THE WINANS' STEAM GUN. tion. 185 discredit. "Wishing," he said to his the Union unhappily admits of no quessoldiers, "to establish the most friendly relations between you and this neighbor- An exploit which enlivened the uniform hood, the General invited all venders of duties at the Relay House was the capsupplies to visit our camp and replenish ture by a scouting party from that station ́our somewhat scanty commissariat. But of the Winans' steam gun, a formidable to his disgust and horror he finds well-looking military apparatus, a species of authenticated evidence that a private in locomotive, designed by the inventor, a the Sixth Regiment has been poisoned by wealthy and enterprising gentleman of means of strychnine administered in the Baltimore, of reputation as an engineer, food brought into the camp by one of whose name it bore, "to inaugurate a these peddlers. I am happy to be in- new era in the science of war." Ballformed that the man is now out of danger. proof, protected by an iron roof, mounted This act, of course, will render it neces- on a four-wheeled carriage, it was consary for me to cut off all purchases from structed to discharge from an ill-looking unauthorized persons. Are our few in- mouth at the apex of its projecting cone, sane enemies among the loyal men of a hundred or more balls a minute of any Maryland, prepared to wage war upon capacity from an ounce to a 24-pound us in this manner? Do they know the shot. The prospectus in which the exterrible lesson of warfare they are teach-traordinary merits of this invention were ing 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 adopted 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 other such attempt, reasonably authenticated as to the person committing it, will be followed by the swiftest, surest, and most condign punishment."* Tales of this kind were frequent at the beginning of the war. For the honor of human nature let us hope that, with other rumors of the camp, they were often exaggerated. The fact that a considerable portion of the population of Maryland, then and long after, was embittered and hostile to the citizen soldiery who were ordered thither for the preservation of * General Order. Relay House, May 8, 1861. set forth by the patentee, Mr. Charles S. Dickinson, represented it as capable on the field of battle of "mowing down opposing troops as the scythe mows standing grain," while in sea fights, "mounted on low deck steamers it would be capable of sinking any ordinary war vessel." In fact it was enthusiastically predicted that "the day was not far distant when, through its instrumentality, the new era in the science of war (already alluded to) being inaugurated, it would be generally adopted by the Powers of the Old and New Worlds, and from its very destructiveness prove the means and medium of peace." This ingeniously constructed weapon was taken on the road in course of transportation from Baltimore to Harper's Ferry, whither the rebel citizens were flocking, carrying aid and comfort to the Virginians in arms. There was some talk of making the engine serviceable in the national defence; but we may presume there were inherent difficulties in the way, else the inventive founded, false, and seditious rumors; to people into whose hands it fell would have turned it to some account. The "Winans' Steam Gun," after supplying paragraphs to the newspapers till all interest in it was exhausted, was transported by way of the Chesapeake and Fortress Monroe as a trophy of war to Boston. On the 14th of May, General Butler entered the city of Baltimore, included in the department of Annapolis, with his troops, among them a detachment of the very Massachusetts regiment which had been assailed in the riot, and established his headquarters in a fortified camp on Federal Hill, a position which thoroughly commanded the town. The Proclamation which he sent forth on the occasion was business-like and judicious. While it was resolutely set against acts of rebellion, the administration of the city government was left to the civil authorities, a profitable traffic was invited for the supply of the wants of the army, and every assurance given of good will. "A detachment," was its language, "of the forces of the Federal Government under my command 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 inhabitants are loyal to the Union and the Constitution, and are to be 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 relieve all apprehensions, if any are felt, by the well-disposed portion of the community, and to make it thoroughly 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 interfered 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 elsewhere; all of which property, munitions of war, and that fitted to aid and support the rebellion, will be seized and held subject to confiscation, and, therefore, all manufacturers of arms and munitions of war are hereby requested to report to me forthwith, so that the lawfulness of their occupation may be known and understood, and all misconstruction of their doings be avoided. No 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 ready to receive all such stores and supplies, arrangements will be made to contract for them immediately, and the owners and manufacturers of such articles of equipment and clothing, and munitions of war and provisions, are desired to keep them GENERAL BUTLER'S PROCLAMATION. selves in communication with the Commissary-General, in order that their workshops may be employed 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 furnish, 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 extent of its capacity, if the patriotic and loyal men choose so to furnish supplies. All assemblages, except the ordinary police, of armed bodies of men, other than those regularly organized and commissioned by the State of Maryland, 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 limits of the department, are requested to report through their officers forthwith to the General in command, so that he may be able to know and distinguish 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 at the command of the General, upon proper call being made, and all such authorities are cordially invited to coöperate 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. 187 "No 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 deemed, 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 Government of the United States by far more relies upon the loyalty, patriotism, and zeal of the good citizens of Baltimore and vicinity than upon any exhibition 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 patriotism 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 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 be most rigorously punished. "The General believes that if the suggestions and requests contained in this proclamation are faithfully carried out by the coöperation of all good and Unionloving citizens, and peace and quiet, and certainty of future peace and quiet are thus restored, business will resume its accustomed channels, 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." Thenceforth, under the control and security of these provisions, arms were seized, disorder suppressed and peaceable citizens protected. The route through Baltimore was again open from the North, the trade of the city began to revive, Union men uttered their sentiments with confidence, the Confederate flag was proscribed and the Stars and Stripes, the exhibition of which had been forbidden by the municipal authorities, were restored to their old honors; loyalty was recognized as the rule, and sedition, for unhappily it was not as yet altogether extinguished, became the exception. In accordance with the friendly design of the occupation, Governor Hicks the same day issued the following Proclamation, meeting under certain conditions the original requisition of the President :-" Whereas, The President of the United States, by his Proclamation of the 15th of April, 1861, has called upon me, the Governor of Maryland, for four regiments of infantry or riflemen to serve for a period of three months, the said requisition being made in the spirit and in pursuance of the law, and Whereas, To the said requisition has been added the written assurance of the Secretary of War, that said four regiments shall be detailed to serve within the limits of the State of Maryland, or for the defence of the Capital of the United States and not to serve beyond the limits aforesaid; Now, therefore, I, Thomas Holliday Hicks, Governor of Maryland, do, by this my proclamation, call upon upon loyal citizens of Maryland to volunteer their services to the extent of four regiments, as aforesaid, to serve during a period of three months within the limits of Maryland, or for the defence of the Capital of the United States, to be subject under the conditions aforesaid, to the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the United States. Given under my hand and the great seal of the State of Maryland, at the city of Frederick, this 14th day of May, 1861." General Butler having thus by his firm but moderate course, seconding the wishes of the majority of the people whom he came to serve, secured the safety of his district from the violence of the secessionists, was rewarded by the Government with the rank of MajorGeneral and assigned the command of a new military district of Virginia and North and South Carolina with his headquarters at Fortress Monroe. His new commission was dated the 16th of May, the same day on which General McClellan was also made a Major-General. General Cadwalader of Philadelphia succeeded to the command at Baltimore. CHAPTER XIII. THE ADVANCE ACROSS THE POTOMAC. THE month of May found the country | a regiment was in arms and cn its way everywhere engaged in preparations for active war. The forces called for by the President were mustering into service in the loyal States; officers were busy at the recruiting stations; companies were forming; men were enlisting in favorite regiments; State and municipal authorities were lending their aid; money in private contributions and legislative loans or grants was liberally placed at the disposition of the local committees and the government agents. Millions were furnished for the war, in the fortnight following the day of Sumter, of which a large proportion was the voluntary gift of individuals. Within the same time at least one hundred thousand men were in active preparation for the field. Of these about thirty thousand New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania troops were already at Washington or on their way thither. On one day, Sunday the 21st of April, while the land route was interrupted, more than four thousand men of New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts left the city of New York for the Capital, by way of the Potomac, in five ocean steamers. The alacrity and efficiency of the Rhode Islanders was the subject of general comment. A meeting of the Legislature of the State, specially summoned, was held within a few days of the call of the President, money was liberally voted, and before the week was over to Washington. "Not only the officers of the regiment," says an enthusiastic chronicler of the day, "but the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor led the van, bearing with them the sovereignty of the State. With the side-arms of the officers and the shouldered muskets of the privates, came, in the simple blouse of their uniform, the representatives of more than $30,000,000 of wealth. No such event has ever before been recorded in war, nor has there been seen, by the past or present generation, such an impersonation of the muscle and the material aid of a campaign upon its muster and within its roll call." The Massachusetts men were attended to the Capital with similar plaudits. "God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts !" exclaimed another journalist-" the State that compromise was to leave out of the new Confederacy, and blessings be upon the State of Roger Williams, so confidently calculated on as the first of the Northern States that would avow its allegiance to the piratical government of Jeff. Davis." Nor were the other eastern, middle and western States deficient in the work. Under the animating impulse of their several Governors, all moved quickly and steadily onward according to their several opportunities. New York, under Governor Morgan, assisted by General Wool and the Union Defence Committee, gathered her tens of thousands to the camp; |