Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-01

courage, after an evening or two of flaming
speech making, organized them respectively
into ,he Clay Battalion and the Frontier
Guards. These companies OF from thirty 10
sixty men each, were what might be called
irregular volunteers. recruited from east and
west OF all ranks in the great army of politics,
VINO came forward to shoulder a musket with
OUT enlistment. commission, paymsster or COM
missarlat. BY this time the danger had be-
come so threatening that every scrap and show
OF military force was welcome and really use
lul; Inc government furnished them arms
ana gave them in charge of Major (afterward
deneral) David Hunter, who on the evening of
the 18TH stationed Gays company in Willard
nan with orders to patrol the streets. and
TOOK Lanes Frontier Guards TO the post
o. honor at the Executive Mansion. At dusk
they I'll d into the famous east room. clad in
citizens dress. but carrying very new unfair
niShed muskets, ana following Lane brandish-
ing sword of irreproachable brightness.
Here ammunition boxes we're opened and
cartridges dealt out, and after spending the
| evening in an exceedingly rudimentary drill
under the hight Of the gorgeous chandeliers
tney disposed of themselves i'll picturesque
olEouacs on the briliant-patterned velvet car
pets perhaps the most luxuriou captonment
which American soldiers have ever enjoyed.
! 1heir motley composition. their too trans
| prelA ntotlUe, their anomalous surroundings.
| tne extraordinary emergency, their mingled
a"h"ardness aud earuestness. rendered the
scene medley OF bizarre contradictions,
p4ehulng OF masquerade aud tragedy, of grim
humor and realistic seriousuess-a combna-
uon OF Don Qulxote ami Daniel Boone-alto-
sether impossible to describe. However,
| their special guardianship of the east room
lasted only for night or two, until more suit
i.bie quarters could be extemporIzed. and TOR
many days they lent moral influence in
pressing and overawing the lurking treason
sun present IN considerable fraction of the
| Washington inhabitants"
| CORRECTING HISTORY.
| Such is tho yrapbic -, he GgT "a Of
Lincoln of the scene as it appeared on that
momentous night, which, for artistic minglng
/ OF humor and reality, is worthy the pen OF a
| DICKENS and which no doubt VIII cause a smile
| on the countenance OF those who were then
actors and who still live to read the Judgment
which impartial history places upon the man
ner IN which they formed their parts, And
| perhaps there is not much in the description
| that can be objected to. They are credited
Win 'eIertlng healthy moral influence i'll the
| REFRESHING OF treason" and that is a good deal
| But 1t occurs to me that the words too trans
parent motive" which l have put in italics,
| ought to be qualified, or, perhaps, omitted al
together. Beyond doubt there were many, and
| probably the greater number, who voluntarily
took up arms on that occasion who were actu-
ated ny the purest motives of patriotism, with
| no other thought than that OF serving their
| country IN the hour of need. while the words
objected to lmpugn the motives OF all. would
not like to pass wholesale judgment upon the
| hiotiNes oI men VINO are acting for the pubic
welfare lest wrong them.
Again speaking of the night of the 22d of
April. when Commodore Buchanan resigned
| together with nearly all the subordinate officers
at the navy yard. the same author says: This
| night all this invaluable naval depot with all
| Its vast stores of material its immense work.
| shops and priceless machinery. WAS intrusted
| soloIy to the loyalty anu watcnfuiness of Com
mander John A. Dahlgren and little handful
| OF marines, scarcely enough i'll numbers to
| have baiiied half a dozen adrot lncendiares,
or to ascertain the street gossip outside the
| establishment"
| 1t Is to be regretted that the above paragraph
| should have appeared in print in the Life OF
| Lincoln 1t Is of little consequence who stood
| guard on any night of that exciting period.
| ana perhaps the historian might well have
| passed over the matter in silence. but if mon-
toned at all the record should be truthful. As
| already stated the Clay Guards were on duty at
| the navy yard the night mentioned, which
| detracts nothing from the honors due to Com
| mander Dahgren, and to whom praise I'M
properly credited would be Offensive.
! BAT the estimated number of men. thirty to
Sky, IN each organization Is much too small.
There conid not have been much less than 100
| In the Cay Battalion the first night, and NAV
have been considerably NOR aud many more
| were enrolled the next day. Col. W. :. Lamon
gives the names of some of the privates as
follows: Fr Pennsy Gaiusha r. Grow
! David Nllmot, Col J. II. Campbell, L. p
| butcher. Abraham Makemau. VIM. lIilward
| and Phil f. {. McPherson; Tennessee-Gov
| VIM. Bell; Wisconsin-John F. Potter and Gen
| hu:ns ii. hing; District of Coiumbia-P c.
| Washington; New Hampshire-Gilman Marston:
Aew 1ork-J. b. Mcheon; Albany, Ny
Amasa Mccoy.
| ENROLLING VOLUNTEERS.
| These were OF the number who were better
known, several of whom were Congressmen
and others held equally responsible positions
| Resides thoEa tlara a
| Younger men, who, though less known, were no
less patriotic, and were equally wiling to serve
| their country in the hour of need. About 8
O'Clock (p-obaDiy) on the evening of their or
| CanlZation a goOdIy number, among whom
! were several whose names are IN the above list
| left the National Eotel and went to Wizards
| according to arrangement, to join the organs
Zatioa. There was already good-sized COM
| pany III the hnil. and the double guard, pre-
| vlously mentioned was already set. | saw one
or two squads enrolled and conducted into the
| hall b9foro my turn came TO be enrolled Ga
| entering the hall muskets (carbines), cartridge
boxes, belts and ammunition were dis
| tributed, and Sergt. Butterfeld (aftcr-
| ward generaD drilled the men in the
| manual of arms and in company tactics
| Their service principally to patrol tho
streets at night and do guard duty. and they
| had authority to arrest al lDltum all persons
| found on the streets after O'Clock without the
| password. The city was not declared to be
| under martial law, according to my recollcc-
| ton, yet virtually it was 80. And a company of
| citizen volunteers were clothed by the War De-
| partment with extraordinary powers l had
| orders to shoot mortaily any man who should
| hot halt at my command or who should at
! tempt 10 pass my beat without the correct pass
| word. Fortunately | was not obliged to resort
| to such extreme measures. After the squads
| were sent out there WAS fair-slzed military
| company left in the hall. These sat or reclined
| upon the floor As they found most convenient
/ Some had pencils and tablets and wrote letters
| to their friends or to the newspapers or con-
| cerulug matters of business.
| During their term OF service many Of them
| were not undressed, and what sleep they got
| was with coats and boots and living upon
| the bare floor with an army blanket for a pil-
low. They were formed into two companies
David Webb of New York being captain of the
| first company and J. l. Ninton OF Albany Wis
| captain of the second company. Henry Dixon
| OF Alexandria was first lieutenant OF the seco, d
| COMPANY. who IN physique and character much
| resemblcd Clay. Like him he was stout. weigh
| ing something over 200, and was sombcr aud
| stern. and wIthat a southern abolitioniSt. 1t
| WAS given out that he would not be allowed 10
| vote at the precinct where he resided but he
| went to the poll, revolver in hand, and voted
an open ballot for Mr.. Lincoln. few DAVIS
| after their organization Col. Clay rendered the
| services OF his command to tho Secretary Of
| War for thirty days in any place or capacity
| where they might be needed.
INCREASED ANXIETY
have previously mentioned the feelings of
anxiety that prevailed prior to the night Of
| doing duty at the navy yard From this time