none of them. I did not come here to steal, but to tell them just what I mean to do.” He declared, further, that his principles were anti-slavery, and he desired the country to know it. He did not, however, wish to harm his countrymen of the South, but believing as he did that slavery was the cause of the war, and all other troubles of any moment that have ever arisen among the American people, he had a right to say so, and could not see the propriety of longer apologizing for such a baneful institution. “And as for those officers,” continued he, “ who are so fearful that the Union army may do some harm to the rebels, they had better come forward and let us know which side they are on.” A copy, it appears, was taken to the Mississippi shore, and hand- ed to some one found there. It was extensively used in Secessia as fuel for firing the southern heart. In due time, we are told, it was translated for the warning of the people of Cuba, who were invited to compute what would be the value of their slaves if the United States, known to be covetous of Cuba, should succeed in restoring its power by the destruction of slavery in the southern states. Gen- eral Butler, in common with the whole country, read the proclama- tion of his brigadier with much surprise, but was far from joining in the hue and cry against it. In transmitting General Phelps’s report to head-quarters, he merely remarked : “ I need hardly say that the issuing of any proclamation, upon such occasion, was neither suggested nor authorized by me, and most certainly not such an one. With that exception, I commend the report, and ask attention to its clear and business-like statements.” General Phelps, with his quaint and kindly ways, and his effi- ciency as a commanding officer, soon lived down the clamor excited by his proclamation. The rigor of his rule was alleviated by his 202 SHIP ISLAND. humorous mode of settling difficulties and administering reproof. Two bottles of illicit champagne-cider were brought to his tent one day, and the question occurred what was to be done with the pro- perty — value three dollars. “Orderly,” said the general, “strike those bottles together, and see which is the hardest ; that is the way to dispose of liquor taken from drunken soldiers.” On another occasion, he called a captain from the line of his regi- ment, and addressed him thus : “Captain , I find that you are exceedingly attentive to everything.” The general paused here for a moment, and the captain waited to hear the conclusion of the compliment. But the general com- pleted the sentence in an unexpected manner ; “ except your duty,” said he. The captain retired to his place amid the titter of the regiment. December, January, and February passed slowly and drearily by. The island was covered with troops ; the fleet augmented in the harbor. The troops being inconveniently crowded, General Phelps sent over a party to the main land to see if there was room and safety there for a portion of his command. A sudden shower of canister from a battery near the wharf of Mississippi City was in- terpreted to mean that, though there might be room enough, there was not safety. The troops, therefore, were obliged to remain cooped and huddled together on the small part of the island that afforded tolerable camping ground. The monotony of their lives, in these forlorn and restricted circumstances, told upon the spirits of the men. The resigning fever broke out among the officers, and “ carried oik’ several victims. At the end of February, when the last transports arrived, General Phelps learned that the next arrival would be that of General Butler himself, who might be daily ex- pected, and then active operations would begin. But the days passed on, and no general came. Two large steamers were lying in the harbor, at a daily expense to the government of three thou- sand dollars. Now, General Phelps is one of those gentlemen who take the true view of the public money, regarding it as the most sacred of all money, to be expended with the thoughtful economy with which an honest guardian expends the slender portion of a girl bequeathed to his care by a dying friend. Still unacquainted SHIP ISLAND. 203 with the plans of the government, hearing, too, that General But- ler had been lost at sea, the costly presence of those steamers dis- tressed his righteous soul ; and, at length, he ordered them home. So there were ten thousand men, on a strip of sand, on a hostile coast, with no great supply of provisions, destitute of any adequate means either of getting away or of getting supplies. A deep de- spondency settled upon the troops as the month of March wore on, and they vainly scanned the horizon for a smoky harbinger of their expected commander. Fears for his safety received melancholy confirmation, when a vessel arrived, bringing Brigadier-General Williams from Hatteras Inlet, for whom the Mississippi was to have called on her way. For a month, General Phelps waited for General Butler in painful suspense. The rumors of disaster to the Mississippi were far from ground- less. In getting to Ship Island, General Butler had almost as many adventures as Jason in search of the golden fleece. To him, and to his staff’, who had already encountered so many obstacles in Massa- chusetts and at Washington, it seemed now as if gods and men were contending against their expedition. But they were animated with desperate resolution, feeling that only some signal achieve- ment could vindicate their enterprise, and enable them to show themselves again in Massachusetts without shame. The general had assumed so much of the responsibility of the expedition, had borne it along on his own shoulders through so many difficulties, against so much opposition or lukewarm support, that he felt there were two alternatives for him, glorious success or a glorious death. Nor did he suppose for a moment, that the brunt of the affair would fall upon the wooden ships of the navy. He expected powerful aid from the navy, but he took it for granted, that the closing and de- cisive encounter would be with the Confederate army on the swamps and bayous of the Delta, defended by works supposed by the enemy to be impregnable. Storming parties, scaling ladders, ■siege guns, headlong assaults into the imminent, deadly breach — these were the means by which he supposed the work was to be finally done, and this was evidently the impression of the secretary of war when he spoke of the reward which would be due to the man who should take New Orleans. February 25th, at nine in the evening, the Mississippi steamed from Hampton Roads, and bore away for Hatteras and General 9 * 204 SHIP ISLAND. Williams. The weather was fine, and the night passed pleasantly. The morning broke beautifully upon a tranquil sea, and the superb ship bowled along before a fair wind. Landsmen began to fear that they should complete the voyage without having experienced what is so delightful to read about in Byron — a storm at sea. But, in the afternoon — a change, and such a change. The horizon thick- ened and drew in ; the wind rose ; and when, at six o’clock, they were eight miles oft' Hatteras Inlet, there was no getting in that night. The ship made for the open sea, and in so doing, ran within a few feet of perdition, in the form of a shoal, over which the waves broke into foam. The ship escaped, but not the captain’s repu- tation. The general’s faith in his captain was not entire before this ominous occurrence, but from that moment it was gone, and he left the deck no more while the danger lasted. The gale in- creased as the night came on, until at midnight it blew half a hur- ricane. The vessel being short-handed, there was a rummaging among the sleeping and sea-sick troops for sailors ; numbers of whom responded to the call, who rendered good service during the night — their general awake, ubiquitous. It lulled toward morning ; and by noon, the wind had ceased. The ship was then so far from Hatteras, that it was determined to give up General Williams, and make straight for the gulf. “ All felt relieved,” re- marks Major Bell in his itinerary, “and such as had desired to see a storm at sea, had had their wildest wish fully realized, and were satisfied.” Again, the magnificent ship went prosperously on her Avay. The sea-sick struggled on deck ; the disheartened were reassured ; and those Avho had lost confidence in the captain had had their faith in the general renewed. The night was serene ; the morning fine. At seven, the ship Avas off Cape Fear, going at great speed, wind and steam co-operating ; land in sight ; men in high spirits over their coffee and biscuit. At half-past eight, when the general and his staff were at breakfast in the cabin, they heard and felt that most terrible of all sounds known to seafaring men, the harsh gra- ting of the ship’s keel upon a shoal. Every one started to his feet, and hurried to the deck. The ,sky was clear, the land was five miles distant, a light-house was in sight. The vessel ground upon the rocks, but still moA r ed. Her course was altered and alter- ed again ; all points of the comnass were tried ; but still she touched. SHIP ISLAND. 205 Boats were lowered, and soundings were taken in all directions, without a practicable channel being discovered. The captain, amaz- ed and confounded, gave the fatal order to let go the bow anchor ; and the ship, with three sails set, drove upon the fluke, which pierced the forward compartment, and the water poured in in a torrent that baffled the utmost exertions of men and pumps. Ben- jamin Franklin, dead in Christ church burial-ground at Philadel- phia, saved the ship from filling ; for it was he who first learned from the Chinese, and suggested to the occidental world, the expe- dient of building ships with water-tight compartments. In an hour from the first shock, the good steamer Mississippi was hard and fast upon Frying Pan Shoals, one compartment filled to the water line, and the forward berths all afloat. There was no help in the captain ; he was in such a maze that he coifid not ascertain from his books even the state of the tide, whether it was rising or fall- ing, a question upon which the safety of the ship depended. The general, in effect, took command of the ship. Major Bell and Captain R. S. Davis, both volunteer aids, were ordered to look into the captain’s library for the hour of the next high tide. They re- ported falling water ; high tide at 8 p. m. Signals of distress were hoisted, guns were fired, efforts were still made to get the ship afloat. Horsemen were descried on the shore, and fears were en- tertained that some Confederate vessel, lurking on the coast, might come out and make an easy capture of a defenseless transport. Amid the manifold perils of the situation, the troops behaved with admirable composure, and perfect order was maintained without effort on the part of the officers. It could scarcely have been other- wise, for the men saw, during that long and anxious day, Mrs. Butler, with her attendant, tranquilly hemming streamers on the quarter-deck, she not suspecting the essential aid she was rendering the officers in command. The men confessed the next day, that nothing cheered them so much while they were in peril, as the sight of Mrs. Butler sitting there, in the sight of them all, calmly plying her needle. And the danger was indeed most imminent. An ordina- ry squall would have broken up the ship ; it would have taken days to land the men in the ship’s boats ; and they were upon a hostile shore. The strain was severest upon the nerves of those who were most familiar with a coast noted for the suddenness and violence of its gales. One man’s hair turned white ; one went mad. 206 SHIP ISLAND. Toward noon, a steamer hove in sight ; reviving hope in some, quickening the fears of others. She approached cautiously, as if doubtful of the character of the grounded ship. The Union flag was made out flying from her mast-head, but still she hung off in the distance suspiciously. General Butler sent Major Bell on board, who discovered that she was the gun-boat Mount Vernon, Com- mander O. S. Glisson, of the United States navy, blockading Wil- mington. Captain Glisson, who had, indeed, doubted the character of the Mississippi, came on board, and placed his vessel at the ser- vice of General Butler. The sea was still smooth, but tokens of change being manifest, it was deemed best to transfer Mrs. Butler and her maid to the Mount Vernon. A hawser was attached to the Mississippi, and the gun-boat made many fruitless attempts to drag her from the shoals. Three hundred men were put on board the Mount Vernon ; shells were thrown overboard; the troops ran in masses from bow to stern, and from stern to bow ; the engine worked at full speed ; but still she would not budge. As the tide rose, the wind and waves rose also ; it became difficult to transfer the troops ; and, soon, the huge ship began to roll and strike the rocks alarmingly. The sun went down, and twilight was deepen- ing into darkness, the wind still increasing. But soon after seven, to the inexpressible relief of all on board, she moved forward a few feet, and then surged ahead into deeper water, and was afloat. The Mount Vernon went slowly on to show the way, the Missis- sippi following ; the lead continuing for a whole hour to show but six inches of water under her keel. The vessel hung down heavily by the head, the forward compartment being filled, and no one had a sense of safety until, at midnight, both vessels came to anchor in the Cape Fear river. “ All behaved wonderfully well,” Major Bell records. “The resources of the general seemed inexhaustible; his seeming calmness and his clear judgment, in view of the responsi- bility which the ignorance of the captain left upon him, were won- derful.” The next morning, after a survey of the damaged vessel, it was decided to go on to Port Royal for repairs, trusting to the settled appearance of the weather ; the Mount V ernon to accompany. Mrs. Butler and the troops returned to the Mississippi, except one gen- tleman, the chaplain of a regiment, who resigned his commission, and stuck to the vessel that had a competent captain and no hole in SHIP ISLAM). 207 her bottom. General Butler was ingenious in expedients to check the tendency to resign, which is apt to manifest itself in certain cir- cumstances ; hut he placed no obstacle in the way of the chaplain’s escape. The vessels put to sea in the afternoon. The next day was Sunday, and prayers were said on the deck of the Mississippi. The most profound solemnity prevailed in the dense throng of sol- diers, who literally watched and prayed ; prayed to Heaven and watched the weather. In the afternoon they were cheered with the sight of the great fleet blockading Charleston, one of the ves- sels of which took the place of the Mount Vernon. At sunset, on the second of March, the Mississippi and her new consort, the Ma- tanzas, anchored off Hilton Head. As no adequate transportation for the troops could be had at Port Royal, nothing remained but to attempt to repair' the Missis- sippi, and this, too, in the absence of a dry dock or other facilities for handling so large a vessel. The ship was taken to Seabrook Landing, on Shell Creek, seven miles from Hilton Head, and the men and stores were removed. The naval oflieers on the station, Captain Boggs, Captain Renshaw, Captain Boutefle, and others, conferred with the general, and lent all possible aid to the work in hand. Plan after plan was proposed, discussed, rejected. Men and pumps strove in vain to clear the compartment of water. Twice the leak was plugged from the inside, and twice the water burst through again, and destroyed in an hour the work of two days and nights. It can be truly averred, that General Butler’s indomitable resolution and inexhaustible ingenuity were the cause of the final success ; for long after every one else had despaired, he persisted, and still suggested new expedients. A sail was at length, with in- conceivable difficulty, and after many disheartening failures, drawn over the leak ; the pumps gained upon the water, and as the head of the vessel rose, the work became more feasible. VV hen the water had fallen below the leak, a few hours of vigorous exertion sufficed to stop it, and the naval gentlemen pronounced the vessel fit for sea. The troops were re-embarked, and the luckless Mississippi started for the mouth of the harbor. The captain, disregarding the advice of the naval officers, who were familiar with the soundings, ran her aground upon a bed of shells, and there she stuck as fast as upon Frying Pan Shoals. “ It now became painfully evident,” remarks 208 SHIP ISLAND. Major Bell, “that if we ever hoped to get the Mississippi to Ship Island by water , we must have a new captain.” General Butler yielded to the universal desire, and to his own sense of the neces- sity of the case ; he ordered a board of inquiry, which report- ing the captain incompetent, he deposed him and placed him under arrest in his state-room. “ I am grieved,” he wrote to the captain, “ to be obliged to this action, for our personal re- lations have been of the kindest character, and I know yourself will believe that only the sternest sense of duty would compel me to it.” Acting-master Sturgis, of the Mount Vernon, took the vacant place. Under his skillful direction, the ship was once more floated, but not till the men had been again landed, and all the tugs in port had done their utmost. March 13th, under a salute of fifteen guns from the flag-ship, the Mississippi put to sea, still accompanied hy the Matanzas with part of the troops on board. No more disasters. Seven days of prosperous sailing brought them in sight of Ship Island, a long camp floating flat upon the gulf. Dismal scene ! A gale was blowing as the ship steamed into the harbor, and huge waves were seen rolling up, apparently among the tents, and no man could tell which was water and which was land. For two days and more, the gale continued, and the men, unable to land, looked out upon the island dolefully. It seem- ed a sorry port to come to after such a voyage. A gloom that some men who were not easily dismayed could scarcely endure, much less conceal, fell upon every heart. I have heard General Butler say, that when he saw what Ship Island was, and learned that General Phelps had sent away the transports, and thought of the many chances there were of the failure of supplies, and how absolutely dependent they all were upon external and dis- tant resources, his heart, for the first time during the war, died within him, and it required all the resolution and fortitude he could command to maintain a decent show of cheerfulness. lie was somewhat debilitated too, at this time, by a return of the disease contracted some years before, at the National Hotel in Washing- ton. On the twenty-fifth of March, just thirty days from Hampton Roads, the troops were landed. There being no house on the island, a shanty of charred boards, eighteen feet square, was erected for the SHIP ISLAND. 209 residence of Mrs. Butler, furniture for which was opportunely pro- cured from a captured vessel. A vast old-fashioned French bed- stead half filled the little cabin. A closer acquaintance with the island did not raise the spirits of the troops. The heat was intense. Innumerable were the flies. The general discomfit was extreme; and to add to the gloom, phan- toms were not wanting. As the belief gained ground that New Orleans was the object of the expedition, rumors of the immense preparations of the enemy to defend the city obtained currency ; the river was lined with batteries for a hundred miles ; “ rams” of fear- ful magnitude and power had been constructed ; an army of fifty thousand men were in the field. And soon after General Butler’s arrival, the news reached the island, with enormous exaggerations, of the foray of the Merrimac among the fleet in Hampton Roads. Were the iron-clads of New Orleans likely to be less formidable? Had we any Monitors to meet them? If the Wellington heroes under Pakenham could not take the city when it was defended by only four thousand militia, badly armed, what was the prospect now, when all the appliances of modern science had been employed, and the place was defended by forts, columbiads, cables, a whole fleet of Merrimacs, and a large army ?* * New Orleans newspapers were brought over from Biloxi in considerable numbers. Such paragraphs as the following were found in them : “The Mississippi is fortified so as to be impas- sable for any hostile fleet or flotilla. Forts Jackson and St. Philip are armed with one hundred and seventy heavy guns (sixty-three pounders, rifled by Barkley Britton, and received from Eng- land). The navigation of the river is stopped by a dam of about a quarter of a mile from the above forts. No flotilla on earth would force that dam in less than two hours, during which it would be within short and cross range of one hundred and seventy guns of the heaviest caliber, many of which would be served with red-hot shot, numerous furnaces for which have been erected in every fort and battery. “In a day or two we shall have ready two iron-cased floating batteries. The plates are four and a half inches thick, of the best hammered iron, received from England and France. Each iron- eased battery will mount twenty sixty-eight pounders, placed so as to skim the water, and striking the enemy's hull between wind and -water. We have an abundant supply of incendiary shells, cupola furnaces for molten iron, congreve rockets and fire-ships. “Between New Orleans and the forts there is a constant succession of earthworks. At the Plain of Chalmette, near Janin's property, there are redoubts, armed with rifled cannon, which have been found to be effective at five miles range. A ditch thirty feet wide and twenty deep extends from the Mississippi to La Cipriore. “In Forts St. Philip and Jackson, there are three thousand men, of whom a goodly portion are experienced artillery-men, and gunners who have served in the navy. “At New Orleans itself we have thirty-two thousand infantry, and as many more quartered in die immediate neighborhood. In discipline and drill they are far superior to the Yankees. We have two very able and active generals, who possess our entire confidence, General Mansfield Lovell, and Brigadier-General Buggies. For commodore, we have old Hollins, a Nelson in his way .”— New Orleans Picayune , April 5 1\ 1862. 210 SHIP ISLAND. It happened, however, that the men in command of the joint expedition were peculiarly insensible to phantoms. General Butler was at once immersed in the details of preparation, and rose su- perior to the prevailing depression. Captain Farragut — the im- mortal Farragut — who had arrived within a few days, and taken tommand of the fleet, had all an old sailor’s contempt for every- thing that bore the name of ram. From the first, he regarded the naval part of the enemy’s preparations as unworthy of serious con- sideration. Give him wooden ships. He would answer for the rams and iron- clads — floating caldrons to boil sailors in. lie was for fighting on deck, not in the bottom of a tea-kettle. Wooden ships were good enough for Nelson, Perry, Lawrence, Decatur ; and they were good enough for him. The rebels were heartily welcome to their rams and floating batteries, their railroad-ironed steamboats, and their fire-rafts of pine knots. A few hours after General Butler had landed his troops, he was in consultation with Captain Farragut — Captain Bailey of the navy being also present, as well as Major Strong and Lieutenant Wietzel. The plan of operations then adopted was the one which was sub- stantially carried out, and which resulted in the capture of the city. I. Captain Porter, with his fleet of twenty-one bomb-schooners, should anchor below the two forts, Jackson and St. Philip, and continue to fire upon them until they were reduced, or until his ammunition was nearly exhausted. During the bombardment, Captain Farragut’s fleet should remain out of fire, as a reserve, just below the bomb-vessels. The army, or so much of it as trans- portation' could be found for, should remain at the mouth of the river, awaiting the issue of the bombardment. If Captain Porter succeeded in reducing the forts, the army would ascend the river and garrison them. It would then be apparent, probably, what the next movement should be. II. If the bombardment did not reduce or silence the forts, then Captain Farragut, with his fleet of steamers, would attempt to run by them. If he succeeded, he proposed to clear the river of the enemy’s fleet, cut off the forts from supplies, and push on at least far enough to reconnoiter the next obstruction. III. Captain Farragut having passed the forts, General Butler would at once take the troops round to the rear of Fort St. Philip^ SHIP ISLAND. 211 land them in the swamps there, and attempt to carry the fort by assault. The enemy had made no preparations to resist an attack from that quarter, supposing the swamps impassable. But Lieuten- ant Wietzel, while completing the fort, had been for two years in the habit of duck-shooting all over those swamps, and knew every bay and bayou of them. He assured General Butler that the land- ing of troops there would be difficult, but not impossible ; and hence this part of the scheme. Both in the formation of the plan and in its execution the local knowledge and pre-eminent profes- sional skill of Lieutenant Wietzel were of the utmost value. Few men contributed more to the reduction of the city than he. There are few more valuable officers in the service than General Wietzel, as the country well knows. IV". The forts being reduced, the land and naval force would advance toward the city in the manner that should then seem best. This was the plan. The next question was : When could they be ready to begin? Captain Farragut said he would sail at once for the mouths of the river, and thought he could be ready to move thence toward the forts in seven days. General Butler en- gaged to have six thousand men embarked and prepared in seven days. He would fill all the steamers he had, and take the re- mainder of the force in tow in sailing vessels. These arrange- ments concluded, Captain Farragut and the fleet departed, and General Butler set to work to do a month’s work in seven days and nights. He did it. He labored night and day. Having no quartermas- ter, no priceless Captain George, who was consigned to Lowell because a senator wanted his place for a relative, General Butler was seen on the wharf, blending the quartermaster with the major- general, not disdaining the duty of the stevedore, when the ste- vedore’s duty became the vital one. A hundred Massachusetts carpenters were detailed to make scaling ladders ; a hundred boat- men to help to man the thirty boats which were to nose their de- vious way through the reeds, creeks, pools and sharks in the rear of F ort St. Philip. The troops were formed into three brigades ; the first under General Phelps, the second under General Williams, the third under Colonel Shepley, of the Twelfth Maine. The staff 212 SHIP ISLANHD. r1' was announced.* A court-martial was organized, to bring up ah rears of discipline, and a board to examine the new officers blast issued from head-quarters against intoxicating drinks, “th curse of the army.” “Forbidden,” added the general, “by ever; regulation, prohibited by official authority, condemned by expe rience, it still clings to the soldier, although more deadly, in thii climate, than the rifle. All sales, therefore, within this department will be punished by instant expulsion of the party offending, if civilian, or by court-martial, if an officer or soldier. All intoxicat ing liquors kept for sale or to be used as a beverage, will be seizec and destroyed, or confiscated to hospital uses.” On the sixth day, seven regiments and two batteries of artillery were embarked, ready to sail as soon as the word should come from Captain Farragut. But high winds and low tides were placing un- expected obstacles in the way of the fleet, the larger vessels of which were many days in getting over the bar. General Butler was obliged to disembark his troops, and await the tardy lightering of the ships into the river. A tedious fortnight passed before the fleet was ready, the general vibrating between the island and the mouths of the river. A romantic incident occurred during this interval, which led to a variety of curious adventures. A mischance of war tossed upon the sand-beach of Ship Island, a beautiful little girl, three years of * “ Head-quaetees, Department of the Gulf, Ship Island, March, 20, 1S62. I “General Ordf,p.s, No. 1. “Pursuant to General Order No. 20, of February 23, 1862, from the head-quarters of the army, Major-General 15. F. Butler, U. S. Volunteers, assumes command of this department. His staff is announced as follows: Major George C. Strong. A. A. General, Ordnance Officer and Chief of Staff. Captain Jonas H. French, A. D. C. and Acting Inspector-General. Captain Peter Haggerty, Aide-de-Camp. First Lieutenant W. II. Wiegel, A. D. C. First Lieutenant J. W. Cushing, Thirty -first Mass. Volunteers, Acting Chief Quartermaster. First Lieutenant J. E. Easterbrook, Thirtieth Mass. Volunteers, Acting Chief Commissary. Captain George A. Kensel, Chief of Artillery. First Lieutenant Godfrey Wietzel, Chief Engineer. First Lieutenant J. C. Palfrey, Assistant Engineer. First Lieutenant C. N. 'Turnbull, Chief of Topographical Engineers. Surgeon Thomas II. Baehe, Medical Director. Major J. M. Bell, Volunteer Aide-de-Camp. Captain E. S. Davis, Volunteer Aide-de-Camp. First Lieutenant J. B. Kinsman, “ Second Lieutenant II. C.- Clarke, “ “ By command of Major-General Butler “George C. Strong, A. A. G." SHIP ISLAJSD. 213 l age, the child of a New Orleans physician, a rebel of noted bitter- » ness. She was voyaging in Mississippi Sound with her parents I and nurse, when the vessel being chased by a gun-boat, foundered, 1 and all hands took to the boats. The little creature was a pet with f the sailors ; she was among them in the forecastle, when the ves- I sel went down, and they took her with them into the boat, while ■ the parents and the nurse hurried into another boat with the cap- | tain and mate. The boats were soon separated in the gale, and the | one containing the child was picked up by a cruiser, and brought i to Ship Island. The arrival of the child among the troops, so many > of whom had left children or little sisters at home, excited a degree | of interest difficult to conceive. She was taken to Mrs. Butler’s ■shanty, her clothes all tvet and torn, and there she was provided I with such clothing as could be hastily made, and otherwise pro- vided for with the tenderest care. But Ship Island, in such cir- ■ cumstances, was no fit place for her. She could tell her name, and t seemed to have a lively sense of having a grandfather in New Orleans, whose name she also knew. The general determined to send her as far on her way to this grandfather as he could. Whether her parents had survived the storm no one knew. A sloop was manned, and Major Strong was directed to convey her, under a flag of truce, to Biloxi, the nearest point of the oppo- site shore, and place her in the custody of a magistrate, with money to pay her expenses to New Orleans. Major Strong performed this congenial duty. He found at Biloxi a probate of wills, who was also a justice of the peace, to whom he committed the child, and gave him a sum of money in gold, sufficient to defray the cost of her transportation to the city. In the dusk of the evening, the tide having fallen, the sloop started to return, but grounded on the bar, a few hundred yards from the shore. N othing remained but to wait six hours for the rising of the tide. Soon after dark, a boat came off with four men, one of whom Major Strong recognized as a person who had conversed with him in a friendly manner on shore. This gentleman warned him that he would be attacked by a large force in the course of the evening, and advised him to sur- render. Scarcely believing that men could be found base enough to assail a flag of truce on such an errand as his, Major Strong nevertheless thought it best to send a boat to the nearest cruiser for assistance. He had seven men with him. Five of these he sent 214 SHIP ISLAND. away in the boat, under Captain Conant, leaving three men and eight muskets in the sloop. Major Strong was one of those sol- diers who knew nothing about surrendering ; it formed no part of his calculations ; he had not studied the subject, and did not admit it as a branch of the art military. He barricaded the deck of the sloop, put his eight muskets into position, and extended a stout log of wood over the side to play the part of a howitzer. His two men were ordered below, having been first instructed in their role. One of the men, Macdonald by name, had brought his violin with him, and kept up a lively performance in the cabin, of national airs and dancing tunes. About nine o’clock two large boats, filled with armed men, were seen approaching from the shore. Y oices called out : “ Surrender ! Surrender !” Major Strong replied: “I am here under a flag of truce, per- forming an errand of mercy to one of your citizens. If you attempt to violate the laws of this sacred mission, I will blow you with this howitzer,” laying his hand on the log, “ so deep into , that your commander will find it difficult to produce you at taps.” “ We’ll see about that,” returned a voice. The boats hauled off as if to consider the matter. They soon ap- proached again, one on each side. “ Keep those boats on the same side of the sloop,” shouted the Major, “ or I’ll sink both of you.” The order was obeyed. The boats came together, and lay off at hailing distance. “ Don’t come any nearer,” cried Major Strong. “ If you have anything to say to me, send one man.” A man came wading, and halted a few yards from the vessel. “ How many men have you got there ?” asked Major Strong. “ Forty,” replied the man. “ How many have you ?” “ Well, not many, but enough to defend this vessel.” The major was aware that anything like a boast of his numbers would confirm the opinion of the magnanimous foe, that he was in reality defenseless. While this colloquy was going on, the two men in the hold were performing an important part. They contrived to make a great deal of noise, and Macdonald continued his fiddling, Major Strong frequently calling out : SHIP ISLAND. 21b “ Keep quiet down there, men.” “ No, don’t come on deck yet.” “All heads below, I say.” “Major Jones, look to your men there forward, and keep those heads below the hatches.” “ Stop that fiddling, Macdonald; there’ll be time enough to dance by and by.” The wading hero returned to the boats, which lingered a while, and then, filing a volley at the sloop, rapidly disappeared, and were no more seen. A gun-boat soon came to the rescue of the party, and the facts were duly reported to the general in the morning. The boiling indignation excited in all minds by the dastardly con- duct of the Biloxi savages may be imagined. The general instantly determined to give them a lesson in good manners. At half-past two that very afternoon, two gun-boats, the Jackson and New Lon- don, and the transport Lewis, with Colonel Cahill’s Ninth Connecti- cut, and Captain Everett’s battery on board, sailed for Biloxi, for the piu-pose of conveying that lesson to their benighted minds. Majoi Strong commanded the expedition, attended by Captain Jonas LI. French, Lieutenant Turnbull, Captain Conant, Lieutenant Kinsman, Captain Davis, Captain John Clark, and Lieutenant Biddle. Soon after four o’clock, the armed steamers anchored off Biloxi, and the transport Lewis made fast to the wharf. The inhabitants lined the beach, and one wild son of Mississippi stood on the wharf, rifle in hand, defying the troops to come on shore. The men were marshaled on the wharf. Major Strong placed himself at their head, and gave the word to advance. The wild son of Mississippi retired. In a few minutes Biloxi was surrounded and pervaded by Union troops, the people looking sullenly and silently on. Biloxi was a watering place in other times ; the Mississippi cotton-planters’ Long Branch, now half deserted, dilapidated and for- lorn. Major Strong found ample quarters in the building which had served as a summer hotel. Two prisoners were brought in ; one, the valorous Mississippian just mentioned; the other, a four- footed ass. “ What do you bring that creature here for ?” asked ihe com- mander of the force. “ Isn’t he a Saypoy secessionist ?” replied the Irishman who had brought him in. “Let him run,” said the major. “Very well, sir,” said the witty O’Dowd, as he obeyed the 21G SHIP ISLAND. order. “ I think myself we had better not touch the privates till we catch the commander.” By the time the surrounding country had been well reconnoitered, night closed in, and further proceedings were deferred till the mor- row. The troops slept in and around the town. Not a Biloxian was molested, not a house was plundered or disfigured, not a hen- roost disturbed, not a garden despoiled. An Irish officer asked a gj oup, where the blackguards were who had fired into the boat that brought home the infernal secessionist’s darlin’ shipwrecked daughter ; but as he elicited no response, the subject was dropped for the night. Indeed, the sad, despairing expression of every face, the evident poverty of the people, the many abandoned houses, and the utter desolation of the scene, seemed to disarm the resentment of the troops, and a feeling of pity for the “ poor devils” arose in its stead. The manner in which the caught Mississippian devoured liis rations, led the men to infer that provisions were not abundant in Biloxi ; which was found to be true, not of Biloxi only, but of all that coast for hundreds of miles. The people were intense and vigilant devotees of secession, however. The spy who had been engaged by General Butler at Washington, six weeks before, had accomplished his mission so far as to visit New Orleans, and had come to Biloxi, designing to steal over to Ship Island. But he was there suspected, closely watched, and finally arrested. He was then in prison at New Orleans. Not a scrap of paper was found upon him, but he was still detained on suspicion. At dawn the next morning, Captain Clark and Lieutenant Kins- man led a boat chase after a schooner laden with molasses ; but wind proving a better resource than oars, the schooner escaped. As the day advanced, the citizens of Biloxi presented themselves at Major Strong’s head-quarters, all avowing themselves secessionists, none of them justifying the attack on the sloop. The major’s orders were to procure a written apology from the mayor, and from the commander of the Confederate forces, if any such there were. The mayor, however, kept out of the way; and it was not till his daughter had been politely conducted to head-quarters as a hostage for his appearance, that he could be found. He gave the written apology required, alleging that the party who fired upon the sloop were a mob which he had no force to control. At sunset, with the band playing and colors flying, Major Strong re- 6 HIP ISLAND. 217 embarked the troops, and the fleet steamed westward for Pass Christian, where a regiment of the enemy was posted, and which the general’s orders authorized him to visit. At ten in the eve- ning, the steamers anchored otf the pass, and the troops slept on board. Danger was approaching them while they slept. The thunder of cannon woke them as the day was dawning ; and before the troops had rubbed their eyes open, crash came a ten-inch shot through the transport, perforating the steam-pipe, passing through the cabin-lights, and out through the smoke-stack. In an instant, a second shot struck her, which carried away the cook’s galley and part of the wheel-house. Three of the enemy’s gun-boats, their lights all out, had stolen from Lake Borgne upon our little squadron, and this was their morning salutation. A sharp action ensued. It was twenty minutes before the Lewis could get steam enough to move, during which she received three more shots, and escaped three. But at length she both moved and acted. Fortu- nately, she had been provided with two rifled cannon, which were used with so much eflect as to materially aid in the repulse of the enemy. The two gun-boats plied the foe with shot and shell for more than an hour before they thought proper to seek safety in the shallows of Lake Borgne. Strange to relate, but one man of the Union force was wounded, and he slightly — Captain Conant, of the Thirty-First Massachusetts. Major Strong executed his purpose. He landed his troops, and took possession of the town, a sea-side summer resort, frequented by the people of New Orleans. He dashed upon the camp of the Confederate regiment, three miles distant, and reached it so quickly after the flight of the enemy as to find in the colonel’s tent an un- finished dispatch, ‘and the pen with which he was writing it still wet with ink. The dispatch was designed to inform General Lovell, commanding at New Orleans, of the descent upon Biloxi and Pass Christian, and announced the colonel’s “ desire” to attack the Union troops “ toward evening.” The camp was destroyed ; the public stores in the town were also seized, part of them carried away, and the rest burnt. At Pass Christian, the Union officers had their first taste of the quality and humor of the ladies of the south-west. “A portion of the women,” writes an oflicer, “ stood their ground 218 SHIP ISLAND. Mrs. and Miss Lee were of this number. Mrs. Lee and her husband keep a hotel, which is known as ‘Lee’s boarding house.’ It is a snug inn. But Mrs. Lee is a tartar. She told Major Strong, that ‘ Mr. Lee, although he kept a hotel, was of one of the first families of Virginia.’ “ ‘ I dare say,’ replied the Major ; ‘ there is nothing incompatible with great qualities in the business he pursues !’ “While this parley was going on, Miss Lee pushed herself through the front door. She pouted as she passed over the portico, pulling as she went an unwilling hood over her handsome face, then some- what disfigured by a frown. “ After the miniature sea and land fights, the officers met again at Lee’s boarding house. Bread and butter, and poor claret, were the substance of the repast ; Mrs. Lee and her fire-emitting daugh- ter insisting upon occupying chairs at the table, while Mr. Lee waited upon the guests and drew the corks. The display of appe- tite was good. I think every man ate the worth of the gold dollar which he gave Mrs. Lee, who carefully folded away the hateful Lin- coln coin in the corner of her dirty apron. It struck me as queer to see this ‘ first lady’ in clothes which soap could have improved.” Miss Lee could not be appeased. She continued to pout and frown, and to say rude things to the officers in reply to their polite banter, when silence or witty retort would have been in better ac- cord with the lofty claims of her family. The squadron returned to Ship Island without farther adventure. General Butler marked his sense of the excellent conduct of the troops in a general order : “ Of their bravery in the field,” he said, “ he felt assured ; but another quality, more trying to the soldier, claims his admiration. After having been for months subjected to the privations neces- sarily incident to camp life upon this island, these well-disciplined soldiers, although for many hours in full possession of two rebel vil- lages, filled with what to them were most desirable luxuries, ab- staining from the least unauthorized interference with private prop- erty, and all molestation of peaceable citizens. This behavior is worthy of all praise. It robs war of half its horrors — it teaches our enemies how much they have been misinformed by their designing leaders, as to the character of our soldiers and the intention of our government — it gives them a lesson and an example in humanitv EEDUCTIOIf OF THE FOETS. 219 and civilized warfare much needed, however little it may he fol- lowed. The general commanding commends the action of the men of this expedition to every soldier in this department. Let it he imitated hy all in the towns and cities we occupy, a living witness that the United States soldier fights only for the Union, the con- stitution, and the enforcement of the laws.” Readers will care to know, that the child, the unconscious cause of these proceedings, was restored to her parents. Her father was seeking her at Fort Pickens, imder a flag of truce, while Major Strong was conveying her to Biloxi. Her mother, some weeks later, induced the gentleman to call upon General Butler at New Orleans, and thank him for his goodness to their offspring. April loth, the welcome word came from Captain Farragut, that all his fleet were over the bar, and reloaded, and that he hoped, the next day, to move up the river to the vicinity of the forts. He had made all possible haste ; but the dense, continuous fogs, and the ex- traordinary lowness of the water had retarded every movement. On the 17th, General Butler was at the mouths of the river with his six thousand troops ready to co-operate. If the fleet had been delayed a few days longer, General Butler would have taken Pen- sacola, which he learned had been left almost defenseless. The naval commander vetoed the scheme, not anticipating further delay in operating against the forts. CHAPTER XHI. BEDTTCTIOX OF THE FOETS. The distance from the mouths of the Mississippi to New Orleans is one hundred and five miles. The two forts are situated at a bend in the river, seventy-five miles below the city, and thirty from the place where the river breaks into the passes or mouths. Fort Jackson, on the western bank, is hidden from the view of the as- cending voyager by a strip of dense woods, which extends along the bank to a point eight miles below it; but Fort St. Philip, on the eastern shore, lies plainly in sight, because it is placed in the 10 220 RK1)TJ CTION OF THE FORTS. upper part of the bend, and the ground in front is covered only by a thick growth of reeds. These forts do not look very formidable to the unprofessional eye. They do not stand boldly out of the water, presenting great masses of fine masonry, like those to which we are accustomed in northern seaports. Fort Jackson is but twenty-five feet high, and St. Philip nineteen ; and as the ditches and outer works are neatly sodded, the passing traveler sees little more than extensive slopes of green, close-shaven grass, and a low red-brick wall, with many guns mounted on it, and several piercing it. But these foi-ts, lying low in the bend of a river half a mile wide and running four miles an hour, presented an obstacle to an ascend- ing foe such as, I believe, no fleet had ever been able to overcome. One poor fort at that bend, half finished and half manned, had kept a British fleet at bay, in 1815, for nine days; the English vainly using the same thirteen-inch bombs which were to be em- ployed in 1862. General Jackson's “Tom Overton,” who com- manded Fort St. Philip on that occasion, was uncle of Thomas Overton Moore, governor of Louisiana under Jefferson Davis. It was not till the eighth day that Overton could get one bomb in position capable of throwing a shell among the enemy, but that one sent them flying down the river — two bomb vessels, one brig, one sloop and one schooner. A thousand heavy shells had fallen about the fort, without impairing its defensive power.* But now there were two forts in the bend, constructed by professional engi- neers, at a cost of a million and a quarter of dollars. Fort Jackson, a five-sided work, of immense strength, mounted seventy-four guns, fourteen of which were under cover ; and below it was a supple- mentary battery mounting six. Fort St. Philip was of inferior strength, mounting forty guns ; but it was protected by distance, being a few hundred yards higher up the river, and had a strong battery on each side of it on the river bank. The unmilitary reader does not take the comfort which uncle Toby found in such words as bastion, glacis, scarp, counterscarp, fosse, covered-way, curtain, casemate and barbette. We are informed, however, that the forts had all these things and more. I have often looked out those words in the dictionary, and find the sum total of their meaning to be, that the forts, with their outer works, pointed one hundred and * Parton's Life of Jackson, ii., 239. EEDUCTION OF THE FOKTS. 221 twenty-eight heavy guns upon the river ; that fourteen of those guns could, he worked under cover, and that the batteries were protected by ditches wide- and deep, by walls of immense strength, by bulwarks of earth and sods, and by enfilading howitzers. All had been done for them which the skill of Beauregard and Weit- zel could accomplish, working with leisurely deliberation, and aided by the treasury of the United States. What they had left undone, the zeal of the Confederates had supplied during many months of preparation. They were garrisoned, as it appears, by fifteen hundred men, commanded by General J. K. Duncan, a recreant Pennsylvanian, educated at West Point. The commander of St. Philip was Col- onel Higgins, once an officer of the army of the United States. A large proportion of the garrisons were men of northern birth, who had been consigned to the forts because their devotion to the Con- federate cause w r as considered questionable. But experience shows that it is a matter of little consequence by what process men are got together within the brick walls of a fort or the wooden walls of a ship, provided they are ably, justly, and firmly commanded. “ An English seventy-four,” says Carlyle, “ is one of the impossi- blest entities. A press-gang knocks men down in the streets of sea-towns, and drags them on board. If the ship were to be strand- ed, I have heard they would nearly all run ashore and desert.” Nevertheless, while the ship remains at sea, they usually do all that the various occasions demand. Duncan had a motley, ill-clad, dis- contented, and rather turbulent garrison, but they stood manfully to the guns as long as standing to the guns could avail. The weakness of the forts was the kind of guns with which they were armed. “All of them,” says Lieutenant Weitzel, “ were the old, smooth-bore guns picked up at the different works around the city, with the exception of about six ten-inch columbiads, and two one himdred pound rifled guns of their own manufacture, a formi- dable kind of gun.” He is of the opinion that if the forts had been provided with a full complement of the best modern artillery, they could not have been redirced or passed by wooden ships. It was not, however, upon the forts that the enemy wholly relied. Across the river, from a point just below Fort Jackson, a cable was stretched, upon which the enemy had expended prodigious labor. They had first supported it by heavy logs thirty feet long 222 REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. attached to seven large anchors. But this cable caught the float- ing trees and timber which, in a few weeks, formed a heaped-up, Red-river raft, extending half a mile above the cable. The chain broke at length, and the whole structure, cable, logs, anchor, buoys, and trees, were swept down by the current toward the gulf. A lighter cable was then procured from the stores at Pensacola. Seven or eight schooners, dismasted and filled with logs, were strongly anchored in a row across the river, and the chain was laid across each of them and securely fastened round the capstan. At the end of the cable, on the shore opposite Fort Jackson, a mud battery was built to drive off parties attempting to sever the bar- rier. Under this cable the floating timber freely passed ; and there was an ingenious contrivance near the fort, by which the vessels of the foe were quickly admitted and the aperture quickly closed. This cable, because of its signal failure as a means of defense, has been too lightly regarded. It might have been a formidable obsta- cle. Our naval officers think that if it had been placed just above St. Philip, instead of just below Fort Jackson, it could scarcely have been cut ; because, in that case, the party attempting it would have had to run the gauntlet of a hundred guns against a rapid current, remain under the fire of most of them during the operation, and then descend two miles under the same fire before reaching the fleet. Placed where it was, however, there was rea- son to hope that a party could steal silently upon it in the dark- ness of a foggy night, and work upon it for a considerable time before being discovered ; and even if discovered, the night fire of heavy guns might be borne long enough to effect the object; par- ticularly as the supporting hulks would afford cover for the boats. The cable was not ill-planned, but wrongly placed. Another error appears to have been committed by the enemy, in not cutting away more of the woods below Fort Jackson. They removed enough to enable them to bring their guns to bear upon the channel of the river, but left enough for Captain Porter to string his bomb-schooners behind along the western shore, around the bend, completely out of sight. He had no need to see his object, for his bombs were purposely set to throw the shells high into the air and down upon the forts like falling meteors ; but their guns were designed to be sighted and aimed at a visible mark. The forts were stationary, and their exact position was known ; the SEDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 223 schooners were movable, and could only be hit by chance, unless they could be seen. Besides the forts and the cable, the enemy had a fleet of fourteen or fifteen gun-boats, several of which were iron-clad. No one has thought it worth while to draw up a descriptive catalogue of these vessels, and none of them ventured far below the cable after Cap- tain Farragut had got his fleet into the river. The sudden collapse and total destruction of most of them in the haze and darkness of an April morning, deprived our men of an opportunity of studying their construction. The greater number were probably river steam- boats, strengthened and armed. “ The celebrated ram Manassas” resembled the Merrimac in appearance, but was not a Merrimac in power or strength. One real Merrimac dashing down headlocg among our wooden ships, might have given them some damaging- blows — might have driven them out of the river; but the builders of “ the celebrated ram Manassas” had not a steam frigate to serve as the basis of their structure, and they knew her too well to trust her among Captain Farragut’s steamers. There was also a huge thing called the Louisiana, built upon the hull of a dry dock, pro- pelled by four engines, and armed with sixteen heavy guns. This ponderous engine of war was a main reliance of the enemy, but it was not finished in time to join in the fray. Fire-rafts and long river-scows filled with pine knots had been prepared in considera- ble numbers for the entertainment of the attacking fleet. In the swamps, a mile and a half from Fort Jackson, two hundred “ sharp-shooters” were stationed, whose chief employment was to scout along the banks of the river and overhear conversation in the fleet. It may have been these men who conveyed to General Dim- can the most prompt and accurate information of every movement of our ships, and every scheme of movement. Such information we know that he had. The camp of the scouting sharp-shooters was not undisturbed during the operations, and many of them de- serted ; but, probably, enough remained to catch the talk of the sailors plying their bombs a few yards from the shore. The confidence of the enemy in their ability to defend the forts against any possible force — against “ the navies of the world”- — was complete. It was long before General Duncan and Colonel Hig- gins believed that the fleet would do more than reconnoiter the position, or, perhaps, transfer the blockading station to the head of 224 REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. the passes. This of itself would have been an advantage worth considerable outlay. But their position they firmly believed was impregnable ; and, perhaps, it was impregnable. Certain it is that the forts were never taken. For the reduction of these forts, thus defended and supported, there was then in the Mississippi the most powerful expedition that had ever sailed under the flag of the United States. The strength and composition of the army we have seen ; it consisted of fifteen thousand troops, most of them men of N ew England, fully provi- ded with the means of offensive war, and led by a general endowed by nature with the ability to command, and trained by education to assume responsibilities and invent expedients. The fleet con- sisted of forty-seven armed vessels, of which eight were large and powerful sloops of war propelled by steam ; seventeen were steam gun-boats, most of them new, and all heavily armed ; two were sail- ing vessels, ranking as sloops of war ; and twenty-one were mortar schooners, each provided with a bomb capable of throwing a shell weighing two hundred and fifteen pounds to a distance of three miles. The steam sloops carried from nine to twenty-eight guns each ; the gun-boats five or six guns each. The whole number of guns and mortars was about three hundred and ten; many of the heaviest caliber, and of the newest construction. The fleet had been provided with everything which naval men could suggest as likely to increase its efficiency. We have heard a great deal concerning the imaginary somnolence of the heads of the navy department. I suppose this has been because the navy department has been conducted with such consummate energy and tact, and with a wonderful uniformity of triumph. W e can not praise enough our generals who have failed, nor censiu-e with too much severity a department which has known little but success. Both in fitting out this expedition and in selecting the men to com- mand it, the department displayed a foresight and ability that proved sufficient in the day of trial. There were only two mis- haps : a delay in the arrival of the medical stores, and a scant sup- ply of coal, owing to the month’s detention in getting the ships over the bar. But General Butler, through the wise abundance provi- ded by Captain George, was able to lend Captain Farragut a com- petent supply of surgeons’ stores and a thousand tons of coal. The men in chief command of the fleet had spent their lives in KEDFCTTON OF THE FOKTS. 225 the navy. Of the sixty-three years that Captain Farragut had lived, he had been fifty-two an officer in the navy of the United States. He was a hoy midshipman as far back as the war of 1812, not un- distinguished then in at least one bloody sea-fight. Though ad- vanced in years, his heart was young, his frame light and active, his face and bearing those of a man of middle age. “ He was the young est man in the fleet,” says General Butler ; alert in climbing to the mast-head, quick in getting into his boat, capable of long-continued, severe exertion.* A modest, quiet man, doing his duty with the minimum of show and fuss, using simple words, preferring simple topics. Above all, he has a firm, brave, honest heart, that can not be dismayed by phantoms, and knows no fear, except the noble dread, lest in any way, through fault of his, the fleet intrusted to his care should disappoint the reasonable expectations of the coun- try. The language of eulogy is so lavishly employed in these tunes, that , it has acquired an opprobrious quality. But these things are literally true of this valiant and noble Tennessean. The country knows what he has done; but his modest worth, his utter sincerity, his entire and single-eyed devotion to his duty ; of these there will be much to tell, when the final record is made up. It is pleasing to notice in the papers relating to the expedition, how perfect was the accord between the commander of the fleet, and the commander of the army. Whatever either could do, dining their long connection, to forward the plans, or enhance the glory of the other, was done with generous promptitude and fullness. The month of delay at the mouth of the river had been well spent. Assistant-engineer Hoyt, of the Richmond, conceived the happy idea of protecting the boiler and engine of his ship by an extemporized armor of chain-cable, hung down from the gun-deck to below the water-line, and fastened by an ingenious system of bolts and cordage. The engineers of the Brooklyn, Pensacola and Iroquois employed the same contrivance, which was supposed to be equivalent to a four-inch plating of iron. The boilers of other vessels were protected by an interior structure of sand-bags, layers * Tennesseans are young at seventy. Tennessee, that central garden-land of the country, com- bining the advantages of North and South, and better adapted for all human purposes than any other region on the continent, is singularly favorable to longevity. It abounds in wonderful old men. Have we not seen this very summer, Major William B. Lewis, of Nashville (staunch and true to the Union, of course), walking the streets of New T ork ten hours a day, and canying his eighty years -with the gayety and ease of a young man ? 226 REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. of cable, bales of bagging, and logs. Howitzers were placed in the tops of all the sloops, protected by plates of boiler iron, or thick screens of cordage. Some of the vessels had small anchors at their yard-arms, to drop down npou the enemy’s gun-boats and fire-rafts, and grapple them. Strong nettings of cordage were drawn under the rigging, to prevent the cannon-balls, which might be stopped aloft, from dropping on deck. All the bomb-schooners, and several of the gun-boats and sloops received a coat of mud-colored paint. Last of all, to the masts of the greater number of the bomb-vessels were fastened large branches of trees, which, mingling with the tree-tops of the sheltering forest, would still more completely con- ceal them from the enemy. A few of these vessels, which were designed to be stationed in full view of Fort St. Philip, -were covered with a coating of the reeds which grew on the marshy level in front of the fort. All hands, under the direction of the engineers, labored incessantly to increase the offensive and defensive power of the fleet ; and it was to this month’s preliminary work that the success of the expedition Avas chiefly owing. Hot one precaution too many Avas taken ; every expedient Avas justified by its manifest utility in the hour of trial. The absence of the chain-plating from the sides of the flag-ship proved the value of that mode of pro- tection ; for, at a critical moment, the Avaut of it nearly lost the ship. Meanwhile, the gentlemen of the coast-survey, under Mr. F. H. Gerdes, specially detailed by Professor Bache for the purpose, were busy in preparing a chart for the guidance of Captain Porter in stationing his bomb-vessels. This Avas an indispensable prelimi- nary, since nearly every bomb was expected to be discharged upon a computed aim. The map was completed in five days, but not without difficulty and danger. “ Frequently,” says Mr. Gerdes, “ the members of the party were compelled to mount their instru- ments on the chimney-tops of dilapidated houses. In other places boats were run under overhanging trees on the shore, in which signal-flags were hoisted, and the angles measured below Avith sex tants. It was very satisfactory, however, that the last measure- ment determined (leading to the flag-staff on St. Philip) agreed almost identically with the location given by the coast-survey several years ago. It seemed to be a regular occupation of the garrison hi the fort, to destroy, during the night-time, the marks BEDTTCTION OF THE FOETS. 227 and signals which were left daily by the party ; and for this reason, Mr. Gerdes caused numbered posts to be set in the river banks, and screened with grass and reeds so that they could not be found by the enemy in the dark. From these marks, which were sepa- rately determined, he was enabled to furnish to Captain Porter the distances and bearings from almost any point on the river to the forts, and by the resulting data the commander selected the positions for his mortar-vessels. * * * Twice Captain Porter ordered some of the vessels to change their positions when he found localities that would answer better ; the coast-survey party furnished the new data required. From the schooners, which were fastened to the trees on the river-side, none of the works of the enemy were visible, brrt the exact station of each vessel, and its distance and bearings from the forts, had been ascertained from the chart. The mortars were accordingly charged and pointed, and the fuses regulated. Thus the bombardment was conducted entirely upon theoretical principles, and as such, with its results, presents perhaps a new feature in naval warfare.”* The position of the enemy had been repeatedly reconnoitered. As early as March 23th, Captain Bell, in the gun-boat Kennebec, had run up near enough to inspect the cable, and to discover the out-lying batteries, and to draw a thundering fire from both forts. On the 6tli of April, Captain Farragut himself had a peep at them, Captain Bell showing the way. “ About noon,” says one who accompanied, “ we came in sight of the two forts, which could be seen through the glass to be thronged with rebel officers watching our movements. As we came within range, a white puff of smoke floated upward from Fort Jackson, and a hundred-pound rifled shell screeched through the air, striking the water and exploding only about a hundred yards in advance of us. Flag-Officer Farragut and Flag-Captain Bell had meanwhile gone aloft, where they sat in the cross-trees taking observations. There was another white puff of smoke, and another monster shot came screeching toward us. This passed perhaps fifty feet over the heads of the gentlemen aloft, and struck the water two-thirds across the river. ‘ Back her,’ from aloft, and we drift down the river two or three ships’ lengths, and only just in time, a third furious shell striking and bursting in the water just at the point we had a moment before * Continental Monthly, May, 1S63. 10 * 228 EEDUCTION OP THE FOETS. left. A low murmur of applause at this remarkably excellent gun- nery is drawn from our men as we steam slowly up again. Another shot falls short, another bursts prematurely (this one from a forty- two-pound smooth-bore), when ‘ whiz-z-z-z,’ with a fearful sound, a hundred pound shell passes low down, between our smoke-stack and mainmast, the wind of its swift passage actually rocking one of the ship’s boats hanging on the side.”* A third reconnoissance was more cheering, since it revealed the enemy employed in repairing the cable damaged by the rush of a sudden rise of the river. The sailors of the fleet held the cable in much contempt. The last day of preparation is usually the busiest. It was the 1 7th of April. The fleet had all reached the vicinity of the forts on the evening previous, and the dawn of the 17th found the ves- sels anchored in a tempting huddle four miles below Fort Jackson. The rebels began the fight. As the sun was rising, a flat-boat piled with wood saturated with tar and turpentine, was fired by them and cut adrift. A fresh wind was blowing up the river, and the descent of this magnificent bonfire was slow. Nevertheless, it came, at length, roaring and blazing by, causing -a sudden slipping of cables and a general anxiety to get out of the way. As it was supposed to contain something of the torpedo kind, the Mississippi fired a few shells into it, without effect. A boat from the Iroquois soon tackled the monster, and, fixing three grappling-irons in the leeward end, towed it ashore, where it burned itself harmlessly away. The work of preparation then proceeded. The dressing of the masts of the mortar-boats was completed, and they looked as if prepared for a festival instead of a bombardment. In the after- noon, some of the mortars were towed into position and fired a few experimental shells, fragments of which were exhibited the next day at New Orleans. Preparations were made by Captain Porter for the proper reception of fire-rafts, in case the enemy should again employ them. All the boats of the mortar-fleet were ordered to be provided with axes, ropes, and grappling-hooks ; and early in the evening, the boats were reviewed, furnishing a pretty spectacle to the rest of the fleet ; nay, a pair of spectacles. “ The boats pulled round the Harriet Lane, the flag-ship of Cap- tain Porter, in single line, each officer in charge being questioned * Correspondence of New York Herald , May, 1SC2. KEDTJCTIOK OP THE FORTS. 229 as he passed, by Commodore Porter, as follows: ‘Fire buckets? axes? rope?’ A responsive ‘Ay, ay, sir,’ and the commodore directed — ‘ Pull around the Mississippi and return to your vessels.’ The Mississippi being a quarter of a mile ahead, the men gave way sturdily, in order to beat the rival boats. There were not less than one hundred and fifty boats under review, many of them ten-oared, and the whole scene reminded me more of a grand regatta than of anything else. “ An hour after the review, the men had an opportunity to test, in a practical manner, then' means for destroying fire-rafts, and they proved to be an admirable success. A turgid column of black smoke, arising from resinous wood, was seen appi'oaching us from the vicinity of the forts. Signal lights were made, the varied colors of which produced a beautiful effect upon the foliage of the river bank, and rendered the darkness intenser by contrast when they disappeared ; instantly a hundred boats shot out toward the raft, which now was blazing fiercely and casting a wide zone of fight upon the water. Two or three of the gun-boats then got under way and steamed boldly toward the unknown thing of terror. One of them, the Westfield, Captain Renshaw, gallantly opens her steam-valves, and dashes furiously upon it, making sparks fly and timbers crash with the force of her blow. Then a stream of water from her hose plays upon the blazing mass. Row the small boats lay alongside, coming up helter-skelter, and actively employing then' men. We see everything distinctly in the broad glare — men, oars, boats, buckets and ropes. The scene looks phantom-like, su- pernatural ; intensely interesting, inextricably confused. But final- ly the object is nobly accomplished. The raft, yet fiercely burning, is taken out of range of the anchored vessels and towed ashore, where it is slowly consumed. As the boats return they are cheered by the fleet, and the scene changes to one of darkness and repose, broken occasionally by the gruff’ hail of a seaman when a boat, sent on business from one vessel to another, passes through the fleet.”* The next morning the bombardment began. At daylight, each of the small steamers attached to the mortar-fleet took four of the schooners in tow, and drew them slowly up the river, the bright green foliage waving above their masts. Fourteen of them were Correspondence of the N$w York Daily Times , May 8, 1S62. 230 REDUCTION OP THE FORTS. ranged in line, close together, along the -western shore, behind the forest ; the one in advance being a mile and three-quarters below Fort Jackson. Six were stationed near the eastern bank, in full view of both forts, two miles and three-quarters from St. Philip. The orders were to concentrate the fire upon Fort Jackson, the nearest to both divisions ; since if that were reduced, St. Philip must necessarily yield. At nine, before all the mortar-vessels were in position, Fort Jackson began the conflict, the balls plunging into . the water a hundred yards too short. The gun-boat O wasco, wliicn had steamed up ahead of the schooners, was the first to reply. In a few minutes, however, the deep thunder of the first bomb struck into the overture, and a huge black ball, two hundred and fifteen pounds of iron and gunpowder, whirled aloft, a mile into the air, with the “ roar of ten thousand humming-tops,” and curved with majestic slowness down into the swamp near the fort, exploding with a dull, heavy sound. The mortar men were in no haste. For the first half hour, they fired very slowly, while Captain Porter was observing the effect of the fire and giving new directions re- specting the elevations, the length of fuse, and the weight of the charge of powder. The calculations were made with such nicety that the changes in the weight of the charge were made by single ounces, when the whole charge was nearly twenty pounds. The enemy, too, fired slowly and badly during the first half-hour. By ten o’clock, however, both sides had ceased to experiment, and had begun to work. The scene at this time was in the highest degree exciting and picturesque. The rigging of the Union fleet, just below the mortar- vessels, was filled with spectators, from rail to mast-head, who watched with breathless eagerness the rise and descent of every shell, and burst into the heartiest cheers when a good shot was made. Four or five of the gun-boats were moving about in the middle of the river, between the two divisions of mortars, keep- ing up a vigorous fire upon the nearer batteries. Both forts were firing steadily and well, their shots splashing water over the mor- tar-vessels on the eastern side, and throwing up the soft soil of the bank high over the masts of those on the western. It is won- derful how many splendid shots may be made at a distant object without one hitting it. The balls fell all around the mortar-boats all day, and only two of them were struck, and they not seriously I si PHILIP F 0 1} I S on the Lower MISSISSIPPI urrrf I he [joxilio i f of' thp GUN &, MORTAR BOATS FORT JAC K SO N B AT T E R Y Spare clearer! by hi nrtler h> (/el n nabhru ctrcL raaqe upon ages of foolscap, abounding in passages highly pictorial, and the rhole executed with an evident desire to tell the truth. Would hat these brave and laborious public servants were more justly ewarded. The fourth day of the bombardment passed without incident. Nearly four thousand shells had been fired, and still the forts eplied with no perceptible diminution of vigor. It was a costly msiness, this bombardment ; each shell costing the government not ar from fifty dollars. In the evening the enemy appeared to be naking some attempts to repair the cable, but the fire of the gun- »oats in advance kept them from effecting their purpose. Another re-raft at night paled its ineffectual fire under the dexterous hand- ing of the mortar-men. The fifth day dawned— April 22d. Captain Farragut had in- ended that this should be the last of the bombardment; but it hanced that two of the gun-boats had been so much injured as to equire the assistance of all the carpenters in the fleet. He deter- ained, therefore, to wait another day. The morning of the wenty-fourth, between midnight and daylight, if wind and weather rere not too perverse, Avas the designated time. The conduct of he enemy showed, what their officers afterward asserted, that they 'ere aware of this determination before sunrise on the morning of ie 23d. The sixth day, the forts were silent. Not one gun was fired by aem from morning till night. The bombardment was languidly on tinned. Green-horns said Fort Jackson had been evacuated, fibers thought the enemy were drawing a new cable across the iver above St. Philip. Men at the mast-head of the flag-ship eported twelve steamers above the forts, with steam up, moving bout briskly. Occasionally one of these came down to the old able, as if to reconnoiter, drew the fire of a gun-boat, and away up ie river again. No inference could b6 drawn from the absence f a flag from Fort Jackson, for it had hoisted no flag after the first ;ay. Evidently the rebels were there — were active; but what lev were doing could only be guessed. TTe now knew that they were collecting their strength for the nal struggle, in perfect confidence of victory. The general com- landing in Neiv Orleans wrote that day to General Duncan : “Say i your officers and men that their heroic fortitude in enduring one 238 REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. of the most terrific bombardments ever known, and the courag which they have evinced will surely enable them to crush tli 1 j enemy whenever he dares come from under cover. Their gallar 1 conduct attracts the admiration of all, and will be recorded in hi: tory as splendid examples for patriots and soldiers. Anxious bi ■ confident families and friends are watching them with firm reliance based on their gallant exhibition thus far made of indomitable cou: 1 age and great military skill. The enemy will try your powers o endurance, but we believe with no better success than already e: perienced.” Duncan reported : “ Heavy and continued bombardment a night, and still progressing. Ko further casualties, except two me slightly wounded. God is certainly protecting us. We are sti cheerful, and have an abiding faith in our ultimate success. W are making repairs as best we can. Our barbette guns are still i working order. Most of them have been disabled at times. Th health of the troops continues good. Twenty-five thousand thii teen-inch shells have been fired by the enemy, one thousand o which fell in the fort. They must soon exhaust themselves ; if noi we can stand as long as they can.” Not twenty-five thousand shells : five thousand. Not a thousand inside the fort : only three hundred. The recreant must have pin posely exaggerated. He could not but have known better. Tb whole number of shells thrown was five thousand five hundred am thirty-two ; and when Duncan wrote, the grand, final, volcani eruption of shells had not taken place. At sunset, on the evening of the 23d, Captain Farragut ha< completed his arrangements for running by. The fleet was in fiv divisions. The mortar-boats were to retain the position they hacj held during the bombardment, and cover the attack with the mos rapid Are of which they were capable. The six small steameij attached to the mortar-fleet — the Harriet Lane, Westfield, Owasca Clifton, Miami and Jackson, the last named towing the Ports! mouth — were to engage the watei'-battery below Fort Jackson, bit not attempt to pass the forts. Captain Farragut, with the thre largest ships, the Hartford, Richmond and Brooklyn, were to ao vance upon Fort Jackson. Captain Bailey, second in command Avith the Cayuga, Pensacola, Mississippi, Oneida, Varuna, Katahdir Kineo, and Wissahickon, were to proceed along the eastern ban! KEDUOTIOJt OF THE FORTS. 239 ; d close with Fort St. Philip. Captain Bell, commanding the thd. division, which consisted of the Scioto, Iroquois, Pinola, v inona, Itasca, and Kennebec, was to advance in the middle of the rer, and push on to the attack of the enemy’s fleet above the forts. si night drew on, these divisions lay in their proper order, ready f; the signal. The norther had died away. The night was still, and a very lht southerly breeze spread a haze over the river. The occasional ( .charge of the bombs, like minute-guns over the dead, seemed 1 1 to deepen the hush and awfulness of the hour. The men went (rty to their hammocks, and the officers conversed in the low tone c men on the eve of battle. Lieutenant W eitzel continued to im- ;rtto them the benefit of his local and professional knowledge. b advised them to run in as close as possible to the forts. The tidency of all men in battle, he said, was to fire too high, and the jnners of the forts had been for a week firing as high as the guns cold be elevated. Besides, they would naturally expect the ships t keep at a distance, and would aim for the middle of the river, he ships, too, would certainly fire over those low forts, unless the cicers took particular precautions to keep the guns depressed. ( neral Butler, Lieutenant Weitzel, and the rest of the staff, went c board the Saxon, leaving the naval officers to their repose, he general ordered steam to be kept up upon the little steamer, tit he might be in instant readiness to join the army at the head cthe passes, if the fleet should pass the forts. Men sleep the night before their execution, but not the night be- f e their trial. There was not much sleeping achieved in the fleet, tmgh the stillness of death pervaded the ships. “ For myself,” s d a reporter, “ I could not think of sleep, because of my anxiety f ■ the success of the momentous undertaking which was soon to eminence. I passed the slow hours in gazing at the dark outlines c the vessels. A death-like stillness hung over every ship, unre- 1 red by the faintest glimmer of lamp-light. There were no warm c ors in the picture, and its cold, dreary aspect, was suggestive of £ y but pleasant thoughts.”* At eleven, a signal from the Itasca announced that all was clear a the cable. Kote, however, that the hulks, all but the one re- lived by the Itasca, were still in the river. The opening was * Times. 240 REDUCTION OE THE FORTS. wide, but, in the darkness of the night, the hulks might prov troublesome, especially as the smoke of the ascending ships’ gun would roll over them. It was just the night for smoke to settl down, and, mingling with the fog, hang in an impenetrable mas over the river ; for the breeze was of the lightest, and the atmof phere was heavy. In every respect, the night was favorable for a: enterprise which darkness alone could render possible. The moo would peep over the horizon at three ; but, by the time she ha< risen above the forest, it was hoped that her light would be we come. At one, all hands were called. Hammocks were stowed. Th last preparations were made. The low hiss of steam was heard a the boilers. At two o’clock, the signal to weigh anchor ascendeil to the peak of the flag-ship. “ I had the honor,” says the Heml correspondent, “to hoist the signal with my own hands.” He di< himself the honor also to run by with the ship — he and the artis of Harper's Weekly — gallant fellows both. Captain Farragut’s division, close in to the western bank, wa ready to move at half-past two ; but Captain Bailey, on the easten shore, with a more numerous division, was a little slower, and ha> some distance to go before getting abreast of Captain Farragui At half-past three, the moon slanting a beam upon the swift rivei the night still hazy, the ships began their simultaneous and si lent advance. During the first few minutes, the very mortar held their breath. In the distance, away up near the forts, fire could be seen, perhaps to light the ships to their destructior The fleet advanced against the stream not faster than four mile an hour. The distance from the starting-place to a point abov the forts beyond the reach of their guns, was about five miles — tw miles to the forts, one mile under their guns, two miles to perfec safety. The mortars spoke. Everything had been prepared for the raj idest fire possible ; and the men surpassed all their previous exej tions. Never less than five of those tremendous shells were in til air at the same moment ; often seven or eight ; sometimes, as man as eleven. The thunder, the roar, the crash, the smoke, the glov ing bombs circling over the woods on the western bank — this wa the mighty prelude to the opening scene. The fleet advanced in the appointed three lines, one ship clos REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 241 behind the other. Captain Bailey, on the eastern side, caught the first fire. His Cayuga had just passed through the opening in the 3able, when both forts discovered him, and opened upon him with avery available gun. The balls flew around the ship ; but the firing svas much too high, and he was seldom hulled. As yet, the Cayuga ,vas silent, and the rebel gunners, as they afterward said, could see nothing whatever ; they averred that they aimed no gun that norning at an object, except when the flash of Union guns gave hem a momentary delusive target. Captain Bailey’s division teamed on three-quarters of a mile under this fire, without firing i shot' in reply, guided on the way by the flashes of St. Philip, dunning in, at length, close under the fort, he gave them broad- ides of grape and canister as he passed. The Pensacola, the Mis- issippi, the Varttna and the rest of the division followed close be- lind, each delivering broadsides of small shot, and keeping steadily m in the wake of the Cayuga. All of the division passed the forts vith little material damage, except the sailing Portsmouth, which •ould only get up near enough to fire one broadside, and then, los- ng her tow, became unmanageable and drifted away down the ;iver. The middle division, under Captain Bell, was less fortunate, be- sause it was the middle division. Half of Captain Bell’s ships, the icioto, the Iroquois, and the Pinola, went handsomely by, under he most tremendous fire ; but the gallant Itasca, when directly ipposite St. Philip, received a cataract of shot, one of which pierced ier boiler, and she dropped helpless down the river. The Winona ecoiled from the same annihilating fire, and retired. The Kenne- >ec was caught in the cable, and when disentangled, lost her way n the stygian blackness of the smoke, and returned to her anchor- age unharmed. Captain Farragut, meanwhile, was having, to use his own lan- guage, “ a rough time of it.” The Hartford advanced to within a oile and a quarter of Fort Jackson before receiving the attentions >f the foe — Captain Farragut, in the fore-rigging, peering into the fight with his glass — all silent below and aloft. Then the fort ipened upon the ship a fire that was better aimed than that which ,iad saluted Captain Bailey. The ship was repeatedly struck, laptain Farragut, anticipating the situation, had taken the precau- ion to mount two guns upon the forecastle, with which he now 242 REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. replied to the fire of the enemy, still steaming directly for the fort. At the distance of half a mile, says the captain, “ we sheered off and gave them such a fire as they never dreamed of in their philos- ophy.” Broadsides of grape and canister drove every man in the fort under cover ; but the casemate guns were in full play, and the Hartford was well peppered. The Richmond quickly followed, and deluged the fort with grape and canister. The Brooklyn, the last ship of this division, had the ill luck to be caught by one of the cable hulks, and so lagged behind. How nobly she redeemed her- self, let Captain Craven relate : “ I extricated my ship from the rafts, her head was turned up stream, and a few minutes thereafter she was fully butted by the celebrated ram Manassas. She came butting into our starboard gangway, first firing from her trap-door when within about ten feet of the ship, directly toward our smoke-stack— her shot entering about five feet above the water-line, and lodging in the sand-bags which protected our steam-drum. I had discovered this queer- looking gentleman while forcing my way over the barricade lying close in to the bank, and when he made his appearance the second time, I was so close to him that he had not an opportunity to get up his full speed, and his efforts to damage me were completely frustrated, our chain-armor proving a perfect protection to our sides. He soon slid off and disappeared in the darkness. “ A few minutes thereafter, being all this while under a raking fire from Fort Jackson, I was attacked by a large rebel steamer. Our port broadside, at the short distance of only fifty or sixty yards, completely finished him, setting him on fire almost instantaneously. “ Still groping my way in the dark, or under the black cloud of smoke from the fire-raft, I suddenly found myself abreast of St. Philip, and so close that the leadsman in the starboard chains gave the soundings ‘ thirteen feet, sir.’ As we could bring all our guns to bear for a few brief moments, we poured in grape and canister, and I had the satisfaction of completely silencing that' work before I left it, my men in the tops witnessing, in the flashes of their bursting shrapnel, the enemy running like sheep for more comfortable quarters.” Quartermaster James Beck, he adds, stood by the wheel seven hours after receiving a severe contusion, and would not leave his post till positively ordered. REDUCTION OP THE POETS. 243 Most of the ships had run by, and Captain Farragut, having escaped Fort Jackson, was advancing toward the other fort, when a new enemy appeared — the fleet of rebel gun-boats, lying in order of battle just above St. Philip. Captain Bailey, still leading the advance in the Cayuga, was in the very midst of them before he was aware of their presence ; in the midst of them, and so far as he could see, he was alone. It was a moment of anxiety. The rebel steamers ran at him, full tilt ; but by skillful steering he con- trived to avoid their blows, and pouring eleven-inch solid shot into them, reduced three to surrender before the other ships of his division came up. “ The Varuna and Oneida came dashing in,” says Captain Bailey, “ and soou made a finish of them but not until the Varuna had gone down in glory to the bottom of the river, firing as she sank. “After passing the batteries with the Varuna,” says Captain Boggs, “ finding my vessel amid a nest of rebel steamers, I started ihead, delivering her fire, both starboard and port, at every one ;hat she passed. The first vessel on her starboard beam that re- ceived her fire appeared to be crowded with troops. Her boiler vas exploded, and she drifted to the shore. In like manner three )ther vessels, one of them a gun-boat, were driven ashore in flames, md afterward blew up. * * * The Varuna was attacked by he Morgan, iron-clad about the bow, commanded by Beverly Sennon, an ex-naval officer. This vessel raked us along the port gangway, killing four and wounding nine of the crew, butting the faruna on the quarter and again on the starboard side. I man- !ged to get three eight-inch shells into her abaft her armor, as also ;everal shot from the after rifled gun, when she dropped out of iction partially disabled. “ While still engaged with her, another rebel steamer, iron-clad, vith a prow under water, struck us in the port gangway, doing ■onsiderable damage. Our shot glanced from her bow. She >acked off for another blow, and struck again in the same place, •rushing in the side; but, by going ahead fast, the concussion irew her bow around, and I was able with the port guns to give ier, while close alongside, five eight-inch shells abaft her armor. Chis settled her, and drove her ashore in flames. “ Finding the Varuna sinking, I ran her into the bank, let go he anchor, and tied up to the trees. 11 244 REDUCTION OP THE POETS. “ During all this time our guns were actively at work crippling the Morgan, which was making feeble efforts to get up steam. The fire was kept up until the water Avas over the gun-truck, when I turned my attention to getting the wounded and crew out of the vessel. The Oneida, Captain Lee, seeing the condition of the Varuna, had rushed to her assistance, but I waved her on, and the Morgan surrendered to her, the vessel being in flames. I havo since learned that over fifty of her crew Avere killed and wounded, and she was set on fire by her commander, who burnt his wounded with his vessel.” Thus, six of the enemy’s fleet fell under the Varuna’s fire before she sank, Avith colors flying, to the river’s bed. While Captain Farragut Avas still battling Avith the forts, pour- ing broadsides into St. Philip, and receiving the fire of both, a huge fire-raft suddenly blazed up before him, revealing the ram Manassas pushing the raft upon the Hartford. In attempting to steer clear of the raft, the Hartford ran upon the bank, when the raft came crashing alongside. “In a moment,” says Captain Farragut, “the ship was one blaze all along the port side, half-way up to the main and mizzen tops. But, thanks to the good organization of the fire department by Lieutenant Thornton, the flames were extinguished and at the same time we backed ofl' and got clear of the raft. But all this time we were pouring the shells into the forts, and they into us, and every noAV and then a rebel steamer would get under our fire and receive our salutation of a broadside. At length the, fire slackened, the smoke cleared off, and Ave suav to our surprise that we Avere above the forts, and here and there a rebel gun-boat: on fire. As Ave came up Avith them, trying to make their escape, they Avere fired into and riddled, so that they ran them on shore; and all avIio could made their escape to the shore. The Missis- sippi and the Manassas made a set at each other at full speed, and when they were within forty yards, the ram dodged the Mississippi and ran on shore, Avhen the latter poured her broadside into her, knocked away her smoke-stack, and then sent men on board of her ; but she was deserted and riddled, and after a while she drifted down the stream full of water. She was the last of the eleven we destroyed.” In the hurly-burly, Captain Farragut Avas struck by tho wind of a passing shot, as he sat in the fore-rigging. Our friend of the BEDTJCTION OP THE POETS. 245 Herald mentions that a shot, at the same time, knocked his cabin to pieces, shattered his effects, and nearly carried off the toilfully prepared manuscript of the bombardment. The scene when the fire caught the flag-ship, which was the crowning moment of the battle, is wholly beyond the imagination to conceive ; much more beyond the power of words to describe. I shall not attempt the impossible. The mere noise was an expe- rience unique to the oldest officers : — Twenty mortars, a hundred and forty-two guns in the fleet, a hundred and twenty on the forts ; the crash of splinters, the explosions of boilers and magazines ; the shouts, the cries, the shrieks of scalded and drowning men. Add to this the belching flashes of the guns, the blazing raft, the burning steamboats, the river full of fire. The confined space in which the action was fought is to be also considered ; and, con- fined as it was, each ship was fighting its own battle, ignorant of nearly all that passed beyond its own guns. “ The river,” says Captain Farragut, “ was too narrow for more than two or three vessels to act to advantage, but all were so anxious, that my great- est fear was that we would fire into each other, and Captain Wain- wright and myself were hollowing ourselves hoarse at the men not to fire into our ships.” The time, too, was wonderfully short. The forts were passed, and the enemy’s fleet destroyed in an hour and a half after the shipsliad left their anchorage. The Cayuga had been struck forty-two times in the melee, to the great damage of masts and rigging. But Captain Bailey, keeping on up the river, descried, in the gray light of the dawn, a camp upon the shore at the quarantine station, five miles above the forts, the rebel soldiers in full flight. The flight was promptly arrested, and the officers surrendered the position. The fleet came up, ship after ship, each received with cheers, each responding with cheers, as she dropped her anchor in line along the shore. The dead, thirty in number, were buried. The wounded, of whom there were a hun- dred and nineteen, were duly cared for. Repairs were made, and the rigging was spliced; for Captain Farragut was going on in quest of other batteries that still blocked the way. Captain Boggs, hailed by his generous comrades the hero of the morning, being without a ship, undertook to convey a dispatch round to General Butler in an open boat through a tortuous bayou. Two gun-boats were detailed to remain at the quarantine station and co-operate 246 REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. noth the troops in the contemplated landing behind Fort St. Philip. At eleven in the morning, Captain Farragut gave the signal, and the fleet stood up the river — so slight was the damage received in the action. Except the Itasca and the Yaruna, no vessel had re- ceived sufficient injury to seriously impair her effective force — an escape that was wholly due to the darkness of the night. In day- light no wooden ship could have passed those forts ; nor could iron- clads, if the forts had mounted such guns as the rebels now have at Charleston. Of those who witnessed the scenes of this memorable morning, none looked on with an interest so absorbing and profound as Gen- eral Butler and a group of his staff officers — Major Strong, Major Bell, Lieutenant Weitzel, and Lieutenant Kinsman. They were on board the Saxon, which followed closely in the rear of Captain Bailey’s division, until the shells from the forts, splashing in the water before and behind the little vessel, warned the general that he had gone far enough. “We forgot,” says Major Bell, “that Porter’s twenty mortar-boats were vomiting from beside us a hor- rid discharge of shell ; we forgot that we were within the range of the enemy’s and our own guns, and that the shells of both were falling about us — such was the fascination which lured us on behind the advancing ships.” The Saxon had eight hundred barrels of powder on board — a fact of which her captain was painfully con- scious. Ide was a happy man when the general gave the word to drop a little astern. From a point just below the reach of the guns, the party on the forecastle of the Saxon saw the fleet vanish into the bend, and heard the tremendous uproar of the fire. “ Combine,” says Major Bell, “ all you have ever heard of thunder, and add to it all you have ever seen of lightning, and you have, perhaps, a concep- tion of the scene.” They could not tell what was happening, nor who was winning. Still more puzzled were they when the fleet seemed to have passed the forts, and the cannonade, which had slackened, broke out again with more fury than before. Then the forts were illumined with fire. Is it a burning ship ? “ No,” said Lieutenant Weitzel, “it is too low for that.” Portions of the burn- ing raft, steamboats burning and hissing came by, the river at times covered with fire. The vessels that failed to get past drifted down, but could give little information of what had been achieved. The cannonade subsided at length, and the fiery masses disap REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 247 peared from the river. It was the time of sunrise, hut a pal] of smoke hm g over land and water. It was darker than midnight. A breeze sprang up, and rolled the smoke from the river. Start- ling change ! Iii three minutes the sun of a bright April morning shone upon the scene. There lay the forts, with the flag of seces- sion waving from both flag-staffs, hoisted to denote that they were still unsubdued. But, away up the river, beyond the forts, could be seen the top-masts of the fleet, dressed in the stars and stripes ! Captain Porter’s fleet of steamers were coming rapidly down the river, propelled by a report that the “ celebrated ram Manassas” was after them. “ And sure enough,” says Captain Porter, “ there she was, apparently steaming along shore, ready to pounce upon the apparently defenseless mortar-vessels. Two of our steamers and some of the mortar-vessels opened fire on her, but I soon dis- covered that the Manassas could harm no one again, and I ordered the vessels to save their shot. She was beginning to emit some smoke from her ports or holes, and was discovered to be on fire and sinking. Her pipes were all twisted and riddled with shot, and her hull was also well cut up. She had evidently been used up by the squadron as they passed along. I tried to save her, as a curiosity, by getting a hawser around her and securing her to the bank ; but just after doing so she faintly exploded, her only gun went off, and emitting flames through her bow port, like some huge animal, she gave a plunge and disappeared under the water. 1ST ext came a steamer on fire, which appeared to be a vessel of war be- longing to the rebels ; and after her two others, all burning and floating down the stream.” This looked like victory. But was it a victory ? The rebel flags waved defiance still ; and it soon appeared that three of the ene- my’s gun-boats had escaped destruction, one of which was the pon- derous armed dry-dock, named the Louisiana. True, she was a phantom — a useless, lumbering, unmanageable hulk. But this was not suspected. She was supposed to be a steam battery of sixteen Merrimac power, capable of crushing a poor little row of mortar boats with one graze of her iron-clad sides. About seven in the morning. Captain Porter sent a gun-boat to- ward the forts, with a flag of truce, to demand their surrender. Five cannon-balls from one of them (the color of the flag not hav- ing been discerned), gave an intimation of the answer that might be 248 REDUCTION OP THE FORTS. expected. The gun-boat retired, followed soon by a rebel officer with apologies, who also brought a reply to the summons : No surrender, the forts will never surrender. The rebel gun-boats hovered about above the cable, drawing renewal of fire from the mortar-vessels. But the 'Louisiana ! Word was brought by a gun-boat, which had given the rebel messenger a friendly tow up the stream, that Fort Jackson was transferring heavy guns to the monster, which, it was thought, would soon be down among the residue of the fleet. Captain Porter ordered the mortar-vessels to weigh anchor and hasten down the stream. Towed by the steam- ers belonging to them, they abandoned the vicinity of the forts, leaving the enemy to repose, and proceeded to the head of the passes. Two killed, six wounded, one vessel sunk, four or five slightly injured, were the losses the mortar-fleet had sustained dur- ing the bombardment. General Butler, perceiving now that the time had come for the army to play its part, borrowed a light-draft steamer from Captain Porter, and hastened down the river to join his troops. During the next three days the forts were not molested and fired not a gun. Dismounted guns were replaced, some repairs were made, and the garrisons rested from their labors ; their numbers little diminished by the week’s fire, the forts as strong in defensive power as when the bombardment began. Captain Porter in his first report remarked : “ These forts can hold out still for some time, and I would suggest that the Monitor and Mystic, if they can be spared, be sent here without a moment’s delay, to settle the question.” There was still a chance then, for General Butler and his impatient troops, who had been lying a week at the passes, hearing, when the wind blew down the river, the distant thunder of the bombardment. Up anchor, all the transport steamers ! The sailing vessels in tow to remain in the river under General Phelps. General "Wil- liams to command the troops on board the steamers. Sable Island, twelve miles in the rear of St. Philip, was the ren- dezvous. Twenty-four hours were lost by the grounding of the bor- rowed Miami, an ex-ferry-boat, drawing seven feet and a half. Cap- tain Boggs reached the general with a dispatch from Captain Far- ragut, having been twenty-six hours in an open boat. “We hod a hot time of it,” wrote the flag-officer : “ but after being on fire and REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 249 rim at by tbe ram, and attacked by forts and rebel steamers, we succeeded in getting through, taking all their gun-boats and the ram to boot.” He added that he should “ push on” to New Orleans, leaving the forts to the tender mercies of the general.* On the 26th of April, the Twenty-sixth Massachusetts under Col- onel Jones, the same Colonel Jones that led the Sixth Massachu- setts through Baltimore on the 19th of April, 1861, was crowded on board the Miami, with companies .of the Fourth Wisconsin and Twenty-first .Indiana. Ca utiously the little steamer felt her way in those shallows ; but when the fort was still six miles distant, she grounded again. The thirty boats were manned and filled with troops. Guided by Lieutenant Weitzel, and by Captain Everett of the Sixth Massachusetts battery, who had been out reconnoiter- ing there during the bombardment, the boats pulled for the swampy shore. The bayous empty into the gulf at that point with such a rush of cross-currents, that, at times, it was all the boats could do to hold their own. Four miles and a half of fierce rowing brought them into Manuel’s canal, which, running like a mill-race, forbade farther progress by rowing. Soldiers sprang into the water — a line of soldiers clutching the side of each boat ; and floundering thus breast-deep in water and mire, and phantom sharks, drew the boats by main force a mile and a half, to a landing place five miles above St. Philip. By this laborious process two hundred of the troops were landed from the Miami in the course of the day, meeting no * Captain Boggs broutflit a characteristic note to Captain Porter also : “Deap. Portee: We had a rough time of it, as Boggs will tell you, but, tlinnk God, the number of killed and wounded was very small, considering. This ship had two killed and eight wounded. We destroyed the ram in a single combat between her and the old Mississippi, but the ram back- ed out when she siw the Mississippi coming at him so rampantly, and he dodged her, and ran on shore, whereupon Smith put two or three broadsides through him, and knocked him all to pieoos. The ram pushed a fire-raft on to me, and in trying to avoid it, I ran the ship on shore. He again pushed the fire-raft on me, and got the ship on fire all along one side. I thought it wan all up with us, but we put it out, and got off again, proceeding up the river, fighting our way. We have destroyed all but two of the gun-boats, and these will have to surrender with the forts. I intend to follow up my success and push for New Orleans, and then come down and attend to the forts, so you hold them in statu quo until I come back. I think if you send a flag of truoe, and demand their surrender they will yield, for their Intercourse with the city is cut off. We have cut the wires above the quarantine, and are now going ahead. 1 took three hundred or four hundred prisoners at quarantine. They surrendered, and I paroled them not to take up .arms again. I could not stop to take care of them. If the general will come up to the bayou and land a few men, or as many as he pleases, he will find two of our gun-boats there to protect him from gun-boats that are at the forts. I wish to get to the English Turn, where they say they have not placed a battery yet, bat have two above, nearer New Orleans. They will not be idle, and neither will I. You supported us most nobly. Very truly yours, D. G. Fajreagut.’ 250 REDUCTIOlSr OP THE PORTS. opposition. Lieutenant Weitzel stationed part of them on the ■west- ern hank, part on the eastern. Captain Porter had, meanwhile, placed some of his mortar-schooners in the hay behind Fort Jack- son ; and thus, on the morning of the 27th, the forts were invested on every side — up the river, down the river, and in the rear. That night came the thrilling news that Captain Farragut’s fleet was at an anchor before New Orleans. General Butler, perceiving the absolute necessity of light-draft steamers for landing his heavy guns and ammunition, desiring also to confer with Captain Farra- gut, left General Williams to continue the landing of the troops — a work of days — and went up to the city, accompanied by Captain Boggs. The same night, a picket of Union men on the western bank had a peculiar and joyful experience. A body of rebel troops, two hun- dred and fifty in number, came out of Fort Jackson, and gave them- selves up. They said they had fought as long as fighting was of I any use; but, seeing the forts surrounded, they had resolved not to be sacrificed upon a point of honor, and therefore had muti- nied, spiked the up-river guns, and broken away. The forts were still defensible, however, and could have given the troops a tough piece of work. But, the next morning, the officers deemed it best I to surrender. Captain Porter, who chanced to be present in the river, and had the means of reaching the forts by water, negotiated ! the surrender, granting conditions more favorable than were neces- sary. The officers were allowed to retain their side-arms and pri- vate property, and both officers and men were released on parole. While the negotiations were proceeding in the cabin of the Harriet Lane, the huge Louisiana was set on fire by her officers, and set adrift down the river. She blew up only just in time not to de- stroy the Union fleet, toward which she was drifting. The explo- sion was regarded by the army as a commentatory note of exclama- tion upon the favorable terms conceded to the garrison. Captain Porter justly placed in close confinement the officers who had done the dastardly act. The joy, the curiosity with which the troops entered the forts and scanned the result of the long fire upon them, may be ima- gined. St. Philip, beyond one or two slight abrasures, was abso- lutely uninjured. Respecting the damage done to Fort Jackson, different opinions have been published. It is important for our REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 251 instruction in the art of war that the truth upon this point should be knowp and established. The testimony of Lieutenant Weitzel will settle the question in the mind of every officer of the regular army. In a report to General Butler, dated May 5th, 1862, Lieu- tenant Weitzel says : “ The navy passed the works, but did not reduce them. Fort St. Philip stands, with one or two slight exceptions, to-day without a scratch. Fort Jackson was subjected to a torrent of thirteen-inch and eleven-inch shells during a hundred and forty-four hours. To an inexperienced eye it seems as if this work were badly cut up. It is as strong tor two of them, watching their chance, would wave a hand or hat, md straight to hoe again. ‘Hone of those batteries with which the river was said to be ‘lined,” were discovered. At three o’clock the ships were off Point a Hache, which had been reported to be impassably fortified. Ho runs were there. On the contrary, on a plantation near by thirty flows were going, and two hundred negroes came to the shore in he highest glee, to greet the ships. “Hurrah for Abraham,” cried me. At eight o’clock in the evening, at a point eighteen miles be- ow the city, the fleet came to anchor for the night. The city was lot more than half that distance in a straight line, and consequently, he prodigious volumes of smoke from the burning cotton were 12 268 NEW ORLEANS WILL NOT SURRENDER. plainly seen, exciting endless speculation in the minds of officers and crew. Perhaps another Moscow. Who knows? Nothing is too mad for secesh ; secession itself being madness. At midnight, an alarm ! Three large fires ahead, concluded to he fire-rafts. Up anchor, all! The vessels cruised cautiously about in the river for an hour or two ; Captain Farragut not caring to venture higher in an unexplored river, said to he lined with bat- teries. The fires proved to he stationary ; and when the fleet pass- ed them the next morning, they were discovered to be three large cotton ships burning — their blockade-running ended thus for ever. At Chahnette, Jackson’s old battle-ground, now but three miles below the city, the river really was “ lined” with batteries ; i. e., there was a battery on each side of the river, each mounting eight or ten old guns. The signal to engage them was made the moment they came in sight. The leading ships were twenty minutes under fire before they could return it ; but then a few broadsides of shell and grape drove the unsheltered foe from the works, with the loss of one man in the fleet knocked overboard by the wind of a ball, and our Herald friend hit with a splinter, but not harmed. “ It was what I call,” says Captain Farragut, “ one of the little ele- gancies of the profession— a dash and a victory.” Round the bend at noon, into fall view of the vast sweep of the Crescent City. What a scene ! Fires along the shore farther than the eye could reach ; the river full of burning vessels ; the levee lined with madmen, whose yells and defiant gestures showed plainly enough what kind of welcome awaited the new-comers. A faint cheer for the Union, it is said, rose from one part of the levee, answered by a volley of pistol-shots from the by-standers. As the fleet dropped anchor in the stream, a thunder-storm of tropical violence burst over the city, which dissolved large masses of the crowd, and probably reduced, in some degree, the frenzy of those who remained. The banks, the stores, all places of business were closed in the city. The mayor, by formal proclamation, had now invested the European Brigade, under General Juge, “ with the duty of watch- ing over the public tranquillity; patrols of whom should be treated with respect, and obeyed.” General Juge and his command saved the city from plunder and anarchy — probably from universal con- flagration. Night and day they patrolled the city ; and the gene NETS' ORLEANS WILL NOT SURRENDER. 269 ral, by personal entreaty and public proclamation, induced some of the butchers and grocers to open their shops. A fear of starvation was added to the other horrors of the time ; for the country people feared to approach the city, and the markets were alarm- ingly bare of provisions. And then the Confederate currency — ■ would that be of any value under the rule of the United States ? “ It is as good now as it ever has been,” said the mayor, in one of his half-dozen proclamations, “ and there is no reason to reject it;” but “ those who hold Confederate currency, and wish to part with it, may have it exchanged for city bills, by applying to the Com- mittee of Public Safety.” Another proclamation called upon those who had carried oft’ sugar from the levee to bring it back ; another promised a free market and abundant provisions on Monday; another desired the provision dealers to re-open their stores ; another urged the people to be calm, and trust the authorities with their welfare and their honor. At one o’clock, the fleet was anchored. The rain was falling in torrents, but the crowd near the Custom-House was still dense and fierce, the rain having melted away the softer elements. A boat put off from the flag-ship — man-of-war’s boat, trim and tidy, crew in fresh tarpaulins and clean shirts, no flag of truce flying. In the stern sat three officers, Captain Bailey, second in command of the fleet, Lieutenant Perkins, his companion in the errand upon which he was sent, and Acting-Master Morton in charge of the boat. Just after the boat put off, a huge thing of a ram Mississippi, pierced for twenty guns, a kind of monster Merrimac, or fortified Noah’s Ark, came floating down the river past the fleet, wrapped in flames. At another time the spectacle would have been duly honored by the fleet, but at that moment every eye was upon Captain Bailey’s boat, nearing the crowd on the levee. We all remember the greeting bestowed upon this officer. It was by no means that which a conquered city usually confers upon the conqueror. Deafening cheers for “ Jeff. Davis and the South ;” thundering groans for “ Lincoln and his fleet ;” sudden hustling and collaring of two or three men who dared cheer for the “old flag.” Captain Bailey and Lieutenant Perkins, however, stepped or shore, and announced their desire to see the mayor of the city. A few respectable persons in the crowd had the courage to offer to con- duct them to the City Hall, under whose escort the officers starred 270 NEW ORLEANS WILL NOT SURRENDER. on their perilous journey, followed and surrounded by a yelling, in- furiated multitude, regardless of the pouring rain. “No violence,” says a Delta reporter, “ was offered to the officers, though certain persons who were suspected of favoring their flag and cause were set upon with great fury, and roughly handled. On arriving at the City Hall, it required the intervention of several citizens to prevent violence being offered to the rash embassadors of an execrated dy- nasty and government.” Mayor Monroe is a gentleman of slight form and short stature ; he was not equal to the exceedingly perplexing situation in which he found himself. Sujiported, however, by the presence of several of the “ city fathers,” as he styled them, and aided by the talents of Mr. Soule, he performed his part in the curious interview with tolerable dignity. While the colloquy proceeded, the City Hall was surrounded by an ever growing crowd, whose cheers for Jeff. Davis and groans for “ Abe Lincoln” served as loud accompaniment to the mild discord within the building. Captain Bailey and his companion were duly presented to the mayor, and courteous salu- tations were exchanged between them. “ I have been sent,” said the captain, “ by Captain Farragut, commanding the United States fleet, to demand the surrender of the city, and the elevation of the flag of the United States over the Custom-House, the Mint, the Post-Office, and the City Hall.” “I am not,” replied the mayor, “the military commander of the city. I have no authority to surrender it, and would not do so if 1 had. There is a military commander now in the city. I will send for him to receive and reply to your demand.” A messenger was accordingly dispatched for General Lovell, who, though he had sent off his troops, remained in the town, a train waiting with steam up to convey him and his staff to camp. Polite conversation ensued between the officers and the gentle- men in the office of the mayor, tvith fitful yell accompaniment from the outside crowd. The officers praised with warm sincerity the stout defense made by the forts, and the headlong valor with which the rebel fleet had hurled itself against the Union ships. Captain Bailey regretted the wholesale destruction of property in the city, and said that Captain Farragut deplored it no less than himself. To this the mayor replied, not with the courtesy of his monitor, Mr. Soule, that the property being their own, the destruction of it NEW ORLEANS WILL NOT SURRENDER. 271 did not concern outsiders. Captain Bailey remarked that it looked to him like biting oft’ your nose to spite your face. The mayor in- timated that he took a different view of the subject. Cheers from the mob annoimced the arrival of General Lovell, who soon entered the office. The officers were presented to him. “I am General Lovell,” said he, “ of the army of the Confederate States, commanding this department.” Whereupon he shook hands with the Union officers. Captain Bailey repeated the demand with which he had been charged, add- ing that he was instructed by Captain Farragut to say, that he had come to protect private property and personal rights, and had no design to interfere with any private rights, and especially not with negro property. General Lovell replied that he would not surrender the city, nor allow it to be surrendered ; that he was overpowered on the water by a superior squadron, but that he intended to fight on land as long as he could muster a soldier ; he had marched all of his armed men out of the city ; had evacuated it ; and if they desired to shell the town, destroying women and children, they could do so. T t was to avoid this that he had marched his troops beyond the city limits, but a large number even of the women of the city had begged him to remain and defend the city even against shell- ing. He did not think he would be justified in doing so. He would therefore retire and leave the city authorities to pursue what course they should think proper. Captain Bailey said, that nothing was farther from Captain Far- ragut’s thoughts than to shell a defenseless town filled with women and children. On the contrary, he had no hostile intentions to- ward Hew Orleans, and regretted extremely the destruction of property that had already occurred. “ It was done by my authority sir,” interrupted General Lovell. He might have added that his own ••otton was the first to be fired. It was then concluded that the Union officers should return to the fleet, and the mayor would lay the matter before the common council, and report the result to Captain Farragut. Captain Bailey requested protection during their return to the levee, the crowd being evidently in no mood to allow their peaceful departure. The general detailed two of his officers to accompany them, and went himself to harangue the multitude. Hr. Soule also addressed the 272 NEW OELEANS WILL NOT STTBEENDEE. people, counseling moderation and dignity. The naval officers meanwhile were conducted to the rear of the building, where a car- riage was procured for them, and they were driven rapidly to their boat. The crew were infinitely relieved by their arrival, for during the long period of their absence, the crowd had assailed them with every epithet of abuse, to which the only possible reply was silence. The officers stepped on board, and were soon alongside of the flag- ship, the parting yell of the mob still ringing in their ears. At the same time General Lovell was making his way to the cars, and was seen in New Orleans no more. Captain Farragut was a little amused and very much puzzled at the singular position in which he found himself. There was nothing further to be done, however, until he heard from the mayor. All hands were tired out. New Orleans, too, was exhausted with the excitement of the last three days. So, both the fleet and the city enjoyed a night more tranquil than either had known for some time. “ The city was as peaceful and quiet as a country hamlet — much quieter than in ordinary times,” said the Picayune the next morning. April 26 th, Saturday, at half-past six, a boat from shore reached the flag-ship, containing the mayor’s secretary and chief of police, bearers of a message from the mayor. The mayor said the common council would meet at ten that morning, the result of whose deliber- ations should be promptly submitted to Captain Farragut. The captain, not relishing the delay, still less the events of yesterday, sent a letter to the mayor recapitulating those events, and again stating his determination to respect private rights. “ I, therefore, demand of you,” said the flag-officer, “ as its representative, the un qualified surrender of the city, and that the emblem of the sove- reignty of the United States be hoisted over the City Hall, Mint and Custom-House, by meridian this day, and all flags and other emblems of sovereignty other than that of the United States be removed from all the public buildings by that hour. I particularly request that you shall exercise your authority to quell disturbances, restore order, and call upon all the good people of New Orleans to return at once to their avocations ; and I particularly demand that no person shall be molested in person or property for sentiments of loy- alty to their government. I shall speedily and severely punish any person or persons who shall commit such outrages as were witnessed NEW ORLEANS WILL NOT SURRENDER. 273 yesterday, of armed men firing upon helpless women and children for giving expression to their pleasure at witnessing the ‘ old flag.’” This demand of Captain Farragut, that the enemy should them- selves hoist the Union flag, gave the mayor, aided by Mr. Soule, an opportunity to make an advantageous reply. The common council met in the course of the morning. Besides relating the interview with Captain Bailey, the mayor favored the council with his opinion upon the same. “ My own opinion is,” said he, “ that as a civil magistrate, possessed of no military power, I am incompetent to perform a military act, such as the surrender of the city to a hostile force ; that it would he proper to say, in re- ply to a demand of that character, that we are without military protection, that the troops have withdrawn from the city, that we are consequently incapable of making any resistance, and that, therefore, we can offer no obstruction to the occupation of the Mint, the Custom-House and the Post-Office; that these are the property of the Confederate government ; that we have no control over them ; and that all acts involving a transfer of property must be performed by the invading force — by the enemy themselves ; that we yield to physical force alone, and that we maintain our allegiance to the Confederate government. Beyond this, a due respect for our dig- nity, our rights, and the flag of our country, does not, I think, per- mit us to go.” Upon receiving this message, the common council unanimously adopted the following resolutions : “ Whereas, the common council of the city of Hew Orleans, hav- ing been advised by the military authorities that the city is inde- fensible, declare that no resistance will be made to the forces of the United States ; “ Resolved , That the sentiments expressed in the message of his honor the mayor to the common council, are in perfect accordance with the sentiments entertained by the entire population of this metropolis ; and that the mayor be respectfully requested to act in the spirit manifested by the message.” While waiting for the deliberations of the council, Captain Farra- gut went up the river, seven miles, to Carrollton, where batteries had been erected to defend the city from an attack from above. He found them deserted, the guns spiked, and the gun-carriages burning. 2H NEW ORLEANS WILL NOT SURRENDER. April 2 '7th, Sunday. — An eventful day; to one unhappy man, a fatal day. The early morning brought the mayor’s reply co Cap- tain Farragut: “I am no military man, and possess no authority beyond that of executing the municipal laws of the city of New Orleans. It would be presumptuous in me to attempt to lead an army to the field, if I had one at command ; and I know still less how to surrender an undefended place, held, as this is, at the mercy of your gunners and your mortars. To surrender such a place were an idle and unmeaning ceremony. The city is yours by the power of brutal force, not by my choice or the consent of its in- habitants. It is for you to determine what will be the fate that awaits us here. As to hoisting any flag not of our own adoption and allegiance, let me say to you that the man lives not in our midst whose hand and heart would not be paralyzed at the mere thought of such an act ; nor could I find in my entire constituency so desperate and wretched a renegade as would dare to profane with his hand the sacred emblem of our aspirations.” With moro of similar purport. The substance of the mayor’s meaning seemed to be : “ Come on shore and hoist what flags you please. Don’t ask us to do your flag-raising.” A rather good reply — in the sub- stance of it. Slightly impudent, perhaps ; but men who are talk- ing from behind a bulwark of fifty thousand women and children, can be impudent if they please. The commander of the fleet refused to confer farther with the mayor ; but, with regard to the flag-hoisting, determined to take him at his word. Captain Morris, of the Pensacola, the ship that layoff the Mint, was ordered to send a party ashore, and hoist the flag of the United States upon that edifice. At eight in the morn- ing, the stars and stripes floated over it once more. The officer commanding the party warned the by-standers that the guns of the Pensacola would certainly open fire upon the building if any one should be seen molesting the flag. Without leaving a guard to protect it, he returned to his ship, and the howitzers in the main- top of the Pensacola, loaded with grape, were aimed at the flag- staff, and the guard ordered to fire the moment any one should attempt to haul down the flag. I think it was an error to leave the flag unprotected. A company of marines could have kept the mob at bay ; would have prevented the shameful scenes that fol lowed. NEW ORLEANS ’WELL NOT SURRENDER. 275 At eleven o'clock, the crews of all the ships were assembled on deck for prayers : “ to render thanks,” as the order ran, “ to Almighty God for His great goodness and mercy in permitting us to pass through the events of the last two days with so little loss of life and blood.” As the clouds threatened rain, the gunner of the Pensacola, just before taking his place for the ceremony, removed from the guns the “ wafers” by which they are discharged. One look-out man was left in the main-top, who held the strings of the howitzers in his hand, and kept a sharp eye upon the flag-staff of the Mint. The solemn service proceeded for twenty minutes, with such emotions on the part of those brave men as may be ima- gined, not related. A discharge from the howitzers overhead, startled the crew from their devotions ! They rushed to quarters. Every eye sought the flag-stafl' of the Mint. Four men were seen on the roof of the build- ing, who tore down the flag, hurried away with it, and disappeared. TTithout orders, by an impulse of the moment, the cords of the guns all along the broadside were snatched at by eager hands. FTothing but the chance removal of the wafers saved the city from a fearful scene of destruction and slaughter. The exasperation of the fleet at this audacious act, was such that, at the moment, an order to shell the town would have seemed a natural and proper one. 3STew Orleans hailed it with vociferous acclamations. “ The names of the party,” said the Picayune of the next morning, “ that dis- tinguished themselves by gallantly tearing down the flag that had been surreptitiously hoisted, we learn, are W. B. Mumford, who cut it loose from the flag-staff amid the shower of grape, Lieuten- ant FT. Holmes, Sergeant Burns and James Reed. They deserve great credit for their patriotic act. Flew Orleans, in this hoirr of adversity, by the calm dignity she displays in the presence •fof the enemy, by the proof she gives of her unflinching detei’- mination to sustain to the uttermost the righteous cause for which she has done so much and made such great sacrifices, by her serene endurance undismayed of the evil which afflicts her, and her abiding confidence in the not distant coming of better and brighter days — of speedy deliverance from the ene- my’s toils — is showing a bright example to her sister cities, and proving herself, in all respects, worthy of the proud position 12 * 276 NEW ORLEANS WILL NOT SURRENDER. she has achieved. We glory in being a citizen of this great me- tropolis.” “ Calm dignity !” quotha? The four men having secured their prize, trailed it in the mud of the streets amid the yells of the mob ; mounted'witli it upon a furniture car and paraded it about the city with fife and drum ; tore it, at last, into shreds, and distributed the pieces among the crowd. Such was the calm dignity of New Or- leans. Such the valor of ruffians protected by a rampart of fifty thousand women and children. Captain Farragut was equally indignant and embarrassed. Sel- i dom has a naval commander found himself in a position so beset with contradictions — defied and insulted by a town that lay at his mercy. A few hours after these events, General Butler arrived to share the exasperation of the fleet and join in the counsels of its chief. He advised the captain to threaten the city with bom- bardment, and to order away the women and children. Captain Farragut, in part, adopted the measure, and sent a communication to the mayor warning him of the peril which the city incurred by such scenes as those of Sunday morning. He informed him of the danger of drawing from the fleet a destructive fire, by the spon- taneous action of the men. “ The election is with you,” he con- cluded, “ but it becomes my duty to notify you to remove the women and children from the city within forty-eight hours, if I have rightly understood your determination .” The authorities of the city chose to interpret this note as a formal announcement of a bombardment at the expiration of the specified period. So, at least, they represented it to Captain De Clouet, commanding a French man of war which had just arrived before the city. That officer thought it his duty to demand a longer time for the removal of the women and children. “ Sent by my government,” he wrote to Captain Farragut, “ to protect the persons and property of its citi- zens, who are here to the number of thirty thousand, I regret to learn at this moment that you have accorded a delay of forty-eight hours for the evacuation of the city by the women and children. I venture to observe to you that this short delay is ridiculous ; and, in the name of my government, I oppose it. If it is your resolu- tion to bombard the city, do it; but I wish to state that you will have to account for the barbarous act to the power which I repre- sent. In any event, I demand sixty days for the evacuation.” NEW ORLEANS WRL NOT SURRENDER. 277 Captain F arragut and General Butler had visited Captain De Clouet on his arrival, and had received from him polite congratula- tions upon the success of the expedition. It was no fault of his that Captain F arragut’s notification was so egregiously misunder- stood. General Butler meanwhile perceiving that light-draft steamers were not to be had, and that nothing effectual could he done with- out landing a force in the city, hastened down the river to attempt the reduction of the forts with such means as he could command. Before leaving, however, he had the satisfaction of receiving the spy, engaged at W ashington many weeks before, who had escaped in the confusion, and brought full details of the condition of the city. Mr. Summers, too, once recorder of New Orleans, fled on hoard one of the ships from the violence of a mob in whose hearing he had declared his attachment to the Union. A lady, also, came off, and delivered a paper of intelligence and congratulation. On his way down the river, General Butler met the glad tidings of the surrender of the forts, and had the pleasure, on the 28th, of walking over them with Captain Porter among the joyful troops. Colonel Jones, of the Twenty-sixth Massachusetts, was appointed to command the garrison, and Lieutenant Weitzel began forthwith to put the forts in repair. All the rest of the troops were ordered up the river with the utmost speed. General Phelps was already at the forts, and the transports from Sable Island were making their way under General Williams to the mouth of the river. The news of the surrender of the forts, which reached the fleet on Monday, relieved Captain Farragut from embarrassment. He could now afford to wait, if New Orleans could, though the fleet still beheld with impatience the flauntings of the rebel flags. Gen- eral Duncan, that day, harangued the crowd upon the levee, declar- ing, “ with tears in his eyes,” that nothing but the mutiny of part of his command could have induced him to surrender. But for that, he could and would have held out for months. “ He cried like a child,” says one report. The tone of the authorities appeared to be somewhat lowered by the news. They dared not formally disclaim the exploit of Mumford and his comrades ; but Captain Farragut was privately assured that the removal of the flag from the Mint was the unauthorized act of a few individuals. On the 29th, Captain Bell, with a hundred marines, landed on the levee, 278 NEW ORLEANS WILL NOT SURRENDER. marched into the city, hauled down the Confederate flag from the Mint and Custom-House, and hoisted in its stead the flag of the United States. Captain Bell locked the Custom-House and took the keys to his ship. These flags remained, though the marines were withdrawn before evening. The work of the European Brigade was approaching a conclu- sion. The portion of it called the British Guard, composed of un- naturalized Englishmen — unnatural Englishmen, rather — voted at their armory, a day or two after, to send their weapons, accouter ments and uniforms to General Beauregard’s army, as a slight token of their affection for the Confederate States. Some of these “neu- tral” gentlemen had occasion to regret this step before the month of May was ended. There was a general coming up the river, who had the peculiar ity of feeling toward the rebellion that the rebel leaders felt toward the government they had betrayed. He hated it. He meant to do his part toward putting it down by the strong hand, not conciliating it by insincere palaver. The reader is requested to bear in mind this peculiarity, for it is the key to the understanding of General Butler’s administration. Consider always that his attachment to the Union and the flag w'as of the same intense and uncompro- mising nature, as the devotion of South Carolinians to the cause of the Confederacy. His was indeed a nobler devotion, but ia mere warmth and entireness, it resembled the zeal of secessionists. He meant well to the people of Louisiana ; he did well by them ; but it was his immovable resolve that the ruling power in Louisiana henceforth should be the United States, which had bought, de- fended, protected, and enriched it. Think what secessionists would have done in New Orleans, if it had remained true to the Union, and fallen into their hands in the second year of the war. That General Butler did ; only, with exactest justice, with ideal purity ; employing all right methods of conciliation ; rigorous only to secure the main object — the absolute, the unquestioned, supremacy of the United States. LANDING IN NETV ORLEANS. 279 CHAPTER XVI. LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. The troops had a joyful trip up the river among the verdant sugar-fields, welcomed, as the fleet had been, by capering negroes. The transport Mississippi, with her old complement of fourteen hundred men, and Mrs. Butler on the quarter-deck, hove in sight of the forts at sunset on the last day of April. The forts were cov- ered all over with blue-coated soldiers, Avho paused in their investi- tures to cheer the arriving vessels, and, especially, the Lady who had borne them company in so many perils. It was an animated and glorious scene, illumined by the setting sun ; one of those in- toxicating moments which repay soldiers for months of fatigue and waiting. The general came on board, and, at midnight, the transport steamers started for the city. At noon on the 1st of May, the Mississippi lay alongside the levee at Hew Orleans. A crowd rapidly gathered ; but it was by no means as turbulent or noisy as that which had howled at Captain Bailey five days be- fore. There were women among them, many of whom appeared to be nurses carrying children. Mulatto women with baskets of cakes and oranges were also seen. Voices were frequently heard calling for “ Picayune Butler,” who was requested to “ show himself,” and “come ashore.” The general, who is fond of a joke, requested Major Strong to ascertain if any of the bands could play the lively melody to which the mob had called his attention. Unluckily, none of the bandmasters possessed the music ; so the general was obliged to forego his joke, and fall back upon Yankee Doodle and the Star Spangled Banner. Others of the crowd cried: “You’ll never see home again.” “Yellow Jack will have you before long.” “ Halloo, epaulets, lend us a picayune.” With divers other remarks of a chafing nature, alternating with maledictions. General Butler waited upon Captain Farragut, and heard a nar- rative of recent events. The general announced his determination to land forthwith, and Captain Farragut notified the mayor of this resolve ; adding that he should hold no farther correspondence with 280 LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. the authorities of New Orleans, but gladly yielded the situation to the commander of the army. Returning to the Mississippi, General Butler directed the immediate disembarkation of the troops,* and the operation began about four o’clock in the afternoon. A com- pany of the Thirty-first Massachusetts landed on the extensive plat- form raised above the levee for the convenient loading of cotton, and, forming a line, slowly pressed back the crowd, at the point of the bayonet, until space enough was obtained for the regiments to form. When the Thirty-first had all landed, they marched down the cotton platform to the levee, and along the levee to De Lord street, where they halted. The Fourth Wisconsin was then dis- embarked, after which the procession was formed in the order fol- lowing : First, as pioneer and guide, marched Lieutenant Henry Weigel, of Baltimore, aid to the general, who was familiar with the streets of the city, and now rose from a sick bed to claim the fulfillment of General Butler’s promise that he, and he only, should guide the troops to the Custom-House. Next, the drum-corps of the Thirty-first Massachusetts. Behind these, General Butler and his staff on foot, no horses having yet been landed, a file of the Thirty-first marching on each side of them. Then Captain Everett’s battery of artillery, with whom marched Captain Kensel, chief of artillery to the expedition. The Thirty-first followed, under Colonel O. P. Gooding. Next, General Williams and his staff, preceded by the fine band of the Fourth Wisconsin, and followed by that regiment under Colonel Paine. The same orders were given as on the march into Baltimore : si- lence ; no notice to be taken of mere words ; if a shot were fired from a house, halt, arrest inmates, destroy house ; if fired upon from the crowd, arrest the man if possible, but not fire into the crowd * “ Head-quarters Department op the Gulp, “New Orleans, May 1, 1SG'2. “General Order No. 15. “I. In anticipation of the immediate disembarkation of the troops of this command amid tho temptations and inducements of a large city, all plundering of public or private property, by any person or persons, is hereby forbidden, under the severest penaliies. “II. No officer or soldier will absent himself from his station without arms or alone, under anv pretext whatever. “III. The commanders of regiments and companies will be held responsible for the strict exe- cution of these orders, and that the offenders are brought to punishment “ By command of Major-General Butler. “ Geo. C. Strong, A. A. General." landing in xew Orleans. 281 unless absolutely necessary for self-defense, and then not without orders. At five the procession moved, to the music of the Star Spangled Banner. The crowd surged along the pavements on each side of the troops, struggling chiefly to get a sight of the general ; crying out: “Where is the d — d rascal?” “There he goes, G — d d — n him!” “I seethed — d old villain!” To which were added such outcries, as “Shiloh,” “Bull Rim,” “Hurrah for Beauregard;” “ Go home, you d — d Yankees.” From some windows, a mild hiss was bestowed upon the troops, who marched steadily on, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left. The general, not having a musical ear, was observed to be chiefly anxious upon the point of keeping step to the music — a feat that had never become easy to him, often as he had attempted it hi the streets of Lowell. And so they marched ; along the levee to Poydras street ; Poydras street to St. Charles street ; past the famous hotel, closed and de- serted now, though alive with five hundred inmates three days be- fore ; along St. Charles street to Canal street and the Custom- House — that vast, unfinished, roofless structure, upon which the United States had expended so many millions, one Beauregard being engineer. The troops surrounded the edifice ; Captain Kensel posted his artillery, so as to command the adjacent streets ; and the general ordered the Thirty-first to enter and occupy the building. But Captain Bell had locked the door and put the key into his pocket. The door was forced, therefore, and by six o’clock, the Thirty-first was lodged in the second story, making preparations for the even- ing meal. Strong guards were posted at all needful points. The general and his staff then returned to the levee, and went on board the Mississippi for the night. The Twelfth Connecticut, Colonel Heming, bivouacked upon the levee near the ship, happy to lie down once more under the stars, after being so long huddled in a trans- port ship. The evening was warm and serene, and the city was again as still as a country hamlet. General Phelps came on shore at twilight, and walked about the city unattended and unmolested. Hay, he reported that the people whom he had spoken to, answered his incpiiries with politeness, despite his uniform. “You didn’t mention your name ; did you, General?” asked an officer. “No,” replied he, laughing ; “ no one asked it.” 282 LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. That evening, General Butler having put the 13 fishing touches to his proclamation, sent two officers of his staff to the office of the True Delta , to get it printed as a hand-bill. He forbore to de- mand its insertion in the paper, unwilling to bring upon any one establishment the odium that its insertion could not but excite. In all ways, he was for trying the suaviter in moclo , before resort- ing to the fortiter in re. The officers reached the office at ten, after the proprietor and editors had gone home. The foreman in charge replied, that in the absence of the proprietor, the document could not be printed. The officers returned to the ship, reported, and received farther orders. At eight the next morning, the same officers were again at the office of the True Delta , where they found the chief proprietor, and repeated their request. JTo ; the True Delta office could not think of printing General Butler’s proclamation. The officers quietly intimated that, in that case, they would be under the painful necessity of seizing the office, and using the ma- terials therein for the purpose of printing it. The proprietor ob- jected. He said that the selection of his establishment for the printing of such a manuscript, was invidious and unjust ; it looked as if the design was to make him and his colleagues obnoxious and loathsome to their fellow-citizens. “ I can not resist,” said he, “ the seizure of the office, but, under no circumstances, shall it be used for the purpose designated, with my approval or consent.” The officers bowed and retired. After two hours’ absence, they returned with a file of soldiers, armed and equipped, who drew up before the building. Half a dozen of them entered the printing- office, where they laid aside their weapons of war, and took up the peaceful implements of their trade. The proclamation was soon in type, and a few copies printed ; enough for the general’s immediate purpose. The proprietor himself testified, in the paper of the next day, that the troops effected their purpose and retired, “ without ottering any offense in language or behavior, or manifesting the least desire to interfere with the regular business of the office, or to injure or derange its property.” It would have been better if he could have refrained from other comment. But he did not. He added: “ As this first step of the commander of the federal troops in pos- session of this city is indicative of a determination, on his part, to subject us to a supervision utterly subversive of the character of l.AX TVTXQ IX XEW 0RLEAXS. 283 fearless patriotism which the True Delta has ever maintained, we will promise this much, and we will perform it, namely, to suspend our publication, even if our last crust he sacrificed by the act, rather than molt one feather of that independence which, in presence of every discouragement and clanger, we have ever made our honest boast. TCe have no favors to ask ; we have never asked or desired any from any party ; and we are prepared to stand or fall with the fortimes of our adopted Louisiana.” General Butler ordered the suspension of the True Delta, until farther orders. The proprietors, however, yielded to the inevita- ble, promised compliance with the general’s requisitions, and ob- tained, on the nest day, permission to resume the publication of the paper. It was not, however, till the 6th of May, that the procla- mation appeared in its columns. The other newspapers took the hint, and exhibited, in their comments upon passing events, a blend- ing of the politic with the audacious that was ingenious and amus- ing, but not always ingenious enough, as General Butler occasionally reminded them. Editing a secession newspaper in Hew Orleans during the next eight months, was an affair which could be de- scribed as “ticklish;” rather more so, than conducting a journal in the Orleans interest, under the nose of Louis Bonaparte. The second day of the occupation of the city was crowded with events of the highest interest. The landing of the troops was resumed with the dawn. Colonel Deming encamped his fine regiment hi Lafayette Square in front of the City Hall. Other regiments were posted in convenient locali- ties. Troops were landed in Algiers on the opposite bank of the river, and the railroad terminating there was seized, with its cars and buildings. General Phelps went up the river several miles in the Saxon to reconnoiter, and select a site for a camp above the city. Captain Everett was busy extracting the spikes from the cannon lying about the Custom-House, and preparing to moimt some of them in it and upon it. He cast an inquiring and interested eye upon the eight hundred bells — church bells, school bells, plantation bells, hand bells, cow bells — which had been sent to Hew Orleans upon General Beauregard’s requisition ; some of which now call the children of Hew England to school;, others, factory girls to their labor ; others, rural congregations to church ; for they were all sold at auction, sent to the Horth, and distributed over the country. 284 LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. The quartermaster to the expedition had a world of trouble with the draymen of the city, whom he needed for transporting the tents 1 and baggage. Not one of them dared, not many of them wished, to serve him. He was obliged to compel their assistance at the point of the pistol. Everything seized for the use of the troops, on this day and on all days, was either paid for when taken, or a re- ceipt given therefor which was equivalent to gold. The behavior of the troops was faultless. No resident of New Orleans was harmed or insulted. N one complained of harm or insult. A stran- • ger would have supposed, from the quiet demeanor of the troops and the arrogant air of the people, that the soldiers were prisoners in an enemy’s town, not conquerors in a captured one. For the most part, the troops held no intercourse whatever with the inhabi- tants. It was, indeed, perilous in the extreme, for a resident of the city to speak to an old friend, if that friend wore the uniform of the United States. Major Bell mentions that he met several old acquaintances about the city, but they either gave him the cut di- rect, or else bestowed a hurried, furtive salutation, and passed rap- idly on. Another officer reports that on accosting an acquaintance, the gentleman said, in an anxious undertone, “Don’t speak to me, or I shall have my head blown off.” A gentleman connected with the expedition, but not in uniform,* tells me that he strolled into a market that morning, and bought a cup of coffee, for which he gave a gold dollar, and received in change nineteen dirty car-tickets, part of the established currency of the city. Quarters were required for the commanding general and his staff. What could they be but the St. Charles hotel, vacated five days before by General Lovell ? Major Strong, Colonel French, and Major Bell, accompanied by Mr. Glenn, formerly a resident of New Orleans, were dispatched, early in the morning, to make the preliminary arrangements. They found the building closed. Going round to the ladies’ entrance they gained admission to the famous rotunda — bar-room and slavemart, scene of countless “ difficulties” and chivalric assassinations. There they met a son of one of the proprietors, to whom they stated their wishes. He replied, that both the proprietors were absent ; and as to his giving up the hotel to General Butler, his head would be shot off before he could reach the next corner if he should do it. He declared that waiters would * Mr. Samuel F. Glenn, afterward clerk of the provost-court. LANDING IN NEW OKLEANS. 285 aot- dare to wait upon them, nor cooks to cook for them, nor porters o carry for them. Moreover, there were no provisions to be had u the market ; he did not see what could be got for them beyond irmy rations. These objections were offered by the young gentle- nan with the' utmost politeness of manner. Major Strong observed, tvitli equal suavity, that he' need give himself no concern Avith ■egard to giving up the hotel. In the name of General Butler, they svould venture to take it. And as to the lack of provisions, they vere used to army rations, had found them sufficient, and could nake them do for an indefinite period. With regard to Avaiters and looks, the army of occupation were chiefly men of the Yankee per- suasion, Avho were accustomed to wait on themselves, and could do a ittle of everything, from cooking upward. The young gentleman lad nothing farther to offer, and so the St. Charles became the lead-quarters of the army. The general arrived in the course of the morning, and established his office in one of the ladies’ parlors. Mrs. Butler still remained on board the Mississippi. The three officers and Mr. Glenn next proceeded to the City Hah, in search of the mayor. They found that public functionary, ifter some delay. They informed him, with all possible courtesy, that General Butler, commanding the department of the Gulf, had established his head-quarters at the St. Charles hotel, where he svould be happy to confer with the mayor and council of New Orleans, at two o’clock on that day. The reply of the mayor was :o the effect, that his place of business was at the City Hall, AA r here any gentleman Avho had business with him could see him during office hours. Colonel French politely intimated that that was not an answer likely to satisfy the commanding general, and expressed a hope that the mayor, on reflection, would not complicate a state of affairs, already embarrassing enough, by raising questions of eti- quette. General Butler was well disposed toward N cav Orleans and its authorities ; he merely desired to come to a clear under- standing with them as to the future government of the city. The officers retired. The mayor, upon reflection, concluded to Avait upon the general. At two o’clock, accompanied by Mr. Soule and a considerable party of friends, highly respectable gentlemen of the city, he sat face to face with General Butler in the ladies’ parlor of the St. Charles. The interview was destined to be interrupted and abortive. The LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 986 seizure of the St. Charles hotel appeared to have rekindled the pas sions of the populace, who surrounded the building in a dense mass filling all the open space adjacent. A cannon was posted at eacl of the corners of the building ; a regiment surrounded it ; and th< brave General Williams was in command. But it seemed as if the quiet demeanor of the troops, since the landing of the evening be fore, had been misinterpreted by the mob, who grew fiercer, loudei and bolder, as the day wore' on. The mayor and his party had noi been long in the presence of General Butler, when an aide-de-cam} rushed in and said : “ General Williams orders me to say, that he fears he will not lx able to control the mob.” General Butler, in his serenest manner, replied : “ Give my compliments to General Williams, and tell him, if Ik finds he can not control the mob, to open upon them with artil- lery.” The mayor and his friends sprang to their feet in consternation. “Don’t do that, general!” exclaimed the mayor. “ Why not, gentlemen?” said the general. “The mob must he controlled. We can’t have a disturbance in the street.” “ Shall I go out and speak to the people ?” asked the mayor. “ Anything you please, gentlemen,” replied General Butler. “ I only insist that order be maintained in the public streets.” The mayor and other gentlemen addressed the crowd; and, as their remarks were enforced by the rumor of General Butler’s ol- der, there was a temporary lull in the storm. The crowd remained, however ; vast, fierce and sullen. The interview having been resumed, the mayor was proceeding to descant, in the high-flown rhetoric of the South, upon General Butler’s former advocacy of the rights of the southern states. The South had looked upon hhn as its special friend and champion, etc.; “ Stop, sir,” said the general. “ Let me set you right on that point at once. I was always a friend of southern rights, but an enemy of southern wrongs.” The conversation was going on in an amicable strain, when •another aid entered the apartment, Lieutenant Kinsman, of General Butler's staff, who requested a word with the general. This officer had been sent to the fleet that morning in search of telegraphic operators. On board the Mississippi (the man-of-war, LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 287 3t the transport steamer), he was accosted by Judge Summers, ho had sought refuge on board the ship, as we have before related, he unhappy judge, who was anxious to get to the city, requested ieutenant Kinsman to take him on shore, and give him adequate rotection against the mob, who, he said, would tear him limb from mb, if they should catch him alone. The lieutenant, who had left le city perfectly quiet, was disposed to make light of the danger; ut said he could go on shore with him if he chose, and he would adeavor to get him safe to the St. Charles. On reaching the levee, ieutenant Kinsman impressed a hack into his service, and the two ‘assengers were started for the hotel. Unluckily, the ex-recorder s a man of gigantic stature — six feet five, and of corresponding lagnitude ; a man of such pronounced peculiarity of appearance, hat even if he had never sat on the bench and thus become familiar o the eyes of scoundrels, he must have been known by sight to all rho frequented the streets of the city. He was instantly recog- ized. A crowd gathered round the carriage, hooting, yelling, curs- ig ; new hundreds rushing in from every street ; for all the men in he city were idle and abroad. Several times the carriage came to stand ; but Lieutenant Kinsman, pistol in hand, ordered the driver o go on, and kept him to his work, until they reached the troops ;uarding the hotel, where both succeeded in alighting and entering he building unharmed. Judge Summers was thoroughly unnerved, as most men would lave been in the same circumstances. A mob is of all wild beasts he most cowardly, the most easily managed by a man that is un- carable by phantoms. The mob that attacked the Tribune office, ast July, was scattered by the report of one pistol. I saw it done, .'lever have I seen the square in front of the building so bare of jeople as it was in ten seconds after that solitary pistol was fired, out a mob is, at the same time, the most terrific thing to look at, especially if its vulgar and savage eye is fixed upon you, that can ie imagined. Mr. Summers felt unsafe, even in the hotel. “ Give ne some protection,” said he ; “ they’ll tear me all to pieces if :hey get in here and it looked, at the time, as if the mob would get in. Hence it was, that Lieutenant Kinsman interrupted the general, and asked a word with him. General Butler came out, and heard the lieutenant’s report. 288 LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. The ex-recorder said there was no place in the St. Charles when he could be safe. “ Well, then,” said the general, “there’s the Custom-House ove yonder ; that will hold you. You can go there, if you choose.” “ But how can I get there? The mob will tear me to pieces.” The general reflected a moment. Then said, assuming all th< “ major-general commanding “We may as well settle this question now as at any other time. Lieutenant Kinsman, take this man over to the Custom-House Take what force you require. If any one molests or threaten!; you, arrest him. If a rescue is attempted, fire.” Having said this, he returned to the conference with the mayor, and Lieutenant Kinsman proceeded to obey the order. He con ducted Mr. Summers to a side door, which he opened, and disclosed to the view of his charge a compact mass of infuriated men, held at bay by a company of fifty soldiers. “ Don’t attempt it,” said the judge, recoiling from the sight. “I must,” returned the lieutenant. “The general’s orders were positive. I have no choice but to obey.” The company of soldiers were soon drawn up in two lines, four feet apart, two men closing the front and two the rear of the column. In the open space were Lieutenant Kinsman and Mr. Summers. “ Forward, march !” The column started. The crowd recogni- zing the giant judge, yelled and boiled around the slowly pushing 1 column. The active men of the mob were not those within reach of the soldiers. The nearest men prudently held their peace and ; watched their chance. Consequently, no arrests were made until the column had gone half way to the Custom-House. At that point stood an omnibus with one man in it, who was urging on the mob, by voice and gesture, with the violence of frenzy. “ Halt ! Bring out that man !” Two soldiers sprang into the omnibus, collared the lunatic, drew him out, and placed him between the lines, where he continued to yell and gesticulate in the most frantic manner. “ Stop your noise !” thundered the lieutenant. “I won’t,” said the man; “my tongue is my own.” “ Sergeant , lower your bayonet. If a sound comes out of that man’s mouth, run him through !” LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 289 The man was silent. “ Forward — march !” The column pushed on again, but very , lowly. After going some distance, the lieutenant perceived that me man, who had been particularly vociferous, was within clutch- ng distance. “ Halt — bring in that man,” pointing him out. The man was seized and placed in the column. He continued to Font, but a lowered bayonet brought him to his senses also. The column pushed on again, and lodged the judge and the two prison- ers safely in the impregnable Custom-House, the citadel of New Drleans. The company marched back, in the same order, through i crowd “ as silent as a funeral,” to use the lieutenant’s own lan- guage. This scene was witnessed from the windows of the St. Charles by General Butler and his staff, and by the mayor and his friends, :he conference being suspended by common consent. The general mforms me, that the firmness of Lieutenant Kinsman on this occa- sion, aided by the soldierly steadiness of the troops, and the perfect coolness of their officers, contributed most essentially to the subju- gation of the mob of New Orleans. It was never so rampant again. The company was Captain Paige’s of the Thirty-first Massachu- setts. The reader perceives how it fared with the conference. The afternoon wore away amid these interruptions, and it was finally agreed to postpone farther conversation till the evening, when all matters in dispute should be thoroughly discussed. By that time too, copies of the Proclamation would be ready from the True Delta office. So the mayor and his friends departed. In the dusk of the evening, a carriage having been with difficulty procured, General Butler, with a single orderly on the box, drove to the levee, a distance of three-quarters of a mile, and went on board the transport Mississippi. Mrs. Butler and her maid had nassed an anxious day there, ignorant of what was passing in the city. “ Get ready to go on shore,” said the general. The trunks were locked and strapped, and transferred to the carriage. Mrs. Butler and her attendant took their places, the general followed them, and the party was driven to the hotel without molestation or outcry. There was a curious tea-party that evening in the vast dining- 290 LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. room of the St. Charles, where hundreds of people had been wont to consume luxurious fare. At one end of one of the tables sat the little company, lost in the magnitude of the room — the general, Mrs, Butler, and two or three members of the staff. The fare was neither sumptuous nor abundant, and the solitary waiter was not at his ease., for he was doing an act that was death by the mob law of New Orleans. The general entertained the company by reading choice extracts from the anonymous letters w T hich he had received in the course of the day. “We’ll get the better of you yet, old cock-eye,” remarked one of his nameless correspondents. Another requested him to wait a month or two, and see what Yellow Jack would do for him. Another warned him to look out for poison in his food. Both the General and Mrs. Butler received many epistles of this nature during the first few weeks, as well as some of a highly eulogis- tic tenor. Occasionally the general would reply to one of the abu- sive letters in the manner following : “Madame : I have received the letter in which you remark upon my conduct in New Orleans, which I regret does not meet your approbation. It may interest you to know that others view it in a very different light, and I, therefore, beg to inclose for your perusal a letter received this day, in which my administration is commented upon in a strain different from that in which you have done me the honor to review it. I am, madame,” etc. As the frugal repast in the St. Charles was drawing to a close, a band on the balcony in front of the building, in full view of the crowd, struck up the Star Spangled Banner, filling the void im- mensity of the dining-room with a deafening noise. The band con- tinued to play during the evening, the crowd standing silent and sullen. Our business, however, lies this evening in the ladies’ parlor. It is a spacious, lofty and elegant apartment. On one side, in a large semi-circle, sat the representatives of New Orleans, the mayor, the common council, other magnates, and Mr. Pierre Soule, spokesman and orator of the occasion. Mr. Soule had long been the special favorite of the Creole population ; popular, also, with all his fellow- citizens; a kind of pet, or ladies’ delight among them; renowned, too, at the bar. New Yorkers may call him, if they please, the James T. Brady of New Orleans. In appearance, he is not unlike Napoleon Bonaparte — about the stature, complexion, and general .LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 291 style of Napoleon ; only with an eye of marvelous brilliancy, and lair worn very long, black as night. A melodious, fluent, grace- ul, courteous man, formed to take captive the hearts of listening nen and women. Of an independent turn of mind, too ; not too ractable in the courts ; not one of those who made haste to sever he ties that had bound them to their country. He appears to lave accepted secession as a fact accomplished, rather than helped ;o make it such. In conventions and elsewhere, General Butler lad often met him before to-day, and their intercourse had always leen amicable. On the opposite side of the room, also in a semi-circle, sat General Butler and his staff', in full uniform, brushed for the oc- casion. Readers are familiar with those annihilating caricatures, tvhich are called photographs of General Butler. In truth, the general has an imposing presence. Not tall, but of well-developed 'orm, and fine, massive head ; not graceful in movement, but of inn, solid aspect ; self-possessed ; not silver-tongued, not fluent, like fir. Soule ; on the contrary, he is slow of speech, often hesitates rad labors, can not at once bring down the sledge-hammer squarely >n the anvil ; but down it comes at last with a ring that is remem- bered. It is only in the heat and tempest of contention, that he acquires the perfect use of his parts of speech. A lady who may, or anything I know, have been peeping into the room this even- ng from some coigne of vantage, compares the two combatants on his occasion to Richard and Saladin, as described by Scott in the Talisman ; where Saladin, all alertness and grace, cuts the silk vith gleaming, swiftest cimeter, and burly Richard, with pon- lerous broad-sword, which only he could wield, severs the bar of ron. General Butler opened the conversation by saying that the object or which he had requested the attendance of the mayor and coun- il, was to explain to them the principles upon which he intended o govern the department to which he had been assigned, and to earn from them how far they were disposed to co-operate with h im , le added that he had prepared a proclamation to the people of lew Orleans, which expressed his intentions ; and which he would ow read. After reading it he would be happy to listen to any re- larks from gentlemen representing the people of the city. He hen read the proclamation as follows : 13 292 LANDING 1ST NEW ORLEANS. PROCLAMATION OF GENERAL BUTLER. “ Head-quarters, Department of the Gulp, “New Orleans, May 1, 1862. “ The city of New Orleans and its environs, with all its interior and ex terior defenses, having surrendered to the combined naval and land force of the United States, and being now in the occupation of the forces of tin United States, who have come to restore order, maintain public tranquillity and enforce peace and quiet, under the laws and constitution of the Uniter States, the major-general commanding hereby proclaims the object am purposes of the government of the United States in thus taking possessioi of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana, and the rules and regulation by which the laws of the United States will be for the present, and durim the state of war, enforced and maintained, for the plain guidance of ah good citizens of the United States, as well as others who may have hereto fore been in rebellion against their authority. “ Thrice before has the city of New Orleans been rescued from the hand of a foreign government, and still more calamitous domestic insurrection, : by the money and arms of the United States. It has of late been unde the military control of the rebel forces, and at each time, in the judgmcn of the commanders of the military forces holding it, it has been found ne cessary to preserve order and maintain quiet by an administration of mar- tial law. Even during the interim from its evacuation by the rebel soldier, and its actual possession by the soldiers of the United States, the civil an thorities have found it necessary to call for the intervention of an armec body known as the European Legion, to preserve the public tranquillity' The commanding general, therefore, will cause the city to be guarded, unti the restoration of the United States authority and his further orders, by martial law. “ All persons in arms against the United States are required to surrender themselves, with their arms, equipments, and munitions of war. The bod;: known as the European Legion, not being understood to be in arms agains, the United States, but organized to protect the lives and property of th<; citizens, are invited to still co-operate with the forces of the United State;: to that end, and, so acting, will not be included in the terms of this order' but will report to these head-quarters. “All ensigns, flags, devices, tending to uphold any authority whatever; save the flags of the United States and those of foreign consulates, mus, not be exhibited, but suppressed. The American ensign, the emblem ofj * 1st, by purchase in 1803. 2d, by General Wilkinson in 180T, when the city was supposed tt be threatened by Aaron Burr. 3d, by General Jackson in 1814. LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 293 the United States, must be treated with the utmost deference and respect by all persons, under pain of severe punishment. “All persons well disposed towards the government of the United States, who shall renew the oath of allegiance, will receive a safeguard of protec- tion to their persons and property from the army of the United States, and the violation of such safeguard will be punishable with death. All persons still holding allegiance to the Confederate States, will be deemed rebels against the government of the United States, and regarded and treated as enemies thereof. All foreigners, not naturalized and claiming allegiance to their respective governments, and not having made oath of allegiance to the government of the Confederate States, will be protected in their per- sons and property, as heretofore, under the law's of the United States. All persons who may have heretofore given adherence to the supposed govern- ment of the Confederate States, or been in their service, w r ho shall lay down or deliver up their arms, return to peaceful occupations, and preserve quiet and order, holding no farther correspondence nor giving aid and com- fort to enemies of the United States, will not be disturbed in their per- sons or property, except so far under the orders of the commanding general as the exigencies of the public service may render necessary. “ Keepers of all public property, whether state, national, or confederate, such as collections of art, libraries and museums, as well as all public build- ings, all munitions of war and armed vessels, will at once make full returns thereof to these head-quarters. All manufacturers of arms and munitions of w r ar will report to these head-quarters their kind and places of business. All the rights of property, of whatever kind, will be held inviolate, subject only to the laws of the United States. All the inhabitants are enjoined to pursue their usual avocations. All shops and places of amusement are to be kept open in the accustomed manner, and services are to be held in the churches and religious houses, as in times of profound peace. “Keepers of all public houses and drinking saloons are to report their names and numbers to the office of the provost-marshal, and they will then receive a license, and be held responsible for all disorders and disturbances arising in their respective places. “Sufficient force will be kept in the city to preserve order and maintain the laws. The killing of American soldiers by any disorderly person or mob, is simply assassination and murder, and not war, and will be so re- garded and punished. The owner of any house in w'hich such murder shall be committed wnll be held responsible therefor, and the house be liable to be destroyed by the military authority. All disorders, disturbances of the peace, and crimes of an aggravated nature, interfering wdth the forces or law r s of the United States, will be referred to a military court for trial and punishment. Other misdemeanors will be subject to the municipal author- ity, if it desires to act. 294 LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. “ Civil causes between party and party will be referred to the ordinary tribunals. “ The levy and collection of taxes, save those imposed by the laws of the United States, are suppressed, except those for keeping in repair and light- ing the streets, and for sanitary purposes. These are to be collected in the usual manner. “ The circulation of Confederate bonds, evidences of debt (except notes in the similitude of bank-notes) issued by the Confederate States, or scrip, or any trade in the same, is forbidden. It has been represented to the . commanding general by the civil authorities that these Confederate notes, in the form of bank-notes, in a great measure, are the only substitutes for money which the people have been allowed to have, and that great distress would ensue among the poorer classes if the circulation of such notes should be suppressed. Such circulation, therefore, will be permitted so long as any one will be inconsiderate enough to receive them, until farther orders. “No publication of newspapers, pamphlets, or hand-bills, giving accounts of the movements of the soldiers of the United States within this depart- ment, reflecting in any way upon the United States, intended in any way to influence the public mind against the United States, will be permitted, and all articles on war news, editorial comments, or correspondence making comments upon the movements of the armies of the United States, must bo submitted to the examination of an officer, who will be detailed for that purpose from these head-quarters. The transmission of all communications by telegraph will be under the charge of an officer detailed from these head- quarters. “The armies of the United States came here not to destroy, but to re- store order out of chaos, to uphold the government and the laws in the place of the ‘ passage’ of men. To this end, therefore, the efforts of all well disposed are invited, to have every species of disorder quelled. “ If any soldier of the United States should so far forget his duty or his flag as to commit outrage upon any person or property, the commanding gen- eral requests his name to be instantly reported to the provost guard, so that he may be punished and his wrongful act redressed. The municipal au- thority, so far as the police of the city and environs are concerned, is to ex- tend as before indicated, until suspended. “ All assemblages of persons in the streets, either by day or night, tend to disaster, and are forbidden. The various companies composing the Fire Department of New Orleans will be permitted to retain their organizations, and are to report to the provost-marshal, so that they may be known, and not interfered with in their duties. “ And, finally, it may be sufficient to add, without farther enumeration, that all the requirements of martial law will be imposed so long as, in the LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 295 judgment of the United States anthorities, it maybe necessary; and while it is desired by these authorities to exercise this government mildly, and after the usages of the past, it must not be supposed that it will not be rigor- ously and firmly administered as the occasion calls for it.” “ By command of Major-General Butler. “Geo. B. Strong, A. A. G., Chief of Staff A “ The sum and substance of the whole,” said General Butler, “ is this: I wish to leave the municipal authority in the full exercise of its accustomed functions. I do not desire to interfere with the collection of taxes, the government of the police, the lighting and cleaning of the streets, the sanitary laws, or the administration of justice. I desire only to govern the military forces of the depart- ment, and to take cognizance only of offenses committed by or against them. Representing here the United States, it is my wish to confine myself solely to the business of sustaining the govern- ment of the United States against its enemies.” Mr. Soule replied. He said, that his first concern was for the tranquillity of the city, which, he felt sure, could not be maintained so long as the federal troops remained within its limits. He therefore urged and implored General Butler to remove the troops to the outskirts of the town, where the hourly sight of them would not irritate a sensitive and high-spirited people. “ I know the feel- ings of the people so well,” said he, “ that I am sure your soldiers can have no peace while they remain in our midst.” The Proclama- tion, he added, would give great offense. The people would never submit. They were not conquered, and could not be expected to be- have as a conquered people. “ Withdraw your troops, general, and leave the city government to manage its own affairs. If the troops remain, there will certainly be trouble.” This absurd line of remark — absurd as a reply to the general’s proposals — fired the commander of the department of the gulf. He spoke, however, in a measured though decisive manner. “ I did not expect,” said he, “ to hear from Mr. Soule a threat on this occasion. I have been long accustomed to hear threats from southern gentlemen in political conventions ; but let me assure gen- tlemen present, that the time for tactics of that nature has passed never to return. Hew Orleans is a conquered city. If not, why are we here ? How did we get here ? Have you opened your arms and bid us welcome? Are we here by your consent? 296 LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. Would you or would you not, expel us if you could? New Orleans has been conquered by the forces of the United States, and by the laws of all nations, lies subject to the will of the conquerors. Nevertheless, I have proposed to leave the municipal government to the free exercise of all its powers, and I am answered by a threat.” Mr. Soule disclaimed the intention to threaten the troops. He had desired merely to state what, in his opinion, would be the con- sequences of their remaining. “ Gladly,” continued General Butler, “ will I take every man of the army out of New Orleans the very day, the very hour it is demonstrated to me that the city government can protect me from insult or danger, if I choose to ride alone from one end of the city to the other, or accompanied by one gentleman of my staff. Your inability to govern the insulting, irreligious, unwashed mob in your midst has been clearly proved by the insults of your rowdies toward my officers and men this very afternoon, and by the fact that Gen- eral Lovell was obliged to proclaim martial law while his army oc- cupied your city, to protect the law abiding citizens from the row- dies. I do not proclaim martial law against the respectable citizens of this place, but against the same class that obliged General Wil- kinson, General Jackson, and General Lovell to declare it. I have means of knowing more about your city than you think, and I am aware that at this hour there is an organization here established for the purpose of assassinating my men by detail ; but I warn you that if a shot is fired from any house, that house will never again cover a mortal’s head ; and if I can discover the perpetrator of the deed, the place that now knows him shall know him no more for ever. I have the power to suppress this unruly element in your midst, and I mean so to use it, that in a very short period, I shall be able to ride through the entire city, free from insult and danger, or else this metropolis of the South shall be a desert, from the Plains i of Chalmette to the outskirts of Carrollton.” Mr. Soule, in reply, delivered an oration, the beauty and grace of Avhich were admired by all who heard it. I regret that we have no report of his speech. It was, in part, a defense and eulogy of New Orleans, and, in part, a secession speech of the usual tenor, illumined by the rhetoric of an accomplished speaker. He said that New Orleans contained a smaller proportion of the mob element T,.\\TIIxr, IX KEIV ORLEANS. 29 * than any other city of equal size, and that the proclamation of mar- tial law by . General Lovell was aimed, not at the mob, but at the Union men and “ traitors” in their midst. The conversation then turned to a topic of immense moment to the people of the city, the supply of provisions. The general said he had determined to issue permits to dealers and others, which should protect them in bringing in provisions from a certain dis- tance beyond his lines. The awful situation of the poor of the city should have his immediate attention ; in the mean time, the Con- federate currency in their hands should be allowed to circulate, since many of them had nothing else of the nature of money. After much farther discussion, the general being immovable, the mayor announced, that the functions of the city government would be at once suspended, and the general could do with the city as seemed to him good. A member of the council promptly interposed, saying, that a matter of so much importance shoidd not be disposed of until it had been considered and acted upon by the common council. The mayor assented. General Butler offered no objection. It was finally agreed that the council should confer upon the subject the next morning, and make known the result of their deliberations to the general in the course of the day. The gentlemen then with- drew : the crowd in the streets gradually dispersed, and the city enjoyed a tranquil night. The next morning, the Proclamation was published ; i. e., hand- bills, containing it, were freely given to all who would take one. Two important appointments were also announced : Major Joseph W. Bell, to be provost-judge, and Colonel Jonas IT. French, to be provost-marshal. Colonel French notified the people, by hand-bill, that he “ assumed the position of provost-marshal, for the purpose of carrying out such of the provisions of the Proclamation of the general commanding within this department, as were not left to municipal action. * * * Particularly does he call attention to the prohibition against assemblages of persons in the streets ; the sale of liquor to soldiers ; the necessity for a license on the part of keepers of public houses, coffee-houses, and drinking saloons , to the posting of placards about the streets, giving information con- cerning the action or movements of rebel troops, and the publish- ing in the newspapers of notices or resolutions laudatory of the 298 LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. enemies of the United States. “ The soldiers of this command arc subject, upon the part of some low-minded persons, to insult. This' I must stop. Repetition will lead to instant arrest and punishment, i In the performance of his duties the undersigned will, in no de- | gree, trench upon the regularly established police of the city, but will confine himself simply to the performance of such acts as were ’ to be assumed by the military authorities of the United States; i and, in such action, he hopes to meet with the ready co-operation of all who have the welfare of the city at heart.” At noon, the foreign consuls waited upon General Butler, ac- companied by General Juge, commanding the European Brigade. The interview was in the highest degree amicable and courteous. General Butler explained to the consuls the line of conduct he had marked out for himself, and related the leading points of his pro- posal to the mayor and council, whose reply he was then awaiting. He also assured the consuls, that nothing should be wanting on his part, to facilitate the discharge of their public duties. His most earnest desire, he said, was to confine his attention to his military duty, and leave all public functionaries, domestic and foreign, to the unrestrained discharge of their vocations. He warmly thanked General Juge for his eminent services during the last week, ex- pressed regret that he had disbanded his men, hoped he would re- organize them, and aid him in maintaining order. The gentlemen retired, apparently well pleased with what they had heard. They all shook hands with the general at parting. A delegation from the common council next appeared, who in- formed the general that his proposal of the evening before was accepted. The city government should go on as usual ; but they requested that the troops should be withdrawn from the vicinity of the City Hall, that the authorities might not seem to be acting un- der military dictation. This request was granted : the troops were I withdrawn. The general went farther. He sent a considerable body of troops under General Phelps to Carrollton, where a permanent camp was formed. A brigade under General Williams soon went up the river with Captain Farragut, to take possession of and hold Baton Rouge. Other troops were posted in the various forts upon the lakes abandoned by the enemy. Others were at Algiers. The camps in the squares of the city were broken up. When all the LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 299 oops were posted, there remained in the city, during the first few eeks, two hundred and fifty men : and these men lodged in the ustom-House, and served merely as a provost-guard. Mr. Soule, terefore, had his desire, or nearly so, for the general was fully 'solved to omit no fair means of conciliating the people, and win- ng them back to their allegiance. Thus, by the end of the third day, the city was tranquil, and there >emed a prospect of the two sets of authorities going on peacefully >gether, each keeping to its own department ; General Butler gov- •ning the army, and extending the area of conquest ; the mayor id council ruling the city, aided, if necessary, by General Juge and is brigade. This was the theory upon which General Butler began is memorable administration. This was the offer which he sin- jrely made to the people and government of the city. • We shall iscover, in time, whose fault it was that the theory proved so sig- illy untenable. The comments of the press of New Orleans upon the new order f things, were far more favorable to General Butler than could ave been expected. The True Delta frankly admitted the truth of lat part of the Proclamation which gave to the European Brigade le credit of having preserved the city. “For seven years past,'’ fid the True Delta , of May 6th, “the world knows that this city, i all its departments — -judicial, legislative and executive — has been t the absolute disposal of the most godless, brutal, ignorant and athless ruffianism the world has ever heard of since the days of le great Roman conspirator. By means of a secret organization oianating from that fecund source of every political infamy, New Ingland, and named Know Nothingism or ‘ Sammyism’ — from the ousted exclusive devotion of the fraternity to the United States — ur city, from being the abode of decency, of liberality, generosity nd justice, has become a perfect hell; the temples of justice are mctuaries for crime ; the ministers of the laws, the nominees of lood-stained, vulgar, ribald caballers ; licensed murderers shed mocent blood on the most public thoroughfares with impunity ; fitnesses of the most atrocious crimes are either spirited away, ought off, or intimidated from testifying ; perjured associates are etained to prove alibis, and ready bail is always procurable for the nmediate use of those whom it is not immediately prudent to en- ,rge otherwise. The electoral system is a farce and a fraud ; the 13 * 300 FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOH. knife, the slung-shot, the brass knuckles determining, while the sham is being enacted, who shall occupy and administer the offices of the municipality and the commonwealth. Can our condition then surprise any man ? Is it, either, a fair ground for reproach to the well-disposed, kind-hearted and intelligent fixed population of New Orleans, that institutions and offices designed for the safety of their persons, the security of then- property, and maintenance of their fair repute and unsullied honor, should by a band of conspira- tors, in possession by force and fraud of the electoral machinery, be diverted from their legitimate uses and made engines of the most insupportable oppression? We accept the reproach in the Proc- lamation, as every Louisianian alive to the honor and fair fame of his state and chief city must accept it, with bowed heads and brows abashed.” ' The Bee of May 8th said : “ The mayor and municipal authorities have been allowed to retain their power and privileges in every- thing unconnected with military affairs. The federal soldiers do not seem to interfere with the private property of the citizens, and have done nothing that we are aware of to provoke difficulty. The usual nightly reports of arrests for vagrancy, assaults, wounding and killing have unquestionably been diminished. The city is as tranquil and peaceable as in the most quiet times.” CHAPTER XVH. FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. New Orleans was in danger of starving. It contained a popu- lation of, perhaps, one hundred and fifty thousand, for whom there was in the city about thirty days’ supply of provisions, held at prices beyond the means of all but the rich. A barrel of flour could not be bought for sixty dollars ; the markets "were empty, the provision stores closed. The trade with Mobile, which had formerly whitened the lakes and the sound with sails, was cut off The Texas drovers had ceased to bring in cattle, and no steamboats from the Red River country were running. The lake coasts were desolate and YEEl'ING AND EMPLOYING THE POOE. 801 half deserted, because the trade with New Orleans had ceased, and because the locusts of secession had devoured then- substance. New Orleans was thus a starving city in the midst of an impov- erished country. The river planters, who had been wont to send marketing to the city, now feared to trust their sloops, their pro- duce and their slaves, within the lines of an army which they had been taught to believe was bent on plunder only. A large pro- portion of the men of New Orleans were away with the Confeder- ate armies, at Shiloh, in Virginia, and elsewhere, having left wives and children, mistresses and their offspring, to the public charge. The city taxes were a million dollars in arrears ; and the city gov- ernment, it was soon discovered, was expending its energies and its ingenuity upon a business more congenial than that of providing for the poor, namely, that of frustrating and exasperating the com- mander of the Union army. In a word, fifty thousand human be- ings in New Orleans saw before them a prospect, not of want, not of a long struggle with adversity, but of starvation ; and that imme- diate— to-morrow or the next day ; and General Butler, wielding the power and resources of the United States, alone could save them. To this task he addressed himself ; it necessarily had the prece- dence of all other work during the first few days. If we confine ourselves to this topic for a short time, so as to show in one view all that General Butler did for the poor of New Orleans, the reader will please bear in mind, that the commanding general was by no means able to confine his attention to it. He had everything to do at once. The business of the city was dead ; he strove to revive it. Confidence in the honest intentions of the Union authorities did not exist; he endeavored to call it into being. The currency was deranged ; it was his duty to rectify it. The secessionists were audaciously diligent ; he had to circumvent and repress them. The yellow fever season was at hand ; he was resolved to ward it off. The city government was obstructive and hostile ; it was his busi- ness to frustrate their endeavors. The negro problem loomed up, vast and portentous ; he had to act upon it without delay. The banks were in disorder ; their affairs demanded his attention. The consu- lates were so many centers of hostile operations ; he had to pene- trate their mysteries. His army was considerable, his field of op- eration immense ; he could not neglect the chief business of his 302 FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. mission. All these affairs claimed his immediate attention, and had it. But though a thousand events may occur simultaneously, it is not convenient to relate them simultaneously. We shall have sometimes to disregard the order of time, and pursue one subject or class of subjects to the end. General Butler’s first measures for the supply of the city were taken upon the suggestion of the city magnates. The following orders were promulgated on the third day of the occupation of the city: I. “ The commanding general of this department has been informed that there is now at Mobile a stock of flour purchased by the city of New Or- leans for the subsistence of its citizens. The suffering condition of the poor of this city, for the want of this flour, appeals to the humanity of those having authority on either side. Tor the purpose of the safe transmission of this flour to this city, the commanding general orders and directs that a safe conduct be afforded to a steamboat, to be laden with the same to this place. This safe conduct shall extend to the entire protection of the boat in coming, reasonable delay to discharge, and return to Mobile. “The boat will take no passengers, save the owners and keepers of the flour, and will be subject to the strict inspection of the harbor-master de- tailed from these head-quarters, to whom its master will report its arrival. The faith of the city is pledged for the faithful performance of the require- ments of this order on the part of the agent of the city authorities, who will be allowed to pass each way with the boat, giving no intelligence or aid to the Confederates.” II. “The president, directors, &c., of the Opelousas railroad are authorized and required to run their cars over their road for the purpose of bringing to the city of New Orleans all materials for provisions, marketing, and supplies of food which may be offered in order to supply the wants of the city. No passengers other than those having the care of such supplies, as owners and keepers, are to be permitted to come into the city, and none other are to leave the city. All other supplies are prohibited transport over the road either way, except cotton and sugar, which may be safely brought over the road, and will be purchased at their fair market value by the United States in specie. The transmission of live stock is especially enjoined. An agent of the city government will be allowed to pass over the road either way, stopping at all points, on the faith of a pledge of such government that he transmits no intelligence and affords no aid to the Con- FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOE. 303 federates. The officer commanding the post having the terminus of such road within his pickets, will cause a thorough inspection of the cars and boats for the purpose of farthering this order, and will offer no farther hindrance so long as this order is in good faith complied with.” III. “The commanding general of the Department of the Gulf has been in- formed that live stock, flour, and provisions, purchased for subsistence of the inhabitants of the city of New Orleans, are now at the junction of the Ked and Mississippi rivers. The suffering condition of the poor of the city, for want of these supplies, appeals to the humanity of those having author- ity on either side. For the purpose, therefore, of the safe transmission of these supplies to the city, the commanding general orders and directs that a safe conduct be afforded for two steamers, to be laden with provisions, cattle, and supplies of food, either alive or slaughtered, each day, if so many choose to come. This safe conduct shall extend to their entire protection by the forces of the United States during their coming, reasonable delay for discharge, not exceeding six days, unless in case of accident to their machinery, and in returning to or near the junction of the Ked and Missis- sippi rivers. “And safe conduct is farther granted to boats, laden as before stated, with provisions for New Orleans from any point above the junction of such rivers, if at any time during which these supplies are needed the forces of the United States should be at or above such junction. “These boats will take no passengers save the owners or keepers of the freight aforesaid, and will be subject to strict inspection by the harbor- master detailed from these head-quarters, to whom they will report their arrival. “The faith of the city is pledged for the faithful execution of the require- ments of this order on the part of the agent of the city authorities, who will be allowed to pass with the boats either way, he giving no intelligence or aid to the Confederates.” For the immediate relief of the poor, General Butler gave from his own resources a thousand dollars, half in money, half in pro- visions. His brother, Colonel A. J. Butler, who found himself, by the action of the senate, without employment in New Orleans, and having both capital and credit at command, embarked in the business of bringing cattle from Texas, to the great advantage of the city and his own considerable profit. The quartermaster’s chest being empty, General Butler placed all the money of bis own, which he could raise, at his disposal. Provisions soon began to 304 FEEDING AND E5IFEOYING THE POOR. arrive, but not in the requisite quantities. At the end of a month, flour bad fallen to twenty-four dollars a barrel ; hut nearly nine- teen hundred families were daily fed at the public expense, and thousands more barely contrived to subsist. It immediately appeared that every one of the passes and per- mits issued by the general, in accordance with the orders just given, was abused, to the aid and comfort of secession. It was discovered that provisions were secretly sent out of the city to feed General Lovell’s troops. It was ascertained that Charles I Heidsieck, one of the champagne Heidsiecks, had come from Mo- bile in the provision steamboat, disguised as a bar-keeper, and con- veyed letters to and from that city ; an offense which consigned him speedily to Fort Jackson. Nor did the city government stir m the business of providing for the poor ; not a dollar was voted, not a relieving act was passed. The city was reeking, too, with the accumulated filth of many weeks, the removal of which would have afforded employment to many hungry men ; but it was suf- fered to remain, inviting the yellow fever. General Butler, on the 9th of May, reminded the mayor and council of the compact between himself and the city authorities made five days before. “ I desire,” said he, “ to call your atten- tion to the sanitary condition of your streets. Having assumed, by the choice of your fellow-citizens and the permission of the United States authorities, the care of the city of New Orleans in this behalf, that trust must be faithfully administered. Resolu- tions and inaction will not do. Active, energetic measures, fully and promptly executed, are imperatively demanded by the exi- gencies of the occasion. The present suspension of labor fur- nishes ample supplies of hungry men, who can be profitably em- ployed to this end. A tithe of the labor and effort spent upon the streets and public squares, which was uselessly and inanely wasted upon idle fortifications, like that about the United States Mint, will place the city in a condition to insure the health of its inhabitants. It ■will not do to shift the responsibility from yourselves to the street commissioners, from thence to the contractor, and thence to the sub-contractors, and through all the grades of civic idleness and neglect of duty. Three days since I called the attention of Mr. Mayor to this subject, and nothing has been done.” The mayor boldly replied that three hundred extra men had been FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. 305 set to -work upon the streets. No such force could be discovered by the optics of Union officers. Steps mny have been taken toward the employment of men, and even “extra men,” in cleaning the city; but it is certain that, up to the ninth of May, no street-cleaners were actually at work. The weather was extremely hot, and the need of purification was manifest and pressing. On the same day, General Butler issued one of his startling gen- eral orders, the terms and tone of which were doubtless influenced by the mayor’s audacious reply, as well as by the abuse of the passes which admitted food to a starving city. “New Orleans, May 9, 1862. “ The deplorable state of destitution and hunger of the mechanics and working classes of this city has been brought to the knowledge of the com- manding general. “ He has yielded to every suggestion made by the city government, and ordered every method of furnishing food to the people of New Orleans that government desired. No relief by those officials has yet been afforded. This hunger does not pinch the wealthy and influential, the leaders of the rebellion, who have gotten up this war, and are now endeavoring to prose- cute it, without regard to the starving poor, the workingman, his wife and child. Unmindful of their suffering fellow-citizens at home, they have caused or suffered provisions to be carried out of the city for Confederate service since the occupation by the United States forces. “ Lafayette Square, their home of affluence, was made the depot of stores and munitions of war for the rebel armies, and not of provisions for their poor neighbors. Striking hands with the vile, the gambler, the idler, and the ruffian, they have destroyed the sugar and cotton which might have been exchanged for food for the industrious and good, and regrated the price of that which is left, by discrediting the very currency they had fur- nished, while they eloped with the specie ; as well that stolen from the United States, as from the banks, the property of the good people of New Orleans, thus leaving them to ruin and starvation. “Fugitives from justice many of them, and others, their associates, stay- ing because too puerile and insignificant to be objects of punishment by the clement government of the United States. “ They have betrayed their country : “ They have been false to every trust : “They have shown themselves incapable of defending the state they hat seized upon, although they have forced every poor man’s child into their service as soldiers for that purpose, while they made their sons and ne- phews officers : 306 FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. “ They can not protect those whom they have ruined, but have left them to the mercies and assassinations of a chronic mob : “ They will not feed those whom they are starving : “ Mostly without property themselves, they have plundered, stolen, and destroyed the means of those who had property, leaving children penniless and old age hopeless. “ Men of Louisiana, workingmen, property-holders, merchants, and citizens op the United States, of whatever nation you may have had birth, how long will you uphold these flagrant wrongs, and, by inaction, suffer yourselves to be made the serfs of these leaders ? “The United States have sent land and naval forces here to fight and subdue rebellious armies in array against her authority. We find, substan- tially, only fugitive masses, runaway property-burners, a whisky-drinking mob, and starving citizens with their wives and children. It is our duty to call back the first, to punish the second, root out the third, feed and pro- tect the last. “ Keady only for war, we had not prepared ourselves to feed the hungry and relieve the distressed with provisions. But to the extent possible, within the power of the commanding general, it shall be done. “He has captured a quantity of beef and sugar intended for the rebels in the field. A thousand barrels of these stores will be distributed among the deserving poor of this city, from whom the rebels had plundered it ; even although some of the food will go to supply the craving wants of the wives and children of those now herding at ‘ Camp Moore’ and else- where, in arms against the United States. “ Captain John Clark, acting chief commissary of subsistence, will be charged with the execution of this order, and will give public notice of the place and manner of distribution, which will be arranged, as far as possi- ble, so that the unworthy and dissolute will not share its benefits.” Another measure of relief was adopted when the arrival of stores from New York had delivered the army itself from the danger of scarcity. The chief commissary was authorized to “ sell to families for consumption, in small quantities, until farther orders, flour and salt meats, viz. : pork, beef, ham, and bacon, from the stores of the army, at seven and a half cents per pound for flour and ten cents for meats. City bank-notes, gold, silver, or treasury notes to be taken in payment.” The city government still neglecting tho streets, General Butler conceived the idea of combining the relief of the poor with the puri- fication of the city. There was nothing upon which he was more resolved than the disappointment of rebel hones with regard to the FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. 307 yellow fever. He understood tlie yellow fever, knew the secret of its visitations, felt himself equal to a successful contest with it. June fourth (the mayor of the city being then in a state of suppres- sion at Fort Jackson, for acts yet to be related), the general sketched his plan in the following letter to General Shepley and the common council: Mew Orleans, June 4, 1862. “To the Military Commandant and City Council of Mew Orleans: . “ General Shepley and Gentlemen : — Painful necessity compels some action in relation to the unemployed and starving poor of Mew Orleans. Men willing to labor can not get work by which to support themselves and families, and are suffering for food. “Because of the sins of their betrayers, a worse than the primal curse seems to have fallen upon them. ‘In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread until thou return unto the ground.’ “ The condition of the streets of the city calls for the promptest action for a greater cleanliness and more perfect sanitary preparations. “ To relieve, as far as I may be able to do, both difficulties, I propose to the city government, as follows : “1. The city shall employ upon the streets, squares, and unoccupied lands in the city, a force of men, with proper implements, and under com- petent direction, to the number of two thousand, for at least thirty work- ing days, in putting those places in such condition as, with blessing of Providence, shall insure the health as well of the citizens as of the troops. “ The necessities of military operations will detain in the city a larger number of those who commonly leave it during the summer, especially wo- men and children, than are usually resident here during the hot months. Their health must be cared for by you; I will care for my troops. The miasma which sickens the one will harm the other. The epidemic so earn- estly prayed for by the wicked will hardly sweep away the strong man, although he may be armed, and leave the weaker woman and child un- touched. “ 2. That each man of this force be paid by the city from its revenues fifty cents per day, and a larger sum for skilled labor, for each day’s labor of ten hours, toward the support of their families, and that in the selection of laborers, men with families dependent upon them be preferred. “ 3. That the United States shall issue to each laborer so employed, for each day’s Work, a full ration for a soldier, containing over fifty ounces of wholesome food, which, with economy, will support a man and a woman. “ This issue will be fully equal in value, at the present prices of food, to the sum paid by the city. 308 FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOK. •‘4. That proper muster-rolls be prepared of these laborers, and details so arranged, that only those that labor, with their families, shall he fed from this source. “5. No paroled soldier or person who has served in the Confederate forces shall be employed, unless he takes the oath of allegiance to the Uni- ted States. “I shall be glad to arrange the details of this proposal through the aid of Colonel Shafer, of the quartermaster department, and Colonel Turner, j of the subsistence department, as soon as it has been acted on by you.” General Shepley communicated this letter to the council, who readily adopted the plan, and appointed a gentleman to superintend their share in it. On the part of the United States, General Shep- ley named Colonel T. B. Thorpe, the well-known author of the “Bee Hunter,” who had received the appointment of city surveyor. The entire management of the two thousand laborers fell to Colonel Thorpe, as his colleague refused to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, which General Butler made a sine qua non. Uo man could have done the work better. He waged incessant and most successful war upon nuisances. He tore away shanties, filled up hollows, purged the canals, cleaned the streets, repaired the levee, 1 and kept the city in such perfect cleanliness as extorted praise from the bitterest foes of his country and his chief. In gangs of twenty- ; five, each under an overseer, the street-sweepers pervaded the city. “It was a reflecting sight,” says an eye-witness, “to behold these men on the highways and by-ways, with their shovels and brooms ; and it was still more gratifying to notice and to feel the happy effects of their work. The street cleaning commenced, the colonel then undertook the distribution of the food to the families of the laborers, and this was a task of no ordinary magnitude. A thousand half-starved women, made impatient by days of starvation, brought in contact and left to struggle at the entrance of some ill- arranged establishment, for their food and rights, was a formidable subject of contemplation ; so the colonel organized a distributing department, and so well managed his plans that the food is being j given out with all the quietness of a popular grocery. To secure | the object of the charity, he had tickets printed that made the de- livery of the food to the women only ; in this way it was carried i into the family, consumed by the helpless, and not sold by the un principled for nun. The moment Colonel Thorpe’s name appeared FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. b'09 a the papers, he was hooded with letters calling his attention to auisances, the people acting voluntarily as street inspectors. By a judicious distribution of labor, in a few days the change became a subject of comment, some of the most furious secessionists admit- :ing ‘ that the federals could clean the streets, if they couldn’t do anything else.’ ”* Colonel Thorpe’s labors were permanently beneficial to the city in many ways. The freaks of the Mississippi river constantly t create new land within the city limits. This land, which is called bcitture (shoal), requires the labor of man before it is com- pletely rescued from the domains of the river. It is computed that Colonel Thorpe’s skillfully directed exertions upon the batture ad- ded to the city a quantity of land worth a million of dollars. And this leads us to the most remarkable of all the circum- stances attending General Butler’s relief of the poor of New Or- leans. He not only made it profitable to the city, but he managed it so as not to add one dollar to the expenditures of his own gov- ernment. At a time when thirty-five thousand persons were sup- ported by the public funds, he could still boast, and with literal truth, that it cost the United States nothing. “You are the cheap- est general we have employed,” said Mr. Chase, when acknowl- I edging the return of twenty-five thousand dollars in gold, which had been sent to General Butler’s commissary. The following general order explains the secret : “New Orleans, Augusts, 1862. “ It appears that the need of relief to the destitute poor of the city re- quires more extended measures and greater outlay than have yet been made. “It becomes a question, injustice, upon whom should this burden fall. “ Clearly upon those who have brought this great calamity upon their fellow-citizens. “It should not be borne by taxation of the whole municipality, because the middling and working men have never been heard at the ballot-box, unawed by threats and unmenaced by ‘Thugs’ and paid assassins of con- spirators against peace and good order. Besides, more than the vote that was claimed for secession have taken the oath of allegiance to the United States. “ The United States government does its share when it protects, defends, and preserves the people in the enjoyment of law, order, and calm quiet. “ Those who have brought upon the city this stagnation of business, this * Correspondent of TTeio York Times , July 21, 1S62. 310 FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. desolation of the hearth-stone, this starvation of the poor and helpless, should, as far as they may be able, relieve these distresses. “There are two classes whom it would seem peculiarly fit should at first contribute to this end. First, those individuals and corporations who have aided the rebellion with their means : and second, those who have endeav- ored to destroy the commercial prosperity of the city, upon which the wel- fare of its inhabitants depend. “ It is brought to the knowledge of the commanding general that a sub- scription of twelve hundred and fifty thousand dollars was made by the corporate bodies, business firms, and persons whose names are set forth in schedule ‘ A’ annexed to this order, and that sum placed in the hands of an illegal body known as the 4 Committee of Public Safety,’ for the treason- able purpose of defending the city against the government of the United States, under whose humane rule the city of New Orleans had enjoyed such unexampled prosperity, that her warehouses were filled with trade of all nations who came to share her freedom, to take part in the benefits of her commercial superiority, and thus she was made the representative mart of the world. “ The stupidity and wastefulness with which this immense sum was spent was only equaled by the folly which led to its being raised at all. The subscribers to this fund, by this very act, betray their treasonable designs and their ability to pay at least a much smaller tax for the relief of their destitute and starving neighbors. ‘‘Schedule ‘B’ is a list of cotton brokers, who, claiming to control that great interest in New Orleans, to which she is so much indebted for her wealth, published in the newspapers, in October, 1861, a manifesto deliber- ately advising the planters not to bring their produce to the city, a meas- ure which brought ruiu at the same time upon the producer and the city. “This act sufficiently testifies the malignity of these traitors, as well to the government as their neighbors, and it is to be regretted that their abil- ity to relieve their fellow-citizens is not equal to their facilities for injuring them. “ In taxing both these classes to relieve the suffering poor of New Or- leans, yea, even though the needy be the starving wdves and children of those in arms at Richmond and elsewhere against the United States, it will be impossible to make a mistake save in having the assessment too easy and the burden too light. “ It is therefore Ordered — “1st. That the sums in schedules annexed, marked ‘A’ and ‘B,’ set against the names of the several persons, business firms and corporations herein described, be and hereby are assessed upon each respectively. “2d. That said sums be paid to Lieutenant David 0. G. Field, financial clerk, at his office in the Custom-House, on or before Monday, the 11th in- FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOB. 311 6tant, or that the property of the delinquent be forthwith seized and sold at public auction, to pay the amount, with all necessary charges and expenses, or the party imprisoned till paid. “ 3d. The money raised by this assessment to be a fund for the purpose of providing employment and food for the deserving poor people of New Orleans.” The promised schedules followed. The first contained ninety-five names, arranged thus : SCHEDULE A. List of subscribers to the Million and a Quarter Loan, placed in the hands of the Committee of Public Safety, for the defense of New Orleans against the United States, and expended by them some $38,000. Sums subscribed to aid treason against the United States. Abat, Generes & Co $210,000 Jonathan Montgomery 40,000 Thos. Sloo, President Sun Insurance Co. . . . 50,000 C. C. Gaines 2,000 C. C. Gaines & Co 3,000 Sums assessed to relieve the poor by the United States. $52,500 10,000 12,500 500 750 The sum yielded by this schedule was $312,716.25. The second schedule, which contained ninety-four names, began thus : SCHEDULE B. List of Cotton Brokers of New Orleans who published in the Crescent, in October last, a card advising planters not to send produce to New Or- leans, in order to induce foreign intervention in behalf of the rebellion. Sums assessed to relieve the starving poor by the United States. Hewitt, Norton & Co $500 West & Villerie 250 S. E. Belknap 100 Brander, Chambliss & Co 500 Lewis & Oglesby 100 The amount of this assessment was $29,200. General Order, No. 55, placed at the disposal of General Butler, for the support of the poor of the city, the sum of $341,916.25. To complete our knowledge of this unique transaction, the fol lowing brief documents are requisite : 312 FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. “ Few Orleans, August 7th, 1862. “ Special Order, Fo. 247. “ J. 0. Ricks, D. K. Carroll and A. D. Kelley, having been absent from the city at the time of drawing up the original card, ‘ advising planters nol to send produce to Few Orleans,’ but on their return, having deemed if advisable to issue a card, placing themselves in the same position, are here- by taxed in the sum of $500.00 each, in accordance with General Ordei Fo. 55.” “ Few Orleans, August 6th, 1862. “ Special Order, Fo. 244. “ The city surveyor and street commissioner are authorized to employ not less than one thousand men (including those now employed), to work on the streets, wharves and canals. In the selection of these laborers, married men will have the preference. These men to be paid out of tho employment and relief fund raised by General Order Fo. 55. “ While this force was paid by taxation of the property of the city, the commanding general felt authorized to employ it only in the most econom- ical manner, hut it now being employed at the expense of their rebellious neighbors, the commanding general proposes that they shall be paid the same sum that was paid them by the same party for work on the for- tifications, to wit: one dollar and a half for each day’s labor. “ The rations, heretofore a gift to these laborers by the United States, will now be discontinued. “ The order to take effect from and after the first Monday in August, 1862.” The effect produced by a measure so boldly just, upon the minds of the ruling class of New Orleans, can scarcely be imagined. It was the more stunning from the fact, that after three months’ ex- perience of General Butler’s government, his orders were known to be the irreversible fiat of irresistible power. Every man who saw his name on either catalogue, was perfectly aware that the sum an- nexed thereto must be paid on or before the designated day. Pro- test he might, but pay he must. Money first ; argument afterward. The loyal Delta , conducted then by two officers of General Butler’s army, Captain John Clark, formerly of the Boston Courier , and Lieutenant-Colonel E. M. Brown, of the Eighth Vermont, discoursed humorously upon the agitation in the fashionable quarter on the day the order was promulgated : “ For the first time these many months, the liahitues de la grande Due (Carondelet), woke from their lethargy. Sleek old FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. 313 gentlemen, whose stomachs are distended with turtle, and who sport ivory-headed canes, and wear on their noses two-eyed glasses rimmed with gold, came out from their umbrageous seclusions in Prytania street, Coliseum Place, and other rural portions of the Garden District, to condole with each other upon the once more animated flags. At an early hour knots of these aldermanic looking gentry, with white vests and stiffened shirt collars, had collected in the vicinity of Colonel Baxter’s corner, for the purpose of discuss- ing the merits of Order jSTo. 55, which was destined to disturb the equilibrium of many a cash balance, and to cause unwilling fingers to dive into the depths of plethoric pockets, long undisturbed by the prying digits of their sumptuous owners. It was interesting to contemplate the sorrowful visages of this funereal crowd. Some of them had been taxed hundreds, and some to the tune of thou- sands ; but all alike bore the solemn aspect of unresisting muttons led silently to the slaughter. They had made their money easily, to be sure, but parting with it was like pulling teeth. Some of these men are worth a million or two ; a few perhaps as much as ten millions in real estate, stocks, bonds, and expectations ; and others again are known as poor men , tolerably well to do, worth from three to five hundred thousand apiece. For these latter to be taxed as high as a hundred dollars out of the little savings which they had laid up by means of two and a half per cent, advance on cotton crops, and two and a half per cent, commissions, and yet other per centa- ges for brokerage, and stealage, seemed rather hard, at least to them.” The Delta , however, assured the gentlemen, and with perfect truth, that lamentations would not do. “ The poor must be em- ployed and fed, and you must disgorge. It will never do to have it said, that while you lie back on cushioned divans, tasting turtle, and sipping the wine cup, dressed in fine linen, and rolling in lordly carriages — that gaunt hunger stalked in the once busy streets, and poverty flouted its rags for the want of the privilege to woi'k.” There was but one court of appeal in New Orleans, open to a distressed secessionist— the consulate of the country of which he could claim to be a citizen. The consuls lent a sympathizing ear to all complaints, and willingly forwarded them to their ministers at Washington; who, in turn, laid them before the secretary of state, The protest of some of the “neutrals” in blew Orleans gave Gen 314 FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. oral Butler the opportunity to vindicate the justice of Order No. 55, and he performed the task with a master’s hand. The following let- ter will he found to contain important and interesting history, some curious geography, and much unanswerable argument : “ Bead-quarters, Department of the Gulf, “New Orleans, October, 1862. “Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War: “ Sir : — I have the honor to report the facts and circumstances of my General Order No. 55, in answer to the complaints of the Prussian and French legations, as to the enforcement of that order upon certain inhabi- tants of New Orleans, claimed to be the subjects of these respective govern- ments. “ Before discussing the speciality and personal relations of the several complainants, it will be necessary, in a general way, to give an account of the state of things which I found had existed, and was then existing at New Orleans upon its capture by the federal troops, to show the status of the several classes upon which General Order No. 55 takes effect. “ In October, 1861, about the time Mason and Slidell left the city upon their mission to Europe, to obtain the intervention of foreign powers, great hopes were entertained by the rebels, that the European governments would be induced to interfere from want of a supply of cotton. This supply was being had, to a degree, through the agency of the small vessels shooting out ’ey the numerous bayous, lagoons and creeks, with which the southern part of Louisiana is penetrated. They eluded the blockade, and conveyed very considerable amounts of cotton to Havana and other foreign ports, where arms and munitions of war were largely imported through the same chan- nels in exchange. Indeed, as I have before had the honor to inform the de- partment of state, it was made a condition of the very passes given by Governor Moore, that a quantity of arms and powder should be returned in proportion to the cotton shipped. “ The very high prices of the outward as well as the inward cargoes, made these ventures profitable, although but one in three got through with safety. “Nor does the fact, that so considerable quantities of cotton escaped the blockading force at all impugn the efficiency of the blockading squadron, when it is taken into consideration, that without using either of the princi- pal water communications with the city through the ‘Rigolets” or the 1 Passes’ at the Delta of the river, there' are at least fifty-three distinct outlets to the gulf from New Orleans by water communication, by light- draught vessels. Of course, not a pound of the cotton that went through these channels found its way north, unless it was purchased at a foreign port. To prevent even this supply of the European manufactures became an ob- FEEDLN G AND EMPLOYING THE POOB. 315 ject of the greatest interest to the rebels ; and prior to October, 1861, all the principal cotton factors of Hew Orleans, to the number of about a hundred, united in an address, signed with their names, to the planters, ad- vising them not to send their cotton to Hew Orleans, for the avowed reason that if it was sent, the cotton would find its way to foreign ports, and fur- nish the interest ‘of Europe and the United States with the product of which they are most in need, * * * * and thus contribute to the main- tenance of that quasi neutrality, which European nations have thought proper to avow.’ “ ‘ This address proving ineffectual to maintain the policy we had deter- mined upon, and which not only received the sanction of public opinion here, but which has been so. promptly and cheerfully followed by the plant- ers and factors of the other states of the Confederacy,’ the same cotton fac- tors made a petition to Governor Moore and General Twiggs, to ‘devise means to prevent any shipment of cotton to Hew Orleans whatever.’ “For answer to this petition, Governor Moore issued a proclamation for- bidding tire bringing of cotton within the limits of the city, under the pen- alties therein prescribed. “ This action was concurred in by General Twiggs, then in command of the Confederate forces, and enforced by newspaper articles, published in the leading journals. “ This was one of the series of offensive measures which were undertaken by the mercantile community of Hew Orleans, of which a large portion were foreigners, and of which the complainant of Order Ho. 55 formed a part, in aid of the rebellion. “ The only cotton allowed to be shipped during the autumn and winter of 1861 and ’62, washy permits of Governor Moore, granted upon the ex- press condition, that at least one-half in value should be returned in arms and munitions of war. In this traffic, almost the entire mercantile houses of Hew Orleans were engaged. Joint-stock companies were formed, shares issued, vessels bought, cargoes shipped, arms returned, immense profits re- alized ; and the speculation and trading energy of the whole community was turned in this direction. It will be borne in mind that quite two-thirds af the trading community were foreign born, and now claim exemption :’rom all duties as citizens, and exemption from liabilities for all their acts, because of being ‘ foreign neutrals.’ “ Mhen the expedition which I had the high honor to be intrusted to command, landed at Ship Island, and seemed to threaten Hew Orleans, the nost energetic efforts were made by the state and Confederate authorities or the defense of the city. Hearly the entire foreign population, of the city mrolled itself in companies, battalions, and brigades, representing different lationalities. “ They were armed, uniformed, and equipped, drilled and maneuvered- 14 316 FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. and reported for service to the Confederate generals. Many of the foreign officers took the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States. The briga- dier-general in command of the European Brigade, Paul Jnge, Fils , a natu- ralized citizen of the United States, but born in France, renounced his citizenship, and applied to the French government to he restored to his for- mer citizenship as a native of France, at the very time he held the command of this foreign legion. “The Prussian consul, now General Reichard, of 'the Confederate army, of whom we shall have more to say in the course of this report, raised a battalion of his countrymen, and went to Virginia, where he has been pro- moted for his gallantry in the rebel service, leaving his commercial partner, Mr. Kruttschnidt, now acting Prussian consul, who has married the sister of the rebel secretary of war, to embarrass as much as possible the United States officers here, by subscriptions to ‘ city defense funds,’ and groundless complaints to the Prussian minister. “ I have thus endeavored to give a faithful and exact account of the state of the foreign population of Mew Orleans, on the fifteenth day of February, 1862. “In October, 1861, the city had voted to erect a battery out of this ‘defense fund.’ On the 19th of February, 1862, the city council, by vote, published and commented upon in the newspapers, placed in the hands of the Confederate General Lovell, fifty thousand dollars, to be expended by him in the defenses of the city. “ It will, therefore, clearly appear that all the inhabitants of the city knew that the city council were raising and expending large sums for war purposes. “ On the 20th of the same February, the city council raised an extraor- dinary 1 Committee of Public Safety,’ from the body of the inhabitants at large, consisting of sixty members, for the ‘ purpose of co-operating with the Confederate and state authorities in devising means for the defense of the city and its approaches.’ “On the 27th of the same February, the city council adopted a series of resolutions : — “ 1st. Recommending the issue of one million dollars of city bonds, for the purpose of purchasing arms and munitions of war, and to provide for the successful defense of the city and its approaches. “2d. To appropriate twenty-five thousand dollars for the purpose of uniforming and equipping soldiers mustered into the service of the country. “ 3d. Pledging the council to support the families of all soldiers who shall volunteer for the war. “ On the 3d of March, 1862, the city council authorized the mayor to issue the bonds of the city for a million of dollars ; and provided that the chairman of the finance committee might ‘ pay over the said bonds to the FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. 317 Committee of Public Safety, appointed by the common council of the city of New Orleans, as per resolution, No. 8,930, approved 20th of February, 1862, in such sums as they may require for the purchase of arms and mu nitions o^ war, provisions, or to provide any means for the successful defense of the city and it- approaches ’ ■ “And, at the same time, authorized the chairman of the finance com- mittee ‘ to pay over $25,000 to troops mustered into the state service, who should go to the fight at Columbus or elsewhere, under General Beaure- gard.’ “ It was to this fund, in the hands of this extraordinary committee, so published with its objects and purposes, that the complainants subscribed their money, and now claim exemption upon the ground of neutrality, and want of knowledge of the purposes of the fund. • “It will be remembered that all the steps of the raising of the committee to dispose of this fund were published, and ivere matters of great public notoriety'. The fact that the bonds were in the hands of such an extraor- dinary committee, should have put every prudent person on his guard. “ All the leading secessionists of the city were subscribers to the same fund. ! “Will it be pretended for a moment that these persons — bankers, mer- chants, brokers, who are making this complaint, did not know what this fund was, and its purposes, to which they were subscribing by thousands if dollars? ■ “ Did Mr. Rochereau for instance, who had taken an oath to support the Confederate States, a banker, and then a colonel commanding a body of roops in the service of the Confederates, never hear for what purpose the lity was raising a million and a quarter in bonds ? “ Take the Prussian consul, who complains for himself and the Mrs. Yo- *el whom he represents, as an example. Did he know' about this fund? 3e, a trader, a Jew famed for a bargain, who had married the sister of the •ebel secretary of war, the partner of General Reichard, late Prussian con- ral, then in command in the Confederate army, who subscribed for himself, lis partner and Mrs. Y ogel, the wife of his former partner, thirty thousand lollars — did he not know 7 what he was doing, when he bought these bonds >f this ‘ Committee of Public Safety V “ On the. contrary, it was done to aid the rebellion to which he was sound by his sympathies, his social relations, his business connections and narriage ties. But it is said that this subscription is made to the fund for he sake of the investment. It will appear, however, by a careful examina- ,ion, that Mr. Eruttsclmidt collected for his principal a note, secured by nortgage, in anticipation of its being due, in order to purchase twenty-five housand dollars of this loan. Without, however, descending into purticu- ars, is the profitableness of the investment to be permitted to be alleged as 318 FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOE. a sufficient apology for aiding the rebellion by money and arms ? If so, all their army contractors, principally Jews, should he held blameless, for they have made immense fortunes by the war. Indeed, I suppose another Jew — one Judas — thought his investment iu the thirty pieces of silver was a profitable one, until the penalty of treachery reached him. “ When I took possession of New Orleans, I found the city nearly on the verge of starvation, but thirty days’ provision in it, and the poor utter- ly without the means of procuring what food there was to be had. “ I endeavored to aid the city government in the work of feeding the poor ; but I soon found that the very distribution of food was a means faithlessly used to encourage the rebellion. I was obliged, therefore, to take the whole matter into my own hands. It became a subject of alarming importance and gravity. It became necessary to provide from some source the funds to procure the food. They could not be raised by city taxation, in the ordinary form. These taxes were in arrears to more than a million of dollars. Besides, it ■would be unjust to tax the loyal citizens and hon- estly neutral foreigner, to provide for a state of things brought about by the rebels and disloyal foreigners related to them by ties of blood, marriage, and social relation, who had conspired and labored together to overthrow the authority of the United States, and establish the very result which was to be met. “ F arther, in order to have a contribution effective, it must bo upon those who have wealth to answer it. “There seemed to me no such fit subjects for such taxation as the cotton brokers who had brought the distress upon the city, by thus paralyzing commerce, and the subscribers to this loan, who had money to invest for purposes of war, so advertised and known as above described. “ With these convictions, I issued General Order No. 55, which will ex- plain itself, and have raised nearly the amount of the tax therein set forth. “ But for what purpose ? Not a dollar has gone in any way to the use of the United States. I am now employing one thousand poor laborers, as matter of charity, upon the streets and wharves of the city, from this fund. I am distributing food to preserve from starvation nine thousand seven hundred and seven families, containing ‘thirty-two thousand four hun- dred and fifty souls’ daily, and this done at an expense of seventy thousand dollars per month. I am sustaining, at an expense of two thousand dollars per month, five asylums for widows and orphans. I am aiding the Charity hospital to the extent of five thousand dollars per month. “Before their excellencies, the French and Prussian ministers, complain of my exactions upon foreigners at New Orleans, I desire they 'would look at the documents, and consider for a few moments the facts and figures set forth in the returns and in this report. They will find that out of ten thou- sand four hundred and ninety families who have been fed from the fund) FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOE. 819 with the raising of which they find fanlt, less than one-tentli (one thousand and ten) are Americans ; nine thousand four hundred and eighty are for- eigners. Of the thirty-two thousand souls, but three thousand are natives. Besides, the charity at the asylums and hospitals distributed in about the same proportions as to foreign and native born ; so that of an expendi- ture of near eighty thousand dollars per month, to employ and feed the starving poor of Hew Orleans, seventy-two thousand goes to the foreigners, whose compatriots loudly complain, and offensively thrust forward their neutrality, whenever they are called upon to aid their suffering country- men. “I should need no extraordinary taxation to feed the poor of ISTew Or- leans, if the bellies of the foreigners were as actively with the rebels, as are the heads of those who claim exemption, thus far, from this taxation, made and used for purposes above set forth, upon the ground of their neutrality ; among whom I find Bochereau & Co., the senior partner of which firm took an oath of allegiance to support the constitution of the Confederate States. “ I find also the house of Reichard & Co., the senior partner of which, General Reichard, is in the rebel army. I find the junior partner, Mr. Erutt schnidt, the brother-in-law of Benjamin, the rebel secretary of war, using all the funds in his hands to purchase arms, and collecting the securities of his correspondent before they are due, to get funds to loan to the rebel au- thorities, and now acting Prussian consul here, doing quite as effective ser- vice to the rebels as his partner in the field. I find Mme. Yogel, late part ner in the same house of Reichard & Co., now absent, whose funds are man aged by that house. I find M. Paesher & Co., bankers, whose clerks and employes formed a part of the French legion, organized to fight the United States, and who contributed largely to arm and equip that corps. And a Mr. Lewis, whose antecedents I have not had time to investigate. “And these are fair specimens of the neutrality of the foreigners, for whom the government is called upon to interfere, to prevent their paying anything toward the Relief Fund for their starving countrymen. “ If the representatives of the foreign governments will feed their own starving people, over whom the only protection they extend, so far as I see, is to tax them all, poor and rich, a dollar and a half each for certificates of nationality, I will release the foreigners from all the exactions, fines, and imposts whatever. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, “Benjamin F. Buti.ee, u Major-General Commanding.” There is the whole case, written out, as all of General Bu' ler’s dispatches were, late at night, after twelve or fifteen hours of intense exertion. After such a reaper there is scanty gleaning. Let me add, however, that among the documents relating to the B20 FEEDING AND EMPLOYIN' G THE POOR. expedition may be found many little notes, written in an educated, feminine hand, conveying to General Butler the thanks of “ Sister Emily,” “ Mother Alphonso,” and other Catholic ladies, for the assistance afforded by him to the orphans, the widows, and the sick under their charge ; “ whose prayers,” they add, “ will daily ascend to Heaven in his behalf.” During the latter half of his ad- ministration, the charities of New Orleans were almost wholly sus- tained from the funds wrung from “ neutral” foes by Order No. 55. The great Charity hospital received, as we have seen, five thousand a month. To the orphans of St. Elizabeth, when the public funds ran low, the general gave five hundred dollars of his own money, besides ordering rations from the public stores at his own charge, : and causing the Confederate notes held by the asylum to be dis- posed of to the best advantage. A commission was appointed, after a time, to inquire into the condition and needs of all the asy- lums, hospital and charity schools in the city, and to report the amount of aid proper to be allowed to each. The report of the commission shows, that the rations granted them by General Butler were all that enabled them to continue their ministrations to the helpless and the ignorant, the widow, the orphan, and the sick. I may afford space for a letter addressed by the commanding general to the Superior of the Sisters of Charity, upon the occasion of the accidental injury of their edifice during the bombardment of Donaldsonville. It is not px-ecisely the kind of utterance which we should naturally expect from a “ Beast.” “ Head-quarters, Department of toe Gulf, “ New Orleans, September 2d, 1862. “ Madame : I had no information until the reception of your note, that so sad a result to the sisters of your command had happened from the bom- bardment of Donaldsonville. “I am very, very sorry that Rear-Admiral Farragut was unaware that he was injuring your establishment by his shells. Any injury must have been entirely accidental. The destruction of that town became a necessity. The inhabitants harbored a gang of cowardly guerillas, who commuted every atrocity ; amongst others, that of firing upon an unarmed boat crowded with women and children, going up the coast, returning to their homes, many of them having been at school at New Orleans. “ It is impossible to allow such acts ; and I am only sorry that the right- eous punishment meted out to them in this instance, as indeed in all others, fell quite as heavily upon the innocent and unoffending as upon the guilty. FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. 321 “ No one can appreciate more fully than myself the holy, self-sacrificing jabors of the sisters of charity. To them our soldiers are daily indebted for the kindest offices. Sisters of all mankind, they know no nation, no kindred, neither war nor peace. Their all-pervading charity is like the boundless love of ‘Him who died for all,’ whose servants they are, and whose pure teachings their love illustrates. “ I repeat the expression of my grief, that any harm should have befallen your society of sisters ; and 1 cheerfully repair it, as far as I may, in the manner you suggest, by filling the order you have sent to the city for pro- visions and medicines. “ Your sisters in the city will also farther testify to you, that my officers and soldiers have never failed to do to them all in their power to aid them in their usefulness, and to lighten the burden of their labors. “ "With sentiments of the highest respect, believe me, your friend, “ Benjamin F. Butlee. Santa Maria Claea, “ Superior and Sister of Charity.' 1 '' The relief afforded by Order No. 55, liberal as it was, did but alleviate the distresses of the poor. The whole land was stricken. The frequent marching of armed bodies swept the country of the scanty produce of a soil deserted by the ablest of its proprietors. In the city, life was just endurable ; beyond the Union lines, most of the people were hungry, half naked, and without medicine. “ The condition of the people here,” Avrote General Butler to General Halleck, September 1st, “ is a very alarming one. They literally come down to starvation. Not only in the city, but in the country ; planters who, in peaceful times, would have spent the summer at Saratoga, are now on their plantations, essentially without food. Hundreds weekly, by stealth, are coming across the lake to the city, reporting starvation on the lake shore. I am distributing, in various ways, about fifty thousand dollars per month in food, and more is needed. This is to the whites. My commis- sary is issuing rations to the amount of nearly double the amount required by the troops. This is to the blacks. “ They are now coming in by hundreds — say thousands — almost daily. Many of the plantations are deserted along the “ coast,” which, in this country’s phrase, means the river, from the city to Natchez. Crops of sugar-cane are left standing, to waste, which Avould make millions of dollars worth of sugar.” Such were some of the fruits of this most disastrous and most 322 THE WOMAN OKDEB. beneficent of all wars. Such were some of the difficulties with which the commander of the Department of the Gulf had to con- tend during the whole period of his administration. Clothed with powers more than imperial, such were some of the uses to which those powers were devoted. The government sustained Order No. 55. In December, the money derived from it having been exhausted, the measure was repeated. “New Orleans, December 9, 1862. “ Under General Order No. 55, current series- from these head-quarters, an assessment was made upon certain parties who had aided the rebellion, ‘to he appropriated to the relief of the starving poor of New Orleans.’ ” “ The calls upon the fund raised under that order have been frequent and urgent, and it is now exhausted. “ But the poor of this city have the same, or increased necessities for re- lief as then, and their calls must be heard ; and it is both fit and proper that the parties responsible for the present state of affairs should have the burden of their support. “ Therefore, the parties named in Schedules A and B, of General Order No. 55, as hereunto annexed, are assessed in like sums, and for the same purpose, and will make payment to D. 0. G. Field, financial clerk, at his office, at these head-quarters, on or before Monday, December 15, 1862.” CHAPTER XVIH. THE WOMAN ORDER. It concerns the people of the United States to know that seces- sion, regarded as a spiritual malady, is incurable. Every one knows this who, by serving on “ the frontiers of the rebellion,” has been brought in contact with its leaders. General Rosecrans knows it. General Grant knows it. General Burnside knows it. General Butler knows it. True, a large number of Southern men who have been touched Avith the epidemic, have recovered or are recov- ering. But the hundred and fifty thousand men who own the THE WOMAN ORDER. 823 slaves of the South, who own the best of the lands, who have always controlled its politics and swayed its drawing-rooms, in whom the disease is hereditary or original, whom it possesses and pervades, like the leprosy or the scrofula, or, rather, like the false- ness of the Stuarts and the imbecility of the Bourbons — these men will remain, as long as they draw the breath of life, enemies of all the good meaning which is summed up in the words, United States. It is from studying the characters of these people that we moderns may learn why it was that the great Cromwell and his heroes called the adherents of the mean and cruel Stuarts by the name of “Malignants.” They may be rendered innoxious by destroying their power, i. e., by abolishing slavery, which is their power ; but, as to converting them from the error of their minds, that is not possible. General Butler was aware of this from the beginning of the rebellion, and his experience in New Orleans was daily confirma- tion of his belief. Hence, his attitude toward the ruling class was warlike, and he strove in all w r ays to isolate that class, and bring the majority of the people to see who it was that had brought all this needless ruin upon their state ; and thus to array the majority against the few. Throwing the whole weight of his power against the oligarchy, he endeavored to save and conciliate the people, whom it was the secret design of the leaders to degrade and dis- franchise. He was in New Orleans as a general wdelding the power of his government, and as a democrat representing its principles. The first month of his administration was signalized by several warlike acts and utterances, aimed at the Spirit of Secession ; some of which excited a clamor throughout the whole secession world, on both continents, echoes of which are still occasionally heard. The following requires no explanation : “New Orleans, May 13, 1862. “It having come to the knowledge of the commanding general that Friday next is proposed to be observed as a day of fasting and prayer, in obedience to some supposed proclamation of one Jefferson Davis, in the several churches of this city, it is ordered that no such observance be had. “ ‘ Churches and religious houses are to be kept open as in time of pro- found peace,’ but no religious exercises are to be had upon the supposed authority above mentioned.” 14* 324 THE WOMAIf ORDER. This was General Order No. 27. The one next issued, the fa- mous Order No. 28, which relates to the conduct of some of the women of New Orleans, can not he dismissed quite so summarily. One might have expected to find among the women of the South i many abolitionists of the most “ radical” description. As upon the white race the blighting curse of slavery chiefly falls, so the women of that race sutler the consequences of the system which are the most degrading and the most painful. It leads their husbands astray, de- > bauches their brothers and their sons, enervates and coarsens their daughters. The wastefulness of the institution, its bungling stu- pidity, the heavy and needless burdens it imposes upon house- keepers, would come home, we should think, to the minds of all women not wholly incapable of reflection. I am able to state, that here and there, in the South, even in the cotton states, there are ladies who feel all the enormity, and comprehend the immense stu- pidity of slavery. I have heard them avow their abhorrence of it. One in particular, I remember, on the borders of South Carolina itself, a mother, glancing covertly at her languid son, and saying in the low tone of despair : “You cannot tell me anything about slavery. We women know what it is, if the men do not.” But it is the law of nature that the men and women of a community shall be morally equal. If all the women were made, by miracle, perfectly good, and all the men perfectly bad, in one generation the moral equality would be restored — the men vastly improved, the women reduced to the average of human worth. Consequently, we find the women of the South as much corrupted by slavery as the men, and not less zealous than the men in this insolent attempt to rend their country in pieces. In truth, they are more zealous, since women are naturally more vehement and enthusiastic than men. The women of New Orleans, too, all had husbands, sons, brothers, lovers or friends, in the Confederate army. To blame the women of a community for adhering, with their whole souls, to a cause for which their husbands, brothers, sons and lovers are fighting, would be to arraign the laws of nature. But then there is a choice of methods by which that adherence may be manifested. When General Butler was passing through Baltimore, on his way to New Orleans, he observed the mode in which the Union THE WOMAN ORDER. 32,* soldiers stationed there were accustomed to behave when passing by ladies who wore the secession flag on their bosoms. The ladies, on approaching a soldier, would suddenly throw aside their cloaks or shawls to display the badge of treason. The soldier would re- tort by lifting the tail of his coat, to show the rebel flag doing duty, apparently, as a large patch on the seat of his trousers. The general noted the circumstance well. It occurred to him then that, perhaps, a more decent way could be contrived to shame the heroines of secession out of their silly tricks. The women of Flew Orleans by no means confined themselves to the display of minute rebel flags on their persons. They were in- solently and vulgarly demonstrative. They would leave the side- walk, on the approach of Union officers, and walk around them into the middle of the street, with up-turned noses and insulting words. On passing privates, they would make a great ostentation of draw- ing away their dresses, as if from the touch of pollution. Secession colors were conspicuously worn upon the bonnets. If a Union officer entered a street car, all the ladies in it would frequently leave the vehicle, with every expression of disgust ; even in church the same spirit was exhibited — ladies leaving the pews entered by a Union officer. The female teachers of the public schools kept their pupils singing rebel songs, and advised the girls to make manifest their contempt for the soldiers of the Union. Parties of ladies upon the balconies of houses, would turn their backs when soldiers were passing by ; while one of them would run in to the piano, and thump out the Bonny Blue Flag, with the energy that lovely woman knows how to throw into a performance of that kind. One woman, a very fine lady, too, swept away her skirts, on one occasion, with so much violence as to lose her balance, and she fell into the gutter. The two officers whose proximity had excited her ire, approached to offer their assistance. She spumed them from her, saying, that she would rather lie in the gutter than be helped out by Yaukees. She afterward related the circum- stance to a Union officer, and owned that she had in reality felt grateful to the officers for tbeir politeness, and added that Order No. 28 served the women right. The climax of these absurdities was reached when a beast of a woman spat in the faces of two offi- cers, who were walking peacefully along the street. It was this last event which determined General Bulier to take 326 THE WOMAN OKDEE. public notice of the conduct of the women. At first their exhibitions and affectations of spleen merely amused the objects of them; who were accustomed to relate them to their comrades as the jokes of the day. And, so far, no officers or soldiers had done or said anything in the way of retort. No man in New Orleans had been wronged, no woman had been treated with disrespect by the soldiers of the United States. These things were done while Gen- eral Butler was feeding the poor of the city by thousands; while he was working night and day to start and restore the business of the city; while he was defending the people against the frauds of great capitalists ; while he was maintaining such order in New Orleans as it had never known before; while he was maturing measures designed solely for the benefit of the city ; while he was testifying in every way, by word and deed, his heartfelt desire to exert all the great powers intrusted to him for the good of New Orleans and Louisiana. It can not be denied that both officers and men became, at length, very sensitive to these annoyances. Complaints to the general were frequent. Colonels of regiments requested to be informed what orders they should give their men on the subject, and the younger staff officers often asked the general to save them from in- dignities which they could neither resent nor endure. Why, in- deed, should he permit his brave and virtuous New England sol- diers to be insulted by these silly, vulgar creatures, spoiled by contact with slavery ? And how long could he trust the forbear- ance of the troops ? These questions he had already considered, but the extreme difficulty of acting in such an affair with dignity and effect, had given him pause. But when the report of the spit- ting was brought to him, he determined to put a stop to such out- rages before they provoked retaliation. It has been said, that the false construction put upon General Order No. 28 , by the enemies of the United States, was due to the carelessness with which it was composed. Mr. Seward, in his con- versation on the subject with the English charge, “regretted that, in the haste of composition, a phraseology which could be mistaken or perverted had been used.” The secretary of state was never more mistaken. The order was penned with the utmost care and deliberation, and all its probable consequences discussed. The problem was, how to put an end to the insulting behavior of the THE WOMAN ORDER. 327 ■women without being obliged to resort to arrests. So far, New Orleans bad been kept down by the mere show and presence of force ; it was highly desirable, for reasons of humanity as well as policy, that this should continue to be the case. If the order had said: Any woman who insults a Union soldier shall be arrested, committed to the calaboose and fined, — there would hare been women who would have courted the distinction of arrest, to the great peril of the public tranquillity. If anything at all could have roused the populace to resist the troops, surely it would have been the arrest of a well-dressed women, for so popular an act as insult- ing a soldier of the United States. It was with the intent to accomplish the object without disturb- ance, that General Butler worded the order as we find it. The order was framed upon the model of one which he had read long aero in an ancient London chronicle. © “ Head-quarters, Department of the Gulf, “ New Orleans, May 15, 1862. “ General Order No. 28 : “As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subject to re- peated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall, by word, gesture, or movement, insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the Uni- ted States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation.” “By command of Major-General Butler. “Geo. C. Strong, A. A. G., Chief of Staff." That is, she shall be held liable, according to the law of New Orleans, to be arrested, detained over night in the calaboose, brought before a magistrate in the morning, and fined five dollars. When the order had been written, and was about to be con- signed to irrevocable print, a leading member of the staff (Major Strong) said to General Butler : “ After all, general, is it not possible that some of the troops may misunderstand the order ? It would be a great scandal if only one man should act upon it in the wrong way.” “Let us, then,” replied the general, “have one case of aggres- sion on our side. I shall know how to deal with that case, so that 328 THE WOMAN ORDER. it will never be repeated. So far, all the aggression has been against us. Plere we are, conquerors in a conquered city ; we have respected every right, tried every means of conciliation, complied with every reasonable desire ; and yet we can not walk the streets without being outraged and spit upon by green girls. I do not fear the troops ; but if aggression must be, let it not be all against us.” General Butler was, of course, perfectly aware, as we are, that if he had expressly commanded his troops to outrage and ravish every woman who insulted them, those men of New England and the West would not have thought of obeying him. If oue miscre- ant among them had attempted it, the public opiuion of his regi- ment would have crushed him. Every one who knows the men of that army feels how impossible it was that any of them should practically misinterpret an order of "which the proper and innocent meaning was so j^alpable. The order was published. Its success was immediate and per- fect. Not that the women did not still continue, with the ingenuity of the sex, to manifest their repugnance to the troops. They did so. The piano still greeted the passing officer with rebel airs. The lair countenances of the ladies were still averted, and then- skirts gently held aside. Still the balconies presented a view of the “back hair” of beauty. If the dear creatures did not leave the car when an officer entered it, they stirred not to give him room to sit down, and would not see his polite offer to hand their ticket to the driver. (No conductors in the street cars of New Orleans.) It w r as a fashion to affect sickness at the stomach on such occasions ; which led the Delta to remark, that the ladies should remember that but for the presence of the Union forces some of the squeamish stomachs would have nothing in them. But the outrageous demonstrations ceased. No more insulting words were uttered; and all the affectations of disgust were such as could be easily and properly borne by officers and men. Gradually even these were discontinued. I need not add, that in no instance was the order misunderstood on the part of the troops. No man in the whole world misunder- stood it who was not glad of any pretext for reviling the sacred cause for which the United States has been called to contend. So far from causing the women of New Orleans to be wronged or THE VVOMAXT OEDEB. 329 molested, it was that which saved them from the only danger of molestation to which they were exposed. It threw around them the protection of law, not tore it away ; and such was the com- pleteness of its success, that not one arrest under Order No. 28 has ever been made. General Butler was not long in discovering that the order was to be made the occasion of a prodigious hue and cry against his ad- ministration. The puppet mayor of New Orleans was the first to lift his little voice against it ; which led to important consequences. It had already become apparent to the general and to the officers aiding him, that two powers so hostile as the city government of New Orleans and the commander of the Department of the Gulf could not co-operate — could not long exist together. The mayor and common council had violated their compact with the general in every particular. They had agreed to clean the streets, and had not done it. They had engaged to enroll two hundred and fifty of the property-holders of the town to assist in keeping the peace, that General Butler might safely withdraw his troops. The two hun- dred and fifty proved to be men of the “ Thug” species — the hangers- on of the City Hall. The European Brigade was to be retained in service ; the mayor disbanded it. Provisions had been sent out of the starving city to the hungry camp of General Lovell. Confede- rate notes, which had fallen to thirty cents, were redeemed by the city government at par, thus taxing the city one hundred cents to give thirty to the favorites of the mayor and council; for the re- demption was not public and universal, but special and private. The tone and style of the city government, too, were a perpetual reiteration of the assertion, so dear to the deluded people of the city, that New Orleans had not been conquered— only overcome by “brute force.” Nothing but the general’s extreme desire to give the arrangement of May 4th so fair a trial that the whole world would hold him guiltless in dissolving it, prevented his seizing upon the government of the city on the ninth of May. The following letter from General Butler to the mayor and coun- cil, will serve to show the state of feeling between them : “ Head-quap.ters, Department of the Gulf, New Orleans, May 16, 1862. “To the Mayor and Gentlemen of the City Council of New Orleans: “In the report of your official aotion, published in the Bee of the 16th 330 THE WOMAN ORDER. instant, I find tlie following extracted resolutions, with the action of part of your body thereon, viz : “ ‘The following preamble and resolution, offered by Mr. Stith, were read twice and adopted. The rules being suspended, were, on motion, sent to the assistant board. “ ‘Yeas — Messrs. De Labarre, Forestall, Huckins, Eodin, and Stith — 5. “ ‘ Whereas, it has come to the knowledge of this council that, for the first time in the history of this city, a large fleet of the navy of France is about to visit New Orleans — of which fleet the Catinet, now in our port, is the pioneer — this council, bearing in grateful remembrance the many ties of amity and good feeling which unite the people of this city with those of France, to whose paternal protection New Orleans owes its foundation and early prosperity, and to whom it is especially grateful for the jealousy with which, in the cession of the state, it guaranteed all the rights of property, person, and religious freedom of its citizens — “ '’Be it resolved, That the freedom and hospitalities of the city of New Orleans be tendered through the commander of the Catinet to the French naval fleet during its sojourn in our port; and that a committee of five of this council be appointed, with the mayor, to make such tender and such other arrangements as may be necessary to give effect to the same. “ ‘ Messrs. Stith and Forestall were appointed on the committee mention- ed in the foregoing resolution.’ “ This action is an insult, as well to the United States, as to the friendly and powerful nation toward whose officers it is directed. The offer of the freedom of a captured city by the captives would merit letters-patent for its novelty, were there not doubts of its usefulness as an invention. The tender of its hospitalities by a government to which police duties and san- j itary regulations only are intrusted, is simply an invitation to the calaboose or the hospital. The United States authorities are the only ones here capable of dealing with amicable or unamicable nations, and will see to it that such acts of courtesy or assistance are extended to any armed vessel of the em- peror of France as shall testify the national, traditional, and hereditary feelings of grateful remembrance with which the United States government and people appreciate the early aid of France, and her many acts of friendly regard, shown upon so many national and fitting occasions. “ The action of the city council in this behalf must be revised. “ Respectfully, “B. F. Butler, Major-General Commanding .” Such being the temper of the parties, an explosion was to he ex- pected upon the first occasion. Order No. 28 was the spark which blew up the city government. On the day on which the order appeared in the newspapers, the THE WOMAN OEDER. 331 mayor sent to General Butler the following letter, which was writ- ten for him by his secretary, Mr. Duncan, formerly of the Delta : “ State of Louisiana, Mayoralty of New Orleans, '■'■May 16, 18G2. “Major-General Benjamin F. Butler, Commanding United States Forces. “ Sir : — Your General Order, No. 28, of date 15th inst., which reads as fol lows, is of a character so extraordinary and astonishing that I can not, hold- ing the office of chief magistrate of this city, chargeable with its peace and dignity, suffer it to be promulgated in our presence without protesting against the threat it contains, which has already aroused the passions of our people, and must exasperate them to a degree beyond control. Your officers and soldiers are permitted, by the terms of this order, to place any construction they may please upon the conduct of our wives and daughters, and, upon such construction, to offer them atrocious insults. The peace of the city and the safety of your officers and soldiers from harm or insult have, I affirm, been successfully secured to an extent enabling them to move through our streets almost unnoticed, according to the understanding md agreement entered into between yourself and the city authorities. I lid not, however, anticipate a war upon women and children, who, so far is I am aware, have only manifested their displeasure at the occupation of :heir city by those whom they believe to be their enemies, and I will never mdertake to be responsible for the peace of New Orleans while such an edict, which infuriates our citizens, remains in force. To give a license to he officers and soldiers of your command to commit outrages, such as are udicated in your order, upon defenseless women is. in my judgment, a re- iroach to the civilization, not to say to the Christianity, of the age, in whose lame I make this protest. I am, sir, your obedient servant, “John T. Monroe, Mayor." To this General Butler replied with promptness and brevity, and sent his reply by the hands of the provost-marshal : “ Head-quarters, Department of the Gulf, “New Orleans, May 16, 1862. “John T. Monroe, late mayor of the city of New Orleans, is relieved rom all responsibility for the peace of the city, and is suspended from the :xercise of any official functions, and committed to Fort Jackson until far- her orders. B. F. Butler, Major-General Commanding." The mayor, however, was indulged with an interview with the iommanding general. He remonstrated against the order for his mprisonment. The general told him, in reply, that if he could no onger control the “aroused passions of the people of New Or- eans,” it was highly necessary that he should not only be relieved 332 THE WOMAN ORDER. from any further responsibility for the tranquillity of the city, bu be sent himself to a place of safety: which Fort Jackson was The letter, added the general, was an insult which no officer, repre senting the majesty of the United States in a captured city, ough to submit to. The mayor, whose courage always oozed away ii the presence of General Butler, declared that he had had no in tention to insult the general : he had only intended to vindicate th honor of the virtuous ladies of New Orleans. “No vindication is necessary,” said General Butler, “ because th order does not contemplate or allude to virtuous women.” Non such, he believed, could have meant to insult his officers or men b; word, look, or gesture, and the order was aimed only at those wh< had. Finding the mayor pliant and reasonable, as he always was in th absence of his supporters, General Butler expounded the order ti him at great length, and with perfect courtesy. The mayor thei declared that he was perfectly satisfied , and asked to be allowed t< withdraw his offensive letter. General Butler, knowing well tin necessity, in all dealings with puppets, of having something to show in writing, wrote the following words at the end of the mayor’i letter.: “ General Butler : — This communication having been sent under a mis take of fact, and being improper in language, I desire to apologize for th same, and to withdraw it.” This the mayor signed, and the general relieved him from arrest! The mayor then departed, and the general hoped he had done witl Order No. 28. It was very far, however, from the intention of the gentlemei who had the mayor of New Orleans in charge, to forego their op portunity of firing the southern heart. In the evening of the sami 16 th of May, General Butler received the following note: “Mayoralty of New Orleans, “City Hall, May 16, 18G2. “Major-General Butler: “ Sir : — Having misunderstood you yesterday in relation to your General Order No. 28, I wish to withdraw the indorsement I made on the -letter addressed to you yesterday. Please deliver the letter to my secretary, Mr Duncan, who will hand you this note. Tour obedient servant, “JonN T. Monroe.” General Butler immediately replied in the following terms : THE WOMAN OEDEE. 333 “ Head-quarters, Department of the Gulf, “ New Orleans, May 16, 1862. “ Sir. : — There can be, there has been, no room for the misunderstand- ing of General Order No. 28 . “No iady will take any notice of a strange gentleman, and a fortiori of a stranger, in such form as to attract attention. Common women do. “ Therefore, whatever woman, lady or mistress, gentle or simple, who, by gesture, look or word, insults, shows contempt for, thus attracting to herself the notice of my officers or soldiers, will be deemed to act as be- comes her vocation of common woman, and will he liable to be treated ac- cordingly. This was most fully explained to you at my office. “I shall not, as I have not, abated a single word of that order; it was well considered. If obeyed, it will protect the true and modest woman from all possible insult. The others will take care of themselves. “ Tou can publish your letter, if you publish this note, and your apology. “ Respectfully, Benjamin F. Butler, “ Major-General Commanding. “John T. Monp.oe, Mayor of New Orleans .'" 1 To this the mayor replied by sending to the general a copy of his first letter. General Butler summoned him again to head- quarters; he came accompanied by his secretary, Duncan. In the presence of the general his courage failed him again, and he de- clared that he did not wish to send the offensive letter if he could publish what the general had said to him yesterday, that Order No. 28 did not refer to all the ladies of New Orleans. With even an excess of patience, the general replied, that to prevent all possi- bility of misunderstanding he would put in writing at the bottom of a copy of the order a statement in accordance with the mayor’s desires, which he would be at liberty to publish. So he wrote : “Tou may say that this order refers to those women who have shown contempt for and insulted my soldiers, by words, gestures, and movements, in their presence. B. F. Butler.” Duncan asked the insertion of the word “ only” after “ women.” The general assented to this also ; when the mayor and his secre- tary retired, tak.ng the documents with them. Again General Butler indulged the hope that the affair was satisfactorily adjusted. Far from it. The next morning, which was Sunday, the mayor and a large party of his friends presented themselves at the private parlor jf the general. The mayor said that he had come for the purpose of withdrawing his apology. General Butler replied that Sunday 334 THE W0MAJ* OEDEE. was not a business day with him, but if the Mayor desired to with- draw his apology, and would place himself, on Monday morning, in the chair in which he had sat when he signed it, he should have a full opportunity to do so. The general added, that he would be glad to see him the next morning, and as many friends as he chose to bring with him. Meanwhile, information had been brought to head-quarters of a conspiracy among the paroled rebel prisoners in New Orleans, to procure arms and force their way beyond the Union lines and join General Lovell. Six of them had been arrested. The con- spirators, it appeared, had called themselves the Monroe Guard, after the mayor, from whom they expected substantial aid — had probably received substantial aid already. The general was re- solved to make short work with the mayor at their next interview. On Monday morning the mayor presented himself at head-quar- ters, accompanied by his chief of police, a lieutenant of police, his private secretary, one of the city judges, and several others of his special backers ; seven or eight persons in all. General Butler did not wait for the attack of this imposing force, but opened upon them as soon as they were in position. He made a clear and forcible statement of the many ways in which the city government had foiled to observe the compact of May 4th. He told them that while he had beeu employing all the resources of his mind and of his posi- tion to keep the poor of the city from starving, the whole power and means of the city authorities had been expended in supporting the Confederate cause — by sending provisions to Lovell’s camp, by contributing money for the maintenance of Confederate agents in the city, and by placing every obstacle in the way of the purifica- tion of the streets. He announced the discovery of the conspiracy among the paroled prisoners, the sentence of six of them to death ; and discoursed upon the significance of the naming of the corps after the mayor. All this conflict of authority and of moral influ- ence must cease, and cease at once. He had resolved to have no more of “ this weathercock business.” After a long interview, he brought the matter to a very simple and direct issue. He saw before him the men who had inspired and upheld the mayor in his unnatural and unwilling contumacy. To each of them he addressed a question, the answer to which would fix his political position and indicate his future course : THE WOMAN OKDEK. 335 “Judge Kennedy, do you sanction the mayor’s letter in its sub- stance and effect ?” Answer : “ I sustain no insulting expression in this letter. The construction which the letter puts upon the order is the construc- tion put upon it in this city generally. If I had been in the mayor’s place, I should have claimed a modification, or an announcement of its intended construction.” General Butler : “ Do you not believe the letter insulting ? Do you aid and abet the mayor ? Do you sustain the mayor in reit- erating the letter ?” Kennedy : “ I can not answer. I will answer neither yes nor no, for the simple reason that it will not cover the position I take. I would not, in any communication with General Butler, use insult- ing language myself.” The question was then proposed to the other gentlemen in turn. Chief of Police : “ I do sustain the mayor.” Lieutenant of Police : “I have not given the letter a thought. I have never read the letter before.” Mr. Harris : The same answer. Mr. Whann : “I do not sustain or repudiate the letter, as I know nothing about it.” Mr. Pettigrew : “ I sustain the mayor.” Mr. Duncan confessed to having “assisted in the composition of the letter.” General Butler then ordered the committal to Fort Jackson of the late mayor, the chief of police, Judge Kennedy and Mr. Duncan. The others were dismissed. The mayor, finally wished to know if his apology would be considered withdrawn. General Butler as- sured him that when the letter and the apology were published, the withdrawal of the apology should be distinctly stated. The mayor was afterward removed to Fort Pickens. The offer was always open to him to take the oath and return home. Some of his friends, it is said, prevailed upon him, at length, to return home on that hard condition ; and General Butler consenting, his wife went to Fort Pickens after him. The officer who accompanied her chanced to hand the mayor a newspaper which contained a positive announcement that France had recognized the Confederacy. The worthy mayor instantly changed his mind, refused to take the oath, and permitted a faithful spouse to depart without him. 336 THE WOMAN ORDER. The mayor being deposed, the executive part of the city govern ment vras at once suspended, and the business of governing New Orleans devolved upon the military commandant, General G. F. Shepley, of Maine. The woman order, however, merely hastened an event which the expiration of the mayor’s term of office would have effected in a few days ; for General Butler had already deter- mined that no man should again be elected to office in New Orleanj who had not taken the oath of allegiance to his country’s govern ment. The day after the scene just related, General Shepley issued th» following “ NOTICE. “ Head-quarters, Military Commandant of New Orleans, “ Custom-House, May 20, 1862. “ In the absence of the late mayor of New Orleans, by order of Major- General B. F. Butler, commanding the Department of the Gulf, the mili- tary commandant of New Orleans will, for the present, and until such time as the citizens of New Orleans shall elect a loyal citizen of New Orleans and of the United States as mayor of the city, discharge the functions which have hitherto appertained to that office. “He assures the peaceable citizens of New Orleans, that he will afford the most ample protection to their persons and property, and their honor. “ No officer or soldier of the United States army will be permitted to insult or annoy any peaceable citizen, or in any way to invade his personal rights, or rights of property. “No citizen will be permitted to insult or interfere with any officer or soldier in the discharge of his duty. “No person hereafter will denounce or threaten with personal violence any citizen of the United States for the expression of Union and loyal senti- ments. The punishment for these offenses will be speedy and effectual. “ The functions of the chief of police wit be exercised by Captain Jonas H. French, provost-marshal, to whom all police-officers.will report immediate- ly. He is intrusted with the duty of organizing the police force of the city, and will continue in office those found to be trustworthy, honest, and loyal. “ The several recorders are hereby suspended from the discharge of the functions of their offices, and Major Joseph M. Bell, provost judge, will hear and determine all complaints for the violation of the peace and good order of the city, of its ordinances or of the laws of the United States. “ The laws and general ordinances of the city of New Orleans, excepting such as may be inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States, or with any general order issued by the commanding general of this department, or with this order, are hereby continued in force. THE WOMAN ORDER. 33V “ All contracts and engagements heretofore legally entered in by the city of New Orleans, or under the authority thereof, subject to the limitations of the foregoing paragraph, shall beheld inviolate, and faithfully carried out. “It is expected, and will be required, that all contractors shall continue to perform the duties and obligations resting upon them by contracts now 'in force, and all such parties will be held to rigid accountability. “ The military commandant desires the co-operation of all good citizens to enable him to carry out the duties assumed. “ He invites, and will speedily ask, the aid of a number of citizens of re- spectability and character, to aid in the department of the city finances, as well as in what pertains to the health, lighting, paving, cleansing, drainage, wharves, levees, and generally, all municipal affairs not excepted from civil control by the proclamation of the commanding general, or by this order ; and in the mean time, all officers now charged with such functions, are re- tained in their respective employments until farther orders. “In all questions of the construction and interpretation of the laws per- taining to the city and its government, and of the ordinances thereof, the military commandant will seek the guidance of a professional man of known probity and intelligence. “ The military commandant will be most happy to receive from any citi- zen of New Orleans written or oral suggestions, touching the welfare and good government thereof. “In conclusion, the military commandant assures the entire population of the city, that the restoration of the authority of the United States is the re-establishment of peace, order and morality ; safety to life, liberty and property under the law, and a guarantee of the future prosperity and glory • of the crescent city, under the protection of the American government and constitution. “To promote these ends, his own most strenuous efforts will be unceas- ingly devoted, and to their consummation, he earnestly invites the co-opera- tion of his fellow-citizens of New Orleans. “ G. F. Shepley, Military Commandant of New Orleans. “Edwin Ilsley, A. A. A. ners of war, were permitted to return to their homes, instead of being onfined in prison, as have the unfortunates of the United States soldiers, vho, falling into the hands of the rebel chiefs, have languished for months n the closest durance. 1 “Warned by their officers that they must not do this thing, they deliber- itely organized themselves in military array — chose themselves and com- •ades officers, relying, as they averred, upon promises of prominent citizens if New Orleans for a supply of arms and equipments. They named them- selves the Monroe Life Guard, in honor of the late mayor of New Orleans. “ They conspired together, and arranged the manner in which they might orce the pickets of the United States, and thus join the enemy at Corinth. “Tried before an impartial military commission — fully heard in their de- fense — these facts appeared beyond doubt or contradiction, and they were 3onvicted. “ There is no known pledge more sacred — there is no military offense whose punishment is better defined or more deserved. To this crime but ine punishment has ever been assigned by any nation — Death. “ This sentence has been approved by the commanding general. To the md that all others may take warning — that solemn obligations may be pre- served — that war may not lose all honorable ties — that clemency may not ae abused, and that justice be done : 15* 343 EXECUTION OP MUMFORD. “It is ordered that Abraham McLane, Daniel Doyle, Edward 0. Smith, Patrick Kane, George L. Williams, and William Stanley be shot to death, under the direction of the provost-marshal, immediately after reveille, on Wednesday, the 4th day of June next; and for so doing, this shall be the provost-marshal’s sufficient warrant.” Here were seven men under sentence of death at the same time — seven human lives hanging upon the word of one man. General Butler is not a person of the philanthropical or humanitarian cast of character ; which is compatible with strange hardness of heart to- ward individuals. Nor is he unaware of the frightful cruelty to society of pardoning men justly condemned. He is abundantly capable of preferring the good of the many to the convenience of one, and turning a deaf ear to the entreaties of a criminal, when, on the other hand, stands a wronged community asking protection, or an outraged country demanding justice upon its mortal foes. The fluid that courses his veins is blood, not milk and water. Nevertheless, he lias the feelings that belong to a human being, and these seven forfeited lives hang heavy upon his heart. In the case of Mumford he had no misgivings. He was able to endure the harrowing spectacle of the man’s wife and three chil- dren falling upon their knees before him, begging the life of husband and father, and yet keep firmly to a just resolve. He was able to resist the tears and entreaties of his own tender-hearted wife, whose judgment he respected, to whose judgment he often deferred. Far more easily was he able to defy and scorn the threatenings of an impious clan of gamblers and ruffians. Mumford must die. That was the deliberate and changeless fiat of his best judgment. Nor was he easily induced to alter his determination with regard to the six paroled prisoners. The events of the war had constantly deepened in his mind a sense of the general cruelty of pardons. He could not but think that the Union armies would not have lost a hundred thousand men by desertion, if, from the beginning, the just penalty of death had been inexorably inflicted ; no, nor one thou- sand ; perhaps not one hundred. He had imbibed a horror of all those loose, irresolute, chicken-hearted modes of proceeding, which have cost the country such incalculable suffering and blood. It is instinctive in such a man to know that, in this world, the kindest, as well as the wisest of all things, is the rigid observance of just EXECUTION OF MUMFOED. 349 law, the exact and prompt infliction of just penalty. So, between his sense of what was due to those six men, and his anxious con- sideration of extenuating circumstances, he lived many distracted days and nights. He could neither eat nor sleep. The pressure upon him was intense, as it always is upon men whose word can save lives. Every body pleaded for them. His own officers besieged his ears for pardon. The officers of the condemned besought it. Union men of the city implored it. And at night, when the world was shut out, there was still a voice to repeat the arguments of the day. The six prisoners were poor, simple, ignorant souls. One of them had said, when arraigned before the commission, that he did not understand any- thing about this paroling. “ Paroling,” said he, “ is for officers and gentlemen : we are not gentlemen.” It is probable that this remark saved the lives of them all, for it suggested the line of argument and the kind of consideration which, probably, had most to do with changing the general’s re- solve. “We are not gentlemen,” — an admission which no north- ern prisoner would be likely to make. At the south those words really have a meaning ; the poor people there feel a difference of rank between themselves and the lords of the plantation, and recog- nize a lower grade of personal obligation. A gentleman must keep his word ; we poor people may get away if we can. The earnest petition of those stanch Unionists, Mr. J. A. Rosier and Mr. T. J. Durant, had great weight with the general also. “These men,” wrote they, “are justly liable to the condign punishment which the military law metes out to so grave and hein- ous an offense. But a powerful government never diminishes its strength by acts of clemency and mercy. Ho doubt, General, these men were partly driven by want, partly deluded, and have long been so ; superior minds have heretofore given them false impres- sions, and they have been acting under such views as have at last brought them to the threshold of the grave. Unknown to us, even from report, prior to their trial and condemnation, we see m them only men and brethren who have erred and are in danger. Gene- ral, the event has just shown that these men are unable to resist the force of the government, or elude its vigilance and the fidelity of its officers. They are subdued and powerless. Their case excites 350 EXECUTION OE MUMFOED. our commiseration, and that of hundreds of others. We ask you to have mercy upon them. At the present moment the government needs no excessive rigor to enforce obedience or command respect. Pardon their offense. The act will restore them to sobriety of reason and to useful employment. It will fill them with gratitude to you and to the powerful government you represent. It will de- monstrate the mildness of its authority, and convince our fellow- citizens that mercy and clemency, no less than force and strength, are essential attributes of the power you represent. General, re- ceive this prayer for life, in the spirit which dictates it — an earnest and heartfelt desire to promote. reconciliation and peace.” To this letter, which was received the day before the one named- for the execution, General Butler replied : “Your communication has received, as it deserved, most serious consideration. The representations of gentlemen of your known probity, intelligence, high social position, and thorough acquaint- ance with the character, temper, habits of thought and motives of action of the people of ISTew Orleans, ought to have great and de- termining weight with me, a stranger among you, called upon to act promptly under the best light I may in matters affecting the administration of justice. In addition, your well-known and fully appreciated unswerving attachment to the government of the Uni- ted States, renders it certain that nothing but the best interests of the country could have influenced your opinion. “ Of the justice which calls for the death of these men I can have no doubt. The mercy it would be to others, in like cases tempted to offend, to have the terrible example of the punishment to which these misguided men are sentenced, is the only matter left for dis- cussion. “Upon this question you who have suffered for the Union, who have stood by it in evil and in good report— you who have lived and are hereafter to live in this city as your home, when all are gathered again under the flag which has been so foully outraged, and to whose wrongs these men’s lives are forfeit — you who, I have heard, exerted your talents to save the lives of Union men in the hour of their peril, ought to have a determining weight when your opinions have been deliberately formed. You ask for these men’s lives. You shall have them. You say that the clemency of th»" gov- ernment is best for the cause we all have at heart. Be it so, Y ou EXECUTION OF MUMFOKD. 351 are likely to be better informed upon this than I am. I have no wish to do anything but that which will show the men of Louisi- ana how great a good they were tempted to throw away when they were led to raise their hands against the constitution and laws of the United States. “ If this example of mercy is lost upon those in the same situa- tion, swift justice can overtake others in like manner offending.” The men were reprieved, and consigned to Ship Island “ during the pleasure of the president of the United States.” This was on the fourth of June. Mumford was to die on the seventh. The scaffold was erected in front of the Mint, near the scene of his crime. To the last minute General Butler was earnestly im- plored to spare him. The venerable Ur. Mercer, a man of eighty honorable years, once the familiar friend and frequent host of Henry Clay, a gentleman of boundless generosity and benevolence, the patron of all that redeemed New Orleans, came to head-quarters an hour before the execution, to ask for Mumford’s life. “ Give me this man’s life, General,” said he, while the tears rolled down his aged cheeks. “ It is but a scratch of your pen.” “ True,” replied the general. “ But a scratch of my pen could burn New Orleans. I could as soon do the one act as the other. I think one would be as wrong as the other.” In truth, the reprieve of the six had rendered the saving of Mum- ford impossible. That act of mercy, like all the rest of General Butler’s acts in New Orleans, was utterly misinterpreted by the people, who attributed it to weakness and cowardice. It was, and is, the conviction of the best informed officers and Union citizens then in New Orleans, that upon the question of hanging or sparing Mumford depended the final suppression or the continued turbu- lence of the mob of the city. Mumford hanged, the mob was sub- dued. Mumford spared, the mob remained to be quelled by final grape and canister. There was absolutely needed for the peace- ful government of the city, a certainty that General Butler dared hang a rebel. Mumford met his doom with the composure with which bad men usually die. He said that “the offense for wffiich he was condemned was committed under excitement, and he did not consider he was suffering justly. He conjured all who heard him to act justly to all men ; to rear their children properly ; and when they met death 352 EXECUTION OF MUMFORD. they would meet it firmly. He was prepared to die ; and as he had never wronged any one, he hoped to receive mercy.” “The unconscious is the alone complete,” says the German j>oet. fl It is only good people who, on the approach of death, are dis- mayed and ashamed at reviewing their lives — comparing what ■: might have been with what has been. An immense concourse beheld the execution. The turbulent spirits of New Orleans drew the proper inferences from the scene. . Every one concerned in the administration of justice in the city felt a certain confidence, before unfelt, in their ability to rule the city without violence. Every soldier felt safer ; and the friends of > the Union had an assurance that, at length, they were really on the stronger side. Order reigned in Warsaw. The name of Mumford, if we may believe Confederate newspar pers, was immediately added to the “roll” of martyrs to the cause of liberty. The fugitive governor of Louisiana, from some safe retreat up the river, fulminated a proclamation about this time, in which he commented upon the death of Mumford in the style of eloquence familiar to the readers of De Bow’s Review — a curious mixture of Patrick Henry and Bedlam. “ The loss of N ew Orleans,” said he, “ and the opening of the Mississippi, which will soon follow, have greatly increased our dan- ger, and deprived us of many resources for defense. With less i means, we have more to do than before. Every weapon we have, and all that our skillful mechanics can make, will be needed. Let every citizen be an armed sentinel, to give warning of any approach of the insolent foe. Let all our river banks swarm with armed pa- triots, to teach the hated invader that the rifle will be his only wel- come on his errands of plunder and destruction. Wherever he dares to raise the hated emblem of tyranny, tear it down, and rend it in tatters. “ The noble heroism of the patriot Mumford, has placed his name high on the list of our martyred sons. When the federal navy reached New Orleans, a squad of marines was sent on shore, who hoisted their flag on the Mint. The city was not occupied by the United States troops, nor had they reached there. The place was not in their possession. William B. Mumford pulled down the detested symbol with his own hands, and for that was condemned to be hung by General Butler after his arrival. Brought in full EXECUTION OF HUMFORD. 353 view of the scaffold, his murderers hoped to appall his heroic soul, by the exhibition of the implements of ignominious death. With the evidence of their determination to consummate their brutal pur- pose before his eyes, they offered him life on the condition that he would abjure his country, and swear allegiance to her foe. He spm-ned the offer. Scorning to stain his soul with such foul dis- honor, he met his fate courageously, and has transmitted to his countrymen a fresh example of what men will do and dare when under the inspiration of fervid patriotism. I shall not forget the outrage of his murder, nor shall it pass unatoned. “ I am not introducing any new regulations for the conduct of our citizens, but am only placing before them those that every nation at war recognizes as necessary and proper to be enforced It is needless, therefore, to say that they will not be relaxed. On the contrary, I am but awaiting the assistance and presence of the general appointed to the department, to inaugurate the most effect- ual method for their enforcement. It is well to repeat them : “ Trading with the enemy is prohibited under all circumstances. “ Traveling to and from New Orleans and other places occupied by the enemy is forbidden. All passengers will be arrested. “ Citizens going to those places, and returning with the enemy’s usual passport, will be arrested. “ Conscripts or militia-men, having in possession such passports, and seeking to shun duty, under the pretext of a parole, shall be treated as public enemies. N o such papers will be held as sufficient excuse for inaction by any citizen. “ The utmost vigilance must be used by officers and citizens in the detection of spies and salaried informers, and their apprehension promptly effected. “ Tories must suffer the fate that every betrayer of his country deserves. “ Confederate notes shall be received and used as the currency of the country. “ River steamboats must, in no case, be permitted to be captured. Bum them when they can not be saved. “Provisions maybe conveyed to New Orleans only in chai’ge of officers, and under the precautionary regulations governing commu- nication between belligerents. “ The loss of New Orleans, bitter humiliation as it was to Louisi- 354 GENERAL SUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. anians, has not created despondency, nor shaken our abiding faith in our success. Not to the eye of the enthusiastic patriot alone, who might be expected to color events with his hopes, but to the more impassioned gaze of the statesman that success was certain from the beginning. It is only the timid, the unreflecting, and the prop- ei'ty owner, who thinks more of his possessions than his country, that will succumb to the depressing influences of disaster. The great heart of the people has swelled with more intense aspirations for the cause the more it seemed to totter. Their confidence is well founded. The possession by the enemy of our seaboard and main water-courses ought to have been foreseen by us. His over- whelming naval force necessarily accomplished the same results attained by the British with the same force in their war of subjuga- tion. The final result will be the same,” etc., etc. CHAPTER XX. GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. “ Whatever else may be said of business in New Orleans,” re- marked the humorous Delta , “ one thing is certain, consuls are lower.” Consuls were very high indeed during the first few weeks of the occupation of the city. Their position in New Orleans had been one of first-rate importance during the rebellion ; for it was chiefly through the foreign capitalists of the city that the Confederacy had been supplied with arms and munitions of war, and it had been the congenial office of the consuls to afford them aid and pro- tection in that lucrative business. They forgot that they were only consuls. They forgot the United States. Often communi- cating directly with the cabinet ministers of their countries, always flattered and made much of by the supporters of the rebellion, ex- pecting with the most perfect confidence the triumph of secession, representing powers every one of which desired or counted upon GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 355 its success, they assumed the tone of embassadors ; they courted the power which they assumed would finally rule in New Orleans, and held in contempt or aversion the one to which they were accredited. These gentlemen gave General Butler more trouble, caused him more hard work, than any other class in New Orleans. They opposed every measure of his which could be supposed to bear upon any man of foreign origin. Mr. Seward was overrun with their protests, complaints and petitions. If the secretary of the treasury approved the commander of the Department of the Gulf as the cheapest of generals, the secretary of state found him much the most troublesome. The correspondence relating to this single subject would fill two or three volumes as large as this. A collision between the foreign consuls and General Butler almost necessarily involved a difference between General Butler and Mr. Seward. The two men are moral antipodes. Mr. Seward has too little, General Butler has enough , of the spirit of warfare. Mr. Seward, by the constitution of his mind and the habits of thirty years, is a conciliator, one who shrinks from the final ordeal, who is reluctant to face the last consequences, skillful to postpone, explain away, and “ make things pleasant.” General Butler, on the contrary, rejoices in a clear issue, goes straight to the point, uses language that bears but one meaning, and “takes the responsi- bility” as naturally as he takes his breakfast. Mr. Seward so dreaded the approach of the war, that he was more than willing to make concessions which would pass the final, the inevitable con- flict over to the next generation. General Butler picked up the glove with a feeling akin to exultation, and adopted war as the business of the country and his own, desiring no pause till the controversy was settled absolutely and for ever. Mr. Seward re- garded the southern oligarchy as erring fellow-citizens, who could be won back to their allegiance. General Butler regarded them as traitors, utterly incapable of conversion, w r ho could be rendered harmless only by being made powerless. Mr. Seward, as the head of the foreign department, felt that all his duties were subordinate to the one cardinal, central object of his policy, the maintenance of peace with foreign nations while the rebellion showed front. General Butler, always breasting the foremost wave of the rebel- lion, could not be very sensitive to the gentle murmurs of Mr. 356 GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. Seward’s reception-room. The men were subject to two opposite, antagonistic magnetisms. General Butler was John Heenan peg- ging away at Sayers, thinking of nothing but getting in fail blows. Mr. Seward was the distressed bottle-holder who wanted Ileenan to win, but thought Sayers too good a fellow to be smashed. Hence we find that when the foreign ministers brought their com- plaints to the department of state, Mr. Seward generally, and at once, took it for granted that General Butler was wrong. He could do no other way, without insincerity. The men are so es- sentially antagonistic, that no really characteristic act of eithei could fail to excite in the other an instinctive disapproval. Similar remarks apply to Mr. Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, the eminent and very able lawyer who was sent by Mr. Seward to New Orleans to investigate the consular imbroglio. In the Charleston Convention of 1860, he said that “under almost any con- ceivable circumstances, Maryland will acknowledge her rights as a southern state, and will vote with the people of the South.” He spoke then from his heart. If, in 1862, he thought secession a mistake and a crime, in all other particulars he was in accord with his southern friends. His heart and mind, his friends and habits, were southern. In New Orleans he associated almost exclusively with secessionists — who felt, who avowed, who boasted that he was their friend. Granting that he had the most honorable in- tentions (I am sure he had no other), it was not in human nature! that he should judge justly between General Butler and the rebels of New Orleans. Nor can we doubt that he was sent to New Orleans, and knew that he was sent, to comply with the demands of foreign powers, if it could be done without concessions too pal- pably humiliating. Here is the point : every one knows the difference that may' exist between a law case as presented in the law papers, and the known facts of the case. A merchant, for example, finds it con- venient to “make over” his property to a friend. Th a papers show that he has not a dollar in the world, while th & fact is, that he pos-! sesses a quarter of a million. Every one in the court may know the fact; yet the papers carry the day. A bank may find it! advantageous to seem to possess no coin. Any lawyer can suggest a mode by which this can be done, and a judge in ordinary timee| GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 85 7 ni