THREE REGIMENTS MUSTERED OUT.

99

having saved us not only a large amount of public property,16 but the mortification of having our standing camps fall into the hands of the enemy.'

"17

The casualties at the battle were as follows:

Those known to have been killed are Joseph Stokes of Norwich, James Fritz of New Haven, Sergeant John R. Marsh of Danbury,18 David C. Case of Norwich, and Jeremiah O. Leroy of Hartford. Rev. Hiram Eddy, the devoted chaplain of the Second, remained with the wounded on the field, a prisoner.

The missing were mostly prisoners, and were retained for four to twelve months in the rebel prisons at Richmond, Salisbury, N. C., Tuscaloosa, Ala., and other places. Two members of the New-Haven Grays, captured while aiding a wounded rebel, were released on arriving at Richmond by order of Jeff. Davis, and supported at a hotel until there was an opportunity for their return.

Col. Chatfield was presented with a new dress-uniform by Hon. James E. English, then representative in Congress, afterwards governor of the State.

After the return from Bull Run, the regiments remained at Washington a short time, and soon returned home. The First and Second were mustered out at New Haven, and the Third at Hartford. As the people had gathered to bid them good-by, they now re-assembled to welcome them. The enthusiastic regimental receptions were followed by eager and hearty local receptions in all communities to which companies returned. They were praised, petted, and feasted ; and grateful citizens and proud relatives listened to the story of their exposures and services. These gatherings greatly augmented the martial spirit throughout the State. When the Second Regiment was mustered out, Col. Terry

15 In value, upwards of two hundred thousand dollars.

17 This service was performed in thirty-six hours; during which time they were entirely without food, and drenched in the tremendous rain that raged without intermission."N. Y. Times.

15 For note see next page.

presented gold medals, for bravery on the field, to Color Sergeant Austin P. Kirkham of Derby, and Sergeant Robert Leggett of New London.

The men of these regiments re-enlisted almost without an exception, and five hundred of them afterwards held commissions in the army. Of these, about one hundred and eighty were from the First Regiment, two hundred from the Second, and one hundred and forty from the Third. Three became major-generals, four brigadier-generals, and more than eighty field and staff officers.

NOTE. Sergeant John R. Marsh, of Danbury, was probably the first citizen of Connecticut killed in the war. A shell carried away one of his legs as he was approaching the battle-field at the head of his company, and he died within a few hours in the enemy's hands. He was an Englishman of fine appearance, education, and much personal wealth, and had served gallantly before Sebastopol. In Danbury, he was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and was highly esteemed. He was marked for his bravery and skill; and, had he been spared, he must have risen rapidly in rank.

CHAPTER VII.

The Effect of the Defeat at Bull Run. - Second Uprising. -The Fifth Regiment goes to Harper's Ferry. Six Regiments begun.-A Squadron of Cavalry. -Peace-Flags and Peace-Meetings. Seymour's Resolutions. - Concurrent Action. - Goshen, Bloomfield, Darien, Easton, Cornwall, Sharon, Prospect, North Guilford, Stonington.-A New Saybrook Platform. -New Fairfield. The Bridgeport Farmer.— How Stepney stopped the War. - The Farmer Office sacked. - Gov. Buckingham's Proclamation.-Life and Character of Gen. Lyon. His Bravery and Decision. His Heroic Death.

UR defeat at the battle of Bull Run corrected, as nothing else could have done, an extravagant estimate of our own strength. It taught us that the rebels had no respect for the national authority, except just so much as could be enforced at the point of the bayonet: it swept away our "ninetydays'" optimism, and showed us that what we had mistaken for an April shower was to be a long storm, and a hard one.1

The wonderful uprising which followed the fall of Sumter was repeated after our bewildered volunteers surged back upon Washington. If the second rally was less ardent than the first, it was more deliberate and determined. Instead of a brief military recreation, men felt it to be a struggle for life; and every town in the State renewed its patriotic resolution, and every neighborhood responded to the recruiting drum. The Fifth Regiment, now a splendid body of men, and ably officered, left for the seat of war a week after the repulse; and, within two weeks thereafter, companies were started in more than half the towns in the State. Warmeetings were held, and the enthusiasm rose to the level of

1 The Lost Cause says, "The victory of Manassas was the greatest misfortune that could have befallen the Confederacy."

2 Congress, the day after the battle of Bull Run, authorized the president to call out five hundred thousand men for three years.

the emergency. Within a month, volunteers had poured into the recruiting centres so rapidly, that six additional regiments were begun, from the Sixth to the Eleventh inclusive.

About this time it was proposed to organize a regiment of cavalry for the regular service, to be formed of six squadrons from as many States. William H. Mallory of Bridgeport, who had served during the three-months' service in Duryea's Zouaves, received authority to recruit a squadron in Connecticut. He was aided by Thomas B. Thornett and L. H. Southard of Hartford, and Marcus Coon of Waterbury, the latter a captain in the First Regiment; and the squadron was recruited in thirteen days. Edward W. Whittaker of Ashford went out in this squadron as sergeant, and was soon lieutenant. Hartford furnished thirty men; Canton, New Britain, and Berlin had ten men each; and half the towns in the State had one or two. The squadrons rendezvoused in New York; and, that State furnishing six companies, the regiment was assigned to New York as a State regiment, and became the 2d New-York or "Harris Light Cavalry."

During the passage to Washington, Sept. 8, the rebel engi neer tried to throw the rear cars from the track by a high rate of speed. Sergeant E. L. Lyon, a nephew of Gen. Lyon, assisted by others, manned the brake, and, in attempting to stop the train, was thrown off and killed. William A. German of Collinsville met the same fate. Lyon was buried with all honors by the side of Gen. Lyon on Sept. 13. His brother-in-law, Harvey Copeland, took his place in the ranks immediately, though leaving a wife and five children.

The regiment went into camp on Arlington Heights, remaining for several months. Corporal Cornelius H. Bailey of Waterbury was killed by accident at Washington in October, and was buried at home with military honors. Capt. Thornett said of him, "I never saw a better soldier, or a more active and faithful man. The influence of his splen- . did conduct on his comrades was most beneficial."

The men who opposed resistance to the South when the war began had been awed into apparent acquiescence by

THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE.

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the first angry response; but as soon as the patriotic out break had lost its novelty, and our soldiers had met with slight reverses, this faction gathered courage again, and came forth in a series of "peace" demonstrations, in which white flags were unfurled, and speeches made demanding a withdrawal of the loyal armies from the field. Sometimes they went so far as to charge the absent soldiers with cowardice, and ridicule their officers for incapacity, while eulogizing rebel officers and exaggerating rebel success. Even the insignificant affair of Big Bethel was the occasion of exhibitions of this sort.

As early as June 22, one Andrew Palmer had raised a peace-flag at his house in Goshen. A large crowd assembled; and after considerable parleying and a slight contest, in which one peace-man was wounded, the obnoxious emblem was captured, and the star-spangled banner displayed upon the pole. Palmer swore allegiance to it, and some of his confederates were taken to jail. This was the first of a series of similar demonstrations.

The "peace" movement in Connecticut seems to have originated in the May session of the legislature at Hartford. Ex-Gov. Thomas H. Seymour had there offered a resolution urging the Crittenden Compromise, the preamble of which assumed that disunion was a fixed fact. He prefaced this with a speech, of which the following extract indicates the tone: "There seems to be a radical mistake on the part of many people. They appear to think the South can be conquered. Sir, this is impossible! You may destroy their habitations, devastate their fields, and shed the blood of their people; but you can not conquer them." The resolution received eighteen ayes, a hundred and seventy-three noes. This was the first platform of the " peace-party;" and these eighteen represented its political strength. It soon became obvious that this was part of a concerted movement. It was expected that the "Breckinridge party" of the previous fall would form the nucleus of the forces. The utterances of Breckinridge and Vallandigham in Congress supplied ammunition. Mr. Breckinridge in person opened the campaign which was to "revolutionize the North" in a speech at Balti