Q. And no ammunition for them?
A. No; we had powder and ball. I had paper cartridges made for the
committee since that, as the controller will tell you. They came to get
muskets, and I had cartridges made.
Q. You may state to what extent you supplied the citizens with
ammunition?
A. Well, to quite a large extent. This is a statement which I have made
up for General Negley. He represents the committee of safety. Here are
fifty Cosmopolitan carbines; three hundred and ninety-nine Springfield
rifled muskets; fifty Remington revolvers; fifty cavalry sabers;
forty-nine belt holsters; forty-seven pistol pouches; forty-seven
cavalry saber belts; fifty carbine slings; forty-eight carbine slings
swivels; two hundred bayonet scabbards; one hundred and ninety cap
pouches; two hundred cartridge boxes; two hundred cartridge-box belts;
two hundred and fifteen waist belts; two hundred waist-belt plaits;
fifty bridles--curb bridles; forty-nine holsters and straps; fifty
saddles; fifty saddle bags; fifty saddle blankets; thirty-eight pounds
of buckshot; four hundred and eighty-three musket percussion caps.
These were to make buck and ball cartridges. Those were returned back
to me since then.
These are to be added: One hundred and twenty-six Springfield rifled
muskets, caliber fifty-eight; twenty-six Remington revolvers, caliber
forty-four; thirteen Whitney revolvers, caliber thirty-six; six cavalry
sabers, thirty-nine pistol holsters, sixty cap pouches, eighteen waist
belts, thirty-three waist belt plaits. That was to the committee of
safety; besides that, to the mayor of Allegheny City I issued--I am not
sure--I think it was three hundred muskets, and powder, and balls, and
buckshot, and cartridge paper for making cartridges.
Q. These cartridges were not paper, buck, and ball?
A. Oh, no; just the material I had, which was the balls and the powder.
In order to get the powder, I broke up cannon ammunition--one pound
cartridges--broke it up.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Did you witness any of the scenes of Sunday, the 22d.
A. Yes; for a very short time.
Q. Tell us what you saw on Sunday?
A. By these papers I was nearly all night. I went to bed to get some
rest, and was in bed when I heard firing down this street. That is what
first wakened me was the sound of firing down the street. Otherwise,
before that it was perfectly peaceable and quiet. That officer had his
twenty men out on this side of that building, for Sunday morning
inspection, and he had just dismissed them, and hearing this firing
down street, I jumped out of bed, and got into my pantaloons, and put
my night shirt in my breeches, and got my coat on, and rushed out of
the room, and before I got out I saw that, from the exclamations of
those in the house, there were a number of men running through the
grounds. Whoever they were, they were unauthorizedly coming in without
any permission, and when I appeared on the grounds, there were a number
of soldiers inside, how many, I do not know, and as I opened the door,
the firing had ceased. I started towards the gate, and upon looking
around in this direction, I saw Lieutenant Lyons coming towards my
quarters, and an officer coming towards my house, and I turned to meet
him. As he came up, I said to him, "You must take your men right out,
sir; there is no protection here for you." He answered, "You have
walls." "Yes," I said, "we have walls," raising my hand that way. He
says, "Have you any suggestion to make." I said, "None, sir; except to
organize your men and assault them." I supposed there was some fight
going on, from what I saw and heard. That is all the words passed
between me and the officer--who he was I do not know. He had a blouse
coat, and looked like a second lieutenant. It does not matter who he
was; under the circumstances there was no time, at that time, for
wasting words, in my estimation. My orders were orders that were
peremptory. I ordered him and his men out. As I told him these last
words he started towards the gate, and I immediately turned and went
towards the building, where a wounded man was brought in. Says I, "I
will take care of the wounded." I called my men, and ordered him taken
to the hospital. There was a man lying inside of the gate, one of my
men bathing his temples. I asked what was the matter. He did not know.
I called my man and instructed him to take him to the hospital. I went
to the gate, and I saw nothing there, except a few citizens--workingmen
in their Sunday clothes--going to church. I did not see an armed man
anywhere. Brinton and his command had gone up the street in the
meantime, and left the arsenal. In a few moments I was joined by
Lieutenant Lyon, and I authorized him to go immediately for a surgeon
for these wounded men, and he went down to Doctor Robinson's office,
which is one square below, and brought Doctor Robinson in immediately,
by a private entrance, to save time. I went to the hospital--there was
no signs of any riot in the street, or anything of the kind--I went to
the hospital, and there saw Doctor Robinson, who referred to Lieutenant
Ash, and said his leg must come off, but I prefer to have some surgeon
to consult with. I suggested to him Doctor Lemoyne, and he agreed to
that, and I went to my quarters and wrote Doctor Lemoyne a note,
telling him, in the letter, Doctor Robinson had been called in, and
that he wished to consult with him, and I sent one of my own horses and
a messenger into the city, for Doctor Lemoyne, and he came out. He
lives, maybe, three miles from here. In the meantime, the wounded had
the attention of Doctor Robinson and his partner, Doctor Evans. Doctor
Lemoyne soon came, accompanied by Doctor Reed, and then the wounded had
the attention of all four of them. That is all I saw. As to the
condition of the Philadelphia men, Lieutenant Lyon can tell more than I
can, because he saw the whole thing. The stragglers were inside here;
were kept here, and fed, and taken care of until Tuesday evening, and
they were clothed like my men. They were so demoralized that one of
them, it was reported, could not eat, and in order to divert their
minds, Lieutenant Lyon put them to work--they were so afraid they would
be shot by somebody. Lieutenant Ash died here, and his brother and his
wife were here at the time he died.
Q. When did he die?
A. Died on Tuesday about two o'clock.
Q. What become of the other wounded man that was brought in?
A. The other wounded man was playing possum. There was not anything the
matter with him. When he went to the hospital he was lying on a bed,
and I said, "what is the matter with you?" He did not answer. Says I,
"get up, we do not want anybody in the hospital except sick men." The
other men wounded themselves getting over the pickets. They came over
the pickets, and I am satisfied they wounded themselves in getting over
the pickets. One man had a wound in the center of the hand, which he
said was caused by a piece of shell. I think he put his hand on a
picket of the fence, and one man had his pantaloons torn. They had some
little scratches on them. In a few minutes they got out, and went to
the works with the other men. There was only one wounded man, that was
Lieutenant Ash. One man was wounded down street here, and ran into the
Catholic church--Corporal Ash--and a few days ago he came in here to
see me. He was shot in the abdomen, and strange to say he got well.
Those were the only wounded men down street here.
Q. You did not know, at the time that this soldier approached you, that
it was General Brinton?
A. No; I do not know who it was. It did not make any difference who he
was. As I wrote afterwards to Washington, they virtually forced my
guard. It is a very different thing for a man outside and a man inside.
I know what the place is, and it is presumed that I ought to know how
to take care of it; and, in addition to that, I am responsible to the
civil authority for every act of mine which comes in conflict with it.
I am amenable, in other words, to the civil authorities, and it seems
to me I ought to know beforehand what I am doing before I enter into a
fight--to know what is going on. I shall certainly take care to do so.
Suppose I had opened on some of those men; they would have had me up
here for murder, sure, the next day. If it had once begun, it would
have been a serious business. I questioned my guard. I said to him,
when did you hear that firing--when that firing began, did you see
anything in the streets? "No," he said, "there was a small boy in
front, a newspaper boy, and I asked him to look down the street, and he
said he saw no one. That is the fire that got me out." I said, "were
there any shots fired after you heard that?" He said, "there was not a
shot fired while the men were here at all." I did not hear a shot fired
after I left my quarters, until along sometimes afterwards, way down
below here somewhere. Some man--so it was reported, and I believe it
was so--some man shot two of them with the same shot, from behind the
cemetery wall, or somewhere near there.
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. If that mob on Saturday night had made an attempt to enter your
grounds here, would you have considered you were justifiable in
resisting it with any amount of force?
A. Unmistakably. I had it there ready to use, and the beck of my hand
would have brought my men there.
Q. Did you know this officer that approached you and asked permission
to bring his men inside?
A. He did not ask any permission--just as I have reported to you. The
words were no more or less than just what I have said. The mere fact of
his being there revealed to me that he had come there for that purpose.
I did not wait for any request at all. The mere presence of himself and
his men was sufficient for me. I took my action from what I saw.
Q. How many men were inside of the grounds?
A. That I do not know. Lieutenant Lyon can answer that better than I
can.
Q. The number of men that stayed here?
A. The number of men that stayed here were eight besides Lieutenant
Ash. These men I kept--afterwards, when I saw the command was gone,
these men, I allowed them to stay in because I would not send them out
in the streets. I told the men to join the command, but the command
moved off, and these men were allowed to remain in, and were fed and
kept.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. Was there any formal demand made by any officer of the militia to be
admitted, or request to be admitted here?
A. None, sir; except just what I told you.
* * * * *
Lieutenant M. W. Lyon, _sworn_:
By Mr. Lindsey:
Q. Just state your rank?
A. First lieutenant of ordinance.