PREPARATIONS OF THE CONSPIRATORS FOR WAR.

453

• May 23, 1861.

cations were rapidly growing upon the hills around it. And yet the conspirators still dreamed of possessing it. Two days after their Convention at Montgomery adjourned to meet in Richmond on the 20th of July, Alexander H. Stephens, in a speech at Atlanta," in Georgia, after referring to the occupation of the National edifices at Washington by the soldiery, said:-"Their filthy spoliation of the public, buildings and the works of art at the Capitol, and their preparations to destroy them, are strong evidences to my mind that they do not intend to hold or defend that place, but to abandon it, after having despoiled and laid it in ruins. Let them destroy it, savage-like, if they will. We will rebuild it. We will make the structures more glorious. Phenix-like, new and more substantial structures will rise from its ashes. Planted anew, under the auspices of our superior institutions, it will live and flourish throughout all ages."

At the beginning of May, by fraud, by violence, and by treachery, the conspirators and their friends had robbed the Government to the amount of forty millions of dollars; put about forty thousand armed men in the field, twenty-five thousand of whom were at that period concentrating in Virginia; sent emissaries abroad, with the name of Commissioners, to seek recognition and aid from foreign powers; commissioned numerous pirates to prey upon the commerce of the United States; extinguished the lights of light-houses and beacons along the coasts of the Slave-labor States, from Hampton Roads to the Rio Grande,' and enlisted actively in their revolutionary schemes the Governors of thirteen States, and large numbers of leading politicians in other States. INSURRECTION had become REBELLION; and the loyal people of the country, and the National Government, beginning to comprehend the magnitude and potency of the movement, accepted it as such, and addressed themselves earnestly to the task of its suppression.

1 The light-houses and beacons seized, and lights extinguished, commencing with that on Cape Henry, in Virginia, and ending with Point Isabel, in Texas, numbered one hundred and thirty-one. Of these, thirteen were in Virginia, twenty-seven in North Carolina, fourteen in South Carolina, thirteen in Georgia, eighteen in Florida, eight in Alabama, twenty-four in Louisiana, and fourteen in Texas.

C.S.A.

TUISIA

454

OHIO PREPARING FOR WAR.

CHAPTER XIX.

EVENTS IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.-THE INDIANS.

HILE thousands of the loyal people of New England and of the other Free-labor States eastward of the Alleghanies were hurrying to the field, and pouring out their wealth like water in support of the Government, those of the region westward of these lofty hills and northward of the Ohio River were equally patriotic and demonstrative. They had watched with the deepest interest the development of the conspiracy for the overthrow of the Republic, and when the President's call for the militia of the country to arrest the treasonable movements reached them, they responded to it with alacrity by thousands and tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands.

April 12, 1961.

The Legislature of Ohio, as we have observed, had spoken out early,' and pledged the resources of the State to the maintenance of the authority of the National Government. This pledge was reiterated, in substance, on the 14th of March, when that body, by vote, declared its high approval of President Lincoln's Inaugural Address. On the day when Fort Sumter was attacked, an act of the Legislature, providing for the enrollment of the militia of the State, became a law; likewise another, for the regulation of troops to be mustered into the National service. Provision was also made for the defense of the State, whose peace was liable to disturbance by parties from the Slave-labor States of Virginia and Kentucky, between whom and Ohio was only the dividing line of a narrow river. Appropriations for war purposes were made on a liberal scale; and when the twenty days, allowed by the President in his proclamation for the insurgents to lay down their arms, had expired, a stirring order went out from the Adjutant-General of the State (H. B. Carrington), for the organization of one hundred thousand men as a reserved force; for sagacious observers of the signs of the times, like Governor Dennison, plainly perceived that a great war was impending. The people contributed freely of their means, for fitting out troops and providing for their families. George B. McClellan, who had held the commission of captain by brevet after meritorious services in Mexico, but was now in civil service as superintendent of the Ohio and Mississippi Railway, was commissioned a major-general by the Governor, and appointed commander of all the forces of the State. Camps for rendezvous and instruction were speedily formed, one of the most important of which was Camp Dennison, on the line of the Cincinnati and Columbus Railway, and occupying a position on the pleasant slopes of the hills that skirt

2

INDIANA READY FOR THE CONFLICT.

455 the Miami Valley, about eighteen miles from Cincinnati. So Ohio began to prepare for the struggle.

The people of Indiana moved as promptly and vigorously as those of Ohio. In March, the vigilant Governor Morton, seeing the storm gathering,

went to Washington and procured about five thousand second-class muskets. These and a few others formed all the means at his command for arming the State, when the President's call reached him on Monday, the 15th of April. The militia of the State were unorganized, and there was no Adjutant-General to whom he might turn for aid, for the incumbent of that office refused At that time there was an energetic young lawyer residing at Crawfordsville, who had served in Mexico at the age of nineteen years, and was well versed in military affairs. In the State Senate, of which he had been a member, he had vainly urged the adoption of measures for organizing the militia of the State. Fond of military maneuvers, he had formed a company and drilled them in the tactics of the Zouaves, several weeks before the famous corps of "Ellsworth's Zouaves" was organized. This lawyer was Lewis Wallace, who became a Major-General of Volunteers at an early period of the war that ensued.

a April 15,

1861.

Governor Morton called Wallace to his aid. A dispatch summoning him to Indianapolis reached him on Monday evening, while he was trying a cause in Clinton County. He reported to the Governor the next morning. "The President has called on Indiana for six regiments to put down a rising rebellion," said Morton. "I have sent for you to assist me in the business. I want to appoint you Adjutant-General."-" Where is the Adjutant-General's office?" inquired Wallace.-"There is none," responded the Governor. "Where are the books ?"-"There are none."-" How many independent companies are there in the State ?"-"I know of but three

0. P. MORTON.

456

ILLINOIS VIGILANT AND ACTIVE.

two here in Indianapolis, and your own.". "Where is the law defining the duties of the Adjutant-General ?"—" There is no law on the subject—nothing pertaining to military organization."--"Well, then," said Wallace, "your immediate business is the raising of six regiments."-"That is it,” said the Governor. “Have you objections to giving me one of them after they are raised ?" inquired Wallace.-"None at all; you shall have one of them," was the answer.

• April 19, 1861.

This brief conversation gives an idea of the absolute want of preparation for war on the part of Indiana when the rebellion broke out-a State that afterward sent about two hundred thousand troops to the field. It occurred on Tuesday morning succeeding the attack on Fort Sumter, and on the following Friday night" Wallace reported to the Governor the sixty companies for the six regiments, complete, and in "Camp Morton," adjoining Indianapolis. He reported, in addition, more than eighty surplus companies, organized and ready to move. With the report he sent in his resignation, and a request for permission to go out and organize his own regiment. It was given, and within the next twenty-four hours he reported the "Eleventh Regiment Indiana Volunteers" (Zouaves), which did admirable service in Western Virginia a few weeks later, as organized, armed, and ready for marching orders. Within four days after the President's call was promulgated from Washington, more than ten thousand Indianians were in camp. So Indiana, one of the younger States of the Union, also prepared for the struggle.

Illinois, under the vigorous leadership of Governor Yates, was early upon the war-path. At the beginning of April, Yates saw the clouds of most alarming difficulty surely gathering, while many others perceived nothing but a serene sky. On the 12th he issued a call for an extraordinary session of the Legislature on the 23d. On receiving the President's call for troops on the 15th, he issued a stirring appeal to the people, and in less than twenty-four hours afterward, four thousand men reported themselves ready and anxious for service. The quota of the State (six thousand) was more than filled by the 20th; and, pursuant to the request of the General Government, Yates sent two thousand of these State troops to possess and hold Cairo, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, a point of great strategic importance at that time, as we shall observe presently.

The Legislature of Illinois met at Springfield on the 23d, and two days afterward it was addressed by the distinguished United States Senator, Stephen A. Douglas, the rival of Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency of the Republic. When Treason lifted its arm to strike, Mr. Douglas instantly offered himself as a shield for his country. He abandoned all party alle

1 Wallace's regiment was a fair type of the Indiana Volunteers who composed her quota. It was an assemblage of mechanics, farmers, lawyers, doctors, and clergymen. They were all young and full of life, and ambitious, quick, shrewd, and enterprising. The regiment adopted the Zouave costume of Colonel Wallace's Crawfordsville Company. The color was steel gray, with a narrow binding of red on their jackets and the top of a small cap. The shirt was of dark blue flannel. The Zouares, from whom they derived their name, were a body of Algerine soldiers, whom the French incorporated into their army after the conquest of Algeria. They were a wild, reckless set of men, in picturesque costume, and marked for their perfect discipline and particularly active tactics. The native Zonaves finally disappeared from the French army, but their costume and tactics were preserved. When French Zonave regiments performed eminent service in the Crimea, and gained immense popularity, Wallace and Ellsworth introduced the costume and system of maneuvers into this country, and at the beginning of the civil war large numbers of the volunteers assumed their garb and name.

THE LAST PUBLIC SERVICES OF DOUGLAS.

457 giance, put away all political and personal prejudices, and, with the spirit and power of a sincere patriot, became the champion of the integrity of the Union. As soon as he was relieved from his senatorial duties at Washington, he hastened to Illinois and began battle manfully. His speeches and conversation on the way had foreshadowed his course. To the Legislature of his State he addressed arguments and exhortations, powerful and persuasive. In Chicago he did likewise. Alas! his warfare was brief. He arrived at his home in Chicago on the 1st of May, suffering from inflammatory rheumatism. Disease assumed various

and malignant forms in his system, and

on the 3d of June he died. His loss seemed to be peculiarly inauspicious at that time, when such men were so few and so much needed. But his words were living and of electric power. They were oracles for thousands, whose faith, and hope, and patriotism were strengthened thereby. His last coherent utterances were exhortations to his children and his countrymen to stand by the Constitution and the Government.

The Legislature of Illinois appropriated three millions of dollars for war purposes, and authorized the immediate organization of the entire militia force

STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS.

of the State, consisting of all able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years. Michigan was equally aroused by the call of the President. He asked of her one regiment only. Ten days afterward she

1 In his last speech, made at Chicago, at the beginning of May, he said:-"This is no time to go into a discussion of the causes that have produced these results. The conspiracy to break up the Union is a fact now

known to all. Armies are being raised and war levied to accomplish it. There can be but two sides to this controversy. Every man must be on the side of the United States or against it. There can be no neutrals in this war. There can be none but traitors and patriots."

2 The funeral of Senator Douglas was an imposing spectacle. His body was embalmed, and it lay in state in Bryan Hall, Chicago, where it was visited by thousands of sincere mourners. It was dressed in a full suit of black, and, the entire lid of the burial-case being removed, the whole person was exposed. The coffin was placed under a canopy or catafalque, in the center of the hall. The canopy was supported by four columns, and both were heavily draped in black. It was surmounted by an eagle, whose talons grasped the flag of the Union in a manner to allow it to lie, outspread, over a portion of the canopy. Each pillar was also surmounted by an eagle. At the foot of the coffin was a broken or truncated column, denoting the termination of a life in the midst of usefulness. At the head stood a vase of many kinds of flowers.

One of the last letters written by Mr. Douglas was addressed to Mr. Hicox, Chairman of the Illinois State Democratic Committee, in reply to one addressed to him on the great topic of the hour. It was full of suggestions of great moment and patriotic sentiments. In it he said: "I know of no mode by which, a loyal citizen may so well demonstrate his devotion to his country as by sustaining the flag. the Constitution, and the Union, under all circumstances, and under any administration (regardless of party politics), against all assailants at home and abroad. The course of Clay and Webster toward the administration of General Jackson, in the days of nullification, presents a noble and worthy example for all true patriots." He said in conclusion, If we hope to regain and perpetuate the ascendency of our party, we should never forget that a man can not be a true Democrat unless he is a loyal patriot." This letter was dated May 10, 1861.