USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > History of the Twenty-fourth Michigan of the Iron brigade, known as the Detroit and Wayne county regiment > Part 2
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The slavery question was virtually the sole issue in this. presidential campaign.
(1). The slaveholders' platform (Breckenridge and Lane's) held that slavery existed in any territory whenever a slaveholder entered it with his slaves; that neither congress nor a territorial legislature had any power to prohibit its introduction or impair its existence therein; and that slaveholders had a right to travel with their slaves in the free States, and with said slaves sojourn therein without molestation of any free State laws.
(2). The Republican platform (Lincoln and Hamlin's) held that all national territory was free, and opposed any legislation giving
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THE SLAVEHOLDERS' REBELLION.
slavery validity therein, as well as the admission of any more slave States; and, as a reserved right, a State might free all slaves found therein, except fugitive slaves.
(3). The Northern platform of the Democratic party (Stephen A. Douglas') declared for non-intervention by congress with slavery in the territories, leaving the question to a vote of the people therein; that all rights of property are judicial, and pledging to defer to the decisions of the supreme court on the subject.
(4). The Pro-slavery National Union platform (Bell and Everett's) had nothing to say on the subject.
The contest resulted in the election of Abraham Lincoln by nearly every Northern electoral vote, while the South divided its votes between Breckenridge and Bell.
THE DOCTRINE OF SECESSION.
Southern leaders had declared that the election of Lincoln would be a sufficient cause for seceding from the Union, and at once began to carry out their threats. The doctrine of secession had been taught for many years in the colleges, magazines and press of the South. In brief, this doctrine was that a man's first and highest allegiance was to his State; that the States as sovereignties had ceded only certain rights to the federal government; and whenever a State had a sufficient grievance, of which itself was the sole judge, it might resume to itself all the powers that it had before it entered the Union. This extraordinary claim rested upon the doctrine that the Union was only a confederation, or compact, or agreement-a sort of "free love" at pleasure between independent States, and not a Nation; that the general reservation in the Constitution, to the States, of powers not granted to congress nor prohibited to them, made secession a reserved State right by implication. Thus by a perversion of language they set up their illogical doctrine as an escapement for treasonable conduct.
The Constitution itself best refutes these secession assumptions. This instrument was adopted in each State by conventions of delegates chosen by the people, and though, when completed, it was not submitted directly to the people, yet the latter had a voice in its adoption when they elected the delegates of their choice. After being thus adopted, it expressly voiced its own authority. In no part does it declare that it is a league of States, or compact or confederacy. On the contrary, it plainly says: "We, the People of the United [States, etc., do ordain and establish this Constitution,"
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HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
which it declares to be "the supreme law of the land," "anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." It further declares as " supreme law," that " no State shall enter into any treaty, alliance or confederation," nor "enter into any agreement or compact with another State." These are a few of the fundamental principles of the American Constitution, given up to the general government by the States, not for any specific period and then to terminate by some State's action, but forever. There is not a single principle in the Constitution for its own suicidal dissolution, and the above quoted prohibitions to the States exclude every idea of secession as a reserved right, in any manner. Secession was simply treasonable rebellion against constituted authority, established by the States themselves. It was not even revolution which is right only when its cause is justifiable in the deep conscience of nations and has a reasonable hope of success, neither of which the South had. We shall not follow this treasonable doctrine into the mazy subtleties of John C. Calhounism, nor dwell upon the many useless efforts in Congress and peace conventions to conciliate the South. They were compromise breakers and without honor in keeping agreements. In fact their leaders would accept no compromise now-nothing less than disunion.
SLAVE POWER BROKEN-SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY ORGANIZED.
The main cause of the South's rebellious conduct now was, that slavery had ceased to rule. The federal government had existed seventy-two years, during which, slaveholders had held the presidency over forty-nine years. Of the twenty-eight judges of the supreme court, seventeen had been slaveholders. The pro tem. presidency of the Senate had been filled by slaveholders every year but three, the speakership of the House forty-five years, and so on. But henceforth, not another slaveholder would ever occupy the White House. No more wars for territory out of which to carve slave States. The slave power was broken in the Union, and having ceased to rule, would now destroy it.
There were traitors in the Senate, in the House and in the Cabinet. President Buchanan being indebted to the South for his election, charged all the troubles to the North, declaring in his senility that no State had a right to secede, but there was no power to prevent it if it did. This was plainly telling the Southern States that he would interpose no hindrance to their seceding, and they improved the opportunity. Michigan's time-honored statesman - Lewis Cass -
.
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THE SLAVEHOLDERS' REBELLION.
resigned from the Cabinet, which act was a fitting rebuke to Buchanan's course. Oh, for sixty days of Old Hickory to stamp out this rebellion in its infancy !
While deprecating slavery as a heaven-defying practice, we do not anathematize all who"held slaves, and these often by inheritance, to whom the laws forbade manumission. There were good men among them as their system allowed. The edicts of heaven were against it, but what to do they knew not, no more than sober reason in the North could tell. Notwithstanding the secession leaders, there was a large Union sentiment in parts of the South, of which Alexander H. Stevens, of Georgia, the ablest statesman in the South in his time, was the exponent. He openly declared that the South had not sufficient cause for secession, and clearly foretold the evils that it would bring upon that section. But the "fire-eaters," as the radical disunionists were called, fired the Southern heart, and by the most deceptive arguments and murderous browbeating all but four of the slave States passed ordinances of secession and formed a Southern Confederacy, with Jefferson Davis for president and Alexander H. Stevens for vice-president. The latter was a disciple of Calhoun's teachings, and he followed his State out of the Union.
THE WAR BEGUN-UPRISING OF THE PEOPLE.
Ere the conspirators in Washington had gone forth to organize secession, the approaching storm became manifest by the seizure of unguarded forts in the seceding States. On the night of December 26, 1860, Major Ander- son transferred his command of four score men from Fort Moul- trie to Fort Sumter, the strongest in Charleston Harbor, to the indignation of all secessiondom.
FORT SUMTER - 1861.
inaugural address thus assured the South : mine, is the momentous issue of civil war.
On March 4, 1861, Mr. Lincoln became President, and in his " In your hands, not in The government will not
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HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
assail you; you can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors." And such they became by firing upon the Nation's flag and Major Anderson's devoted band to prevent this half-starved garrison from receiving provisions. The first treasonable shot was fired before daybreak of April 12, 1861, and on the following day, when all provisions were gone but half a barrel of pork, the fort was surrendered to the thousands of traitors who assailed it.
The patriotism of the North was powerfully aroused, and all loyal hearts throbbed at the thought that the secession traitors had dared to fire upon the flag and its defenders. There was a unity of determination that the dastardly act should be avenged, and the President's call for troops filled every loyal heart with patriotic fervor. The uprising of the people was a sublime spectacle, like that of the Crusader hosts who sought to rescue the Holy Land from infidel hands. The national flag was displayed from every housetop, and busy preparations were made for the coming struggle.
THE NATION UNPREPARED.
War had come and found the nation unprepared for it. For many months the South had been preparing for the conflict. Nearly all the war material had been shipped from Northern arsenals to the South. At the Dearborn Arsenal, eight miles west of Detroit, in the summer of 1860, a few boxes of guns were auctioned off at one dollar apiece, and the balance sold for a small sum to some mysterious stranger, an agent of the embryo Southern Confederacy. Every war vessel except a few useless hulks, had been ordered as far away in foreign seas as wind could blow and water float them.
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
The first great contest occurred at Bull Run, on Sunday, July 21, 1861. The Union army was everywhere victorious until in the afternoon, when re-inforcements of the insurgents turned the tide of battle in their favor, and a panic routed our army back to Washington in great confusion. The South was exalted and thousands joined its standards of revolt. The North recovered from its humiliation, abandoned the delusion that the struggle would be brief, and made preparations for a desperate war. Gen. George B. McClellan was put in command to organize and lead the national forces.
In the West, a battle was fought at Wilson's Creek, Missouri, in August, in which Gen. Lyon of the Union army was killed. In
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THE SLAVEHOLDERS' REBELLION.
October, the Union Gen. Baker lost his life at Ball's Bluff on the Potomac. In November, two rebel emissaries, Mason and Slidell, were forcibly taken from the British steamer Trent, and a war with England barely averted. The South had been the best prepared to fight. Most of the army and many of the navy officers were from that section and joined the Southern forces, with a few notable exceptions. And thus the year 1861 closed dismally for the Union cause.
SECOND YEAR OF THE WAR-SUCCESS IN THE WEST.
The year 1862 opened with a series of victories that cheered the hearts of Unionists. While "all quiet on the Potomac " was nightly for months, telegraphed over the land, good work was being done in the West. January 19 and 20 brought a brilliant victory at Mill Spring, Kentucky, which prepared the way for expelling the insurgent armies from that State and Tennessee. On February 6 followed the evacuation of Fort Henry on the Tennessee, and on February 8, another victory at Roanoke Island in the East. Yet these hardly awakened the North from its depression.
February 14, 15 and 16 brought a victory that was the wonder of both continents, and introduced to fame the man who proved to be the general of the war- Ulysses S. Grant. The Fort Henry insurgents had escaped a dozen miles east, to Fort Donelson on the Cumberland river, where they were arrested by Grant's army. It was a keen, wintry, Sunday morning when, as preparations for a renewal of the battle were going forward, a white flag appeared. General Buckner suggested to General Grant an armistice for commissioners to arrange a capitulation. Then was sent back the famous " unconditional surrender " reply : "I propose to move immediately upon your works," was Grant's answer, and forthwith, large white sheets pinned to poles appeared on the fort, in token of surrender. This capitulation included 14,000 prisoners and a vast amount of military stores, involving the loss to the Confederates of Missouri, Kentucky and all Northern and Middle Tennessee, including Nashville. The moral effect of this victory was like that of Saratoga in the Revolution. It brought heart back to the North, produced a depression in the South and set Europe to doubting the success of the Confederate cause.
Three weeks later General Curtis routed Van Dorn and Price at Pea Ridge, Arkansas. On the 6th and 7th of April was fought at Pittsburgh Landing on the Tennessee, a bloody battle in which the
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HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
insurgents were put to route. On April 8th, Admiral Foote captured Island No. 10 in the Mississippi, with 5,000 prisoners. New Orleans and Memphis fell into Union hands soon after, and so the successes in the West rejoiced the nation.
DISASTER IN THE EAST.
In April, 1862, General McClellan transferred the main portion of the Army of the Potomac to Fortress Monroe for the Peninsular Campaign. Investing Yorktown until its evacuation, the retreating enemy were overtaken at Williamsburg, and put SEVEN DAYS B RICHMOND WHITE HOUSE to rout after a sharp FOUR OAKS contest. Pursuing to WEST POINT YORK RIVER SEVEN PINES the Chickahominy, FIDARLING Q SWAMP; WHITE OAK CHICK AHOMINY RIL McClellan's advance MALVERN HILL Harrison's Landing reached within seven CITY POINT JAMES RIY. miles of Richmond, the WILLIAMSBURG YORKTOWN Confederate capital. "THE PENINSULA," VIRGINIA Amid the malarial swamps of this stream he remained with his army several weeks. It was astride of the stream, which by a sudden rise divided his forces. The Confederates attacked the half that lay south of that river, at Seven Pines and Fair Oaks, but were repulsed. Meanwhile, the Union army became greatly reduced by malarial fevers from lying in the swamps, and the Confederates were strengthened by fresh conscript levies.
On June 25, the insurgent General Jackson, better known as "Stonewall Jackson," by forced marches from the Shenandoah Valley, struck McClellan's right, at Mechanicsville, but was repulsed the next day. On June 27, the enemy again attacked his right at Gaines' Farm and drove it in, with terrible slaughter on both sides.
McClellan now resolved to unite his army on the south side of the Chickahominy and move it to the James River for a new base of supplies. General Robert E. Lee, whose magnificent residence crowned Arlington Heights, in view of Washington, had succeeded to the full command of the Confederate forces about Richmond. Lee might have commanded the Union army and become president of the United States, had he not violated his oath and become a traitor to the country which had educated and honored him. But he went with his State when it seceded. He hastened to intercept Mcclellan's left flank movement, and struck the Union army at Savage Station
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THE SLAVEHOLDERS' REBELLION.
and White Oak Swamp. He pursued it to Malvern Hill, where was fought, on July 1, 1862, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Lee massed his forces to carry the position by storm. All the Union cannon were drawn up along the crest of the hill, and again and again did the enemy charge up out of the deep pine forest, only to be cut in pieces by the Union artillery from Malvern Hill and the Union gun boats lying in the James.
Although victorious, the withdrawal of the Union army continued the next day to Harrison's Landing on the James. McClellan's army had become greatly reduced by battle, fevers and a large number on furlough. He called for reinforcements, but was told that there were none available. He wanted McDowell's corps at Fredericksburg to be sent to him, but the President did not deem it prudent thus to uncover the defenses of Washington and allow a sally by the enemy to result in the capture of the National Capital, as such an event might result in the end in a foreign recognition of the Confederacy. The military events that followed a few weeks after proved the wisdom of this decision. About this time President Lincoln made a call upon the country for three hundred thousand new volunteers. And here we must leave this army to note the raising of this vast additional levy which included the regiment whose war history this volume is designed to contain.
CHAPTER II.
RAISING THE REGIMENT.
CALL FOR 300,000 MORE MEN.
S UCCESSES of the Union arms in the West in the early months of 1862, and the high expectations of the Army of the Potomac, led to a cessation of recruiting in the North. While there was a reduction in the Northern armies from battle and disease, the Southern armies had been greatly increased by conscripts. The refusal of troops which the early outburst of patriotism offered was a mistake by our government.
On June 28, 1862, the loyal governors requested Mr. Lincoln "to call upon the States for sufficient men to speedily crush the rebellion," and he made a call for 300,000 volunteers. In Detroit there was no response until July 11, when the Advertiser and Tribune said: "Do the people realize that treason threatens to destroy our government? Hesitation now will confirm the invincibility of the rebellion and invite intervention." On July 12 Governor Blair's proclamation said: "It is the call of your country to defend its existence and the integrity of its territory. It comes by the blood of fellow citizens, dead, and wounded in battle. The thinned ranks of our gallant regiments, who have made themselves and the State illustrious, appeal to you to restore their wasted numbers." He called for six new regiments, one from each congressional district, and recruits to fill up old ones.
WAR MEETING TO PROMOTE ENLISTMENTS.
To facilitate enlistments, the Mayor called a war meeting on the Campus Martius for Tuesday evening, July 15. The Free Press thus commended the call:
To ARMS! The Union is now in its greatest peril. Unless the people rush to the flag, the days of American glory will be gone forever. Let the meeting be marked by harmony, enthusiasm, patriotism. Let every man forget party and behold only his imperiled country. The federal union must be preserved. The folds of the flag must wave forever over all the territory the fathers left us or which we have acquired by the blood and treasure of the nation.
(24)
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RAISING THE REGIMENT.
At the appointed hour the space was filled with people for a long distance from the stand which had been erected on the site of the Soldiers' Monument. The following were the officers of the meeting:
CAMPUS MARTIUS, DETROIT, MICH .- SCENE OF WAR MEETINGS, 1862 .- DETROIT RIVER AND CANADIAN SHORE SEEN IN THE DISTANCE.
President, Mayor William C. Duncan; vice-presidents, Hon. Lewis Cass, Captain Eber B. Ward, Judge B. F. H. Witherell, Hon. C. C. Trowbridge, Hon. John Owen and Hon. Duncan Stewart; secretaries, E. N. Wilcox and William A. Moore. The Mayor briefly addressed the meeting and then introduced the Hon. William A. Howard, who made a stirring address. He was followed by Theodore Romeyn. When T. M. McEntee arose to speak the noise of rowdies prevented him. Recorder Henry A. Morrow then spoke as follows :
Fellow Citizens -We are met here now in the second crisis of our country. [ Confusion among the crowd.] There is a mistaken feeling that this meeting is preliminary to a draft. Enough can be procured without such measures. Every one who can, should go, and the men who stay at home must support the families of those who go. This meeting is for inducing men to volunteer, and I for one, am ready to go. [Cheers.] Those of us who have no families should go. I do not propose that men of families shall perform duties that we young men should perform. [Cheers.] Let each man ask himself : 'Will I go?' [A voice -' Will you go?'] I have already said I would. The government has done as much for me as for you and I am ready to assist in upholding it. [Cheers and confusion.]
RIOTOUS DEMONSTRATIONS.
The meeting ended in confusion. A few dozen secession sympathizing rowdies were distributed about the crowd and their howls prevented the speakers from being heard. Windsor, across the (3)
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HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
Detroit river in Canada, had become the receptacle of a lot of Southerners who had re-inforced the mob. The instigators had reported that the meeting was to prepare for a draft. When Wm. A. Howard moved a committee to "draft" resolutions, an old eighth-warder exclaimed : "Did you hear that boys? Didn't I tell ye they are going to draft?" And the riotous howls began.
The scoundrels seemed to have a spite against Capt. Eber B. Ward and Hon. Duncan Stewart, two noted Detroit business men and Unionists. They rushed for these gentlemen, and only by the utmost exertions of Sheriff Mark Flanigan did they find refuge in the Russell House. The mob next broke down the speakers' stand, tore the Union bunting into strings, and insulted the officers and speakers of the meeting. The venerable Lewis Cass barely escaped their vengeance as they rushed upon his carriage. Next the mob sought the Russell House entrance with the avowed intention of hanging Messrs. Ward and Stewart, but were met by Sheriff Flanigan and a deputy, with drawn revolvers, who held the mob at bay for an hour and until darkness ended the riot.
The Advertiser and Tribune thus mentioned the affair:
The meeting was one of the most melancholy spectacles it was ever our lot to witness. At an early hour, a rowdy element of formidable dimensions was present, composed of bigoted, ignorant persons who had evidently been tampered with through political prejudice.
The Detroit Free Press thus spoke of the riot :
We regret the disturbance at the meeting. So far as we can ascertain, the. origin of the difficulty was a rumor that the government intended to draft. It was so. utterly without foundation that we cannot resist the conviction that their motives were infamous. * Yet, if the exigencies of the war require a draft, we do. not see why it should be resisted.
THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN PROJECTED.
This disgraceful event occurred near the spot where General Hull humiliatingly surrendered the city to the British fifty years before, when General Lewis Cass broke his sword in disgust. It was a dark week for the City of the Straits. Other cities of the North were holding successful war meetings. Cititizens gathered in knots to. discuss the matter. Deep humiliation and indignation prevailed. To wipe out the disgrace it was resolved at a meeting of patriotic citizens at the Michigan Exchange the next evening to raise an extra regiment in Detroit and Wayne County, in addition to their quota.
.
N LEYEN -CO. DETROIT
CAPTAIN EBER B. WARD.
MAN
EN
CROIT
HON. DUNCAN STEWART.
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RAISING THE REGIMENT.
For this purpose Adjutant-General John Robertson and Henry Barns of the Advertiser and Tribune went to Jackson to confer with Governor Blair.
MRS. BLAIR'S TIMELY INFLUENCE.
The Governor had met with some difficulty in getting troops accepted by the War Department. He had sent sixteen infantry regiments, and the seventeenth was being recruited with difficulty. Six new ones were called for, which would make twenty-three; and to attempt the twenty-fourth might retard the raising of the others. His consent was withheld until morning, when he refused. Mrs. Blair had been a listener to the conversations for the extra regiment, and now told her husband that the morning papers brought bad news from the seat of war; that the government needed all the men it could get, and that, in her opinion, the request of the two gentlemen from Detroit should be granted, and the Governor finally consented. Little did this patriotic lady think that her influence on this occasion would be productive of a regiment which, within one year, would rank among the most distinguished in the army, by its suffering the greatest loss of over 400 regiments in the greatest and bloodiest battle of the war.
SECOND WAR MEETING ON THE CAMPUS MARTIUS.
On Saturday, July 19, the indignation of the citizens found vent in over 3,000 signatures to the following call:
MEN OF DETROIT ! The fair fame of your city is at stake. Come forth in your might and prove your patriotism to meet the crisis. Your friends from many a stricken field call you to the rescue. Shall a few pestilent sympathizers with treason neutralize your patriotic effort ? Let an expression go forth which shall rebuke the traitors and vindicate the patriotism of the city. All who favor an energetic prosecution of the war are requested to meet on the Campus Martius on Tuesday afternoon at 3 o'clock, July 22, 1862.
Long before that hour the people began to assemble in numbers to cause every patriot to rejoice. Processions from foundries, machine shops, and shipyards filed about the speakers' stand, which was located on the present City Hall side of the Campus. Far up every street was a mass of determined and enthusiastic patriotism-some with molding clubs for any secesh rowdies who should open their blatant mouths. The meeting was called to order by the Hon. E. C. Walker, and the following officers chosen : President, Mayor Duncan ; vice-presidents, Hon. Lewis Cass, Ross Wilkins, Judge Witherell,
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