USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Walks & talks about historic Boston > Part 39
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While the American flag was flying from her fore, the heavy balls were flying over her deck and through her rig- ging. The steamer was unarmed and as all on board were in danger of destruction or capture, the captain turned the vessel's bow oceanward, and returned to New York. The garrison in Fort Sumter had received no advices from the Government. Major Anderson's mail and despatches came by way of Charleston, and on several occasions these were opened by the State authorities in that city.
THE FALL OF FORT SUMTER.
At the close of March, 1861, there were 7000 men and 120 cannon menacing Major Anderson and his brave little garrison. The spiked guns of Fort Moultrie had been re- stored to good order and others added to them. Six batteries had been erected on Sullivan's Island, all bearing on Fort Sumter. There were batteries, also, on Mt. Pleasant and James Island. All the sandy shores of Morris, Sullivan and James Islands were dotted with fortifications, twenty in number, armed with heavy guns and well manned. A for- midable floating battery, designed and built by a deserter from the U. S. navy, was placed in position, ready for the assault when it should be ordered. For three weary months, Major Anderson saw these preparations going on, without the power or authority to strike a single blow. Buchanan's pol- icy with the insurgents had been temporizing and vacillating, and thus Major Anderson was compelled to keep his guns muzzled while treason flourished, and the old flag was in- sulted. His situation during all this time was full of anxiety and perplexity. Hs garrison toiled and suffered and his stock of provisions was running very low. He could get
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nothing in the way of supplies or re-enforcements from the government by way of the sea, as the insurgents commanded the harbor, and in Charleston, he could only procure a lim- ited amount of provisions, and even these were obtainable only at the will of the State authorities. The crisis at last came. On the eighth of April, 1861, President Lincoln sent official notice to Governor Pickens of South Carolina, that supplies would be conveqed to Fort Sumter at all hazards. This despatch set Charleston into a fever of excitement. From Montgomery, Alabama, the headquarters of the Con- federate Government, came the order to General Beaure- gard, in command at Charleston, to demand the surrender of Fort Sumter. This was on the tenth of April. On the eleventh, Beauregard sent three members of his staff to Fort Sumter with a letter to Major Anderson, in which he con- veyed a demand for the evacuation of the fort. Major An- derson had, for some time, expected such a demand and re- plied that his sense of honor and obligation to his Government would not allow him to comply. At the same time he in- formed Beauregard's aids, verbally, that the condition of his supplies was such that he would be compelled by menaces of starvation to leave the fort in a few days. After further negotiations, in order to prevent bloodshed, he agreed to evac- uate the fort by noon of the fifteenth, should he not previous to that time "receive controlling instructions from his Gov- ernment or additional supplies." The Government was mak- ing preparations to relieve Fort Sumter. The steamer Baltic and the U. S. ships Powhatan, Pawnee, Pocahontas and Harriet Lane, and the tugs Yankee, Freeborn and Uncle Som, were fitted out with orders to rendezvous off Charles- ton.
The Baltic, Pawnee and Harriet Lane reached Charles- ton Bay on the morning of April 12th, but Major Anderson was not aware of the relief close at hand. The conspirators, however, were thoroughly informed. When the scouts of Beauregard informed him that these U. S. vessels were out- side the bar, his demand for the surrender of Fort Sumter became immediate and imperative, and as Major Anderson still refused to comply, the first gun was fired against Fort Sumter on the twelfth from a battery on James Island. The sound of that mortar was the signal for battle along the line. As we have before remarked the insurgents numbered sev-
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cral thousands while the garrison numbered less than eighty men. "The odds were fearful, but leaning trustfully on the arm of the Almighty. the commander determined to resist." The firing of the insurgent batteries became more and more accurate and began to tell upon the walls and parapet of the fort. Some of the barbette guns were dismounted and the barracks were set on fire by the enemy's red hot shot. Meanwhile the little garrison turned their eyes often and anx- iously towards the sea, hoping and praying for relief. At noon Surgeon Crawford descried through the mist. vessels bearing the dear old flag.
But the buoys in the channel had all been removed, a blinding storm was raging and the vessels could not cross the bar. The hours wore heavily away. The supply of am- munition began to fail; food and drink were served to the brave little band as they stood and worked at the guns. Be- fore sunset all their guns but six had been abandoned. The next morning broke clear and fine and the insurgents re- newed the bombardment with increased vigor and added terrors. Red hot shot was rained into the fort, and four times the buildings had been set on fire, and each time the flames had been extinguished. At last the barracks were ig- nited and the garrison was powerless to save them. To have attempted it would have cost many precious lives. The flames spread and the situation became more and more dis- tressing. The heat was becoming intolerable, and as the fire was rapidly approaching the magazine, it became necessary to close and lock the door. The dense columns of flame and smoke that rose high above the fort, gave notice to the in- surgents that its inmates were in a heated furnace; and yet they inhumanly increased the fury of the attack from all quarters. The garrison were frequently compelled to lie upon the ground with wet cloths upon their faces to prevent suffocation by smoke. Yet they would not surrender, the old flag was still flying. On the 14th of April further resist- ance became impossible, and negotiations having again been opened by a flag of truce, Major Anderson accepted the terms which had been offered before the hostilities, namely. the de- parture of the garrison with company, arms and property. and all private property and the privilege of saluting and retaining the flag. "When the flag was lowered at the close of the salute, the garrison in full dress left the fort and em-
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barked on the Isabel, the band playing "Yankee Doodle."
The fort was evacuated, not surrendered. The flag had been lowered not given up, dishonored but not captured. Major Anderson and his little band sailed for New York. Precisely four years from that date, Major General Robert Anderson raised that war-worn flag over all that remained of Fort Sumter. The fall of Fort Sumter was the opening act in the long and bloody drama of the Civil War. As the tele- graph flashed the tidings over the land, there was the most intense excitement. President Lincoln at once issued a call for 75,000 armed men to "aid in suppressing rebellion." All over the North, there was a quick response to this trumpet call, for the defence and maintenance of the Union. Such a grand uprising of great people was never before witnessed. Men, women and children felt the enthusiasm. Political ani- mosities were forgotten, religious differences vanished, all hearts were united in the one great bond of patriotism. The flag was everywhere displayed from places of business, public buildings, church towers and the homes, alike of rich and poor. In the large cities there were flag raisings in the busi- ness districts, where thousands gathered and listened to the appeals of eloquent speakers and the music of military bands, playing patriotic airs. A little later, when war settled down upon the nation, there were enlisting offices where the men who formed the grand union army signed the "muster rolls" and from whence they went forth to fight for their country, singing as they marched.
"We are coming, Father Abraham, by Richmond's bloody tide, To lay us down for freedom's sake, our brothers' bones beside."
And they kept marching on until their martial tread shook the continent and the thunder of their artillery was heard around the world.
Massachusetts and Boston in the Civil War
The shot that was fired at Fort Sumter was the signal for the greatest popular uprising the world has ever seen. The news of the evacuation of the fort reached Boston on Sunday, and no one of the present generation can imagine the intense excitement it produced.
A patient and long suffering people were aroused to a white heat of indignation.
From every public building, from the spires of churches and from innumerable private residences, the Stars and Stripes were flung to the breeze. As one writer says, "the fife and drum was heard in the streets, and recruiting offices were opened in vacant stores, or in tents hastily pitched in the public squares. All sorts and conditions of men left their business and stepped into the ranks, and in a few days, the Government was offered several times as many troops as had been called for. Boys of 15 sat down and wept, because they were not permitted to go, but here and there one dried his tears when he was told he might go as a drummer, or as an officer's servant. Everybody seemed anrious to put forth some expression of loyalty to the Na- tional Government and the Starry Flag."
On Monday, April 15, 1861, President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 militia from the several States, "to suppress the combination against the laws, and to cause the laws to be duly executed." There was no wavering, no uncertain sound in that famous document, and it met with a re- sponsive thrill in every loyal heart.
The Governor of Massachusetts at the outbreak of the war was John Albion Andrew, who was born in Windham, Maine, May 31, 1818. He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1837, studied for the law and was admitted to the bar in 1840. Coming to Massachusetts to make his permanent home, he became intensely interested in the anti-slavery movement, and rendered legal services in fugitive slave cases. Having been elected to the House of Representa- tives of Massachusetts in 1858, and having been a delegate
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to the Republican Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency in 1860, he was elected in No- vember of that year Governor of Massachusetts. His services as Governor from 1861 to 1865, embracing the
Governor John A. Andrew
period of the Civil War, were discharged with the utmost fidelity, and he was often a counselor of President Lincoln in affairs of State. He was constantly urging upon the National Government the importance of enlisting colored troops and finally had his desire gratified in the authority given him to enlist two regiments in Massachusetts, the
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54th and the 55th, whom he bade God speed as they left for the seat of war. The former under the gallant Robert Gould Shaw made a brave assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina.
Colonel Robert Gould Shaw
This was the first of the colored regiments to be raised in the North for service in the war. Governor Andrew detemined to select for officers of these colored regiments, the very best material that could be found in the Massa- chusetts Volunteer Service. They should be of acknowl- edged military ability and experience, of the highest social
The Sixth Massachusetts, Regiment Passing the State House on Their Way to Washington. April 1861
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position, if possible, in the State, and men who believed in the capacity of colored men to make good soldiers. He immediately fixed upon Robert G. Shaw, for Colonel of the Fifty-Fourth. He was a captain in the Second Regi- ment, Massachusetts Infantry, a gentleman of education, a brave officer, and connected by blood and marriage with one of the oldest and most respectable families in the State. Captain Shaw was relieved from his command, and came to Boston to superintend the recruiting of the regiment.
In less than one hundred days it was filled to the maxi- mum. There were so many others who desired to enlist that it was decided to raise another regiment and this (the 55th) was also rapidly filled. The 54th was ordered to South Caro- lina and embarked on the 28th of May, 1863, on board the United States transport, "De Molay."
In the passage through Boston it received a splendid ova- tion, but the men kept close ranks, not a man left his place, not a straggler was seen. Two sons of Frederick Douglass the colored orator, were in the ranks: the father himself was present to witness the departure of his sons.
In less than two months this regiment participated in that deadly and unsuccessful assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina, led by their gallant Colonel, who was instantly killed. Because he commanded colored troops he was intensely hated by the Confederates and they foolishly thought they had dis- honored him, when, as they proclaimed, they had buried his body "in a pit under a heap of his niggers." Colonel Shaw is immortalized in his native city by the Shaw Memorial, on Beacon Street, opposite the State House.
Governor Andrews was a wise, far seeing Governor. He early discerned the coming appeal to arms, and for some months previous to the President's call, he had begun to re- cruit, arm and equip the State Militia. When that call came Massachusetts had thirteen thousand men ready, not only to go to the front, but to furnish their own camp equipage and rations. Four thousand of them responded to the first call for three months' volunteers. The first regiment to start for Washington was the Sixth Regiment, Colonel Edward F. Jones commanding. which left Boston April 17, 1861, only three days after the fall of Fort Sumter.
The passage of the train bearing this regiment was one long ovation from Boston to Philadelphia. At the latter city, as at New York, the men were received with enthusiastic hospi-
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tality, welcomed, fed and plied with good things, for their already overstocked haversacks; and it began to seem as though war was a continuous picnic. At least until the de- fence of Washington should begin, they were under no appre- hension of trouble. But before them was Baltimore.
On approaching that city, April 19th, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, the officers were warned that the passage of the regiment through that city would be forcibly opposed by a mob, which had already collected and was marching through the city with a secession flag. Colonel Jones ordered ammunition to be distributed, and passing through the cars
in person, he warned the men that they were to pay no atten- tion to abuse, or even missiles, and that if it became necessary for them to fire on the mob, they would receive orders to that effect from the Commander.
The passage of trains through Baltimore at that period was by horse power across the city from one depot to another, The horses being quickly attached, as soon as the locomotive was taken off, cars carrying about two-thirds of the regiment were drawn rapidly over the route, but to intercept the re- maining four companies, the mob barricaded the tracks, and it became necessary for those to abandon the cars, and cover the remaining distance on foot. At once they became the tar- get for showers of stones thrown by the mob, and in order to lessen the need of armed resistance, the officers gave the order
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to "double quick." It was a mistake, but a common one, when citizen soldiers are dealing with a mob, the most merciful, as well as the wisest course, being to scatter the mob promptly. The mob thought they had the troops on the run, and were encouraged to believe that they either dared not shoot, or that they were without ammunition. Then the order to "fire" was given to the troops, and several of the crowd, rioters and spectators, fell. The Mayor of Baltimore joined the officers at the head of the column to give his authority
State House-1917
to its progress, and also to tell the officers to defend them- selves.
Instead of being faced about to confront the mob, the troops were marched steadily forward, turning about as they advanced, and delivering a desultory fire, which, however, did not deter the mob from continuing the attack. The regi- ment's loss was four killed and thirty-six wounded. The men were furious over the affair, and it required all the authority of the Colonel to keep them from leaving the cars and taking vengeance on Baltimore for the death of their comrades. They were the first whole regiment to arrive in Washington in re- sponse to the call of the President and they were quartered in the United States Senate Chamber.
During the war Boston responded promptly to every call for men, or money, and sent of her citizens into the Army and
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Navy, 26,119 men, of whom 685 were commissioned officers. In the sanitary work the Boston people, the women pre-emi- nently, were among the foremost and most active.
For four long years, like every large city, Boston was in a constant state of excitement. Her rejoicing at the close of the war in 1865 was turned into mourning by the death of President Lincoln. In common with the other great cities of the North, Boston gave expression to the universal feeling of grief by a funeral procession of great length.
"The Militia Regiments of Massachusetts were the first to respond to the call of the President ; the first to march through Baltimore to the defense of the Capitol; the first to shed their blood for the maintenance of the government ; the first to open up a new route to Washington, by way of Anapolis; the first to land on the soil of Virginia.and hold possession of the most important fortress in the Union; the first to make the voyage of the Potomac, and approach the Federal city by water, as they had been the first to reach it by land. The soldiers of Massachusetts did their duty and the nation owes them a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid."
The Boys in Blue Who Saved the Union
The Boys in Blue Who Saved the Union
(Compiled from the "Boston Globe" by permission.)
The war for the Union was the greatest war of the 19th century. In that conflict larger armies participated, more persistent energy was displayed, more sanguinary battles were fought, losses were more appalling in extent, the cost was vastly excessive, and no issue was more decisive.
Twenty States with a population of 20,000,000 people and backed by an aggregate wealth of $11,000,000,000 faced 10,- 000,000 people in II States, with a wealth of about $5,000,- 000,000 to recognize the integrity of the Union.
Out of that struggle emerged a greater nation and a stronger brotherhood.
The Union States put onto the field armies numbering 2,859,132 men, who for four long years confronted Confed- erate armies aggregating 1,234,000. Not once until the end did the opposing armies loosen the grip on the other's throat. Two thousand two hundred and sixty-one conflicts occurred.
The Union Armies lost in killed in battle and in death from disease 359,258. Further losses in wounded and miss- ing, 642,348, brought the total up to 991,876.
Deaths from wounds and disease in the Confederate Army numbered 133,821, and other losses in missing and captured aggregated 989,791.
On the Union side one man in 65 was killed in action ; one in 56 died from wounds ; one in 13 died of disease ; one in 15 was captured or reported missing; one in Io was wounded in action.
President Lincoln issued II different calls for troops, aggregating the enormous number of 2,675,000, and even more than this number took up arms in response. The army of the United States, which on April 1, 1861, num- bered 16,367 officers and men, increased by leaps and bounds throughout the war, and at the end the Government had 1,000,516 troops under arms.
In ten weeks after secession the Confederate States had
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assembled 112,000 men. The maximum of Confederates in arms, 481,000, was reached January 1, 1864. A year later the army was smaller by 50,000, and it rapidly dwindled in the next three months.
On both sides the armies were composed of the boys of America. Nearly half the Union soldiers were from farms, and another quarter from mills and shops. It was a light complexioned army, nearly half of them with blue eyes, a quarter with gray, and less than one-fifth dark. They aver- aged 5 feet 7 3-4 inches in height, the Kentuckians leading with an average height of 5 feet 8 3-4 inches .. Connecticut soldiers were of the lowest stature, 5 feet 6 1-2 inches. Out of 1,000,000 recorded measurements, 3,613 were over 6 feet 3 inches, and among them were some over 7 feet. Soldiers .from the whole army would have given regiments of tall men surpassing the famous giant guards of Frederick the Great.
The men were paid $13 a month in greenbacks, which at one time were worth less than 40 cents on the dollar, or hardly more than $5 for a month's pay.
Gettysburg was the greatest battle of the war. Antietam was the bloodiest. The Confederates assembled their largest army-94,138 effective men-at the seven days' battle. and never afterwards led its like. Grant led the largest Union Army-118,769 effective men-at the Wilderness. There were 112 battles in which one side or the other lost over 500 killed and wounded. There were 1,882 general engage- ments, battles, skirmishes in which at least one regiment participated. The 5th New Hampshire Infantry sustained the greatest loss of any infantry regiment, 295 from battle wounds and 178 from disease, a total death list of 473. The Ist Maine Cavalry sustained the greatest loss of any cavalry regiment in the army, 174 men dead from battle wounds and 344 from disease, a total death roll of 518. The Ist Maine Heavy Artillery suffered the greatest loss of any regimental organization in the army, 423 dead from wounds and 260 from disease, a total death roll of 683.
Nativity of the soldiers-Native born, 75 per cent: Ger- many, 8 3-4 per cent : Ireland, 7 1-2 per cent : England. 2 I-2 per cent : British America, 2 1-2 per cent : other coun- tries, 3 3-4 per cent.
Massachusetts furnished 152,048-13,000 more than her quota.
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Gettysburg has been often compared with the battle of Waterloo. They were the two most decisive battles of the age.
Waterloo
Troops Engaged-Allies, 72,000; French, 80,000.
Guns-Allies, 186; French, 252.
Losses-Allies, 23,185 ; French, 26,300.
Gettysburg
Troops Engaged-Union, 83,289; Confederate, 72,054.
Guns-Union, 300; Confederate, 250.
Losses-Union, 23,049; Confederate, 28,062.
The Total Cost of the War to the Union
Current expenses-Bounties other than Federal, private contributions, loss of soldiers' productive labor, war claims, interest and pensions, was $9,932,185.07.
The Navy's Glorious Part
The Navy was engaged in 65 battles during the war. At the outbreak of hostilities the enrollment of officers and men aggregrated 7,600, which before the war closed was swelled to 132,554. There were 1,824 killed or mortally wounded in action, of whom 342 were scalded to death by escaping steam from boilers pierced by the enemy's shot, and 308 men were drowned.
Total naval losses were-Killed in action, 1,804; wound- ed, 2,226; died from disease and accidents, 3,000; total, 7,030.
The most important naval engagement to the world at large was the battle March 8, 1862, between the Monitor and the Confederate ironclad "Merrimac, the first battle in the world between ironclads, for that day saw the doom of all existing naval ships then in the world. The most famous engagement occurred June 19, 1864, seven miles off Cherbourg, France, when the U. S. S. Kearsarge en- gaged and sank the Confederate privateer Alabama, which was built and fitted out in England. The engagement lasted one hour and two minutes. In size, armament and number of crew, the combatants were very evenly matched.
The last infantry volley of the war was fired April 9, 1865, by the 24th Army Corps to cut off the retreat of Lee at Clover Hill, near Appomattox, Va.
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General Lee surrendered April 14, 1865.
The last surrender of the war was May 26, 1865, by General Kirby Smith at Baton Rouge, La.
Peace Proclamation issued May 9, 1865, by President Johnson.
Aducati
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
"Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing wheth- er that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add, or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth."
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