what was the difficulty, to learn what all this trouble was concerning
the Draft. Let me assure you that I am your friend. [Uproarious
cheering] You have been my friends—[cries of “Yes,” “Yes,” “That’s
so”—“We are and will be again”]—and now I assure you, my
fellow-citizens, that, I am here to show you a test of my friendship.
[Cheers.] I wish to inform you that I have sent my Adjutant-General to
Washington to confer with the authorities there, and to have this Draft
suspended and stopped. [Vociferous cheers.] I now ask you as good
citizens to wait for his return, and I assure you that I will do all
that I can to see that there is no inequality, and no wrong done to any
one. I wish you to take good care of all property as good citizens, and
see that every person is safe. The safe keeping of property and persons
rests with you, and I charge you to disturb neither. It is your duty to
maintain the good order of the city, and I know you will do it. I wish
you now to separate as good citizens, and you can assemble again
whenever you wish to do so. I ask you to leave all to me now, and I will
see to your rights. Wait until my adjutant returns from Washington, and
you shall be satisfied. Listen to me, and see that no harm is done to
either persons or property, but retire peaceably.” [Cheers.] Some of the
crowd here shouted, “Send away those bayonets,” referring to a company
of soldiers who were drawn up in front of the City Hall, but the
Governor declined to interfere with the military, and bowing to the
crowd, retired.
A person named Andrews, formerly of Virginia, then introduced himself
and asked the crowd to disperse, and await the reply from Washington,
which he was certain would come by telegraph this afternoon, and which
he knew would be, that no draft would take place. [Cries of “Send these
soldiers away, then we’ll go.”] Upon the suggestion of some person, Mr.
Perrin told the crowd that the soldiers present were subject to the
command of Governor Seymour, and could not go unless he ordered them
away. The speaker then retired, as did also the crowd, after many
mutterings against the troops.
Those of the mob who had gathered solely with a view to oppose the
draft, gradually dispersed; but the crowd had attracted to itself too
many who were only anxious to pillage and destroy, to be so readily
broken up; and the rioters only left the City Hall to assemble
elsewhere. Again night, but not quiet, descended upon the scene. From
end to end of the city the feeling of anxious fear was increased rather
than diminished. Violence, theft and bloodshed reigned in all
directions, and the sky was lurid with the lights of the still burning
buildings.
THE THIRD DAY.
The Seventh regiment had been sent for, and were hourly expected on this
day, the 15th; but the expected arrival of a body of military fresh from
the seat of war did not, apparently, in the least intimidate the
rioters, who went about threatening the houses, property, and lives of
all who came under their displeasure, and boasting that they were so
well organized as to fear nothing. One of the first acts of the rioters
upon this day was a cowardly and brutal outrage upon an unfortunate
negro, whom it was alleged had shot one of their number in self-defence.
Immediately a crowd of two or three hundred rioters surrounded the
unfortunate wretch, and seized him as he was endeavoring to enter his
house. Dragging him into the middle of the street, they jumped upon him
and pounded him with their fists and with stones, until life was
extinct. “Hang him”—“hang him,” was the cry, and procuring a piece of
clothes line, the crowd suspended the lifeless body from the limb of a
tree, where he remained hanging several hours. This fiendish act
accomplished, the insurgents cried, “burn his house,” when a rush was
made upon the building, and the door burst open. After emptying it they
set fire to and destroyed it. The firemen arriving upon the ground in
response to the alarm, saved the adjoining property from injury.
Meantime a woman told the mob that a row of tenement houses in the rear
were occupied by colored people, when the ringleader, armed with a
cudgel, led to the place in search of the inmates, but they had effected
their escape, having been apprised of their danger by some friendly
neighbors at the commencement of the outbreak. Incensed at the escape of
their prey, the mob burned the buildings, and fled on the arrival of the
police. The body of the unfortunate negro was cut down, and removed to
the dead-house.
At a later hour, the mob, strongly reinforced, again appeared in the
neighborhood, when they were fired upon by a company of military who had
been ordered to the spot. Several of the rioters were killed, but their
names were never ascertained.
About half past two o’clock a large force of the mob stopped at a
lumber-yard on Fourteenth street, fired it, and burnt it to the ground,
causing the luckless owner a loss of ten thousand dollars. The rage of
the bloodthirsty rioters continued to expend itself upon the colored
population, and upon all who had the reputation of being abolitionists.
Many beautiful buildings were laid in ashes, for no other reason than
because some maliciously disposed person volunteered the information
that “an abolitionist lived in the pile somewhere.”
It was certain death not only to any negro to be seen upon the streets
but to any white person who expressed pity for the bad treatment to
which the poor wretches were subjected. The telegraph wires were cut in
many directions; and much inconvenience as well as a great deal of
damage caused thereby. All the principal hotels in the city were
organized for defence, and the male boarders armed themselves in case of
attack; while in private families there was an almost universal
compulsory fast, both because the markets were closed up, and because it
was dangerous to go into the streets even for the purpose of purchasing
the necessaries of life.
Nearly all day there were demonstrations by the rioters in Seventh
avenue, in the vicinity of the arsenal. Cannon had been placed so as to
command all the approaches to the arsenal, and a strong force of cavalry
was on the ground. These preparations had the effect of keeping the mob
at a respectful distance, but the spirit of turbulence manifested itself
occasionally, and was often met by a terrible retribution from the
military. Cannon were held in readiness, and the conflicts during the
day, resulted in the killing and wounding of between forty and fifty
men, women, and children. Toward night the mob found a negro man, and,
having expended their rage by nearly killing him, they then hung him to
a lamp post at the corner of Twenty-eighth street and Seventh avenue.
An attack upon the gas-house was made, but before it resulted in
anything disastrous, a detachment of infantry came up, and immediately
put the rioters to flight. To protect the works from any further damage
the military kept guard upon them all night.
Late in the afternoon a consultation was held by Governor Seymour,
General Sandford, General Wool and General Brown on the propriety of
proclaiming martial law; but Governor Seymour was averse to such an
extreme measure, depending upon the military forces then in the city and
those expected to arrive to quell the disturbances.
In the course of the day the mob increased to the number of eight
hundred persons. A large body of them attacked a shoe store on Grand
street, and having appropriated every article of property it contained
they set the building on fire, and reduced it to ashes. The citizens of
the Tenth, Eleventh, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, and Nineteenth Wards having
organized themselves into Committees of Safety, patrolled the streets
carrying arms. Toward evening the Tenth, and Sixty-fifth regiments
returned to the city, and were loudly cheered as they walked up
Broadway. This somewhat sobered the rioters, but robbery and pillaging
continued during the succeeding night, although both the military and
police were on the alert. On this day the excitement had spread on the
one side of the city to Brooklyn; and on the other to Hoboken; fires
occurring in both cities ignited by the incendiaries, who profited by
their wicked acts. Boston, Troy, Buffalo, and very many other cities of
the North suffered by the riot during the fifteenth, and for several
days succeeding.
THE FOURTH DAY.
The morning of the fourth day of the riot opened under auspicious
circumstances. People awoke to find the cars and omnibuses running, and
they never were so glad to see them before. The railroads and stage
lines were assured ample protection by an order of Governor Seymour
requiring General Sandford to furnish the Police Commissioners such
force as they might require to protect their depots and stables.
The public confidence was still further increased by the arrival of the
Seventh, and Seventy-fourth Regiments, and the battery of the Eighth.
The Sixty-fifth, Colonel Burns, of Buffalo, was placed by Governor
Seymour under the orders of General Wool, and at an early hour three
companies of it were assigned to the sub-treasury building. The other
four companies were retained for street service at General Brown’s
headquarters.
The battery of the Eighth regiment, Captain Brown, which arrived with
the Sixty-fifth, was threatened by a mob at the Battery, but the two
negro servants accompanying it were firmly protected.
The expectation of the other regiments, five of New York and five of
Brooklyn, whose return Governor Seymour had requested, tended to
increase the feeling of safety which was growing with the citizens. A
Michigan regiment, whose term of service had nearly expired, was also
expected to return home by way of the metropolis.
The appropriation, moreover, of two million five hundred thousand
dollars by the Common Council to satisfy the three hundred dollar
exemption clause, withdrew most of those who feared the draft from the
mob; and few but the thieves were left.
About noon a large gang of rioters fired upon a company of soldiers from
a house on the Seventh avenue. The soldiers returned the fire, and
immediately ten or a dozen desperate fellows, armed with clubs and guns,
rushed out of the house, and pursued the soldiers, who wheeled about and
poured the contents of their muskets into them. In an incredibly short
space of time, the streets became thronged with rioters, who made the
most violent demonstrations against the soldiers, but were soon driven
from the vicinity. When the military were out of sight, the mob finished
sacking some houses they had broken into, and threatened to use the
torch forthwith for the balance of the block.
Very fortunately the mob was foiled in all its efforts to obtain
possession of the Arsenal, the lower floor of which was filled with
artillery and equipments, and the second floor with muskets, swords,
sabres, pistols, and all kinds of infantry and cavalry equipments. Had
the rioters gained possession of the building, there would have been no
lack of arms for any number they could have mustered. The third floor,
of the size of the entire building, is the drill-room, now used for
barracks and guard-house. In the centre and around the sides muskets
were stacked, and soldiers lying, with knapsacks under their heads,
asleep. It looked almost like a battle-field; coats, equipments, arms,
soldiers lying indiscriminately together. “Here,” said Major Kiernan, of
the Sixth Missouri, to a gentleman present, “you have a glimpse of war
as it is.”
The military being present in large force, the rioters became hourly
less demonstrative. Notwithstanding this, however, a great deal of
damage was done in various parts of the city. The most violent
demonstrations of the rioters were now subdued; and on the following day
business was resumed throughout the city, and all the stores which had
been obliged to be closed, were again opened. As the disturbance in New
York city subsided, the rioting in adjacent towns, and all other places
affected by it, gradually decreased; and quiet again succeeded the
short, but bloody “reign of terror.”
OPERATIONS IN TENNESSEE, IN 1863.
The headquarters of the Army of the Cumberland was established at
Murfreesboro’ on the fifth of January, 1863, the army itself occupying a
position in front of the town which was completely encircled by
extensive earthworks, constructed with the view of rendering it a depot
of supplies and the base of prospective operations. The rainy season set
in and a suspension of activity on the part of the Federals ensued, but
the cavalry of the enemy was as lively and ubiquitous as ever, and not
only often succeeded in capturing many men and wagons, but also in
burning a number of steamers on the Cumberland, with the view of cutting
off the communications of the Union army, and of stopping its supplies.
On the 31st, Brigadier-General Jefferson C. Davis with three brigades,
made a bold dash in the direction of Rover and Franklin. During an
absence of thirteen days the two brigades of cavalry he had with him
visited eight towns and secured one hundred and forty-one prisoners,
including two colonels and several other officers, without the loss of a
man.
BATTLE OF FORT DONELSON, TENN.
On the 3rd of February, 1863, Major-General Wheeler, Brigadier-General
Wharton and Colonel Forrest, with five thousand Confederates and twelve
cannon, marched on Fort Donelson. They were met half a mile from the
fort by a skirmishing party, under Captain McClanahan, sent out by
Colonel A. C. Harding, commanding the garrison, which consisted of nine
companies of the Eighty-third Illinois, one company of the Fifth Iowa
cavalry, and two sections of Flood’s battery, in all about six hundred
effective men. The battery consisted of four rifled brass pieces, in
addition to which there was one siege gun, a rifled thirty-two pounder,
in position. The skirmishers fell inward slowly, firing upon the enemy
as they retired, until they were called in. The Confederates now
displayed a white flag and demanded the surrender of the fort and
garrison. Colonel Harding replied that he “would fight while he had a
man left.” He had formed his line of battle, (in the shape of a
crescent,) one flank on the river and the other extending to a brick
building near the intrenchments; he had sent for gunboats, and was
content to abide the issue. The enemy completely encompassed the town;
and the fire of artillery opened on both sides. His men were all
mounted; and made charge after charge upon the gallant defenders, whose
Springfield rifles emptied scores of saddles at each assault. The rebel
General Wharton dismounted his men, gained the rear of the town, and
they then forced their way into it. Colonel Forrest, who had fired his
troops with daring emulation, led his brigade, in line more than a mile
long, to the attack. It was met by a perfect storm of lead. The troops
pressed on through the fatal hail, driving the Federals from their
rifle-pits and chasing them into the town, but here the pursuers were
greeted with a deadly shower that threatened them with annihilation, and
they wavered, turned and fled. But they were soon rallied, reformed, and
again urged into the mouth of destruction; and, in this spirit, was the
contest kept up from noon till half past seven o’clock, when another
flag of truce was sent in with a second demand for an unconditional
surrender.
Flood’s battery had lost forty-eight out of sixty-four horses; one
piece, had every gun dismounted, and had fired its last cartridge. The
rebels assured Colonel Harding that he had done all that could be
expected of a brave man, and that further resistance on his part would
only lead to a useless effusion of blood. The hero replied, “I have no
orders to surrender, I cannot think of such a thing—I’ll take the
consequences.”
The struggle was renewed. It appeared a hopeless one for the Unionists,
till a cheering sight appeared on the river. It was the sable Lexington,
followed by her consorts moving majestically into the rear of the
position. The gunboat, always the rebels’ terror, began to speak in her
tones of thunder.
The enemy had posted his main body in line of battle in the graveyard at
the westerly extremity of the town, with his left wing exposed to a
raking fire in a ravine which led down to the river; and the fire of the
gunboats Lexington, Fairplay, Brilliant, St. Clair, Robb and Silver
Lake, which fairly rocked the Post with the force of the concussion, did
frightful execution among the terror-stricken and fleeing masses of
rebels that filled the surrounding valleys and ravines.
In this gallant defence, the Federal loss was sixteen killed and sixty
wounded. The cavalry, which had been sent to reconnoitre four hours
before the commencement of the engagement, were all captured except
four, making the loss in prisoners about fifty. The rebels had fully one
hundred and fifty killed, four hundred wounded, and left one hundred and
fifty prisoners with the Unionists.
BATTLE NEAR FRANKLIN, TENN.
MARCH 5, 1863.
On the fourth of March, an expedition composed of the Thirty-third
Indiana, Twenty-second Wisconsin, Nineteenth Michigan, Eighty-fifth
Indiana, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio infantry, with detachments
of the Second Michigan, Ninth Pennsylvania, and Fourth Kentucky cavalry,
left Franklin, Tenn., under the command of Colonel John Coburn, to meet
a force which General Rosecrans was to send from Murfreesboro’ at a
point some twelve miles from Franklin. The column had proceeded about
three miles when it encountered the enemy, and a slight artillery
engagement ensued, in which he was defeated with the loss of ten killed,
left on the field. Here the train, which consisted of about one hundred
wagons, proving too cumbersome, was, with the exception of the
baggage-wagons, sent back, and the army went into camp. The next morning
information was brought by two negroes that the enemy under Colonel
Forrest was reinforced by Major-General Van Dorn, and now numbered ten
thousand men. The negroes were dispatched, under guard, to General
Gilbert to whom Colonel Colburn had already sent a letter informing him
of the probable number of the enemy and asking for reinforcements. “The
Colonel must be scared,” observed the General, as he wrote this laconic
order: “your force is sufficient, move forward.”
At eight o’clock A. M. the column resumed its march, throwing out
skirmishers; and when it had advanced about four miles, fire was opened
from a battery immediately in front. Colonel Colburn drew up his command
in line of battle, placed three pieces on its right and two on the left,
so that the battery might bear simultaneously on two points. Another of
the enemy’s batteries immediately revealed itself on the right, but no
force was visible. The Eighty-fifth and Thirty-third Indiana were
ordered to take it. They started down the hill, and were received with a
murderous volley from infantry behind a stone wall and around the depot,
where they disclosed overwhelming numbers. At the same moment another
rebel battery opened on the left. The two regiments were ordered to
retire. The Eighteenth Ohio battery on the left failed to stand the
scathing fire of the enemy’s guns, and being out of ammunition, had also
without orders moved down to the pike. The enemy now advanced on the
left in line of battle, and Colonel Colburn was leading the Thirty-third
and the Eighty-fifth Indiana into the fiery snare laid for them. The
Twenty-second Wisconsin and Nineteenth Michigan, on the summit of a
hill, held their positions against overwhelming odds. The section of the
battery on its right had also kept up a constant fire, but that on the
pike was retreating in double quick time, and was only too soon followed
by the other section, which had hitherto behaved so well.
Lieutenant-Colonel Bloodgood of the Twenty-second Wisconsin, seeing the
enemy closing round the hill to cut him off, gave the order to move the
regiment in that direction by the flank: one hundred and fifty obeyed
the command, and, with that number, he escaped. The cavalry had already
retired half a mile from the scene of action. The Union brigade was now
driven into a hollow, the enemy closing in upon it on every side, shell
and round shot pouring upon it, thick and fast, and bullets raining so
rapidly, that further resistance appeared like a useless immolation of
hundreds of lives. Colonel Colburn therefore surrendered.
The Union loss in this disastrous engagement was one hundred killed,
three hundred wounded, besides many prisoners, and a valuable train. The
rebel loss in killed and wounded was much less than that sustained by
the Federal forces.
* * * * *
On the tenth of March a detachment of Federal troops, comprising the
Sixth and Seventh Illinois cavalry, commanded by Colonel Grierson,
surprised Colonel Richardson’s guerrilla band, four hundred strong, near
Covington, Tenn, killed twenty-five, captured a number of them, and
dispersed the rest.
On the twelfth Major-General Gordon Granger with his division, supported
by Colonel Minty, returned to Franklin from an expedition which had been
attended with a success so brilliant as to efface in great measure the
disgrace of the failure of Colonel Colburn’s expedition. General Van
Dorn and his command, flushed with their recent victory over Colonel
Colburn, were met by this expeditionary force, and “sent flying” over
the Duck river.
On the eighteenth, fourteen hundred men, consisting of the One hundred
and fifth Ohio, the Eightieth, and One Hundred and Twenty-third
Illinois, an Indiana battery, and one company of Tennessee cavalry,
under the command of Colonel A. S. Hall, left Murfreesboro’ and started
in the direction of Liberty. On the next morning the enemy was
encountered, but in numbers so overwhelming that Colonel Hall was
compelled to return. He was attacked the next day at Milton by the rebel
forces under General John Morgan. A fierce fight, lasting three hours
and a half, ensued, but the enemy were finally repulsed with the loss of
four captains and sixty men left on the field, dead or mortally wounded,
besides nearly three hundred placed _hors du combat_. Colonel Hall had
six killed, forty wounded, and seven missing.
* * * * *