rolled away from the dépôt, followed by the benedictions of assembled Boston; saluted at every station on the way by excited multitudes. At Springfield, where there was a brief delay to procure from the armory the means of repairing muskets, the regiment was joined by a valuable company, under Captain Henry S. Briggs. Thence, to New York. The Broadway march of the regiment; their breakfast at the Metropolitan and Astor; their push through the crowd to Jersey City; the tumultuous welcome in New Jersey; the continuous roar of cheers across the state; the arrival at Philadelphia in the afternoon of the memorable nineteenth of April, who can have forgotten?

Fearful news met the general and the regiment at the dépôt. The Sixth regiment, in its march through Baltimore that afternoon, had been attacked by the mob, and there had been a conflict, in which men on both sides had fallen! So much was fact; but, as inevitably happens at such a time, the news came with appalling exaggerations, which could not be corrected; for soon the telegraph ceased working, the last report being that the bridges at the Maryland end of the railroad were burning, and that Washington, threatened with a hostile army, was isolated and defenseless. Never, since the days when "General Benjamin Franklin" led a little army of Philadelphians against the Indians after Braddock's defeat, the Indians ravaging and scalping within sixty miles of the city, and expected soon to appear on the banks of the Schuylkill, had Philadelphia been so deeply moved with mingled anger and apprehension. The first blood shed in a war sends a thrill of rage and horro through all hearts, and this blood shed in Baltimore streets, was that of the countrymen, the neighbors, the relatives of these newly arrived troops. A thousand wild rumors filled the air, and nothing was too terrible to be believed. He was the great man of the group, who had the most incredible story to tell; and each listener went his way to relate the tale with additions derived from his own frenzied imagination.

General Butler's orders directed him to march to Washington by way of Baltimore. That having become impossible, the day being far spent, his men fatigued, and the New York Seventh coming, he marched his regiment to the vacant Girard House for a night's rest, where hospitable, generous Philadelphia gave them bountiful en tertainment. The regiment slept the sleep that tired soldiers know.

For General Butler there was neither sleep nor rest that night, nor for his fraternal aid-de-camp. There was telegraphing to the governor of Massachusetts; there were consultations with Commo dore Dupont, commandant of the Navy Yard; there were interviews with Mr. Felton, president of the Philadelphia and Baltimore railroad, a son of Massachusetts, full of patriotic zeal, and prompt with needful advice and help; there was poring over maps and gazetteers. Meanwhile, Colonel A. J. Butler was out in the streets, buying pickaxes, shovels, tinware, provisions, and all that was necessary to enable the troops to take the field, to subsist on army rations, to repair bridges and railroads, and to throw up breastworks. All Maryland was supposed to be in arms; but the general was going through Maryland.

Before the evening was far advanced, he had determined upon a plan of operations, and summoned his officers to make them acquainted with it--not to shun responsibility by asking their opinion, nor to waste precious time in discussion. They found upon his table thirteen revolvers. He explained his design, pointed out its probable and its possible dangers, and said that, as some might censure it as rash and reckless, he was resolved to take the sole responsibility himself. Taking up one of the revolvers, he invited every officer who was willing to accompany him to signify it by accepting a pistol. The pistols were all instantly appropriated. The officers departed, and the general then, in great haste, and amid ceaseless interruptions, sketched a memorandum of his plan, to be sent to the governor of Massachusetts after his departure, that his friends might know, if he should be swallowed up in the maelstrom of secession, what he had intended to do. Many sentences of this paper betray the circumstances in which they were written.

"My proposition is to join with Colonel Lefferts of the Seventh regiment of New York. I propose to take the fifteen hundred troops to Annapolis, arriving there to-morrow about four o'clock, and occupy the capital of Maryland, and thus call the state to account for the death of Massachusetts men, my friends and neighbors. If Colonel Lefferts thinks it more in accordance with the tenor of his instructions to wait rather than go through Baltimore, I still propose to march with this regiment. I propose to occupy the town, and hold it open as a means of communication. I have then

but to advance by a forced march of thirty miles to reach the capital, in accordance with the orders I at first received, but which subsequent events in my judgment vary in their execution, believing from the telegraphs that there will be others in great numbers to aid me. Being accompanied by officers of more experience, who will be able to direct the affair, I think it will be accomplished. We have no light batteries; I have therefore telegraphed to Governor Andrew to have the Boston Light Battery put on shipboard at once, to-night, to help me in marching on Washington. In pursuance of this plan, I have detailed Captains Devereux and Briggs, with their commands, to hold the boat at Havre de Grace.

"Eleven, A. M. Colonel Lefferts has refused to march with me. I go alone at three o'clock, P. M., to execute this imperfectly written plan. If I succeed, success will justify me. If I fail, purity of intention will excuse want of judgment or rashness."

The plan was a little changed in the morning, when the rumor prevailed that the ferry-boat at Havre de Grace had been seized and barricaded by a large force of rebels. The two companies were not sent forward. It was determined that the regiment should go in a body, seize the boat and use it for transporting the troops to Annapolis.

“I may have to sink or burn your boat," said the general to Mr. Felton.

"Do so,” replied the president, and immediately wrote an order authorizing its destruction, if necessary.

It had been the design of General Butler, as we have seen, to leave Philadelphia in the morning train; but he delayed his departure in the hope that Colonel Lefferts might be induced to share in the expedition. The Seventh had arrived at sunrise, and General Butler made known his plan to Colonel Lefferts, and invited his co-operation. That officer, suddenly intrusted with the lives (but the honor also) of nearly a thousand of the flower of the young men of New York, was overburdened with a sense of responsi bility, and felt it to be his duty to consult his officers.The consultation was long, and, I believe, not harmonious, and the result was, that the Seventh embarked in the afternoon in a steamboat at Philadelphia, with the design of going to Washington by the Potomac river, leaving to the men of Massachusetts the honor and the danger of opening a path through Maryland. It is impossible

for a New Yorker, looking at it in the light of subsequent events, not to regret, and keenly regret, the refusal of officers of the favorite New York regiment to join General Butler in his bold and wise movement. But they had not the light of subsequent events to aid them in their deliberations, and they, doubtless, thought that their first duty was to hasten to the protection of Washington, and avoid the risk of detention by the way. It happened on this occasion, as in so many others, that the bold course was also the prudent and successful one. The Seventh was obliged, after all, to take General Butler's road to Washington..

At eleven in the morning of the twentieth of April, the Eighth Massachusetts regiment moved slowly away from the dépôt in Broad street toward Havre de Grace, where the Susquehannah river empties into the Chesapeake Bay-forty miles from Philadelphia, sixty-four from Annapolis. General Butler went through each car explaining the plan of attack, and giving the requisite orders. His design was to halt the train one mile from Havre de Grace, advance his two best drilled companies as skirmishers, follow quickly with the regiment, rush upon the barricades and carry them at the point of the bayonet, pour headlong into the ferry. boat, drive out the rebels, get up steam and start for Annapolis.

Having assigned to each company its place in the line, and given all due explanation to each captain, the general took a seat and instantly fell asleep.

And now, the bustle being over, upon all those worthy men fell that seriousness, that solemnity, which comes to those who value their lives, and whose lives are valuable to others far away, but who are about, for the first time, to incur mortal peril for a cause which they feel to be greater and dearer than life. Goethe tells us that valor can neither be learned nor forgotten. I do not believe it. Certainly, the first peril does, in some degree, appall the firmest heart, especially when that peril is quietly approached on the easy seat of a railway car during a two hours' ride. Scarcely a word was spoken. Many of the men sat erect, grasping their muskets firmly, and looking anxiously out of the windows.

One man blenched, and one only. The general was startled from his sleep by the cry of, "Man overboard!" The train was stopped. A soldier was seen running across the fields as though pursued by a mad dog. Mad Panic had seized him, and he had jumped from a

car, incurring ten times the danger from which he strove to escape The general started a group of country people in pursuit, offering them the lawful thirty dollars if they brought the deserter to Havre de Grace in time. The train moved again; the incident broke the sp. ll, and the cars were filled with laughter. The man was brought in. His sergeant's stripe was torn from his arm, and he was glad to compound his punishment by serving the regiment in the capacity of a menial.

At the appointed place, the train was stopped, the regiment was formed, and marched toward the ferry-boat, skirmishers in advance. It mustered thirteen officers and seven hundred and eleven men.