HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 85 of Secessionists, encamped near St. Louis. The Wi- | the line of the Potomac from Alexandria to George nans steam gun captured near the Relay House, Maryland, on its way into Virginia. May 11-Government troops in St. Louis again assailed in St. Louis. Four of the mob killed. Immense Union demonstration in San Francisco. -Charleston harbor blockaded by the United States steam frigate Niagara. May 13.-Federal Hill in Baltimore occupied by Brigadier-General Butler. It commands the entire city. This occupation finally opened the route to Washington for the passage of troops, stores, &c. -A Convention assembles at Wheeling, Virginia, composed of delegates from thirty-five counties, It repudiates the act of secession and proposes a division of the State on the line of the Blue Ridge Mountains. town. Colonel Ellsworth assassinated in an Alexandria hotel. The assassin bayonetted on the spot. Portion of a rebel cavalry company captured. This onward movement gives great satisfaction to the loyal States. It relieves the Capital from danger of a bombardment. Butler moves his troops out of the Fortress Monroe and occupies Virginia soil. May 26.-Western Virginia, at a vote ordered for delegates to the Provisional - Government Convention, declares overwhelmingly for the Union. May 27.--Major-General Butler, in command at Fortress Monroe, receives over one hundred run. away negroes, and refuses to give them up to their rebel masters, declaring them to be "contraband of war." Department and approved by the President. -Chief-Justice Taney, of the United States Supreme Court, issues a habeas corpus writ for the person of one John Merrymun, a Baltimore mob ring. -The Queen of England issues a proclamation of leader, confined by General Cadwalader, in Fort neutrality. (See Appendix, Vol. II.) May 14.-The Maryland Legislature adjourns, having taken little or no action on National affairs. -Governor Hicks, of Maryland, issues a call for the Maryland quota of troops for the United States service. Large seizures of arms in Baltimore by the United States troops. Ross Winans arrested and sent to Fort McHenry. May 15.-Massachusetts Legislature offers to loan the Federal Government seven millions of dollars. -The Wheeling (preliminary) Convention adjourns. The permanent "provisional" Convention is to assemble June 12th. McHenry. The General refuses to comply with the writ, by denying the United States Marshal entrance to the Fort. This case afterwards became a precedent for other seizures of persons charged with treason, and greatly excited the class of citizens who believed in making the military subsidiary to the civil power. The seizures though arbitrary were justified by the people. -Mobile is blockaded by Federal vessels of war. May 28.-Savannah blockaded. Newport News, Virginia, occupied by Federal troops. May 29.-Jefferson Davis reaches Richmond. He makes a violent harangue in response to the crowd. May 16.-Brigadier-Generals Butler and McClel-June 1st he addressed the people, characterizing lan made Major-Generals. Harper's Ferry is forti-Lincoln as "an ignorant usurper." fied by the rebels, and bridges on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad are destroyed. May 17.-All communication by letters, expresses or otherwise, with the South, prohibited. -The Slave-trader yacht Wanderer (rebel) captured off Key West. May 18.-Arkansas admitted to the Southern Confederacy. The first naval operation of the war. The United States gunboats dislodge a rebel battery at Sewall's Point, Virginia. May 20.-Governor Magoffin proclaims Kentucky's "neutrality," and forbids any troops to occupy her soil, but her own State Guards. It General seizure of telegraphic dispatches throughout the North, by the Government. "spots" a great many disunionists, and gives a clue to their designs. May 21.-The North Carolina State Convention adopts an Ordinance of Secession. The Confederate Congress adjourns to July 20th, having passed all necessary acts to empower the Confederate Executive to prosecute the war. It also authorised the seat of Government to be transferred to Richmond. Among its acts was one providing for the issue of Treasury Notes, and one to compel the payment, into the Confederate treasury, of all debts due to Northern creditors by citizens or corporations in the Confederacy. May 24.-The Federal army at daylight moves into Virginia, occupying Arlington Heights and May 30.-N. P. Banks and John C. Fremont commissioned Major-Generals in the United States Army. -Grafton, Virginia, in possession of the Union troops, under Colonel Kelly. May 31.-The gunboat Freeborn, Captain Ward, attacks the rebel batteries at Acquia Creek. Batteries silenced. Gallant dash of Lieutenant Tompkins with seventy-five mounted men into the enemy's lines at Fairfax Court House. Union loss one killed, one missing and four wounded. Rebel loss ten killed, a number wounded and five brought away prisoners. Captain Lyon commissioned BrigadierGeneral, and supercedes Harney in Missouri. June 3.--Battle of Phillippi, Virginia. The Ohio and Indiana volunteers route the rebels and secure tents, stores, &c. Colonel Kelly, of the First Virginia, in command of the Federals, is seriously wounded. Rebel loss sixteen killed, ten prisoners. Federal loss two killed, seven wounded. -Senator Douglas dies at Chicago. --Border State Convention assembles at Frank fort, Kentucky. A very slender attendance. -General Beauregard assumes command of the Confederate army: head-quarters at Manassas Junc tion, which is being rapidly fortified upon an ex tensive scale. Centreville is also being fortified by the rebels. June 6.-The gunboat Harriet Lane engages the rebel batteries at Pig Point, Virginia, with little re sult. Five of her crew wounded. June 8.-The North Carolina Convention ratifies the Confederate Constitution. --Major-General Patterson advances from Cham-ginia. Daniel Palsly elected Lieutenant-Governor. bersburg toward Harper's Ferry via Hagerstown. Both are strong Union men. June 23.-Enormous destruction of property of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, at Martinsburg, Virginia, by the rebels. Forty-eight locomotives, shops, machinery, &c., broken up and fired. June 10.-Battle at Big Bethel, Virginia. The Federalists forced to retire before Magruder's strongly-intrenched position, after an obstinate but badly conducted attack. Union forces commanded by Brigadier-General Pierce, of Massachusetts. Union loss: killed fourteen, wounded forty-nine, and five missing. Among the killed were the gallant Lieutenant Greble, of the United States regular artillery, and Major Theodore Winthrop, Aide-de-camp to Major-General Butler-a brilliant officer. Rebel loss: none killed, nine wounded. The Federals numbered (engaged) about four thousand the rebels eleven hundred and sixty-five. -Major-General Banks assumes command of the of $600,000. Department of Annapolis. June 11.-The rebels, six hundred strong, driven out of Romney, Virginia, by the Indiana Zouaves, under command of Colonel Lewis Wallace. Union loss none, Confederate loss two killed. Considerable plunder was secured, and the rebels given a great scare. It was a bold affair. -The Wheeling Constitutional Convention assembles. Over forty counties are represented, most of them fully. June 13.-Day of fasting and prayer in the Confederate States. June 14.-The rebels exacuate Harper's Ferry, having first destroyed by fire and powder all the public works at that place, including the fine railroad bridge over the Potomac and an immense quantity of locomotives, cars and railway property at Martinsburg. They also destroyed bridges at several points above and below the Ferry. June 15.-General Lyon occupies Jefferson city, Missouri. The rebel force, under General Sterling Price, gathering at Boonville. June 16.-Skirmish at Seneca Mills. Rebel loss three killed. June 17.-The Wheeling Convention unanimously votes the independence of Western Virginia, and resolves upon a separate State organization. -Another mob attack in St. Louis on Government troops. Six of the rioters killed. -The rebels at Vienna, Virginia, fire into a railroad train from a masked battery, killing eight Federal troops. -Battle of Boonville, Missouri. General Lyon routs the rebels under General Price and Governor Jackson. Large quantity of arms, horses, &c., captured. Rebel loss fifteen killed, nineteen wounded. Union loss four killed, nine wounded. June 24.-Governor Harris, of Tennessee, proclaims the State out of the Union, declaring the recent vote to have been: for secession, 104,019; against secession, 47,238. The Virginia vote on the question of secession is announced as: for secession, 128,884; against secession, 32,134. The elec tion both in Tennessee and Virginia was a mere mockery, done under Confederate bayonets. June 15.-The Iowa Legislature votes a war loan June 26. The Government instituted by the Wheeling Convention acknowlered by the President of the United States as the de facto Government of Virginia. -Scout skirmish at Patterson's Creek, Virginia. Rebels routed. Rebel loss eight killed out of fortyone. Union loss one killed. The Union scouts numbered only thirteen, belonging to Colonel Wallace's Indiana Zouaves. June 27.-Marshal Kane, of Baltimore, arrested by order of Major-General Banks, and confined in Fort McHenry, on a charge of treason. Colonel Kenly appointed Provost Marshal of the city. Intense excitement prevailing among the Secessionists. -Engagement with the rebel batteries at Mathias Point, Virginia, by the gunboats Pawnee and Freeborn. Captain Ward, of the latter, is killed in an attempt to land, and eight seamen of the small boat wounded. Captain Ward was a gallant and efficient commander. Enemy's loss not known. -A large Convention assembles at Knoxville, East Tennessee. It adopts a declaration protesting against the acts of usurpation by which the State was thrown into the arms of the Southern Confed eracy; and assuming that the State was still in the Union. June 28.-Skirmish at Falls Church, Virginia. One Unionist killed and two rebels. Skirmish at Shooters Hill, Virginia. One Unionist killed, two rebels killed and seven wounded. June 29.-Grand council of war in Washington. July 1.-Arrest in Baltimore of four Police Commissioners, by order of Major-General Banks. Escape of the privateer Sumter from the Mississippi river. Engagement at Buckhannon, Virginia. The rebels routed. Rebel loss twenty-three killed and wounded and two hundred prisoners. Skirmish at Farmington, Missouri. Rebel loss five killed and June 18.-Skirmish at Edwards' Ferry. Union two prisoners. loss one killed. Rebel loss not known, -Skirmish at Cola, Missouri. The Union Home Guards overcome with a loss of fifteen killed, forty wounded and taken prisoners. The rebels were in strong force. The Guards were only partially armed. June 19.-The Wheeling Convention reorganizes the Provisional State Government of Virginia. Capture of thirty-five rebels at Liberty, Missouri, by the Unionists. The rebels occupy Piedmont, Virginia. June 20.-Major-General McClellan assumes field command in Western Virginia. The Wheeling Convention elects Frank H. Pierpont Governor of Vir July 2.-General Patterson's advance divisions cross (by wading) the Potomac at Williamsport. An engagement follows. The rebels under Jackson are routed and pursued for two miles. They left eight dead upon the field. Union loss three killed and fifteen wounded. This engagement is variously called the battle of Martinsburg, Hokes Run, and Haynesville. -The new Virginia Legislature organized at Wheeling. July 3.-A company of (ninety four) rebels captured at Neosho, Missouri. PROOFS OF THE DESIGN то "COERCE" THE UNITED STATES. PROCLABLOCKADE WASHINGTON! VIRGINIA'S MOVEMENTS. LETCHER'S TREASON. HIS "RECOGNITION " SECESSION. The Federal Government to be Coerced. THE proclamation of Mr. | er offensive schemes were Lincoln was construed, in matured, there is good reathe Southern States, as a son to state, prior to the declaration of war. Prior to its appearance, how ever, the Confederate Government was making every effort to "prosecute a quick campaign." The hesitating Border States could only be won by vigorous action; and, now that the first assault had been made, it was determined to force the United States Government into a virtual, if not actual, recognition of the Southern Confederacy. That this "coercion" of the Union was determined upon before the call of the Federal Executive for troops, is manifest in the declaration made by the Confederate Secretary of War, on the evening of Friday, April 12th. In answer to a serenade in honor of the bombardment of Sumter, the Secretary said, in substance, that the Confederate flag would wave over the dome of the Capitol at Washington by May 1st-a sentiment which, the telegraph report informed the public, was received with unbounded enthusiasm. The Federal Government to be Coerced. bombardment of Fort Sumter. How steeped in hypocrisy, then, must have been the Southeru leaders who called heaven and earth to witness that they were guiltless of the great crime of civil war! It was not an act of war to bombard a United States fort, to persecute and outlaw its citizens, to scorn and contemn the Federal Government; it was a Southern right to treat Uncle Sam as the Southerners saw fit; and any Federal act of resentment, of defense, of protection, the impious scoundrels who proclaimed revolution presumed to treat as the first step towards civil war! We cannot discover in the whole page of history a pusillanimity so great, a sense of honor so perverted, an hypocrisy so contemptible. Unlike the open and fair rebel, who, defying the restraints of authority, appealed to arms to decide the issue, the Confederate whined over the contest his crimes had provoked; and through all the bloody drama on which he raised the curtain, he did not fail to illustrate that most contemptible form of human nature typified in Aminadab Sleek. The idea of granting letters of marque and reprisal, the act of confiscation and appropriation of debts due the North, the constructive treason in entertaining Union sentiments, the creation of a Southern navy Intimidation was a part of the scheme arand a fleet of privateers-these and many oth-ranged, at an early moment, to compel the Union Administration to terms. When the secret archives - if such archives, indeed, have been allowed to exist-of the peripatetic Government of Jefferson Davis are ex plored, and the truth is told, it will, unques tionably, be found that the scheme of forcing the United States to accept the conditions of settlement proposed by the South, was matured months before the attack on Sumter, and only awaited some act on the part of the Washington authorities, to excuse to their people the final appeal to arms. Davis' Second Levy. The Confederate Government made a second levy upon the Seceded States for troops, April 16th, calling for thirty-two thousand men-thus giving, with previous enlistments, a force equal to that called into the field by the Federal authorities. The Privateer Proo lamation. "And I do further notify all applicants aforesaid, that before any commission or Letter of Marque is issued to any vessel, the owner or own. ers thereof, and the commander for the time being, will be required to give bond to the Confederate States, with at least two responsible sureties, not interested in such vessel, in the penal sum of five thousand dollars; or if such vessel be provided with more than one hundred and fifty men, then in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars, with condition that the owners, officers, and crew who shall be employed on board such commissioned vessel, shall observe the laws of these Confederate States, and the instructions given to them for the regulation of their conduct. That they shall satisfy all damages done contrary to the tenor thereof by such vessel during her commission, and deliver up the same when revoked by the President of the Confederate States. "And I do further specially enjoin on all persons holding offices, civil and military, under the author April 17th, the Letters of Marque and Re-ity of the Confederate States, that they be vigilant prisal Proclamation was made public. read as follows: The Privateer Proclamation. It and zealous in discharging the duties incident thereto; and I do, moreover, solemnly exhort the good "Whereas, Abraham Lincoln, people of these Confederate States, as they love their country, as they prize the blessings of free government, as they feel the wrongs of the past, and these now threatened in aggravated form by those whose enmity is more implacable because un the President of the United States, has, by proclamation, announced the intention of invading this Confederacy with an armed force, for the purpose of capturing its fortresses, and thereby subverting its independence, and subjecting the free people thereof to the dominion of a foreign power; and whereas, it has thus become the duty of this Government to repel the threatened invasion, and to defend the rights and liberties of the people, by all the means which the laws of nations and the usages of civilized warfare place at his disposal: "Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, do issue this my Proclamation, inviting all those who may desire, by service in private armed vessels on the high seas, to aid this Government in resisting so wanton and wicked an aggression, to make application for commissions or Letters of Marque and Reprisal, to be issued under the Seal of these Confederate States. And I do further notify all persons applying for Letters of Marque, to make a statement in writing, giving the name and a suitable description of the character, tonnage, and force of the vessel, and the name and place of residence of each owner concerned therein, and the intended number of the crew, and to sign said statement, and deliver the same to the Secretary of State, or to the Collector of any port of entry of these Confederate States, to be by him transmitted to the Secretary of State. provoked, that they exert themselves in preserving order, in promoting concord, in maintaining the authority and efficacy of the laws, and in supporting and invigorating all the measures which may be adopted for the common defense, and by which, under the blessings of Divine Providence, we may hope for a speedy, just, and honorable peace. "In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the Seal of the Confederate States to be affixed, this seventeenth day of April, 1861. "By the President, (Signed) JEFFERSON DAVIS. "R. TOOMBS, Secretary of State." This was expected by the enterprising spirits of the South. It was put forth to inflict injury of magnitude upon the high seas' commerce of the Northern States-conceiving their commerce to be their most vulnerable point. Leading journals in the South had often recurred to it as a certain step in event of hostilities. Although Southern men, from the time of John Randolph, had characterized the "Yankees" as a race of money-getters, and, in contrast, had exalted DAVIS' PRIVATEER PROCLAMATION. Lincoln's Counter 89 entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. the patriotic, high-toned character of their | ports within the States aforeown fellow-citizens, visions of suddenly said, in pursuance of the laws though dishonorably acquired wealth dazzled of the United States, and of the the Southern sight, and did not fail to render a laws of nations in such cases provided. For this purlarge class very hopeful and happy for the pose a competent force will be posted so as to prevent moment. It would offer matter for not very If, therefore, with a view to violate such blockade, complimentary comment to quote the terms a vessel shall approach, or shall attempt to leave of the various notes of commendation be- any of the said ports, she will be duly warned by stowed by the secession press upon the Pri- the Commander of one of the blockading vessels, vateer Proclamation. The amendatory action who will indorse on her register the fact and date of the Confederate Congress, which after- of such warning; and if the same vessel shall again ward affixed a price per capita on Union attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she men, live and dead, taken on the high seas, will be captured and sent to the nearest convenwill not enhance the good reputation of the ient port, for such proceedings against her and her men who promulgated the act, and the people cargo, as prize, as may be deemed advisable. who hoped to profit by it. Lincoln's Counter But, all this dream of wealth to be had for the Blockade and Piracy. mere "seizing," was cut short by the Proclamation of Blockade, is sued April 19th, by the President of the United States. It was a checkmate to King Stork, even before the board could be opened: 66 Whereas, an insurrection against the Government of the United States has broken out in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and the laws of the United States for the collection of the revenue cannot be efficiently executed therein, conformably to that provision of the Constitution which requires duties to be uniform throughout the United States: "And whereas, a combination of persons, engaged in such insurrection, have threatened to grant pretended letters of marque, to authorize the bearers thereof to commit assaults on the lives, vessels, and property of good citizens of the country lawfully engaged in commerce on the high seas, and in waters of the United States: "And I hereby proclaim and declare, that if any person, under the pretended authority of said States, or under any other pretense, shall molest a vessel of the United States, or the persons or cargo on board of her, such person will be held amenable to the laws of the United States for the prevention and punishment of piracy. Prior to the publication of this order of blockade, Virginia had plunged into the vortex of the revolution and stood arrayed against the Union-thus directly menacing Washington. The Capital and Government archives were in imminent danger of seizure. Ben McCullough flitted back and forth between Richmond and Baltimore, "And whereas, an Executive Proclamation has been already issued, requiring the persons engaged in these disorderly proceedings to desist therefrom, calling out a militia force for the purpose of re-organizing his cut-throat brigade for the despressing the same, and convening Congress in extraordinary session to deliberate and determine thereon: "Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, with a view to the same purposes before mentioned, and to the protection of the public peace, and the lives and property of quiet and orderly citizens pursuing their lawful occupations, until Congress shall have assembled and deliberated on the said unlawful proceedings, or until the same shall have ceased, have further deemed it advisable to set on foot a blockade of the perate service. It became whispered abroad |