The Portland daily press., 1892-03-12

AS SecederS' RANKS,
when both sections stood ready to seize
| the national forts, arsenals vessels. arms
and other materials of war, what was
the connecting link between the old, shaky
armament that went to pieces on April IA
and the new, firm power that arose in the
| last days of April and the first days OF
| May?
The question as to who were the heroes
| of Washington's dark days" is called up
| by the plans now under way for NAM
| moth reunion of war veterans at the cap
| ital next September. In the proposed
pageant of battle SCARED soldiers and bat
| tie torn banners on "Washingtons chiefest
avenue" the place of honor at the right OF
| the line of Grand Army posts has been
given to the Sixth Massachusetts, regi-
| ment. This was the body of volunteers
mobbed in Baltimore on April 10, 1851,
| while en- route to protect the capital. 1t
has been singled out for special honor in
the great parade because it was ''the first
to reach the capital after communications
had been severed' between Washington
and the north. The first northern troops
| to go through after that event were
| the Seventh New York and the Eighth
Massachusetts. The New Workers reached
Washington by way of Annapolis at noon,
April 3d.. This was the beginning of the
end of the crisis that had hung over Wash
ington, not for days, but for weeks.
When the first step of the war was taken
by the dispatch of a naval force to Charles
ton harbor with an ultimatum about Fort
Sumter, President Lincoln began to look
to the defense of the capital in case war
should break out over the Sumter bust
ness. That was about April |, and after
that date Gen. Scott made daily report
to the executive of the state of the de-
lenses. The president was anxious not to
create alarm or exceed his lawful authori
ty, and the only safe recourse in the alb
sence of regulars, which were widely dis
persed, was to call out the District militia.
The call was issued April 8, three days be-
fore Sumter was fired upon.
On the 10th, the day after the presidents
call for Is, 900 troops at large, Scott report
ed the state of the forces at hand and fresh
addition of eight companies of District vol
unteers (making sixteen in alD. 'NThese,
think" he concluded, ''place the capital a
little ahead of impending dangers, and we
will maintain at least that advantage till,
by the arrival Tin a week. of regulars and
abundant volunteers, our relative advan-
tage will, trust, be more than doubled
On the 22d, when the crisis was at its
height, the roads from the north blocked,
the volunteers from Massachusetts and
New York lying helpless at Annapolis, the
line of the Potomac and Washington itself
menaced by armed seceders, he declared,
II feel confident that with our present
forces we can defend the capital, the ar
senal and all the executive buildings
against 10000 troops not better than our
District volunteers.
Who and what were these District volun,
teer troops9 Gen. Charles p. Stone, who
commanded them, spoke in his Century
article in this strain:
81 think that the country has never prop
erly appreciated the services of those Dis
trict of Columbia volunteers.
They did their duty quietly, and they did
it well and faithfully. Although not
mustered into the service and placed on
pay until after the fatal day when the flag
was fired upon at Sumter, yet they rem
dered great service before that time in Civ
ing confidence to the Union men, to the
members of the legislature and also to the
president in the knowledge that at least
there was a small force ready to re-
spond at any moment to his call. 1t
should be remembered that the first
troops mustered into the service were
companies of these volunteers, and that
during the dark days when Washington
was cut off from communication with the
north, when railway bridges were burned
and tracks torn up, when the Potomac was
blockaded, these troops were the only reli
asce OF the government for guarding the
public departments, for preserving order
and for holding the bridges and other out
posts; that these were the troops which re-
covered possession of the railway from
Washington to Annapolis Junction and
made practicable the reopening of commu-