SIEGE OF WASHINGTON, D.C.
WRITTEN EXPRESSLY FOR LITTLE PEOPLE.
BY F. COLBURN ADAMS, CAPT.,
AUTHOR OF THE "STORY OF TROOPER," AND OTHER BOOKS.
NEW YORK:
1867
PREFACE.
MY publisher gives it as his opinion that a great many persons will
be offended at what I have said in this work. He thinks, also, that
"quite a number" of our great generals will be seriously disturbed
in their dignity on seeing what liberties my artist has taken with
them. Such opinions as these are rather too common with publishers
in this country, who generally take very narrow views as to what
public men think and do. This work was not written to offend, but to
amuse and instruct little people. I have too much respect for our
great generals to believe that they will feel offended at what I
have said of them. Some of our little generals may perhaps take
exception to the positions my artist has assigned them, and feel
disposed to make war on him. But there will be nothing new in this,
inasmuch as any close observer of the war must have seen that these
little generals were always more fierce in making war on writers and
artists than courageous in facing the enemy. That the Siege of
Washington was the most remarkable military event history has any
account of, is very well understood among those who participated in
it. I must beg the reader, then, not to place false judgment on the
pleasantry introduced here and there, since I have recorded, with
great care and correctness, all the military movements, that took
place during that memorable occasion.
F. COLBURN ADAMS.
WASHINGTON, D. C., January 15, 1867.
CONTENTS.
I.-WASHINGTON A REMARKABLE CITY
II.-GOING TO WAR TO SETTLE OUR DIFFICULTIES
III.-THE FORTS AROUND WASHINGTON
IV.-COMING HOME AFTER THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN
V.-BRAVE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC
VI.-NOBODY HOME AT YORKTOWN
VII.-POPE DID IT
VIII.-HOW GENERAL POPE CAME TO TOWN
IX.-BRIGHT PROSPECTS AHEAD
X.-THE GENERAL THAT FOUGHT THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORVILLE
XI.-HANGING IN THE BALANCE
XII.-ALARMING SYMPTOMS OF THE ENEMY'S APPROACH
XIII.-THE GREAT COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF TAKES THE FIELD
XIV.-THE WAY GENERAL EARLY CAME TO TAKE THE CITY
XV.-A REBEL GENERAL BROUGHT TO GRIEF
XVI.-THE DISTINGUISHED STATESMAN WHO ENGAGED IN THE WORK OF
REBELLION WITH GREEN SPECTACLES ON
SIEGE OF WASHINGTON.
A TRUE AND AUTHENTIC STORY, WRITTEN EXPRESSLY FOR LITTLE PEOPLE.
CHAPTER I.
WASHINGTON AS A REMARKABLE CITY.
YOU, my son, have heard, and perhaps read, how Rome was once saved
by a goose. There were, as you know, my son, a great many geese
abroad during the siege of Washington; but it was not through any
act of theirs that the city was saved. As I love you dearly, my son,
so is it my first desire to instruct you correctly on all subjects
in which the good of our great country is concerned. Before
concluding my history of this remarkable siege, I shall prove to
your satisfaction that Washington was saved, and the fate of the
nation determined, by a barrel of whisky.
Let me say to you, my son, that the siege of Washington, however
much people abroad may laugh at it, was one of the most
extraordinary events in the history of modern warfare. It took place
in the year of our Lord, 1864; and there is no other event in the
war of the great rebellion to compare with it. You will, therefore,
my son, understand why it is that the history of an event of so much
importance should be written only by an impartial historian--one who
has courage enough to tell the truth, and no official friends to
serve at the expense of honor. I must tell you, also, my son, that
the great military problem of this siege has afforded a subject of
deep study for our engineers, from General Delafield downward, who
have puzzled their wits over it without finding a solution.
Should we be unfortunate enough to have another great war, and the
nation again be compelled to give itself up to the profession of
arms, the conduct of this siege would afford us an excellent
example, as well as a profitable key to the art of war, as
understood by our War Department in the said year of our Lord, 1864.
This, then, is another reason why this great military event should
be faithfully rendered. I will also add, my son, that though I may
fail to instruct you after the manner and style of the most profound
historian of our day, I will at least make my account of this great
siege so plain and simple that you will comprehend it in all its
multiplicity of parts.
But first let me tell you a few things about Washington, the capital
city of this great nation. You, my son, may have seen one hundred
other cities, and yet it will remind you of none of them. It is very
elongated, and spreads over a great deal of ground, apparently for
personal inconvenience. Indeed, my son, it has the appearance of
having been dropped down late of a Saturday night by some eccentric
gentleman who had a large quantity of architectural odds and ends on
hand, and had no other use for them. It has been famous always for
its acute angles and broad avenues. The former, I have heard more
than one person say, were skillfully arranged by a very
accommodating French engineer, for the special benefit of persons
who went home late of nights and were liable to get confused on the
way. The population is rather a curious one, and may be classified
as the distinct and indistinct, the settled and unsettled. The
census report, a remarkably unreliable account, has it that they
number "some" sixty thousand. A large proportion of this settled and
unsettled population is of such variety of color as to render it
almost impossible to define the nice proportions of blood it is so
strongly mixed with. On this point, my son, you must not be too
particular, but accept it as your father does, as a proof that the
races, whom we are told can never be got to live in harmony
together, have, to say the least, gone very extensively into a
system which gives strength to the belief that it could be done. The
French call this the commingling system, and their philosophers
argue from it, and with much force, that it is impossible to
establish the question as to what kind of blood the best society is
based upon. For myself, I feel that we can with safety accept these
French philosophers as good authority in such matters. You will also
find among the population of Washington natives of nearly every
country on the face of the globe. These speak no end of tongues,
follow all manner of professions and occupations, and what is most
valuable, preserve that delightful diversity for which what is
called the "old society" has always been famous. Picturesque hills
encircle the city at a distance, and a beautiful river flows past on
its way to the sea. The city has many fathers and few friends. These
fathers, while in an ornamental mood, built a grand canal into the
very bowels of the city, after the manner of Venice, that commerce
might be encouraged, and such persons as had a passion for moonlight
and gondolas could gratify it. But the people were not given to
sailing in gondolas, so this famous canal was diverted from the
object for which it was originally intended. It is now used as a
tomb where deceased animals of a domestic nature are carefully
deposited. The old inhabitants regard this tomb with a reverence I
never could understand clearly, even though I had sought for a cause
in their instinctive opposition to all and every manner of reform.
Indeed, the fathers of the city regard this grand canal as
performing a very humane part, inasmuch as it supplies an excellent
and very convenient burial-place for their domestic animals, and
increases the practice of a large number of doctors. The city
fathers, I am informed, find some consolation in the fact that other
canals have performed equally humane services.
And it came to pass, my son, that there was a great war in all the
land; and greater than was ever known before in any other land. Thus
Washington became the centre of our anxieties and our thoughts. The
people of the North, and the people of the West, and the people of
the South, who constituted the people of one great nation, had long
held different opinions as to the right of making merchandise of
men, of women, and of little children. Yes, my son, it was at last
claimed to be in accordance with Christianity to doom these people
to a life at once hopeless and miserable. As you grow up, my son,
and begin to think and act for yourself, you will think it very
strange that such a great national crime as this should have existed
in a land so blessed with the fruits of a ripe civilization. And it
will be a cause of wonder to you that a society based upon such an
abomination did not sooner break down under the burden of its
wrongs. And yet you must always bear in mind, my son, that men do
not view great crimes alike, and that even good and great men differ
as to what constitutes national rights and national wrongs. It is
said that great nations have gone to decline because their people
became blind with pride, and refused to think right. A nation is
always safe while its people think right; but you must teach the
children right before you can have the people think right. Education
and association had much to do in training the thoughts of men in
the South into wrong channels. Taking this view of the subject you
may find much to forgive in a political system that seems wrong in
your eyes and right in the eyes of its supporters. Indeed, my son, I
would enjoin you to treat with a reasonable amount of deference the
arguments advanced by those who differ with you on questions of
public policy, and also to remember that right and reason are your
strongest weapons. Never get angry with your opponent, never use
language that will cause you a regret; and if you cannot convince by
the moral force of your argument, abandon the undertaking. And
whatever else you do to advance your material prosperity, never let
it be said of you that you advocated a great political wrong merely
because it was popular and brought you the applause of the
unthinking. You cannot do so with a clear conscience; and what is
life without it?
I have, unwittingly, my son, wandered away from my subject. The
people of the South forgot all the great principles which govern
humanity for humanity's good; they were betrayed into wrong doing by
false friends, and made blind by their own prosperity. And they even
forgot that God was their truest and best guardian, and to Him they
must look for that care and protection which shall last forever.
But, my son, I would enjoin you to bear these people no ill will,
and remember how much better it is in the sight of God to deal with
the erring in the spirit of forgiveness. They were a brave and a
gallant people, who fought in the belief that they were right, and
with a heroism worthy of a good cause. It is only the meanest nature
that has no respect for the courage and gallantry of an enemy--that
cannot find in it something to admire. It was the selfishness, my
son, which slavery begat in these people, that perverted their
natures, and caused them to forget God.
Yes, my son, it was the curse of slavery that corrupted the hearts
and turned the heads of these people; that found them requesting the
race they had made suffer so long in bondage, to be thankful that
their sufferings were no worse. I never could, my son, see why any
human being, who had been made the victim of the greatest outrage
against his rights, should be thankful. The Church might, and did,
attempt to sanctify this greatest of crimes; but that did not change
the character of the cruelty and injustice. It will, no doubt, seem
strange to you that ministers of the Gospel should be found the
defenders of crime. And yet slavery found its ablest defenders in
the pulpit of the South. I am afraid it always will be so, for even
now we see ministers of the Gospel more ready to hang out false
lights to lead their people into darkness, than to give them that
truth and instruction they so much need. But you must not let the
thought of this lessen your respect for the Church. Examine with
great care until you have found out in what true Christianity
consists; and when you have, practice accordingly to the extent of
your ability. Never forget that it was the preaching of popular
errors that cost the nation so much blood and treasure, so much
sorrow and distress. That bishops should put aside their lawn, and
gird on the sword--that they should lead men to war and death,
instead of the baptismal, and all to perpetuate the sorrows of an
oppressed race, is, my son, only another proof that error may gain a
victory over truth in the hearts and feelings of the best of us.