AUTHOR OF “HISTORY OF THE SOUTHERN REBELLION," "LIFE OF GARIBALDI," " LIFE Checked New York: JAMES D. TORREY, PUBLISHER, 13 SPRUCE STREET. McN PUBLIC LIBRARY 153328 ASTOR, LENOX AND 1890 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by JAMES D. TORREY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. INTRODUCTION. WHEN Cassius M. Clay offered his services to the Secretary of War, to raise a regiment of Kentucky volunteers, or to serve as a private in the ranks, the Secretary expressed his surprise, saying: "Sir, this is the first instance I ever heard of a foreign Minister [Clay had been nominated as U. S. Minister to Russia,] volunteering for service in the ranks." "Then let us make a little history!" exclaimed the gallant Kentuckian. Clay only typified the spirit which prevailed in almost all conditions of life at the North, when the tocsin was sounded in April, 1861. The world never before witnessed such an uprising. It was as if the whole current of thought and feeling had been changed in a day. Men met on the marts to forget all about stocks and market quotations, to prove the degree of their own loyalty to the Government. Congregations gathered in the Churches to forget creeds and theological differences in their absorbing devotion to the salvation of the Country. Women gathered to forget small-talk and social tribulations in the noble enthusiasm ever awakened in woman's bosom when great emergencies come. Schools were listless, and the eyes of both teachers and pupils turned longingly to the streets where the people were gathering. The solemn tread of regiments was answered by the acclamations of the gathered thousands who everywhere thronged the highways. Men met friends changed to soldiers, and with a benediction bade them adieu. Fathers, mothers and sisters sat down to the evening meal to find one chair vacant, and the prayer which went up from that family circle called down God's blessing on the absent one. It was, indeed, the season of sorrow, |