thirsty, but indomitable. At an early hour there was a universal snore through the Naval School of Annapolis. pay liberal prices for every thing, and that even patriotic presentations were steadily refused. While we were in the Navy School, of course all sorts of rumors as to our operations were floating about. It surprised me that no one suggested that we were to go off in a balloon; however, all surmises were put to an end by our receiving orders, the evening of the 23d, to assemble in marching order next morning. The dawn saw us up. Knapsacks, with our piled on the green. A brief and insufficient breakfast was taken, our canteens filled with vinegar and water, cartridges distributed to cach man, and after mustering and loading, we started on our first march through a hostile country. The two days that we remained at Annapolis were welcome. We had been without a fair night's sleep since we left New York, and even the hard quarters we had there were a luxury compared to the dirty decks of the Boston. Besides, there were natural attractions. The grounds are very prettily laid out, and in the course of my experience I never saw a hand-blankets and overcoats strapped on them, were somer or better bred set of young men than the cadets. They number about only twenty having left the school owing to political conviction. The remainder are sound Union fellows, eager to prove their devotion to the flag. After spending a delightful time in the Navy School, resting and amusing ourselves, our repose was disturbed, at 9, P. M., April 23, by rockets being thrown up in the bay. The men were scattered all over the grounds; some in bed, others walking or smoking, all more or less undressed. The rockets being of a suspicious character, it was conjectured that a Southern fleet was outside, and our drummer beat the roll-call to arms. From the stroke of the drum, until the time that every man, fully equipped and in fighting order, was in the ranks, was exactly, by watch, seven minutes. It is needless to say any thing about such celerity-it speaks for itself. The alarm, however, proved to be false, the vessels in the offing proving to be laden with the Seventy-first and other New York regiments; so that, after an unpremeditated trial of our readiness for ac-going home from school, and that the accidental tion, we were permitted to retire to our virtuous couches, which means, permit me to say, a blanket on the floor, with a military overcoat over you, and a nasal concert all around you, that, in noise and number, outvies Musard's celebrated concerts monstres. On the morning of the 24th of April we started on what afterwards proved to be one of the hardest marches on record. The Secessionists of Annapolis and the surrounding district had threatened to cut us off in our march, and even went so far as to say that they would attack our quarters. This, of course, was the drunken Southern ebullition. A civilian told me that he met in the streets of Annapolis two cavalry soldiers who came to cut our throats without delay, but as each brave warrior was endeavoring to hold the other up, my friend did not apprehend much danger. A curious revulsion of feeling took place at Annapolis, and indeed all through Maryland, after our arrival. The admirable good conduct which characterizes the regiment, the open liberality which it displays in all pecuniary transactions, and the courteous demeanor which it exhibits to all classes, took the narrow-minded population of this excessively wretched town by surprise. They were prepared for pillage. They thought we were going to sack the place. They found, instead, that we were prepared and willing to Gen. Scott has stated, as I have been informed, that the march that we performed from Annapolis to the Junction is one of the most remarkable on record. I know that I felt it the most fatiguing, and some of our officers have told me that it was the most perilous. We marched the first eight miles under a burning sun, in heavy marching order, in less than three hours; and it is well known that, placing all elementary considerations out of the way, marching on a railroad track is the most harassing. We started at about 8 o'clock, A. M., and for the first time saw the town of Annapolis, which, without any disrespect to that place, I may say, looked very much as if some celestial schoolboy, with a box of toys under his arm, had dropped a few houses and men as he was settlement was called Annapolis. Through the town we marched, the people unsympathizing, but afraid. They saw the Seventh for the first time, and for the first time they realized the men that they had threatened. The tracks had been torn up between Annapolis and the Junction, and here it was that the wonderful qualities of the Massachusetts Eighth Regiment came out. The locomotives had been taken to pieces by the inhabitants, in order to prevent our travel. In steps a Massachusetts volunteer, looks at the piece-meal engine, takes up a flange, and says coolly, "I made this engine, and I can put it together again." Engineers were wanted when the engine was ready. Nineteen stepped out of the ranks. The rails were torn up. Practical railroad makers out of the regiment laid them again, and all this, mind you, without care or food. These brave boys, I say, were starving while they were doing this good work. What their Colonel was doing, I can't say. As we marched along the track that they had laid, they greeted us with ranks of smiling but hungry faces. One boy told me, with a laugh on his young lips, that he had not eaten any thing for thirty hours. There was not, thank God, a haversack in our regiment that was not emptied into the hands of these ill-treated heroes, nor a flask that was not at their disposal. I am glad to pay them tribute here, and mentally doff my cap. Our march lay through an arid, sandy, to- | bacco-growing country. The sun poured on our heads like hot lava. The Sixth and Second companies were sent on for skirmishing duty, under the command of Captains Clarke and Nevers, the latter commanding as senior officer. A car, on which was placed a howitzer, loaded with grape and canister, headed the column, | manned by the engineer and artillery corps, commanded by Lieut. Bunting. This was the rallying point of the skirmishing party, on which, in case of difficulty, they could fall back. In the centre of the column came the cars laden with medical stores, and bearing our sick and wounded, while the extreme rear was brought up with a second howitzer, loaded also with grape and canister. The engineer corps, of course, had to do the forwarding work. New York dandies, sir-but they built bridges, laid rails, and headed the regiment through that terrible march. After marching about eight miles, during which time several men caved in from exhaustion, and one young gentleman was sunstruck and sent back to New York, we halted, and instantly, with the Divine instinct which characterizes the hungry soldier, proceeded to forage. The worst of it was there was no foraging to be done. The only house within reach was inhabited by a lethargic person, who, like most Southern men, had no idea of gaining money by labor. We offered him extravagant prices to get us fresh water, and it was with the utmost reluctance we could get him to obtain us a few pailfuls. Over the mantel-piece of his miserable shanty I saw a curious coincidence-the portrait of Col. Duryea, of our regiment. After a brief rest of about an hour, we again commenced our march; a march which lasted until the next morning-a march than which in history, nothing but those marches in which defeated troops have fled from the enemy, can equal. Our Colonel, it seems, determined to march by railroad, in preference to the common road, inasmuch as he had obtained such secret information as led him to suppose that we were waited for on the latter route. Events justified his judgment. There were cavalry troops posted in defiles to cut us off. They could not have done it, of course, but they could have harassed us severely. As we went along the railroad we threw out skirmishing parties from the Second and Sixth companies, to keep the road clear. I know not if I can describe that night's march. I have dim recollections of deep cuts through which we passed, gloomy and treacherous-looking, with the moon shining full on our muskets, while the banks were wrapped in shade, and each moment expecting to see the flash and hear the crack of the rifle of the Southern guerilla. The tree frogs and lizards made a mournful music as we passed. The soil on which we travelled was soft and heavy. The sleepers lying at intervals across the track made the march terribly fatiguing. On all sides dark, lonely pine woods stretched away, and high As the night wore on the monotony of the march became oppressive. Owing to our having to explore every inch of the way, we did not make more than a mile or a mile and a half an hour. We ran out of stimulants, and almost out of water. Most of us had not slept for four nights, and as the night advanced our march was almost a stagger. This was not so much fatigue as want of excitement. Our fellows were spoiling for a fight, and when a dropping shot was heard in the distance, it was wonderful to see how the languid legs straightened, and the column braced itself for action. If we had had even the smallest kind of a skirmish the men would have been able to walk to Washington. As it was, we went sleepily on. I myself fell asleep walking in the ranks. Numbers, I find, followed my example; but never before was there shown such indomitable pluck and perseverance as the Seventh showed in that march of twenty miles. The country that we passed through seemed to have been entirely deserted. The inhabitants, who were going to kill us when they thought we daren't come through, now vamosed their respective ranches, and we saw them not. Houses were empty. The population retired into the interior, burying their money, and carrying their families along with them. They, it seems, were under the impression that we came to ravage and pillage, and they fled as the Gauls must have fled when Attila and his Huns came down on them from the North. As we did at Annapolis, we did in Maryland State. We left an impression that cannot be forgotten. Every thing was paid for. No discourtesy was offered to any inhabitant, and the sobriety of the regiment should be an example to others. I have now to finish without bringing our journey up to here. But let that rest for my next letter. I wish, however, before I conclude, to state that nothing could have been more effective or energetic than the movements of the Engineer Corps, to whom we were indebted for the rebuilding of a bridge in an incredibly short space of time. The secret of this forced march, as well as our unexpected descent on Annapolis, was the result of Col. Lefferts' judgment, which has since been sustained by events. Finding that the line along the Potomac was closed, and the route to Washington by Baltimore equally impracticable, he came to the conclusion that Annapolis, commanding, as it did, the route to the Capital, must of necessity be made the basis of military operations. It was important to the Government to have a free channel through which to transport troops, and this post presented the readiest means. The fact that since then all the Northern troops have passed through the line that we thus opened, is a sufficient comment on the admirable judgment | speedy union of said Commonwealth and the that decided on the movement. It secured the other Slave States with the Confederate States integrity of the regiment, and saved lives, the of America, according to the provisions of the loss of which would have plunged New York Constitution for the Provisional Government into mourning. Too much importance cannot of said States, enters into the following tempobe attached to this strategy. To it the Seventh rary convention and agreement with said States, Regiment is indebted for being here at present for the purpose of meeting pressing exigencies intact and sound. For the present, adieu. affecting the common rights, interests, and safeF. J. O'B. ty of said Commonwealth and said Confederacy. -N. Y. Times. Commonwealth. By the Governor. JOHN LETCHER. GEORGE W. Munford, Secretary of the Commonwealth. An ordinance for the adoption of the Constitution of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America. We, the delegates of the people of Virginia in Convention assembled, solemnly impressed by the perils which surround the Commonwealth, and appealing to the Searcher of hearts for the rectitude of our intentions in assuming the grave responsibility of this act, do by this ordinance, adopt and ratify the Constitution of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America, ordained and established at Montgomery, Alabama, on the eighth day of February, eighteen hundred and sixty-one; provided that this ordinance shall cease to have any legal operation or effect if the people of this Commonwealth, upon the vote directed to be taken on the ordinance of secession passed by this Convention, on the seventeenth day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, shall reject the same. JNO. L. EUBANK, Secretary. A true copy. Convention between the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Confederate States of America. The Commonwealth of Virginia, looking to a 1st. Until the union of said Commonwealth with said Confederacy shall be perfected, and said Commonwealth shall become a member of said Confederacy, according to the Constitutions of both Powers, the whole military force and military operations, offensive and defensive, of said Commonwealth, in the impending conflict with the United States, shall be under the chief control and direction of the President of said Confederate States, upon the same principles, basis, and footing as if said Commonwealth were now, and during the interval, a member of said Confederacy. 2d. The Commonwealth of Virginia will, after the consummation of the union contemplated in this Convention, and her adoption of the Constitution for a Permanent Government of said Confederate States, and she shall become a member of said Confederacy under said Permanent Constitution, if the same occur, turn over to said Confederate States all the public property, naval stores, and munitions of war, etc., she may then be in possession of, acquired from the United States, on the same terms and in like manner as the other States of said Confederacy have done in like cases. 3d. Whatever expenditures of money, if any, said Commonwealth of Virginia shall make before the Union under the Provisional Government, as above contemplated, shall be consummated, shall be met and provided for by said Confederate States. This Convention, entered into and agreed to in the city of Richmond, Virginia, on the twenty-fourth day of April, 1861, by Alexander H. Stephens, the duly authorized Commissioner to act in the matter for the said Confederate States, and John Tyler, William Ballard Preston, Samuel McD. Moore, James P. Holcombe, James C. Bruce, and Lewis E. Harvie, parties duly authorized to act in like manner for said Commonwealth of Virginia; the whole subject to the approval and ratification of the proper authorities of both Governments respectively. In testimony whereof, the parties aforesaid have hereto set their hands and seals the day and year aforesaid and at the place aforesaid, in duplicate originals. ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS, [Seal,] Commissioner for Confederate States. JOHN TYLER, [Seal,] WM. BALLARD PRESTON, [Seal,] S. MCD. MOORE, [Seal,] JAMES P. HOLCOMBE, [Seal,] JAMES C. BRUCE, [Seal,] [Seal,] Commissioners for Virginia. LEWIS E. HARVIE, Approved and ratified by the Convention of JNO. L. EUBANK, Secretary. -National Intelligencer. Doc. 103.-PROCLAMATION OF GOV. such requisition, there being no organized militia nor any law requiring such organization; and whereas, it is the duty of all good and lawabiding citizens to preserve the peace and sustain the laws and government under which we live, and by which our citizens are protected: Therefore I, William Burton, Governor of the said State of Delaware, recommend the formation of volunteer companies for the protection of the lives and property of the people of this State against violence of any sort to which they may be exposed. For these purpo the control of the State authorities, though not subject to be ordered by the Executive into the United States service-the law not vesting in him such authority. They will, however, have the option of offering their services to the general government for the defence of its capital and the support of the Constitution and laws of the country. WHEREAS, by proclamation of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, followed by a requisition of Simon Cameron, Sec-ses such companies, when formed, will be under retary of War, I am informed that the said Abraham Lincoln has made a call for seventyfive thousand men, to be employed for the invasion of the peaceful homes of the South, and for the violent subversion of the liberties of a free people, constituting a large part of the whole population of the late United States; and, whereas, this high-handed act of tyrannical outrage is not only in violation of all Constitutional law, utter disregard of every sentiment of humanity and Christian civilization, and conceived in a spirit of aggression unparalleled by any act of recorded history, but is a direct step toward the subjugation of the whole South, and the conversion of a free republic, inherited from our fathers, into a military despotism, to be established by worse than foreign enemies on the ruins of our once glorious Constitution of equal rights: WILLIAM BURTON. -N. Y. Herald, April 28. Doc. 105.-NEW MILITARY DEPART- WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, WASHINGTON, April 27, 1861. 1. THE Military Department of Washington will include the District of Columbia, according to its original boundary, Fort Washington and the country adjacent, and the State of Maryland as far as Bladensburgh, inclusive. Colonel J. K. F. Mansfield, Inspector-General, is assigned to the command; head-quarters at Wash、 ington City. Now, therefore, I, John W. Ellis, Governor of the State of North Carolina, for these extraordinary causes, do hereby issue this, my Proclamation, notifying and requesting the Senators and members of the House of Commons of the General Assembly of North Carolina, to meet in special session at the Capitol, in the 2. A new Military Department, to be called City of Raleigh, on Wednesday, the 1st day of the Department of Annapolis, head-quarters at May next. And I furthermore exhort all good that city, will include the country for twenty citizens throughout the State to be mindful miles on each side of the railroad from Annapthat their first allegiance is due to the sove-olis to the City of Washington, as far as Bla reignty which protects their homes and dearest interests, as their first service is due for the sacred defence of their hearts, and of the soil which holds the graves of our glorious dead. United action in defence of the sovereignty of North Carolina, and of the rights of the South, becomes now the duty of all. -N. Y Tribune, April 26. Doo. 104.-PROCLAMATION OF THE GOVERNOR OF DELAWARE, APRIL 26, 1861. WHEREAS, a requisition has been made upon the undersigned, as Executive of the said State of Delaware, by the Secretary of War, for one regiment, consisting of seven hundred and eighty men, to be immediately detached from the militia of this State, "to serve as infantry or riflemen for the period of three months, unless sooner discharged;" and, whereas, the laws of this State do not confer upon the Executive any authority enabling him to comply with Doc.-21 densburgh, Maryland. Brigadier-General B. F. Butler, Massachusetts Volunteers, is assigned to the command. 3. A third department, called the Department of Pennsylvania, will include that State, the State of Delaware, and all of Maryland not embraced in the forgoing departments. MajorGeneral Patterson to command; head-quarters at Philadelphia, or any other point he may temporarily occupy. 4. Brevet-Colonel C. F. Smith having been relieved by Colonel Mansfield, will repair to Fort Columbus, N. Y., and assume the duties of Superintendent of the Recruiting Service, to which he was assigned in Special Orders No. 80, of March 15. Major Heintzelman, on being relieved at Fort Columbus, will repair to this city, and report for duty to the Department Commander. 5. Fort Adams, Rhode Island, is hereby placed temporarily under the control of the Secretary of the Navy, for the purpose of the Naval Academy now at Annapolis, Md. The necessary transfer of property will be made by the departments interested. By order. L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General. -National Intelligencer, May 1. Doc. 106.-LETTERS FROM THE N. Y. WASHINGTON, April 27. stopping every few minutes to listen for the bugle of our skirmishers; it took about four hours for those miles. We then came upon the camp of the Rhode Island regiment, under the lead of Gov. Sprague, and a fine noble set of men they are, generous as possible. On hearing from us that we were lacking in rations, every man of them opened his rationbag and gave us as much as we could carry. We left their encampment and kept on our way on the railroad track, and arrived at the Junction at four o'clock on the morning of Friday, after having marched continually for twenty WE have just arrived at Washington after a week of very hard work and quite a scarcity of provisions on the way. I am writing in our quarters in the building erected for the Inauguration ball. On Sunday, the day of our depart-four hours, and walked twenty-eight miles. ure, we stood in Bond street with our knapsacks about five hours; the march down Broadway was therefore excessively tiresome. Our ship, R. R. Cuyler, was a sight to behold; she was very filthy, redolent of decayed meat, bilge-water, &c. The men in two or three hours became clamorous for their rations, which, when furnished, were found to consist of two sea-biscuits and a chunk of salt pork, and the rations continued so for the remainder of the voyage. Our beds were wooden bunks in the back part of the ship. I patronized my bunk the first night, but on Monday and Tuesday nights I took to the deck. On Wednesday morning we disembarked at Annapolis, and remained there till about half-past four o'clock on Thursday morning, (having been roused at three,) when we started on our march for the junction, without any breakfast, and marched till eleven o'clock, making eight or nine miles. That's what I call a forced march for one thousand men. When we left the camp of the Rhode Islanders, where they begged us to stay all night, and furnished us coffee and bread, we were induced to march on the rest of the way to the Junction by the expectation that we should there receive coffee and biscuit, and have a nice shelter for the night. When we reached there nothing of the kind was to be found; there was not a particle of any thing to be had in the place until about nine o'clock in the morning, and then it was as much as a man's life was worth to attempt to get what there was. Imagine a thousand men in such a place, with no certainty when they could get off, there being only one engine on the roadyou can conceive the state of things! We were all indignant that no better provision had been made for us by the Government, but there are many apologies for the neglect, and those who come after us will have no such suffering. About seven o'clock Friday evening the cars from Washington came for us; the whole regiment had entered them, and were patiently waiting to be off, when we were all ordered out again and marched back to the field we came from, an eighth of a mile from the cars. There we were drawn up in martial order with two other regiments that had arrived, and we expected to camp in the field all night, but at about half-past ten we were ordered back to the cars, and there waited until early this We then had our dinner, consisting of two sea-biscuits and as much water as one could get. We started again in two hours, marching all the time with our muskets and knapsacks, and went nine or ten miles, and stopped in a large open lot, the whole regiment, about one thousand men. At one end of the lot was a large woody marsh. Just as we were about to resume our march at 7 o'clock in the evening, we heard two or three Indian whoops coming from different parts of this march. It had before been reported that we were to be attacked if we continued our march that (Thursday) even-morning, (Saturday,) when we finally started, ing, and this of course strengthened our suspicions. It was now beginning to grow dark, and we were formed in hollow square to resist any attack that might be made. and arrived at Washington without accident. An expected attack from five thousand men from Baltimore, reported to be coming down with four field-pieces, was the cause of our being ordered out of the cars at the Junction. About nine o'clock skirmishers were sent forward, and a short time afterwards the main I should have said that on the Cuyler the body again started. We had eight or nine eating was perfectly disgusting-the junk was miles to go before reaching the railroad for served out to the men from the hands of the Washington. I forgot to say that the reason cook. I could not touch it for two days; the we were obliged to walk was, that the railroad third day I became reconciled to it, and now I track had been torn up. (It is now clear all believe myself capable of eating any thing. The the way through, and in possession of the Gov-scramble for water was of course terrific, after ernment.) My feelings were none of the pleasantest as we defiled past the thick bushes and trees on each side of the road, and in the dark; the men were silent, all expecting at any moment to hear the muskets of lurking enemies on either side of us, but there was no flinching. In this way we marched three or four miles, the salt junk; the water was of the dirtiest kind imaginable, filled with all sorts of specks -but I became accustomed to this also. I do not think that hereafter I shall complain about dirty water, molasses, or any thing else, that may have a few hairs, croton bugs, or any such thing in it. |