USA > New York > New York City > The Memorial History of the City of New York: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, Volume III > Part 51
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CHAPTER XIII
NEW-YORK IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION 1861-1865
F the city of New-York was conspicuous as the center of operations during the war to establish the unity and in- dependence of the colonies, it was no less prominent as the principal base of supplies in the struggle to preserve the Union. An ancient writer has said, "It sufficeth not to the strength of the armes to have flesh, blood and bones, unless they have also sinewes, to stretch out and pull in for the defence of the body ; so it sufficeth not in an army to have Victuals, for the main- tenance of it; Armour and Weapons for the defence of it; unless it have Money also, the Sinewes of Warre."' The financial records of the time bear convincing testimony to the effective manner in which the merchants and bankers of the Empire City supplied the federal government with the " sinewes " needed "to stretch out and pull in for the defence of the body" of the nation in its great peril. Before a shot had been fired, two important expeditions, designed to succor be- leaguered garrisons, were fitted out at this port; after the capture of Sumter a movement to the front of men and means furnished by New- York began, and did not end until the surrender at Appomattox.2
It is a notable fact that whenever the country has been threatened with danger to its form of government, the city of New-York has de- clared its position only after due reflection and careful considera- tion of the question involved. It was this tendency that delayed its final decision to take up arms against the mother-country at the open- ing of the Revolution; it was this feeling that induced some of its leading citizens to join in an effort to dissuade the South from seces- sion. Some of the most conservative men of the community even contemplated the possibility that New-York might become a free city
1 Ward's "Animadversions of Warre," London, 1639.
2 "Upon New-York will devolve the chief burden of providing ways and means for the war ; our financial community accept the duty, and will perform it. This view we find to be universal
among moneyed men, including many whose sym- pathies have heretofore been with the South. If the Government prove true to the country, it need not feel any uneasiness about money." "New- York Herald," April 16, 1861.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
days after the new cabinet minister had entered upon his duties, he sent a special agent to New Orleans, Mobile, and Galveston to save, if possible, the revenue cutters stationed at these ports. On January 29 Secretary Dix was advised by wire that the commanding officer of the McClelland at New Orleans refused to obey his orders. Immediately on receipt of this information, and without consultation with any one, he penned the order which has become historic, and which (through the courtesy of his son, the Rev. Morgan Dix, D. D.) is here published in fac-simile. Although the secretary's action was decided upon without a moment's hesitation as to its spirit, the language re- ceived due consideration, as we are told' in a letter from General Dix to a friend long after the occurrence :
Not a word was altered; but the original was handed to the clerk charged with the custody of my telegraphic despatches, copied by him, and the copy signed by me and sent to its destination. Before I sent it, however, a question of military etiquette arose in my mind in regard to the arrest of Captain Breshwood, and I took a carriage and drove to the lodgings of Lieutenant-General Scott, to consult him in regard to it. Mr. Stanton was then Attorney-General. My relations with him were of the most in- timate character; and as he resided near General Scott's lodgings I drove to his house first, and showed the despatch to him. He approved of it, and made some remark expressing his gratification at the tone of the order. General Scott said I was right on the question of etiquette, and I think expressed his gratification that I had taken & decided stand against Southern invasions of the authority of the government. I im- mediately returned to the department and sent the despatch. General Seott, Mr. Stanton, and the clerk who copied it were the only persons who saw it. . .
I decided when I wrote the order to say nothing to the President about it. I was satisfied that, if he was consulted, he would not permit it to be sent. Though indig- nant at the course of the Southern States, and the men about him who had betrayed his confidence,-Cobb, Floyd, and others,-one leading idea had taken possession of his mind,-that in the civil contest which threatened to break out, the North must not shed the first drop of blood. This idea is the key to his submission to much which should have been met with prompt and vigorous resistance. During the seven weeks I was with him he rarely failed to come to my room about ten o'clock, and converse with me for about an hour on the great questions of the day before going to his own room. I was strongly impressed with his conscientiousness. But he was timid and credulous. His confidence was easily gained, and it was not difficult for an artful man to deceive him. But I remember no instance in my unreserved intercourse with him in which I had reason to doubt his uprightness.
Tuesdays and Fridays were Cabinet days. The members met, without notice, at
or, failing in this, until we can bring the majority on cool reflection renounced: nay, more, that of our fellow-citizens in the North to cooperate many whose opinions have undergone no change are willing, in a praiseworthy spirit of patriotism, to make on questions which are not fundamental in our system of government, but merely acces- sory to our social condition, the concessions neces- sary to preserve the Union in its integrity, and to save us from the fatal alternative of dismember- ment into two or more empires, jealous of each other, and embittered by the remembrance of dif- ferences which we had not the justice or the mag- nanimity to compose." with us, as we do not doubt they will, in the proper measures of redress. We do not despair of secur- ing from those to whose hands the reins of gov- ernment are about to be intrusted a recognition of your rights in regard to the surrender of fugi- tive slaves and equality in the Territories. We know that great changes of opinion have already taken place among their most intelligent and in- fluential men - that a reaction has commenced, . which is not likely to be stayed -that errors and prejudices which in the heat of the canvass were 1 " Memoirs of John A. Dix," by Rev. Morgan Dix, D. D., New-York, 1884. inaccessible to reason and persuasion have been
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PINE STREET MEETING SIGNATURES.1
1 The historic Pine street meeting was called by a private letter addressed to prominent men, irre- spective of party, throughout the State of New- York ; and the replies received were so numerous and favorable, that it was found necessary to en- gage two buildings in Pine street to accommodate the large representation anticipated. The fac- simile shown above gives the signatures of the chairman and secretaries of the meeting, and also those of the signers of the address or letter ac- companying the resolutions passed. The com-
mittee appointed to visit the South as bearers of the address (part of which is given on the opposite page) comprised ex-President Fillmore, Greene C. Bronson, and Richard Lathers. Mr. Fillmore warmly indorsed the objects of the meeting, although unable to attend it, and was, as stated, made chairman of the committee to represent to the Southern leaders and people the sentiments of the city and State of New-York at this great crisis in the life of the nation. The meeting was held December 15, 1860. EDITOR. .
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NEW-YORK IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION
the President's house in the morning. My order was given, as has been stated, on Tuesday evening. I said nothing to the President in regard to it, though he was with ne every evening, until Friday, when the members of the Cabinet were all assembled, and the President was about to call our attention to the business of the day. I said to him, "Mr. President, I fear we have lost some more of Teassimy DefenMunch Jan. 29, 1861 our revenue cutters." "Ah !" said he, "how is that?" I then told him what had oc- curred down to the receipt of the despatch from Mr. Jones informing me that Captain Breshwood refused to obey my order. "Well," said he, "what did you do ?" I then repeated to him, slowly and distinctly, the order I had sent. When I came to the words, "shoot him on the spot," he started up sudden- ly, and said, with a good deal of emotion, "Did you write that?" "No, sir," I said; "I did not write it, but I tele- graphed it." He made no an- swer ; nor do I remember that he ever referred to it after- ward. It was manifest, as I have presupposed, that the order would never have been given if I had consulted him.
Tele Sint Baldwall to anch Caft. Freshwood, assume command of the Cutter and day the order of game through you. of bank Brentwood aftu amor unduta ky i ritufue white command of the latin, the Licht Caldwell to consider hin or ar vutinea at him accord- Highly. Many one anempty to have Down the american flag shoot himon thespot. -
It only remains for me to say that the order was not the result of any premeditation - scarcely of any thought. A conviction of the right course Secretary of theseasany. to be taken was as instantane- ous as a flash of light; and I did not think, when I seized the REDUCED FAC-SIMILE OF THE DESPATCH. nearest pen (a very bad one, as the fac-simile shows) and wrote the order in as little time as it would take to read it, that I was doing anything specially worthy of remem- brance. It touched the public mind and heart strongly, no doubt, because the blood of all patriotic men was boiling with indignation at the humiliation which we were en- during; and I claim no other merit than that of having thought rightly, and of having expressed strongly what I felt in common with the great body of my countrymen.
"Such is the history of the famous despatch. In concluding it I quote my father's words by way of explanation and justification of his language. He says, in his report to Congress: 'It may be proper to add, in reference to the closing period of the foregoing despatch, that as the flag of the Union since 1777, when it was devised and adopted by the founders of the Republic, had never until a recent day VOL. III .- 31.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
been hauled down, except by honorable hands in manly conflict, no hesitation was felt in attempting to uphold it at any cost against an act of treachery, as the ensign of the public authority and the em- blem of unnumbered victories by land and sea.'" 1
For many years the general-in-chief of the army had his personal residence and official headquarters in the city of New-York. Although increasing infirmities warned General Scott that his days of active ser- vice were well nigh spent, yet he failed not, before relinquishing his office, to call the attention of Presi- dent Buchanan, as early as October, 1860, to the unprotected state of certain fortifications on the south- -
Col: Grant Wilson
ern coast, expressing his "solemi conviction that there is some dan- - ger of an early act of rashness pre- liminary to secession," and urging their prompt occupation by suitable garrisons.2 But the bewildered politician hesitated, and the oppor- tunity was lost. As we recur in memory to that dark period of= national history, we find it illu- mined by one ray of light, increas ing in brilliancy as the years roll on. In striking contrast to the vacillation and timidity of the ex. ecutive, and the divided opinions of the cabinet, A. D.C. L L L appear the firmness, sim- plicity, and patriotism of Robert Anderson. Believ- With the kind regards of Winfried Satt ing that the South had been unjustly treated, hav- ing reason to think that his government had aban- doned him, beset with temp- tations of kinship and friendship, surrounded with enemies ready to destroy him, the tem- pered steel of his nature was equal to the test. His duty, according 1 Memoirs of John A. Dix, I: 373.
2 "From a knowledge of our Southern popula- tion it is my solemn conviction that there is some danger of an early act of rashness preliminary to secession, viz., the seizure of some or all of the following posts: . . . Forts Pickens and McRea,
Pensacola Harbor; Forts Moultrie and Sumter. Charleston Harbor. All these works should be im- mediately so garrisoned as to make any attempt to take any one of them, by surprise or coup de main, ridiculous." Scott's " Memoirs." New-York, 1864.
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NEW-YORK IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION
to his simple code of morals, was plain : like the Roman sentinel, he might be forgotten, but he would never voluntarily abandon his post. How unselfishly and gallantly Major Anderson and his little band of regulars acquitted themselves is a matter of undying fame. One mem- ber of the Buchanan cabinet - Secretary Black - wrote of Ander- son's military movement from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, that "he has saved the country, I solemnly believe, when its day was darkest and its peril most extreme. He has done everything that mortal man could do to repair the fatal error which the administration has com- mitted in not sending down troops enough to hold all the forts."1
With the change of administration the reins of government slipped from the nerveless hands of one president into the firmer if somewhat unskilful grasp of another. It cannot be said that order promptly emerged from chaos. The task before Mr. Lincoln was too colossal, and the means at his disposal too crude, to cause the machinery of government to work effectively at once. So, in the early attempt to provision Sumter and reinforce Pickens, the functions of cabinet officers and captains of the staff were curiously intermingled. The spectacle of a military engineer and a military secretary to the com- manding general working in haste and secrecy, under the personal supervision of a secretary of state, to arrange the details of an im- portant movement of the land and naval forces, without the know- ledge of the ministers of war or navy; the perfunctory reference of their work to the general-in-chief for his official signature, and its final transfer by the president to the juniors aforesaid with carte blanche as to its execution, were hardly calculated to produce that "good order and military discipline" which were to prove essential factors in the restoration of the Union. The president, however, find- ing that his effort to execute the laws by ignoring regulations and "cutting knots" resulted in confusion, returned to the system of making each department of the government responsible for details pertaining to it; and, thereafter, he generally observed this rule.
When Anderson's famous telegram announcing the fall of Sumter was published, the effect upon the people of New-York was instanta- neous. Politicians were silent in the face of the unanimity with which men of all parties were roused to action. As was well said: "The incidents of the last two days will live in history. Not for fifty
1 A NEW SONG OF SIXPENCE.
Sing a song of Sumter, A fort in Charleston Bay ; Eight-and-sixty brave men Watch there night and day.
Those brave men to succor Still no aid is sent ; Is n't James Buchanan A pretty President!
James is in his Cabinet Doubting and debating ; Anderson 's in Sumter, Very tired of waiting.
Pickens is in Charleston, Blustering of blows ;
Thank goodness, March the Fourth is near To nip Secession's nose. "Vanity Fair."
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
years has such a spectacle been seen as that glorious uprising of American loyalty which greeted the news that open war had been commenced upon the Constitution and Government of the United States. The great heart of the American people beat with one high pulsation of courage, and of fervid love and devotion to the great Republic. Party dissensions were instantly hushed; political differ- ences disappeared and were as thoroughly forgotten as if they had never existed; men ceased to think of themselves or their parties- they thought only of their country and of the dangers which menace its existence. Nothing for years has brought the hearts of all the people so close together, or so inspired them all with common hopes, and common fears, and a common aim, as the bombardment and surrender of an American fortress."1
President Lincoln's first call for aid was instantly responded to by the legislature of New-York with an appropriation of $3,000,000; the militia regiments of the city and vicinity hastened to offer their services ; recruiting rendezvous were opened for new organizations; the Chamber of Commerce passed resolutions pledging substantial aid to the government, and urging the prompt blockade of Southern ports;2 and a great wave of popular enthusiasm swept over the city.
The municipality of New-York, in close sympathy with Tam- many Hall, promptly passed the following resolutions, drafted by one who afterward distinguished himself on many bloody fields - Daniel E. Sickles.
Resolved, That we invoke in this crisis the unselfish patriotism and the unfaltering loyalty which have been uniformly manifested in all periods of national peril by the population of the City of New-York ; and while we reiterate our undiminished affec- tion for the friends of the Union who have gallantly and faithfully labored in the Southern States for the preservation of peace and the restoration of fraternal rela- tions among the people, and our readiness to cooperate with them in all honorable measures of reconciliation, yet we only give expression to the convictions of our con- stituents when we declare it to be their unalterable purpose, as it is their solemn duty, to do all in their power to uphold and defend the integrity of the Union, and to vindi- cate the honor of our flag, and to crush the power of those who are enemies in war, as in peace they were friends.
Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing preamble and resolutions be transmitted to the President of the United States, and to the Governor of the State of New-York.
In a recent address, General Sickles said: "I well remember the words of President Lincoln when he referred to this action of our
1 "New-York Times," April 16, 1861. mended and urged to blockade the ports of such States, or any other State that shall join them, and that this measure is demanded for defence in war. as also for the protection to the commerce of the United States against these so-called "privateers " invited to enroll under the authority of such States. Resolutions, New-York Chamber of Com- merce, April 19, 1861.
2 Resolved : That this Chamber, alive to the perils which have been gathering around our cherished form of government and menacing its overthrow, has witnessed with lively satisfaction the determination of the President to maintain the Constitution and vindicate the supremacy of government and law at overy hazard. . . .
That the United States Government be recom-
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NEW-YORK IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION
city government, a few days afterward, when I called upon him for instructions touching the command I had undertaken to raise on the invitation of Governor Morgan. He said: 'Sickles, I have here on my table the resolu- tions passed by your S.S.BALTIC.OFF SANDY HOOK APK.EIGHTEENTH. TEN THIRTY A.M. „VIA common council ap- NEW YORK. . . HOW'S. COMCRONI SECY. WAR. WASHIS HAVING" DEFENDED propriating a million of dollars toward rais- FORTSSONTEN FOR' THIRTY FOUR HOURS UNTIL THE QUARTERS WERE EN ing men for this war, FIRELY BURNED THE WHIN CATES DESTROYED BY FIRE, THE CORCE' WALLS and promising to. do all in the power of your SERIOUSLY INJURED.THE MAGAZINE SURROUNDED BY FLAMES AND ITS authorities to support [DOOR CLOSED FROM. THE EFFECTS OF HEAT . FOUR BARRELLS . AND. THREE the government. When these resolutions were CORTEIDCES DE POWDER ONLY BEING AVAILABLE AND NO PROVISIONS ! brought to me by Alder- EMATHING BUT PORK. L ACCEPTED TERMS OF EVACUATION OFFERED . man Frank Boole and his associates of the CENERAL BEAUREGARD BEINGKON SAME OFFERED BY HIM ON THE ELEY committee, I felt my FROM. INST.PRICE TO.THE COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES AND MARCHEO burden lighter. I felt that when men broke OUT. OF THE FORT - SUNDAY AFTERNOON THE FOURTEENTH INST.WITH through party lines COLORE FLYING, AND. CRUMS SEATINC. CRINGING ARAY COMPANY' AND and took this patriotic stand for the govern- PRIVATE PROPERTY AND SALUTING MY FLAC WITH FIFTY CURS. ROBERT . ment and the Union, ANDERSON.MAJOR FIRST/MTILLEI .CONMANDING. 1 all must come out well in the end. When you see them, tell them for me, they made my heart glad, and I can only say, God bless them.'"?
The march of the first New England troops through the city, to the defense of the capital, is graphically described by the Rev. Dr. Dix.3
They came in at night; and it was understood that, after breakfasting at the Astor House, the march would be resumed. By nine o'clock in the morning an immense crowd had assembled about the hotel: Broadway, from Barclay to Fulton street, and the lower end of Park Row, were occupied by a dense mass of human beings, all watching the front entrance, at which the regiment was to file out. From side to side, from wall to wall, extended that innumerable host, silent as the grave, expectant, something unspeakable in the faces. It was the dead, deep hush before the thunder- storm. At last a low murmur was heard ; it sounded somewhat like a gasp of men in suspense; and the cause was, that the soldiers had appeared, their leading files de-
1 The original despatch was printed by Morse's telegraph, and the ribbon-like strips were pasted on a sheet of paper in order to be more convenient and for better preservation. The above illustra- tion is made from a photograph of the original in the possession of General E. D. Townsend, U. S. A. EDITOR.
? The common council of the city of New-York "do ordain that the sum of one million dollars is hereby appropriated for the purpose of procuring
the necessary equipment and outfit of the military force of the City of New-York, now engaged, or which may hereafter be engaged, in the service of the State of New-York in pursuance of the requisi- tion of the President of the United States, and to provide for the aid and support of the families of such of the officers and men so engaged as may require the same," to be disbursed by the Union Defense Committee.
3 Memoirs of John A. Dix, II : 10.
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scending the steps. By the twinkle of their bayonets above the heads of the crowd their course could be traced out into the open street in front. Formed, at last. in column, they stood, the band at the head; and the word was given, "March!" Stil dead silence prevailed .. Then the drums rolled out the time-the regiment was in motion. And then the band, bursting into full volume, struck up- what other tune could the Massachusetts men have chosen ? - " Yankee Doodle." I caught abouttwo bars and a half of the old music, not more; for in- stantly there arose a sound such as many a man neve- heard in all his life, and never will hear; such as ign never heard more than once in a lifetime. Not more aw- - ful is the thunder of heaven $ as, with sudden peal, it smites a into silence all lesser sounds, , and, rolling through thevault = above us, fills earth and sky - with the shock of its terribles voice. One terrific roar burst ALEXANDER T. STEWART'S RESIDENCE. 1 from the multitude, leaving nothing audible save its own reverberation. We saw the heads of armed men, the gleam of their weapons, the regimental colors, all moving on, pageant-like; but naught could we hear save that hoarse, heavy surge- one general acclaim, one wild shout of joy and hope, one end- less cheer, rolling up and down, from side to side, above, below, to right, to left : the voice of approval, of consent, of unity in act and will. No one who saw and heard could doubt how New-York was going.
The resistance to the passage of the Sixth Massachusetts through Baltimore, on the 19th of April, fanned the public excitement to the verge of madness. The news that descendants of freemen who fell at Lexington had been slain, on the anniversary of that memorable fight, while marching to the defense of the capital, sent a thrill of in- dignation through the North. The following call had already re- ceived the signatures of leading men without regard to politics :
FELLOW-CITIZENS : The darkest period in our nation's history has arrived ; we are passing through the first fearful ordeal to which our experiment of popular institutions has ever been subjected. Our patriot sires struggled through a long and bloody con- flict to secure for their children the blessings we have enjoyed, and labored to frame
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