Page images
PDF
EPUB

CHAPTER IX.

MILITARY MOVEMENTS IN THE NORTH. ENORMOUS CONTRIBU -
TIONS OF FUNDS BY LEGISLATURES, CITIES, & C. GOVERNOR
CURTIN'S MESSAGE. THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION FOR
THREE YEARS' TROOPS. THE BLOCKADE ENFORCED.
MILITARY DEPARTMENTS CREATED. SCOTT'S PLAN OF PRO-
CEEDING.
CAIRO CAMP. MOVEMENT OF TROOPS.

THE

OF BUTLER IN MARYLAND.

THE

DOINGS

The States' Rendezvous.

one million dollars to arm and equip its volunteers. The Legislature of Indiana voted five hundred thousand dollars, April 29th. The New Jersey Legislature met April 30th, and the Governor recommended two million dollars for war purposes. May 3d, the Connecticut Legislature appropriated two millions for the public defense.

Enormous Free Contributions.

THE Free States' Govern- | assembled April 22d, and, on the 25th, voted ors, without exception, answered the President's call for troops by calling together their respective Legislatures, and by taking such other steps as would hasten the dispatch of the complement first called for. The several rendezvous designated by the War Department, were as follows: New York, N. Y. City, Albany, Elmira; Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Harrisburg; New Jersey, Trenton; Delaware, Wilmington; Missouri, St. Louis; Illinois, Chicago, Cairo; Indiana, Indianapolis; Ohio, Columbus, Cleveland; Michigan, Detroit; Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Iowa, Keokuk; Minnesota, St. Paul; Maine, Portland; New Hampshire, Portsmouth; Vermont, Burlington; Massachusetts, Springfield; Rhode Island, Providence; Connecticut, New Haven. At these points arrangements were made for quartering the quotas, and for dispatching regiments to the seat of danger, as rapidly as they were organized.

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

These contributions of Legislatures, cities, and towns, amounted, May 7th, to over twenty-three millions of dollars. The record is so honorable that we repeat such as were reported up to the date named:

Albany, N. Y...
Auburn, N. Y.
Abington, Mass..

Amesbury, Mass..

[ocr errors]

Acton, Mass..
Boston, Mass.
Brooklyn, N. Y......
Bridgeport, Ct....
Bath, Me.
Burlington, Vt....

Batavia, N. Y...........
Buffalo, N. Y....
Burlington, N. J...........
Bordentown, N. J..
Bradford, Vt...
Bridgeton, N. J............
Bedford, Mass...
Bennington, Vt..
Barre, Mass...
Braintree, Mass.
Bedford, N. Y............
Brunswick, Me....
Binghamton, N. Y..

...

$46,000 | Cam. & Am. R.R. Co. $10,000

4,000

Detroit Mich.

50,000

5,000 Dunkirk, N. Y.

20,000

5,000 | Dover, Ñ. H..

10,000

5,000 Damariscotta, Me..

3,000

186,000 Elizabeth, N. J..

11,000

75,000 Elkhart, Ind.

8,000

31,000 Erie, Pa...

25,000

3,000 Evansville, Ind...

15,000

10,000 Fall River, Mass.

10,000

4,000 Flemington, N. J... 110,000 Fond du Lac, Wis.. 4,000 Gloucester, Mass...

[blocks in formation]

3,000 Glens Falls, N. Y..

10,000

2,000 Great Falls, N. H...

10,000

1,000 Greensburg, Ind..

2,000

2,000 Georgetown, Mass.

5,000

10,000 Galena, Ill

1,000

2,000 Hudson, N. Y..

4,000

2,000 Hamilton Ohio...

1,000

1,000 Hoboken, N. J..

2,000

1,000 Hornellsville, N. Y.

1,000

10,000 Hartford, Conn...

64,000

[ocr errors]

5,000

280,000 Illinois, State..

.2,000,000

10,000 Indiana, State...
20,000 Iowa, State.
2,000 Ithaca, N. Y.............
5,000 Indianapolis, Ind...
1,000 Ipswich, Mass.
1,000 Jersey City, N. J...

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

.1,000,000

.....

100,000 10,000 5,000

4,000

32,000

4,000 Janesville, Wis..

6,000

10,000 | Kenton, Ohio..........

2,000

7,000 Keene, N. H...

10,000

5,000 Lynn, Mass..

10,000

a

6,000 | Lockport, N. Y..............

2,000

[blocks in formation]

Charlestown, Mass..
Chicage, Ill..

Circleville, Ohio....
Clinton, Ill..
Cohasset, Mass.
Clinton, N. Y..

Concord, Mass...

Concord, N. H..........
Canandaigua, N. Y.
Canton, Mass.
Cass County, Ind..

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors]

The President's Second Call forTroops.

ment of artillery, making altogether a maximum aggregate increase of twenty-two thousand seven hundred and fourteen officers and enlisted men, the details of which increase will also be made known through the De

partment of War; and I further direct the enlistment, for not less than one nor more than three

years, of eighteen thousand seamen, in addition to

the present force, for the naval service of the United States. The details of the enlistment and organization will be made known through the Department of the Navy. The call for volunteers, hereby made, and the direction for the increase of the regular army, and for the enlistment of seamen hereby given, together with the plan of organization adopted for the volunteers and for the regular forces hereby authorized, will be submitted to Congress as soon as assembled.

“ In the mean time I earnestly invoke the co-operation of all good citizens in the measures hereby adopted for the effectual suppression of unlawful violence, for the impartial enforcement of Constitutional laws, and for the speediest possible restoration of peace and order, and with these, of happiness and prosperity throughout our country.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be

affixed.

Enforcement of the
Blockade.

ment of cavalry, and one regi- | treme labor to put in com-
mission the vessels required
for the immediate emer-
gencies of the war, without any reference to
demands for the blockade service. It was,
indeed, only by the hearty co-operation of
merchants, ship-owners and masters, founders
and builders, that the Secretary of the Navy
was enabled to meet the requisitions for
transports and convoys; yet his assiduity ex-
tended to the imperative requirements of the
blockade; and, one by one, the ports desig-
nated were placed under the surveillance of
the Union flag. It was fully nine months
before the immense coast-line from Fortress
Monroe to Brownsville could be so patrolled
with cruisers and guarded by local ships as
to render egress and ingress impossible; but,
from the very day the first vessel appeared
off the leading harbors, the commerce of those
ports ceased almost as completely as if a bar
had grown across their channels. The world
never before witnessed a fleet created as rap-
idly; nor has any modern Government ever
been called upon to perform so vast a service
which was performed as well. That, out of
the almost interminable lagunes of the South-
ern coast-where available harbors opened
through every few leagues of sand and swamp
-a few small craft should have "broken the
blockade" is not singular: or, that the many-
mouthed ports of New Orleans, Savannah and
Charleston should have sent cargoes to, and
received them from, the Bermudas and Cuba,
or from England direct, in swift-sailing steam-
ers, is not evidence of the
inefficiency of that block.
ade, when the intricacies of the coast are
fully understood, or the cupidity of English
traders is appreciated. It is to the dis-
honor of the English Government that it
sought to force the blockade, so far as to
make one of its nearest and most available
islands-that of New Providence—a regular
rendezvous for Southern vessels. The port
of Nassau became, during the pendency of
the war, a regular port of entry and trans-
shipment for goods bound to and from the
rebellious States. Loads of arms, munitions,
ordnance, clothing, &c.—all contraband of
war-found their way into the South through
the vigilance and daring of a few English

"Done at the City of Washington, this third day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

Signed,

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President, "WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State." Prior to this the President had issued his

second Proclamation of blockade (April 27th) covering the coasts of North Carolina and Virginia—thus sealing them from commerce. Virginia oysters, pine wood and tobacco, and North Carolina rosin and tar languished on their lagunes and river banks, and those States found that their revenues almost instantly ceased. Nothing was left for their people to do but to fight or starve; therefore the cry "to arms!" became as suddenly popular as the loss of trade had been complete.

The blockade squadron was organized as rapidly as the demoralized state of the navy would allow. The shocking disorder reigning in that arm of the service (see Vol. I, pages 439-444,) when the Lincoln Administration assumed its control, rendered it a work of ex

English Interference.

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]

the troops organizing in New York City, soon found reason to feel that General Scott under State orders. meant offense as well as defense.

Disposition of North

ern Troops.

The First Regiments on Duty.

The passage of troops from the Eastern and Middle States during the fourth week of April, fully tasked the ability of the railways and available steam-transports. The New York Seventy-first, Twelfth and Sixth sailed Sunday, April 21st, followed by the Rhode Island First. All these regiments arrived, under convoy of the gun boat Harriet Lane, off Annapolis, April 23d, to find just entering the harbor the Massachusetts Fifth. Within six days Massachusetts had placed en route for the Capital five full regiments of infantry, a battalion of rifles and a finely equipped battery of six guns.

April 23d, the Sixty-ninth, Thirteenth and Eighth regiments New York militia left for Annapolis. As an evidence particularly of the spirit of loyalty pervading the Irish-American citizens, we may mention the fact that sixty-five hundred names were enrolled on the lists of the Sixty-ninth, from which the Colonel, Corcoran, had to choose the one thousand and ten men required.

All these commands were assigned to men qualified for the field. The immense aggregation of troops at Washington, Fortress Monroe, and at the camps in Pennsylvania and the Western States, rendered field officers for superior command immediately called for. The activity of the rebels left no doubt of their purposes to surround Washington by a net-work of available approaches, with the eventual design of seizing Maryland, and thus to become possessors of the National Capital. To this not very well laid scheme of advance the Federal Generalin-Chief interposed his well-arranged plan for removing the scene of hostilities into the rebel territory. The concentration at Fortress Monroe gave occupation to the enemy for a large "army of observation" at Norfolk, Hampton and Yorktown, to guard the approaches to Richmond. The large camp at Chambersburg so evidently menaced Harper's Ferry and covered the west of Maryland, as to make it necessary for the rebels to create an "army of observation" at the Ferry and at Leesburg. The occupation of Cairo, April 20th, and a concentration at that point of a strong force under Colonel Prentiss, made it evident that any expedition up the Ohio or Mississippi would fail; and compelled the formation at Hickman and Colum-tain Viele. This steamer reached the Capital bus of another “army of observation." Governor Yates of Illinois, in announcing the reasons for the occupancy of Cairo, by Special Message to the Legislature, said: “Simultaneously with the receipt of the order from the War Department for the movement, reliable information reached me of the existence of a conspiracy by disaffected persons in other States to seize upon Cairo and the southern portion of the Illinois Central railroad, and thus cut off communication with the interior of the State." The appointment of McClellan to the command of the Department of the Ohio was made with reference to a campaign in Western Virginia, to assist the Wheeling Convention in re-establishing the loyal Government, and to drive out of that section of the State all forces and local organizations of the Secessionists. The enemy

April 24th, the New York militia regiment, the Twenty-fifth, from Albany, was in the city, en route for Annapolis. One hundred and seventy-five recruits for the New York Seventh, also sailed in the steamer Daylight, direct for Washington, under charge of Cap

on the morning of April 28th, being the first passage up the Potomac of a transport with troops.*

*

* Colonel Schouler, Adjutant-General of Massachusetts, dispatched Captain Dodd of the Third battalion of rifles, May 1st, on the propeller Cambridge, with orders to proceed up the Potomac. The order said: "It is the earnest desire of the Governor that the ship Cambridge shall reach Washington, and demonstrate that a Massachusetts ship, armed with Massachusetts men, shall be the first to arrive by that route, as our Sixth regiment was the first to arrive at Washington through the hostile city of Bal timore." The order was fulfilled, and the Cambridge landed her troops in Washington May 3d; but the honor of the first arrival, by the Potomac, belongs to Captain Viele and the New York Seventh. The Colonel also is in error in ascribing to Massachusetts the honor of having been the first at the Capital with her troops. To Pennsylvania belongs that

=

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »