THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION.
Precautionary Measures—The Rioter Declared to be in a State of
Insurrection—Indications of Trouble in Other Regions—General
Schofield Ordered to Washington—Determination to Send General
Hancock to Pittsburgh—The Rule of the Mob to be Overthrown by the
Friends of Law and Order.
The tendency to complete anarchy bad become so manifest that the
Government at Washington began to look at it in the light of an
insurrection of a most formidable character—more dangerous, indeed, than
would be a revolt of State governments.
The Cabinet held almost daily meetings about this time. On the 24th, a
protracted session was held. The subject discussed was the situation of
the country, and the difficulty experienced by the Government in
consequence of the strike.
The Treasury Department had become seriously embarrassed on account of
the inability experienced in despatching and receiving shipments of
bonds and currency.
At another meeting of the Cabinet on the 25th, it was formally decided
to treat the riotous demonstrations all over the country as an
insurrection, and to suppress it in accordance with the law of the
United States and the statutes in such cases made and provided. That was
the temper of the Cabinet meeting. It was ordered that additional troops
should be stationed along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
for the purpose of opening at once the entire line to freight and
passenger traffic. The troops which arrived at Washington from the
South, Thursday night, were forwarded to Martinsburg and Cumberland to
re-enforce those already there. Every person who resisted them were to
be held amenable under the President’s proclamation, and, if possible,
were to be promptly arrested. All unlawful gatherings were to be
dispersed. It was also determined to sustain Governor Hartranft in his
proclamation, open the Pennsylvania road, and suppress the resistance
elsewhere to the laws in Pennsylvania.
There had been such a concentration of the regular army and marine and
naval forces, that no doubt was entertained of the ability of the
Government to put down the rioters and place the railroads in running
order.
Public attention had been directed mainly to St. Louis and Chicago. The
despatches from the Eastern States continued to be reassuring, and the
opinion at the War Department was that there would be little or no
trouble in the East thereafter. The opening of the Erie road, the
persistent refusal of the New York Central employes to strike, and the
failure of the Commune meeting in New York, had contributed to that
belief.
Major-General Schofield, of the regular army, arrived at Washington,
Wednesday, July 25th, and had a long conference with the President and
members of the Cabinet. He subsequently furnished some very interesting
statements of the situation in the States under the command of General
Hancock, with whom he was co-operating, and of the intentions of the
Government. He regarded Pittsburgh as the important place, and said the
Government was resolved to suppress every vestige of mob violence there
in the next twenty-four hours. He feared there would be a water famine
in that city, and did not believe that provisions would hold out there
beyond three days. It was therefore necessary that the men should return
to work on the railroads and on the water-works.
“We are determined,” he said, “to operate the roads, re-open the shops,
and to restore business and confidence. The troops which go to
Pittsburgh under General Hancock’s orders will see that all these are
accomplished. It will show the rioters in the West and New York that the
Government is of the people and with the people in restoring law and
order.”
General Schofield in speaking of the offers from the South was well
pleased with it, and said that from what he had heard, one hundred
thousand men were ready to come at the call of the President to protect
the Government and State from insurrectionary movements. He said the
Government had removed all the regular troops from the South, except a
few in the forts, and was amply prepared with them and other detachments
from the East and West to protect St. Louis, Chicago and other cities.
Referring to the strength of the regular army, General Schofield said
that when General Sherman publicly spoke in New York, recently, of the
dependence of the Government upon it he knew what he was about, for he
had travelled about the country extensively and knew its condition and
the trouble likely to grow out of it and the probability that the
Government would be called upon to protect the people from them. It was
the duty of the army, General Schofield maintained, to aid in
suppressing the present revolt, and the duty of congress and the
legislatures to provide legislation to prevent another one in future.
General Schofield added that he found the President fully alive to the
situation, and determined in his purpose to restore peace at once and
that he had forces sufficient to accomplished it.
Senator Saunders, of Nebraska, and Kirkwood, of Iowa, called on the
President, Wednesday the 25th, and informed him that the situation in
the West and Northwest was serious, and that if he should decide to call
an extra session of congress, they would be among the first to approve
his course. They declared that the public sentiment of their section was
against mob-rule. The President replied that he was opposed to calling
congress together. He did not think it would afford any immediate remedy
for the existing troubles, which he believed would be out of the way
long before congress could be convened. It does not appear that the
question of calling an extra session had been seriously considered by
the President and Cabinet since the demonstrations began.
Five companies of the Eighteenth Infantry arrived at Washington, on the
25th of July, from South Carolina, under command of Colonel Black, and
three of the companies left early the next morning, under command of the
same officer, to join General Getty’s command at Cumberland, Maryland.
The other two companies remained at Washington, ready to be forwarded to
any neighboring point should their services be needed. The Eighteenth
Infantry is General Roger’s regiment, but that officer did not come with
it, he being in command of the department of the South. General
Schofield, accompanied by his aid, Lieutenant Michler, arrived from
Philadelphia, Tuesday night. He had returned to Washington, at the
request of the President, who desired a full report from him, he having
been sent to Philadelphia to confer with General Hancock, who is the
senior Major-General in command.
The troops from the Department of the Gulf ordered to Louisville,
Kentucky, reached that city Thursday, as was reported to the War
Department.
The Cabinet determined that General Hancock should proceed to Pittsburgh
with a large force of troops, and he started for that place immediately.
The principal object in his going over the line of the Pennsylvania
Railroad to Pittsburgh was to aid the workingmen in rebuilding the roads
that supplies might be sent to the various cities along the line, and to
establish communication between Philadelphia and the interior of the
State.
The following is the substance of the order which assigned Major-General
Schofield to the command of the troops in Washington.
“By direction of the President, Major-General Schofield is assigned to
temporary duty at the Headquarters of the Army, dating from the 23d
instant, in addition to his command of the Department of West Point.
The forces of the United States, including the Navy and Marine Corps in
the District of Columbia, will be reported to Major-General Schofield
and act under his command.”
Tuesday afternoon a large crowd gathered on Virginia avenue, South
Washington, and along the line of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad,
upon which was standing a locomotive and five cars filled with soldiers
of the Third, Fifth and Second Artillery, who, with two companies of
infantry, were about to depart for Philadelphia. A report was started
and rapidly circulated that the engineer of the locomotive, which was to
head the train, had declared that he would carry no “troop train” out of
Washington, and this report, coupled with other rumors to the effect
that the cars would not be allowed to leave, quickly stirred up
considerable excitement. The crowd was composed largely of laboring men,
two-thirds of whom were colored. It did not appear that any railroads
hands were mingling in the commotion. Several of them were at work at
the scene assisting loading cars, repairing tracks, and performing the
respective duties with fidelity and were in no way molested, but held
themselves aloof from any exciting conversation. Major Richards, Chief
of Police, with an efficient detachment of the police force, was in the
midst of the crowd, having promptly responded to the reports of
anticipated trouble, and their presence undoubtedly had a salutary
effect in preserving order. The soldiers quietly watched from the car
windows the proceedings on the streets. In addition to the rifles of the
troops, two Gatling guns and two caisons were shipped on the train.
About 4:30, everything being in readiness, the bell sounded, and the
train moved off with its regular employes attending to their duties.
Some of the crowd cheered and called out to the soldiers not to shoot at
the strikers, and several of the men in the cars waved hats and
handkerchiefs from the windows. The crowd soon scattered, and absolute
quiet reigned. It was the intention of the Government to throw a strong
force along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as far west as
the Ohio river, for the purpose of opening and keeping that road open to
freight and passenger trains.
The Post office and War Departments were thoroughly advised of the
situation at various points. A telegram from a thoroughly reliable
source, received from Lynchburgh, Va., mentioned that the Atlantic,
Mississippi and Ohio, the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia, the
Memphis and Charleston, and the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad
Companies had no trouble on their lines, nor was it believed that any
would occur. A telegram received at the War Department from General
Pope, announced that the danger of mob violence at St. Louis was
lessening hourly. Another subject in connection with the strike which
was discussed at length in the Cabinet meeting, was in regard to the
United States courts sustaining receivers appointed by them for certain
roads. The courts were to issue writs to the Marshals, instructing them
to see that the roads in the hands of receivers were not interfered with
by rioters, and the Marshals had the power, if necessary, to summon a
_posse_ to enforce the orders of the courts. This order brought the
rioters in direct opposition to the power of the Federal Government in
any attempt to interfere with any roads in the hands of receivers, and
it was agreed by the Cabinet that the whole power of the Government
should be brought to bear to sustain the United States Marshals, in case
of necessity.
General Vincent was on duty at the War Department, and in almost
constant receipt of despatches from the military commanders at the
various points of disturbance.
The telegrams were promptly sent to the President at the Soldiers’ Home,
giving him information as to the condition of affairs in the various
cities. The regular troops in Chicago were, as in other States, under
the orders of the Governor, and under those orders they were placed
subject to the Mayor of Chicago, for the protection of property, and to
maintain the peace. The forces in that city were six companies of the
Twenty-second Infantry and six companies of the Ninth Infantry.
Colonel Black, in command of three companies of the Eighteenth Infantry,
went from Washington and reached Cumberland, and then proceeded to
Grafton, West Virginia. General Pope telegraphed that the last of the
fourteen companies ordered from the West to St. Louis would reach there
Tuesday morning. He considered the public property at St. Louis and
Chicago secure. General Ruger had been ordered by General Hancock to
Louisville, and to assume immediate control of the troops at that point
and at Newport. Batteries D and I, of the Fifth Artillery, from the
Department of the South, reached Baltimore Tuesday afternoon.
The forces of the United States steamer Tallapoosa, receiving ship
Wyoming, at the navy yard at Washington, were kept in readiness to be
sent to any point upon brief notice. The Secretary of the Navy also gave
orders to have the force and vessels at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in
readiness for service, to protect public property in that city, and aid
the civil authorities in the maintenance of law and order.
The Adams Express Company advised the Treasury Department on the 24th,
that for the present it would not transport money packages between New
York and Washington, considering such service to be unsafe.
The situation of Pennsylvania having become alarming, the Governor of
that State, hastening home from the West, whither he had gone, called
out the military forces of the State, and made a formal call upon the
President of the United States for assistance, whereupon the following
document was promulgated:
By the President of the United States of America.
A PROCLAMATION.
_Whereas_, It is provided in the Constitution of the United States, that
the United States shall protect every State in the Union on application
of the Legislature, or of the Executive, when the Legislature cannot be
convened, against domestic violence; and
_Whereas_, The Governor of the State of Pennsylvania has represented
that domestic violence exists in said State, which the authorities of
said State are unable to suppress: and
_Whereas_, The laws of the United States require that in all cases of
insurrection in any State, or of obstruction to the laws thereof,
whenever, in the judgment of the President, it becomes necessary to use
the military forces to suppress such insurrections or obstructions to
the laws, he shall forthwith, by proclamation, command such insurgents
to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within a
limited time;
Now, therefore, I, Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States,
do hereby admonish all good citizens of the United States, against
aiding, countenancing, abetting, or taking part in such unlawful
proceedings, and I do hereby warn all persons engaged in or connected
with the said domestic violence and obstruction of the laws, to
disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes on or before
twelve o’clock noon, of the 24th day of July instant.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 23d day of July, in the year of
Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, and of the
independence of the United States of America the one hundred and second.
R. B. HAYES.
By the President:
WILLIAM M. EVARTS, Secretary of State.
Many prominent citizens of Washington had a satisfactory interview with
Secretary McCrary and Secretary Thompson in regard to the extent and
character of the forces at hand for the protection of the capital city,
in case of emergency. Both the Secretary of War and of the Navy were
prompt in giving the assurance that the force of the Government was
ample, and in a position to be readily available for the protection of
both public and private property in Washington. They expressed
satisfaction with the assurance that the citizens of Washington would be
ready to co-operate with the Government authorities in the maintenance
of public order.
The War Department about this time presented a scene of unusual
activity, numerous telegrams were being transmitted between the
Department and various military commanders, especially General Pope,
commanding the Department of the Missouri, and General Hancock,
commanding the Military Division of the Atlantic, in regard to the
movements of troops for the protection of public property. Adjutant
General Townsend, with a corps of assistants remained at the Department
throughout the night.
The measures taken by the general Government for the protection of
Pennsylvania were bearing good fruits. About this time a despatch was
received at Army Headquarters from General Hancock, at Philadelphia, in
which he reported that matters were comparatively quiet, that citizens
were organizing for the purpose of preserving peace. Information in the
hands of the Government warranted the belief that affairs were less
threatening in all the disturbed districts, with the exception of
Reading. The Government had no available troops to send to Reading, but
efforts were made to cover that point at an early time. The Government
had made most efficient arrangements through the Signal Office for
communication throughout the entire country, and were receiving
despatches regularly every hour, giving information as to the condition
of affairs. Great activity prevailed in the Adjutant General’s Office
and Ordinance Departments. The President and Secretary of War were
momentarily advised by telegraph of any change in the situation. The
Adjutant General prepared a statement of the United States forces in the
South, and if necessary, it was determined to order North the remainder
of the troops, save a small force as a guard to Government property.
Orders were issued from the Navy Department to have the various
iron-clads at Washington, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, prepared for
service immediately, and engineer officers were ordered to report on
board, to move them without delay should it become necessary to do so.
The President visited both the War and Navy Departments, and held
consultations with Secretaries McCrary and Thompson.
In high administration circles it was believed that the crisis in the
pending strikes was past, and by mutual concessions, the pending
differences between the railroad companies and their employes would be
satisfactorily adjusted. It was not believed that the financial
question, as had been alleged in some quarters, had any thing to do with
the outbreaks along the lines of the railroads, but that they were
entirely of a local nature. It was shown in fact, that at Pittsburgh,
for instance, where there is an arsenal in which was stored a large
supply of arms and ammunition, no hostile demonstrations were made which
might be construed into antagonism to the Government.
Little by little the truth leaked out, until men were well informed of
the inner councils and earlier purposes of the Administration, and were
constrained to marvel at the facility with which the President bent to
the orders of Colonel Thomas A. Scott and men like Colonel Scott. It is
not easy to understand clearly what passed in the Cabinet, but it is
possible to comprehend that the emphatic declaration of Evarts—and one
or two other Secretaries used the same phrase—in detailing the Cabinet
decisions and discussions that the Government should not and must not go
into the railroad business, presented the weakness of the National
Administration in a manner to be deplored by every patriotic American.
Three Cabinet meetings in twenty-four hours gave a very fair gauge of
the anxiety of the administration and the perplexity of the President.
The late war saw little like this quick succession of councils, and
fortunately nothing like the lack of counsel. The Cabinet sat two hours
one day and separated. No second meeting was expected during that day.
The President and Secretary McCrary drove out to the Soldier’s Home.
They went five miles out of town to Edgemount. All the afternoon
messages were passing over the long unused wire to the old Presidential
cottage.
The President grew more and more alarmed, and Colonel Thomas A. Scott
pelted him with despatches, peremptory and dictatorial. The whole series
of despatches from railroad chiefs like Garret and Scott during those
days of trouble would give the public a curious notion of the temper in
which these men regard the President of the United States. Colonel
Thomas A. Scott demanded extreme measures—all but commanded them.
Pennsylvania must be declared in rebellion; the President must call for
volunteers; the roads must be protected at once by the general
Government. And the despatches were enforced by the arrival of his
private Secretary in a special car. The text of these despatches are
known to few, but they were read at the Cabinet meetings and left on the
minds of one or two of the Cabinet Ministers the impression that the
“railroads wanted to run the Government.” What and how much this means
will hardly be believed on any thing short of the authority of a Cabinet
Minister, but despatches were received demanding not only the
preservation of the peace, but the movement of the trains by the
Government. These men, speaking of their private property and personal
interests as a national enterprise, declared that the riot could not be
quieted until the Government had enabled them to run the trains which
lay blockaded by supplying men, or supplying force to get men for the
purpose. And the demand was backed by the declaration that the
Government was bound to see not that peace, but that the commerce of the
country was re-established in its usual channels. The President gave way
before the pressure and drove to town again the same day, with confused
ideas as to what should be done at the conference at Evarts’ house, but
with clear ideas that something should be done to satisfy the demands of
the roads. The story that only Evarts prevented rash orders, or the
still wilder step of a declaration of insurrection and a call for
volunteers is probably not far from the truth. True or false, certain it
is that the conference met in that nervous uncertainty which drives
together men too much alarmed to remain apart. Although called to take
some signal step, the Cabinet conference adjourned without result.
Two hours longer the Cabinet talked and worried over the fear of a great
disaster. A great heap of despatches had accumulated. Scott’s messages
and the messages of men like him had grown sharp. The fond hope that the
strike was failing was overthrown by the news from Philadelphia that an
oil train was on fire.
For the third time the Cabinet carefully rehearsed the forces at their
disposal, and this discussion the Cabinet went over time and again,
vaguely estimating the number of militia regiments on whom the
Government could depend, with such vague data as existed at Washington.
The fidelity of the regiments in New York was discussed, and the number
of trustworthy men which Hartranft’s last call would bring to the field,
was calculated. Some purpose of pushing the general Government to the
front as the chief actor in suppressing these riots, instead of keeping
it upon the safe ground of an aid to the legitimate State authority,
appears to have divided the Cabinet, it having been very pertinently
agreed that no Presidential proclamation would insure the fidelity of a
doubtful regiment, while a hasty attempt to enlist and arm volunteers
was not to be thought of. The proclamation concerning Pennsylvania in
terms like the two which preceded it, was at last agreed upon, but not
before the Cabinet reached the conclusion that the only militia on which
full reliance could be placed, were in New England and the South, and it
was timidly suggested by this singular council that an attempt to
suppress widespread disorder in the Middle States by marching into them
troops of the Southern and Eastern States, would mean more than a
suppression of a riot, it might mean sectional war.
The position assumed by the railroad companies in regard to the running
of mail trains was a most serious obstacle to the proper despatch of the
postal service. The gravest trouble was at Chicago, from which place the
following dispatch was received by the Post office Department from James
E. White, Assistant Superintendent Railway Transportation:
“Companies state that they expect strikers to take possession of mail
trains, and run them. I have been asked by such companies to instruct
clerks and agents to allow none but authorized agents of the Companies
to proceed with mail cars in case attempts are made by strikers to run
said cars. I am asked to instruct clerks and agents to place the mail in
charge of the nearest post office. I cannot issue such instructions, and
believe clerks and agents should accompany these cars and distribute the
mails no matter who run the cars. Am I right? Please answer, that I may
know how to act. A fight is now in progress on the Burlington road exit
from city.”
In the particular matter at issue the Department appeared to have no
definite policy, it was very anxious to move the mails, and it did not
wish to break with the roads. To the above despatch the following answer
was sent:
“The question you submit as to what the Department will do if strikers
take possession of, and propose to run mail trains, will be promptly
decided when an actual case shall arise. It is probable the Department
will not, under any circumstances, encourage the strikers to the extent
of recognizing their right to carry the mails on trains forcibly taken
from the railroad companies.”
At most points in the country the mails were moving with reasonable
freedom. At Pittsburgh the Postmaster telegraphed: “All mails are
forwarded via here, with delay of only twelve hours, caused by transfer.
Have received despatch saying that all mail trains departed from
Cincinnati on time; on the Ohio and Mississippi with only an engine and
postal cars. In Indianapolis matters were by no means so favorable, and
Postmaster Holloway telegraphed: “Strikers now say that they will only
allow one passenger train each way, but will let mail run on any train.
I do not think roads will run unless they can take passengers. There is
great indignation at the failure to lift the blockade. Our Mayor is too
weak, and our Governor will do nothing. He is believed to sympathize
with the strikers.” Some political feeling doubtless suggested the
remark in regard to Governor Williams. The situation at St. Louis
appeared to have somewhat improved. Superintendent Hunt telegraphed from
there: “Mails are running regularly upon all the roads in this division,
and upon all roads out of St. Louis except Chicago and St. Louis,
Evansville and St. Louis, Quincy and St. Louis, and Rock Island and St.
Louis.”
By the 29th and 30th of July, the situation had greatly improved. At the
National Capital popular interest in the railway strike seemed to have
subsided entirely, and the officers of the Government, whose duty it had
been to respond to the numerous calls for assistance or advice, received
from the disturbed districts, were allowed to spend two very quiet days.
Reports received by the Administration were of the most reassuring
character. No trouble had been announced on the Baltimore and Ohio Road
calling for any action on the part of the Federal military. As a
precaution, a force of one hundred and fifty marines was marched to the
Baltimore and Ohio depot, in Washington, and held there until late in
the evening of the 29th, in order that it might be ready for immediate
departure to any point of difficulty, in case any resistance should be
made to the starting of freight trains, which was to be attempted, but
the force was not required. The loss of perishable freight on the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was reported by gentlemen who arrived from
Cumberland, as much greater than had been supposed. The Cabinet was in
session about an hour. Saturday the 28th, various telegrams were read in
regard to the troubles received by the Secretary of War, all of which
showed a decided improvement in the condition of affairs.
Two companies of marines from the headquarters of the corps commanded by
Captain Bishop, joined those at the Washington Arsenal on Friday, and
Saturday a battalion under Captain James Forney reported at the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad station, by order of General Schofield, to
assist in moving freight trains on the road. Considerable guard duty was
being done by the marines. A battalion under Colonel Charles Heywood was
guarding the Pennsylvania Railroad in West Philadelphia, and a third
battalion was at the Watervliet Arsenal, West Troy, New York. One
company was held in reserve at the headquarters at Washington and others
were at Brooklyn, Boston, and League Island Barracks. Norfolk Navy Yard
and the ships of the North Atlantic Squadron had been stripped of
marines on account of the labor strikes. Several officers who were at
home enjoying their usual summer-leave surrendered it voluntarily and
joined their battalions.
The company which marched to the Baltimore and Ohio station on the 28th
stacked arms after getting there, and remained in readiness to leave for
Baltimore at a moment’s notice, if necessary, until late in the
afternoon despatches were then received, saying that trains were moving
without trouble, and the marines returned to their quarters. General
Barry reported that during the departure of trains from Baltimore large
crowds were present, and some little demonstrations were made, but no
disturbance took place. He had five hundred men present, with two field
pieces in position.