428

THE MARTYRS' MONUMENT DEDICATED.

the loyal women of Baltimore for the purpose. It was of regimental size, and surmounted by a carved eagle holding thunderbolts in its talons, and an olive-branch in its beak. On the polished black-walnut staff was a silver plate, bearing an engraving of the arms of Maryland and of Massachusetts, and the words, "MARYLAND TO MASSACHUSETTS, APRIL 19, 1865. MAY THE UNION AND FRIENDSHIP OF THE FUTURE OBLITERATE THE ANGUISH OF THE PAST." This was the crowning evidence of the sorrow of true Marylanders for the wrongs inflicted on citizens of Massachusetts in their commercial capital, and a desire to obliterate the feelings occasioned by them. Only a few months after the occurrence, and when the Union men of the State had obtained partial control of the public affairs of the Commonwealth, the Legis

lature took steps" to "wipe out," as they expressed it, "the foul December, blot of the Baltimore riot;" and on the 5th of March, 1862, the

1861. General Assembly appropriated seven thousand dollars, to be

disbursed, under the direction of the Governor of Massachusetts, for the relief of the families of those who were then injured. To-day Massachusetts and Maryland cordially embrace each other as loving sisters in the great family of the Nation.

Massachusetts troops] was triumThe patriotism of the people of thoroughly aroused, as we have

Through New York the march [of phal," said Governor Andrew. It was so. that great city and of the State had been observed, by the attack on Fort Sumter; and now, when the National Government was struggling for life in the toils of the conspirators, with no ability to make its perils known to the loyal people, they put forth the strong arm of their power without stint. Already the Legislature had authorized the Governor to enroll thirty thousand troops for two years, instead of for three months, and appropriated three millions of dollars for war purposes. Now, the citizens of the metropolis, in concert with General Wool, performed services of incalculable value, which the General-in-chief afterward declared had been mainly instrumental in saving the Capital from seizure, and the Republic from ruin.' They heard the call of the President for seventyfive thousand men with profound satisfaction. On the same evening some gentlemen met at the house of an influential citizen, and resolved to take immediate measures for the support of the Government. On the following day, they invited, by a printed circular letter, other citizens to April 16, join them, for the purpose of making arrangements for a public 1861. meeting of men of all parties, "to sustain the Federal Government in the present crisis.” The arrangements were made, and the

nity, a large number of military companies, and citizens, and the Otto (Singing) Club. Governor Andrew delivered an oration, after which Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas J. Morris presented the Maryland flag mentioned in the text. There was a collation at Huntington Hall, where toasts were given and speeches made. Among the speakers was Major-General Butler, whose military experience in Maryland, just after the riot in Baltimore, made him a deeply interested participant in the ceremonies. He paid a fine tribute to the volunteer soldiers, and to the Navy.

1 Speech of General Scott before the Union Defense Committee of New York, November 8, 1861. the published Reports, Resolutions, and Documents of that Committee.

See

The following is a copy of the circular:-"SIR: At a meeting held at the house of R. II. McCurdy, Esq., you were appointed member of a Committee to make arrangements for a public meeting of citizens, of all parties, to sustain the Federal Government in the present crisis. You are earnestly requested to attend a meeting of said Committee, for the above-named purpose, at the rooms of the Chamber of Commerce, corner of William and Cedar Streets."

UNION DEFENSE COMMITTEE IN NEW YORK.

429 great meeting at Union Square, already mentioned,' was held on the 20th of April, when a Committee of Safety was appointed. It was composed of some of the most distinguished citizens of New York, of all parties. They organized that evening, with the title of THE UNION DEFENSE COMMITTEE.*

Intelligence had already gone over the land of the attack on the Massachusetts troops in the streets of Baltimore, and the isolation and perils of the Capital; and the first business of the Committee was to facilitate the equipment and outfit of regiments of volunteer militia, and their dispatch to the seat of Government. So zealously and efficiently did they work, that within ten days from the time when the President made his call for troops, no less than eight thousand well-equipped and fully armed men had gone to the field from the city of New York. Already, before the organization of the Committee, the celebrated Seventh Regiment of the National Guard of New York, Colonel Marshall Lefferts, had left for Washington City; and on the day after the great meeting (Sunday, the 21st), three other regiments had followed, namely, the Sixth, Colonel Pinckney; the Twelfth, Colonel Butterfield; and the Seventy-first, Colonel Vosburg.

Major-General Wool, next in rank to the General-in-chief, and the Commander of the Eastern Department, which comprised the whole country eastward of the Mississippi River, was then at his home and head-quarters at Troy, New York. When he heard of the affair at Baltimore, he hastened to Albany, the State capital, to confer with Governor Morgan. While he was there, the Governor received an electrograph, urging him to send troops forward to Washington as speedily as possible. At the same time he received an offer of the regiment of Colonel Ellsworth, whose skillfully executed and picturesque Zouave tactics had lately excited the attention and admiration of the country. These volunteers were accepted, and the Governor determined to push forward troops as fast as possible. General Wool at once issued orders to Colonel Tompkins, the United States Quartermaster at New York, to furnish all needful transportation; and Major Eaton, the Commissary of Subsistence, was directed to issue thirty days' rations to each soldier that might be ordered to Washington.

a April 20, 1861.

Governor Morgan went to New York on the evening of the 20th, and was followed by General Wool on the 22d. The veteran made his headquarters at the St. Nicholas Hotel, and there he was waited upon by the Union Defense Committee on the 23d, when a plan of operations for the

1 See page 354.

The Committee was composed of the following citizens:-John A. Dix, Chairman; Simeon Draper, Vice-Chairman; William M. Evarts, Secretary; Theodore Dehon, Treasurer; Moses Taylor. Richard M. Blatchford, Edwards Pierrepont, Alexander T. Stewart, Samuel Sloane, John Jacob Astor, Jr.. John J. Cisco, James S. Wadsworth, Isaac Bell, James Boorman, Charles H. Marshall, Robert H. McCurdy, Moses H. Grinnell, Royal Phelps, William E. Dodge, Greene C. Bronson, Hamilton Fish, William F. Havemeyer. Charles H. Russell, James T. Brady, Rudolph A. Witthaus, Abiel A. Low, Prosper M. Wetmore. A. G. Richards, and the Mayor, Controller, and Presidents of the two Boards of the Common Council of the City of New York. The Committee had rooms at No. 80 Pine Street, open all day, and at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, open in the evening. The original and specific duties assigned to the Committee, by the great meeting that created it, were, "to represent the citizens in the collection of funds, and the transaction of such other business, in aid of the movements of the Government, as the public interests may require."

During the existence of this Committee, which continued about a year, it disbursed almost a million of dollars, which the Corporation of New York had appropriated for war purposes, and placed at its disposal. It assisted in the organization, equipment, &c., of forty-nine regiments, or about forty thousand men. For military purposes, it spent, of the city fund, nearly seven hundred and fifty-nine thousand dollars, and for the elief of soldiers' families, two hundred and thirty thousand dollars.

430

GENERAL WOOL AND UNION DEFENSE COMMITTEE.

salvation of the Capital was arranged between them. No communication could be made to the Government, as we have observed. The General-inchief could not speak to a single regiment outside of the District of Columbia; and General Wool was compelled, in order to act in conformity to the demands of the crisis and desires of the loyal people, to assume great responsibilities. He did so, saying:-"I shall probably be the only victim; but, under the circumstances, I am prepared to make the sacrifice, if thereby the Capital may be saved." Day and night he labored with the tireless energy of a strong man of forty years, until the work was accomplished. Ships were chartered, supplies were furnished, and troops were forwarded. to Washington with extraordinary dispatch, by way of Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River. The transports were convoyed by armed steamers to shield them from pirates; and one of them-the Quaker City-was ordered to Hampton Roads, to prevent the insurgents transporting heavy guns from the Gosport Navy Yard with which to attack Fortress Monroe, the military key to Virginia. To that immensely important military work, Wool sent gun-carriages, ammunition, and provisions, that it might be held, and command the chief waters of Virginia. A dozen State Governors applied to him, as the superior military officer that could be reached, for advice and for munitions of war, and he assisted in arming no less than nine States.' In reply to Governor Yates, of Illinois, asking for five thousand muskets and a complement of ammunition, he directed him to send a judicious officer, with four or five companies, to take possession of the Arsenal at St. Louis, which he believed to be in danger of seizure by the secessionists of Missouri. He also telegraphed to Frank P. Blair, of St. Louis (afterward a major-general in the National Army), to assist in the matter. By judicious management, twenty-one thousand stand of small arms, two field-pieces, and one hundred and ten thousand rounds of ammunition were transferred from St. Louis to Illinois. Wool also ordered heavy cannon, carriages, et cætera, to Cairo, Illinois, which speedily became a place of great interest, in a military point of view. He authorized the Governors of New Hampshire and Massachusetts to put the coast defenses within the borders of their respective States in good order, and approved of other measures proposed for the defense of the seaport towns supposed to be in danger from the pirate vessels of the "Confederacy," then known to be afloat. He also took the responsibility of sending forward to Washington Colonel Ellsworth's Zouave Regiment, composed principally of New York firemen, who were restrained, for the moment, by official State authority.

1 General Wool ordered the following ordnance and ordnance stores to be issued to the Governors of the following States:-PENNSYLVANIA, 16.000 muskets, 640,000 cartridges, 150,000 caps, 3.080 muskets for six Ohio regiments, and 117,889 cartridges for the same. Oшо, 10,000 muskets and 400.000 cartridges, and 5.000 muskets from Illinois, INDIANA, 5,000 muskets and 200.000 cartridges, with caps. ILLINOIS, 200,000 cartridges. MASSACHUSETTS, 4,000 stand of arms. NEW HAMPSHIRE, 2.000 muskets and 20,000 cartridges. VERMONT. 800 rifles. NEW JERSEY, 2,850 muskets with ammunition. In addition to these, he ordered the issue of 10,000 muskets and 400.000 cartridges to General Patterson, then in command in Pennsylvania; 16.000 muskets to General Sandford, of New York, and forty rifles to General Welch.

2 While General Wool was reviewing this regiment, when on its march to embark for Washington, an order was received from the Governor of the State, acting under authority of law, forbidding their embarkation, unless the regiment, which was of maximum number, should be reduced to seventy-seven men to a company. No part of the regiment would go without the remainder, and, fortunately for the public good, General Wool took the responsibility of ordering them forward as a whole. They were escorted to the water by five thousand firemen.

THE GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL WOOL.

431

Troops and subsistence so promptly forwarded to Washington by the Union Defense Committee, under the direction of General Wool, and with the cordial co-operation of Commodores Breese

and Stringham, saved the Capital from seizure. Fortress Monroe, made secure by the same energetic measures, held, during the entire war, a controlling power over all lower and eastern Virginia and upper North Carolina; and the possession of the arms in the St. Louis Arsenal by the friends of the Government, at that time, was of the greatest importance to the National cause in the Mississippi Valley. We shall consider this matter presently.

When the troops sent forward had opened the way to Washington, the first communication that General Wool received from his superiors was an order from the General-in

JOHN ELLIS WOOL.

a April 30, 1861.

chief to return to his head-quarters at Troy, for "the recovery of his health, known to be feeble." The General's health was perfect. He, and the Union Defense Committee (who appreciated his services, and heartily thanked him for them), and the people, were surprised. The Secretary of War was asked' by the veteran why he had been sent into retirement at that critical juncture of affairs.

A month

May 9.

• June 7.

later, the minister replied: "You were ordered to return to your head-quarters at Troy, because the issuing of orders by you, on the application of the various Governors, for arms, ammunition, et cætera, without consultation, seriously embarrassed the prompt and proper administration of the Department." This sentence in the letter seemed more extraordinary than the order of the General-in-chief. The Government, during the time alluded to, could not be consulted. It was, as it were, shut up in prison, and its rescue from imminent peril had been effected only by the employment of unauthorized measures, less grave than the Government compelled to resort to for its own preservation-measures which it afterward asked Congress to sanction by special act. The people were

itself was

"I remember how you sustained the Government by forwarding troops for the defense of the National Capital; how, by your zeal in equipping and sending forward, with the means at your disposal, large bodies of patriotic and excellent troops, which came in good time, the tide of rebellion, which commenced at Baltimore, was turned against the enemies of our country. The Government had not the means of defending itself, when they were most needed. This Committee came forward and applied the remedy, and averted the danger." Speech of General Scott before the Union Defense Committee, November 8, 1861. Before the close of the year 1561, one hundred and seven volunteer regiments had gone to the field from the State of New York, sixty-six of which were aided by the Union Defense Committee. Of these regiments, ninety were infantry, ten were

cavalry, five were

artillery, one of engineers, and one a coast-guard.

On the 31st of April, 1861, the Union Defense Committee, by unanimous vote, adopted the following

resolutions:

Resolved, That this Committee regard it as an incumbent duty to express their high appreciation of the wisdom, energy, and patriotism of Major-General John E. Wool, commanding this Military District, evinced in moments of critical emergency in the affairs of the country.

Resolved, As the deliberate judgment of this Committee, that the zeal, activity, and patriotism of General Wool have been eminently conspicuous in the arrangements made by him for expediting the transport of troops and supplies to the scene of action; and especially so in assuming the responsibility of dispatching the

432

a

FAITHFUL SERVICES APPRECIATED.

not satisfied, and, they complained. Their murmurs were heeded; and, a few weeks later, General Wool was called from his retirement and August 17, placed in command of the Department of Southeastern Virginia, 1861. which had been recently created, with his head-quarters at Fortress Monroe. He succeeded General Butler, who was assigned to another field of active duty.

fine regiment of New York Fire Zouaves, commanded by Colonel Ellsworth, thus avoiding the delays which might otherwise have detained them for several days.

"Resolved, That this Committee desire to express in these resolutions their grateful sense of the distinguished services rendered by General Wool since entering upon his duties in this city; and their acknowledg ments to the War Department for affording this community the great advantage of his military skill and long experience in the service of his country.

"Resolved, That while the organization of the Western Department of the United States, comprising within its limits the National Capital. under the able, judicious, and patriotic management of Lieutenant-General Scott, Commanding General of the Army, insures public confidence and the protection of the National honor, the Committee deem it fortunate for the country that the President has exercised the sagacious discretion of placing the Eastern Department under the control of an officer worthy of all the confidence reposed in him.

"Resolved, That this Committee desire most emphatically to express their gratitude to Major-General Wool for the promptness and readiness with which he has yielded to their wishes and requests, and assumed great and heavy responsibilities, which the exigency of the case and the difficulties of communicating with the Gorernment rendered necessary; and they most earnestly request the War Department and the President of the United States to ratify and approve the conduct and action of Major-General Wool in these particulars; and also, that he may be continued in command in this city and of this Department.

"Resolved, That copies of the preceding resolutions, properly authenticated, be transmitted to the President of the United States, Lieutenant-General Scott, and Major-General Wool."