SPEECH BEFORE THE THIRD MASSACHUSETTS RIFLES, IN THE ARMORY AT NEW
YORK, APRIL 21, 1861.
After adjournment of the Senate, Mr. Sumner remained for
some time in Washington, as was his habit. Meanwhile
occurred the bombardment of Fort Sumter, and the President’s
Proclamation, calling for seventy-five thousand men to suppress
insurrectionary combinations, “and to cause the laws to be duly
executed.” On the afternoon of 18th April, 1861, amidst the
general commotion, he left on his way to Boston, stopping over
night at Baltimore, where an incident occurred, which, besides
illustrating the state of the country, helps to explain the
brief speech which follows.
On arrival by the train, Mr. Sumner drove at once to Barnum’s
Hotel, where he entered his name in the open book. Taking a
walk before dark in the principal street, he was recognized
by excited persons, whose manner and language went beyond
any ordinary occasion.[142] Early in the evening he called
on a family friend, with whom he took tea, surrounded by her
children. Leaving her house about nine o’clock, he walked
slowly back to the hotel. When descending Fayette Street by
its side, he could not but observe an enormous assemblage of
people, with very little apparent government, in the open
square at the foot of the street. Entering the private door,
which was at some distance from the riotous crowd, he came upon
a gentleman, who, addressing him by name, expressed surprise
at seeing him there, saying, “That mob in the square is after
you. Their leaders have been to the hotel and demanded you.
They were told that you were out,--that nobody knew where you
were, and that you had probably left town”; and he wound up
by insisting that it was not safe for Mr. Sumner to continue
at the hotel, or anywhere in town, if his place of stopping
were known. Without reply to this notice, Mr. Sumner walked
down the long corridor of the hotel, and, turning into the
office, asked for his key. At once Mr. Barnum, with one of
his assistants, took him into a small back room, where they
explained the condition of things, narrated the visit of the
leaders, and the answer they were able to give, by which the
mob were turned aside; but this temporary relief left them
still anxious, especially if Mr. Sumner’s return should be
suspected, and therefore they must request him to leave the
hotel; and this was enforced by saying that his longer stay
was perilous to the hotel as well as to himself, and that he
must find shelter somewhere else. Mr. Sumner, while declaring
his sincere regret that he should be the innocent occasion of
peril to the hotel, said that there was nowhere else for him
to go,--that he had no right to carry peril to the house of a
friend,--that it was impossible for him to do this,--that he
had come to the hotel as a traveller, and he must claim his
rights, believing that in so large a structure there was more
safety than in a private house, even if there were any such
where he could go. The interview ended in conducting him to
a chamber on a long entry of the third story, where all the
rooms were alike, when, after saying that nobody in the hotel
but themselves would know where he was, they left him alone.
From the window which opened on the street at the side of the
hotel, he could see the swaying multitude, and hear their
voices. In the gray of the morning he left for the Philadelphia
Railroad.[143]
On the way to Philadelphia, he met a long train for Baltimore,
containing the Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers,
hurrying to the defence of the national capital. It was the
first regiment of volunteers he had seen, and he was struck
by the gayety of soldier life, which overflowed as the train
passed. On his arrival at Philadelphia, the telegraph was
announcing the tragedy which had befallen them.
The troops were passing through Baltimore from the Philadelphia
station, in the large horse-cars, and a portion had arrived
at the Washington station, when those behind were set upon by
a mob, the successor of that at the hotel on the preceding
evening. Before they could leave the station, the streets
were barricaded, and the rails removed, so that they were
obliged to make their way on foot, amidst the growing fury of
the mob, which had increased to ten thousand. Stones, bricks,
and other murderous missiles were thrown at them. Then came
pistol-shots. As the soldiers saw their comrades fall, they
fired. Several of the assailants dropped upon the pavements,
and others were wounded. And so for two miles they fought their
way to the Washington station. Of the troops, four were killed,
and thirty-six wounded. That evening the regiment quartered
at Washington, in the Senate Chamber.[144] Thus, on the 19th
of April, 1861, began and closed the first encounter of the
terrible war at hand.
The mob now reigned in Baltimore. Gun-shops were plundered.
Other shops were closed. The President was notified that
no more troops could pass through the city, unless they
fought their way. That night the bridges on the railroad
to Philadelphia were burnt, so that this great avenue was
closed.[145]
* * * * *
On the 21st of April, the Third Battalion of Massachusetts
Rifles, with Hon. Charles Devens as Major, consisting of two
hundred and sixty-six men, arrived at New York from Worcester,
on their way to the scene of action, and quartered in the
armory of the famous New York Seventh, which had left on the
preceding afternoon. On a visit to the armory by Mr. Sumner,
the Battalion was called into line, and he made the following
remarks.