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CHAPTER IV.

ANNAPOLIS.

Ir was a false alarm. There was not an armed enemy at Havre de Grace. The ferry-boat Maryland lay at her moorings in the peaceful possession of her crew; and nothing remained but to get up steam, put on board a supply of coal, water and provisions, embark the troops, and start for Annapolis.

Whether the captain and crew were loyal or treasonable-whether they were likely to steer the boat to Annapolis or to Baltimore, or run her ashore on some traitorous coast, were questions much discussed among officers and men. The captain professed the most ardent loyalty, and General Butler was more inclined to trust him than some of his officers were. There were men on board, however, who knew the way to Annapolis, and were abundantly capable of navigating any craft on any sea. It was resolved, therefore, to permit the captain to command the steamer, but to keep a sharp lookout ahead, and an unobserved scrutiny of the engine-room. Upon the first indication of treachery, captain and engineers should find themselves in an open boat upon the Chesapeake, or stowed away in the hold, their places supplied with seafaring Marbleheaders. Never before, I presume, had such a variously skilled body of men gone to war as the Massachusetts Eighth. It was not merely that all trades and professions had their representatives among them, but some of the companies had almost a majority of college-bred men. Major Winthrop did not so much exaggerate when he said, that if the word were given, "Poets to the front!" or "Painters present arms!" or "Sculptors charge bayonets !" a baker's dozen out of every company would respond. Navigating a steamboat was the simplest of all tasks to many of them.

At six in the evening they were off, packed as close as negroes in the steerage of a slave ship. Darkness closed in upon them, and the men lay down to sleep, each with his musket in his hands. The general, in walking from one part of the boat to another, stumbled over and trod upon many a growling sleeper. He was too anxious

upon the still unsettled point of the captain's fidelity to sleep; so he went prowling about among the prostrate men, exchanging notes with those who had an eye upon the compass, and with those who were observing the movements of the engineers. There were moments when suspicion was strong in some minds; but captain and engineers did their duty, and at midnight the boat was off the ancient city of Annapolis.

They had, naturally enough, expected to come upon a town wrapped in midnight slumber. There was no telegraphic or other communication with the North; how could Annapolis, then, know that they were coming? It certainly could not; yet the whole town was evidently awake and astir. Rockets shot up into the sky. Swiftly moving lights were seen on shore, and all the houses in sight were lighted up. The buildings of the Naval Academy were lighted. There was every appearance of a town in extreme commotion. It had been General Butler's intention to land quietly while the city slept, and astonish the dozing inhabitants in the morning with a brilliantly executed reveille. Noting these signs of disturbance, he cast anchor, and determined to delay his landing till daylight.

Colonel Andrew Jackson Butler volunteered to go on shore alone, and endeavor to ascertain the cause of the commotion. He was almost the only man in the party who wore plain clothes. The general consenting, a boat was brought round to the gangway, and Colonel Butler stepped into it. As he did so, he handed his revolver to a friend, saying, that he had no intention of fighting a town full of people, and if he was taken prisoner, he preferred that his pistol should fight, during the war, on the Union side. The brother in command assured him, that if any harm came to him in Annapolis, it would be extremely bad for Annapolis. The gallant colonel settled himself to his work, and glided away into the dark

ness.

The sound of oars was again heard, and a boat was descried approaching the steamer. A voice from the boat said:

"What steamer is that ?"

The steamer was as silent as though it were filled with dead

men.

"What steamer is that?" repeated the voice.

No answer. The boat seemed to be making off.

"Come on board," thundered General Butler.

No reply from the boat.

"Come on board, or I'll fire into you," said the general.

The boat approached, and came alongside. It was rowed by four men, and in the stern sat an officer in the uniform of a lieutenant of the United States navy. The officer stepped on board, and was conducted by General Butler to his cabin, where, the door being closed, a curious colloquy ensued.

"Who are you?" asked the lieutenant.

"Who are you?" said the general.

He replied that he was Lieutenant Matthews, attached to the Naval Academy, and was sent by Captain Blake, commandant of the post, and chief of the Naval Academy, who directed him to say that they must not land. He had, also, an order from Governor Hicks to the same effect. The United States quartermaster, too, had requested him to add from Lieutenant General Scott, that there were no means of transportation at Annapolis.

General Butler was still uncommunicative. were in a distrustful state of mind.

Both gentlemen

The truth was that Captain Blake had been, for forty-eight hours, in momentary expectation of an irruption of "plug uglies" from Baltimore, either by sea or land. He was surrounded by a population stolidly hostile to the United States. The school-ship Constitution, which lay at the academy wharf, was aground, and weakly manned. He had her guns shotted, and was prepared to fight her to the last man; but she was an alluring prize to traitors, and he was in dread of an overpowering force. "Large parties of secessionists," as the officers of the ship afterward testified, "were round the ship every day, noting her assailable points. The militia of the county were drilled in sight of the ship in the day time; during the night signals were exchanged along the banks and across the river, but the character of the preparation, and the danger to the town in case of an attack, as one of the batteries of the ship was pointed directly upon it, deterred them from carrying out their plans. Dur ing this time the Constitution had a crew of about twenty-five men, and seventy-six of the youngest class of midshipmen, on board. The ship drawing more water than there was on the bar, the secessionists thought she would be in their power whenever they would be in sufficient force to take her." In these circumstances, Captain

Blake, a native of Massachusetts, who had grown gray in his country's service, as loyal and steadfast a heart as ever beat, was tortured with anxiety for the safety of the trust which his country had committed to him. Upon seeing the steamer, he had concluded that here, at last, were the Baltimore ruffians, come to seize his ship, and lay waste the academy. Secessionists in the town were prepared to sympathize, if not to aid in the fell business. All Annapolis, for one reason or another, was in an agony of desire to know who and what these portentous midnight voyagers were. Captain Blake, his ship all ready to open fire, had sent the lieutenant to make certain that the new-comers were enemies, before beginning the congenial work of blowing them out of the water.

General Butler and the lieutenant continued for some time to question one another, without either of them arriving at a satis factory conclusion as to the loyalty of the other. The general, at length, announced his name, and declared his intention of marching by way of Annapolis to the relief of Washington. The lieutenant informed him that the rails were torn up, the cars removed, and the people unanimous against the marching of any more troops over the soil of Maryland. The general intimated that the men of his command could dispense with rails, cars, and the consent of the people. They were bound to the city of Washington, and expected to make their port. Meanwhile, he would send an officer with him on shore, to confer with the governor of the state, and the authori ties of the city.

Captain P. Haggerty, aid-de-camp, was dispatched upon this errand. He was conveyed to the town, where he was soon conducted to the presence of the governor and the mayor, to whom he gave the requisite explanations, and declared General Butler's intention to land. Those dignitaries finding it necessary to confer together, Captain Haggerty was shown into an adjoining room, where he was discovered an hour or two later, fast asleep on a lounge. Lieutenant Matthews was charged by the governor with two short notes to General Butler, one from himself, and another from the aforesaid quartermaster. The document signed by the governor,

read as follows:

"I would most earnestly advise, that you do not land your men at Annapolis. The excitement is very great, and I think it prudent that you should take your men elsewhere. I bave

telegraphed to the secretary of war against your landing your men here."

This was addressed to the "Commander of the Volunteer troops on Board the Steamer." The quartermaster, left Captain Morris J. Miller, wrote thus:

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'Having been intrusted by General Scott with the arragnements for transporting your regiments hence to Washington, and it being impracticable to procure cars, I recommend, that the troops remain on board the steamer until further orders can be received from General Scott."

This appears to have been a mere freak of the captain's imagination, since no troops were expected at Annapolis by General Scott. Captain Haggerty returned on board "the steamer," and the notes were delivered to the general commanding.

What had befallen Colonel Butler, meanwhile? Upon leaving the steamer, he rowed toward the most prominent object in view, and soon found himself alongside of what proved to be a wharf of the Naval Academy. He had no sooner fastened his boat, and stepped ashore, than he was seized by a sentinel, who asked him what he wanted.

"I want to see the commander of the post."

To Captain Blake he was, accordingly, taken. Colonel Butler is a tall, fully developed, imposing man, devoid of the slightest resem blance to the ideal "Plug Ugly." Captain Blake, venerable with years and faithful service on many seas, in many lands, was not a person likely to be mistaken for a rebel. Yet these two gentlemen eyed one another with intense distrust. The navy had not then been sifted of all its traitors; and upon the mind of Captain Blake, the apprehension of violent men from Baltimore had been working for painful days and nights. He received the stranger with reticent civility, and invited him to be seated. Probing questions were asked by both, eliciting vague replies, or none. These two men were Yankees, and each was resolved that the other should declare himself first. After long fencing and "beating about the bush," Colonel Butler expressed himself thus:

"Captain Blake, we may as well end this now as at any other time. They are Yankee troops on board that boat, and if I don't get back pretty soon, they will open fire upon you."

The worthy Captain drew a long breath of relief. Full explana

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