The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-04-28

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 II
and the new, firm power that arose in the
last days of April and the first days of
May? 49,"
The question as to who We're the heroes
of N~ashington's dark days" is called up
by the plans now under way for Il 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 'Washington's 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, 1861,
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 %. 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 Il 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 l, and after
bat q ore Ioj1
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 $4,000 troops at large, Scott report
ed the state of the forces at hand and fresh
addition of eight companies of District vol
unteers (mahing sixteen in alD. '''These, |
Think he concluded, ''place the capital a
little ahead of impending dangers, and we
will maintain at least that advantage till,
by the arrival Gin a weekly Of regulars and
abundant volunteers, our relative advan-
tage will, l trust, be more than doubled. y
On the 22d, when the crisis was at it's
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
Il 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 vOlUntee
Who and what were these District volun.
teer troops? Gen. Charles p Stone, who
commanded them, spoke in his Century
article in this strain:
l think that the country has never DrOD-
erly appreciated the services Of those Dis
trlct OF Columbia volunteers. <
They did their duty quietly, and they did
1t well and faithfully. Although not
mustered into the service and placed on
pay until after the fatal day when the flag
was hred 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 OFT 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
ance or 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 reopenine of COMM.