USA > Connecticut > Connecticut as a colony and as a state; or, One of the original thirteen, Volume IV > Part 2
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25
The direction of the tide of opinion was indicated by the vote of the Connecticut delegation on the proposal to so amend the Constitution as to prevent Congress from ever interfering with slavery. Mr. Dixon voted for it. Mr. Foster did not vote; the House delegation voted against it. The Fourth of March approached; apprehensions of evil filled the air; but still the North hoped that Southern ire would vent itself in words.
Connecticut was ill-pleased that her contribution to Bu- chanan's cabinet, Isaac Toucey, a Hartford man, was suspected of using his authority as Secretary of the Navy to disperse our warships to distant seas, and was known to have allowed officers, shipyards, and stores, to slip away from government control without reproof or opposition on his part. He received, on March 2, the censure of Congress for his mal-administration, Mr. Dawes of Massachusetts being chairman of the committee of investigation. The minority report, given by Mr. Branch of North Carolina, was rather
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damaging in its ironical defense of the Secretary. To the charge of allowing disloyal officers to depart unscathed, Mr. Toucey has since replied that by so doing he had cleared the Navy of the "seeds of disaffection, so that the secession of eleven States from the Union lost not a single vessel to the service"; and he said that he had been constantly refused the naval appropriations for which he had as constantly asked in order to rehabilitate the navy. It may be that as the end of his term approached, his fear of the disapproval of his Connecticut neighbors waxed greater than that of seceding senators; for a comparison of dates shows that while in Jan- uary there were very few vessels in home waters, most of them had been quietly recalled before Mr. Lincoln's inaugu- ration.
It was a little remarkable that one Hartford man, retiring from Buchanan's cabinet, was followed as Secretary of the Navy by another, Gideon Welles, who was so trusted a sup- porter of Mr. Lincoln and the Union all through the war as to almost efface the unpleasant memory of Toucey's career. Gideon Welles, a member of an old Connecticut family, had been prominent in State affairs for more than a generation. Some years before the war, William H. Burleigh had started the Hartford Republican. It was sold first to J. D. Baldwin, then to M. H. Bartlett & Co., D. W. Bartlett and Joseph H. Hawley being its editors. Of the Press, its successor, Gideon Welles was one of the founders. He had much abil- ity as a writer on political themes, contributing for many years editorial articles to the Times. In the winter of 1860- 6 1 he had written a remarkable series of articles on the crisis of affairs for the National Era of Washington. He had been one of the one hundred men who met at the invitation of Joseph R. Hawley to form the Republican party, and by his
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pen had been one of the most influential in bringing it into power.
Mr. Lincoln's choice of him was in accord with his political sagacity, and was approved by experience. Lacking the pro- nounced qualities of Stanton, Welles yet had underneath his modest bearing, sound ideas and excellent judgment; so that intimate friends knew that the President often sought and followed his advice on questions of great moment. Welles kept his portfolio through two administrations.
In the spring of 1861, Governor Buckingham was re-elected by a good majority of more than 2,000; a guaran- tee of support to President Lincoln. But events in the harbor of Charleston made the North forget everything else. For six months, aggressions had been made almost unheeded and quite unpunished. Nineteen forts, mints, arsenals, and navy- yards; 1,200 cannon, and 150,000 muskets, had passed from national control to that of seceding States; officers of the army and navy and of the government, in high and low degree, had transferred their allegiance to a hostile authority ; the halls of Congress had resounded with loud-voiced con- tempt of the Union; and still we did not stir; but on April 12 the telegraph clicked, a little message told that that fluttering bit of bunting on lonely Sumter was fired on by traitor guns; and lo! there was the lightning flash of a nation's wrath, and the North sprang up to avenge the insult. The transformation was as sudden as the bursting forth of electric lights on a darkened town; and the world could hardly believe that it was true.
The news that Sumter had fallen reached Connecticut on Sunday morning, April 13. Many heard it as they went to church. A solemn indignation seized the congregations that listened to the impassioned prayers and sermons called forth
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by the crisis. That Battle Sunday was indeed like the hush before the roar of the cannonade. Patience had ceased to be a virtue; what to do was now the question; how quickest and best to wipe off the stain from the flag.
Every hour was precious. On that Sunday evening was held a great and memorable war-meeting in New Britain ; Major Anderson's portrait, enwreathed, was presented by Valentine B. Chamberlain, the whole audience rising in over- whelming excitement at his thrilling words; a volunteer com- pany was started, and Frank Stanley, afterwards shot dead at Irish Bend, was the first to offer himself. With simultaneous impulse, such meetings were held all over the State; in West Winsted, in spite of one opposing speech, one hundred men offered to go to the war which was now begun, and $700 was subscribed for their outfit.
On Monday morning came the President's proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand troops for three months. The day for peace had passed; and on every side was the bustle of preparation for war. The newspapers of the State voiced the determination of the people to lay aside party dif- ferences and defend the dear old flag. To be sure, the news- papers aforementioned continued to utter disapproval of "coercion," but they could not cool the white heat of popular feeling.
On that morning, three men met in the office of the Hart- ford Press : Joseph R. Hawley, its editor, Albert W. Drake, and Joseph Perkins. Drake had already prepared a form for volunteering, which they signed; and by night, when the great mass-meeting was under way, the company thus begun was full. Drake became second lieutenant ; Hawley, first lieu- tenant, soon to be captain of Company A, then lieutenant- colonel of the Seventh, and afterwards brigadier-general. He
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had that day engaged rifles for his company on his own responsibility. In that company, as in many others, enthu- siasm had to compensate for experience; since it contained only one who had seen service on any field, and only two who had even been in a militia company. Beauregard, Bragg, and Lee, who had been trained at the nation's expense, had gone with the South; but people consoled themselves by saying, "We still have Gen. Scott and Gen. Wool," not realizing that they were entering on a contest which would bring forth gen- erals of overshadowing fame.
Connecticut's quota was one regiment of militia, and it was found that the laws of the State did not empower the Gov- ernor to order a militia regiment into the field. Thus Mas- sachusetts was able to send her militia in a body to Washing- ton in advance of Connecticut. At Hartford and New Haven, crowds waited far into the night to cheer the Mas- sachusetts men as their train passed. Governor Bucking- ham was not deterred by obstacles, and on his own responsi- bility called for the regiment to be made up of volunteers. Like air into a vacuum, men rushed to enlist. They fairly tumbled over each other in their eagerness to be enrolled in that one regiment which they thought would have the only chance to take part in re-establishing our dishonored govern- ment.
Three regiments were quickly formed; but it was only by the personal entreaty of Governor Buckingham, who went to Washington to see Mr. Lincoln for that purpose, that the State was allowed to send the Second and Third Regiments. No such entreaties would have been needed two years later ! The preparation of regiments for the seat of war became the absorbing thought and occupation in the State. Within four days of the President's call, the First Regiment was in camp
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at New Haven; within six days, the Second followed; in two weeks, the Third went into camp at Hartford; and within three weeks, fifty-four companies, five times our quota, had offered their services.
There was friendly rivalry for being first at the front. New Britain and Danbury divided the honor of being the first to offer a company to the State; that from West Meri- den, being on the basis of a military company, was the first to be accepted by the Governor; Captain Burnham's Hart- ford company was the first that was wholly composed of volunteers; and probably Winsted can boast of the first man who enlisted, Samuel Horne, who had martial tendencies, his two uncles having been officers under Wellington, one of them having been on his staff. Horne was only seventeen, and small; but he would not be refused, and served honorably in twenty-five battles, gaining several promotions and being wounded three times.
The dates of individual offers to serve and those of recorded enlistments sometimes differ a good deal, for obvi- ous reasons. In Norwich, the Governor's home, James B. Coit, himself the first volunteer in Norwich, on the receipt of the telegram announcing the assault on Sumter, gathered a company, the "Buckingham Rifles", designed to be a part of the First Regiment; but it finally went into the Second Regi- ment. The Wooster Guards of Danbury offered themselves to the Governor two days in advance of his call, and were the first company to arrive at New Haven.
On the news of the fall of Sumter, Robert H. McCurdy, an honored citizen of New York, but a native of Lyme, and a brother of the equally patriotic Judge McCurdy of Lyme, went about in the rain to call his friends and neighbors to a meeting at his house that night. That led to the famous war-
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meeting on Union Square, on the afternoon of Saturday, April 20. The call stated that the battle-flags of Moultrie and Sumter would be displayed. Union Square was the cen- tre, but the eager throng that made it the mightiest mass- meeting this country has ever seen "stretched almost from river to river, and from one end of the town to the other." During the whole war, both Robert and Charles McCurdy were untiring in upholding the government.
Mass-meetings were held all over the State. In Brooklyn, Windham County, sixty men were raised in thirty minutes; and in many other towns, from fifty to sixty were enrolled in thirty or forty minutes. In Norwich, the five sons of Jared Dennis enlisted; and a family feeling can be traced in many other groups of names. While the mass-meeting in Middle- town was going on, Captain Dickerson of the Mansfield Guard summoned his men to the armory. Words were few and action was rapid; before morning the company, with full ranks, was ready for war. Similar instances of the wonder- ful rising of the people might be related indefinitely.
Indeed there was need of haste. The South was bestir- ring herself with equal alacrity, the Potomac flowed between banks hostile to the Union Government, and the flag of the Confederacy was flying in sight of Washington. That capital, itself a harbor for spies and disunionists, was men- aced with investment or capture at any moment. Communi- cation by railroad or telegraph with the North was cut off; the fate of the Massachusetts Sixth in Baltimore was a verifi- cation of fear long felt, and in the midst of dismayed friends and exultant foes, the sad- eyed President wondered when help would come from the North.
William A. Aiken, Quartermaster-General of Connec- ticut, was asked by Governor Buckingham to make the
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attempt to carry to Mr. Lincoln the assurance that help was on the way, and to test the possibility of making com- munication. Starting early on April 22, he and a com- panion succeeded in reaching Washington, but by circuitous routes, with delay and danger ; while open threats where they were recognized as Northerners showed that it was best to be as inconspicuous as possible. In Baltimore, it was only by the favor of the hotel proprietor that passes from General Winder, a Rebel, were secured that enabled them to leave the city limits.
In General Aiken's words: "At ten o'clock next morning I called upon the President, and saw him for the first time in my life-an interview I can never forget. No office-seekers were besieging the presence that day. I met no delay. Mr. Lincoln was alone, seated in his business room, upstairs, looking towards Arlington Heights through a wide-open window. Against the casement stood a very long spyglass or telescope, which he had obviously just been using. I gave him all the information I could. He seemed depressed beyond measure as he asked slowly and with measured empha- sis, 'What is the North about? Do they know our condi- tion ?' 'No:' I answered: 'they certainly did not when I left'. He spoke of the non-arrival of troops under General Butler, and of having had no intelligence from them for two or three days. Having delivered my despatch and the Gov- ernor's words of encouragement, and having enjoyed an interview protracted, by desire of the President, beyond ordi- nary length, I took my leave.
"The sense of the insecurity of the capital, and of that good man's life, has never again come over my spirit with such weight as then. From the President's words and looks, I saw what a moment of golden opportunity that was to the
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conspirators. Only a handful of regulars, a regiment of vol- unteers, and Cassius M. Clay's band of brave men,-these were all the loyal forces at hand. Foes were without, and their descent from Arlington over Long Bridge was the probability of any moment. Foes were within, equally bit- ter, jostling the friends of the government on every pavement and in every office. Mutual confidence seemed dead, and suspicion had usurped its place. I believe there has been no hour since, when messages of sympathy, encour- agement, and aid from the loyal government of a loyal State were more truly needed, or more effective in the mind of the late President, than these I had the honor to deliver."
In order to leave Washington, it was necessary for General Aiken to borrow gold, for even New York bank bills had no value there; and it was not safe to pursue the route used in going, as they were undoubtedly marked by the rebels for detention. A few individuals were successful in getting through from the capital to New York; among them D. W. Bartlett, a Connecticut man, who was at that time one of the editors of the National Era, which had been issuing rousing articles,-those of Mr. Welles, now Secretary of the Navy, being among them. Every word of information that such a man could give about the state of Washington and the perils of the journey was eagerly sought by the newspapers of New York, and by General Wool, then in command there.
Mr. Bartlett reported the Capitol as surrounded by impro- vised defenses, and provisioned with several thousand barrels of flour. That commodity was selling for sixteen dollars a barrel, and no provisions were coming in from the surround- ing country. It was only by personal favor of a Congress- man that he could secure gold for the trip, and the "shin- plasters", the only local currency in Washington, were value-
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less outside of it. He said that the railroad tracks had been torn up for miles, and it had been necessary to travel by unfre- quented routes, driving by night across the country, with four horses, to reach a point where a train could be taken with safety. Armed bands of Maryland secessionists patrolled the roads, and the hotels in Baltimore, with loud threats to kill all passengers from the North. The Pennsyl- vania regiment had hurried to Washington, unarmed; many of the city volunteer militia were mere striplings or were justly suspected of disloyalty, and there were only seven or eight hundred regular soldiers there at that time. Guns at Arlington could have shelled a large part of the city, and Ben Mccullough was encamped at Alexandria, nine miles away.
With some reason, Jefferson Davis had retained his pew in his Washington church, and his wife had sent word to her friends that she "expected very soon to be in the White House, where she would be glad to see them all at her first reception". The bridge between Havre de Grace and Bal- timore was burned, and the New York papers announced that "all communication between Baltimore and Philadelphia by rail, and with Boston by water, ceased on April 19." On the 24th, the New York Seventh and Massachusetts Eighth brought relief; on the 25th the glad words were printed, "Washington is safe!" and on the 26th the railroad adver- tised to run a few trains : but it was weeks before ordinary travel was resumed.
Nor did the enthusiasm of the State spend itself in words only; money was needed too, for words could accom- plish little without ammunition, uniforms, and supplies. Where were these to come from in such haste? The Governor had wisely provided knapsacks, cartridge boxes, bayonets and other equipments for five thousand men, during
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the winter; but it had not been deemed prudent to arouse feeling by ordering new muskets, so only ten hundred and twenty were of the latest pattern. In the wakeful hours of that Sunday night, April 14, he decided what to do. The smooth-bores must be given up. In the morning he would go to the Thames bank, and ask to borrow $50,000 on the secur- ity of his private property. With that sum he could arm his volunteers with the best and newest rifles.
But other brains had been active during that night, and before Governor Buckingham could reach the bank, he re- ceived a despatch from E. C. Scranton and Thomas B. Os- borne, president and vice-president of the Elm City Bank of New Haven, offering a loan from the bank of $50,000. The Thames Bank immediately offered $100,000; and almost simultaneously came offers of $50,000 each from the Pah- quioque Bank of Danbury, the Danbury Bank, the Mechanics Bank of New Haven; of twenty-five thousand from the Fair- field County Bank of Norwalk, and of five hundred thousand from the united banks of Hartford, one-tenth of their capital. This was a significant item to be telegraphed all over the country, and it spoke volumes of the practical patriotism of those who could not go to the fight.
All over the state burned the spirit of laying gifts on the altar of our country. During the eight years of Governor Buckingham's absolutely devoted services as Governor, he did not draw one dollar of his salary, and many emulated his generosity. David Clark, of Hartford, pledged himself in the first war-meeting to give $250 to every company which the city should send, and began by giving his check to Haw- ley's company on the spot. In various ways, during the war, he gave $60,000 to war expenses. In New Haven, Thomas R. Trowbridge, at the outset, offered $500 for the families
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of volunteers; and he too continued his support throughout the war. Practically, the financial resources of the state were at the Governor's disposal.
During that first week of enthusiasm the disunion sym- pathizers had little chance to be heard. The combative spirit was roused in many men who had been apathetic or hostile until the shots reached Sumter. The flag suddenly assumed a new significance, and became synonymous with the Union and all the blessings and obligations that were dependent on it. For a long time the Stars and Stripes had been out of sight and out of mind as much as possible; now, every flag was brought forth and unfurled in the sunlight, and a brisk business was established in making flags and cockades of all sizes and descriptions. Flag-raisingswere favorite public func- tions for years, and every building, private or public, whose owner was patriotic and could find a place for a flag, had it waving in the breeze. Cockades of the national colors were universally worn, and the State was fluttering with red, white and blue, from end to end. No public entertainment was complete unless some graceful soprano or thundering bass gave the finishing touch by singing the "Star Spangled Ban- ner," and the "Red, White and Blue"; and bands fanned the ardor of all by playing the national airs on every possible oc- casion.
Sunday, April 21, was a memorable day. War sermons were generally preached, and in most churches ordinary con- ditions were reversed, and the masculine element predomi- nated in the audiences; for the women could not stop for even an abbreviated service, being assembled in companies where the clicking of sewing machines took the place of praise and prayer, for the need of uniforms was so pressing that not a moment could be spared. In all the large towns
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this work was going on night and day. Every nerve was strained, every one gave what he could. Tailors cut the garments, sewing-machines were lent and transported, out- fitters gave underclothing, caterers served lunches, all with- out charge, while bands played encourageingly in the streets.
With all these aids, the work was accomplished in an as- tonishingly short time. The ladies of New Haven finished and distributed more than five hundred full uniforms in ten days; and equal diligence was used in other places. One com- pany went to New Haven without uniforms, and as a speedy way of securing a martial appearance, the warriors sought their early beds at the Russell Military School, while the kind ladies made their fingers fly in sewing on stripes down the trousers !
The pupils of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum in Hartford gave the use of their tailor and shoe shops; the Winchester and Davies Company in New Haven lent their sewing ma- chines to make ticks for the camp beds, and there was a gay evening at the old State House when the ladies came to help the soldiers fill them with straw. Little did any of them realize how luxurious a straw bed would seem to some of those men, when sick and suffering on the cold earth of prison pens !
Some towns early offered that provision for the families of volunteers which was taken up afterwards by the State. Doctors often promised to give their services to the families of volunteers. The Congregational ministers near Winsted arranged to fill Chaplain Eddy's pulpit in turn during his absence, so that his family could have his salary. Workmen, during that summer, often did the work of their absent com- rades, and employers continued the pay of employees who had volunteered.
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Each village and town that contributed its sons for the First Regiment, bade them farewell with all the pomp and circumstance in its power. Breathless crowds gathered at every point on the route ; even roofs bore their load of those anxious to see the heroes. With flags flying, drums beating, cheers resounding, the volunteers marched off with step light and free, proud in the anticipation of glory soon to be won. A few months later, crowds assembled again, eager to welcome home the returning ones. Surely they would come with the firm tread of practiced warriors, in all the panoply of war. Never was contrast more bitter ;- they came,-but could that little band of pale, travel-worn, haggard men, who dragged their halting steps along in a listless manner, be those who went out with spirits so high and health so abundant ?
Very few were so wise at the outset as to anticipate more than a few months of war. The nation learned that wisdom by sad experience, and was afterwards prepared for the sight of the shattered remnants of regiments that had gone out with full ranks. In fact, it was said in Washington that in the late years of the war, so accustomed were the inhabitants to seeing a few scores or hundreds of survivors of regiments dragging themselves along the avenue, that when a new full regiment marched through, it was almost always spoken of as at least a brigade.
Let it always be remembered of the three-months men, that they not only in almost every case volunteered spontaneously, but without bounty or hope of pension, and that they did the cruel pioneer work of showing by their hardships what must be avoided for succeeding regiments.
But to return to the new recruits. The First Connecticut Volunteers, under Colonel Daniel Tyler, at first assembled in New Haven, April 20, spending the first few nights in col-
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lege walls, then vacant on account of vacation, and after- wards going into camp in an open field. The Second, under Colonel Alfred H. Terry, went into camp at Brewster's park. In the scarcity of experienced sons of Mars, and the urgency of the time, the boys from General Russell's Military School in New Haven were detailed as drill-masters; and there was always a crowd of spectators watching these boys of from twelve to eighteen years, putting their adult pupils through the unaccustomed evolutions. Age, previous occupation, wealth or poverty, mattered not-they all met on the com- mon level of patriotism and determination to become good soldiers. The Third Regiment went into camp on Albany Avenue in Hartford, May 9, and on the 22d followed the First and Second to Washington.
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