The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-01-04

| f1es The RIilc, spran; into being during
| the John Brown war, in 1859, and was led
| BIZ a Mexican veteran Of southern sympa-
! thies 1t was the banner troop of its class.
! When the war clouds began to fly, in the
! winter of 1901, the captain talked openly
! about marching 20 the banks of the Sus-
/ Quehanna to defend Maryland from Yam
| kee invasion, seized cannon, pistols and
| cutlasses not belonging to the equip
ment of his command, refused to pa
| fade the men at Lincoln's Inaugural
| ton, and was forced to give way
to that brave hero, John r. Smead, of the
| Second United States artillery, whose
hearts blood belonged to the old flag and
| eventually went to its own on the battle
| field The Rifles contained a sprinkling Of
Union men, and on April 10, when the
| Sumter situation had an ugly look, the
company paradcd at the call of the war
| department for volunteers Of the District
| to act against IAN invasion or insurrec-
! ton, or probable prospect thereof"
The call was made under an act Of con
gress of 1SO3-the only authority Lincoln
had for warlike measures at that stage.
Capt. Smead read to his men the order
to appear at the war department and be
sworn into the United States service. All
but 10 rebelled, slung their muskets
into the racks with bang and marched
| out Of the armory As 40 men was the
| minimum required by the war department
the company had to be recruited. IL three
days time the 40 men were secured, but
only after mum berless blackballs Of doubt
full applicants. On the 18th of April the
president called for volunteers at large, and
the 40 Rifles, fully equipped and carrying
twenty rounds of bullets, double quicked
to the war department for muster 1t was
the first body Of men sworn to defend the
assaulted Union under the presidents call.
| The twenty rounds of bullets were to guard
| against an attack III the streets threatened
| by Washington rOughS.
| On the 10Th the rifles began their war
| duties as guards to the home Of Gen. Scott
and the state department. On the 18th
| detail under Lieut.. ". w. Webb seized
| the steamer St. Nicholas at its wharf on
the Potomac with Il cargo of supplies for
| Confederate use the first hostile act of the
| Union forces. The same day a detail
seized the telegraph office on Pennsylvania
avenue. During the next five days the
| company furnished guards and scouts for
various threatened points, and those were
the moments when every pulse beat high
| in and out of Washington. Lee resigned
and went over to seeded Virginia. Com
modOre Buchanan, commander of the
| Washington navy yard, and Prince
| Magruder, captain of one of the two regu-
| lar batteries in Washington, and other in
| fuential officers followed Lee, and hun
| dreds of subOr(linatcs went with them
On the Goth the telegraph was cut at
| Baltimore and the railroads closed north
from that point. Maryland refused to per-
| NIT Union troops to cross her soil to reach
| the capital, and madness, famed by wild
| and exciting rUmOrs, was all about the cit
adel of the nations hopes. The place to
look for help was the north, but how es-
tabIish touch of elbow with the minute