Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-05


~ WELL, it's all goody to talk about
1fEE universal peace and disarmament Of
empires and great republics like ours,
AV kbut, when think it over and look back
49, about a generation and remember
just how this country got caught in the lurch
and almost got whipped out Of its boots because
it wasn't prepared to defend itself agains,
enemies in its own borders, say, let's look out
for ourselves in future and be prepared while
we have the means for any trouble that may
come upon u.s."
Thus explained AID reasoned a gray-bearded.
stalwart citizen, who is in responsible posi-
ton in the present civil service. His sixty
years sit lightly upon his rudy brow and
straight form and only an empty sleeve sug-
gests that the venerable speaker ever got into
| dangerous nearness to war missiles or felt the
! edge of a surgeons knife.
| Come, now, uncle" we say in q bantering
way, you don't think there is any possible
| danger of another rebellion, and for foreign
! war. nobody considers such a thing any more
likely to happen"
He takes out his pipe and looks at me silently
| FOR minute. l see he has;e Violently though. OF
something to talk about 10 illustrate the force
| OF his remarks. Anticipating good story 1
invite him to tell how it was, as he was in the
fray.
| THE OUTBREAK.
| ''Yes, was in it. 1 went in early. heard
the Presidents call for help up in New Hamp-
shire and was working on a big log-drlving job
| ON the Merrimac that spring. 1 dropped my
handspike and took musket and soon found
myself marching toward Washington and kick
! ing up the dust of Maryland country roads,
| 1t seems like a dream now.
That June of 1851 was probably the most
| exciting period of the war in some respects
| The President, Congress and everybody else
| was in fever of expectation and anxiety The
| country was in fear. too, for the safety of the
government and its public treasures, and for
the lives of the bravo fellows out on the fretted
| edge OF war, facing an equally brave and
| menaclng enemy. The unavoidable destruc-
| ton OF the government work shops and arsenal
| at Harpers Ferry with thousands of new rifles
] sadly needed for the volunteers, and the sink
| ing and burning of war ships and buildings at
Norfolk ranked in the public mind and mad 8
| many heart sick and discouraged 1t seemed
| that while we were trying to get ready TO fight
| by creating the necessary arms and supplies
the devil OF destruction was let loose-railro Dads
torn up, trains burned, precious things for sus-
tanning and equipping the army committed to
| the flames as 1t might be for the advantage Of
| either side.
| AN AWFUL MONTH.
'You wonder at it now when tell you how
it was. Why, during that awful month in
April and May, when we were trying to open
passage for northern troops through Balti-
l more, there were regiments by the dozen
gathering and marching for the capital with
| out arms or accouterments, tents or camp
| equipage. and obliged to go into camps around
| Phlladelphla, Baltimore, Harrisburg and
wherever they might be ordered to wait. wait
walt week after week for guns and ammuni-
| ton ana tents and clothing and other things
remember there were six or eight regiments
\ fhlfx a.
| near Philadelphia, about 5000, believe, and
| they were so imperfect and unserviceable that
| the officers condemned them and declared if
! they were compelled to take them they would
| resign and go home. Then thousands OF old,
| poor muskets were furnished without suitable
| ammunition for them. SO the government was
| staggering under the first blows of rebellion
scuttlIng its frigates, fighting for the road to
| its own capital. and collecting its resources of
men and war munitions
when | got to Washington with my regi-
ment the first great tragedy, the massacre of
baltimore, had passed. Butler had compkted
| the conquest of secession III that city, and for
his presumption and boldness in occupying
Federal Hill with few hundred troops and
uttering proclamation to the citizens was re-
moved to the department of Virginia at Fort
Monroe, and was solving the problem of the
responsibility for the Big Bethel biunder and
the more perplexing question pertaining to the
contrnband. the original cause OF the war.
| OF the Ohio, at Cincinnati. was conducting an
active and successful campaign in West Vir-
glnla. and afterward taking the field scattered
| rebellion from that section in a lively manner
That campaign of 81 in the West virginia
mountains developed some of the best fighting
| material and was one of the best schools of the
early war. The records of the war give O most
vivid picture of the situation hereabouts
Mind you, the rebel army had its eye on WASH
lngton and was massing itself for swoop
down upon this city. Lincoln is in trap,
| they said, while Baltimore was blockading the
| road from the north.
PREPARATIONS AROUND WASHINGTON
'All around Washington was a scene of hope
full preparation. The daily report, All quiet on
| the Potomac was about the only consoIing news
from the frontier of Secessia waited to waiting
northern ears expecting hourly reports of
bloody conflicts. great army was drilling
and organizing over on the heights of Arling-
ton for trial of vaior and strength with a large
force Of southern troops gathering for battle
| III Virginia. But the volunteers were terribly
green, and Gen. Mcdowell begged that some O..
the recent graduates from the military academy
might be assigned to the duty Of instructng
the new trOoDs But IL was not the preenness
alone of the volunteers that caused the COM
handing general trouble and anxiety. The
| lawlessness and harshness of the soldiers to-
ward the people over the river was tho subject
of report to the general in chief (Scott) in
! Georgetown volunteers at the head of Chain
| Bridge. They charged the inhabitants around
| them with being 'secessionists, which was
set up as a justification Of their acts Of depre-
| dation.
! ALONG THE POTOMAC.
"The Maryland shore of the Potomac from
Washington to Cumberland was most of the
way occupied by union regiments and battal-
ions Of infantry, with a few batteriesland COM
| panies of cavalry. They were very destitute of
| good arms ammunition and camp equipage, and
very raw, Fitz John Porter, major and "A
| q. to Gen. Patterson, from his headquarte rs
at Chambersburg ridiculed tho new
| soldiers and officers too. Our volunteers >
| be. Marching is their forte if they have a
drum or band. They cannot form a square
yet, of those / have seen. yet they think them
selves perfect A few dpys later Mai. Fitz j.
| still berated the volunteers in a dispatch to
! AdJt. Gen. Townsend. 9TH came here he
reports, i could not get from any one Of them
| the kind Of arm in possession nor the caliber
nor a solitary requisition for anything have
had to order each individual article generally.
before l came here and push the article for
ward. i have had to play ordnance officer, as
sistant adjutant general. commander OF the
| forces, inspector. quartermaster-everyth
kingdom for few horses or mules
| would be my cry--if i haG q kingdom ex-
| claimed he. Col Lew Wallace was up at Cum
bertrand with his regiment, the eleventh In
| diana, and had done some OF the best fighting
| on record He asked for more troops to resist
| a threatening force OF rebels. Mcclellan was
| anxious for Wallaea aud olso raouacta1 trao,,