WASHINGTON A VAST GARRISON.
When Congress met on the first Monday in December, 1861, Washington
was a vast citadel. A cordon of forts completely encircled it on
the commanding heights, each one armed, provisioned, and garrisoned.
On the large plain east of the Capitol and on the south side of
the Potomac were encamped large bodies of troops. Regiments were
constantly on the march through the city. Long wagon trains laden
with provisions or ammunition were dragged through the mud of the
then unpaved streets. Mounted orderlies galloped to and fro,
bearing returns, requisitions, and despatches. The old flag was
hoisted in every direction at sunrise, and lowered when the evening
gun was fired, while the music of bands and the shrill notes of
drums and fifes rang forth the "music of the Union."
An amusing sight was frequently enjoyed when newly formed regiments
arrived. They usually came with the glowing colors of new equipments,
and the vigorous zeal of newly organized drum and fife corps, if
not, indeed, of a full band. A richly dressed drum-major generally
marched at the head of these displays, and his gaudy uniform,
bearskin shako with its plume, glittering baton, with its incessant
twirling and rhythmical movement, excited the greatest enthusiasm
and admiration among the throngs of observing negroes. To them
the _tambour major_ was by far the greatest soldier of the day.
For miles in every direction the country was picketed, and martial
law was rigidly enforced. All persons going toward the front must
be provided with passes, which were very closely scrutinized at
every picket-post. In times of special peril those moving northward
underwent the same ordeal. War, with all its severities and horrors,
was continually at the doors of those who dwelt in Washington.
Congress, for the first time since the seat of Government was
removed to Washington from Philadelphia, occupied an entirely
subordinate position, and it might well be said the "_inter arma
silent leges_"--laws are silent in the midst of armies. It was
not long, however, before the Senators and Representatives reasserted
their authority. Simon Cameron's report as Secretary of War, as
originally prepared, printed, and sent over the country for
publication, took advanced ground on the slavery question. He
advocated the emancipation of the slaves in the rebel States, the
conversion to the use of the National Government of all property,
whether slave or otherwise, belonging to the rebels, and the resort
to every military means of suppressing the Rebellion, even the
employment of armed negroes.
President Lincoln, at the instance of Secretary Seward and General
McClellan, declined to accept these anti-slavery views from his
subordinate, and ordered the return of the advance copies distributed
for revision and amendment. It happened, however, that several
newspapers had published the report as originally written. When
they republished it, as modified, the public had the benefit of
both versions. The President struck out all that Secretary Cameron
had written on the slavery question, and substituted a single
paragraph which was self-evidently from the Presidential pen. The
speculations of the Secretary as to the propriety of arming the
negroes were canceled, and we were simply told that it would be
impolitic for the escaped slaves of rebels to be returned again to
be used against us. Secretary Chase sustained Secretary Cameron,
but Secretary Seward, the former champion of higher law and
abolitionism, was so conservative at this crisis of the great
struggle between freedom and slavery, as to disgruntle many ardent
supporters of the principles of which he had once assumed to be
the champion.
When Congress assembled there were many vacant seats at either end
of the Capitol. In the Senate Chamber ten States of the thirty-
six were unrepresented, and the Virginia nominally represented was
that portion of the Old Dominion within the range of Union cannon.
Vice-President Hamlin, who presided, was one of the Democrats who
had gone into the Republican camp. Of medium height, with a massive
head, dark complexion, cleanly shaven face, he was ever prompt and
diligent in the transaction of business. At all seasons of the
year he wore a suit of black, with a dress-coat, and could never
be persuaded to wear an overcoat, even in the coldest weather. He
was noted for his fidelity to political friends, and at Washington
he always had their interests at heart.
William Pitt Fessenden, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance,
was really the leader of the Republican party in the Upper House.
He was a statesman of great power and comprehensiveness, who
possessed mental energies of the very highest order, and whose
logic in debate was like a chain, which his hearers often hated to
be confined with, yet knew not how to break. To courage and power
in debate he united profound legal knowledge and a very extraordinary
aptitude for public business. Originally an ardent Whig, his whole
political life had been spent in earnestly opposing the men and
measures of the Democratic party, nor did he possess that adaptability
of opinion so characteristic of modern politicians. Born and reared
in the days when the "giants of the Republic" were living, and to
some extent, a contemporary actor in the leading events of the
times, he had learned to think for himself, and prefer the
individuality of conscientious conviction to the questionable
subservience of partisan policy.
Senator Sumner regarded his position as Chairman of the Committee
on Foreign Relations as superior to all others in Congress, while
he was unquestionably the leader of the Abolition wing of the
Republican party. Having been abroad himself, he knew the necessity
for having, especially at that time, the country represented by
educated gentlemen, and Mr. Seward often found it a difficult matter
to persuade him to consent to the appointment of some rural politician
to a place of diplomatic importance. Objection was made to one
nomination, on the ground that the person was a drunkard, and a
leading Senator came one morning before the Committee to refute
the charge. He made quite an argument, closing by saying: "No,
gentlemen, he is not a drunkard. He may, occasionally, as I do
myself, take a glass of wine, but I assure you, on the honor of a
gentleman, he never gets drunk." Upon this representation the
appointment was favorably reported upon and confirmed by the Senate,
but it was soon evident that the person was an incorrigible sot,
and when it became absolutely necessary to remove him, it leaked
out that he had retained and paid the Senator for vouching for his
temperate habits.
Senator Wilson, who wielded enormous power as Chairman of the
Committee on Military Affairs, had been, before the war, a brigadier-
general of militia in Massachusetts. He had raised a three-years'
regiment, which he had brought to Washington, but not wishing to
take the field, he had resigned the command, and had solicited from
General McClellan a position on his staff. When he reported for
duty he was ordered to appear the next morning mounted, and
accompanied by two other staff officers, in a tour of inspection
around the fortifications. Unaccustomed to horsemanship, the ride
of thirty miles was too much for the Senator, who kept his bed for
a week, and then resigned his staff position. He performed herculean
labors on his Committee, and examined personally the recommendations
upon which thousands of appointments had been made. That at times
he was prejudiced against those who were opposed to emancipation
could not be denied, but he honestly endeavored to have the Union
army well officered, well fed, and promptly paid.
The Chairman of the Naval Committee was Mr. Grimes, of Iowa, who
mastered the wants and became acquainted with the welfare of that
branch of the service, and who urged liberal appropriations for it
in a lucid, comprehensive, and vigorous manner. An enemy of all
shams, he was a tower of strength for the Administration in the
Senate. Then there was bluff Ben Wade, of Ohio, whose honestly
was strongly tinged by ambition, and who looked at the contest with
the merciless eyes of a gladiator about to close in a death-grip.
John Sherman had just been transplanted from the House, Secretary
Chase having urged him to remain in the Senate, rather than resign
and take the field, as he had wished to. Nye, of Nevada, who sat
next to Mr. Sumner, was a native wit of "infinite jest" and most
"excellent fancy," who enlivened the Senate with his _bon mots_
and genial humor. Trumbull, Harlan, Pomeroy, Lot Morrill, Zach.
Chandler, Daniel Clark, Ira Harris, Jacob Collamer, Solomon Foote,
Lafayette S. Foster, and David Wilmot were all men of ability.
Indeed, the Republican Senators, as a whole, were men of remarkable
intelligence, while the fourteen or fifteen Democratic Senators,
deprived of their associates who had seceded, found it difficult
to make a respectable showing of legislation.
The House, where there were also many vacant seats, elected Galusha
A. Grow, of Pennsylvania, Speaker. He was a thorough politician
and a good presiding officer, possessing the tact, the quickness
of perception, and the decision acquired by editorial experience.
Thaddeus Stevens was the despotic ruler of the House. No Republican
was permitted by "Old Thad" to oppose his imperious will without
receiving a tongue-lashing that terrified others if it did not
bring the refractory Representative back into party harness. Rising
by degrees, as a telescope is pulled out, until he stood in a most
ungraceful attitude, his heavy black hair falling down over his
cavernous brows, and his cold little eyes twinkling with anger, he
would make some ludicrous remark, and then, reaching to his full
height, he would lecture the offender against party discipline,
sweeping at him with his large, bony right hand, in uncouth gestures,
as if he would clutch him and shake him. He would often use
invectives, which he took care should never appear printed in the
official reports, and John Randolph in his braggart prime was never
so imperiously insulting as was Mr. Stevens toward those whose
political action he controlled. He was firm believer in the old
maxim ascribed to the Jesuits, "The end justifies the means," and,
while he set morality at defiance, he was an early and a zealous
champion of the equality of the black and the white races.
There were many able men among the Republican Representatives.
Dawes, of Massachusetts, had acquired a deserved reputation for
honesty, sincerity, and untiring industry. Elihu B. Washburne was
an experienced politician and a practical legislator. Sam Hooper
was a noble specimen of the Boston merchant, who had always preserved
his reputation for exact dealings, and whose liberal charities
eclipsed his generous hospitalities. Roscoe Conkling, who had just
entered upon the theatre of his future fame, commanded attention
by his superb choice of words in debate and by his wonderful felicity
of expression and epigrammatic style. Alexander H. Rice reflected
honor upon his Boston constituents. John B. Alley was a true
representative of the industrial interests and anti-slavery sentiments
of old Essex. William D. Kelley was on the threshold of a long
career of parliamentary usefulness, and Edward McPherson, a man of
facts and figures, blindly devoted to his party, was ever ready to
spring some ingenious parliamentary trap for the discomfiture of
its opponents.
The Democratic opposition was not strong. Among Kentucky's
Representatives were the veteran John J. Crittenden, who had so
long been kept under the shadow of the representation of Henry
Clay, and Charles A. Wickliffe, portly in figure and florid in
features, who clung to the ruffled-bosom shirt of his boyhood.
Daniel Voorhees, the "Tall Sycamore of the Wabash," would occasionally
launch out in a bold strain of defiance and invective against the
measures for the restoration of the Union, in which he would be
seconded by Clement L. Vallandingham, of Ohio, and by the facetious
S. S. Cox, who then represented an Ohio district.
The Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War was a
mischievous organization, which assumed dictatorial powers.
Summoning generals before them, and having a phonographer to record
every word uttered, they would propound very comprehensive questions.
The first question put by them was generally about identical with
that which the militia captain, who fell into the cellar-way after
an arduous attempt to drill his company, asked a benevolent Quaker
lady who rushed forward to express her sympathy, as he struggled
to extricate himself: "What do you know about war?" If the general
in hand was a political brigadier or major-general, who had been
in the habit before the war of saving his country on the stump, he
would proceed to discuss the origin and cure of the Rebellion,
greatly to the satisfaction of the Committee, and they would
ascertain at once that so far as his principles were concerned,
the ought to have commanded the Army of the Potomac. If the general
called and questioned happened to be one of the numerous class who
had formed the acquaintance of the green-eyed monster, he entertained
the Committee with shocking stories of his superior officers. He
scolded and carped and criticised and caviled, told half truths
and solid lies, and the august and astute Committee listened with
open ears, and the phonographer dotted down every word. So the
meanest gossip and slang of the camp was raked into a heap and
preserved in official form.
[Facsimile]
BenjWade
BENJAMIN F. WADE was born at Feeding Hills Parish, near Springfield,
Massachusetts, October 17th, 1800; removed to Ohio; was United
States Senator, 1851-1869, and died at Jefferson, Ohio, March 2d,
1878.