"ON TO RICHMOND."
Mr. Lincoln having called a special session of Congress, the two
Houses met on the 4th of July, 1861. There were many vacant seats,
but some of those who sympathized with the South lingered that they
might throw obstacles before any attempt at coercion. Meanwhile
the Abolitionists, who feared a compromise and a reconciliation,
echoed the shout "On to Richmond!" The "Grand Army of the Union,"
hastily organized into brigades and divisions, was placed under
the command of General Irwin McDowell, a gallant soldier, entirely
destitute in the experience of handling large bodies of men. The
troops thus brigaded had never even been manoeuvred together, nor
had their commander any personal knowledge of many of the officers
or men. But the politicians at the Capitol insisted on an immediate
advance. They saw with admiration the gallant appearance of the
well-equipped regiments that were to compose the advancing column,
and they believed, or professed to believe, that it could easily
march "On to Richmond!"
On Sunday, July 21st, 1861, the "Grand Army of the Union" began
its forward march. The sun rose in a cloudless sky, and the
advancing columns of Union soldiers, with glistening bayonets and
gay flags, moved with measured tread through the primeval forests
of the Old Dominion, apparently as resistless as the sweep of
destiny. Meanwhile there drove out from Washington to General
McDowell's headquarters a crowd of Congressmen, correspondents,
contractors, and camp-followers, who had come in a variety of
vehicles to witness the fight, as they would have gone to see a
horse-race or to witness a Fourth of July procession. The Congressmen
did not hesitate to intrude themselves upon General McDowell, and
to offer him their advice. Others, unpacking baskets of provisions,
enjoyed their lunches after the cannonading had commenced.
There was brave fighting on both sides in the Bull Run Valley,
which became like a boiling crater, from which arose dense clouds
of dust and smoke. At one time General Bee, well-nigh overwhelmed,
greeted General Thomas J. Jackson with the exclamation, "General,
they are beating us back!" To which the latter replied promptly,
"Sir, we will give them the bayonet." General Bee immediately
rallied his over-tasked troops, saying "There is Jackson with his
Virginians, standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die
here, and we will conquer." From that day General Jackson was
known by the soldiers on both sides as "Stonewall" Jackson.
The arrival of the force commanded by General Joe Johnston, which
General Patterson had failed to hold in check, and the presence of
President Jefferson Davis, inspired the Confederate troops with
superhuman courage, while the Union regiments, badly officered,
followed the example of the New York Zouaves, and fled in wild
disorder. The panic became general, and disorder soon degenerated
into a disgraceful retreat. The Confederates, however, found
themselves in no condition to follow up the victory which they had
gained, and to press on to Washington.
The rout of Bull Run, while it was a severe rebuke to the politicians
who had forced it, secured the support of every loyal man in the
Northern States for the Union cause, whatever his previous political
convictions might have been. Practical issues were presented, and
every man able to bear arms or to contribute money was animated by
the sentiment uttered by Stephen A. Douglas in his last public
speech, when he said: "The conspiracy is now known; armies have
been raised; war is levied to accomplish it. There are only two
sides to the question: every man must be for the United States or
against it. There can be no neutrals in this war--only Republicans
or traitors."
The week after the Battle of Bull Run, Senator Breckinridge, who
had retained his seat, made an appeal for the cessation of hostilities,
speaking eloquently of the horrors of war, the cost of maintaining
armies, the dangers of military despotism, and the impossibility
of ever subjugating the South. He pleaded for peace with the
rebels, and from the event of the great battle near Manassas he
drew an augury of defeat to the cause of the Government on future
battlefields.
Senator Baker was on the floor of the Senate for the first time in
many days, having just come to Washington with his California
Regiment, whom he had been busily engaged in organizing in Philadelphia
and elsewhere, and at whose head he fell. The white-haired but
vigorous and active Senator listened attentively to the sentiments
and predictions of Breckinridge, pacing the Senate floor back and
forth with his eyes fastened on him, and now and then chafing with
visible impatience to reply. At length Breckinridge ceased, and
Baker took the floor, and proceeded, with a skillful and unsparing
hand, to dissect the sophistry and falsehood of the treason that
had just been uttered.
"Sir," said he in conclusion, "it is not a question of men or of
money. All the money, all the men, are, in our judgment, well
bestowed in such a cause. Knowing their value well, we give them
with the more pride and the more joy. But how could we retreat?
How could we make peace? Upon what terms? Where is to be your
boundary line? Where the end of the principles we shall have to
give up? What will become of public liberties? What of past
glories? What of future hopes? Shall we sink into the insignificance
of the grave--a degraded, defeated, emasculated people, frightened
by the results of one battle, and scared at the vision raised by
the imagination of the Senator from Kentucky upon the floor? No,
sir! a thousand times, no, sir! We will rally the people--the
loyal people of the whole country. They will pour forth their
treasure, their money, their men, without stint, without measure.
Shall one battle determine the fate of empire, or a dozen--the loss
of one thousand men or twenty thousand, or one hundred million or
five hundred millions of dollars? In a year's peace--in ten years,
at most, of peaceful progress--we can restore them all. There will
be some graves reeking with blood, watered by the tears of affection.
There will be some privation; there will be some loss of luxury;
there will be somewhat more need for labor to procure the necessaries
of life. When that is said, all is said. If we have the country,
the whole country, the Union, the Constitution--free government--
with these there will return all the blessings of well-ordered
civilization; the path of the country will be a career of greatness
and of glory, such as, in the olden time, our fathers saw in the
dim visions of years yet to come, and such as would have been ours
now, to-day, if it had not been for the treason for which the
Senator too often seeks to apologize." The orator took his seat
after this lofty and impassioned appeal, little dreaming that he
would be one of the first to fulfill his own prophecy.
Preparations for the war were now made in good earnest. Regiments
were recruited for three years, and, on their arrival at Washington,
were carefully inspected and organized into brigades and divisions,
and officered by men of ability and military experience. Other
forces were organized at the West, and the Administration of
President Lincoln displayed remarkable energy in equipping the
armies which were to act in different sections of the country, and
in raising money for their support.
General George B. McClellan, when he assumed command of the Army
of the Potomac, was the beau ideal of a dragoon leader. His legs,
like those of General Taylor, were short in proportion to his body,
so that he appeared to be small in stature when on foot, but, when
mounted on his favorite charger, he looked as tall, if not taller,
than those around him. He possessed a good head, firmly planted
on a sturdy neck, upon ample shoulders. He wore his hair cut short
and his cheeks and massive jaw-bones shaven clean, while a well-
shapen moustache gave dignity to his features. His complexion was
ruddy, his eyes blue, and the lines of his mouth indicated good-
humor and firmness in about equal proportions. His dress was plain,
with the least possible insignia of rank, and his headquarters at
the residence of Commodore Wilkes, long occupied by Mrs. Madison,
was always thronged with visitors. His confidential aides were
regular officers trained in many a hard campaign, and he had at
his side, in his father-in-law, Colonel R. B. Marcy, of the army,
an experienced military counselor.
When Lieutenant-General Scott, after having resigned his command,
was about to leave Washington for West Point, his young successor
called upon him to say good-bye, and they had a long conference.
At its conclusion the old hero of three wars, said: "General, do
not allow yourself to be entangled by men who do not comprehend
this question. Carry out your own ideas, act upon your own judgment,
and you will conquer, and the Government will be vindicated. God
bless you!" General McClellan, who was then eulogized as a second
Napoleon, soon found himself "embarrassed" by men who feared that
he might become President if he conquered peace. He was also
impressed with this Presidential idea by pretended friends who had
fastened themselves upon him, and "between two stools he fell to
the ground."
The surrender of Mason and Slidell to the English Government, after
their capture by one of our war vessels, was a sad sacrifice, and
many at Washington were of the opinion that they should have been
retained at every hazard. Some suggested an international arbitration,
but President Lincoln, fortified by the advice of Charles Sumner
and Caleb Cushing, saw plainly that the submission of the case to
arbitration would be equivalent to a surrender. Secretary Seward,
in his communication to Lord Lyons, the British Minister, which
the President revised before it was sent, said, in the most emphatic
terms, that international law, particularly the American intent of
it, as recorded in all our policy that has become historic, was
against us. He said: "This Government could not deny the justice
of the claim presented. We are asked to do by the British nation
just what we have always insisted of nations before to do to us."
Mr. Sumner came gallantly to Mr. Seward's rescue, and made a long
speech in the Senate before crowded galleries, showing that the
seizure of Mason and Slidell on board of a neutral ship could not
be justified according to our best American precedents. "Mr.
President," said he, in his deep-toned voice, "let the rebels go.
Two wicked men, ungrateful to their country, are let loose with
the brand of Cain upon their foreheads. Prison doors are opened,
but principles are established which will help to free other men,
and to open the gates of the sea. Amidst all present excitement,"
said Mr. Sumner, in conclusion, "amidst all present trials, it only
remains for us to uphold the constant policy of the Republic, and
stand fast on the ancient ways."
Meanwhile General McClellan was organizing the large forces sent
for the defense of Washington, and several distinguished foreigners,
who in turn visited the metropolis, expressed great surprise and
admiration at the wonderful rapidity with which so many men and so
much _materiel_ had been collected, affording striking evidence of
the martial capabilities of the American people.
The unfortunate engagement at Ball's Bluff, where Colonel Baker
and many brave Union officers and soldiers were killed, while others
were sent as prisoners to Richmond, had rather a dispiriting effect
on the President. Mr. Lincoln and Colonel Baker had attended the
same school, joined in the same boyish sports, and when they had
grown to manhood their intimacy had ripened into ardent friendship.
Mr. Lincoln had watched with admiration the success of his friend
Baker at the Illinois bar, as a Whig Representative in Congress,
as an officer in the Mexican War, and then--transplanted to the
Pacific coast--as a deliverer of a panegyric over the body of the
murdered Broderick, that was one of the greatest exhibitions of
fervid eloquence ever seen or heard on this continent.
Coming to Washington as United States Senator from Oregon, Colonel
Baker gave a powerful support to the Union cause and to the Lincoln
Administration. He was one of the first Northern politicians to
take the field, and he was promised by President Lincoln a high
military command if he could, by winning a victory, demonstrate
his ability as a general. He entered upon his new military career
with his characteristic energy, but Mr. Lincoln, instead of promoting
him, was soon called upon to mourn his untimely death.
[Facsimile]
H Hamlin
HANNIBAL HAMLIN was born at Paris, Maine, August 27th, 1809; was
a Representative from Maine, 1843-1847; was United States Senator,
1848-1857, when he resigned to act as Governor; was again United
States Senator, 1857-1861, when he resigned, having been elected
Vice-President on the ticket with Abraham Lincoln; was Collector
of the Port of Boston, 1865-1866, when he resigned; was again United
States Senator, 1869-1881.