The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-05-25
WASHINGTON LETTER
20 =
Especial correspondenee.T

OF 1851, urSL TO De dFueu anu equlppSu
to respond to the call of the govern
ment when Washington was imperiled
at the outbreak of the civil war, re-
Gently celebrated the forty eighth an
niversary Of their muster into the
United States army.
The proposition was made that the
services Of the District of Columbia
volunteers should be fittingly commem-
GRATED by the general government by
the erection of monument to' "the
Washington minutemen Of 81" in one
of the parks of this city. One Of the
veterans said:
Fright here at the capital are many
veteran soldiers of the dark days of
March and April of 1861, men who
stood between those Of the south who
were ready and anxious to cross the
Potomac and occupy the public and
other buildings This was long before
troops from any part of the country
arrived in the city.
@These men assisted in the Inaugural
ton of Abraham Lincoln when no 9TH
err volunteer troops were here. These
men were the first to muster In as vol
unteers April 10. 1861. They guarded
the public buildings and the District
of Columbia and made 1t possible for
the government to live.
sThese men were first to advance
into Virginia and Maryland. Among
them was the first man killed, and
they captured the first prisoners of
war.
First Uniformed Soldiers of 81.
.eThese men, about $500, a small
part of whom are still living, were
scattered along the banks of the Poto-
mac from opposite Alexandria, Va, to
Seneca, Md, doing duty which little
later on required at least ten times
that number They were also called
upon to go to Baltimore to assist the
Sixth Massachusetts volunteers, who
were mobbed on their way through
that city April 10, 1861. and who ar
rived at the capital the goth of April,
the first uniformed soldiers to respond
to the call of President Lincoln.
t4These men of the District mostly
uniformed themselves and rented and
paid for their quarters and fed them
selves. They never were compensated
In any way.
Saved the Capital.
at is well known that had the men
of the south entered the city and
placed their flags on the government
buildings the world at large would
have recognized the Confederacy. 1t
is well known that the District of Co
iumbia furnished more soldiers in the
Union army in proportion to popula-
ton than any state in the Union.
at has been admitted by those who
know that these men saved the capital
to the nation and maybe the outcome
of the war.
"But these old veterans have had no
champion in congress or elsewhere to
say anything about the part they took
in the dark days of 1861"
Airship Tests at Fort Myer.
Preparations are being made at Fort
Myer for the resumption of aerial ex-
periments. which were cut short last
fall by the accidtnt to orville Wright
and the fall of the balloon tent which
injured the small dirigible, the only
airship at present in possession Of the
government.
Orders have been issued by the adj
jutant generals Office for the return
to Washington from Fort Wood, N. Y,
Of the detachment of signal corps men
who will be engaged in the active
work.
To Try AeropIanes.
When the detachment arrives the
1irigible balloon will be overhauled to
see whether any repairs are neces-
sary. AS soon as acid and iron filings
can be secured for making hydrogen
gas the dirigible will be inflated and
trials made of the wireless telegraph
apparatus, which was constructed by
the signal service the past winter.
General Allen, chief signal officer,
has not yet been notified of the plans
of either the Wright brothers or A. M.
Herring, who are to try out their aero
planes at the fort during the months
Of May and June.
Buddhas For Washington.
At recent sale In New York Of
Siamese and Cambodian antiquities,
which had been brought together in
half lifetime by Siamese official, a
set Of four life sized Buddhas' heads
In bronze went to Charles L. Ereer Of
Detroit for $1,650. 1t is supposed that
Mr.. Freer intends adding them to his
gift to the nation in the Washington
gallery. The heads are catalogued as
of the sixth, fourteenth and sixteenth
centuries, two being Of the sixth. One,
the catalogue says, came from the ruins
of Angkor Wat, one from those of
Swankholor Sukhotal, one from those
of Anythia and one from those of
Chienrai, western Laos.
!. ~ - = -'- A Portrait In Hiding.
"a life sized bust picture Of Speaker
Cannon, minus the cigar, painted In
oil and valued at $3.50. has been lodged
somewhere in Alexandria, Va, for sew
eral months past and all efforts Of anna
teur sleuths to dislodge it have been
unsuccessful. Therefore as a last re-
sort, it is understood, the artist, who
is well known in his profession In
Washington and other art centers, will
appeal to the Alexandria police for
their assistance.
The portrait which was unframed.