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Sir, you will not desire-this crowded assembly will not desire-that in discharging the simple service so unexpectedly assigned to me, I should occupy much of your time in formal words of argument or of appeal. Still less could such a detention be agreeable to these gallant volunteers, who have been called to commence their campaign under skies which have dampened every thing except their courage and their patriotism; who are impatient to find themselves fairly on the way to their distant scene of duty, and who are, certainly, entitled to spend the few remaining hours before their departure, in exchanging farewells with the friends and relatives who are gathered around them.

Yet I should hardly be excused by others, or by yourself, if I did not attempt, in a few plain words, to give some expression to that pervading sentiment, to that solemn purpose, to that stern resolve, which animates and actuates each one of us alike.

"Ense quietem";-only to enforce the Laws; only to sustain the Government; only to uphold the Stars and Stripes; only to aid in restoring to the whole people of the land that quiet enjoyment of liberty, which nothing but the faithful observance of the Constitution of our Fathers can secure to us and our posterity.

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"Union for the sake of the Union"; country, our whole country, and nothing but our country "-these are the mottoes, old, stale, hackneyed, and threadbare as they may have seemed when employed as the watchwords of an electioneering campaign, but clothed with a new power, a new significance, a new gloss, and a new glory, when uttered as the battle-cries of a nation struggling for existence; these are the only mottoes which can give a just and adequate expression to the cause in which you have enlisted. Sir, I thank Heaven that the trumpet has given no uncertain sound, while you have been preparing yourselves for the battle.

Johnson and Crittenden-and which, I rejoice to remember at this hour, received your own official sanction as a Senator of the United States.

This is the Cause which has been recognized and avowed by the President of the United States, with a frankness and a fearlessness which have won the respect and admiration of us all.

Sir, there is no mystery about the matter. This is the Cause which has been solemnly There ought to be no concealment about it. proclaimed by both branches of Congress, in There can be no mistake about it. Your vener- resolutions passed at the instance of those trueable Chaplain has embodied it all in that spark-hearted sons of Tennessee and Kentuckyling lyric-" E Pluribus Unum"-which might well be adopted as the secular song of your noble regiment. It is nothing more, and nothing less, than a sentiment of duty to our whole country; of devotion to its Union; of allegiance to its Rulers; of loyalty to its Constitution; and of undying love to that old Flag of our Fathers, which was associated with the earliest achievement of our Liberty, and which we are resolved shall be associated with its latest defence. It is nothing more, and nothing less, than a determination that neither fraud nor force, neither secret conspiracy nor open rebellion, shall supplant that flag on the dome of our Capitol, or permanently humble it anywhere beneath the sun; that the American Union shall not be rent asunder without those who may attempt it being caught in the cleft;-nor these cherished institutions of ours be cast down and trampled in the dust-until, at least, we have made the best, the bravest, the most strenuous struggle to save them, which the blessing of Heaven upon our own strong arms, and in answer to the prayers of a Nation on its knees, shall have enabled us to make.

Massachusetts, I need not say, has arrayed her numerous regiments, at the call of the National Government, and under the direction of her own untiring Executive-for no purpose of subjugation or aggression; in no spirit of revenge or hatred; with no disposition and with no willingness to destroy or impair any constitutional right of any section or of any citizen of the Republic. She would as soon wear a yoke upon her own neck, as she would aid in imposing one on the neck of a sister State. She sends forth her armed battalions-the flower of Essex and Middlesex, of Norfolk and Suffolk, of both her capes and of all her hills and valleys-in no spirit but that of her own honored motto:

This is the Cause which has been so fervently commended to us from the dying lips of a Douglas, and by the matchless living voices of a Holt and an Everett.

This is the Cause in which the heroic Anderson, lifting his banner upon the wings of prayer, and looking to the guidance and guardianship of the God in whom he trusted, went through that fiery furnace unharmed, and came forth, not indeed without the smell of fire and smoke upon his garments, but with an undimmed and undying lustre of piety and patriotism on his brow.

This is the Cause in which the lamented Lyon bequeathed all that he had of earthly treasure to his country, and then laid down a life in her defence, whose value no millions could measure.

This is the Cause in which the veteran chief of our armies, crowned with the laurels which Washington alone had worn before him, and renouncing all inferior allegiance at the loss of fortune and of friends, has tasked, and is still tasking to the utmost, the energies of a soul whose patriotism no age could chill.

This is the Cause to which the young and noble McClellan, under whose lead it is your privilege to serve, has brought that matchless combination of sagacity and science, of endurance, modesty, caution, and courage, which have made him the Hope of the hour, the

bright particular Star of our immediate des- | for a regiment; and, lo! two regiments have tiny. responded to your call; yes, and with sharpshooters and light artillery enough in addition to make up the measure of no ordinary brigade. And though one of your regiments is not yet quite ready for the field, it will follow you in a few days, and you will march to the capital as the virtual leader of them all.

Sir, I must detain you no longer. I have said enough, and more than enough, to manifest the spirit in which this flag is now committed to your charge. It is the National ensign, pure and simple; dearer to all our hearts at this moment, as we lift it to the gale, and see no other sign of hope upon the storm-cloud, which rolls and rattles above it, save that which is reflected from its own radiant hues; dearer, a thousand

And this, finally, is the Cause which has obliterated, as no other cause could have done, all divisions and distinctions of party, nationality, and creed; which has appealed alike to Republican, Democrat, and Union Whig, to native citizen and to adopted citizen; and in which not the sons of Massachusetts or of New England or of the North alone, not the dwellers on the Hudson, the Delaware, and the Susquehanna only, but so many of those, also, on the Potomac and the Ohio, the Mississippi and the Missouri, on all the lakes, and in all the vast Mesopotamia of the mighty West-yes, and strangers from beyond the seas, Irish and Scotch, German, Italian, and French-the common emigrant and those who have stood near-fold dearer to us all, than ever it was before, est to a throne-brave and devoted men from almost every nation under heaven-men who have measured the value of our country to the world by a nobler standard than the cotton crop; and who realize that other and more momentous destinies are at stake upon our struggle than such as can be wrought upon any mere material looms and shuttles-all, all are seen rallying beneath a common flag, and exclaiming with one heart and voice: "The American Union-it must be, and shall be, preserved."

And we owe it, sir, to the memory of our fathers, we owe it to the hopes of our children, we owe it to the cause of free institutions, and of good government of every sort throughout the world, to make the effort, cost what it may of treasure or of blood, and, with God's help, to accomplish the result.

Nay, we owe it to our misguided and deluded brethren of the South-for I will not forget that they are our brothers still, and I will call them by no harsher name--we owe it even to them, to arrest them, if it be possible, in their suicidal career; to save them from their worst eneiny—themselves; and to hold them back from that vortex of anarchy and chaos which is yawning at their feet, and into which, in their desperate efforts to drag us down, they are only certain of plunging themselves and engulfing all that is dear to them.

Would to Heaven, this day, that there were any other mode of accomplishing, or even attempting this end, but the stern appeal to battle! But from the hour of that ungodly and unmanly assault upon the little garrison at Sumter they have left us no alternative. They have laid upon us a necessity to defend our country-and woe, woe unto us if we fail to meet that necessity as men and as patriots.

I congratulate you, Col. Wilson, with all my heart, on the success of your own efforts in this great work of National defence. Returning from the discharge of your laborious and responsible duties as Chairman of the Committee of Military affairs in the Senate of the United States, you have thrown out a recruiting signal

while gilded by the sunshine of prosperity and playing with the zephyrs of peace. It will speak for itself far more eloquently than I can speak for it.

Behold it! Listen to it! Every star has a tongue; every stripe is articulate. There is no language or speech where their voices are not heard. There's magic in the web of it. It has an answer for every question of duty. It has a solution for every doubt and every perplexity. It has a word of good cheer for every hour of gloom or of despondency.

Behold it! Listen to it! It speaks of earlier and of later struggles. It speaks of victories, and sometimes of reverses, on the sea and on the land. It speaks of patriots and heroes among the living and among the dead: and of him, the first and greatest of them all, around whose consecrated ashes this unnatural and abhorrent strife has so long been raging-"the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not." But before all and above all other associations and memories-whether of glorious men, or glorious deeds, or glorious places-its voice is ever of Union and Liberty, of the Constitution and the Laws.

Behold it! Listen to it! Let it tell the story of its birth to these gallant volunteers, as they march beneath its folds by day, or repose beneath its sentinel stars by night. Let it recall to them the strange, eventful history of its rise and progress; let it rehearse to them the wondrous tale of its trials and its triumphs, in peace as well as in war; and, whatever else may happen to it or to them, it will never be surrendered to rebels; never be ignominiously struck to treason; nor ever be prostituted to any unworthy and unchristian purpose of revenge, depredation, or rapine.

And may a merciful God cover the head of each one of its brave defenders in the hour of battle!

The eloquent address of Mr. Winthrop was heartily cheered, and at its close he presented the flag to Col. Wilson, who replied to his address as follows:

RESPONSE OF COL. WILSON.

:

MR. WINTHROP In behalf of my command, I accept at your hands this beautiful ensign of the Republic, and in their name I tender to its generous donors their sincere thanks, and also for your words of encouragement. This banner will go wherever we go. (Cheers.) And whether it may be unrolled, as to-day, in the face of friends who love it, or in our camp, or in the face of those that would erase its glittering stars, this act of your kindness and these words of yours will live in our hearts and linger in our memories.

You present it to us to-day, radiant with beauty. Shot and shell may mar it-the storm of battle may beat upon it-but whenever our eyes look upon it we shall feel that the men of Massachusetts expect that by no act of ours shall one of its stripes be soiled or one of its stars dimmed. Our country summons her sons to the defence of the unity of the Republic and the support of Republican institutions. The men of my command have generously responded to the appeal of their country. They leave their beautiful Massachusetts homes-the dear and loved ones-behind, and go forth, not in the spirit of wrath or hatred, but to uphold the authority of our Government.

Sir, we are not soldiers yet, but we hope to be soldiers. We go forth in the resolve to do our duty, and we shall go feeling that we are citizens of the proud old commonwealth of Massachusetts. And I trust that at all times, and in all places, we shall do our duty to our common country, and bring no disgrace to our State. You have alluded to the relations of the past. Here and now let me say that when the guns of the enemies of our country were pointed at Fort Sumter, I felt that the time had come to forget the differences of the past, political and personal, and rally around the flag of our country. Sir, in the presence of events that are transpiring about us, all personal ends and aims, all loves and all hates, stand rebuked, and we are summoned to do our whole duty for our country.

Sir, we are told in Holy Writ that he who is putting his armor on should not boast like him who is taking it off. We have nothing yet to boast of. We go forth in the hope to do our duty, and we hope that, when we return this banner to Massachusetts, we shall have done something for our country-something that will exact the commendation of the friends who are around us here to-day. We hope that, when this banner is brought back by the men who have borne it in the face of the enemy, the cause of our country will have succeeded, and that no star will have been erased from our national banner, and that in liberty's unclouded blaze we may raise our heads a race of other days. We hope, when this contest shall close, that the unity of the Republie will be assured, and the cause of Republican institutions in America established forever. We go forth in that spirit to do our whole duty. We go forth

cheered by this confidence; and God in his providence grant that by no act of ours we may lose that confidence and that approbation. (Applause.)

Doc. 73.

ATTACK ON SANTA ROSA,

OCTOBER 9, 1861.

LETTER FROM A WILSON ZOUAVE.

CAMP BROWN, NEAR FORT PICKENS, Oct. 10. DEAR SON: Yesterday morning, the 9th, between three and four o'clock, our camp was suddenly aroused by the firing of quick and heavy volleys of musketry in the direction where our farthest guards were posted. In a few moments the drums beat for every man to rally, and though the companies at present together assembled under arms in pretty quick time, they had scarcely received an order before the tents were almost entirely surrounded by the enemy, who had left the opposite shore about midnight, in large force crossed over to Santa Rosa in boats, rafts, and scows towed by small light-draft steamers, landed about two miles up the island, and then marched down to our encampment. On their way to our quarters they were first hailed by one of our picket-guard, who, getting no friendly response, fired into them after giving the proper alarm, and then fell instantly from a shot in the breast. He was quite a young man, a member of our own company, and, though seriously regretted, his death at the post of duty and danger is regarded as highly honorable both to himself and to his company. The outer guard, after exchanging several shots with the enemy, were compelled to retire. As the secessionists advanced toward camp, they encountered and killed a couple of the inner guard, which ran in, and then the rebels were right upon us.

When the Southerners fired the first volley in our camp, we were drawn up in line across our parade-ground, about one hundred and fifty feet beyond the rear of our tents. Had we stood directly in front of their fire, instead of having the end of our line toward it, many of us would have fallen. As it was, no one was hurt. For a while the air was filled with whistling balls, and as we did not know whether we were surprised by hundreds or thousands, there was considerable confusion, and our force was somehow divided, one portion being with the Colonel, and the other with the Lieutenant-Colonel. Things were just now in a very trying shape, as it was impossible to say what would be the result of any movement ordered by our officers. The Colonel was withdrawing his men by degrees toward the fort, when the regulars from that place, who had heard the alarm, came down in doublequick time to our relief. While our officers were uncertain whether to risk our lives by engaging with unknown numbers or wait for aid from the fort, the secessionists plundered the

one or two exceptions the men shot during the darkness of the night were all killed instantly. Nearly all the wounding happened to the secessionists when they were at the beach making their escape. I am all safe. Your affectionate father.

officers' tents, and then set fire to the entire | in repelling any invasion of the island. There camp, destroying it all excepting the tents of is one thing to be remarked in this affair. With one company and half of those belonging to the company located along side of us. They went through each avenue of tents in parties, setting every thing on fire. Among other violent deeds, they murdered a member of our company, who had been sick in quarters for some time. His name was Dennis Ganley, a man of thirty-five or thirty-seven years. He leaves a wife and three children residing in Williamsburgh, New York.

It was growing light when the enemy commenced their retreat, and then their part of the fun was over, for they had just started on their return to their boats, when a warm and vigorous pursuit was commenced by both regulars and volunteers. When too closely pressed they turned and made some show of fight-those that were in the rear; but the mass of them threw every thing loose away, and ran as fast as they could for the place where they landed. Dozens of the rebels and a few on our side were killed in the running fight to the beach, but it was during the reembarkation that vengeance was visited upon them. Those in boats escaped with comparative ease, but as they crowded upon unmanageable scows and rafts, which had to be towed back, it was impossible to get out of musket range for a long time, and while in that pitiable situation our men poured volley after volley into them. They fell by scores; it was a perfect slaughter. They left behind about forty of their number prisoners, who say that the Southerners came over especially to destroy

the "Wilson Zouaves."

They killed but ten of the volunteers, and half a dozen regulars. Flags of truce have passed between the two commanding officers, as to dead, wounded, prisoners, &c., and the secessionists say that in killed, wounded, and missing, their loss is between three hundred and four hundred. We suppose they have some of our men prisoners, as a dozen or so are missing -among them two of our company. Among the property burned in our camp were the new uniforms presented to us by the State of New York, and which were worn for the first time on dress parade last Sunday. New tents are now going up in place of those destroyed, and we shall soon be all comfortable again. There was an alarm again this morning, and the men were out ready for an attack in five minutes, but fortunately the alarm was a false one. I think the enemy are too sore to give us another turn just yet, but the rebel prisoners say that they will repeat their visit before long. We will have to sleep with one eye open, be ready for them when they come, and do our best. We hope to have more force the next time they give us an early morning call. There is but one war vessel lying here at present. She gave us no assistance during the attack yesterday morning; but I understand that a part of her crew are to come ashore at night after this, and assist us in keeping watch, and also aid us

VOL. III.-Doc. 20

Doc. 74.

ACTION AT LYNN HAVEN BAY.

COMMANDER LOCKWOOD'S REPORT.

U. S. PROPELLER "DAYLIGHT," Blockading off Cape Henry, Oct. 10, 1861. YESTERDAY afternoon, a few minutes before four o'clock, it was reported to me that a battery on shore in Lynn Haven Bay had opened fire on the American ship John Clarke, of Baltimore, which had come in and anchored during the gale, and dragged within range of the enemy's guns, distant about a mile and a half. I got under way and stood down to her assistance, and on getting within range opened fire, and a spirited engagement was kept up on both sides for about forty minutes, when the enemy ceased firing, their battery of four or five guns being silenced so that, although we remained within range for an hour and a half after the firing had ceased, assisting the ship to get under way, not a shot was fired by them. Our shots generally were well directed, and must have done execution. Fortunately, none of their shots hit us, but they came quite near enough. The officers and men were eager for the fray, and evinced a spirited determination to do their whole duty, and I was well pleased, not only with their conduct, but also with the precision of their aim.

SAMUEL LOCKWOOD, Commanding Officer.

L. M. GOLDSBOROUGH, Commanding the Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Hampton Roads, Va. A correspondent on board the Daylight gives the following account of this action:

Yesterday, at four o'clock P. M., at the close of a heavy gale which had lasted for sixty hours, it was reported by the officer of the deck that a battery, whose existence had been previously unknown to us, situated on Lynn Haven Bay, had opened fire upon the American ship John Clarke, of Baltimore, which had arrived from Havre the day previous, and, anchoring in the bay during the gale, with two anchors down, had dragged within its range. We could see the enemy's shell dropping about the ship in all directions, and he was evidently not enjoying his mauvais quart d'heure. So, all hands working with a will, we soon had our anchor on the bows, and the Daylight putting her best foot foremost, eager for the fray. In a short time we ran down to the ship and opened a brisk fire upon the battery, which was as vigorously returned and sustained for forty

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minutes, when, having effectually silenced their | gomery "flaxed out" the secessionists, and the guns and thrown several broadsides into them, which elicited, however, no response, they having "shut up shop," we turned our attention toward extricating the ship from her perilous position, which we finally did by sending a part of our crew on board and getting her off under her canvas, having failed in several attempts to get a line aboard of her to tow her off, owing to the heavy sea and strong tide prevailing. This occupied one and a half hours after we had fired the last shot, giving our adversary every opportunity to renew the combat; but he, like the "poor craven bridegroom, spake never a word." Finally, we got under way, and anchored near the outer lightship, and, while ruminating over the events of the day, were run foul of by the John Clarke as she stood for her anchorage, smashing a portion of our upper works, starting several knees forward, carrying away one of the flukes of our anchor, and doing other damage-throwing herself into our arms, as it were, with an unwieldy gratitude for which we were entirely unprepared. The Clarke was struck once or twice, I believe, by fragments of shells, but sustained no material damage, and this morning, in charge of a pilot, stood on up the bay toward Baltimore.

While nearing the Clarke, at the outset of the engagement, we were considerably astonished, after succeeding in getting our reiterated hail answered, by receiving censure in no measured terms for "not having warned them," as they said, on the previous day; and had our sense of duty not been superior to our feelings, we should have been sorely tempted to have let them work out their own salvation with "fear and trembling."

In closing, I cannot refrain from again alluding to the spirit with which our crew entered into the contest above alluded to, and feel assured that they will always give a similar good account of themselves when called on, for which, as Dick Swiveller observes, "town and country orders are respectfully solicited; business attended to with neatness and despatch."

We met with no casualties in the engagement; but one of our seamen, while aloft on the John Clarke, fell from the foreyard and fractured his arm.

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latter were driven some distance. Montgomery then fell back on Greenfield. The forces at Springfield were kept in a state of constant alarm for several nights, in apprehension of an attack from the Jayhawkers. The baggage train was rushed to the public square and placed under a strong guard, while the troops went out to Owens' farm-one mile and a half from Springfield-and formed in line of battle, resting on their arms over night. One informant states that John Price started northward with five hundred men, but was driven back, having encountered a Sawyer." A report was put in circulation for the public use, that Fremont was retreating to Jefferson City. But despatches were received by the secession authorities, Wednesday evening, that Price was to cross the Osage, at Papinsville, the previous day, Tuesday. It was "given out" that the reason for this retrograde movement was to get a supply of provisions. It was observed that several prominent secessionists about Springfield were busily engaged in "packing up" for a start. Captain Galloway, commander of the Home Guards in Taney County, despairing of the arrival of Federal troops, disbanded his company. He was hunted through the woods by the rebels, and his men shot down like wild beasts.

About one hundred Home Guards from Douglas County arrived at the Fort yesterday morning, in a starving condition, having travelled one hundred and ten miles, over a rough country, depending for subsistence on the rebellious inhabitants on the way. The men presented a unique and rough appearance. They carried every variety of arms-some flint locks and fowling pieces-several of which were captured from the "secesh." These men were induced to "come out of the wilderness" for the purpose of joining Col. Boyd's regiment at St. Louis, and were under the direction of Capt. Martindale and Lieut. Adam.

Capt. Martindale stayed behind at Coppidge's, and, laboring under a misunderstanding in regard to his statements, fifty-four of them joined Col. Phelps' regiment. When Martindale came up he protested, and claimed his men. The subject seemed to be rather a perplexing one to settle satisfactorily to all parties concerned. The party brought in "Mick" Yates, one of McBride's lieutenants, a prisoner. They also caught Dave Lenox, but the latter managed to effect his escape. The Home Guards had been some time in charge of Clark's Mill, in Douglas County. A party of three hundred secessionists, under Freeman, were on a marauding expedition in that region, and threatened the Home Guards with an attack. They had robbed the stores at Vera Cruz and other places. They were encamped at Wilson's Mill, on Bryant's Fork of the White River, and when their position became known, the Home Guards made a spirited attack upon their camp, taking them completely by surprise. Thirty-three of the former advanced along a bluff, and when within

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