478 UPRISING OF THE SOUTHERN PEOPLE. CHAPTER XX. COMMENCEMENT OF CIVIL WAR. • 1861. T the close of April, Jefferson Davis and his confederates were satisfied that the Government and the loyal people of the country were resolved to maintain the nationality of the Republic at all hazards, and they put forth extraordinary efforts to strike a deadly blow before it should be too late. The possession of Washington City being the chief object to be first obtained, troops were hurried toward it, as we have seen, from all points of the Slave-labor States, with the greatest possible haste and in the greatest possible numbers. At the beginning of May there were sixteen thousand of them on their way to Virginia or within its borders, and, with the local troops of that Commonwealth, were pressing on toward Washington, or to important points of communication with it. At the same time measures were on foot at Montgomery for organizing an army of one hundred thousand men.1 The enthusiasm among the young men of the ruling class in the South was equal to that of the young men of the North. Notwithstanding the proclamation of the President, calling for seventy-five thousand men, was read by crowds, "on the bulletin-boards of the telegraph-offices in every town, with roars of laughter and derision, and cheers for the great rail-splitter Abraham," as one of their chroniclers avers, and few believed that there would be war, "companies were formed on the spot, from among the wealthiest of the youths, and thousands of dollars were, spent on their organization, drill, and equipment; indeed, had Jefferson Davis so desired, he could have had two hundred thousand volunteers within a month for any term of service." The enthusiasm of the young men was shared by the other sex. "Banners of costly material," says the same writer, "were made by clubs of patriotic. young ladies, and delivered to the companies with appropriate speeches-the men, on such occasions, swearing that they would perish rather than desert the flag thus consecrated. Subscriptions for arms and accouterments poured in, and an emissary was dispatched northward, post-haste, to get the requisites." Regarding the whole matter as a lively pastime in prospect, many of the companies prepared to dress in costly attire, and bear the most expensive rifles; but those who knew better than they what kind of an entertainment the Southern youth were invited to, gave them some sound lessons at the beginning. "The young gentlemen of your company," wrote Jefferson 1 "Message" of Jefferson Davis to the "Congress of the Confederate States of America." April 29, 1861. 2 Battle-Fields of the South: by an English Combatant. Page 4. CHARACTER OF THE EARLY VOLUNTEERS. 479 Davis to a Mississippi captain, "must be thoroughly infused with the idea. that their services will prove to be in hardships and dangers; the commonest material, therefore, will be the most desirable; and as for arms, we must be content with what we have; the enemy will come superabundantly provided with all things that money and ingenuity can devise. We must learn to supply ourselves from them." He recommended that all volunteers should be dressed in gray flannels and light blue cotton pantaloons.' The grand rallying-place of the "Confederates," preparatory to a march on the Capital, was Manassas Junction, a point on the Orange and Alexandria Railway, where another joins it from Manassas Gap in the Blue Ridge, about twentyfive miles west from Alexandria, and thirty in a direct line from Washington City. This was a most important strategic point in the plans of the conspirators, as it commanded the grand Southern railway route, connecting Washington and Richmond, and another leading to the fertile valley of the Shenandoah, beyond the Blue Ridge. General Butler had already suggested to General Scott the propriety of sending National troops to occupy that very position before a Confederate" soldier had appeared, knowing that Washington City could be more easily defended at that distance from it, than by troops and batteries on Arlington Hights, just across the Potomac, within cannon-shot of the Capital. The Generalin-chief disagreed with Butler; and while the veteran soldier was slowly MISSISSIPPI RIFLEMAN.2 Battle-Fields of the South, page 5.-This writer, speaking of the company to which he was attached, says:-"The ambition of all was to bear a musket in the holy war for independence," and added, "that his company was composed of men representing property, in the aggregate, of not less than twenty millions of dollars." Then, "to show the spirit of those about to fight for the freedom of their country," he says:-"A commissioned (company) officer, having donned his gray uniform and gilded shoulder-straps, began to strut about camp and assume airs,' eager to show his 'little brief authority' on all occasions. This unfortunate fellow disgusted those who elected him; and although the men were desirous of learning their duty thoroughly and expeditiously, he seized upon every opportunity to 'blackguard' his former associates. He was frequently told how obnovions his assuming manner was; but, not heeding the admonition, several threatened to take him out and whale' him. Laughing at these suppressed remarks, he dared to lift his sword to slap one of the men when on parade: he was told what the immediate consequence would bo, but foolishly raised the weapon again, and slapped one across the shoulders; when, in an instant, the rifle was dropped, a bowie-knife flashed, and the officer lay dead on the turf, stabbed five or six times in as many seconds. The company did not stir, but looked on and applauded; the culprit quietly wiped his knife, resumed his place in the ranks, and dress-parade proceeded as if nothing had happened. Courts-martial could not-or at all events did not-attempt to exercise any jurisdiction in this or similar cases; they were reckoned affairs of self-defense, or 'honor.'" 2 The Mississippi Riflemen were renowned as destructive sharp-shooters during the war. In addition to their rifle, they carried a sheath-knife, known as the bowie-knife, in their belt. This is a formidable weapon in a hand-to-hand fight, when wielded by men expert in its use, as many were in the Southwestern States, where it was generally seen in murderous frays in the streets and bar-rooms. Its origin is connected with an incident in the life of Colonel Bowie, who was engaged in the revolt of Texas against Mexico, in 1835 and 1836. His sword-blade was broken in an encounter, when he converted the remainder into a stont sharp-pointed knife, and the weapon became very popular. See note 1, page 266. 'Parton's Butler in New Orleans, page 105. BOWIE-KNIFE AND SHEATH. 480 THE INSURGENTS ON ARLINGTON HIGHTS. preparing for a defensive campaign, the enemies of the Government, moving aggressively and quickly, had taken full possession, unopposed, of one of the most important positions for the accomplishment of their object. They attempted to do more. Under Colonel Lee, the late occupant of Arlington House, they were preparing to fortify Arlington Hights, where heavy siegeguns would absolutely command the cities of Washington and Georgetown. Fortunately for the country, this movement was discovered in time to defeat its object. That discovery revealed the necessity of an immediate advance of National forces beyond the Potomac. The advantages gained by the insurgents in having possession of the railways in that region was painfully apparent. Already "Confederate" pickets were occupying Arlington Hights and the Virginia shore of the Long Bridge, which spans the Potomac at Washington City; and engineers had been seen on those hights selecting eligible positions for batteries.' 1861. A crisis was evidently at hand, and the General-in-chief was now persuaded to allow an immediate invasion of Virginia. Orders were at once issued for the occupation of the shores of the Potomac oppo■ May 23, site, and also the city of Alexandria, nine miles below, by National troops. General Mansfield was in command of about thirteen thousand men at the Capital. Toward midnight, these forces in and around Washington were put in motion for the passage of the river, at three different points. One column was to cross at the Aqueduct Bridge, at Georgetown; another at the Long Bridge, at Washington; and a third was to proceed in vessels, and seize the city of Alexandria. The three invading columns moved almost simultaneously. The one at Georgetown was commanded by General Irvin McDowell. Some local volunteers crossed first, and drove the insurgent pickets from the Virginia end of the Aqueduct Bridge. These were followed by the Fifth Massachusetts; the Twenty-eighth New York, from Brooklyn; Company B of the United States Cavalry; and the Sixty-ninth New York, which was an Irish regiment, under Colonel Michael Corcoran. Their march across that lofty structure, in the bright light of a full moon, was a beautiful spectacle. Thousands of anxious men and women saw the gleaming of their bayonets and the waving of their 1 James D. Gay, mentioned in note 1. page 418, visited the steamship Monticello on the 23d of May, then discharging Government stores at Georgetown, and while viewing Arlington Hights, not far from the Aqueduct Bridge, through a telescope, discovered Lee (according to his description) and some subordinate officers, apparently engaged, in the partial concealment of bushes and irregularities of the ground, in laying out fortifica tions. After satisfying himself that preparations were being made by the insurgents to plant batteries on Arlington Hights, Gay hastened to the head-quarters of General Mansfield and told him what he had seen, in detail. The General, not doubting that a battery would be built on Arlington Hights that night, went imme diately to the War Department with his information. The order went out at once for the troops to move into Virginia and occupy Arlington Hights before the insurgents should gain absolute possession there. The sue cess of the National troops on that occasion was a very severe blow to the conspirators. The loss of that opportunity to gain a position that would doubtless have secured their possession of Washington City, was at the time, and frequently afterward, spoken of in the Richmond press as one of the greatest of misfortunes. 2 On the previous day (May 22) a large National flag, purchased by the clerks of the Post-Office Department. in testimony of their loyalty, was raised over the General Post-Oflice, in Washington City, by the hand of Presi dent Lincoln. The air was almost motionless, and the banner clung ominously sullen to the staff and the halliards. In a few moments a gentle breeze came from the North, and displayed the Stripes and Stars in all their beauty and significance to the assembled crowd. "I had not thought to say a word," said the President when he observed the incident, "but it has occurred to me that a few weeks ago the 'Stars and Stripes' hung rather languidly about the staff, all over the nation. So too with this flag, when it was elevated to its place, At first it hung rather languidly, but the glorious breeze from the North came, and it now floats as it should. And we hope that the same breeze is swelling the glorious flag throughout the whole Union." THE FIRST INVASION OF VIRGINIA. 481 banners, and heard the sounds of their measured foot-falls borne on the still night air, with the deepest emotions, for it was the first initial act of an opening campaign in civil warfare, whose importance no man could estimate. Two miles distant from this passing column was another crossing the Long Bridge. It consisted of the National Rifles under Captain Smead, and a company of Zouaves under Captain Powell, who drove the insurgent pickets toward Alexandria, and took position at Roach's Spring, a half a mile. from the Virginia end of the bridge. These were immediately followed by the Constitutional Guards of the District of Columbia under Captain Digges, who advanced about four miles on the road toward Alexandria. At two o'clock in the morning, a heavy body, composed of the New York Seventh Regiment; three New Jersey regiments (Second, Third, and Fourth), under Brigadier-General Theodore Runyon, and the New York Twelfth and Twenty-fifth, passed over. The New York troops were commanded by Major-General Charles W. Sandford, who, at the call of the President, had offered his entire division to the service of the country. THEODORE RUNYON. The New York Seventh Regiment was halted at the end of the Long 'This is a view of the Aqueduct Bridge at Georgetown, over which flow the waters of the Chesapeake and BLOCK-HOUSE VOL. 1-31 Ohio Canal, in its extension to Alexandria, after having traversed the valley of the Potomac from the eastern base of the Alleghany Mountains. The picture is from a sketch made by the writer in the spring of 1865, from the piazza in the rear of the Cumberland House, which was the residence of Francis S. Key, author of "The Star-Spangled Banner," at the time when that poem was written, See Lossing's Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812. Arlington Hights are seen beyond the Potomac, with Fort Bennett on the extreme right, the flag of Fort Corcoran in the center, and three block-houses on the left, which guarded the Virgínia end of the bridge. Several of these block-houses were built on Arlington Hights early in the war, all having the same general character of the one delineated in the annexed engraving. They were built of heavy hewn timber, and were sometimes used as signalstations. 482 MILITARY OCCUPATION OF ALEXANDRIA Bridge. One New Jersey regiment took post at Roach's Spring, near which a redoubt was cast up, and named Fort Runyon, in honor of the Commanding General under whose direction it was constructed. It crossed the road leading from the Long Bridge to Alexandria, near its junction with the Columbia Turnpike. The remainder of the troops, including the New York Seventh and a company of cavalry under Captain Brackett, now joined those who crossed the Aqueduct Bridge, and these forces combined took possession of and commenced fortifying Arlington Hights. In the mean time, the New York Fire Zouave Regiment,' under Colonel Ephraim E. Ellsworth, who had been encamped on the east branch of the Potomac, near the Navy Yard, were embarked on two schooners and taken to Alexandria; while the First Michigan Regiment, Colonel Wilcox, accompanied by a detachment of United States cavalry commanded by Major Stoneman, and two pieces of Sherman's battery in charge of Lieutenant Ransom, marched for the same destination by way of the ELLSWORTH ZOUAVES. 2 cavalry, under Captain Ball. the insurgent pickets, escaped NEW JERSEY STATE MILITIA. Long Bridge. The troops moving by land and Alexandria was now in quiet possession of the National troops, but there 1 See page 429. 2 Sherman's Battery, which, as we have observed, accompanied the Pennsylvania troops under Colonel Patterson (see page 445), consisted of six pieces. The whole battery crossed the Long Bridge on this occasion, but only four of the pieces were taken to Arlington Hights. |