— .1 
 
 E 513 
 
 
 .5 
 6th 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 Copy 1 
 
 
 ox THE OCCASION OF 
 
 DEDICATING THE MONUMENT 
 
 TO 
 
 LADD AND WHITNEY, 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE SIXTH REGIMENT, M. V. M., KILLED AT BALTIMORE, 
 
 MARYLAND, APRIL 19, 1861. 
 
 DELIVERED AT 
 
 LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, JUNE 17, 1865. 
 
 By JOHN A. ANDREW, 
 
 GOVERNOR OF THE COMMOil WEALTH. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 WRIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS, No. 4 SPRING LANE. 
 
 18 65. 
 
 
AN ADDRESS 
 
 ON THE OCCASION OF 
 
 DEDICATING THE MONUMENT 
 
 LADD AND WHITNEY, 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE SIXTH REGIMENT, M. V. M., KILLED AT BALTIMORE, 
 MARYLAND, APRIL 19, 1861. 
 
 DELIVERED AT 
 
 LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, JUNE 17, 1865. 
 
 By JOHN A. ANDREW, 
 
 GOVERNOR OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 '^ 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 WRIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS, No. 4 SPRING LANE. 
 18 6 6. 
 
^~^\-i 
 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 On the 18tli of February, 1861, Jefferson Davis, 
 in the pride of his arrogant pretension, not yet 
 tanght to believe that the Yankees would fight, 
 encouraged in his insolence by the mild loyalty 
 which then pervaded "Washington, ^ew York, and 
 the great cities of the IS'orth, defied their manhood 
 by the exclamation : " The day of compromise 
 is past, and those who now resist us shall 
 smell Southern gunpowder and feel Southern 
 steel." On the 12th day of April, the day when 
 the cannon of treason opened on Fort Sumter, 
 the rebel Secretary of War shouted from the 
 rebel capital at Montgomery: "The war has 
 now commenced; within a month the Confederate 
 flag will float over the dome of the Capitol at 
 Washington, and in the month of May we will 
 dictate terms of peace in Independence Hall, in 
 Philadelphia." And the "Eichmond Whig," reiter- 
 ating this threat, recorded in its conservative col- 
 umns the testimony, that " from the mountain tops 
 and valleys to the shores of the sea, there is one 
 wild shout of firm resolve to capture Washington 
 City at all and every human effort." 
 
Before Mr. Buchanan had left the White House, 
 the enemies of our government had ah-eady seized 
 and appropriated more than thirty miUions of dol- 
 lars of public proj)erty of the Union, which, before 
 the Union struck a blow in return, had swelled to 
 forty millions of dollars by the seizure of Gosport 
 navy yard and the arsenal at Harper's Ferry. By 
 the seizure of the mint at Kew Orleans; by the 
 seizure of the arsenal, at Little Rock — accomplished 
 by the strong' hand, notwithstanding Arkansas had 
 refused to secede from the Union; by the dishonest 
 and treacherous transfers made by Secretary Floyd 
 of 115,000 stand of improved rifles and muskets 
 from Springfield armory and "Watervliet arsenal to 
 the different arsenals at the South; by the seizure 
 of the arsenal at Mount Yernon, Alabama; by the 
 military capture of Fort Moultrie and Castle 
 Pinckney, of Fort Pulaski and Fort Morgan, of 
 the forts near JS'ew Orleans, and of at least three 
 different revenue cutters belonging to the revenue 
 service of the Union; by the capture of the navy 
 yard and the defences of Pensacola; by taking 
 possession of the posts, the fortifications and 
 munitions pertaining to the department of Texas, 
 through the treason of General Twiggs ; by filing 
 on the " Star of the "West " more than ninety days 
 j^rior to the assault on Sumter; and by the induction 
 of Jefferson Da^ds at Montgomery two weeks before 
 the inauguration of President Lincoln; by all these 
 
the secessionists had signahzed, with proofs man- 
 ifold and unequivocal, their determination to break 
 down the government and fulfil the threats of 
 Da\ds and of the " Eichmond Whig," to bully the 
 ^N'orth into abject submission to the wildest demands 
 of rampant Slavery, or else to light the torch of 
 desolating war. 
 
 The earliest, manifest, overt act of war, com- 
 mitted in pursuance of the treasonable conspiracy 
 of which the adoption by South Carolina of the 
 "ordinance of secession" was the formal begin- 
 ning, was perhaps the firing on the " Star of the 
 West," on the 9th day of January, 1861. The 
 passage of the ordinance by South Carolina was 
 on the 20th day of December, 1860. But the 
 beginning of the war of the rebellion is usually 
 dated from the 12th day of April, 1861, that being 
 the day when, after long and uninterrupted prepa- 
 ration, the batteries of the rebels opened upon Fort 
 Sumter. 
 
 On the 15th day of April the President of the 
 United States called upon this Commonwealth for 
 two regiments of militia, and on the next day the 
 call was enlarged to a requisition for a brigade of 
 four regiments, which was assigned to the command 
 of Brigadier-General Benjamin F. Butler, in whose 
 stead, after that ofiicer became a Major-General of 
 volunteers, was detailed Brigadier-General Ebene- 
 zer W. Peh-ce. On the 17th, the Sixth Regiment 
 
6 
 
 of Massachusetts Yolunteer Militia, commanded by 
 Col. Edward F. Jones, marched for "Washington by 
 railroad, and two others, the Third, (Col. D. "W. 
 Wardrop,) and Fourth, (Col. A. B. Packard,) 
 moved b}^ sea. On the 18th the Eighth Hegmient 
 marched under Col. Munroe; on the 20th, the Third 
 Battalion of Rifles under Major (now Major-Gren- 
 eral) Devens; and the Fifth Infantry, (Col. Law- 
 rence,) and Cook's Battery of Light Artillery on the 
 early morning of the 21st. Capt. Dodd's company 
 of rifles, as a reinforcement to Devens' Battalion, 
 marched May 1st. Thus rapidly and efficiently was 
 the call of the government responded to by the 
 militia of Massachusetts, and the capital of the 
 nation and Fortress Monroe, which was of far 
 greater military value than Washington, were 
 rescued from muninent danger, at a period when the 
 consequences of ages were crowded upon the 
 efforts of an hour. 
 
 The events which the transactions of this day, 
 and this Monmuental Shaft are intended to com- 
 memorate, are those which on the 19th of April, 
 1861, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, 
 signalized the march of the Sixth Regiment of the 
 Massachusetts Volunteer Militia through the City of 
 Baltimore, on its Avay to the rescue of the iSTational 
 Capital. By the memory of those events, preserved 
 by historical tradition after this column shall have 
 dissolved to dust, the men of the Sixth Kegiment 
 
will be forever associated Tit^ith the heroism of the 
 Commonwealth, — with the earlier and the later 
 glories of her more fortunate patriotism. 
 
 The regiment as it was organized for active duty, 
 contamed four companies from the City of Lowell, 
 viz.: — Companies A, C, T> and H, commanded 
 respectively by Captains George M. Dickerman, 
 Albert S. FoUansbee, James "W. Hart and John F. 
 Noyes ; one from Groton, Company B, commanded 
 by Capt. Eusebius S. Clark j one from Acton, Com- 
 pany E, commanded by Capt. Daniel Tuttle; two 
 from Lawi'cnce, Companies F and I, commanded by 
 Captains Benjamin F. Chadboume and John Pick- 
 ering; one attached from Boston, Company K, 
 commanded by Capt. "Walter S. Sampson; one from 
 Stoneham, Company L, commanded by Capt. John 
 H. Dike; one attached from Worcester, com- 
 manded by Capt. Harrison W. Pratt. 
 
 Its field officers were Col. Edward F. Jones of 
 Pepperell, Lieut. Col. Benj. F. Watson of Law- 
 rence, Major Josiah A. Sawtell of Lowell; and its 
 commissioned stafi" were, Adjutant Alpha B. Farr, 
 of Lowell, Quartermaster James Munroe, of Cam- 
 bridge, Paymaster Pufus L. Plaisted, of Lowell, 
 Surgeon ]N"orman Smith, of Groton, and Chaplain 
 Charles Babbidge, of Pepperell. 
 
 The regiment reached the City of Baltimore, in 
 the State of Maryland, at noon on the 19th of 
 April. Seven of its companies passed unmolested 
 
8 
 
 from the railroad station at which it had arrived 
 from Philadelphia, to the station from which it was 
 to proceed to "Washington. The progress of the 
 cars that contained the fonr remaining companies, — 
 Companies C, D, I, and L, — was checked near the 
 bridge over a sluice-way in Pratt Street, by obstruc- 
 tions thro^vn upon the track, separating them from 
 the main body of the regiment. Thus delayed, 
 these companies dismomited from the cars, and 
 began an orderly march along the liighway, which 
 was presently interrupted by a shower of missiles 
 thrown by the hands of a mob surging around them. 
 Then came a scattering discharge of fire-arms from 
 upj)er windows of houses on the street, as well as 
 from among the mob on the pavement ; and four 
 soldiers fell dead or mortally wounded. The fire 
 of the rebels was at last returned by the troops by 
 order of their officers, and the combat became 
 general. The little column, hardly tAVO hundred 
 strong, steadily pressed its way forward through 
 the mob, and rejomed the main body, but with a 
 loss of more than thirty wounded, in addition to the 
 four killed. 
 
 That evening, the Sixth Regiment entered the 
 City of Washington, and was quartered in the 
 Senate Chamber of the Capitol, — the herald of 
 those mighty hosts which since have gathered to 
 defend it. 
 
The treasonable menaces, the Ordmances of Se- 
 cession, the acts of violence and incipient war, 
 which followed the choice of Presidential Electors 
 in 1860, and cnlminated into flagrant rebellion upon 
 the accession of Abraham Lincoln to the Presi- 
 dency, had attracted the anxious observation of 
 mankind. DS^ever in the history of civilization had 
 interests so manifold, so transcendent, been involved 
 or threatened by the internal disputes of any nation 
 or people. The mdustry of thirty millions of 
 human beings, bond and free, the j)eace, happi- 
 ness and welfare of every household of our conti- 
 nental Republic, the business of the busiest and 
 richest people under the sun, the strength of 
 Republican Grovernment, the validity of Democratic 
 ideas expressed in civil institutions, the success of 
 Liberty, seemed trembling in the balance, where, 
 poised against each other, were the struggling hope 
 of continued peace, and the dismal presage of civil 
 war. With the fortunes of the American Union 
 were involved, by reason of the intimate com- 
 plexity of all human relations in the social and 
 political organization of modern times, the pros- 
 perity, if not the fate, of many nations. The peo- 
 ple of Massachusetts numbered about a million and 
 a quarter of the population of the Union. From 
 the earliest settlement of the country, they had 
 been distinguished in two different, if not opposite 
 ways, which supei-ficial men are apt to think not 
 
10 
 
 consistent with each other. I mean in the direc- 
 tion of Industry, and in the du^ection of Ideas. 
 Given to much toil, they vakied gain as an instru- 
 ment of comfort, progress and human development. 
 Devoted to ideas, they worshipped Almighty God 
 in a spirit of reverence, which recognized among 
 the sublime truths of his revelation, the immortal 
 nature conferred on the humblest as well as on the 
 loftiest of manldnd, and they perceived that the 
 glory of the civil State, as well as the Justice of 
 Heaven, demanded the maintenance and security 
 of the inalienable rights of men. 
 
 In view of the part that people and their fathers 
 had borne, in establishing the original character of 
 American institutions, in securing American Inde- 
 pendence, in founding the !N^ational Government, 
 in creating and directing the great currents of 
 opinion; in view of all the interests and responsi- 
 bilities' which pertained to them, their duty and 
 necessity of intelligent and independent judgment, 
 and of fearless action; the occasion impressed itself 
 upon the people of Massachusetts, stirred heart 
 and conscience, fired every disinterested emotion, 
 stimulated every heroic purpose, and fomid them 
 ready, when the hour struck, to march once more 
 in the cause of liberty and the rights of manMnd, 
 patient to follow, and prepared to lead. 
 
 Convinced, if I had doubted it before, by events 
 and conversations of which I was personally a wit- 
 
11 
 
 ness at Washington, in the month of December, 
 1860, of the certain coming of the war which ensued, 
 there seemed but two causes of anxiety, with which 
 one needed be disturbed, who beheved m the care of 
 Providence, the safety and the happiness found in 
 the ways of duty, even though rugged and severe. 
 The first ground of apprehension was, that the 
 bolt might fall before the inauguration of President 
 Lincoln should place the symbols of power into 
 his faithful hands. The second gi'ound of appre- 
 hension was, that it might fall upon us, finding no 
 competent body prepared with approj)riate organi- 
 zation, and military array, adequate to maintain the 
 fii-st shoct of arms, and to hold the keys of power 
 and the points of strategy, (whose loss might 
 become fatal to the cause,) while the great body of 
 the people, for the first time truly conscious of the 
 exigency, could be rallied for resistance. 
 
 The General Court and the Volunteer Mititia of 
 Massachusetts, promptly cooperated in the needful 
 work of preparation. And when the electric sum- 
 mons of the 15th of April came to our citizen 
 soldiers, citing them to the field, a brigade was 
 ready to march, almost like veterans from their 
 garrison ; and even the very exigency of an inter- 
 ruption of the means of transportation through 
 Maryland, contemplated in the month of January 
 before, was seasonably met, according to the sug- 
 gestion at that time made by Lieut.-General Scott, 
 
12 
 
 by providing for the transit of troops by water 
 carriage down the Susquehanna, and around to 
 Annapohs, within one day's forced march, of 
 Washington. 
 
 The tragedy, the triumph, the glory of these four 
 intervening years, the terrible and the consoling 
 experiences they have w^rought, are too near to us 
 in time, and then' scenes and emotions are in too 
 vi\id and distracting contact yet, for their portrayal 
 by pencil, tongue or pen. But removed from their 
 immediate presence, the poetic sense will hereafter 
 perceive them in their more just proportions. It is 
 not the photograph, with its rigid severity of out- 
 line and superficial accuracy, but the work of 
 imaginative art which produces in truest reality 
 the forms of beauty illmninated by the inspiring 
 soul. 
 
 It is not for me to attempt to separate the be^vil- 
 derin^ masses of transactions and emotions through 
 which we have lived, nor to rise above the influ- 
 ences of those recent events which at present con- 
 trol alike the imagination and the reason. But 
 while I confess the impossibility of "executing such 
 a task in any manner becoming the occasion, I may 
 testify to the impressions stamped forever on our 
 memories and on our hearts by that great week in 
 April, when Massachusetts rose up at the sound of 
 the cannonade of Sumter, and her militia brigade 
 springing to their arms appeared on Boston Com- 
 
13 
 
 mon. It redeemed the meanness and the weariness 
 of many a prosaic hfe. It was a revelation of a pro- 
 found sentiment, of manly faith, of glorious fidelity 
 and of a love stronger than death. Those wore 
 days of which none other in the history of the war 
 became the j)arallel. And when on the evening of 
 the anniversary of the battle oY Lexington, there 
 came the news along the wires that the Sixth Regi- 
 ment had been cutting its way through the streets 
 of Baltimore, whose jDavements were reddened 
 with the blood of Middlesex, it seemed as if there 
 descended into our hearts a mysterious strength and 
 into our mmds a supernal illumination. In many 
 trjnng experiences of the war we have watched 
 by starlight as well as sunlight the doubtful 
 fortunes of our arms. But never has the news of 
 \dctory, decisive and grand, — not even that of 
 Gettysburg, on which hung issues more tremen- 
 dous than ever depended on the fortunes of a single 
 battle-field, — so lifted us above oiu'selves, so trans- 
 formed our earthly weakness into heavenly might, 
 by a glorious transfiguration. The citizens of yes- 
 terday were to-day the heroes whom history would 
 never forget; and the fallen brave had put on the 
 croA\m of martyrdom, more worthy than a hundred 
 mortal diadems. Their blood alone was precious 
 enough to wipe out the long arrears of shame. 
 The great and necessary struggle was begun, 
 ■without which we were a disgraced, a doomed, a 
 
14 
 
 ruined people. "We had reached the partmg of the 
 ways ; and we had not hesitated to choose the right 
 one. Oh ! it is terrible, beyond expression terrible, 
 to feel that only war, with all its griefs and pains 
 and crunes, will save a people ; but how infinitely 
 greater than the dread and the dismay with which 
 we thought of war, was the Aope of that salvation. 
 
 It was on the first day of May that Massachusetts 
 received back to her soil the remains of these, her 
 children, over whom we rear this momunent. 
 
 One of the dead still sleeps at Baltunore. The 
 mangled bodies of the other three, transported 
 hither under charge of one of their fellow-soldiers, 
 reached the State capital just before sunset, where 
 they were received by the Governor of the Com- 
 monwealth, and were escorted through streets 
 draped in emblems of mourning and lined by thou- 
 sands of citizens with uncovered heads and moist- 
 ened eyes, to the " Yassal tomb " beneath the 
 ancient " King's Chapel." On the way they were 
 borne past the State House over the same ground 
 where twelve days before they had stood to 
 receive the flag which they swore to defend, and 
 which they had died defending. 
 
 Of these three martyi's, the name of but one was 
 known — that of Su]\rN:ER Henry ^N^eediiam, of 
 Lawrence. The rolls of the regiment were cut oif 
 with its baggage, in the struggle at Baltimore. 
 But had not this accident occurred, they might 
 
15 
 
 have failed to a£ford means of identifying the re- 
 mains; for in the haste of the original assembling 
 and movuig of the regiment they had escaped 
 careful revision. Some men had discarded the 
 implements and clothing of peace, and fallen mto 
 the ranks, on its march across the city, the very 
 hour of its departure. In those early days, when 
 the nation was wavering between life and death, we 
 did not waste time on forms. "We were asked to 
 send two regiments of troops as soon as we could. 
 We did send five regiments, and more, sooner than 
 the country had believed was possible to any State; 
 but in accomplishing that, we neglected formali- 
 ties which would have been mdispensible under an 
 exigency less tremendous. 
 
 Therefore it was, that two of the three corpses, — 
 the same two wliich have mouldered into these 
 ashes, in the presence of which we stand — ^lay 
 before us that May evening, without a name. 
 Later in the night, imder the direction of officers of 
 the Head-quarters' staff of Massachusetts, and in the 
 presence of the Mayors of the cities of Lawrence 
 and of Lowell, these bodies were identified, and the 
 names of Luthee Ceawpoed Ladd and Addisoi^ 
 Otis "Whitxey, two young mechanics, both of 
 Lowell, were added to that of iN'eedham. And, 
 completing the four, is the name of Chaeles A. 
 Tayloe, whose residence and family even now 
 remain unkno^vn. 
 
16 
 
 To complete the historical record of the humble 
 men who thus, by a fortunate and glorious death 
 have made their names imperishable, let us re\dew 
 the brief stories of thek lives. They are quickly 
 told. They are simple in incident; and they are 
 characteristic of ^ew England. 
 
 Little is kno^vn of Taylor, except that his trade 
 was that of a decorative painter. The most careful 
 inqmi-ies of his officers have failed to discover his 
 residence or liis origin. On the evening of April 
 16th he presented himself at Boston, in the hall 
 where the regiment was quartered, and was enrolled 
 as a volunteer. He appeared to be about twenty- 
 five years of age. His hair was light; his eyes 
 blue. After he fell on the pavement at Baltimore 
 on the afternoon of April 19th, his brutal murderers 
 beat him with clubs until life was extinct. 
 
 Needham was born March 2d, 1828, at Bethel, a 
 little town lying under the shadow of the White 
 Mountains, on the banks of the Androscoggin 
 River, in the County of Oxford, in the State of 
 Maine. About 1850 he came to Lawrence, in 
 Massachusetts, and engaged in his trade there, as a 
 plasterer. After he fell mortally wounded at Balti- 
 more, he Avas removed to the Infirmary, where 
 he lingered until April 27th, when he died. His 
 remams lie at Lawrence, where his wife and child 
 reside. 
 
17 
 
 Luther Crawford (son of John and Fanny) Ladd 
 was born at Alexandria, near the Merrunack River, 
 in the County of Grafton, in the State of N"ew 
 Hampshire — where his parents still reside — on the 
 22d day of December, 1843, being the anniversary 
 of the landing of the Pilgrims. 
 
 Addison Otis (son of John F. and Jane B.) 
 "Wniitney was borh October 30th, 1839, at Waldo, 
 in the comity of the same name, which borders on 
 the Penobscot River, near where it joins the sea, 
 in the State of Maine. Both died unmarried. 
 
 Tliese brief lives offer no incidents that are 
 not common to most of the ingenuous young men 
 of 'Ne^Y England. Born of honest parentage, 
 the 3^outh of both Ladd and "Wliitney was passed 
 by the side of the great rivers, and the sea, 
 and the mountains of ISTew England, and was 
 nurtured in correct principles and fair ambition, 
 by the teaching of free schools, until, arrived 
 at manhood, and attracted by the opportunities 
 of the great mechanical establishments of the 
 eastern counties of Massachusetts, they came 
 to Lowell, and were employed, the first in a 
 machine shop, the second in the spinning-room 
 of one of its manufactories. Their companions in 
 toil and in social life testify to their exemplary 
 habits, their amiable disposition, and their laudable 
 industry. And thus they were engaged, constant 
 in work, hopeful of long life, and confident of the 
 
18 
 
 success which is everywhere in ^ew England the 
 fruit of free and honest labor, when the sudden 
 summons reached them to take up arms for their 
 country. They never faltered for one moment in 
 simple-hearted patriotism, and loyal obedience. 
 At Lowell, on the 15th day of April, they dropped 
 the garb of the artisan, and assumed that of the 
 citizen-soldier. Four days afterwards at Balti- 
 more, their mortal bodies, bruised and lifeless, 
 lay on the bloody stones of Pratt Street, the 
 victims of the brutal mob. 
 
 Both "Wliitney and Ladd were young, and moved 
 by a dauntless enthusiasm. "Whitney was but 
 twenty-one years of age, and Ladd was only in 
 his eighteenth year. 
 
 "Whitney joined the Lowell City Guards (Co. D, 
 of the Sixth Kegiment,) in the summer of 1860. 
 He attended muster with the regiment that year, 
 and was discharged early in the winter of 1861, 
 because he was learning a trade, and could ill afford 
 the time and expense of membership. On the call 
 of the Governor on the regimental commanders, in 
 March, 1861, to ascertain how many men in their 
 commands would be ready for active service in case 
 they should be needed, Whitney promptly came 
 forward, and signified his willingness to obey the 
 summons. He signed the rolls of the company 
 with the understanding that if it should not be 
 wanted he should be discharged. On the evening 
 
19 
 
 of April 15th, when the order came for the regi- 
 ment to get ready to leave the following day, he 
 was among the first to put on his uniform. In 
 company with a comrade, he left the armory about 
 two o'clock' during the night of the 16th, for the 
 purpose of procuring his photograph in the early 
 morning, and he w^as at his company post promptly 
 at the time appointed. 
 
 In passing through Baltimore he was on the left 
 of the first section, and while marching through 
 Pratt Street, near the bridge, w^as seen to fall. 
 Some of his comrades, thinking he had stumbled, 
 tried to assist him, but finding he was dead, they 
 left him where he fell. A bullet had pierced his 
 right breast, passing down the body, causing instant 
 death. The shot was undoubtedly fired from the 
 upper window of a house. The coat which he wore 
 was found stripped of every' button, cut ofi" by the 
 mob. The place in the coat where the bullet 
 entered is plainly visible, saturated with his blood. 
 
 The precise manner of the death of Ladd is 
 known by the bullet-holes, of which there are 
 several, through the coat and the overcoat he wore, 
 and by their gory stains. He is reported to have 
 cultivated a strong taste for historical reading, and 
 from his earliest boyhood to have entered with 
 ardor into the study of our national affairs. He 
 enlisted in the City Guards, at Lowell, three 
 months before his death, on the occasion of the 
 
20 
 
 appearance of the General Order of that year from 
 the Commonwealth Head-quarters, already alluded 
 to, and known as Order l^o. 4; and he expressed 
 his desu-e to jom that company most likely to be 
 called to active duty. By his youth he was legally 
 exempt from military service ; and his friends would 
 have dissuaded hmi at last from assuming its hard- 
 ships and perils. But he met their persuasions 
 by an appeal to the flag of his country whose 
 fortunes he declared that he would surely follow. 
 And when the fatal bullets had smitten him and he 
 lay struggling with death, of a sudden the vision of 
 his country's flag seemed to flash before him, as a 
 momentary glory and delight, and exclaiming aloud, 
 with his dying voice, " All hail to the Stripes and 
 Stars ! " the soldier-boy ended his brief campaign. 
 The public opinion that permitted this tragedy 
 derives its interpretation from public documents 
 and ofiicial action which leave no doubt of the 
 value of the Massachusetts Militia to the Union 
 cause, no doubt of the danger their service 
 averted, no doubt of the urgent necessity of that 
 very march through Baltimore, no doubt that it 
 was the hinge on which turned the ultimate fate of 
 Maryland, and perhaps of the Union. Our Militia 
 were ready not a day too soon, nor were they an 
 hour too late. The people of Baltimore, so tele- 
 graphed the Mayor, to myself, on the 20th of 
 April, regarded the passage of armed troops of 
 
21 
 
 another State through then- streets, as an invasion 
 of their soil, and could not be restrained. The 
 Governor of Maryland and the Mayor of Baltimore 
 represented to President Lincoln that the people 
 were exasperated to the highest degree by the pres- 
 ence of the troops, and that it was not possible for 
 more soldiers to pass through Baltimore. They 
 remonstrated against the transit of more soldiers, 
 and they required that the troops already in the 
 State be sent back to its borders. In reply to 
 the Mayor of Baltimore the Governor of Massa- 
 chusetts telegraphed: " I am overwhelmed with sur- 
 prise that a peaceful march of American citizens 
 over the highway to the defence of our common 
 capital should be deemed aggressive to Balti- 
 moreans. Through ^ew York their march was. 
 triumphal." 
 
 The loyal people of the Union shared this sur- 
 prise, and exhibited it through the public press, in 
 public meetings, in cordial response to the Presiden- 
 tial proclamation, and by promptly raising troojDS 
 for three months' service. The affair of the 19th 
 of April was observed throughout the country 
 with inexpressible emotion. The patience and 
 valor of the Sixth Regunent excited the emulation 
 of their comrades everywhere. By the 11th of 
 May, the forces under General Butler, from differ- 
 ent States, within what was then termed the mili- 
 tary department of Annapolis, enabled hun to 
 
22 
 
 occupy with a cletacliinent of his command, Federal 
 Hill, in the corporate limits of Baltimore, for the 
 purpose, among other tilings, of enforcing respect 
 and obedience to the laws of the United States. 
 And on that day, the Governor of Maryland issued 
 his Proclamation for four regiments of the IMary- 
 land Militia to serve as three months' volunteers, 
 either within the limits of Maryland or for the 
 defence of the Capital of the United States, subject 
 to the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of the 
 Army. 
 
 The effort to prevent the transit of the loyal vol- 
 unteers soon terminated; but the same temper of 
 mind which excited the attack on the Sixth Regi- 
 ment, and would have forbidden to the nation the 
 .movement of troops for its own necessary pro- 
 tection, over highways common to all the peo23le, 
 had possession for the time of the Legislature at 
 Annapolis. 
 
 On May Ittth, 1861, the General Assembly of 
 Maryland passed Resolves declaring that — 
 
 " the war now waged by the goyernment of the United States upon 
 the people of the Confederated States is unconstitutional in its origin, 
 repugnant to civilization and sound policy, subversive of the free 
 principles upon which the Federal Union was founded, and certain 
 to result in the hopeless and bloody overthrow of our existing 
 institutions." 
 
 That— 
 
 " the people of Maryland * * * sympathize deeply with their 
 Southern brethren in their noble and manly determination to uphold 
 and defend the great American principle of self-government." 
 
23 
 
 That— 
 
 "the State of Maryland * * * registers her solemn protest 
 against the Avar which the Federal government has declared upon 
 the Confederate States of the South, and our sister and neighbor, 
 Virginia, and announces her resolute determination to have no part 
 or lot, directly or indirectly, in its prosecution." 
 
 That— 
 
 " the Senators and Delegates of Maryland do fervently beseech and 
 implore the President of the United States, * * in the name of 
 God and humanity, to cease this unholy and most wi-etched and 
 unprofitable strife." 
 
 That— 
 
 " the State of Maryland desires the peaceful and immediate recog- 
 nition of the independence of the Confederate States, and hereby 
 gives her cordial consent thereunto." 
 
 On June 22cl, 1861, the same Assembly passed 
 Kesolves "earnestly desiring and requesting" its 
 Senators in Congress "to urge and vote for an 
 immediate recognition of the mdependence of the 
 Goyermnent of the Confederate States of Ame- 
 rica," declaring, also, " that the right of separation 
 from the Federal Union is a rio^ht neither arismo: 
 under nor prohibited by the Constitution, but a 
 sovereign right, independent of the Constitution, 
 to be exercised by the several States uj^on their 
 own responsibility;" and "in favor of the re- 
 cognition of the Southern Confederacy and an 
 acknowledgment of its government." 
 
 But meanwhile the struggle between secession 
 and the Union had been going on among the j^eoiDle. 
 Time for reflection, oiDportunity for debate, had 
 
24 
 
 been gained. By vigorous national measures the 
 tide of evil had been stayed; and Maryland, which 
 might like other States have been hurled into dis- 
 union by precipitate legislation, had been saved. 
 
 The next legislature earnestly began to retrieve 
 the past. In December, 1861, by an order of the 
 House of Delegates of the General Assembly, 
 its Committee on the Militia was instructed 
 "to confer with the Governor of Massachusetts 
 and learn the condition of the widows and 
 orphans, or any dependents of those patriots 
 who were so brutally murdered in the riot of the 
 19th of April." The Chairman of the Committee, 
 John Y. L. Findlay, Esq., of the Baltimore 43ar, 
 in his communication to the Governor, reciting 
 that " the loyal people of Maryland, and especially 
 of the city of Baltimore, after long suffering, are 
 at length able through a Union Legislature to put 
 themselves in a proper relation to the Government 
 and the country," stated that "in effecting the 
 latter, they feel their first duty is to Massachusetts. 
 They are anxious to wipe out the foul blot of the 
 Baltimore riot as soon as it can be wiped out, and 
 as soon as possible." 
 
 In his reply to this communication the Governor 
 informed Mr. Findlay that he had addressed the 
 Mayors of Lawi^ence and Lowell on the subject of 
 his inquiries, and added — "The past cannot be 
 forgotten, but it can and will be forgiven; and in 
 
25 
 
 the good Providence of God I believe that the day 
 is not distant when the blood that was shed at 
 Baltimore by those martyrs to a cause as holy as 
 any for which sword was ever drawn, shall be 
 known to have cemented in an eternal union of 
 sympathy, affection, and nationality, the sister 
 States of Maryland and Massachusetts." 
 
 Upon the receipt from the Mayors, of the infor- 
 mation desired, it was promptly communicated to 
 the Maryland Committee. 
 
 On the 5th of March, 1862, an Act was passed by 
 the General Assembly of Maryland, by which after 
 a preamble setting forth that "whereas the Sixth 
 Kegiment of Massachusetts Volunteers on their 
 way to defend the National Capital were brutally 
 attacked by a mob in the streets of Baltunore on 
 the 19th of April, 1861," and "the State of Mary- 
 land is anxious to do something to efface that stain 
 from her hitherto untarnished honor," the sum of 
 seven thousand dollars was appropriated and placed 
 at the disposal of the Governor of Massachusetts to 
 be disbursed by him for the relief of the families of 
 those soldiers who were then killed or disabled' by 
 their wounds. 
 
 This magnanimous Act was suitably acloiowl- 
 edged by the General Court of Massachusetts, in 
 Kesolves approved on April 30th, and transmitted 
 to the Governor of Maryland, and by him laid 
 before the General Assembly of that State. 
 
26 
 
 These Resolves declared that "the people of Massa- 
 chusetts will welcome with sincere and cordial satis- 
 faction this evidence of the generous sympathy of 
 the people of Maryland, which will tend to restore 
 and strengthen that Idnd and fraternal feeling 
 which should ever exist between the citizens of the 
 different States of the Union." 
 
 The fund thus appropriated was distributed 
 under the dh^ection of the Governor, to the sur- 
 viving families of l^eedliam, Ladd and "Whitney, 
 and to seventeen of the woimded, by an informal 
 commission, composed of Messrs. John JN'esmith, 
 the Lieutenant-Governor, and James M. Shute and 
 Gerry W. Cochrane, members of the Executive 
 Council, whose discriminating and benevolent care 
 deserve our grateful recognition. 
 
 Maryland at last had attained a firm position 
 against secession, and in general support of the 
 JSTational Government. But the regeneration of 
 the State was yet incomplete. The General As- 
 sembly had in December, 1861, appointed a Com- 
 mittee "to proceed forthwith to Washington and 
 request an interview with Major-General McClellan 
 and solicit the adoption of some plan to prevent the 
 admission of fugitive slaves within the lines of the 
 army." 
 
 In March, 1862, they had "seen with concern, 
 certain indications at the seat of the general gov- 
 ernment of an interference with the institution of 
 
27 
 
 slavery in the slaveliolding States," and bore solemn 
 testimony against "a policy so unwise and mis- 
 cliieyons." 
 
 During that session, they made formal appeal to 
 the people of the l^orthern States " to discontinue 
 by every means in their power all attempts to revive 
 the agitation of slavery." 
 
 They called upon the Korth "to rebuke in an 
 unmistakable manner those of their Eepresenta- 
 tives in Congress who are wasting their time in 
 devising schemes for the abolition of slavery in the 
 rebellious States." 
 
 And they announced that they "witness with 
 great regret the efforts which are now making 
 for the abolition of slavery in the District of 
 Columbia." 
 
 But Maryland was not singular in her reluctance. 
 As yet the pohcy of the Nation was undefined. 
 Nor did it reach the dignity of positive justice, 
 clearly pronounced, until by the great Proclamation 
 of Liberty, the Government- became anchored to an 
 immortal thought, and decreed Emancipation. By 
 that act the President ascended a height more lofty 
 than Federal Hill. He rose to the serene heights 
 of Zion, received light and knowledge and power 
 from an Eternal Source, fixed by a word the moral 
 judgment of mankind in sympathy with our national 
 cause, secured the verdict of histoiy and the prayers 
 
28 
 
 of the good in every land, and humbly awaited " the 
 gracious favor of Almighty God." 
 
 Among the early results was the conversion 
 of Maryland, despite her former legislative resolves, 
 to a free Commonwealth. The Proclamation, pow- 
 erless to emancipate the slaves in loyal States, had 
 not unlocked the fetters of the Maryland slave. 
 But by magnetic sympathy its idea had seized the 
 minds of those who controlled the State, and a 
 new constitution, of which the policy of Emanci- 
 pation was the soul, became the consequence. 
 
 The new constitution, framed by a convention 
 which met the 27th of April, 1864, was introduced 
 by a declaration of rights, the first article of which 
 is in these significant words : — 
 
 " We hold it to be self-evident that all men are created equally 
 free ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalien- 
 able rights, among which are life, liberty, the enjoyment of the 
 proceeds of their own labor, and the pursuit of liappiness." 
 
 The tAventy-fourth article of the declaration 
 reads : — 
 
 " That hereafter, in this State, there shall be neither slavery nor 
 involuntary servitude, except in punishment of crime whereof the 
 party shall have been duly convicted ; and all persons held to ser- 
 vice or labor as slaves are hereby declared free." 
 
 And the thirty-sixth section of the third article 
 of the constitution declares: — 
 
 " The General Assembly shall pass no law, nor make any appro- 
 priation to compensate the mastei's or claimants of slaves emanci- 
 pated from servitude by the adoption of this constitution." 
 
29 
 
 Submitted to the adjudication of the people, this 
 charter was adopted by their vote, and became the 
 constitution of Maryland, taking effect on the first 
 day of N^oyember in the year 1864. 
 
 'No hand of menace or threat of vengeance was 
 ever raised by Massachusetts. She fulfilled her 
 duty to the country by the march of her militia. 
 She maintained her fidelit}'^ to the Union and to 
 her sister Commonwealth. She awaited the time 
 when History should become the vindicator of her 
 conduct and avenge the blood of her children. 
 
 N^or was the waiting vain. No sweeter triumph 
 could have blessed her. The slaughter of her sons 
 was disavowed and atoned for. The Government 
 of the State called out four regiments to march 
 shoulder to shoulder with our militia whose recall 
 it had at first demanded. Secession was replaced 
 by resolves and deeds in support of the war for 
 the Union. Our own doctrines and principles con- 
 cerning human liberty, so long denounced and 
 despised, were embodied by the people of Mary- 
 land in their fundamental law. And finally, in 
 her ratification on February 3d, 1865, of the 
 Amendment of the Constitution of the United 
 States abolishing slavery throughout the Union, 
 Maryland led by her example Massachusetts her- 
 self. From the hour when your martyred brethren 
 fell in Pratt Street, the redemption of Maryland — 
 the salvation of one of the "Old Thirteen," 
 
30 
 
 whose ancient fame is one with ours — and the 
 emancipation of her bondmen, were secure. The 
 result came hke the fulfihnent of prophecy. It 
 was the working of the wisdom and the love of 
 God overruling the devices of men. 
 
 Friends and Fellow-citizens: — 
 
 The limits of the occasion forbid me to invade 
 the j^roper domain of history. I must not try to 
 recount the story of the regiment during its three 
 months of ser\ice, nor even allude to the incidents 
 illustrating the careers of the organizations which 
 composed our militia brigade. I seek not to divert 
 your thoughts from the transactions around which 
 centre the interests and emotions of this hour of 
 commemoration. Ages shall elapse before eloquent 
 tongues shall cease to discourse on the ever new 
 and varying attractions of the heroic themes fur- 
 nished by the deeds of all the soldiers of the Union. 
 But this hour is sacred to the memories of the 19th 
 of April, to the action and passion of that day in 
 Baltimore, to the relation borne by the events of 
 that day to those which surrounded and followed 
 them, and to their significance in the grand drama 
 of wliich they formed the introduction. 
 
 Let this monument, raised to preserve the names 
 of Ladd and Whitney, — the two young artisans of 
 Lowell, who fell among the first martyrs of the 
 great rebellion, — let this monument, now dedicated 
 
31 
 
 to theii* memory, stand for a thousand generations ! 
 It is another shaft added to the monumental col- 
 umns of Middlesex. Henceforth shall the inhabi- 
 tants of Lowell guard for Massachusetts, for 
 patriotism, and for liberty, this sacred trust, as they 
 of Acton, of Lexington, of Concord, protect the 
 votive stones which commemorate the men of 
 AprU, '75. 
 
 Let it stand, as long as the Merrunac runs from 
 the mountains to the sea; wliile this busy stream 
 of hmnan life sweeps on by the banks of the river, 
 bearing to eternity its freight of destiny and hope. 
 It shall speak to yoiu- children, not of Death, but 
 of Immortality. It shall stand here, a mute, expres- 
 sive witness of the beauty and the dignity of 3^outh 
 and manly prime consecrated in unselfish obedience 
 to Duty. It shall testify that gratitude will re- 
 member, and praise will wait on the hmublest, who, 
 by the intrinsic greatness of their souls, or the 
 worth of their ofierings, have risen to the sublmie 
 peerage of Yutue.