V .. ,* .. V "^^.^^ ;;c(\Va\ v./ /^fe\ "^^..^^ /i<^/A^o "^^ * Ay ^U -• %.^^ .''Ma'^ \/ .-^'^ x,^"- ." ■■«■■ '^Mr.^ oV^^^L^'- '^'^C*^^ -:m^r:. ^^^^ f-'^^ffi'-. '^bV* 4 o o V -1^ r^ * ^y ^ti, * ^_ to ^^^^ „ Ta fir ''.^i^w^*- i People's Edition. Price 75 cents. GENERAL BUTLER » NEW ORLEANS. BY JAMES PARTON. NEW YOKK : MASON BKOTHEES, No. T MERCEK STEEET. FOR SALE BY AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 119 NASSAU STREET. BOSTON: MASON & HAMLIN. PHILADELPHIA : J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. CHICAOO; S. C. GRIGGS & CO. ♦ MR. I>^RTOnsr'S ^WOUKS. *' Mr. Parton is," says the London Athenceum, "a writer of whom the people of the United States have reason to be proud." No biograplier has written more successfully in the English Language than Mr. Parton. The freshness and vigor of his style, and the power of retaining the interest of his readers through the dryest details, are universally recognized. Each of his works lias attracted much attention and enjoyed an extensive sale, on its first appearance, and they have taken their place in the front rank of standard biographies. General Tiv\t\eY \\\ Xe>\ Orleaus. A History of the Administration of the Department of the Gulf, in the year 18G2, with an Account of the Cap- ture of New Orleans, and a Sketch of the Previous Career of the General, Civil and Military. Fourteenth edition. Crown octavo, with Portrait on Steel and Maps. 650 pages. Cloth, extra $2 50 Half calf, extra 4 00 L\£e o£ 5acVson. A Life of Andrew Jackson, President of the United States. 3 vols, crown octavo, 636, 672, and 734 pages, with Portraits on Steel. Cloth, extra, price $7 50 In half calf, extra 12 00 A life indeed, and before which the conventional and common place biographies of modern i times sink into stupidity and insignificance. — N. Y. Journal of Commerce. A fresher, livelier ac- count was never written of any hero by any author. — Boston Journal. Possesses a degree of in- terest which can scarcely be overstated. — jV. Y. World. A work of impartial, accurate history which, fi-om the remarkable character of its hero, is more captivating and exciting than any novel. — Eastern Argus. One of the most readable of books. Every page is alive. — Ho)7ie Journal. L\?e o£ iiaYoii Buyy. The Life and Times of Aaron Burr, Lieut.-Col. in the Army of the Revolution, United States Senator, Third Vice-President of the United States, etc. Seventeenth Edition, revised and enlarged. 2 vols, crown octavo, with Portraits on Steel. Clotli, extra, price $4 00 In half calf, extra 7 00 Doubtless the most successful biography ever published in America. — Uarpers Weekly. One of the very best specimens of liistorical biography with which we are acquainted. — Scottish Amer. Magazine. Ought to be read by every American who would know the history of his country. — North American Review. In style, arrangement, and honesty of purpose, the finest work of its class, without a shadow of reservation, to be found iu the whole range of American literature. — Mrs. Stephens^ Magazine. A story more exciting than romance. — N. Y. Evangelist. Li^e o£ Eew^amiw ¥Ya\\k\m. It is believed to be the most elaborate and interesting account yet given to the world, of this great and favorite American. 2 vols, crown octavo, with Portraits on Steel. Cloth, extra, price $5 00 In half calf, extra 7 00 Before Mr. Parton commenced the preparation of his " General Butler in New Orleans," he had already spent more than two years upon this Life of Franklin, having brought it near com- pletion. HwwioYous PoetYy o£ the EiWgVislv L»a\\g\\age, from Chaucer to Saxe : including the most celebrated Comic Poc-^s oi the Anti-Jacobin, Rejected Addresses, The Irigoldsby Legends, Blackwood's Magazine, Bentloy's Miscellany, and Punch. With more than Two Hundred Epigrams. • Witli notes, explanatory and biographical. Seventh \ edition. Cro^\'n octavo, G89 pages, with Portraits on Steel. 1 1 Cloth extra $2 50 In half calf, extra 4 00 MASON BROTHERS, I MASON &c HAMLIN, 7 MERCER STREET, NEW YORK. I 274 WASHiNGTi'N STREET, BOSTON. FEOFXjE'S EIDITIOISr. GENERAL BUTLER IN NEW ORLEANS; BEINO A HISTORY OF THE ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF IN THE YEAR 1862: AN ACCOUNT- OF THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS, AND A SKETCH OF THE PREVIOUS CAREER OF THE GENERAL, CIVIL AND MILITARY. By JAMES PARTON, AUTHOR OF THE "LIFE AND TIMES OF AARON BURR," "LIFE OP ANDREW JACKSON," ETC., ETC. ^ ^ NEW YORK : MASON BROTHERS, No. 7 MERCER STREET. FOR SALE BY AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 119 NASSAU STREET. BOSTON: MASON & HAMLIN. PHILADELPHIA : J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. CHICAGO: S. C. GRIGGS & CO. 1864. ^, ^./J^^ "Whatever they call h i ji , w u a .t care i ! Aristocrat, Democrat, Autocrat, — one Who can rule and dare not he." — Maud. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S63, by mason brothers, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southera District of New Yorlt. Entered according to Act of Consrress, in tlie year 1S64, by MASON BROTHERS, I'' \:.i- Clerk's Office of the District Court uf the United States for the Southern District of New York. Z ^-2. "il In tliis edition some of the longer documents have b^eii omitted or abridged, but the general course of the narrative remains unchanged, aud nothing \\aji been omitted which is necessary for the understanding of the various subjects treated in the work. 8TKKEOTVPED BY I'lUNTF.D BY Smith i^McDuirOAL, C. A. Alvokd, S2 e other description. by the same offender, within a certain period, I A son of one of the general's most valued shall entail a severer punishment than the first friends made a voyage to China as a sailor before offense. A third repetition, involves more so- , the mast, and returned with his constitution veritj', and a fourth still more. According to ruined through the scurvy, his captain having this law, the prisoner, if convicted on all four ' neglected to supply the ship with the well-known indictments, would be liable to imprisonment in ■ antidotes to that dii^ease, lime juice and fresh the penitentiary, for the term of sixty years. | vegetables. A suit for damages was instituted .As the court was assembling, General Butler re- i*on the part of the crew against the captain, monstrated with the counsel for the prosecution, ' General Butler was retained to conduct the upon the rigor of their proposed proceedings. ' cause of the sailors, and Mr. Rufus Clionte-de- Surely, one indictment would answer the ends ' fended the captain. The trial lasted nineteen of justice ; why condemn the man to imprison- j working days. General Butler's loading posi- ment for life for what was, evidently, more a disease than a crime ? They agreed, at length, to quash three of the indictments, on condition that the prisoner should plead guilty to the one which charged the theft of the greatest amount. The prisoner was arraigned. "Are you guilty, or not guilty ?" "Say guilty, sir," said General Butler, from his place in the bar, in his most commanding tone. The man cast a helpless, bewildered look at his counsel, and said nothing. " Say guilty, sir," repeated the General, look- ing into the prisoner's eyes. The man, without a will, was compelled to obey, by the very constitution of his infirm mind. " Guilty," he faltered, and sunk down into his seat, crushed with a sense of shame. " Now, gentleman," said the counsel for the prisoner, "have I, or have I not, performed my part of the compact ?" " You have." " Then perform yours." This was done. A Nbl. Pros, was duly en- tered upon the three indictments. The counsel for the prosecution immediately moved for sentence. General Butler then rose, with the ©ther indictment in his hand, and pointed out a fiaw iu it, manifest and fatal. The error consisted in designating' the place where the crime was committed. "Your honor perceives," said the general, " that this court has no jurisdiction in the mat- ter. I move that the prisoner be discharged from custody." Ton minutes from that time, the astounded man was walking out of the court-room free. The flaw in the indictment, General Butler discovered the moment after the compact was made. If he had gone to the prisoner, and .spent tions were: 1. That the captain was bound to procure fresh vegetables if ho could; and, 2. That he could. Iu establishing these two points, he disolay^ed an amount of learning, ingenuity and taftt, seldom equaled at the bar. The whole of sanitary science and the whole of sanitary law, the narratives of all navigators and the usages of all navies, reports of parliamentary commissions and the diaries of pliilautluopical ivestigators, ancient log-books and new treatises of maritime law ; the testimony of mariners and the opinions of physicians, all were made tributary to his cause. He exhibited to the jury a large map of the world, and, taking the log of the ship in his hand, he read its daily entries, and as he did so, marked on the map the ship's course, showing plainly to the eye of the jury, that on four different occasions, while the crew were rotting with the scurvy, the ship passed within a few hours' sail of islands, renowned in all those seas for the abundance, the excellence, and the cheapness of their vegetables. Mr. Choato contested every point, with all his skill and elo- quence. The end of the daily session was only the beginning of General Butler's day's work; for there were new points to bo investigated, other fjicts to be discovered, more witnesses to be hunted up. He rummaged libraries, he pored over encyclopedi;i5 and gazetteers, he ferreted out old sailors, and went into court every morn- ing with a mass of new material, and followed by a train of old doctors or old salts to support a position shaken the day before. In the course of the trial ho had on the witness-stand nearly every eminent physician in Boston, and nearly every sea-captain and ship-owner; Justice and General Butler triumphed. The jury gave dam- ages to the amount of three thousand dollars ; an award which to-day protects American sailors on every sea. Such energy and talent as this, could not fail five minutes in inducing him to consent to the [ of liberal reward. After ten years of practice arrangement, the sharp opposing counsel, long 1 at Lowell, with frequent employment in Boston accu-stomed to his tactics, would have suspected courts. General Butler opened an office in Boston, a ruse, and eagerly scanned the indictment. He and thenceforward, in coujimetion with a part- relied, therefore, solely on the power which a ' ner in each city, carried on two distinct estab- man, with a will, has over a man who has none, lishments. For many years he was punctual at and so merely commanded the plea of guilty. ! the depot in Lowell at seven in the morning, Tlie court, it is said, not unwilling to escape a summer and winter; at Boston soon after eight; long trial, laughed at the manajuver, and com- in court at Boston from half-past nine till near plimentod the successful lawyer upon the ex- five in the afternoon ; back to Lowell, and to celleiit "discipline" which he maintained among dinner at half past si.x:; at his othce in Lowell his clients. from half past seven till midnight, or later. This was a case of legal " legerdemain." i When the war broke out, be bad the most GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 11 lucrative practice in New England — worth at a moderate estimate, eighteen thousand dollars a year. At the moment of his leaving for the scene of war, the list of cases in which he was re- tained numbered five hundred. Hajjpily mar- ried at an early age to a lady, in whom are united the accomplishments which please, and the qualities that inspire esteem, blessed with three aflectionate children, he enjoyed at his beautiful home, on the lofty banks of the tum- bling Merrimac, a most enviable domestic felicity. At the age of forty, though he had lived liber- ally, he was in a condition to retire from business if he had so chosen. A writer well remarks that a lawyer in great practice as an advocate has peculiar oppor- tunities of acquiring peculiar knowledge. That famous scurvy case, for example, made him acquainted with the entire range of sanitary science. A great bank case opens all the mys- teries of finance ; a bridge case the whole art of bridge building; a railroad case the law and usages of all railroads. A few years ago when General Butler served as one of the examiners at West Point, he put a world of questions to the graduating class upon subjects connected ■with the military art, indicating unexpected Bpecialties of knowledge in the questioner. "But how did you know anything about that?" his companions would ask. "Oh, I once had a case which obliged me to look into it." This answer was made so often that it became the jocular custom of the committee, when any knotty point arose in conversation, to ask G-en- eral Butler whether ho had not a case involving it. The knowingness and direct manner of this Massachusetts lawyer left such an impression upon the mind of one of the class, (the lamented General George G. Strong,) that he sought ser- vice under him in the war five years after. This curious specialty of information, particu- larly his intimate knowledge of ships, banks, railroads, sanitary science, and engineering, was of the utmost value to him and to the country at a later day. And now a few words upon the political career of General Butler in Massachusetts. Despite his enormous and incessant labors at the bar, he was a busy and eager politician. From his twentieth year he was wont to stump the neighboring towns at election time, and from the year 184:4, never failed to attend the national conventions of his party. Upon all the ques- tions, both of state and national politics, which have agitated Massachusetts during the last twenty years, his record is clear and ineffaceable. Right or wrong, there is not the slightest diffi- culty in knowing where he has stood or stands. He has, in perfection, what the French call "the courage of opinion;" which a man could not fail to have who has passed his whole life in a minority, generally a hopeless minority, but a minority always active, incisive, and inspired with the audacity which comes of having nothing to lose. I need not remind any American reader that during the last twenty-five j-ears the demo- cratic party in Massachusetts has seldom had even a plausible hope of carrying an election. If ever it has enjoyed a partial triumph, it has been through the operation of causes which disturbed the main issue, and enabled the party to combine with factions temporarily severed S^ra a majority otherwise invincible. The politics of an American citizen, for many years past, have been cUvided into two parts: 1. His position on the questions affected by slavery. 2. His position on questions not affected by slavery. Let us first glance at Gen- eral Butler's course on the class of subjects last named. As a state politician, then, the record of which lies before me in a heap of pamphlets, reports, speeches, and proceedings of deliberative bodies, I find his course to have been soundly democrat- ic, a champion of fair play and equal rights. In that great struggle which resulted in the passage of the eleven-hour law, ho was a candidate for the legislature, on the "ten-hour ticket," and fought the battle with all the vigor and t-act which belonged to him. A few days before the election, as he was seated in his office at Lowell, a deputation of workingmen came to him, excit- ed and alarmed, with the news, that a notice had been posted in the mills, to the effect, that any man who voted the Butler ten-hour ticket, would be discharged. " Get out a hand-bill," said the general. " an nouneing that I will address the workingmen to morrow evening." The hall was so crammed with people that the speaker had to be passed in over the heads of the multitude. He began his speech with umwonted calmness, amid such breathless si- lence as falls upon an assembly when the ques- tion in debate concerns their dearest interests — their honor, and their livehhood. He began by saying that he was no revolutionist. How could he be in Lowell, where were invested the earn- ings of his laborious life, and where the value ot all property depended upon the peaceful labors of the men before him ? Nor would he believe that the notice posted in the mills was authorized. .Some underling had doubtless done it to propi- tiate distant masters, misjudging them, misjudg- ing the working-men of Lowell. The owners of the mills were men too wise, too just, or, at least too prudent, to authorize a measure which absolutely extinguished government ; which, at once, invited, justified, and necessitated anarchy. For tyranny less monstrous than this, men of Massachusetts had cast off their allegiance to the king of Great Britain, and plunged into the bloody chaos of revolution ; and the directors of the Lowell mills must know that the sons stood ready, at any moment, to do as iheir sires had done before them. But this he would say : If it should prove that the notice was authorized ; if men should be deprived of the means of earn- ing their bread for having voted as their con- sciences directed, then, woe to Lowell ! " The place that knows it shall know it no more for ever. To my own house, I, with this hand, will first apply the torch. I ask but this: give me time to get out my wife and children. All I have in the world I consecrate to the flames!" Those who have heard General Butler speak can form an idea of the tremendous force witli which he would utter words like these. He is a man capable of infinite wrath, and, on this oc- casion he was stirred to the depths of his being. The audience were so powerfully moved, that a cry arose for the burning of the town that very night, and there was: even the beginning of a movement towards the doors. But the speaker 12 GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. instantly relapsed into the tone and line of re- mark with which he had begun the speech, and concluded with a solemn appeal to every voter present to vote as his judgment and conscience directed, with a total disregard to i:)crsonal con- sequences. The next morning the notice was no more seen. The election passed peacefully away, and the ten-hour ticket was elected. Two priceless hours were thus rescued from the day of toil, and added to those which rest and civilize. The possibility of high civilization to the whole commuuitj — the mere possibility — depends upon these two things: an evening of leisure, and a Sunday without exhaustion. These two, well improved during a whole lifetime, will put any one of fair capacity in possession of the best best results of civOization, social, moral, intel- lectual, esthetic. And this is the meaning and aim of democracy — to secure to all honest people a fair chance to acquire a share of those things, which give to life its value, its dignity, and its joy. Justly, therefore, may we class measures which tend to give the laborer a free evening, as democratic. In the legislature, to which General Butler was twice elected, once to the assembly, and once to the senate, he led the opposition to the old banking system, and advocated that which gives perfect security to the New York bill- holder, and which is often styled the New York system, recently adopted as a national measure. He had the courage, too, to report a bill for compensating the proprietors of the Ursuline convent of Charlestown, destroyed, twenty years ago, by a mob, and standing now a black' ened ruin, reproaching the commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is said, that he would have succeeded in getting his bill passed, had not an intervening Sunday given the Calvinistic clergy an opportunity to bring their artillery to bear upon it. He represented Lowell in the conven- tion to revise the constitution of Massachusetts, a few years ago, and took a leading part in its proceedings. With these exceptions, though he has run for office a hundred times, he has fig- ured only in the forlorn hope of the minority, climbing toward the breach in every contest, with as much zeal as though he expected to reach the citadel. "But why so long in the minority? why could he and Massachusetts never get into ac- cord ?" This leads us to consider his position in national politics. Gentlemen of General Butler's way of think- ing upon the one national question of the last twenty years have been styled "pro-slavery democrats." This expression, as applied to General Butler, is calumnious. I can find no utterance of his which justifies it; but on the contrary, in his speeches, there is an evidently purposed avoidance of expressions that could be construed into an approbation of slavery. The nearest approach to anything like an apology for the " institution" which appears in his speeches, is the expression of an opinion, that sudden ab- olition would be ruin to the master, and a doubtful good to the slave. On the other hand, there is no word in condcnnation of slavery. There is oven an assumptioa tliat with the moral and philanthropic aspect'- of slavery, we of the north had nothing to do. lie avowed the opin- ion, that we were bound to stand by tlie com- promises of the constitution, not in the letter merely, but in the spirit, and that the spirit of those compromises bound the government to give slavery a chance in the territories. A ruling motive with him was a keen sense of the sacredness of compacts. Add to this a strong, hereditary party spirit, and some willful pleasure in acting with a minority. In his speeches on the slavery question there is candor, force, and truth ; and their argument is unan- swerable, if it be granted that slavery can have any rights whatever not expressly granted by the letter of the constitution. There is nothing in them of base subserviency, nothing of insin- cerity, nothing uncertain, no vote-catching vagueness. When the wretched Brooks had committed the assault upon Charles Sumner in the senate chamber, there were men of Massachusetts who, surpassing the craven baseness of Brooks himself) gave him a supper, and stooped even to sit at the table and help him to eat it. General But- ler, blazing with divine wrath, publicly denoun- ced the act in Washington in such terms as became a man, and caUcd upon Mr. Sumner, to express his horror and his sympathy. He saw with his own eyes, and felt with his own liands, that the wounds could only have been given while the senator was bending low over his desk, absorbed and helpless. When John Brown, the sublime madman, or else the one sane man in a nation mad, had done the deed for which unborn pilgrims will come from afar, to look upon the sod that covers his bones. General Butler spoke at a meeting held in Lowell, to reassure the alarmed people of the South. This speech very fairly represents his habit of thought upon the vexed subject before the war. He spoke in strong reprobation of northern abolitionists, and southern fire-eaters, as men equally guilty of inflaming and mislead- ing their fellow citizens ; so that, at length it had come to pass, that neither section under- stood the other. "The mistake," said he, "is mutuah We look at the South through the medium of the abolitionist orators — a very dis- torted picture. The South see us only as ram- pant abolitionists, ready to make a foray upon their life and property." General Butler was elected a delegate to the democratic convention, held in Charleston, in April, 18G0. He went to Charleston with two strong convictions on his mind. One was, that concessions to the South had gone as far as the northern democracy could ever be induced to sustain. The other was that a fair nomination of Mr. Douglas, by a national democratic con- vention wa.s hnpos?ible. Nevertheless, in obedience to instructions, he voted for Mr. Douglas as long as there was any hope of procuring liis nomination. He then gave his vote for Jefi'erson Davis. On tlie final dis- ruption of the convention at Baltimore, he went with the body that nominated for the presidency John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. Let us see how the four parties stood in the contest of that year. The Cincinnati platform of 185G said: Let the people in each territory decide, when they form a constitution, whether they will come into the Union as a slave state or as a free slate. MASSACHUSETTS EEADY. 13 But the delay in the admission of Kansas, gave intense interest to the question, whether slavery could exist in a territory before its admission. This was the issue in 1860. The republican platform said : No, it can not exist. Freedom is the normal condition of all territory. Slaver}^ can exist only by local law. There is no authority anywhere corapctent to le- galize slavery in a territory of the United States. The Supreme Court can not do it. Congress can not do it. The territorial legislature can not do it. The Douglas platform said ; We do not know whether slavery can exist in a territory or not. There is a difference of opinion among us upon the subject. The Supreme Court must decide, and its decision shall be final and binding. The Breckinridge platform said : Slavery law- fully exists in a territory the moment a slave- owner enters it with his slaves. The United States is bound to maintain his right to hold slaves in a territory. But when the people of the territoiy frame a state constitution, they are to decide whether to enter the Union as a slave or as a free state. If as a slave state, thej^ are to be admitted without question. If as a tree state, the slave-owners must retire or emancipate. The Bell atid Everett party, declining to con- struct a platform, expressed no opinion upon the question at issue. Thus, of the four parties in the field, twot)nly had the courage to look the state of things in the face, and to avow a positive conviction, namely, the republicans and the Breckinridge men. These two, alone, made platforms upon which an hon- est voter coidd intelligently stand. The other parties sliirked the issue, and meant to shirk it. The most pitiable spectacle ever afforded in the politics of the United States, was the wrigglings of Mr. Douglas during the campaign, wJien he taxed all his great ingenuity to seem to say something that should win votes in one section, without losing votes in the other. Tragical as the end was to him, all men felt that his disap- pointment was just, though they would have gladly seen him recover from tlie shock, take the bitter lesson to heart, and join with his old allies in saving the country. Before leaving Baltimore, the leaders of the Breckinridge party came to an explicit under- standing upon two important points. First, the northern men received from Mr. Breckinridge and his southern supporters, not merely the strongest possible declarations of de- votion to the Union and the Constitution, but a particular disavowal and repudiation of the cry then heard all over the South, that in case of the success of the republican party, the South would secede. There is no doubt in the minds of the well-informed, that Mr. Breckinridge was sincere in these professions, and it is known that he ad- hered to the Union, in his heart, down to the time when war became evidently inevitable. There is reason, too, to believe that he has since bitterlj' regretted having abandoned the cause of his countiy. Secondly, the Breckinridge leaders at Balti- more arranged their programme of future opera- tions. Tliey were aware of the certainty of their defeat. In all probability, the republicans would come into power. That party (as the Breckin- ridge democrats supposed) being unused to gov- ern, and inheriting immense and unexampled difficulties, would break down, would quarrel among themselves, would become ridiculous or offensive, and so prepare the way for the triumph- ant return of the democracy to power in 1865. Mr. Douglas, too, they thought, would destroy himself, as a political power, by having wanton- ly broken up his party. The democrats, then, would adhere to their young and popular candi- date, and elect him ; if not in 1864, then in 1868. Having concluded these arrangements, they separated, to meet in Washington after the elec- tion, and renew the compact, or else to change it to meet any unexpected issue of the campaigii. On his return to Lowell, General Butler found himself the most unpopular man in Massachu- setts. Not that Massachusetts approved the course or the character of Mr. Douglas. Not that Massachusetts was incapable of appreciating a bold and honest man, who stood in opposition to her cherished sentiments. It was because she saw one of her public men acting in conjunction with the party which seemed to her identified with that which threatened a disruption to the country if it should be fairly beaten in an election. The platform of that party was profoundly odious to her. It appeared to her, not merely erron- eous, but immoral and monstrous, and she could not but feel that the northern supporters of it were guilty of a kind of subserviency that bor- dered upon baseness. She did not understand the series of events which would have compelled Mr. Douglas, if he had been elected, to go to un- imagined lengths in quieting the apprehensions of the South. She could not, in that time of in- tense excitement, pause to consider, that if Gen- eral Butler's course was wrong, it was, at least, disinterested and unequivocal. He was hooted in the streets of Lowell, and a public meeting, at which he was to give an ac- count of his stewardship, was broken up by a mob. A second meeting was called. General Butler then obtained a hearing, and justified his course in a speech of extraordinary force and cogency. He characterized the Douglas ticket as " two- faced," designed to win both sections, by deceiv- ing both. " Hurrah for Johnson ! he goes for intervention. Hurrah for Douglas! he goes for non-intervention unless the Supreme Court tells him to go the other way. Hurrah for Johnson 1 he goes against popular sovereignty. Hurrah for Douglas 1 he goes for popular sovereignty if the Supreme Court will let him I Hurrah for John- son I he is for disunion I Hurrah for Douglas I he is for tlie Union. He met the charge brought against Mr. Breck- inridge of sympathy with southern disunionists. " By whom is this charge made ? By Pierre Soule, an avowed disunionist, in Louisiana ; by John Forsyth and the ' Atlanta Confederacy, ' in Georgia, which maintains the duty of the South to leave the Union if Lincoln is elected ; and yet these same men are the foremost of the southern supporters of Douglas; by Gaulding of Georgia, who is now stumping the state tor Douglas, making the same speech that he made in tlie con- vention at Baltimore, where he argued that non- intervention meant that congress had no power to prevent the exportation of negroes from Africa, and that the slave trade was the true popular sovereignty in fall expansion. 14 MASSACHUSETTS READY. ""Would you believe it, fellow-citizens, this speech was applauded in the Douglas convention, and that too, by a delegate from Massachusetts, ay, and from Middlesex county. " "When I left that convention, I declared that I would no longer sit where the African slave trade, made piracy and felony by the laws of my country, was openly advocated and applauded. Yet such, at the South, are the supporters of Douglas." General Butler was the Breckinridge candidate for the governorship of Massachuscts. He had been a candidate for the same oCBce a few years before, and had received the full support of his part}', about 50,000 votes. On this occasion only 0,000 of his fellow-citizens cast their votes for him ; the whole number of voters being more than 170,000. CHAPTER n. MASSACHUSETTS READY. In December, 1860, Mr. Lincoln having been elected, and congress met, General Butler went to Washington, according to the agreement at Baltimore, in June, to confer with democratic leaders upon the future course of the partj'. South Carolina had gone through the form of seceding from the Union, and her three com- missioners were at the capital, to present to the president the ordinance of secession, and nego- tiate the terms of separation. Regarding them- selves in the light of ambassadors, and expect- ing a long negotiation, they had taken a house, which served as the head-quarters of the mal- contents. Excitement and apprehension per- vaded all circles. General Butler, in visiting his southern friends, found that most of them considered secession a fact accomplished, noth- ing remaining but to arrange the details. Mr. Breckinridge, however, still steadfast to his pledges, indignant, sorrowful, was using his influence to bring about a convention of the border states, which should stand between the two hostile bodies, and compel both to make the concessions supposed to be necessary for the preservation of the Union. By day and night ho strove to stem the torrent of disaftection, and bring the men of the South to reason. Ho strove in vain. The movement which he en- deavored to efi'ect was defeated by Virginians, particularly by ^ Mason and Hunter. Finding his plan impossible, he went about "Washington, pale and haggard, the picture of despair, and sought relief, it is said, where despairing southern men are too apt to seek it, in the whisky bottle. " What does all this mean ?" asked General Butler, of an old southern democrat, a few hours after his arrival in Washington. '• It means simply what it appears to mean. The Union is dead. The experiment is finished. The attempt of two communities, having no interest in common, abhorring one another, to make believe that they are one nation, has ceased for ever. We shall establish a sound, homogeneous government, with no discordant elements. We shall have room for our northern friend.s. Come with us." you Do You " Have you counted the cost ? Do really think you can break up this Union ? you think so yourself?" " I do." " You are prepared, then, for civil war? mean to bring this thing to the issue of arms ?" " Oh, there will be no war. The North won't fight." "The North will fight." " The North won't fight." "The North ^/;^7^ fight." " The North canH fight. We have friends enough at the North to prevent it." " You have friends at the North as long as you remain true to the constitution. But let me tell 3'ou, that the moment it is seen that you mean to break up the country, the North is a unit against you. I can answer, at least, for Massa- chusetts. She is good for ten thousand men to march, at once, against armed secession." " Massachusetts is not such a fool. If your state should send ten thousand men to preserve the Union against southern secession, she will have to fight twice ten thousand of her own citizens at home who will oppose the policy," " No, sir ; when we come from ilassachusetts we shall not leave a single traitor behind, unless he is hanging on a tree." " Well, we shall see." " You will see. I know something of the North, and a good deal about New England, where I was born and have lived forty-two years. We are pretty quiet there now because we don't believe that you mean to carry out your threats. We have heard the same story at every election these twenty years. Our people don't yet believe you are in earnest. But let me tell you this : As sure as you attempt to break up this Union, the North will resist the attempt to its last man and its last dollar. You are as certain to fail as that there is a God in Heaven. One thing you may do : you may ruin the southern states, and extinguish youi' insti- tution of slavery. From the moment the first gun is fired upon the American flag, your slaves will not be worth five years' purcliase. But as to breaking up the country, it can not be done. God and nature, and the blood of your fathers and mine have made it one ; and one country it must remain." And so the war of words went on. The gen- eral visited his old acquaintances, the South Carolina commissioners, and with them he had similar conversation's; the substance of all being this: Secessionists : " The North won't fight." General Butler: "The North will fight." Secessionists : " If the North fights, its labor- ers will starve and overturn the government." General Butler: "If the South fights, there is an end of slaveiy." Secessionists : " Do you mean to say that you yourself would fight in such a cause ?" General Butler : " I would ; and, by the grace of God, I will." The general sat at the table, once more, of Jeflerson Davis, for whom he had voted in the Charleston convention. Mr, Davis, at that time, appeared still to wish for a compromise and the preservation of the Union. But he is a politi- cian. He gave in to the sentiment, that he owed allegiance, first to the state of Mississippi ; sec- MASSACHUSETTS READY. 15 ondly, to the United States ; which is the same as sayiug that he owed no allegiance to the United St:.tes at all. So, if a majority of the legislature of Mississippi should pronounce for secession, ho was bound to abandon that which, for fifty years, he had been proud to call his " country." In times like those, every man of originating mind has his scheme. If in the multitude of counselors there were safety, no country had been safer than this country was in December, 1860, when Mr. Buchanan was assailed and confounded with advice from all quarters, near and remote, from friends and foes. General Butler, too, had an idea. As a leading member pf the party in power, he was entitled to be listened to, and he was listened to. Mr. Black, the legal adviser of the government, had given it as his opinion, that the proceedings of South Carolina were legally definable as a " riot," which the force of the United States could not be lawfully used in suppressing. General Butler said to the attorney-general : — " You say that the government can not use its army and navy to coerce South Carolina in South Carolina. Very well. I do not agree with you ; but let the proposition be granted. Now, secession is either a right, or it is treason. If it is a right, the sooner we know it the bet- ter. If it is treason, then the presenting of the ordinance of secession is an overt act of treason. These men are coming to the White House to present the ordinance to the president. Admit them. Let them present the ordinance. Let the president say to them : — ' Gentlemen, yon go hence in the custody of a marshal of the United States, , as prisoners of state, charged with treason against your country.' Sumrnon a grand jury, here in Washington. Indict the commissioners. If any of your officers are back- ward in acting, you have the appointing power ; replace them with men who feel as men should, at a time like this. Try the commissioners ' before the Supreme Court, with all the imposing forms and stately ceremonial which marked the trial of Aaron Burr. I have some reputation at home as a criminal la^vyer, and will stay here and help the district attorney through the trial without fee or reward. If they are convicted, ' execute the sentence. If they are acquitted, you will have done something toward leaving a clear path for the incoming administration. Time will have been gained ; but the great advantage will be, that both sides will pause to watch this high and dignified proceeding; the passions of men wir cool ; the great points at issue will become clear to all parties; the mind of the country will be active while passion and preju- dice are allayed. Meanwhile, if you can not use your army and navy in Charleston^ harbor, you can certainly employ them in keeping order here." This was General Butler's contribution to the grand sum total of advice with which the admin- istration was favored. Mr. Black seemed in- clined to recommend the measure. Mr Buchanan was of opinion, that it would cause a fearful agi- tation, and probably inflame the South to the point of beginning hostilities forthwith. Besides, these men claimed to be ambassadors ; and though we could not admit the claim, still they had vol- untarily placed themselves in our power, and seemed to have a kind of right to bo, at least, warned away, before we could honorably trust them as criminals or enemies. In vain General Butler urged that his object was simply to get their position defined by a competent tribunal; to ascertain whether they were, in reality, am- bassadors or traitors. Ilia scheme was that of a bold and stedfast patriot prepared to go all lengths for his country. It could not but be rejected by Mr. Buchanan. General Butler frankly told the commissioners the advice he had given. " Why, you would'nt hang us, would you ? " said Mr. Orr. "Oh, no," replied the General; "not unless you were found guilty." Then came the electric news of Major Ander- son's " change of base " from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter; one of those trivial events which generally occur at times like those to decide the question of peace or war. The future historian I will probably tell us, that there was never a moment after that event when a peaceful solu- tion of the controversy was possible. He will pro- bably show that it was the skillful use of that in- ; cideut, at a critical moment, which enabled the secessionists of Georgia, frustrated till then, to commit that great state to the support of South Carolina; and Georgia is the empire state of the cotton South, whose defection involved that Oi all the cotton states, as if by a law of nature. The president of the United States had allow- ed himself to promise the South Carolina com- missioners that no military movement should oc- cur in Charleston harbor during the negotiation at Washington. They promptly demanded the return of Major Anderson to Fort Moultrie. Floyd supported their demand. Mr. Buchanan consented. Then the commissioners, finding the president so pliant, demanded the total with- drawal of the troops from South Carolina, and Floyd supported them in that modest demand also. While the president stood hesitating upon the brink of this new infamy, the enormous frauds in Floyd's department came to light, and his influence was at an end. The question of withdrawal being proposed to the cabinet, it was negatived, and the virtuous Floyd relieved his colleagues by resigning. Mr. Holt succeeded him; the government stiflfenod ; the commission- ers went home ; and General Butler, certain now that war was impending, prepared to depart. He had one last long interview with the south- ern leaders, at which the whole subject was gone over. For three hours he reasoned with them, demonstrating the foUy of their course, and warn- ing them of final and disastrous failure. The conversation was friendly, though warm and earnest on both sides. Again he was invited to join them, and was offered a share in their enter- prise, and a place in that "sound and homogene- ous government," which they meant to establish. He left them no room to doubt that he took sides with his country, and that all he had, and all he was, should be freely risked in that country's cause. Late at night they separated to know one another no more except as mortal foes. The next morning. General Butler went to Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, an old acqua?n- tance, though long a political opponent, and told him that the southern leaders meant war, and urged him to join iu advising the governor of 16 MASSACHUSETTS READY. their state to prepare the militia of Massachusetts for taking the tield. At tluit time, and for some time longer, the southern men were divided among themselves respecting the best mode of beginning hostilities. The bolder spirits were for seizing Washington, preventing tlie inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, and placing lireckinridgo, if ho would consent, or some otlicr popular man if he would not, in the presidential mansion, who should issue a proc- lamation to the whole country, and endeavor to rally to his support a sufficient number of uorth- ern democrats to distract and paralyze tlio loyal states. That more prudent counsels prevailed was not from any sense of the turpitude of such treason, but from a conviction that if anything could rouse the North to armed resistance, it would be the seizure of the capital. Nothing short of that, thought the secessionists, would induce a money-making, pusillanimous people to leave their shops and their counting-houses, to save their country from being broken to pieces and brought to nought. The dream of these traitors was to destroy their country witliout fighting ; and so the scheme of a coup d'eiat was discarded. But General Butler left Washington behoving that the bolder course was the one which would bo adopted, lie believed this the more readily, because it was the course which he would have advised, had he, too, been a trai- tor. One thing, however, he considered abso- lutely certain : there was going to be a war be- tween Loyalty and Treason ; between the Slave Power and the Power which had so long pro- tected and fostered it. He found the North anxious, but still incred- ulous. He went to Governor Andrew, and gave him a full relation of what he had heard and seen at Washington, and advised him to get the mi- litia of the state in readiness to move at a day's notice. He suggested that all tlie men should be quietly withdrawn from the militia force who were either unable or unwilling to leave the state for the defense of the capital, and their places supplied with men who could and would. The governor, though he could scarcely yet believe that war was impending, adopted the suggestion. About one-half tlie men resigned their places in the militia ; the vacancies were quickly filled ; and many of the companies dur- ing the winter months, drilled every evening in the week, except Sundays. General Butler further advised that two thousand overcoats be made, as the men were already provided with nearly every requsite for marching, except those indispensable garments, which could not be ex- temporized. To this suggestion there was stur- dy opposition, since it involved the expenditure of twenty thousand dollars, and that for an exi- gency which Massachusetts did not believe was likely to occur. One gentlemen, high in office, said that General Butler made the proposal in the interest of the moths of Boston, which alone would get any good of the overcoats. Others insinuated that he only wanted a good contract for the Middlesex Woolen Mills, in which he was a large shareholder. The worthy and pa- triotic governor, however, strongly recommended the measure, and the overcoats were begun. The last stitches in the last hundred of them were performed while the men stood drawn up on the common waiting to strap them to their knapsacks before gottmg into the cars for Wash- ington. Having thus assisted in preparing Massachu- setts to march. General Butler resumed his prac- tice at the bar, vibrating between Boston and Lowell as of old, not without much inward chaf- ing at the humiliating spectacle which the coun- try presented during those dreary, shameful months. One incident cheered the gloom. One word was uttered at Washington which spoke the heart of the country. One man in the cab- inet felt as patriots feel w^hen the flag of their country is threatened with dishonor. One order was given which did not disgrace the govern- ment from which it issued. "If any one at-. TEMPTS TO HAUL DOWN THE AMERICAN FLAG SHOOT HIM ON THE SPOT 1" " When I read ic," wrote General Butler to General Dix long after, "my heart bounded with joy. It was the first bold stroke in favor of the Union under the past administration." He had the pleasure of send- ing to General Dix, from New Orleans, the iden- tical flag which was the object of the order, and the confederate flag which was hoisted in its place ; as well as of recommending for promotion the sailor, David Ritchie, who contrived to snatch both flags from the cutter when traitors abandon- ed and burnt her as Captain Farragut's fleet drew near. The fifteenth of April arrived. Fort Sumter had fallen. The president's proclamation call- ing for troops was issued. In the morning came a telegram to Governor Andrew from Senator Wilson, asking that twenty companies of Massa- chusetts militia be instantly dispatched to defend the scat of government. A few hours after, the formal requisition arrived from the secretary of war calling for two full regiments. At quarter before five that afternoon, General Butler was in- in court at Boston trying a cause. To him came Colonel Edward F. Jones, of the Sixth regiment, bearing an order from Governor Andrew, direct- ing him to muster his command fortliwith in Boston common, in readiness to proceed to Wash- ington. This regiment was one of General But- ler's brigade, its head-quarters being Lowell, twenty-five miles distant, and the companies scattered over forty miles of country. The gen- eral endorsed the order, and at five Colonel Jones was on the Lowell traia There was a good deal of swift riding done that night in the region round about Lowell ; and at eleven o'clock on the day following, there was Colonel Jones with his regiment on Boston common. Not less prompt were the Third and Eighth regiments, for they began to arrive in Boston as early as nine, each company welcomed at the depot by applaud- ing thousands. The Sixth regimeut,it was deter- mined, .should go first, and the governor deemed it best to strengthen it with two additional com- panies. The general, too, was going. During the night following the 15th of April, he had been at°work with Colonel Jones getting the Sixth together. On the morning of the 16th, ho was in the cars, as usual, going to Boston, and with him rode Mr. James G. Carney, of Lowell, presi- dent of the Bank of Redemption, in Boston. "The governor will want money," said the general. "Can not the Bank of Redemption otfer a temporary loan of fifty thousand dollars to help off the troops ?" MASSACHUSETTS READY. 17 It can, and shall, was the reply, in substance, of the president ; and in the course of the morning, a note offering the loan was in the governor's hands. General Butler went not to court that morn- ing. As yet, no brigadier had been ordered into service, but there was one brigadier who was on fire to serve ; one who, from the first summons, had been resolved to go, and to stay to the end of the fight, whether he went as private or as lieutenant-general. Farewell the learned plea, and the big fees that swell the lawyer's bank account I Farewell the spirit- stirring speech, the solemn bench, and all the pomp and circumstance of glorious law ! Gen- eral Butler's occupation was about to be changed. He telegraphed to Mr. Wilson, asking him to remind Mr. Cameron, that a brigade required a brigadier ; and back from Washington came an order calling for a brigade of four full regiments, to be commanded by a brigadier-general. That point gained, the next was to induce Governor Andrew to select the particular brig- adier whom General Butler had in his mind when he dispatched the telegram to Mr. Wilson. There were two whose commissions were of older date than his own ,• General Adams and General Pierce; the former sick, the latter de- siring the appointment. General Pierce had the advantage of being a political ally of the gov- ernor. On the other hand. General Butler had suggested the measures which enabled the troops to take the^ field, had got the loan of fifty thousand dollars, had procured the order for a brigadier. He was, moreover, Benjamin F. Butler, a gentleman not unknown in Boston, though long veiled from the general view by a set of obstinately held unpopular political opin- ions. These considerations, aided, perhaps, by a little wire-pulling, prevailed; and in the morning of the 17th, at tea o'clock, he received the order to take command of the troops. All that day he worked as few men can work. There were a thousand things to do ; but there were a thousand willing hearts and hands to help. The Sixth regiment was off in the after- noon, addressed before it moved by Governor Andrew and General Butler. Two regiments were embarked on board a steamer for Fortress Monroe, then defended by two companies of regular artillery — a tempting prize for the rebels. Late at night, the General went home to bid farewell to his family, and prepare for his final departure. The next morning, back again to Boston, accompanied by his brother. Colonel Andrew Jackson Butler, who chanced to be on a visit to his ancient liome, after eleven years' residence in California; where, with Broderick and Hooker, he had already done battle against the slave power, the lamented Broderick having died in his arms. He served now as a volunteer aid to the General, and rendered good service on the eventful march. At Boston, General Butler stopped at his accustomed barber-shop. While he was under the artist's hands, a soldier of the departed Sixth regiment came in sorrowful, begging to be excused from duty ; saying that he had left his wife and three children crying. "I am not the man for you to come to, sir," said the General, "for I have just done the same," and straightway sent for a policeman to arrest him as a deserter. A hurried visit to the steamer bound foi Fortress Monroe. All was in readiness there. Then to the Eighth regiment, on the Common, which he was to conduct to Washington by way of Baltimore; no intimation of the nnpend- ing catastrophe to the Sixtli having yet been received. The Eighth marched to the cars, and rolled away fVom tlie depot, followed by the benedictions of assembled Boston ; saluted at every station on the way by excited multi- tudes. At Springfield, where tliere 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. Brigga Thence, to New York. The Broadway march of the regiment ; their breakfast at the Metropolitan and Astor; their push tlirough the crowd to Jersey City; the tumultuous welcome ia New Jersey; the continuous roar of cheers across the stale; the arrival at Philadelphia in the after- noon of the memorable nineteenth of April, who can have forgotten? Fearful news met the general and the regi- ment at the depot. 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 1 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 ilaryland 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 horror through all hearts, and this blood shed in Baltimore streets, was that of the coun- trymen, 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 entertainment. 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 Commodore 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 18 MASSACHUSETTS EEADY. Meanwhile, Colonel A. J. Butler was out in the streets, buyinf^ pickaxes, shovels, tinware, pro- visions, 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 sup- posed to bo in arras ; but the general was going through Maryland. Before tl»c evening was far advanced, ho had determined upon a plan of operations, and sum- m®ned his officers to make tliom acquainted witli it — not to shun responsibility by asking their opinion, nor to waste precious time in dis- cussion. 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, lie was resolved to take the solo res- ponsibility himself. Taking up one of the revolvers, ho invited every officer who was willing to accompany him to signify it by ac- cepting a pistol. The pistols were all instantly appropriated. The officers departed, and the general then, in great haste, and amid ceaseless interruptious, sketched a memorandum of his plan, to bo 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 Lef- ferts of the Seventh regiment of New York. I propose to take the tifteen hundred troops to Annapolis, arriving there to-morrow about four o'clock, and occupy tho capital of Maryland, and thus call the state to account for the death of Massachusetts men, my friends and neighbors. If Colonel LefiTerts 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 com- munication. 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, behoving from the tele- graphs that there will bo others in great num- bers to aid me. Being accompanied by officers of more experience, w^ho will be able to direct the aflair, I think it will be accomplished. Wo have no light batteries ; I have therefore tele- graphed to Governor Andrew to have the Boston Light Battery put on shipboard at once, to-night, to help mo in marching on Washington. In pursuance of this plan, I have detailed Captains Devereux and Briggs with their commands to hold tho boat at Havre de Grace. " Eleven, a. m. Colonel L^fferls has rcfmed k> 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 tail, purity of intention will excuse want of judgment or rashness." Tho 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 largo force of rebels. Tlio two companies were not sent forward. It was determined that the regiment should go in a body, seize tho boat and use it for transporting the troops to Annapolis. " I may have to sink or burn your boat," said tho general to Mr. Felton. " Do so," replied the president, and immedi- ately wrote an order authorizing its destruction, if necessary. It had been tho design of General Butler, as we have seen, to leave Philadelphia in the morn- ing train; but ho delayed his departure in tho hope that Colonel Loft'erts might be induced to share in the expedition. The Seventh had arri- ved at sunrise, and General Butler made known his plan to Colonel LeCferts, and invited his co- operation. That officer, suddenly intrusted with tho lives (but the honor also) of nearly a thousand of the flower of tiie young men of New York, was overburdened with a sense of responsibility, 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 tho afternoon in a steamboat at Philadelphia, with the design of going to Wash- ington by the Potomac river, leaving to the men of Massachusetts the honor and tho danger of opening a path through Maryland. It is impos- sible for a New Yorker, looking at it in the light oi suhsequerit events, not to regret, and keenly regret, the refusal of officers of tho 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 delib- erations, and the}', 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 depot in Broad street toward Havre de Grace, where the Susquohannah river empties into the Chesapeake Bay — forty milea from Philadelphia, sixty-four from Annapolis. General Butler went through each car explain- ing the plan of attack, and giving the requsito 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 baj-onet, pour headlong into the ferry-boat, drive out tho rebels, get up steam and start for Annapolis. Having assigned to each company its place in tho line, and given all due explanation to each captain, tho general took a seat and instantly fell asleep. And now, the bustle being over, upon all these worthy men fell that seriousness, that solemnity, which comes to those who value their lives, and whoso lives are valuable to others far away, but who are about, for the first ti:ne, to incur mortal peril tor a cause which they feel to be greater and dearer than life. Goelho tells us that valor can neither be learned nor forgotten. I do not believe it. Certainly, the first peril does, in some degree, appal tho tirmest 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 tho men sat erect, grasping their nmskets firmly, and looking anxiously out of tho windows. ANNAPOLIS. 19 One man blenched, and ono only. The general was startled from his sleep by the cry of! '' Man overboard I" The train was stopped. A soldier was seen running across the fields as though pursued by a mad dog. Panic had seized him, and ho had jumped from a car, incurring ten times the danger from which he strove to escape. The general started a group of countrj' people in pursuit, offering them the lawful thirty dollars if they brought the deserter to Havre do Gmce in time. The train moved again : the incident broke the spell, and the cars were filled with laughter. The man was brought in. His ser- geant's stripe was torn from his arm, and he was glad to compound his punisliment by serving the regiment in the capacity of a menial. At tlie appointed place, the train was stopped, the regiment was formed, and marched toward the ferry-boat, skirmishers in advance. It mus- tered thirteen officers and seven hundred and eleven men. CHAPTER III. ANNAPOLIS. It was a false alarm. There was not an armed enemy at Havre do 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 — whetiier they were likely to steer the boat toA nnapolis 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 Anna- polis, and were abundantly capable of navigating any cralt on any sea. It was resolved, therefore, to permit the captain to command the steamer, but to keep a shart lookout ahead, and an unob- gerved scrutiny of the engine-room. Upon the first indication of treachery, captain and engi- neers should find themselves in an open boat upon the Chesapeake, or stowed away in the hold, their places supplied with seafaring Marblehead- ers. Never before, I presume, had such a vari- ously skilled body of men gone to war as the Massachusetts Eighth. It was not merely that all trades and professions had their representa- tives 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 re- spond. Navigating a steamboat was the sim- plest 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 Bhip. 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 cap- tain's fidelity to sleep ; so ho went prowling about among the prostrate men, exclianging 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 cap- tain and engineers did their duty, and at mid- night the boat was off the aneient'Cit}' of Anna- polis. 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 wliole town was evidently awake and astir. Rockets shot up into the sky. Swiftly moving lights wore seen on shore, and all the houses in sight were lighted up. Tlie buildings of the Naval Academy were lighted. There was every appearance of a town in ex- treme commotion. It had been General Butler's intention to land quietly while the city slept, and astonish the dozing inhabitants in the morn- ing 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 clothea 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 Uiiion 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 darkness. 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 J'ou," 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 curi- ous 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. 20 ANNAPOLIS. The Uuitod Slates qiiartermaster had requested him to add from Lioutonant-General Scott, that there wore no moans of trau?portation at Anna- polis. General Butler was still uncommunicative. Both gentlemen were in a distrustful state of mind. The truth was that Captain Blake had been, for forty-eight hours, in momentary expectation of an irruption of " Plug Uglics," from Baltimore, either by sea or land, lie was surrounded by a popula- tion 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 wag 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 seces- sionists," as the officers of the ship afterwards testified, " were round the ship every day, noting her assailable points. The militia of the county were drilled in sight of the ship during 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. During 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 suffi- cient 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 stedfast a heart as over beat, was tortured with anxiety for the safety of the trust which his country had committed to him. Upon seeing the steamer, ho had concluded that here, at last, were the Baltimore rufQans, 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 mid- night voyagers wore. Captain Blake, his ship all ready to open fire, bad 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 contin- ued for some time to question one another, without either of them arriving at a satisfactory conclusion as to the loyalty of the other. The general, at length, announced his name, and de- clared 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, car.s, and the consent of the people. They wore bound to the city of Washington, and expected to make their port. Meanwhile, he would send an officer witli him on shore, to confer with the governor of the state, and the authorities of the city. Captain P. Haggerty, aid-do-camp, was dis- patched upon thia errand. He was conveyed to the town, where ho 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 neces.sary 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. Lieu- tenant 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 excite- ment hero is very great, and I think it prudent that you should take your men elsewhere. I have 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, Captain Morris J. Miller, wrote thus : " Having been intrusted by General Scott with the arrangements 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 ex- pected 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 towards 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, impo.sing man, devoid of the slightest resemblance 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 bo mis- taken 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 appre- hension of violent men from Baltimore had been working for painful days and nights. He re- ceived the stranger with reticent civility, and invited him to bo 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 him- self first. After long fencing and " beating about the bush," Colonel Butler expressed him- self 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, tiiey will open fire upon you." The worthy Captain drew a long breath of relief Full explanations on both sides followed, and Captain Blake said he would visit General ANNAPOLIS. 21 Butler at daybreak. Colonel Butler returned on board the Maryland. The general was soon ready with his reply to the note of Governor Hicks. To the governor: "I had the honor to re- ceive your note by the hands of Lieutenant Matthews, of the United States Naval School at Annapolis. I am sorry that your excellency should advise against my landing here. I am not provisioned for a long voyage. Finding the ordinary means of communication cut ofl' by the burning of railroad bridges by a mob, I have been obliged to make this detour, and hope that your excellency will see, from the very neces- sity of ihe case, that there is no cause of excite- ment in the mind of any good citizen because of our being driven here by an extraordinary casualty. 1 should, at once, obey, however, an order from the secretary of war." Captain Blake came off to the steamer at dawn of day, and soon found himself at home among his countrjaaien. " Can you help me off with the Constitution? Will your orders permit you ?" " I have got no orders," replied the general. "I am making war on my own hook. But we can't be wrong in saving the Constitution. That is, certainly, what we came to do." How the regiment now went to work with a will to save the Constitution ; how the Maryland moved up along side, and put on board the Salem Zouaves for a guard, and a hundred Mar- bleheaders for sailors; how they tugged, and tramped, and lightened, and heaved, and tugged, and tugged again ; how groups of sulky secesh stood scowling around, muttering execrations : how the old frigate was started from her bed of mud at length, amid such cheers as Annapolis bad never heard before, and has not heard since. Captain Blake bursting into tears of joy after the long strain upon his nerves; tliese things have been told, and have not been forgotten. But the ship was not yet safe, though she was moving slowly toward safety. General Butler had now been positively assured that the cap- tain of his ferry boat was a traitor at heart, and would like nothing better than to run both steamer and frigate on a mud bank. He doubted the statement, which indeed was false. The man was half paralyzed with terror, and was thinking of nothing but how to get safely out of the hands of these terrible men. Nevertheless, the general deemed it best to make a remark or two by way of fortifying his virtuous resolutions, and neutralizing any hints he may have received from people on the shore. The engine-room he knew was conducted in the interest of the United States, for he had given it in charge to four of his own soldiers. He had no man in his command who happened to be personally acquainted with the shallows of the river Sev- ern. " Captain," said he, " have you faith in my word?" "Yes," said the captain. "I am told that you mean to run us aground. I think not. If you do, as God lives and you live, I'll blow your brains out." The poor captain, upon hearing these words, evinced symptoms of terror so remarkable, as to convince General Butler that if any mishap befell the vessels, it would not be owing to any disaffection on the part of the gentleman in the pilot-house. All seemed to be going well. The general dozed in his chair. He woke to find the Mary- land fast in the mud. Believing the captain's protestations, and the navigation being really difficult, ho did not molest his brains, which were already sufficiently discomposed, but or- dered him into confinement. The frigate was still afloat, and was, soon after, towed to a safe distance by a tug. The Eighth Massachusetts could boast that it had rendered an important service. But there the regiment was upon a bank of mud ; provisions nearly consumed ; water casks dry ; and the sun doing its duty. There was nothing to be done but wait for the rising of the tide, and, in the mean time, to re- plenish the water casks from the shore. The men were tired and hungry, black with coal dust, and tormented with thirst, but still cheerful, and even merry ; and in the twilight of the Sun- day evening, the strains of religious hymns rose from groups who, on the Sunday before sang them in the choirs of village churches at home. The officers, as they champed their biscuit, and cut their pork with pocket knives, laughingly alluded to the superb breakfast given them on the morning of their departure from Philadelphia by Paran Stephens at the Continental. Mr. Stephens, a son of Massachusetts, had employed all the resources of his house in giving his countrymen a parting meah The sudden plunge from luxury brought to the perfection of one of the fine arts, to army rations, scant in quantity, ih-cooked, and a short allowance of warm water, was the constant theme of jocular comparison on board tlie Maryland. It was a well-worn joke to call for delicate and ludicrously impos- sible dishes, which were remembered as figuring in the Continental's bill of fare ; the demand being gravely answered by the allowance of a biscuit, an inch of salt pork, and a tin cup half full of water. General Butler improved the opportunity of going on shore. He met Governor Hicks and the mayor of Annapolis, who again urged him not to think of landing. All Maryland, they said, was on the point of rushing to arms; the railroad was impassable, and guarded by armed men ; terrible things could not fail to happen, if the troops attempted to reach Wash- ington. " 1 mtist land " s.aid the general; "my men are hungry. I could not even leave without getting a supply of provisions." They declared that no one in Annapolis would sell him anything. To which the general replied that he hoped better things of the people of Annapolis ; but, in any case, a regiment of hun- gry soldiers were not limited to the single meth- od of procuring supplies usually practiced in time of peace. There were modes of getting food other than the simple plan of purchase. Go to Washington he must and should, with or without the assistance of the people of Anna- polis. The governor still refused his consent, and, the next day, put his refusal into writing; "protesting against the movement, which, in the excited condition of the people of this state, I can not but consider an unwise step on the part of the government. But," he added, "I must earnestly urge upon you, that there shall be no 22 Ax^NAPOLIS. halt made by the troops in tliis citj." No bait? Seven hundred and twenty-four foniishing men, with a march of thirty miles before them, were expected to pass by a city abounding in provis- ions, and not halt! Great is Buncombe 1 Another night was passed on board the Mary- land. Tlie dawn of Monday morning brought with it a strange apparition — a steamer approach- ing from tlie sea, crammed with troops, tlieir arms soon glittering in the rays of the rising sun. Who could tlioy be? They cheered the stars and stripes waving from the mast of tlie rescued Constitution ; so tliey were not enemies, at least. The steamer proved to bo the Boston, with the Now York Seventh on board, tliirty-six hours from Pliiladclphia. They had steamed to- ward the mouth of the Potomac, but, on speak- ing the liglit-sliips, wore repeatedly told that the secessionists had stationed batteries of artillery on the banks of the river, for the purpose of pre- venting the ascent of troops. There was no truth in the story, but it seemed probable enough at that mad time ; and, therefore, Colonel Leflerts, after the usual consultation, deemed it most pru- dent to change his course, and try General But- ler's road to the capital ; the regiment by no means relishing the change. Tlie two regiments exchanged vigorous volleys of cheers, and pre- f)arations were soon made for getting the Mary- and afloat. General Butler, counting now upon Colonel Leftert's hearty co-operation, issued to his own troops a cheering order of the day. The Maryland could not be floated. The men threw overboard coal and crates, and all heavy articles that could be spared. The Boston tugged her strongest. The Eighth ran in masses from side to side, and from end to end. After many hours of strenuous exertion, the men suftering extremely from thirst and hunger, the general himself not tasting a drop of liquid for twelve hours, the attempt was given up, and it was resolved that the Boston should land the Seventh at the grounds of the Naval Academy, and then convey to the same place the Massa- chusetts Eighth. Desirous not to seem wanting in courtesy to a sovereign state. General Butler now sent to Governor Hicks, a formal written request for permission to land. The answer being delayed and his men almost fainting for water, ho then dispatched a respectful note announcing his in- tention to land forthwith. It was to these notes that Governor Hicks sent the reply, already quoted, protesting against the landing, and urging that no halt be made at Annapolis. In the course of the afiornoon, both regiments were safely landed at the academy grounds, and and tlie Seventh hastened to share all they had of provender and drink with their new friends. The men of the two regiments fraternized imme- diaiely and completely ; nothing occurred, during the laborious days and nights that followed, to disturb, for an instant, the perfect harmony that reigned between them. The only contest was, which should do most to help, and cheer, and relieve the other. I regret to be obliged to state that this pleas- ant state of aflairs did not extend at all times, to the powers controlling the two regiments. An obstacle, little expected, now arose in General Butler's path. i From the moment when the Seventh had en- tered the grounds of the naval school, systematic attempts appear to have been made to alarm Colonel Leflerts for the safety of his command. Messengers came in with reports that the acad- emy was surrounded with rebel troops ; and even the loyal middies could testify, that during that very day, a force of Maryland militia had been drilling in the town itself True, this force consisted of only one company of infantry and one of cavalry; but probably the exact truth was not known to Colonel Leffert's informants. Certain it is, that he was made to believe that formidable bodies of armed men only waited the issue of the regiments from the gates of the wall- ed inclosure in which they were, to give them battle, if, indeed, the inclosure itself was safe from attack. Accordingly ho posted strong guards at the gates, and ordered that no soldier should bo allowed to pass out. Nor were his apprehensions allayed when a Tribune reporter, who, accompanied by two friends, had strolled all over the town unmolested, brought back word that no enemy was in sight, and that the store- keepers of Annapolis were perfectly civil and willing to sell their goods to Union soldiers. Colonel Lefferts was assured that the hostile troops were purposely keeping out of sight, t9 fall upon the regiment where it could fight only at a fiatal disadvantage. Consequently, he determined not to march with General Butler. He placed his refusal in writing, in the following words : — " Annapolis Acadkmy, "Monday Night, April 22d, 1861. " General B. F. Butler, Commanding Massa- chusetts Volunteers. "Sir: — Upon consultation with my offjcora, I do not deem it proper, under the circumstances, to co-operate in the proposed march by railroad, laying track as we go along — particularly in view of a large force hourly expected, and with so little ammunition as wo possess. I must bo governed by- my ofBcers in a matter of so much importance. I have directed this to be handed to you upon your return from the transport ship. " I am, sir, yours respectfully, Marshall Lefferts." It was handed to the general on his return from the lran.sport ship. He sought an interview witli Colonel Leflerts, and endeavoured to change his resolve. Vain were arguments; vain re- monstrance ; vain the biting taunt. Colonel Leflerts still refused to go. General Butler then said he would go alone, he and his regiment, and proceeded forthwith to prepare for their departure. He instantly ordered two companies of the Massachusetts Eighth to march out of the walled grounds of tho academy, and seize the railroad depot and storehouse. With tho two companies, he marched himself to the depot, and took possession of it without opposition. At the storehouse, one man opposed ihem, the keeper in charge. " What is inside this building ?" asked tho general. "Nothing," replied the man. " Give me the key." "I hav'nt got it." "Where is it?" " I don't know." " Boys, can you force those gates?" AKNAPOLIS. 23 The bo3'S expressed an abundant willingness to try. " Try then." They tried. The gates yielded and flew open. A small, rust}', damaged locomotive was found to be the •' nothing," whicli the building held. " Docs any one here know anything about this machine ?" Charles Homans, a private of company E, eyed the engine for a moment, and said: " Our shop made that engine, general. I guess I can put her in order and run her." "Go to work, and do it." Charles Homans picked out a man or two to help, and began, at once, to obey the order. Leaving a strong guard at the depot, the gen- eral viewed the track, and ascertained that the rails hud, indeed, been torn up, and thrown aside, or carelessly hidden. Returning to the regiment, he ordered a muster of men accus- tomed to track-laying; who, with the dawn of the next day, should begin to repair the road. At sunset that evening, the Seventh regiment, to the delight of a concourse of midshipmen and other spectators, performed a brilliant evening parade, to the music of a full band. Two members of this regiment (many more than two, but two especially), preferred the work that General Butler was doing, and implored him to give them an humble share in it. One of them was Schuyler Hamilton, grandson of one of the men whose name he bore, and great- grandson of the other ; since distinguished in the war, and now General Hamilton. The other was Theodore Winthrop. General Butler found a place on his staff for Schuyler Hamilton, who rendered services of tlie utmost value; he was wise in counsel, valiant and prompt to execute. To Winthrop the general said : " Serve out your time in your own regiment. Then come to me, wherever I am, and I will find something for you to do." Happilj', a change came over the minds of the officers of the Seventh the next morning. As late as tiiree o'clock at night. Colonel Lefferts was still resolved to remain at Annapolis ; for, at that hour, he sent off a messenger, in an open boat, for New York, bearing dispatches asking for reinforcements and supplies. He informed the messenger that he had certain information of the presence of four rebel regiments at the Junction, where the grand attack was to bo made upon the passing troops. But when the day dawned, and the cheering sun rose, and it became clear that the Massachusetts men at the depot had not been massacred, and were cer- tainly going to attempt the march, then the officers of the Seventh came into General Butler's scheme, and agreed to join their brethren of Massachusetts. From that time forward, there was no hanging back. Both regiments worked vigorousl}' in concert — Winthrop foremost among the foremost, all ardor, energy and merriment. Campaigning was an old story to him, who had roamed the world over in quest of adventure; "and few men, of the thousands who were then rushing to the war, felt the greatness and the holiness of the cause as he felt it. Before leaving home, he had solemnly given his life to it, and, in so doing, tasted, for the first time, perhaps, a joy that satisfied him. It would be unfair to cei.aiire Colonel Lefferts for his excessive prudence. He really believed the stories told him of tlio resistance he was to meet on the way. Granting that those tales were true, his course was, perhaps, correct. The general had one great advantage over him in the nature of his professional training. General Butler is one of the most vigorous and skillful cross-questioners in New England, in other words, he had spent twenty years of his life in detecting the true from the plausible ; in dragging up half-drowned Truth, by her dripjaiug locks, from the bottom of her well. Such practice gives a man at last a kind of intuitive power of detecting falsehood ; he acquires a habit of balancing probabilities; he scents a lie from afar. Doubtless, he believed their march might be opposed at some favorable point ; but, probably, he had too a tolerable certainty that slow, indo- lent, divided Maryland, could not. or would not, on such short notice, assemble a force on the line of railway, capable of stopping a Massacimsetts regiment bound to Washington on a legitimate errand. He had had, at Havre de Grace, a striking instance of tho difference between truth and rumor, and his whole life had been full of such experiences. Colonel Lefl'erts, as a New York merchant, had passed his life among people who generally speak the truth, and keep their word. He was unprepared to believe that a dozen people could come to him, all telling sub- stantially the same story, many of them believing what they told, and yet all uttering falsehoods. Tuesday was a busy daj"- of preparation for the march. Rails were hunted up and laid. Parties were pushed out in many directions but found no armed enemies. Lieutenant-Colonel Hinks, with two companies of the Massachusetts Eighth, advanced along the railroad three miles and a half, without meeting the slightest appear- ance of opposition. Soldiers strolled about the town, and discovered that the grimmest seces- sionist was not unwilling to exchange such com- modities as he had for coin of the United States, Negroes gave furtive signs of good will, and produced baskets of cakes for sale. Madame Rumor was extremely diligent; there were bodies of cavalry here, and batteries of artillery there, and gangs of " Plug Uglies" coining from territJle Baltimore. The soldiers worked away, unmolested by anything more formidable than vague threats of coining vengeance. A startling rumor prevailed in the morning that the negroes in tlie vicinity of Annapolis were about to rise against their masters, and do something in the St. Domingo style — as per general expectation. The commanding general' thought it proper to address to Governor Hicks the letter which became rather famous in those days : " I have understood within the last hour that some apprehension is entertained of an insurrec- tion of the negro population of this neighbor- hood. I am anxious to convince all classes of persons that the forces under ray command are not here in any way to interfere, or countenance an interference, with tho laws of the state. I, therefore, am ready to co-operate with your ex- cellency in suppressing most promptly and effi- cieutl)' any insurrection against tho laws of tho state of Maryland. I beg, therefore, that yon announce publicly, that any portion of the forces under my command is at your excellency's dis- 24 ANNAPOLIS. posal, to act immcdiatoly for the preservation of the peace of this cominuuity." The governor gave ininiediato publicity to this letter, and it is said to have had a remarkable effect in quieting the apprehensions of the people. Many who had llud from their homes returned to them, and gave aid and comfort to the troop.s. Early the next morning, the troops were in motion. It was a bright, warm spring day, the sun gleaming along the lino of bayonets, tlie groves vocal with birds, the air fragrant with blo.ssoms. The engine driven by Charles Homans, — a soldier with lixod bayonet on each side of him, — came and went panting through the lino of marching troops. As the sun climbed toward the zenith, the morning breeze died away, and the air in the deeper cuttings became suflbcating- ly warm. The working parties, more used to Buch a temperature, plied the sledge and the crow- bar uuflaggiugly, but the daintier New Yorkers reeled under their heavy knapsacks, and were glad, at length, to leave them to the charge of Homans. With all their toil, the regiments could only advance at the rate of a mile an honr, for the further they went, the more complete was the destruction of the road. Bridges had to be repaired, as well as rails replaced. A sliower in the afternoon gave all parties a welcome drench- ing, and left the atmosphere cool and bracing; but when night closed in, and the moon rose, they were still many miles from the Junction. In the afternoon of the day following, the Seventh marched by the Wlute House, and saluted the President of the United States. Not an armed foe had been seen by them on the way. It had been General Butler's intention to ac- company the troops to Washington ; but before they had started the steamer Baltic arrived, loaded with troops from New York, giving abun- dant employment to the general and his extem- porized stalf. Before they had been disposed ot; other vessels arrived, and, on the day following, came an order from General Scott, directing General Butler to remain at Annapolis, hold the town and the road, and superintend the passage of the troops. Before the week ended, the " de- partment at Annapolis," embracing the country lying twenty miles on each side of the railroad, was created, and Brigadier-General Butler placed in command ; witii ample powers, extending oven to the su.spension of habeas corpus, and the bombardment of Annapolis, if such extreme measures should be necessary for the mainte- nance of the supremacy of the United States. During the next ten days, General Butler's unequaled talent for the dispatch of business, and his unequaled powers of endurance, were taxed to the uttermost Troops arrived, thou- sands in a day. The harbor was lilled with transports. Every traveler from North or South was personally examined, and his passport in- dorsed hj'- the general in command. Spies were arrested. The legislature of Maryland was closely watched, and no secret was made of General Butler's intention to arrest the entire majority if an ordinance of secession was passed. It was uot known to that body, I presume, that one of tlioir olBcers had consigned to General Butler's custody the Great Seal of the Commonwealtli, without which no act of theirs could acquire the validitv of law. Such was the fact, however. In tho total inexperience of commanding ofBcera, every detail of the disembarkation, of the en- campments, of the supply, and of the march, re- quired tho supervision of the general. From daylight until midnight he labored, keeping chaos at bay. One night as the clock was striking twelve, when the general, after herculean toils, had cleared his office of the last bewildered ap- plicant for advice or orders, and he was about to trudge wearily to bed, an anxious-looking corre- spondent of a newspaper came in. " General," said he, "where am I to sleep to- night ?" This was, really, too much. "Sir," said the tired commander of the Depart- ment of Annapolis, " I have done to-day about everything that a man ever did in this world. But I am not going to turn chambermaid, by Jove !" And, so saying, he escaped from the room. We need uot linger at Anna])olis. General Butler's services there were duly appreciated by the president, the lieutenant-general. Governor Andrew, and the country. One act alone o. his ehcited any sign of disapproval : it was his offer of tho troops to aid in suppressing any imaginary insurrection of the slaves. General Butler, however, ably justified his course in a letter to the Governor of Massachusetts. We all remember how universal the expec- tation was, at the beginning of the war, that the negroes would everywhere embrace the op- portunity to rise upon their masters, and com- mit frightful outrages. That expectation grow out of our general ignorance of the character and feelings of the southern negro; and none of us were so ignorant upon these points as hunker democrats. If they had some acquaintance with slaveholders, they knew notliing about slavery, because they would know nothing. It is a pro- pensity of tlio human mind, to put away from itself unwelcome truths. American democrats, I repeat, know nothing of American slavery. It was pleasant and convenient lor them to think, that 'Ar. Wendell Phillips, Mr. Garrison, Mrs. Stowe, and Mr. Sumner, were persons of a fanatical cast of character, whose calm and very moderate exhibitiLfus of slavery were totally beneath consideration — distorted, exaggerated, incredible. It was with the most sincere astonishment, that General Butler anil his hunker staff discovered, when tiiey stood face to face with slavery, and were obliged to ad- minister the law of it, and tried to do justice to the black man as well as to the white, that the worst delineations of slavery ever presented to the public fell far sliurt of tho tmimaginable truth.* They were ready to confess tiieir ig- norance of that of whicii they had been hearmg and reading all their lives, and that this ' patri- archal instdution,' for which some of them had pleaded or apologi/jed, was simply the most hell- ish thing that ever was in this world. *"On reading Mrs. Stowe's book, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' I tlioiiglit it to be an overdrawn, highly wrouf^ht picture of southei-u life ; but 1 have seen with iny own eyes, and heard willi my own ear.s, many things which go beyond her boolc, as much as her book doe's' beyond an ordinary Kchool-jjirl's uovaV'—Spe^rA of General lluUer l, he had committed it; for he had not even the empty excuse of the passage of an ordinance of secession by the legislature of his state. General Butler will interpret his or- ders with exact literalness, if this hoary-headed traitor falls into his hands, while he remains in command of the department of Annapolis, includ- ing the city of Baltimore. About six o'clock in the evening, the long train, with its nine hundred men, the artillery and the horses, backed slowly past the Relay House again, and continued backing until it reached the depot at Baltimore. A thunder storm of singular character, extra- ordinary both for its violence and its extent, hung over the city, black as midnight. It was nearly dark when the train arrived. No rain had yet fallen ; but the whole city was soon en- veloped in rushing clouds of dust. Flashes of lightning, vivid, incessant — peals of thunder, loud and continuous, gave warning of the com- ing deluge. The depot was nearly deserted, and scarcely any one was in the streets. By the time the troops were formed, it had become dark, except when the flashes of lightning illu- mined the scene, as if with a thousand Drum- niond lamps. This continuous change, from a blinding glare of light to darkness the most complet,e, was so bewildering, that if the gen- eral had not had a guide familiar with the city, he could scarcely have advanced from the dep6t. This guide was Mr. Robert Hare of Philadelphia, son of the celebrated chemist, who, after ren- dering valuable services to the general else- where, had joined him at the Relay House, and now volunteered to pilot him to Federal Hill. The word was given, and the troops silently emerged from the depot ; the general, Mr. Hare, and the statl' in the advance. The orders were, for no man to speak a needless word ; no drums to beat ; and if a shot was fired from a house, halt, arrest every inmate, and destroy the house, leaving not one brick upon another. When the line had cleared the depot, the storm burst. Such torrents of rain! Such a ceaseless blaze of lightning 1 Such crashes and volleys of thunder 1 At one moment the long line of bayonets, the ranks of firm white faces, the burnished cannon, the horses and their riders, the signs upon the houses, and every minutest object, would flash out of the gloom with a distinctness inconceivable. The next, a pall of blackest darkness would drop upon the scene. Not a countenance appeared in any window; for, so incessant was the thunder that the tramp of horses, the tread of men, the rumble of the cannon, were not heard ; or if heard for a moment, not distinguished from the multitudinous noises of the storm. As the gen- eral and his staff gained the summit of Federal Hill, which rises abruptly from the midst of the town, and turned to look back upon the troops winding up the steep ascent, a flash of uu- equaled briUiancy gave such startling splendor to the scene, that an exclamation of wonder and delight broke from every lip. The troops were formed upon the summit, the cannon were planted, and Baltimore was their own. Except a shanty or two, used in peaceful times as a lager-beer garden, there was no shel- ter on the hill. The men had to stand still in the pouring rain, with what patience they could. When the storm abated, scouts were sent out, who ferreted out a wood-yard, from which thirty cords of wood were brought ; and soon the top of the hill presented a cheerful scene and picturesque ; arms stacked and groups of steaming soldiers standing around fifty blazing fires, each man revolving irregularly on his axij, trying to get himself and his blanket dry. General Butler established his head-quarters 28 BALTIMORE. in the Gorman slianty. An officer, who had been scouting;, Ciimc to him there in consider- able excitement, and said: " I am informed, general, that this hill is mined, and that wc arc all to bo blown up." "Get a lantern,'' replied the general, "and you and I will walk round the base of the hill, and see." They found, indeed, deep cavities in the side of the hill, but these proved to be places whence sand had been dug for building. After a tho- rough examination, the general said : "I don't think we shall bo blown up; but if we are, there is one comfort, it will dry us all." Returning to his shanty. General Butler, still as wet as water could make him, set about pre- paring his proclamation. At half-past eight in the morning, he received a note from the mayor, which showed how com- pletely liis movements had been concealed by the storm. The note had been written during the previous evening. " I have just been informed," wrote the mayor, " tiiat you have arrived at the Camden Station with a large body of troops under your command. As the sudden arrival of a force will create much surprise in the community, I beg to be informed whether you propose that it shall remain at the Camden Station, so that the police may be notified, and proper precautions may be taken to prevent any disturbance of the peace." The mayor had not long to wait for informa- tion. An extra CVq-ijitr of the morning, con- taining General Butler's proclamation, advised all Baltimore of his intentions, which simplj^ were to maintain intact the constitutional au- thority of the government of the United States against traitors, armed and unarmed. Not tlio slightest disturbance of the peace occurred. The suggestions and requests of the general were observed. There was plenty of private growling, and some small, furtive exhi- bitions of disgust, but nothing that could be called opposition. Contraband gunpowder, pikes, arms and provisions were seized. The Union flag was hoisted upon buildings belong- ing to the United States, and the flag of treason nowhere appeared. The camp equipage of the troops was brought in, and camps were formed upon the hill. J^^arJy in the afternoon, General Butler and his stalf mounted their horses, and rode leisurely through the streets to the Gilmore house, where they dismounted, and strolled into the dining room and dined; after which they remounted, and enjoyed a longer ride in the streets, meeting no molestation, exciting much muttered remark. General Butler does not mount a horse quite in the style of a London guardsman. In mounting before the Gilmore house, across a wide gutter, he had some little difficulty in bestriding his horse, which, a pass- ing traitor observing, gave rise to the report, promptly conveyed to Washington, that the general was drunk that day, in the streets of Baltimore. Such a misfortune is it to have Bhort legs, witii a gutter and a horse to get over. From that time, the soldiers, in twos and threes, walked freely about the city, ex- hilarated, now and then, by a little half-sup- pressed vituperation from men, and a ludicrous display of petulance on the part of lovely woman. Often they were stopped in the streets by Union men, who shook them warmly by the hand and thanked them for coming to their de- liverance. There is a limit to the endurance of man. General Butler performed that day, one of his day's work. At night, exhausted to an ex- treme, for ho had not lain down in forty hours, and racked with headache, ho ventured to go to bed; leaving orders, however, that he was to be instantly notified if anything extraordinary oc- curred. It perversely happened that many ex- traordinary things did occur that night. Some important seizures were made ; some valuable information was brought in; many plausible rumors gained a hearing; and, consequently, the general was disturbed about every half hour during the night. He rose in the morning un- refreshed, feverish, almost sick. His feelings may be imagined, when, at half-past eight, he received the following dispatch from the lieu- tenant-general, dated May 14th: "Sir, — Your hazardous occupation of Balti- more was made witiiout my knowledge, and, of course, without my approbation. It is a God- send, that it was witiiout conflict of arms. It is, also, reported, that you have sent a detach- ment to Frederick ; but this is impossible. Not a word have I received from you as to either movement. Let me hear from you." This epistle was not precisely what General Butler thought was due to an otficer who, with nine hundred men, had done what General Scott was preparing to do with twelve thousand. It was a damper. It looked like a rebuke for doing his duty too well. The sick general took it much to heart; not for his own sake merely; he could not but augur ill of the conduct of the war if a neat and trium[)hant little audacity, hke his march into Baltimore, was to be rewarded with an immediate snub from head-quarters. Being only a militia brigadier, he did not clearly see how a war was to be carried on without incurring some slight risk, now and then, of a conflict of arms. But there was little time for meditation. There were duties to be done. For one item, he had Ross Winans a prisoner in Fort Mc- Henry ; his pikes and steain-gun being also in safe custody, with other evidences of his treason. He was preparing to try Mr. Winans by court- martial, and telegraphed to Mr. Cameron, asking him not to interfere, at least not to release him, until General Butler could go to Washington and explain the turpitude of his guilt. It was, and is, tiie general's opinion, that the summary execution of a traitor worth fifteen millions, would have been an exhibition of moral strength on the part of the govenmient, such as the times required. His guilt was beyond question. If there is, or can be, such a crime as treason against the United States, this man had committed it, not in language only, but in overt acts, numerous and aggravated. Mr. Seward, I need scarcely say, took a dillerent view of the matter. Winans was released. Why his pikes and his steam-gun were not returned to him docs not appear. A few montlis after, it was found necessary to place him again in confinement. Nothing would appease General Scott short of the recall of General Butler from Baltimore, and BALTIMORE. 29 the withdrawal of the troops from Federal Tlill. General Butler was recalled, and General Cad- wallader ruled in his stead. The troops were temporarily removed, and General Butler re- turned to Washington. That the president did not concur with the rebuke of General Scott, was shown by hi^ iminediatel}' otTering General Butler a conimis- aioQ as major-general, and the command of Fortress Monroe. Tliat the secretary of war did not concur with it, I infer from a passage of one of his letters from St. Petersburgh. " I always said," wrote Mr. Cameron, "that if you had been left at Baltimore, the rebellion would have been of short duration;" a remark, the full sig- nificance of which may, one day become apparent to the American people. I believe I may say without improperly using the papers before me, that more tlian one member of the cabinet held the opinion, that General Butler's recall from Baltimore was solely due to his frustration of the sublime strategic scheme of taking that city by the simultaneous advance of four columns of three thousand men each. The people made known their opinion of Gen- eral Butler's conduct in all the usual ways. On the evening of his arrival in Washington, he was serenaded, and abundantly cheered. His little speech on this occasion was a great hit. The remarkable feature of it was, that it expressed, without exaggeration, as without suppression, his habitual feeling respecting the war into which the nation was groping its way. He talked to the crowd just as he had often talked, and talks to a knot of private friends: "Fellow-Citizens: — Your cheers for the old commonwealth of Massachusetts are rightly bestowed. Foremost in the ranks of those who fought for the liberty of the country in the revo- lution were the men of Massachusetts. It is a historical fact, to which I take pride in now referring, that in the revolution, Massachusetts sent more men south of Mason and Dixon's line to fight for the cause of the country, than all the southern colonies put together ; and in this second war, if war must cozne, to proclaim the Declaration of Independence anew, and as a necessary consequence, establish the Union and the constitution, Massachusetts will give, if ne- cessary, every man iu her borders, ay, and woman! [Cheers.] I trust I may be excused for speaking thus of Massachusetts ; but I am confident there are many within the sound of my voice whose hearts beat with proud memories of the old commonwealth. There is this dilierence, I will say, between our southern brothers and ourselves, that while we love our state with the true love of a son, we love the Union and the country with an equal devotion. [Loud and prolonged applause.] We place no 'state rights' before, above, and beyond the Union. [Cheers.] To us our country is first, because it is our coun- try [three cheers], and our state is next and second, because she is a part of our country and our state. [Renewed applause.] Our oath of allegiance to our country, and our oath of alle- giance to our state, are interwreathed harmoni- ously, and never come in conflict nor clash. He who does his duty to the Union, does his duty to the state ; and he who does his duty to the state does his duty to the Union — ' one insep- arable, now and for ever.' [Renewed applause.] As I look upon this demonstration of yours, I believe it to be prompted by a love of the com- mon cause, and our common country — a country so great and good, a government so kind, so be- neficent, that the hand from which we have only felt kindness, is now for the fir.st time raised in chastisement. [Applause.] Many things in a man's life may ba worse than death. So, to a government there may be many things, such as dishonor and disintegration, worse than the shedding of blood. [Cheers.] Our fathers pur- chased our liberty and country for us at an immense cost of treasure and blood, and by the bright heavens above us, we will not part with them without first paying the original debt, and the interest to this date 1 [Loud cheers.] We have in our veins the same blood as they shed ,' we have the same power of endurance, the same love of liberty and law. We will hold as a brother him who stands by the Union ; we wiU hold as an enemy him who would strike from its constellation a single star. [Applause.] But, I hear some one say, ' Sliall we carry on this fratricidal war? Shall we shed our brothers' blood, and meet in arms our brothers in the South ?' I would say. As our fathers did not hesitate to strike the mother country in the de- fense of our rights, so we should not hesitate to meet the brother as they did the mother.' If this unholy, this fratricidal war, is forced upon us, I say, ' Woe, woe to them who have made the necessity. Our hands are clean, our hearts are pure; but the Union must be preserved [intense cheering. When silence was restored, ho con- tinued] at all hazard of money, and, if need be, of every life this side of the arctic regions, [Cheers.] If the 25,000 northern soldiers who are here, are cut off, in six; weeks 50,000 will take their place ; and if they die by fever, pes- tilence, or the sword, a quarter of a million will take their place, till our army of the reserve will be women with their broom slicks, to drive every enemy into the gulf. [Cheers and laughter.] I have neither fear nor doubt of the issue. I feel only horror and dismay for those who have made the war. God help theml we are here for our rights, for our country, for our flag. Our faces are set south, and there shall be no footstep backward. [Immense applause.] He is mis- taken who supposes we can be intimidated by tlireats or cajoled by compromise. The day of compromise is past. " The government must be sustained [cheers] ; and when it is sustained, we shall give everybody in the Union their rights under the constitution, as we always have, and everybody outside of the Union the steel of the Union, till they shall come under the Union. [Cheers, and cries of good, go on.'] It is impossible for me to go on speech making ; but if you will go home to your beds, and the government will let me, I wifl go south fighting for the Union, and you will foUow me." — N. Y. Daily Times. A different scene awaited him the next morn- ing in the office of the lieutenant-general, re- specting which it is best to say little. He bore the lecture for half an hour without replying. But General Butler's patience under unworthy treatment is capable of being exhausted. It was exhausted on this occasion. Indeed, the 30 FORTRESS MONROE. spectacle of cumbrous inefficiency which the hcad-quartors of tlie army then presented, and continued long to present, was such as to grieve and alarm every man acquainted with it, who had also an adequnte knowledge of the formid- able task to wliich the country had addressed itself. I am not ashamed to relate, that General Butler, on reaching his apartment, was so deeply moved by what had passed, and by the inler- ences he could but draw by what had passed, that ho burst into hysteric sobs, which he found himself for some minutes, unable to repress. And, what was v/orse, ho had serious thoughts of declining the proferred promotion, and going home to resume his practice at the bar. Not that his zeal had flagged in the cause ; but it seemed doubtful whether, in the circumstances, a man of cnlerpriso and energy would be allowed to do .anything of moment to promote the pause. CHAPTER Y. FORTRESS MONROE. The president had no lecture to bestow upon General Eatler; but, on the contrary, compli- ment and congratulation. He urged him to accept the command of Fortress Monroe, and use the same energy in retaking Norfolk as he had displayed at Annapolis and Baltimore. After a day's consideration, the general said he was will- ing enough to accept the proflered promotion and the command of the fortress, if he could have the means of being useful there. As a base for active operations, Fortress Monroe was good ; he only objected to it as a convenient tomb for a troublesome militia general. Could he have four Massachusetts regiments, two batteries of field artillery, and the other requisites for a successful advance ? Not that Massachusetcs troops were better than others, only he knew them better, and they him. Yes, he could have them, and should, and whatever else he needed for effective action. An active, energetic campaign was pre- cisely tho thing desired and expected of him, and nothing sliould be wanting on the part of tho government to render such a campaign pos- sible. This being understood he joyfully accep- ted the commission and tho command. General Butler's commission as myjor-general dates from May IGtli, two days after his thunderous march into Baltimore. He is now, therefore, in reality, tho senior major-general in the service of the United States. Ou that day, General McClellan and General Banks were still in the pay of tlieir respective railroad companies; General Dix was at home; General Fremont was in Europe, at- tending to his private affairs. May 22d, at eight o'clock in the morning, the guns of the fortress saluted General Butler as the commander of the post; and as soon a^ the ceremonies of his arrival were over, he proceeded to look about him, to learu what it was that had fallen to his share. In tho course of the day, he made great progress in tho pursuit of knowledge. This huge fort was one of the hinges of tho stable-door which was shut after the horse had been stolen, in tho war of 1812. It had nover be;u used for warlike purposes, and had been, usually, garrisoned by a company or two, or three, of regular troops, who paraded and drilled in its wide expanses with listless piinc- tuality, and fished in the surrounding waters, or strolled about the adjacent village. Colonel Dimmick was the commandant of tlie post when the war broke out ; a faitliful, noble-minded offi- cer, who, with his one man to eight yards oi rampart, kept Virginia from clutching tiio prize. Two or threo thousand volunteers had since made their way to the fortress, and wore en- camped on its grounds. General Butler soon discovered that of the many things necessary for the defense of the post, he had a sufficiency of one only, namely, men. There was not one horse belonging to the garrison ; nor one cart nor wagon. Provision barrels had to be rolled from the landing to the fort, three-quarters of a mile. There was no well or spring within the walls of the fortress ; but cisterns only, tilled with rain water, which had given out the summer before when there were but four hundred men at the post. Of ammu- nition, he had but five thousand rounds, less than a round and a half per man of the kind suited to tho greater number of the muskets brought by the volunteers. The fort was getting over- crowded with troops, and more were hourly ex- pected ; he would have nine more regiments in a few days. Room must be found for the new comers outside the walls. He found, too, that he had, in his vicinity, an active, numerous, and in- creasing enemy, who were busy fortityiug points of land opposite or near the fort ; points essential for his purposes. The garrison was, in effect, penned up in the peninsula ; a rebel picket a mile distant ; a rebel flag waving from Hampton Bridge in sight of the fortress ; rebel forces pre- paring to hem in the fortress on every side, as they had done Sumter; rumor, as usual, mag- nifying their numbers tenfold. Colonel Diaamick had been able to seize and hold the actual prop- erty of the government ; no more. Water being the most immediate necessity, General Butler directed his attention, first of all, to securing a more trustworthy supply. Can the artesian well be speedilj' finished, which was begun long ago and then suspended ? It could, thought Colonel de Russy, of the engineers, who, at once, at the general's request, consulted a con- tractor on the subject. Tliere was a spring a mile from the fortress, which furnished 700 gallons a day. Can tho water be conducted to tlie fort- ress by a temporary pipe? It can, reported the colonel of engineers; and the general ordered it to be done. Meanwhile, water from Baltimore, at two cents a gallon. To-morrow, Colonel Phelps, with his Vermontcrs, shall cross to Hampton, reconnoiter the country, and see if there is good camping ground in that direction : for the pine forest suggested by General Scott was reported by Colonel de Hussy to be un- healthy as well as waterless. lu a day or two. Commodore Stringham, urged thereto by General Butler, would have shelled out the rising battery at Sewall's Point, if he had not been suddenly ordered away to the blojkade of Charleston har- bor. Already llio general had an eye upon New- port News, elcvou miles to the south, directly upon one of the roads he meant to take by and by, when the promised means olotteusive warfare arrived. Word was brought that the enemy had FORTRESS MONROE. 31 an eye upon it, too ; and General Butler deter- mined to be there before them. That rolling of barrels from the lauding would never do ; on this first day, the general ordered surveys and esti- mates for a railroad between the wharf and the fortress. The men were eating hard biscuit : ho directed the construction of a new bake-house, that they might have bread. The next day, as every one remembers, Colonel Phelps mado his reconnoissance in Hampton and its vicinity — not without a show of opposition. Upon approaching the bridge over Hampton Creek, Colonel Phelps perceived that the rebels had set fire to the bridge. Rush- ing forward at the double-quick, the men tore off the burning planks and quickly e.xitinguished the fire ; then marching into the village, com- pleted tiieir reconnoissance, and performed some evolutions for the edification of the inhabitants. Colonel Phelps met there several of his old West Point comrades, whom he warned of the inevi- table failure of their bad cause, and advised them to abandon it in time. The general himself was soon on the ground, and took a ride of seven miles in the enemy's country that afternoon, still eager in the pursuit of knowledge. One noticeable thing was reported by the troops on their return. It was, that the negroes, to a man, were the trusting, enthusiastic friends of the Union soldiers. They were all glee and welcome ; and Colonel Phelps and his men were the last people in the world to be backward in responding to their salutations. No one knew bettor than he that in every worthy black man and woman in the South the Union could find a helping friend if it would. By whatever free- masonry it was brought about, the negroes re- ceived the impression, that day, that those Ver- monters and themselves were on the same side. This Colonel Phelps is one of the remarkable figures of tlie war. A tall, loose-jointed, stout- hearted, benignant man of fifty, the soul of hon- esty and goodness. It had been his fortune, before his retirement from the army, to be sta- tioned for many years in the South. For the last thirty years, if any one had desired to test, with the utmost possible severity, a New Eng- lander's manhood and intelligence, the way to do it was to make him an officer of the United States army, and station him in a slave state. If there was any lurking atom of baseness in him, slavery would bo sure to find it out, and work upon it to the corruption of the entire man. If there was even defective intelligence or weak- ness of will, as surely as he continued to live there, he would, at last, be found to have yielded to the seducing influence, and to have lost his moral sense : first enduring, then tolerating, de- fending, applauding, participating. For slavery is of such a nature, that it must either debauch or violently repel the man who is obliged to live long in the hourly contemplation of it. There can be no medium or moderation. No man can hate slavery a little, or like it a little. It must either spoil or madden him if he lives with it long enough. Colonel Phelps stood the test ; but, at the same time, the long dwelling upon wrongs which he could do nothing to redress, the long contemplation of sufferings which he could not stir t-o relieve, impaired, in some degree, the healthiness, the balance of his mind. He seemed, at times, a man of one idea. With such tenderness as his, such quickness and deptli of moral feeling, it is a wonder ho did not go raving mad. When the war began, he was at home upon his farm, a man of wealth for rural Ver- mont; and now ho was at Fortress Monroe, commanding a regiment of three mouths' militia; a very model of a noble, brave, modest, and righteous warrior, full in the belief that the longed-for lime of deliverance had come. It was a strange coming together, this of the Mas- sachusetts democrat and the Vermont abolitionist — both armed in the same cause. General But- ler felt all the worth of his new friend, and they worked together with abundant harmony and good-will. Colonel Phelps's reconnoissance led to the selection of a spot between Hampton and the fort for an encampment. The next day, General Butler went in person to Newport News, and, on the fifth day after taking command of the post, had a competent force at tliat vital point, intrenching and fortifying. Meanwhile, in ex- tensive dispatches to head-quarters, ho had made known to General Scott his situation and his wants. Ho asked for horses, vehicles, ammuni- tion, field-artillery, and a small force of cavalry. Also (for attacks upon the enemy's shore batter- ies), he asked for fifty surf-boats, " of such con- struction as the lieutenant-general caused to be prepared for the landing at Vera Cruz, the effi- ciency and adaptedness of which has passed into history." He asked for the completion of tho artesian well, and the construction of the short railroad. He justified the occupation of New- port News, on the ground that it lay close to the obvious highway, by water, to Richmond, upon which already General Butler had cast a gen- eral's eye. On the evening of the second day after his arrival at , the post, the event occurred which will for over connect the name of General But- ler with the history of the abolition of slavery in America. Colonel Phelps's visit to Hampton had thrown the white inhabitants into such alarm that most of them prepared for flight, and many left their homes that night, never to see them again. In the confusion three negroes escaped, and, making their way across the bridges, gave themselves up to a Union picket, saying that their master. Colonel Mallory, wa,s about to remove them to North Carolina to work upon rebel fortifications there, far away from their wives and children, who were to be left in Hampton. They were brought to the fortress, and the circumstance was reported to the gen- eral in the morning. He questioned each of them separately, and tho truth of their story became manifest. He needed laborers. He was aware that the rebel batteries that were rising around liim were the work chiefly of slaves, without whose assistance they could not have been erected in time to give him trouble. He wished to keep tliese men. Tho garrison wished them kept. The country would have deplored or resented the sending of them away. If they had been Colonel Mallory's horses, or Colonel Mallory's spades, or Colonel Mallory's percussion caps, he would have seized them and used them, without hesitation. Why not property more valuable for the purposes of the rebellion than any other ? He pronounced tho electric words, " These 32 FORTRESS MONROE. men are Contraband of War; set them at work." "An epigram," as Winthrop remarks, "abol- ished slavery in the United Stales." The word took; for it gave the country :in excuse for doing vviiat it was longing to do. Every one remem- bers how relieved the " conservative " portion of the people felt, when they found that the slaves could be used on the side of the Union, without giving Kentucky a new argumont against it, Kentucky at tliat moment controlling the policy of the adrnuiistratiou. " The South," said Wendell Phillips, in a recent speech. " fought to sustain slavery, and tha North fought not to have it hurt. But Butler pronounced the magic word, 'contraband,' and summoned the negro iuto the arena. It was a poor word. I do not know that it is sound law ; but Lord Chatham said, ' nuUus liber Iwmd' is coarse Latin, but it is worth all the classics. Contraband is a bad word, and may bo bad law, but it is worth all the Constitution ; for in a moment of critical emergency it summoned the saving elements into tlie national arena, and it showed the gov- ernment how far the sound fiber of the nation extended." By the time the three negroes were comfort- ably at work upon the new bake-house, General Butler received the following brief epistle, signed, "J. B. Carey, major-acting, Virginia vol- unteers : " " Be pleased to designate some time and place when it will be agreeable to you to accord mo a personal interview." The general complied with the request. In the afternoon two groups of horsemen might have been seen approaching one another on the Hampton road, a mile from the fort. One of these consisted of G-enoral Butler and two of his stafif, Major Fay and Captain Ilaggerty; the other, of Major Carey and two or three friends. Major Carey and Creneral Butler were old politi- cal allies, having acted in concert both at Charleston and at Baltimore — hard-shell demo- crats both. After an exchange of courteous salutations, and tlie introduction of companions, the conference began. The conversation, was, as nearly a.s can be recalled, in these words: Major Carey: "I have sought this interview, sir, for the purpose of ascertaining upon what principles you intend to conduct the war in this neighborhood." The general bowed his willingness to give the information desired. Major Carey: "I ask, first, whether a pas- sage tlirough the blockading fleet will be al- lowed to the families of citizens of Virginia, who may desire to go north or south to a place of safely." General Butler: "The presence of the fam- ilies of belligerents is always the best hostage for their good behavior. One of the objects of the blockade is to prevent the admission of sup- plies of provisions into Virginia, wliile she con- tinues in an attitude hostile to the government. Reducing the number of consumers would ne- cessarily tend to tlie postponement of the object in view. Besides, the passage of vessels through the blockade would involve an amount of labor, in the way of surveillance, to prevent abuse, which it would bo impossible to perform I am under the necessity, therefore, of refusing the privilege." Major Carey: will the passage of families de- siring to go north be permitted ?" General Butler: with the exception of an in- terruption at Baltimore, which has now been dis- l^osed of, the travel of peaceable citizens through the Norlli has not been hindered ; and as to the internal line through Virginia, your friends have, for the present, entire control of it. The au- thorities at Washington can judge better than I upon this point, and travelers can well go that way in reaching the North." Major Carey : I am informed that three ne- groes, belonging to Colonel Mallory, have es- caped witiiin your lines. I am Colonel Mal- lory's agent, and have charge of his property. What do you intend to do with regard to those negroes?" General Butler: I propose to retain them." Major Carey: "Do you moan, then, to set aside your constitutional obligations ?" General Butler : " I mean to abide by the de- cision of Virginia, as expressed in her ordinance of secession, passed the day before yesterday. I am under no constitutional obligations to a foreign country, which Virginia now claims to be." Major Gary : " But you say, we canH secede, and so you can not consistently detain the ne- groes." General Butler: "But 3'ou say you have se- ceded, and so you can not consistently claim them. I shall detain the negroes as contraband of war. You are using them upon your bat- teries. It is merely a question whotlier they shall be used for or against the government. Nevertheless, though I greatly need the labor which has providentially fallen into ray bands, if Colonel Mallory will come into the fort and take the oath of allegiance to the United States, lie shall have his negroes, and I will endeavor to hire them from him." Major Carey : " Colonel Mallory is absent" The interview here terminated, and each party, with polite fareweU, went its way. This was on Friday, May 24. On Sunday morning, eight more negroes came in, and were received. On Monday morning, forty-seven more, of all ages; men, women, and children; several whole families among them. In the after- noon, twelve men, good field hands, arrived. And they continued to come in daily, in tens, twenties, thirties, till the number of contrabands in the various camps numbered more than nine hundred. A commissioner of negro aSairs was appointed, who taught, fed, and governed them; who reported, after several weeks' experience, that they worked well and cheerfully, requiring no urging, and perfectly comprehended him when ho told them that they were as much entitled to freedom as himselt^ They were gentle, docile, careful and efficient laborers; their demeanor dignified, their conversation al- ways decent. Many strange scenes occurred in connection with this flight of tlio negroes to " Freedom Fort," as they styled it; tor one of which, per- haps, space may be spared here. It gives us a glimpse into one of tiiose ancient Virginia homes suddenly desolated by the war. Major Win- FORTRESS MONROE. throp, I should premise, had now arrived at the fortress. He came just iu tiaie to take the place of miUtary secretary to the general commanding, which had been vacant only a day or two, and was now a happy member of the general's fam- ily, winning his rapid way to all hearts. I mention him here because his comrades re- member how intensely amused he was at the interview about to be described. If he had lived a few days longer than he did, he would probably have told it himself, iu his brief, bright, graphic manner. The office of the general at head-quarters was the place where the scene occurred. Enter, an elderly, grave, church-warden look- ing gentleman, apparently oppressed with care and grief He was recognized as a respectable farmer of the neighborhood, the owner, so called, of thirty or forty negroes, and a farm- house in the dilapidated style of architecture, which might be named the Virginian Order. Advancing to the table he announced his name and business. He said lie had come to ask the officer commanding the post for the return of one of his negroes — only one ; and he proceeded to relate the circumstances upon which he based his modest request. But he told his tale in a manner so measured and woful, revealing such a curious ignorance of any other world than the little circle of ideas and persons in which ho had moved all his life, with such naive and comic simplicity, that the hearers found it impossible to take a serious view of his really lamentable situation. He proceeded in something like these words: — " I have always treated my negroes kindly. I supposed they loved me. Last Sunday, I went to church. "When I returned from church, and entered into my house, I called Mary to take off my coat and hang it up. But Mary did not come. And again I called Mary in a louder voice, but I received no answer. Then I went into the room to find Mary, but I found her not. There was no one in the room. I went into the kitchen. There was no one in the kitchen. I went into the garden. There was no one in the garden. I went to the negro quarters. There was no one at the negro quarters. All my ne- groes had departed, sir, while I was at the house of God. Then I went back again into my house. And soon there came to me James, who has been my body-servant for many years. And I said to James ; " ' James, what has happened ?' " And James said, ' All the people have gone to the fort.' " ' "While I was gone to the house of God, James ?' " And Jamea said, ' Yes, master, they're all gone.' " And I said to James, ' why didn't you go too, James ?' " And James said, ' Master, I'll never leave you.' " ' "Well James,' said I, ' as there's nobody to cook, see if you can get me some cold victuals and some whisky.' " So James got me some cold victuals, and I ate them with a heavy heart. And when I had eaten, I said to James ; " ' James, it is of no use for us to stay here. Let us go to your mistress.' " His mistress, sir, had gone away from her home, eleven miles, fleeing from the dangers of the war. " 'And, so, James,' said I, 'harness the best horse to the cart, and put into the cart our best bed, and some bacon, and some corn meal, and, James, some whisky, and wo will go unto your mistress.' "And James did even as I told him, and some few necessaries besides. And we started. It was a heavy load for the horse. I trudged along on foot, and James led the horse. It was late at night, sir, when we arrived, and I said to James : " ' James, it is of no use to unload the cart to- night. Put the horse into the barn, and unload the cart in the morning.' " And James said, ' Yes, master.' " I met my wife, sir ; I embraced her, and went to bed ; and, notwithstanding my troubles, I slept soundly. The nest morning, James ivas gone ! Then I came here, and the first thing I saw, when I got here, was James peddling cab- bages to your men out of that very cart." Up to this point, the listeners had managed to keep their countenances under tolerable control. But the climax to the story was drawled out in a manner so lugubriously comic, that neither the general nor the staff could longer conceal their laughter. The poor old gentleman, uncon- scious of any but the serious aspects of his case, gave them one sad, reproachful look, and left the fort without uttering another word. He had fallen upon evil times. General Butler, meanwhile, had been studying the country around him. His dispatches to head-quarters teem with evidence that inex- perienced as he was iu the business of waging war, he comprehended the advantages and op- portunities of his position. The uppermost thought in his mind was, that the way to Rich- mond was by the James river — not through the mazes of Manassas and the wilderness beyond. "What he meant was this : Begin the war herk. Strike at Richmond from this point. Sever Virginia from the South, by darting hence upon her railroad centers. Make war where your navy can co-operate. Use the means which God and nature have given you, and which Colonel Dimmick preserved. Don't sit there in "Washington, puttering upon forts and defenses, listening anxiously to the roar from the North, " On to Richmond ;" but give the enemy something to do elsewhere, far away from your capital and your sacred things, yet made near to you by your command of the sea. General Butler's plans might not have been completely successful ; but if they had been adopted we should have had no Bull Run ; and perhap.?, no Merrimac — the true cause of the failure of the peninsular campaign. Other dis- asters we might have suffered, but surely nothing so bad as Bull Run and the Merrimac, the most costly calamities that ever befell a country. General Scott, intent solely on the defense of "Washington, replied so vaguely to our gen- eral's eager and frequent dispatches' that he could scarcely tell whether his plans were ap- proved or disapproved. If, however, the words ol the commander-in-chief were equivocal, his con- duct was not. No horses were sent, nor battery 34 GREAT BETHEL. of field artillery, nor vehicles, nor cavalry, nor boats. No objection to the railroad, the artesian well, the bake-house, the intrenched camps ; but ■whatever was ueedftil for an advance beyond Jjalf a day's inarch was withheld. Such was the scarcity of horses that the troops were constantly seen drawing wagon loads of supplies. A re- porter writes : " A picture in the drama of the camp has this momeut passed my quarters. It is a gang of tlie Massachusetts boys hauling a huge military wagon, loaded. They have struck up 'The Red, White and Blue.' They believe in it, and consequently render it with true patriotic inspiration. They pause and give three rousing cheers ; and now they dash off like fire- men, wliich they are, shouting and thundering along at a pace that makes the drowsy horses they pass prick up their ears." To supply the most pressing occasions, General Butler had nine horses of his own brought from Lowell, and these were all he had for the public service for more tlian two mouths. Another reporter writes, June 28th : "Among the passengers on board the steamer to the fortress was Colonel Butler, brother of the general, who went to Washington last week to get orders for the purchase of horses, without which not a single step can be made in advance, simply because the forces here are entirely destitute of the means of transpor- tation. He got orders and succeeded in buying one hundred and thirty-five very good horses, mainly in Baltimore, whereupon the government innnediately sent up and took one hundred of them for the artillery service at Washington. This was pretty sharp practice, and gives rise to comment on the inability of the authorities at the capital to see anything but Washington worthy of a moment's thought in connection with the present war." The lamentable affair of Great Bethel occurred while General Butler was waiting for the sup- plies wiiich were requisite for successful op- erations in the field. It happened thus : Tiie forced inaction of General Butler had the effect of making the enemy bolder in approaching his lines. They would send parties from York- town, who would come down within sight of the Union pickets near Hampton, and seize both Union men and negroes, conscripting the former, using the latter on their batteries. Major Wiu- throp, always on the alert, learned from a con- traband, George Scott by name, that the rebels had established themselves at two points between Yorktown and the fort, where they had tlirown up intrenchmcuts, and whence thoy nightly issued, seizing and plundering. George Scott described the localities with perfect correctness, and Winthrop himself, accompanied by George, repeatedly reconnoitered the road leading to them. On one point only was the negro guide mistaken : he thought the rebels were two thou- sand in number ; whereas, when he saw tiiem, five hundred was about their force. They had eleven or twelve hundred men in the two Beth- els ou the day of the action, but not more than five hundred took part in it; the rest having arrived, on a run, from Yorktown while the " battle" was proceeding, and, before they had recovered breath, it was over. Major Winthrop reported to General Butler, who resolved to attempt the capture of the two posts. His orders restricted him to advances of half a day's march. Great Bethel being nine miles distant, might be considered within the hmit. Now, aU was excitement and activity at head- quarters — no one so happy as Winliirop, who threw himself, heart and soul, into the affau*. Tlie first rough plan of the expedition, drawn up in his own hand lies before me; brief, hasty, colloquial, interlined ; resembling the first sketch of an "article "or a story; such as, doubtless, he had often dashed upon paper at Staten Island. PLAN OF ATTACK BT TWO DETACHMENTS UPON THE LITTLE BETHEL AND BIG BETHEL. A regiment or battalion to march from New- port News, and a regiment to march from Camp Hamilton — Buryee's. Each will be supported by sufficient reserves under arms in camp, and with advanced guards out on the road of march. Duryee to push out two pickets at 10 p. m. ; one two and a half miles beyond Hampton, ou the county road, but not so far as to alarm the enemy. This is important. Second picket half as far as the first. Both pickets to keep as much out of sight as possible. No one whatever to bo allowed to pass out through their hues. Persons to be allowed to pass inward toward Hampton — unless it appears that they intend to go roundabout and dodge through to the front. At 12, midnight. Colonel Duryee will march his regiment, with fifteen rounds cartridges, on the county road towards Little Bethel. Scows will be provided to ferry them across Hampton Creek. March to be rapid ; but not hurried. A howitzer with canister and shrapnel to go. A wagon with planks and material to repair the Newmarket Bridge. Duryee to have the 200 rifles. He will pick the men to whom to intrust them. Rocket to be thrown up from Newport News. Notify Commodore Pendergrast of this to prevent general alarm. Newport News movement to be made some- what later, as the distance is less. If we find the enemy and surprise them, men will fire one volley, if desirable ; 7iot reload, and go ahead with the bayonet. As the attack is to be by night, or dusk of morning, and in two detachments, our people should have some token, say a white rag (or a dirty white rag) ou the left arm. Perhaps the detachments who are to do the job should be smaller than a regiment, 300 or 500, as the right and left of the attack would be more easily handled. If we bag the Little Bethel men, push on to Big Bethel, and similarly bag them. Burn both the Bethels, or blow up if brick. To protect our rear in case wo take the field- pieces, and the enemy should march his main body (if he has any) to recover them, it would be well to have a squad of competent artillerists, regular or other, to handle tlie captured guns ou the retirement of our main body. Also spikes lo spike them, if retaken. George Scott to have a shooting-iron. Perhaps Duryee's men would be awkward with a new arm in a night or early dawn attack, where there will be little marksman duty to per- form. Most of the work will be done with the bayonet, and they are already handy with tho old ones. GREAT BETHEL. 35 "George Scott to have a shooting-iron !" So, the first suggestion of arming a black man in this war carao from Theodore Win.tlirop. George Scott, had a shooting-iron. This plan, the joint production of the general and his secretary, was substantially adopted, and orders in accordance therewith, were issued. The command of the expedition was given to Brigadier-General E. "W. P ierce, of Massachu- setts, a brave and good man, totally without military experience except upon parade-grounds on training days. General Butler, as we have before said, was his junior in the militia of Massachusetts, and had been selected by Gov- ernor Andrew to command the first brigade which left the state, over the head of General Pearce, who desired to go. It was by way of atonement to General Pierce for having taken the place which belonged by seniority to him, that General Butler assigned him to the com- mand. The motive was honorable to his feelings as a man. On Boston Common the act would have been highly becoming and quite unobjec- tionable. But, alas I the theater of action was not Boston Common. General Butler has an eye for the man he wants. This was the first time, and the last time, in his military career, that he has selected an of&cer for an independent command, for any other reason but a conviction that he was the best man at hand for the duty to be done. Gen- eral Pierce was a brave and good man ; re- puted then to be such ; since proved to be such; but he was not the best man at hand for the duty to be done. Out of a good citizen you can make a good soldier in four months; but a good ofiBcer is a creature slowly produced. Seven years in peace, one year in war, may do it, but he must have served an apprenticeship, before he is fit to be intrusted with the lives of men and the honor of a countr}-. The day before Bethel, General Butler had the brains of a general, the courage of a general, the toughness of a general, the technical knowledge of a genera! ; but to fit him for independent com- mand, he still needed some such harsh and bitter experience as now awaited him. The day after Bethel, he had made a- prodigious stride in liis military education, for he is a m.an who can take a hint. The whole secret of war was revealed in the flash and thunder, the disaster and shame, of that sorry skirmish. All went well until near the dawn of day, June 10th, when the forces were to form their junction near Little Bethel. There Colonel Ben- dix's regiment saw approaching over the crest of a low hill what seemed, in the magnifying dusk, a body of cavalry. It was Colonel Townsend's regiment which they saw. Knowing that Gen- eral Butler had no cavalry. Colonel Bendix con- cluded, of course, that they were a body of mounted rebels. The fatal order was given to fire, and ten of Colonel Townsend's men fell: two killed and eight wounded. The fire was re- turned in a desultory manner, without loss to the regiment of Colonel Bendix. Of the con- fusion that followed, the double-qiiick counter- marching, the alarm to friends and foes I need not speak. The dawn of day revealed the error, and then the question arose, whether to advance or to return to the fortress. A surprise was no longer possible, and the inhabitants of the coun- try concurred in stating the force of the enemy at four or five thousand, with formidable artil- lery. Colonel Durj'ee had already captured the picket at Little Bethel. The enemy, therefore, fully warned, must be concentrated at Great Bethel. Major Winthrop and Lieutenant But- ler, both of the commanding general's staff, united in most earnestly advising an advance, and General Pierce gave no reluctant assent. He had sent back for reinforcements which were soon on the march to join him. At half past nine, he had arrived within a mile of the enemy, with two regiments and four pieces of cannon of small caliber, one of which was the gun of Lieutenant Greble of the regular artillery. Two other regiments were approach- ing. The ground may be roughly described thus : An oblong piece of open country, sur- rounded on three sides by woods, General Pierce entering at the end where there was no wood. The enemj^'s position was near the upper end, but behind a strip of wood which concealed it. It was, in some slight degree, protected in front by a creek twelve feet wide and three deep. Their battery consisted oifour pieces of field ar- tillery, one of which becoming disabled through the disarrangement of the trigger-apparatus, was useless. The earthworks, hastily thrown up in front of the gims, added scarcely any strength to the position, for they were less than thrive feet high on the outside. A boy ten years old could have leaped over them ; a boy ten years old could have waded the creek. The breastworks were, in fact, so low that the wheels of the ene- my's guns were embedded in the earth, in order to get the carriages low enough to be protected. These facts I learn from a Union officer of high rank, who afterward, became familiar with the ground. Behind these trivial works were five hundred rebel troops, who were re-enforced while the action was going on with six hundred more from Torktown, thoroughly blown with running. This was the real strength of the ene- my, whom General Pierce firmly believed to consist of four or five thousand troops strongly posted, and well supplied with artillery. General Pierce and his command then stood at half-past nine, on the high road leading from Hampton to Yorktown, a mile from the enemy, whoso battery commanded the road. That bat- tery was so placed that it could have been ap- proached within fifty yards without the attack- ing party leaving the woods. Nor was there any serious obstacle to turning it either on the right or on the left. This not being immediately perceived, Colonel Duryee and Lieutenant Greble marched along the high road into the enemy's fire, and soon the cannon balls began to play over their heads, falling far to the rear. The men gave three cheers and kept on their w^ay. Soon, however, the enemy fired better, and some men were struck ; not many, for the total loss of Colonel Duryee's regiment that day was four killed, and twelve wounded. To these troops, in their inexperience, it seemed that work of this kind could not be down in the programme. They also received the impression tliat the en- emy's three pieces of cannon were thirty at least, and that, upon the whole, this was not the right road to the battery. So they sidled off into the woods, and there remained waiting for some one to tell them what to do next. Greble kept on 36 CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT BETHEL. to a point three hundred yurda from the enemy, ' where he planted his gun, and maintained a steady and efleclivo lire upon them for an liour and a half. I say effective. It did not kill a rebel; but it had the eftcct of keeping them within their works, and giving them the idea that they were attacked. After Colonel Duryeo had retired to the wood.g, there was a long pause in the operations, during which a good plan was matured for turning the enemy's battery, and getting in behind it. It •was agreed that Colonel Townsend should keep well away to the loft, near the wood, or through the wood, and go on to the Yorktown road beyond the battery; then turn down upon it, and dash in. Colonel Duryee and Colonel Bondix were to march through the woods on the right, and penetrate to the same road below the battery, and then rush in upon it simulta- neously with Colonel Townsend. It was an excellent and most feasible scheme, certain of success if executed with merely tolerable vigor and resolution. Colonel Duryeo again advanced, this time through the woods. He went as far the creek, and concluding it to be impassable by his " Zouaves," retired a second time with some trifling loss ; Lieutenant-Colonel Warren, and a few brave men remaining long enough to bring away the body and the gun of poor Greble, shot by the enemy's last discharge. Meanwhile, Colonel Townsend was making his way far on the other side of the road. He was going straight to victory ; Major Wiuthrop among the foremost, fall of ardor and confidence, and the men in good heart. In five minutes more he would have gained a position upon the York- town road, beyond the battery, from which they could have marched upon the enemy, as in an open field. Then occurred a fatal mistake. In the haste of the start, two companies of the regiment had marched on the otlier side of a atone fence; and, anxious to get forward, were coming up to the front at some distance from the main body in the open field. Colonel Townsend seeing these troops, supposed that they were a body of the enemy coming out to attack him in flank. He ordered a halt, and then returned to the point of departure to meet this imaginary foe. Winthrop, as is supposed, did not hear the order to retire. With a few troops he still pressed on, and when they halted, still advanced, and reached a spot thirty yards from the enemy's battery. With one companion, private John M. Jones, of Vermont, he sprang upon a log to get a view of the position, which he alone that day clearly saw. A ball pierced his brain. Ho almost instantly breathed his last. His body being left on the field fell into the hands of the foe. In their opinion, he was the only man in the Union force who displayed "even an approx- imation to courage," and they gave his remains the honorable burial due to the body of a hero, and returned his watch and other effects to his commanding officer. General Pierce, with the advice of all the col- onels present, except Colonel Duryee, now gave the order to return to camp ; and so the " battle" of Great Bethel ended. Some of the companies retired in tolerable order. But there was a great deal of panic and precipitation, thougli the pursuit was late and languid. The noble Chap- lain Winslow and the brave Lieutenant-Colonel G. K Warren,* with a few other firm men, re- mained behind ; and, all exhausted as they were, drew the wounded in wagons nine miles, from the scene of the action to tlie nearest camp. The Union loss in killed and permanently disabled was twenty-five. The rebel loss, one man killed and three wounded. A few hours after the action. Great Bethel was evacuated. If General Pierce had withdrawn his men out of fire, and caused them to sit down and eat their dinner, it is highly probable the enemy would have retreated ; for they were greatly outnum- bered, and were perfectly aware that one regi- ment of steady and experienced troops, led by a man who knew his business, could have taken them all prisoners in twenty minutes. Por the most part, our men, I am assured, behaved as well as could have been expected. All they wanted was commanders who knew what was the right thing to do, and who would go forward and show them how to do it. One well-com- pacted, well-sustained rush from any point of approach, and the battery had been theirs. The day after Bethel was a sad one at Fortress Monroe. Lieutenant Greble's father was on his way to visit his son, and arrived only to take back his remains to his family, followed by the sorrow of the whole command. The fate of Winthrop was not yet known ; he was reported only among the "missing." Before leaving head-quarters he had borrowed a gun of the general, saying, gayly, " I may want to take a pop at them." In the course of the morning, this gun was brought in, with such information as led to the conclusion that he must have fallen ; perhaps, thrown his life purposely away. During his short residence at head-quarters he had en- deared himself to aU hearts ; to none more thaa to the general and Mrs. Butler. He was mourned as a brother by those who had known him but sixteen days. To the mother of his dead comrade, General Butler addressed the following letter : IIead-Qitaeteks, Department of Virginia, June 13th, 1S61. " My Dear Madam : — The newspapers have anticipated me in the sorrowful intelligence which I have to communicate. Your son Theo- dore is no more. He fell mortally wounded from a rifle shot, at County Bridge. I have conversed ^\^th private John M. Jones, of the Northfield company in the Vermont regiment, wlio stood beside Major Winthrop when he fell, and sup- ported him in his arms. "Your son's death was in a few moments, without apparent anguish. After Major Win- throp had delivered the order witli which he was charged, to the commander of the regiment, he took his rifle, and while his guide held his horse in the woods in the rear, with too daring bravery, went to the front ; while there, stepping upon a log to get a full view of the force, he received the fatal shot. His friend. Colonel Wardrop, Oi Massachusetts, had loaned him a sword for the occasion, on which his name was marked in full, so that he was taken by the enemy for the colo- nel himself. * Since 'bricadier-seneral and chief of staff to General Meade— distinguished »n many fields, particularly at the battles in I'ennsylvauia iu June, ISOS. CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT BETHEL. 37 " Major Wintbrop had advanced so close to the parapet, that it was not thought expedient by those in command to send ibrward any party to bring off the body, and thus endanger the lives of others in the attempt to secure his re- mains, as the rebels remorselessly fired upon all the small parties that wont forward for the pur- pose of bringing off their wounded comrades. " Had your gallant son been alive, I doubt not he would have advised this course in regard to another.' I have assurances from the officer in command of the rebel forces at County Bridge, that Major "Winthrop received at their hand a re- spectful and decent burial. " His personal effects found upon him, will be given up to my flag of truce, with the exception of his watch, which has been sent to Yorktown, and which I am assured will be returned through me to yourself. " I have given thus particularly these sad de- tails, because I know and have experienced the fond inquiries of a mother's heart respecting her son's acts. " My dear madam 1 although a stranger, my tears will flow with yours in grief for the loss of your brave and too gallant sou, my true friend and brother. " I had not known him long, but his soldierly qualities, his daring courage, his true-hearted friendship, his genuine sympathies, his cultivated mind, his high moral tone, all combined to so win me to him, that he had twined himself about my heart with the cords of a brother's love. " The very expedition which resulted so un- fortunately for him, made him all the more dear to me. Partly suggested by himself, he entered into the necessary preparations for it with such alacrity, cool judgment, and careful foresight, in all the details that might render it successful, as gave great promise of future usefulness in his chosen profession. "When, in answer to his re- quest to be permitted to go with it, I suggested to him that my correspondence was very heavy, and he would be needed at home, he playfully replied : general, we will all work extra hours, and make that up when we get back. The affair can't go on without me, you know.' Tlie last words I heard him say before his good-night, when we parted, were, ' If anything happens I have given my mother's address to Mr. Green. His last thoughts were with his mother; his last acts were for his country and her cause. "I have used the words ' unfortunate expedi- tion for him 1' Nay, not so ; too fortunate thus to die doing his duty, his whole duty, to his coun- try, as a hero, and a patriot. Unfortunate to us only who are lefl; to mourn the loss to ourselves and our country. " Permit me, madam, in the poor degree I may, to take such a place in your heart that we may mingle our griefs, as we do already our love and admiration for him who has only gone before us to that better world where, through the ' merits of Him who suffered for us,' we shall all meet together. " Most sincerely and affectionately, "Yours, Benj. F. Butler." I must not leave this melancholy subject with- out mentioning the noble, and, I believe, unique atonement made by General Pierce for whatever errors he may have committed at Great Bethel. He served out his term of three months in such extreme sorrow as almost to threaten his reason. He then enlisted as a private in a three year's regiment, and served for some time in that honorable lowliness. Appointed, at lengtli, to the command of a regiment, he served with dis- tinction through the campaign of the peninsula, where, in one of the battles, he was severely wounded. General Butler learnt the lesson first taught by the failure at Great Bethel, since repeated on so many disastrous fields. Tlwit lesson was, the utter insufficiency of the volunteer system as then organized, and the absolute necessity of offi- cers morally and professionally superior to the men under their command. The southern social sys- tem, at least, leads to the selection of officers to whom the men are accustomed to look up. Our officers, on the contrary, must have a real su- periority, both of knowledge and of character, in order to bind a regiment into coherency and force. General Butler had under his command captains, majors and colonels who owed their election chiefly to their ability to bestow un- hmited drinks. There were drunkards and thieves among them; to say nothing of those who, from mere ignorance and natural inefficiency, could maintain over their men no degree what- ever of moral or military ascendancy. The gen- eral saw the evil. In a letter to the secretary of war, June 26th, he pointed out the partial rem- edy which was afterward adopted. "I desire," he wrote, " to trouble you upon a subject of the last importance to the organization of our volunteer regiments. Many of the volun- teers, both two and three year's men, have cho- sen their own company officers, and in some cases their field officers, and they have been ap- pointed without any proper military examination, before a proper board, according to the plan of organization of the volunteers. There should be some means by which these officers can be sifted out. The efficiency and usefulness of the regi- ment depend upon it. To give you an illustra- tion : In one regiment I have had seven appli- cations for resignation, and seventeen applications for leave of absence ; some on the most frivolous pretexts, by every grade of officers under the colonel. I have yielded to many of these appli- cations, and more readily than I should other- wise have done, because I was convinced that their absence was of benefit rather than harm. Still, this absence is virtually a fraud upon the United States. It seems as if there must be some method other than a court-martial of ridding the service of these officers, when there are so many competent men ready, willing, and eager to serve their country. Ignorance and incompetency are not crimes to be tried by a court martial, while they are great misfortunes to an officer. As at present the whole matter of the organization is informal, without direct authority of law in its details, may not the matter be reached by having a board appointed at any given post, composed of three or five, to whom the competency, effi- ciency, and propriety of conduct of a given officer might be submitted? And that upon there- port of that board, approved by the commander and the department, the officer be dropped with- out the disgrace attending the sentence of a court-martial?" Meanwhile, the general labored most earnestly 38 CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT BETHEL. to raise the standard of discipline in the regi- ments. Tlie dilliculi}' was great, amounting, at times, to impossibility. At one time there were thirty-eight vacancies among the officers of the New York regiments alone. The men, accus- tomed to active industry, and now compelled to endure the monotony of a camp, sought excite- ment in drink. Jt was, for some weeks, a puzzle at head-quarters where the soldiers obtained Buch abundant supplies of the means of intox- ication. " Wo used," said General Butler, in his testimony before the war committee, '• to send a picket guard up a mile and a half from Fortress Monroe. The men would leave perfectly sober, yet every night when they came back we would have trouble with them on account of their being drunk. Where they got their liquor from we oould not tell. Night after night, we instituted a rigorous examination, but it was always the same. The men were examined over and over again ; their canteens were inspected, and yet we could find no hquor about them. At last it was observed that they seemed to hold their guns up very straight, and, upon examination being made, it was tound that every gun-barrel was filled with whisky ; and it was not always the soldiers who did this." Further investigation disclosed facts still more distressing. An eye-witness reports ; " General Butler ascertained that what was professedly the sutler's store of one of the regi- ments, was but a groggory. This he visited, and stove the heads of some half-dozen barrels, and spilled all the liquor of every sort to be found. He found a book, in which the account with a single regiment was kept, which disclosed a state of things truly startling. Scarcely an offi- cer of the regiment but had an open account, footing up for tlie single month, amounts ranging from $10 to $1,000. Tiie items charged, and the space of time within which the hquor was obtained, and, of course, consumed, was truly astonishing, and proved the depth of demoral- ization to which the officers, and, I fear, conse- quently, the entire regiment, had become redu- ced. I purposely suppress a narrative of the scenes of debaucliery and violence in the camp at Newport News, where the regiment has lately been removed, a few evenings since, resulting in the shooting, if not the death, of a soldier, fired on by an officer while both were intoxicated. " General BuLler having possessed himself of the book in question, went to Newport News yesterday afternoon, having previously summoned all the commissioned officers of the regiment to meet him alone on the boat on his arrival. They came as summoned. General Butler told them frankly and pointedly what was the oljject of the meeting ; exhibited to them the evidence that was in his hands of the astonishing amounts of liquor which they as officers had purchased ; pointed them to tlie consequences as seen in the demoralized condition of the regiments; the late scenes of violenco, the waste of money, the in- justice of such conduct toward New York, after she had been to the expense of giving them a liberal outtit, and, with a princely liberality, was supporting so many of the families of soldiers and others ; and, more than all, the deplorable consequences that must ensue to the cause from such indulgence. General Butler said there must and should be a stop put to it. He said he himself was not a total-abstinence man, but he pledged to the officers he addressed his word of honor as an officer and a man that, so long as he remained in this department, intoxicating drinks should be banished from his quarters, and that he would not use them except when medi- cinally prescribed ; and he wanted the officers present to give him their pledge that henceforth this should be the rule of their conduct. As he had determined to tell no man to go, where he could not say come, so, in this matter, ho re- quired no officer to do that which he would not first do himself General Butler enforced his views and the grounds of the determination he had formed, feelingly and forcibly, and the affirmative response was unanimous, with only one exception, he being a captain, whose resig- nation Colonel Phelps announced was then in his hands, and which General Butler instantly accepted. " This interview over, General Butler directed Captain Davis, the provost- marshal, and his dep- uty, W. II. Wiegel, to proceed to search every place known to sell liquor, or suspected of being engaged in the traffic, and destroy the same. Within one hour between twenty and thirty barrels of whisky, brandy, and other concoctions were emptied on the ground, amid the clieers of the soldiers. The proceeding elicited the warm- est approbation of the whole camp, and especially of the men, who, as patrons of the sutlers, had been swindled by them. The sutlers themselves, and all others guilty of having contributed to demoralize the troops, were taken into custody and brought to the fortress, and will be sent hence." The whisky at Fortress Monroe inspired one piece of wit, which amused the command. This was the time wlien it was customary to " admin- ister the oath" to arrested secessionists, and set them at liberty. A scouting party having brought in a rattlesnake, the question arose what should be done with it. A drunken soldier hiccoughed out : " d — n him, swear him in and let him go." With equal vigor. General Butler made war upon a practice which no commanding officer has ever been able entirely to suppress, that of plundering abandoned houses. The possession of a chair, a table, a piece of carpet, an old kettle, or even a piece of plank, adds so mucli to the comfort of men in camp, that the temptation to help themselves to such articles is sometimes irrdsistiblo. If any man could have prevented plundering, Wellington was that individual; but ho could not, though he possessed and used the power to hang offenders on the spot. Subse- quent investigation proved that our troops around Fortress Monroe plundered little, considering their opportunities and their temptation. But that little was disgraceful enough, and gave rise to much clamor. All that any man could have done to prevent and punish offenses of this nature was done by the commanding general. No man abhorred plundering more than Colonel Phelps; but he could not quite prevent it. Coming in to dinner one day, he saw upon the table a porcelain dish Idled with green peas. He stood for a moment with eyes tixed upon the suspicious vessel, wrath gathering in his face. "Take that dish away," said he in a tone of fierce command for so gentle a man. The alarmed contraband prepared to obey, but EECALL FROM VIRGINIA. 39 ventured to ask what he should do with the peas. " Put them into a wash-basin, if you can't find anything better. But take that dish away and never let, me see it again." The dish was removed, and Colonel Phelps ordered it to be taken to the hospital for the use of the sick. One truth became very clear to General Butler while he held command in Virginia. It was, that men enlisted for short terms cannot as a rule, be relied upon for effective service. When the time of the three montlis men was half expired, all other feelings seemed to be merged in the longing for release. Like boys at school before the holidays, they would cut notches in a stick and erase one every day ; and, as the time of return home drew nearer, they would cut half a notch away at noon. It appeared that short- termed troops are efficient for not more than half their time of enlistment ; after that their hearts are at home, not in their duty. The gen- eral was of opinion, that an army, if possible, should be enlisted not for any definite term, but for the war; thus supplying the men with a most powerful motive for efficient action; the homeward path lying through victory over the enemy. The battle of Bull Run ended General Butler's hopes of being useful at Fortress Monroe. It was on the very day of that battle that he first received the means of moving a battery of field artillery, and of completmg his preparations for sweeping clear of armed rebels the Virginia tip of the peninsula, of which Maryland forms the greater part. Colonel Baker was to com- mand the expedition. Two daj'S after the retreat came a telegram from General Scott: " Send to this place without fail, in three days, four regiments and a half of long-term volunteers, including Baker's regiment and a half" The troops were sent, and the expedition was neces- sarily abandoned. The news of the great defeat created at the fortress a degree of consternation almost amount- ing to panic ; for, at once, the rumor spread that the victorious army were about to descend upon the fortress, and overwhelm it. General Butler was not alarmed at this new phantom. One of the first cheering voices that reached the admin- istration was his. A few hours after reading the news, he wrote to his friend, the postmaster- general : " We have heard the sad news from Manassas, but are neither dismayed or disheartened. It will have the same good effect upon the army in general that Big Betliel has had in my division, to teach us whereui we are weak and they are strong, and how to apply the remedy to our deficiencies. Let not tiie administration be dis- heartened or discouraged. Let no compromises be made, or wavering be felt. God helping, we will go through to ultimate assured success. But let us have no more of the silk glove in carrying on this war. Let these men be considered, what they have made themselves ' our enemies,' and let their property of all kinds, whenever it can be useful to us, be taken on the land where they have it, as they take ours upon the sea where we have it. There seems to me now but one of two ways, either to make an advance from this place with a sufficient foi ■.'.•, or else, leaving a simple garrison here, to send six thousand men that might bo spared on the other line; or, still another, to make a descent upon the southern coast. I am ready and desirous to move forward in either." In another part of this letter he strongly recom- mends Colonel Phelps for promotion. "Although some of the regular officers will, when applied to, say that he is not in his right mind — the only evidence that I have seen of it, is a deep religious enthusiasm upon the subject of slavery, which, in my judgment, does not unfit him to fight the battles of the North. As I never had seen him until he came here, as he differs witli me in politics, I have no interest in the recommen- dation, save a deliberate judgment for the good of the cause after two months of trial." Ho had soon after the pleasure of handing to Colonel Phelps the shoulder straps of a brigadier-gen- eral. "I am as much obliged to you, general," said he, "as though you had done me a favor." The withdrawal of so large a number of his best troops, compelled the evacuation of Hamp- ton. He was even advised, and that, too, by a member of the cabinet, as well as by many officers high in rank at the post, to abandon Newport News; but he would not let go his hold upon a point so important to the future movement which he had advised. The evacuation of Hampton left homeless upon his hand several hundreds of contrabands. Again he urged the government to adopt a de- cisive policy with regard to the negroes, and to take measures for depriving the rebels of their slaves, by whose labor they were supported. But the government was not prepared to adopt the system proposed. The southern people, it is worth remarking, had already shown their sense of General But- ler's services to his country. They knew their enemy. It has been their cue to compliment some of the generals conspicuous in the service of the United States ; but for him who first established the rule of employing the courtesies which mitigate the horrors of war, they have only vituperation. They were riglit in their instinctive perceptions, for he was also the first to recognize them as enemies incurable, whose destruction as a power was essential to the re- storation of the country. Few readers can have forgotten the biography of General Eutler which circulated in southern cf vvspaperf. in these months. It ran thus ; " He is the son of a nef.rc barber, who, early in the century did businjs'i on Pcydras street, in New Orleans. The ton, in early manhood, emigrated to Liberia, where an indisposition for labor and some talent turned his attention to the bar, to prepare for which he repaired to Massachusetts. Having mastered his profession, he acquired a fondness for theological studies, and became an active local preacher, the courso of his labors early leading him to New York, where he attracted the notice of Mr. Jacob Barker, then in the zenith of his fame a? a finan- cier, and who, discovering the peculiai' abilities in that direction of the young mulatto, .sent him to northern New York to manage a banking institution. There he divided his time between the counting-house and the court-i'ojm, the prayer-meeti-ig and the printing-office," etc. 40 HATTERAS. This, witli a variety of comments, was the southern response to Annapolis and Baltimore. The North seemed slower to recognize his services. After tlie withdrawal of the (bur regi- ments, he found himself in a false position at Fortress Monroe, inca])ablo of acting, yet ex- pected by llio country to act. His embarrass- ment was not diminished by discovering that the intention to remove his troops was known and published before the battle of Bull Run, and that they were still detained at Baltimore inac- tive. " As soon," he wrote to Colonel Baker, " as I began to look like activity, my troops are all taken away. And almost my only friend and counselor, on whose advice I could rely, is taken away by name * * * * What ought I to do under these circumstances? I ought not to stay here and be thus abused. Tell me as a true friend,' as I know you are, what ought to be done in justice to myself To resign, when the country needs service, is unpatriotic. To hold office which government believes me unfit for, is humiliating. To remain here, dis- graced and thwarted by every subordinate who is sustained by the head of the department, is unbearable." The government resolved his doubts. A day or two after the reply to General Butler's con- traband letter had been dispatched, he was re- moved from the command of the department, and General Wool appointed in his stead. Whether tho two acts had any connection, or whether the removal was a compliance with the suggestions of a leading newspaper, has not been disclosed. "General Wool," commented the New York Times, " is assigned the command of Fortress Monroe. So far, so good. The nation was deeply dissatisfied, not to say indig- nant, at tho fact that one of the bravest, as well as one of the most skillful and experienced of American generals, was persistently kept in quiet retreat at Troy, N. Y., while political brigadiers were fretting away tho spirit of tho army by awkward blunderings upon masked batteries." There had, indeed, been much clamor of this kind, and worse. One gallant colonel, removed from his command for drunk- enness, had caused letters to be published, accu- sing General Butler of disloyalty. Otlier officers, who had left the service for the service's good, ■were not silent, and one or two reporters, who had been ordered away from the post, still had the use of their pens. Nor had tho public tho means of understanding tho causes of General Butler's inactivity. They saw the most im- portant military post in tho possession of tlie United States, apparently well-supplied with troops, contributing notliing to the military strength of the country. Tho blame was nat- urally laid at the door of the general command- ing it. On the eighteenth of August, General Butler gracefully resigned the command of the depart- ment to his successor. In his farewell order he said : " Tho general takes leave of the command of the oificers and soldiers of this department with the kindest feelings towards all, and with the hope that in active service upon the field, they may soon signalize their bravery and gal- lant conduct, as they have shown their patriot- ism by fortitude under the fatigues of camp duty. No personal feeling of regret intrudes itself at the change in the command of tho department, by which our cause acquires the services in the field of the veteran general conmianding, in whose abilities, experience, and devotion to the flag, the whole country places tho most implicit reliance, and under whose guidance and com- mand all of us, and none more than your late commander, are proud to serve." He had been in command of the department of Virginia two months and twenty-seven days. CHAPTER VI. The order which relieved General Butler from command in Virginia a.ssigned him to no other duly. He was simply ordered to resign his com- mand to General Wool. Whether he was to re- main at tho fortress, or repair to head-quarters, or go home, was left to conjecture. What should he do? Where should he go? Friends unanimous- ly advised : ' Go home. The government plainly intimates that it does not want you.' The game is lost; throw up your hand. "No," said he, " whatever I do, I can't go home. That were the eud of my military career, and I am in for tlie war." It ended in his asking General Wool for something to do; and General Wool, who could not but see what efficient service he had rendered at the post, and heartily ackno^^ledged it, gave him the command of the volunteer troops outside the fortress. So he vacated the mansion within the walls, aad served where he had been wont to rule. A week after, the expedition to reduce the forts at Hatteras Inlet was on the point of sail- ing. It was a scheme of the general's own. A Union prisoner being detained at the inlet, had brought the requsito information to the fortress many weeks before. He said, that through that gap in the long sand-island which runs along the coast, of North Carolina, numberless blockade runners found access to the main land. His re- port being duly conveyed to head-quarters, a joint expedition, military and naval, was ordered to take tho forts, destroy them, block up the in- let with sunken stone, and return to Fortress Monroe. Preparations for this expedition were at full tide when General Butler was superseded. Nine hundred troops were detailed to accompany it; a small corps for a major-general. General Butler volunteered to command them, and Gen- eral Wool accepted his olTer ; kind friends whis- pering, " infra dig." Ho went. Every one remembers the details of that first cheering success after the summer of our discontent. It seemed to break the spell of disaster, and gave encouragement to the country, disproportioned to the magnitude of the achieve- ment. General Butler enjoyed a share of the eclat, which restored much of the public favor lost at Great Bethel. Two points of the general's conduct on this occasion, wo may notice before passing on to more stirring scenes. Tlie reader has not for- gotten, that the rebel commander first offered to surrender, provided the garrison were allowed to retire, and that General Butler refused the terms, RECRUITING FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. 41 demanding unconditional surrender. " The Ade- laide," he reports, "on carrying in the troops, at the moment my termsof capitulation were under consideration by the enemy, had grounded upon the bar. * * At the same time, the Harriet Lane, in attempting to enter the barhad grounded, and remained fast ; both were under the guns of the fort. By these accidents, a valuable ship of war, and a transport steamer, with a large por- tion of my troops, were within the power of the enemy. I had demanded the strongest terms, which he was considering. He might refuse, and seeing our disadvantage, renew the action. But I determined to abate not a tittle of what I considered to be due to the dignity of the gov- ernment ; nor even to give an official title to the ofiScer in command of the rebels. Besides, m}' tug was in the inlet, and, at least, I could carry on the engagement with my two rifled six-pound- ers, well supplied with Sawyer's shell." It was an anxious moment, but his terms were accepted, and the victory was complete. One of the guns of the Minnesota was worked during the action by contrabands from Fortress Monroe. The danger was slight, for the ene- my's balls fell short. But it was observed .''nd freely acknowledged on all hands, that no gun in the fleet was more steadily served than theirs, and no men more composed than they when the danger was supposed to be imminent. In action and out of action their conduct was everything that could be desired. The other matter which demands a word of explanation, relates to General Butler's sudden re- turn from Hatteras, which elicited sundry satirical remarks at the time. He had been ordered not to hold but to destroy the port. But on survey- ing the position, he was so much impressed with the importance of retaining it, that he resolved to go instantly to "Washington and explain his views to the government. He did so, and the governmont determined to hold the place. Nor was haste unnecessary, since supplies had been brought for only five days. The troops must have been immediately withdrawn or immedi- ately provisioned. And now again he was without a command. The government did not know what to do with him, and he did not know what to do with him- self Recruiting was generally at a stand still, and there were no troops in the field that had not their full allowance of major-generals. West Point influence was in the ascendant, as surely it ought to be in time of war ; and this lawyer in epaulets seemed to be rather in the way than otherwise. CHAPTER VII. EECRUITIXG FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. G-ENERAL Butler now recalled the attention of the government to his scheme for expelling rebel forces from the Virginia peninsula, which had been suspended by the sudden transfer of Colonel Baker and his command from Fortress Monroe. He obtained authority from the war department to recruit troops in Massachusetts for this purpose. Recruiting seemed to be pro- ceeding somewhat languidly in the state, although her quota was yet far from full ; and it was sup- posed, that General Biitler could strike a vein of hunker democrats which would yield good results. Not that hunker democrats had been backward in enlisting; but it was thought that many of them who still hesitated would rally to the standard of one who had so often led them in the mimic war of elections. On going home, however, he found that General Sherman was before him in special recruiting, and that to him Governor Andrew had promised the first regi- ments that should be completed. He hastened back to Washington. He had been engaged to speak in Faueuil Hall, but left a note of excuse, ending with these words : " That I go for a vigorous prosecution of the war is best shown by the fact that I am gone." At Washington, a ciiange of programme. He penned an order, dated Sept. 10th, enlarging his sphere of operations to all New England, which the secretary of war signed. To make assurance doubly sure, he asked the additional sanction of the president's signature. The cautious president, always punctiliously respectful to state authority, first procured by telegraph the assent of all the governors of New England, and then signed the order. It was upon General Butler's return to New England to raise these troops, that the collision occurred between himself and the governor of Massachusetts, which caused so much perjjlexity to all the parties concerned. Let us draw a veil over these painful scenes. A quarrel is divided into two parts. Part first embraces all that is said and done while both parties keep their temper ; part second, all that is said and done after one or both of the parties lose it. The first part may be interesting, and even important : the second is sound and fury, signifying nothing. Governor Andrew felt that General Butler was interfering with his prerog- ative. General Butler, intent on the work in hand, was exasperated at the obstacles thrown in his way by Governor Andrew. General Butler, who had had bitter experience of sub- altern incompetency, was anxious to secure commissions to men in whom he could confida Governor Andrew naturally desired to give com- missions to men in whose fitness he could himself believe. General Butler's friends were chiefly of the hunker persuasion ; Governor Andrew was better acquainted with gentlemen of his own party. Both were honest and zealous servants of their countrj\ Long may both of them live to serve and honor it. The six thousand troops were raised. But the delay in Massachusetts deprived General Butler of the execution of his peninsula scheme, which fell to the lot of General Dix, who well per- formed it in November. So General Butler went to Washington to learn what he was to do with his troops, now that he had them. For many months the government had been silently preparing for the recovery of the southern strongholds, which had been seized at the out- break of the war, while the last administration was holding parley with treason at the capital Commodore Porter was busy at the Booklyn Navy Yard with his fleet of bomb-boats. The navy had been otherwise strengthened, though the day of iron-clads had not yet dawned in Hampton Roads. Immense provision had been ordered of the cumbrous material used in sieges. 42 RECRUITING- FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. But as yet, pr-^purationa only had been made ; the points lirst to be attempted had not been selected ; the cliicf attention of the government being still directed to tiie increase and organi- zation of the army of the Potomac, held at bay by the phantom of two hundred thousand rebels, and endless imaginary masked batteries at Manassas. The arrival of General Butler at Washington recalled the consideration of the government to more distant enterprises. Mobile was then the favorite object, both at the hoad-quarters of the army and at the navy department; and General Butler was directed to report upon the best rendezvous for an expe- dition against Mobile. Maps, charts, gazetteers, encyclopedias, and sea captains were zealously overhauled. In <"» day or two, the general was ready witli his report, which named Ship Island as the proper rendezvous for operations against any point upon the gulf coast. Ship Island it should be then. To Now England the general quickly returned, and started a regiment or two for the rendezvous under General Phelps, whose services he had especially asked. Then to "Washington once more, where he found that Mobile was not in high favor with the ruling member of the cabinet, who thought Texas a more immediately important object. It was natural that he should so regard it, as he was compelled by his oCSce to look at the war in the light shed from foreign correspondence. General Butler was now ordered to prepare a paper upon Texas, and the best mode of reannexing it. Nothing loath, ho rushed again at the maps and gazetteers, collaring stray Galvestonians by the way. An elaborate paper upon Texas was the prompt result of his labors, a production justly complimented by General McClcllan for its lucid completeness. Texas was in the ascendant. Texas should be reannexed; the French kept out; th(» German cotton planters delivei'ed; the rebels quelled ; the blockading squadron released. Homeward sped the General to get more of his troops on llie way. The Constitution, which had conveyed General Phelps to Ship Island and returned, was again loaded with troops. Two thousand men were embarked, and the ship was on the point of sailing, when a telegram from Washington arrived of singular brevity: "Don't Sail. Disembark." No explanation followed ,• nor did General Butler wait long for one. The next day he was in Washington, in quest of elucidation. The ex- planation was Jmple. .Mason, and Slidell were in Fort Warren ; England had demanded their surrender ; war with England was possible, not improbable. If war were the issue, the Consti- tution would be required, not to convey troops to Ship Island, but to bring back tliose alreadj^ there. Nothing remained for General Butler but to return home, and wait till the question was decided. Ho wont, but not until he had avowed his entire conviction that justice and policy united in demanding that the rebel emissaries should be retained. Ho thought that New England alone, drained as she was of men, would follow him to Canada, that winter, with fifty thousand troops, and seize the commanding points before the April sun had let in the Eng- lish navy. The country, he thought, was not half awake — had not put forth half its strength. He felt that in such a quarrel, America would do as Greece had done when Xerxes led his myriads against her — every man a soldier, and every soldier a hero. Ho did not despair of seeing, first the border states, and then the gulf states, fired with the old animosity, and joining against the hereditary foe. Knowing what England had done in the way of violating the flag of neutrals, he regarded her conduct in this affair as the very sublime of impudence. He boiled with indig- nation whenever he thought of it, and bethought of little else during those memorable weeks. Fortunately, as most of us think, other counsels prevailed at Washington, and a blow was struck at the rebellion, by the surrender of the men, of more eft'ect than the winning of a great battle. The restoration of the Union will itself avenge the wrong, and cut deeper into the power that has miskd England than the loss of many Canadas. Mason and Slidell were given up. The troops sailed for Fortress Monroe. General Butler, early in January, 1862, went to Washington to conclude the last arrangements, intending to join his command in Hampton Roads. At the war department mere confusion reigned, for this was the time when Mr. Cameron was going out, and Mr. Stanton coming in. Nothing could be done; the troops remained at Fortress Monroe; the general was lost to finite view in the mazes of Washington. We catch a brief glimpse of him, however, testifying before the committee on the conduct of the war. No reader can have forgotten that the question then agitating the country was, why General McClellan, with his army of two hundred thousand men, had remained inactive for so many months, permitting the blockade of the Potomac, and allowing the superb weather of November and December to pass unimproved into the mud and cold of January. The estab- lished opinion at head-quarters was, that the rebel army before Washington numbered about two hundred and forty thousand men. Upon this point General Butler, from much study of the various sources of information, had arrived at an opinion which differed from the one in vogue, and this he communicated to the com- mittee ; and not the opinion only, but the grounds of the opinion. He presented an argument on the subject, having thoroughly got up the case as ho had been wont to do for gentlemen of the jury. Subjecting General Beauregard's report of the two actions near Manassas to a minute anal- ysis, ho showed that the rebel army at the battle of Bull Run numbered 36,600 men. He cross- examined those reports, counting first by regi- ments, secondly by brigades, and found the re- sults of both calculations the same. Ho then computed the quotas of the various rebel states, and concluded that tlie entire Confederate force on the day of the battle of Bull Run was about 54,000. He next considered tlie increase to the rebel armies since the battle of Bull Run. We, with our greatly sup.rior moans of transport- ation, with our greater population, and the command of the ocean, had been able, by the most strenuous exertions, to assemble an army before Washington of little more than 200,000. Could the rebels have got together half that number in the same time ? It was not probable, it was scarcely p.i-.sibk\ Then the extent of s^ RECRUITINa FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. 43 country held by the rebel army was known, and forbade the supposition entertained at head- quarters. Upon the whole, he concluded that the armies menacing Washington consisted of about 70,000 men ; which proved to be within 5,000 of the truth. This opinion was vigorously pooh-poohed in in the higher circles of the army, but leading members of the committee were evidently con- vinced by it. One officer of high rank, a fre- quenter of the • office of the genoral-in-chief, was good enough to say, when General Butler had finally departed, that he hoped they had now found a hole big enough to bury that Yankee general in. During the delay caused by the change in the department of war, an almost incredible incident occurred, which strikingly illustrates the confu- sion sometimes arising from having three centers of military authoritj^ — the president, the secre- tary of war, and the commander-in-chief. By mere accident General Butler heard one day that his troops had been sent, two weeks before, from Fortress Monroe to Port Royal. "What!" he exclaimed, " have I been played with all this time ?" He discovered, upon inquiry, that such an order had indeed been issued. He procured an interview with Mr. Stanton, gave him a his- tory of his proceedings, and asked an explana- tion of the order. Mr. Stanton knew nothing about it ; Mr. Cameron knew nothing about it ; General McClellan knew nothing about it. Never- theless, the order in question had really been sent. Mr. Stanton readily agreed to counter- mand the order, provided the troops had not already departed. The general hurried to the telegraph office, where, under a rapid tire of messages, a still more wonderful fact was disclo- sed. The mysterious order had been received in Baltimore by one of General Dix's aids, who had put it into his pocket, forgotten it, and carried it about with him two weeks ! From the depths of his pocket it was finally brought to light. The troops were still at the fortress. Mr. Stanton .soon made himself felt in the dispatch of business. General Butler obtained an ample hearing, and the threads of his enter- prize were again taken up. One day (about Jan- uary 10th), towards the close of a long confer- ence between the general and the secretary, Mr. Stanton suddenly asked : "Why can't New Orleans be taken?" The question thrilled General Butler to the marrow. "It can!" he replied. This was the first time New Orleans had been mentioned in General Butler's hearing, but by no means the first time he had thought of it. The secretary told him to prepare a programme ; and for the third time the general dashed at the charts and books. General McClellan, too, was requested to present an opinion upon the feasi- bility of the enterprise. He reported that the capture of New Orleans would require an army of 50,000 men, and no such number could be spared. Even Texas, he thought, should be given up for the present. But now General Butler, fired with the^ splen- dor and daring of the new project, exerted all the forces of his nature to win for it the consent of the government. He talked New Orleans to every member of the cabinet. In a protracted interview with the president, he argued, he urged, he entreated, he convinced. Nobly were his efforts seconded by Mr. Fox, the assistant secretary of the navy, a native of Lowell, a schoolmate of General Butler's. His whole heart was in the scheme. The president spoke, at length, the decisive word, and the general . almost reeled from the White Houso in the in- toxication of his relief and joy. One difficulty still remained, and that was the tight clutch of General McClellan upon the troops. At Ship Island there were 2,000 men ; on ship-board 2,200; ready in New England, 8,500; total, 12,700. General Butler demanded a total of 15,000. As the general-in-chief would not hear of sparing men from Washington, three of the Baltimore regiments were assigned to the expe- dition ; and these were the only ones in General Butler's division which could be called drilled. Not one of his regiments had been in action. About January 23d, the last impediment was removed, and General Butler went home, for the last time, to superintend the embarkation of the rest of the New England troops. The troops detained so long at Fortress Monroe, were hurried on board the Constitution, and started for Ship Island. Other transports were rapidly procured; other regiments dispatched. A month later. General Butler was again in Washington to receive the final orders ; the huge steamship Mississippi, loaded with his last troops, lying in Hampton Roads, waiting only for his coming to put to sea. It may interest some readers to know, that the total cost of raising the troops and starting them on their voyage, was about a million and a half of dollars. It was not without apprehensions that General Butler approached the capital on this occasion — there had been so many changes of programme. But all the departments smiled propitiously, and the final arrangements were soon comi^leted. A professional spy, who had practiced his voca- tion in Virginia too long for him to venture again within the enemy's lines with much chance of getting out again, was on his way to New Orleans, having agreed to meet the general at Ship Island with a full account of the state of affairs in the crescent city. A thousand dollars if he succeeds. The department of the gulf was created, and General Butler formally placed in command of the same. The following were the orders of the commander-in-chief "Head-Quarters of the Abmy, '' February 'iM, 1862. " Major-General B. F. Butler, United States Army: " General : — Tou are assigned to the com- mand of the land forces destined to co-operate with the navy in the attack upon New Orleans. You will use every means to keep the destina- tion a profound secret, even from your staff officers, with the exception of your chief of staff, and Lieutenant Wietzel, of the engineers. " The force at your disposal will consist of the first thirteen regiments named in your memo- randum handed to me in person, the Twenty- first Indiana, Fourth Wisconsin, and Sixth Michigan (old and good regiments from Balti- more) — these three regiments will await your orders at Fort Monros. Two companies of the Twenty-first Indiana are well drilled at heavy 44 SHIP ISLAND. artillery. The cavalry force already en route for Ship Islnnd, will be sufiBcient for your purposes. After full consultation with officers well ac- quainted with the countr}' in which it is proposed to operate, I have arrived at the conclusion that three liirht batteries fully equipped and one without horses, will be all that will be neccs- eary. " This will make your force about 14,400 infantry, 275 cavalry, 580 artillery, total 15,255 men. "The commanding general of the department of Key West is authorized to loan you, tempo- rarily, two regiments ; Fort Pickens can pro- bably tjive you another, which will bring your force to nearly 18,000. The object of your expedition is one of vital importance — the cap- ture of New Orleans. The route selected is up the Mississippi river, and the first obstacle to be encountered, perhaps the only one, is in the resistance offered by Forts St. Philip and Jack- son. It is expected that the navy can reduce the works ; in that case, you will, after their capture, leave a sufficient garrison in them to render them perfectly secure; and is recom- mended that on the upward passajje a few heavy guns and some troops be left at the pilot station, at the forks of the river, to cover a retreat in the case of a disaster, the troops and guns will of course be removed as soon as the forts are captured. " Should the navy fail to reduce the works, you will land your forces and siege train, and endeavor to breach the works, silence their fire, and carry them by assault. " The next resistance will be near the English Bend, where there are some earthen batteries ; here it may be necessary for you to land your troops, to co-operate with the naval attack, although it is more than probable that the navy, unassisted, can accomplish the result. If these works are taken, the city of New Orleans neces- sary faUs. " In that event it will probably be best to occupy Algiers with the mass of your toops, also the eastern bank of the river above the city — it may be necessary to place some troops in the city to preserve order; though if there appears sufficient Union sentiment to control the city, it may bo best for purposes of discipline to keep your men out of the city. " After obtaining possession of New Orleans, it will be necessary to reduce all the works guarding its approaches from the east, and par- ticularly to gain the Manchac Pass. " Baton Rouge, Berwick Bay, and Fort Liv- ingston will next claim your attention. " A feint on Galveston may facilitate the objects wo have in view. I need not call your attention to the necessity of gaining possession of all the rolling stock you can, on the different railways, and of obtaining control of the roads themselves. The occupation of Baton Rouge, by a combined naval and land force, should be accomplished as soon as possible after you have gained New Orleans; then endeavor to open your communication with the northern column of the Mississippi, always bearing in mind the necessit}' of occupying Jackson, Mississippi, as soon as you can safely do so, either after or before you have effected the junction. Allow nothing to divert you from obtaining full pos- session of all the approaches to New Orleana. When that object is accomplished to its fullest extent, it will be necessary to make a combined attack on Mobile, in order to gaiu possession of the harbor and works, as well as to control the railway terminus at the city. In regard to this I will send more detailed instructions, as the operations of the northern column develop them- selves. I may simply state that the general objects of the expedition are first, the reduction of New Orleans and all its approaelies, then Mobile, and all its defenses, then Pensacola, Galveston, etc. It is probable that by the time New Or- leans is reduced, it will be in the power of the government to re-enforce the land forces suffi- ciently to accomplish all these objects; in the meantime you will please give all the assistance in your power to the army and navy com- manders in your vicinity, never losing sight of the fact that the great object to be achieved is the capture and firm retention of New Orleans. " Very respectfully, your obedient servant, " George B. McClell.a.n, "Major- General Commanding, &c., and Jackson, there are three thou- sand men, of whom a goodly portion are experienced artillery-men, and gunners who have served in the navy. '■ At New Orleans itself we have thirty-two thousand infantry, and as many more quartered in the immediate neighborhood. In discipline and drill they are far superior to the Yankees. We have two very able and active generals, who possess our entire confidence, General Mansfield Lovell. and Brigadier-General Kug- gles. For commodore, we have old Ilollins, a Nelson in bis way. — New Orleans Picayune, April 5nination." The autliorities of the city chose to interpret this note as a formal announcement of a bombard- ment at the cxpiratiou of the specified period. So, at least, they represented it to Captain De •Jlouet, commanding a French man of war which had just arrived before the city. That officer thougiit it his duty to demand a longer time for tho removal of the women and children. " Sent by my government," ho wrote to Capt^\in Far- ragut, '■ to protect the persons and property of •ts citizens, who are here to the number of tnirty Uiousand, I regret to learn at this moment that you have accorded a delay of forty-eight houra for tho evacuation of ilie city by tho women and children. I venture to observe to you that this iiort delay is ridiculous ; and, in tho na me of my government I oppose it. If it is your reso- lution to bombard tlie city, do it; but I wish to state that you will have to account for the bar- barous act to tho power which I represent. In any event, I demand sixty days for the evacu- ation." Captain Farragut and General Butler had visited Captain De Cloueton his arrival, and had received from him polite congratulations upon tho success of the expedition. It was no fault of his that Captain Farnigut's notification was so egrcgiously misunderstood. General Butler meanwhile perceiving that light-drafl steamers were not to be had, and that nothing eflectual could bo done without landing a force in the city, hastened down tho river to attempt the reduction of tho forts with such means as he could command. Before leaving, however, he had the .satisfaction of receiving the spy, engaged at Washington many weeks before, who had escaped in the confusion, and brought full details of the condition of tho city. Mr. Summers, too, once recorder of New Orleans, fled on board one of the ships from the violence of a mob in whose hearing he had declared his attachment to the Union. A lady, also, came off, and delivered a paper of intelligence and congratulation. On his way down the river. General Butler met the glad tidings of the surrender of the forts, and had the pleasure, on the 28t.h, of walking over ihum with Captain Porter among the joyful troops. Colonel Jones, of the Twenty-sixth Massachusetts, was appointed to command the Garrison, and Lieutennat Weitzel began forth- with to put the forts in repair. All the rest of the troops were ordered up the river with the utmost speed. General Phelps was already at the forts, and the transports from Sable Island were making their way under General Williams to tho mouth of the river. The news of tho surrender of the forts, which reached the fleet on Monday, relieved Captain Farragut from em- barrassment, lie could now afford to wait, if New Orleans could, though the fl.'ct still beheld with impatience the flaunting of tho rebel flags. General Duncan, that da}', harrangucd tho crowd upon the levee, declaring, '' witii tears in his eyes," that nothing but tho mutiny of part of his command could have induced him to surrender. But for that, he could and would have held out for mouths. "Ho cried like a child," says one report. Tiio tone of tlie authorities appeared to be somewhat lowered by the news. They dared not formally disclaim tho exploit of Mumford and his comrades ; but Captain Farragut was privately assured that the removal of the flags from the mint was the unauthorized act i)f a few individuals. On the 29lh, Captain Bell, with a hundred marines, landed on the levee, marched into tho city, hauled down the Confederate flag from tho Mint and Custom-I louse, and hoisted in its stead the flag of the United States. Cap- tain Boll locked the Custom- House and took the keys to his sliip. These flags remained, though tho marines were withdrawn before evening. The work of the European Brigade was ap- proaching a conclusion. The portion of it call- ed the British Guard, eomposi'd of unnatural- ized Englishmen — unnatural I'higlishmen rather — voted at their armory, a day or two after, to send their weapons, accouterments and uniforms LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. to General 'Bcaiiregarcrs army, as a slight token of their affection for the Confederate States. Somo of these " neutral" gentlemen had occa- sion to regret this step before the mouth of May was ended. There was a general coming up the river, who had the peculiarity of fueling toward the rebel- lion as the rebel leaders felt toward the gov- ernment they had betrayed. He hated it. He meant to do his part toward putting it down by the strong hand, not conciliating it by insincere palaver. The reader is requested to bear in mind this peculiarity, for it is the key to the understanding of General Butler's administra- tion. Consider always that his attachment to the Union and the flag was of the same intense and uncompromising nature, as the devotion of South Carolinians to the cause of the Confed- eracy. His was indeed a nobler devotion, but in mere warmth and entireness. it resembled the zeal of secessionists. He meant well to the peo- ple of Louisiana; he did well by them; but it was his inimovable resolve that the ruling power in Louisiana henceforth should be the United States, which had bought, defended, protected, and enriched it. Think what secessionists would have done in New Orleans, if it had remained true to the Union, and fallen into their hands in the second year of the war. Tliat General But- ler did ; only with exactest justice, with ideal purity; employing all right methods of concilia- tion ; rigorous only to secure the main object — the absolute, the unquestioned supremacy of the United States. CHAPTER Xir. LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. The troops had a joyful trip up the river among the verdant sugar-fields, welcomed, as the fleet had been, by capering negroes. The transport Mississippi, with her old complement of fourteen hundred men, and Mrs. Butler on tlie quarter-deck, hove in sight of the forts at sunset on the last day of April. The forts were covered all over with blue-coated soldiers, who paused in their investigations to cheer the arriv- ing vesseLs, and, especially, the Lady who had borne them company in so many perils. It was an animated and glorious scene, illumined by the setting sun ; one of those intoxicating moments which repay soldiers for months of fatigue and waiting. The general came on board, and, at midnight, the transport steamers started for the city. At noon on the 1st of May, the Missis- sippi lay alongside the levee at New Orleans. A crowd rapidly gathered ; but it was by no means as turbulent or noisy as that wiiich had howled at Captain Bailey five days before. There were women among them, many of whom ap- peared to be nurses carrying children. Mulatto women witli baskets of cakes and oranges were also seen. Voices wore frequently heard calling for " Picayune Butler," who was requested to "show himself," and "come ashore." The gen- eral, who is fond of a joke, requested Major Strong to ascertain if any of the bands could play the lively melody to which the mob had called his attention. Unluckily, none of the bandmasters possessed the music; so tho gen- eral was obhged to forego his joke, and fall back upon Yankee Doodle and the Star Spangled Banner. Others of the crowd cried: "You'll never see homo again." " Yellow Jack will have you before long." " Halloo, epaulets, lend us a picayune." With divers other remarks of a chafing nature, alternating with malciictions. General Butler waited upon Captain Farragut, and heard a narrative of recent events. The general announced his determination to land forthwith, and Captain Farragut notified the mayor of this resolve; adding that he should hold no farther correspondence with the authori- ties of New Orleans, but gladly yielded the situ- ation to the commander of the army. Returning to the Mississippi, General Butler directed the inunediate disembarkation of tho troops, and the operation began about four o'clock in the after- noon. A company of the Thirty-first Massachu- setts landed on the e.x:tensive platform raised above the levee for the convenient loading of cotton, and, forming a line, slowly pressed back the crowd, at the point of the bayonet, until space enough was obtained for the regiment to form. When the Thirty-first had all landed, they marched down the cotton platform to the levee, and along the levee to Le Lord street, where they halted. The Fourth Wisconsin was then disembarked, after which the procession was formed in tho order following : First, as pioneer and guide, marched Lieuten- ant Henry Weigel, of Baltimore, aid to the gen- eral, who was familiar with tlie streets of the city, and now rose from a sick bed to claim the fulfillment of General Butler's promise that he, and he only, should guide the troops to the Cus- tom-House. Next, the drum-corps of the Thirty-first Mas- sachusetts. Behind these. General Butler and his staft" on foot, no horses having yet been landed, a file of the Thirty-first marching on each side of them. Then Captain Everett's bat- tery of artillery, with whom marched Captain Kensel, chief of artillery to the expedition. The Thirty-first followed, under Colonel 0. P. Good- ing. Next, General Williams and his staff, pre- ceded by the fine band of the Fourth Wisconsin, and followed by that regiment under Colonel Paine. The same orders were given as on the march into Baltimore: silence; no notice to be taken of mere words ; if a shot were fired from a house, halt, arrest inmates, destroy house ; if fired upon from the crowd, arrest the man if possible, but not fire into the crowd unless abso- lutely necessary for self-defense, and then not without orders. At five the procession moved, to the music of the Star Spangled Banner. The crowd surged along the pavements on cacii side of the troops, struggling chiefly to get a sight of the general ; crying out: "Where is the d — d old rascal?" " There he goes, G — d d — n him !" " I see the d — d old villain!" To which were added such outcries, as " Shiloh," " Bull Run," " Hurrah for Beauregard!" "Go home, you d — d Yankees." From some windows, a mild hiss was bestowed upon the troops, who marched steadily on, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left. The general, not having a musical ear, was ob- served to be chiefly anxious upon the point of keeping step to the music — a feat that had never 74 LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. become cnay to liim, often as he had attempted it in the streets of Lowell. And so they marched ; along tho levee to Poyih'as street ; Poydras street to St. Charles street ; past tho famous hotel, closed and deserted now, though alive witli five hundred inmates three days before; along St. Charles street to Canal street and the Custom- House — that vast, unfinished, roofless structure, upon which the United States had expended so many millions, one Beauregard being engineer. Tho troops surrounded tho edifice ; Captain Kensel ported his artillery so as to command the adjacent streets, and the general ordered the Thirty-first to enter and occupy the building, but Captain Bell had locked the door and put the key into his pocket. The door was forced, therefore, and by six o'clock, the Thirty-first was lodged in the second story, making prep- arations for the evening meal. Strong guards were posted at all needful points. The general and his staff then returned to the levee, and went on bnard the Mississippi for tlie night. The Twelfth Connecticut, Colonel Doming, bivouacked upon the levee near tiie ship, happy to lie down once more under tho stars, after being so long huddled in a transport ship. The evening was warm and serene, and the city was again as still as a country hamlet. General Phelps came on shore at twilight, and walked about the city unattended and unmolested. Nay, he reported that the people whom he h:id spoken to answer- ed his inquiries with politeness, despite his uniform. " You didn't mention your name; did you, Geneial?" asked an officer. " No," replied he, laughing; " no one asked it." That evening. General Butler having put the finishing touches to his proclamation, sent two officers of his stafl" to tho office of the True Delta, to get it printed as a handbill He forbore to demand its insertion in the paper, unwilling to bring upon any one cstablisiiment tiie odium that its insertion could not but excite. In all ways, he was trying the suaviter in modo, before resorting to tho fortiter in re. The officers reached the office at ten, after the proprietor and editors had gone home. The foreman in charge replied, that in the absence of the proprietor, the document could not bo printed. The officers returned to the ship, 'reported, and received farther orders. At eight the next morning, the same officers were again at tho office of the True Delta, where they found the chief proprietor, and repeated their request. No ; the Trice Delta office could not think of printing General Butler's proclamation. The officers quietl}' intimated that, in that case, they would bo under the painful necessity of seizing the office, and using tho materials therein for the purpose of printing it. The pro- prietor objected. Ho said that the selection of hia establishment for the printing of such a manuscrii)t, was invidious and unjust; it looked as if the ilesign was to make him and his col- leagues obnoxious and loathsome to their fellow- citizens. " I can not resist," said he, " tho seizure of the office, but, under no circumstances, shall it be used for the purpose designated, with my approval or consent." The officers bowed and retired. After two hour.s' absence, ttioy returned with a file of soldiers, armed and equipped, who drew up be- fore the building. Half a dozen of them entered tho printing-office, whore they laid aside their weapons of war, and took up the pe ceful im- plements of their trade. The proclamation was soon in type, and a few copies printed ; enough for tho general's immediate purpose. The pro- prietor liimself testified, in the paper of the next day, that tlie troops effected their purpose and retired, " without off"oring any offense in language or behavior, or manifesting the least desire to interfere with the regular business of the office, or to injure or derange its property." It would have been better if ho could have refrained from other comment. But he did not. He added : " As this first step of the commander of tho federal troops in possession of this citj', is indic- ative of a determination, on his part, to subject us to a supervision utterly subversive of the character of fearless patriotism which the True Delta has over maintained, we will promise this much, and we will perform it, namely, to sus- pend our publication, even if our last crust be sacrificed by the act, rather than molt one feather of that independ jnce which, in presence of every discouragement and danger, we have over made our honest boast. "Wo have no favors to ask ; we have never asked or desired any from any party; and we are prepared to stand or fall with the fortunes of our adopted Louisiana. General Butler ordered the suspension of the True Delta until farther orders. Tlie proprietors, however, yielded to the inevitable, promised compliance with the general's requisitions, and obtained, on the next day, permission to resume the publication of tlie paper. It was not, how- ever, till the tith of May, that the proclamation appeared in its columns. The other newspapers took the hint, and exhibited, in tlieir comments upon passing events, a blending of the politic with the audacious, that was ingenious and amusing, but not always ingenious enough, as General Butler occasionallj' reminded them. Editing a secession newspaper in New Orleans, during the next eight months, was an affair which could be described as " ticklish;" rather more so, than conducting a journal in the Orleans interest, under the nose of Louis Bona- parte. The second day of the occupation of the city was crowded with events of tho highest in- terest. The landing of tho troops was resumed with the dawn. Colonel Doming encamped his fine regiment in Lafavette Square in front of the City Hall. Other regiments wore posted in conve- nient localities. Troops were landed in Algiers on the opposite bank of the river, and the rail- road terminating there was seized, with its cars and buildings. General Phelps went up tho river several miles in the Saxon, to reconnoitor, and select a site for a camp above tho city. Cap- tain Everett was bu.sy extracting the spikes from tho cannon lying about tho Custom -House, and preparing to mount some of them in and upon it. He cast an inquiring and interested eye upon the eight hundred bolls — church bells, school bells, plantation bells, hand bells, cow bells — which had been sent to New Orleans upon General Beauregard's requisition ; some of which now call the children of New England to school ; others, factory girls to their labor ; others, rural congregations to cliurch ; for they were all sold at auction, sent to tho Noich, and LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 75 distributed over the country. Tlie quartermaster to tlic expedition had a world of trouble with the draj'mon of the city, wliom be needed for trans- porting the tents and baggage. Not one of them dared, not many of them wished, to servo him. He was obliged to compel their assistance at the poiot of the pistol. Everything seized for the use of the troops, on this day and on all days, was either paid for when taken, or a receipt given therefor which was equivalent to gold. Tlie beliavior of the troops was faultless. No resident of New Orleans was harmed or insulted. None complained of harm or insult. A stranger would iiave supposed, from the quiet demeanor of the troops, and the arrogant air of the people, that the soldiers were prisoners in an enemy's town, not conquerors in a captured one. For the most part, the troops held no intercourse what- ever with the inhabitants. It was, indeed, perilous in the extreme, for a resident of the city to speak to an old friend, if that friend wore the uniform of the United States. Major Bell mentions that he met several old acquaintances about the city, but they either gave him the cut direct, or else bestowed a hurried, furtive salu- tation, and passed rapidly on. Another officer reports that on accosting an acquaintance, the gentleman said, in an anxious undertone, " Don't speak to me, or I shall have my head blown oft." A gentlemen connected with the expedition, but not in uniform,* tells me that he strolled into a market that morning, and bought a cup of coffee, for whicli he gave a gold dollar, and received in change nineteen dirty car-tickets, part of the es- tablished currency of the city. Quarters were required for the commanding general and his staff. What could they be but the St. Charles hotel, vacated five days before by General Lovell? Major Strong, Colonel French, and Major Bell, accompanied by Mr. Glenn, formerly a resident of New Orleans, were dispatched, early in the morning, to make the preliminary arrangements. They found the building closed. Going round to the ladies' en- trance they gained admission to the famous ro- tunda — bar-room and slavemart, scene of count- less " difficulties " and chivalric assassinations. There they met a son of one of the proprietors, to whom they stated their wishes. He replied, that both the proprietors were absent ; and as to his giving up the hotel to General Butler, his head would be shot off before he could reach the next corner if ho should do it. He declared that waiters would not dare to wait upon them, nor cooks to cook for them, nor porters to carry for them. Moreover, there were no provisions to be had in the market; he did not see what could be got for them beyond army rations. These objections were oftered by the young gentleman with the utmost politeness of man- ner. Major Strong observed, with equal suav- ity, that ho need give himself no concern with regard to giving up the hotel. In the name of General Butler, they would venture to take it. And as to the lack of provisions, they were used to army rations, had found them suffi- cient, and could make them do for an indefinite period. With regard to waiters and cooks, the * Mr. Samuel F. Glenn, afterward clerk of the provost- court. army of occupation were chiefly men of the Yan- kee persuasion, who were accustomed to wait on themselves, and could do a little of everything, from cooking upward. The young gentleman had nothing farther to offer, and so the St. Charles became the head-quarters of the army. The general arrived in the course of the morning, and established his office in one of the ladies' parlors. Mrs. Buller still remained on board the Mississippi. Tlie three officers and Mr. Glenn next pro- ceeded to the City Hall, in search of the mayor. They found that public functionary, afler some delay. They informed him, with all possible courtesy, that General Butler, commanding the department of the Gulf, had established his head- quarters at the St. Charles hotel, where he would be happy to confer with the mayor and council of New Orleans, at two o'clock on that day. The reply of tlie mayor was to the eft'ect, that his place of business was at the City Hall, where any gentleman who had business with him could see him during office hours. Colonel French politely intimated that that was not an answer likely to satisfy the commanding general, and expressed a hope that the mayor, on re- flection, would not complicate a state of aflairs, already embarrassing enough, by raising ques- tions of etiquette. General Butler was well dis- posed toward New Orleans and its authorities ; he merely desired to come to a clear under- standing with tliem as to the future government of the city. The officers retired. The mayor, upon reflection, concluded to wait upon the gen- eral. At two o'clock, accompanied by Mr. Soule and a considerable party of friends, highly respectable gentlemen of the city, he sat face to to face with General Butler in the ladies' parlor of the St. Charles. The interview was destined to be interrupted and abortive. The seizure of the St. Charles hotel appeared to have rekindled the passions of the populace, who surrounded the building in a dense mass, filling all the open space adjacent. A cannon was posted at each of the corners of the buikUng; a regiment surrounded it; and the brave General Williams was in command. But it seemed as if the quiet demeanor of the troops, since the lauding of the evening before, had been misinterpreted by the mob, who grew fiercer, louder and bolder, as the day wore on. The mayor and his party had not been long in the presence of General Butler, when an aide- de-camp ruslied in and said : " General Williams orders me to say, that he fears he will not be able to control the mob." General Butler, in his sereuest manner replied ; " Give my compliments to General Williams, and teU him, if he finds he cannot control the mob, to open upon them with artillery." The mayor and his friends sprang to their feet in consternation. " Don't do that, general," exclaimed the mayor. " Why not, gentlemen ?" said the general. The mob must be controlled. We can't have a disturbance in the street." " Shall I go out and speak to the people?" asked the mayor. "Anything you please, gentlemen," rephed General Butler. " I only insist that order be maintained in the public streets." The mayor and other gentlemen addressed the 76 LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. crowd ; aud, as their remarks were enforced b\' the rumor of General Butler's order, there was a tem- porary lull in the storm. The crowd remained, however ; vast, fierce and sullen. The interview having been resumed, the may- or was proceeding to descant, in the high-flown rhetoric of the South, upon (Jencral Butler's for- mer advocacy of the rights of the southern states. The South had looked upon him as its special friend and champion, etc. "Stop, sir," said the general. "Let me set you right on that point at once. I was always a friend of southern rights, but an enemy of southern wrongs." The conversation was going on in an amicable strain, when another aid entered the apartment. Lieutenant Kinsman, of General Butler's staff, who requested a word with the general. This officer had bean sent to the fleet that morning in search of telegraphic operators. On board tlie Mississippi (the man-of-war, not the transport steamer), he was accosted bj' Judge Summers, who had sought refuge on board the ship, as we have before related. The unhappy judge, who was anxious to get to the city, re- quested Lieutenant Kinsman to take him on shore, and give him adequate protection against the mob, wlio, ho said, would tear him limb from limb, if they should catch him alono. The lieu- tenant, who had left the city perfectly quiet, was disposed to make light of the dauger ; but said he could go on shore with him if he chose, and he would endeavor to get him safe to the St. Charles. On reaching the levee. Lieutenant Kinsman impressed a hack into his service, and the two passengers were started for the hotel. Unluckily, the ex- recorder is a man of gigantic stature — six feet five, and of corresponding mag- nitude ; a man of such prouounced peculiarity of appearance, that even if he had never sat on tlio bench and thus become familiar to the eyes of scoundrels, he must have been known by sight to all who frequented the streets of the city. He was instantly recognized. A crowd gathered round the carriage, hooting, yelling, cursing; new hundreds rushing in from every street ; for all the men in the city were idle and abroad. Several times the carriage came to a stand; but Lieutenant Kinsman, pistol in hand, ordered the driver to go on, and kept him to his work, until they reached the troops guarding the hotel, where both succeeded in alighting and entering the building unharmed. Judge Summers was thoroughly unnerved, as most men would have been in the same circum- stances. A mob is of all wild beasts the most cowardly, the most easily managed by a man that is uuscarable by phanloms. The mob that attacked the Tribune office, last July, was scat- tered by tlie report of one pistol. I saw it done. Never have I seen the square in front of the building so bare of peojile as it was iu ten seconds after that solitary pislol was fired. But a mob is, at the same time, the most terrific thing to look at, especially if its vulgar and savage eye is fixed upon ynu, that can be imagined. Mr. Summers felt unsafe, oven in the hotel. "Give me some protection," said he; "they'll tear me all to pieces if they get in here ;" and it looked, at the time, as if tlie mob would get in. Hence it was, that Lieutenant Kinsman inter- rupted the general, and asked a word with hiui. General Butler came out, and heard the lieu- tenant's report. The ex-recorder said there was noplace in the St. Charles where he couldlje safe. "Well, then," said the general, "there's the Custom-IIouse over yonder ; that will hold you. You can go there, if )'ou choose." "But how can I get there? The mob will tear me to pieces." The general reflected a moment. Then said, assuming all the "major-general commanding:" " We may as well settle this question now as at any other time. Lieutenant Kinsman, take tliis man over to the Custom-IIouse. Take what force you require. If anv one molests or threatens you, arrest him. If a rescue is at- tempted, fire." Having said this, he returned to the confer- ence with the mayor, and Lieutenant Kinsman proceeded to obey the order. He conducted Mr. Summers to a side door, which he opened, and disclosed to the view of his charge a com- pact mass of infuriated men, held at bay by a company of fifty soldiers. " Don't attempt it," said the judge, recoiling from the sight. "I must," returned the lieutenant. "The general's orders were positive. I have no choice but to obey." The company of soldiers were soon drawn up in two lines, four feet apart, two men closing the front and two the rear of the column. In the open space were Lieutenant Kinsman and Mr. Summers. "Forward, march!" The column started. The crowd recognizing the giant judge, yelled and boiled around the slowly pushing column. The active men of the mob were not those within reach of the soldiers. The nearest men prudently held their peace and watched their chance. Consequently, no arrests were made until the column had gone half way to the Cus- tom-House. At that point stood an omnibus with one man in it, who was urging on the mob, by voice and gesture, with the violence of frenzy. " Halt ! Bring out that man !" Two soldiers sprang into the omnibus, collared the lunatic, drew him out, and placed him be- tween the lines, where he continued to yell and gesticulate in the most frantic manner. "Stop your noise I" thundered the lieutenant. " I won't," said the man; " my tongue is my own." "Sergeant , lower your bayonet. If a sound comes out of that man's mouth, run him through!" The mnn was silent. "Forward — march!" The column pushed on again, but very slowly. After going some dis- tance, the lieutenant perceived that one man, who had been particularly vociferous, was within clutching distance. " Halt — bring in that man," pointing him out. The man was seized and pi iced in tlic column. He continued to shout, but a lowered bayonet brought him to his senses also. The column puslied on again, and lodged the judge and the two prisoners safely in tlie impregnable Custom- IIouse, the citadel of New Orleans. The com- pany marched back, in the same order, through a crowd " as silent as a funeral," to use the Ueu- tenant's own language. This scene was witnessed from the windows LANDING- IN NEW OELEANS. 77 of the St. Charles by General Butler and hia stafl', and by the mayor and his friends, the con- ference being suspended by common consent. The general informs me, that the tirmness of Lieutenant Kinsman on this occasion, aided by the soldierly steadiness of the troops, and the perfect coolness of their officers, contributed most essentially to the subjugation of the mob of New Orleans. It was never so rampant again. The company was Captain Paige's of tlie Thirty-first Massachusetts. The reader perceives how it fared with the conference. The afternoon wore away amid these interruptions, and it was finally agreed to postpone farther conversation till the evouing, when all matters in dispute should be thoroughly discussed. By that time too, copies of the Proclamation would be ready from the True Delta office. So the mayor and his friends de- parted. In the dusk of the evening, a carriage having been with difficulty procured. General Butler, with a single orderly on the box, drove to the levee, a distance of three-quarters of a mile, and went on board the transport Mississippi. Mrs. Butler and her maid had passed an anxious day there, ignorant of what was passing in the city. " Get ready to go on shore," said the general. The trunks were locked and strapped, and trans- ferred to the carriage. Mrs. Butler and her attendant took their places, the general followed tiiem, and the party were driven to the hotel without molestation or outcry. There was a curious tea-party that evening in the vast dining-room of the ISt. Charles, where hundreds of people had been wont to consume luxurious fire. At one end of one of the tables sat the little company, lost in the magnitude of the room — the general, Mrs. Butler, and two or three members of the staff. The fare was neither sumptuous nor abundant, and the soli- tary waiter was not at his ease, for he was doing an act that was death by the mob law of Now Orleans. The general entertained the company by reading choice extracts from the anonymous letters which he had received in the course of the day. " We'll get the better of you yet, old cock-eye," remarked one of his nameless cor- respondents. Another requested him to wait a month or two, and see what Yellow Jack would do for him. Another warned him to look out for poison in his food. Both the General and Mrs. Butler received many epistles of this nature during the first few weeks, as well as some of a highly eulogistic tenor. Occasionally the gen- eral would reply to one of the abusive letters in the manner following : " Madam ; I have received the letter in which you remark upon my conduct in New Orleans, which I regret does not meet your approbation. It may interest you to know that others view it in a very different light, and I, therefore, beg to inclose for your perusal a letter received this day, in which my administration is commented upon in a strain different from that in which you have done me the honor to review it. I am, madam," etc. As the frugal repast in the St. Charles was drawing to a close, a band on the balcony in front of the building, in full view of the crowd, struck up the Star Spangled Banner, filling the void immensity of the dining-room with a deaf- ening noise. The band continued to play during the evening, the crowd standing silent and sullen. Our business, however, lies this evening in the ladies' parlor. It is a spacious, lofty and elegant apartment. On one side, in a largo semi-circle, sat the representatives of New Orleans, the mayor, the common council, other magnates, and Mr. Pierre Soule, spokesman and orator of the occasion. Mr. Soule had long been the special favorite of the Creole population ; popular, also, - with all his fellow-citizens ; a kind of pet, or ladies' delight among them ; renowned, too, at the bar. New Yorkers may call him, if they please, the James T. Brady of New Orleans. la appearance he Is not unlike Napoleon Bona- parte — about the stature, complexion and gen- eral style of Napoleon ; only with an eye of marvelous brilliancy, and hair worn very long, black as night. A melodious, fluent, graceful, courteous man, formed to take captive the hearts of listening men and women. Of an independent turn of mind, too ; not too tractable in the courts ; not one of those who made haste to sever the ties that had bound them to their country. He appears to have accepted secession as a fact accomplished, rather than helped to make it such. In conventions and elsewhere, General Butler had often met him before to-day, and their intercourse had always been amicable. On tho opposite side of the room, also in a semi-circle, sat general Butler and his staff, in full uniform, brushed for the occasion. Readers are familiar with those annihilating caricatures, which are called photographs of General Butler. In truth, the general has an imposing presence. Not tall, but of well- developed form, and fine, massive head ; not graceful in movement, but of firm, solid aspect ; self-possessed ; not silver- tongued, not fluent, like Mr. Soule; on the con- trary, he is slow of speech, often hesitates and labors, can not at once bring down the sledge- hammer squarely on tho anvil; but down it comes at last with a ring that is remembered. It is only in the heat and tempest of contention, that he acquires the perfect use of his parts ol speech. A lady who may, for anything I know, have been peeping into the room this evening from some coigne of vantage, compares the two combatants on this occasion to Richard and Sala- din, as described by Scott in the Talisman ; where Saladin, all alertness and grace, cuts the silk with gleaming, swiftest cimeter, and burly Richard, with ponderous broad-sword, which only he could wield, severs the bar of iron. General Butler opened the conversation by saying that the object for which he had re- quested the attendance of the mayor and coun- cil, was to explain to them the principles upon which he intended to govern the department to which he had been assigned, and to learn from them how far they were disposed to co-operate with him. He added that he had prepared a proclamation to the people of New Orleans, which expressed hia intentions; and which he would now read. After reading it he would be happy to listen to any remarks from gentlemen representing the people of the city. He then read the proclamation. " The sum and substance of the whole,'' added General Butler, " is this : I wish to leave the municipal authority in the full exercise of its 78 LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. accustomed functions. I do not desire to inter- fere with tiie collection of taxes, the government of the police, the lighting and cleaning of the streets, the sanitary laws, or the administration of justice. I desire only to govern the military forces of the department, and to take cognizance only of oS'enses committed by or against them. Representing liere the United States, it is my wish to contine myself solely to the business of sustaining the government of the United States against its enemies." Mr. Soiilo replied. He said, that bis first con- cern was (or the tranquillity of the city, which, he felt sure, could not be maintained so long as the federal troops remained within its limits. He therefore urged and implored General Butler to remove the troops to the outskirts of the town, where the liourlj' sight of them would not irritate a sensitive and high-spirited people. '•! know the feelings of the people so well," said he, " that I am sure your soldiers can have no peace while they remain in our midst." The Proclamation, he added, would give great of- fcnse. The people would never submit. They were not conquered, and could not be expected to behave as a conquered people. " Withdraw your troops, general, and leave the city govern- ment to manage its own aflairs. If the troops remain, there w ill certainly be trouble." This absurd line of remark — absurd as a reply to the general's proposals — fired the commander of the department of the gulf He spoke, bow- ever, in a measured though decisive manner. "I did not expect," said he, "to hear from Mr. Soule a threat on this occasion. I have been long accustomed to hear threats from southern gentlemen in political conventions; but let mo assure gentlemen present, that the time for tactics of that nature has passed never to return. New Orleans is a conquered city. If not, why are we here? How did we get here? Have you opened your arms and bid us welcome? Are we here by your consent? Would you or would you not, expel us if you could ? New Orleans has been conquered by the forces of the United States, and by the laws of all nations, lies subject to the will of the con- querors. Nevertheless, I have proposed to leave the municipal government to the free exercise of all its powers, and I am answered by a threat." Mr. Soule disclaimed the intention to threaten the troops. Ho had desired merely to state what, in his opinion, would be the consequences of their remaining. " Gladly," continued General Butler, "will I take every man of the army out of New Orleans the very day, the very hour it is demonstrated to me that the city government can protect mo from insult or danger, if I choose to ride alone from one end of the city to the other, or accom- panied by one gentleman of my stall'. Your in- ability to govern the insulting, irreligious, un- washed mob in your midst, has been clearl}- proved by the insults of your rowdies toward my officers and men this very afternoon, and bj' the fact that General Lovell was obliged to pro- claim martial law while his army occupied your city, to protect the law abiding citizens from the rowdies. I do not proclaim martial law against the respectable citizens of this place, but against the same class that obliged General Wilknison, General Jackson, and General Lovell to declare it. I have means of knowing more about your city than you think, and I am aware that at this hour there is an organization here established for the purpose of assassinating my men by de- tail ; but I warn you that if a shot is fired from any house, that house will never again cover a mortal's head ; and if I can discover the perpe- trator of the deed, the place that now knows him shall know him no more for ever. I have the power to suppress this unruly element iu your midst, and 1 mean so to use it, that in a very short period, I shall be able to ride through the entire city, free from insult and danger, or else this metropolis of the South shall bo a desert, from the plains of Chalmeite to the out- skirts of Carrolton." Mr. Soule, iu reply, delivered an oration, the beauty and grace of which were admired by all who heard it. I regret that we have no report of his speech. It was, in part, a defense and eulogy of New Orleans, and, in part, a secession speech of the usual tenor, illumined by the rhetoric of an accomplished speaker. He said that New Orleans contained a smaller proportion of the mob element than any other city of equal bize, and that the proclamation of martial law by General Lovell was aimed, not at the mob, but at the Union men and " traitors" in their midst. The conversation then turned to a topic of immense moment to the people of the city, the supply- of provisions. The general said he had determined to issue permits to dealers and others, which should protect them iu bringing in pro- visions from a certain distance beyond his lines. The awfiil situation of the poor of the city should have his immediate attention; in the mean time, the Confederate currency in their hands should be allowed to circulate, since manj- of thezn had nothing else of the nature of money. After much farther discussion, the general being immovable, the mayor announced, that the functions of the city government would be at once suspended, and the general could do with the city as seemed to him good. A member of the council promptly interposed, saying that a matter of so much importance should not be disposed of until it had been con- sidered and acted upon by the common council. The mayor assented. General Butler offered no o'ojection. It was finally agreed that the coun- cil should confer upon the subject the next morning, and make known the result of their deliberations to the general in the course of the day. The gentlemen then withdrew; the crowd iu the streets gradually dispersed, and the city enjoyed a tranquil night. The next morning, the Proclamation was pub- lished; i. e., handbills, containing it, were freely given to all who would take one. Two impor- tant appointments were also announced : Major Joseph \V. Boll, to be provost-judge, aud Col- onel Jonas H. French, to be provost-marshal. Colonel French notified the people, by hand-bill, that he " as.-