The United States Military Telegraph Line at the Junction of the Alexandria, Loudon, and Hampshire R. R. and Aqueduct Road from Georgetown, Alexandria County, Va., Communicating with the Military Department at Washington D. C.

Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, July 6, 1861

6th.—No army news to be relied on. We spent our time as usual. Knitting for the soldiers is one chief employment. Several suits of clothes for them are in progress in the house.

–At Washington orders were issued as follows:–”The State of Illinois and the States and territories West of the Mississippi and on this side of the Rocky Mountains, including New Mexico, will, in future, constitute a separate military command, to be known as the Western Department, under the command of Major-General Fremont, of the United States army, head-quarters at St. Louis.”

It having been ascertained to the satisfaction of the War Department, that First Lieutenant John Thomas Goode, of the Fourth Artillery, entertained, and had expressed treasonable designs against the Government of the United States, his name was stricken from the rolls of the army.

Captain John McNab of the Tenth Infantry, having, while in command of Fort Laramie, given satisfactory evidence of his disloyalty to the Government, the President directed that his name be stricken from the roll of the army.

The President also ordered the name of Assistant-Surgeon, Lafayette Gould, of the medical staff, to be stricken from the roll for refusing to renew his oath of allegiance.–N. Y. Commercial, July 6.

–The work of erasing names from the Guion compromise petition lists is in progress. On the fourth of July fifty-six names had been erased, and a large number yesterday and today. It is amusing to note the effectual manner in which the names are erased. In most cases it is impossible to decipher the name–it is out a crossing off, but a complete blotting out. Almost every person who has erased his name says that his signature was obtained under false pretences. One or two say that they were informed that it was a petition to the Common Council for an appropriation for the Central Park, and that it would afford an opportunity for the employment of laborers now out of work!

The story that “some one” (meaning Mr. Galon) had commenced a suit for the arrest of Superintendent Kennedy and Mr. J. B. Taylor, fur false imprisonment may be stated in brief: An application was made to Judge Leonard for an order to arrest these gentlemen, and the Judge promptly refused.–N. Y. Evening Post, July 6.

–Forty-five men of the Third Ohio regiment fell in with an ambuscade of several hundred rebels at Middle Fork Bridge, twelve miles east of Buckhannon, Va. Being surrounded they fought desperately for some time, then cut their way through the enemy and retired, losing only one man and having some wounded.–(Doc. 71.)

July 6, 1861

A Chronological History of the Civil War in America¹

• Fight at Middle York Bridge, near Buckhannon, Va.: 45 Union troops cut through an ambuscade of 200 or 300 rebels.

1. A Chronological History of the Civil War in America by Richard Swainson Fisher, New York, Johnson and Ward, 1863

CAMP CHASE, July 5, 1861.

DEAR UNCLE:–I have so little to write that I have, perhaps, neglected you. . . . . We are getting on very pleasantly here. It is a gentlemanly, social life, with just business and exercise enough to pass the time.

I have probably engaged a horse for one hundred dollars–a dark sorrel, good stock, neat, graceful, and of good temper.

Dr. Joe has been appointed our surgeon. We have not heard from home since he received the appointment, but I expect him to accept it. It will please Lucy and mother particularly. Let me hear of or from you often.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

S. BIRCHARD.

JULY 5th.—We have news of a fight at Gainesville between Gen. Patterson and Col. Jackson; the latter, being opposed by overwhelming numbers, fell back after punishing the Philadelphia general so severely that he will not be likely to have any more stomach for fighting during the remainder of the campaign.

FRIDAY 5

Hot in the sun but a good air stirring. Congress is fairly organized and ready to go to work. I was at the Capitol a couple of hours today. Saw many of the “Members” with whom I was acquainted, went on the floor among them before the call to order. The Halls looked clean and nice after being used for Barracks. Thousands of soldiers were there today as spectators. Went down to Willards and got the “Papers.” At the parade with wife & Julia.

______

The three diary manuscript volumes, Washington during the Civil War: The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865, are available online at The Library of   Congress.

“Camp Lyon” St. Joseph Mo¹
July 5 1861

General Order
No 6

[Applications and the granting of leaves from the camp were tightened. Guard mounting at seven o’clock A. M. ordered each day.]

5th A General Court Martial will convene at this post, at the tent of Major Crocker on the 8th day of July, A. D. 1861, for the trial of Lt Hungtington² of Co “B” and such other prisoners as may be brought before it . . . .

[Dress Parade at 7 o’clock P.M. each day. After July 8 afternoon drill superceded by drill of the battalion commencing at 3 P.M.]

1. Nathaniel Lyon, United States Military Academy, 1841, engaged in the Seminole wars, on the coast in California and stationed in Kansas prior to the outbreak of war, was an ardent northern sympathiser. Appointed in charge of the St. Louis Arsenal in February, 1861, he was made a brigadier general in charge of Union forces in St. Louis in May. With F. P. Blair Jr. helped to save Missouri for the Union. He was killed in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. Aug. 10, 1861.

2. John G. Huntington, Le Claire. Iowa, appointed 1st lt. May 28, 1861, and wounded at Fort Donelson, was killed in battle of Corinth, Miss. Oct 3, 1862.

July 5th.–As the young gentleman of colour, to whom I had given egregious ransom as well as an advance of wages, did not appear this morning, I was, after an abortive attempt to boil water for coffee and to get a piece of toast, compelled to go in next door, and avail myself of the hospitality of Captain Cecil Johnson, who was installed in the drawing-room of Madame Jost. In the forenoon, Mr. John Bigelow, whose acquaintance I made, much to my gratification in time gone by, on the margin of the Lake of Thun, found me out, and proffered his services; which, as the whileom editor of the Evening Post and as a leading Republican, he was in a position to render valuable and most effective; but he could not make a Bucephalus to order, and I have been running through the stables of Washington in vain, hoping to find something up to my weight–such flankless, screwy, shoulderless, cat-like creatures were never seen–four of them would scarcely furnish ribs and legs enough to carry a man, but the owners thought that each of them was fit for Baron Rothschild; and then there was saddlery and equipments of all sorts to be got, which the influx of officers and the badness and dearness of the material put quite beyond one’s reach. Mr. Bigelow was of opinion that the army would move at once; “but,” said I, “where is the transport– where the cavalry and guns?” “Oh,” replied he “I suppose we have got everything that is required. I know nothing of these things, but I am told cavalry are no use in the wooded country towards Richmond.” I have not yet been able to go through the camps, but I doubt very much whether the material or commissariat of the grand army of the North is at all adequate to a campaign.

The presumption and ignorance of the New York journals would be ridiculous were they not so mischievous. They describe “this horde of battalion companies–unofficered, clad in all kinds of different uniform, diversely equipped, perfectly ignorant of the principles of military obedience and concerted action,”–for so I hear it described by United States officers themselves– as being “the greatest army the world ever saw; perfect in officers and discipline; unsurpassed in devotion and courage; furnished with every requisite; and destined on its first march to sweep into Richmond, and to obliterate from the Potomac to New Orleans every trace of rebellion.”

The Congress met to-day to hear the President’s Message read. Somehow or other there is not such anxiety and eagerness to hear what Mr. Lincoln has to say as one could expect on such a momentous occasion. It would seem as if the forthcoming appeal to arms had overshadowed every other sentiment in the minds of the people. They are waiting for deeds, and care not for words. The confidence of the New York papers, and of the citizens, soldiers, and public speakers, contrast with the dubious and gloomy views of the military men; but of this Message itself there are some incidents independent of the occasion to render it curious, if not interesting. The President has, it is said, written much of it in his own fashion, which has been revised and altered by his Ministers; but he has written it again and repeated himself, and after many struggles a good deal of pure Lincolnism goes down to Congress.

At a little after half-past eleven I went down to the Capitol. Pennsylvania Avenue was thronged as before, but on approaching Capitol Hill, the crowd rather thinned away, as though they shunned, or had no curiosity to hear, the President’s Message. One would have thought that, where every one who could get in was at liberty to attend the galleries in both Houses, there would have been an immense pressure from the inhabitants and strangers in the city, as well as from the citizen soldiers, of which such multitudes were in the street; but when I looked up from the floor of the Senate, I was astonished to see that the galleries were not more than three parts filled. There is always a ruinous look about an unfinished building when it is occupied and devoted to business. The Capitol is situated on a hill, one face of which is scarped by the road, and has the appearance of being formed of heaps of rubbish. Towards Pennsylvania Avenue the long frontage abuts on a lawn shaded by trees, through which walks and avenues lead to the many entrances under the porticoes and colonnades; the face which corresponds on the other side looks out on heaps of brick and mortar, cut stone, and a waste of marble blocks lying half buried in the earth and cumbering the ground, which, in the magnificent ideas of the founders and planners of the city, was to be occupied by stately streets. The cleverness of certain speculators in land prevented the execution of the original idea, which was to radiate all the main avenues of the city from the Capitol as a centre, the intermediate streets being formed by circles drawn at regularly-increasing intervals from the Capitol, and intersected by the radii. The speculators purchased up the land on the side between the Navy-yard and the site of the Capitol; the result–the land is unoccupied, except by paltry houses, and the capitalists are ruined.

The Capitol would be best described by a series of photographs. Like the Great Republic itself, it is unfinished. It resembles it in another respect: it looks best at a distance; and, again, it is incongruous in its parts. The passages are so dark that artificial light is often required to enable one to find his way. The offices and bureaux of the committees are better than the chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives. All the encaustics and the white marble and stone staircases suffer from tobacco juice, though there is a liberal display of spittoons at every corner. The official messengers, doorkeepers, and porters wear no distinctive badge or dress. No policemen are on duty, as in our Houses of Parliament; no soldiery, gendarmerie, or sergens-de-ville in the precincts; the crowd wanders about the passages as it pleases, and shows the utmost propriety, never going where it ought not to intrude. There is a special gallery set apart for women; the reporters are commodiously placed in an ample gallery, above the Speaker’s chair; the diplomatic circle have their gallery facing the reporters, and they are placed so low down in the somewhat depressed Chamber, that every word can be heard from speakers in the remotest parts of the house very distinctly.

The seats of the members are disposed in a manner somewhat like those in the French Chambers. Instead of being in parallel rows to the walls, and at right angles to the Chairman’s seat, the separate chairs and desks of the Senators are arranged in semicircular rows. The space between the walls and the outer semicircle is called the floor of the house, and it is a high compliment to a stranger to introduce him within this privileged place. There are leather cushioned seats and lounges put for the accommodation of those who may be introduced by Senators, or to whom, as distinguished members of Congress in former days, the permission is given to take their seats. Senators Sumner and Wilson introduced me to a chair, and made me acquainted with a number of Senators before the business of the day began.

Mr. Sumner, as the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, is supposed to be viewed with some jealousy by Mr. Seward, on account of the disposition attributed to him to interfere in diplomatic questions; but if he does so, we shall have no reason to complain, as the Senator is most desirous of keeping the peace between the two countries, and of mollifying any little acerbities and irritations which may at present exist between them. Senator Wilson is a man who has risen from what would be considered in any country but a republic the lowest ranks of the people. He apprenticed himself to a poor shoemaker when he was twenty-two years of age, and when he was twenty-four years old he began to go to school, and devoted all his earnings to the improvement of education. He got on by degrees, till he set up as a master shoe maker and manufacturer, became a “major-general” of State militia; finally was made Senator of the United States, and is now “Chairman of the Committee of the Senate on Military Affairs.” He is a bluff man, of about fifty years of age, with a peculiar eye and complexion, and seems honest and vigorous. But is he not going ultra crepidam in such a post? At present he is much perplexed by the drunkenness which prevails among the troops, or rather by the desire of the men for spirits, as he has a New England mania on that point. One of the most remarkable-looking men in the House is Mr. Sumner. Mr. Breckinridge and he would probably be the first persons to excite the curiosity of a stranger, so far as to induce him to ask for their names. Save in height–and both are a good deal over six feet– there is no resemblance between the champion of States Rights and the orator of the Black Republicans. The massive head, the great chin and jaw, and the penetrating eyes of Mr. Breckinridge convey the idea of a man of immense determination, courage, and sagacity. Mr. Sumner’s features are indicative of a philosophical and poetical turn of thought, and one might easily conceive that he would be a great advocate, but an indifferent leader of a party.

It was a hot day; but there was no excuse for the slop coats and light-coloured clothing and felt wide-awakes worn by so many Senators in such a place. They gave the meeting the aspect of a gathering of bakers or millers; nor did the constant use of the spittoons beside their desks, their reading of newspapers and writing letters during the dispatch of business, or the hurrying to and fro of the pages of the House between the seats, do anything but derogate from the dignity of the assemblage, and, according to European notions, violate the respect due to a Senate Chamber. The pages alluded to are smart boys, from twelve to fifteen years of age, who stand below the President’s table, and are employed to go on errands and carry official messages by the members. They wear no particular uniform, and are dressed as the taste or means of their parents dictate.

The House of Representatives exaggerates all the peculiarities I have observed in the Senate, but the debates are not regarded with so much interest as those of the Upper House; indeed, they are of far less importance. Strong-minded statesmen and officers–Presidents or Ministers–do not care much for the House of Representatives, so long as they are sure of the Senate; and, for the matter of that, a President like Jackson does not care much for Senate and House together. There are privileges attached to a seat in either branch of the Legislature, independent of the great fact that they receive mileage and are paid for their services, which may add some incentive to ambition. Thus the members can order whole tons of stationery for their use, not only when they are in session, but during the recess. Their frank covers parcels by mail, and it is said that Senators without a conscience have sent sewing-machines to their wives and pianos to their daughters as little parcels by post. I had almost forgotten that much the same abuses were in vogue in England some century ago.

The galleries were by no means full, and in that reserved for the diplomatic body the most notable person was M. Mercier, the Minister of France, who, fixing his intelligent and eager face between both hands, watched with keen scrutiny the attitude and conduct of the Senate. None of the members of the English Legation were present. After the lapse of an hour, Mr. Hay, the President’s Secretary, made his appearance on the floor, and sent in the Message to the Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Forney, who proceeded to read it to the House. It was listened to in silence, scarcely broken except when some Senator murmured “Good, that is so;” but in fact the general purport of it was already known to the supporters of the Ministry, and not a sound came from the galleries. Soon after Mr. Forney had finished, the galleries were cleared, and I returned up Pennsylvania Avenue, in which the crowds of soldiers around bar-rooms, oyster shops, and restaurants, the groups of men in officers’ uniform, and the clattering of disorderly mounted cavaliers in the dust, increased my apprehension that discipline was very little regarded, and that the army over the Potomac had not a very strong hand to keep it within bounds.

As I was walking over with Captain Johnson to dine with Lord Lyons, I met General Scott leaving his office and walking with great difficulty between two aides-de-camp. He was dressed in a blue frock with gold lace shoulder straps, fastened round the waist by a yellow sash, and with large yellow lapels turned back over the chest in the old style, and moved with great difficulty along the pavement. “You see I am trying to hobble along, but it is hard for me to overcome my many infirmities. I regret I could not have the pleasure of granting you an interview to-day, but I shall cause it to be intimated to you when I may have the pleasure of seeing you; meantime I shall provide you with a pass and the necessary introductions to afford you all facilities with the army.”

After dinner I made a round of visits, and heard the diplomatists speaking of the Message; few, if any of them, in its favour. With the exception perhaps of Baron Gerolt, the Prussian Minister, there is not one member of the Legations who justifies the attempt of the Northern States to assert the supremacy of the Federal Government by the force of arms. Lord Lyons, indeed, in maintaining a judicious reticence whenever he does speak, gives utterance to sentiments becoming the representative of Great Britain at the court of a friendly Power, and the Minister of a people who have been protagonists to slavery for many a long year.

July 5.—Yesterday M. P. and myself spent several hours riding about to visit our friends. The news of the day was, that General Patterson, with a large force, had crossed the river and taken possession of Martinsburg, and that General Johnston had sent Colonel Stuart, with his cavalry, to reconnoitre and cut off his supplies, and to prevent a retreat. All these things make us anxious, particularly as the booming of cannon is not unfrequent; but my faith in the justice of our cause is strong.

–This morning the rebel troops stationed at Fairfax Court-House, Va., were advancing upon the Federal lines, when a regiment of their infantry fired by mistake upon a company of their cavalry, killing seven or eight men. and wounding several others.–N. Y. Evening Post, July 6.

–This morning the Missouri rebel troops, under Gov. Jackson, broke camp near Rupes Point, in Jasper Co., Missouri, and marched south in the direction of Carthage, the County seat of Jasper County. At Brier Forks, seven miles north of Carthage, they were met by Col. Siegel, with 1,500 Union men, who immediately gave them battle.

The State troops were posted on a ridge in a prairie with five pieces of artillery, one twelve pounder in the centre, two six-pounders on the right and left, cavalry on each flank, and infantry in the rear.

The artillery of Colonel Siegel approached within eight hundred yards, with four cannon in the centre, a body of infantry and a six-pounder under Lieutenant-Colonel Hassendare on the left, Colonel Solomon’s command with a six-pounder on the right, and a body of infantry behind the centre artillery.

Colonel Siegel’s left opened fire with shrapnells, and soon the engagement became general. The rebels had no grape, and their artillerists being poor, their balls flew over the heads of the National forces. After two hours’ firing, the enemy’s artillery was entirely silenced, and their ranks broken.

The State troops were now driven back some distance, and the officers ordered a retreat. The centre gave way, but the order not being heard on the flanks, the advancing United States troops were in danger of being surrounded themselves, and fell back. They retreated slowly, keeping up the fight, the artillery making fearful havoc among the enemy’s ranks.

About 1,500 rebel cavalry then attempted to outflank Siegel, and cut off his baggage train, which was three miles back, when a retrograde movement was ordered. The train was reached in good order, surrounded by infantry and artillery, and the retreat of the National troops continued until a point was reached where the road passed through a high bluff on each side, where the enemy’s cavalry were posted in large numbers. By a feint, as if intending to pass around the bluff, Siegel drew the cavalry in a solid body into the road at a distance of 150 yards from his position, when by a rapid movement of his artillery, he poured a heavy crossfire of canister into their ranks; at the same time the infantry charged at a “double quick,” and in ten minutes the State troops scattered in every direction. Eighty-five riderless horses were captured and sixty-five shot-guns, and a number of revolvers and bowie-knives were picked up from the ground.

At the crossing of Dry Fork, the Federal lines were very near being broken, when by the timely arrival of 200 Union men from Shoals Creek, they crossed with but a loss of five killed, and two mortally wounded. The battle continued, the United States troops alternately fighting and retreating until dark, when they reached Carthage, having crossed Buck Branch and Spring River. On the way, the fighting was all done with the artillery, Col. Siegel retreating as soon as they got them in position, and playing on their ranks as they advanced.

The rebel loss was great; a resident of Carthage states that he passed over a part of the battle-field after the conflict, and saw wagons and hacks passing in every direction, gathering up the dead for interment.

The loss on the part of the State troops cannot be less than from 300 to 500. The ground in many places was strewn with dead horses.

The retreat of the National forces was conducted in a style worthy of veteran troops, and with as much coolness as if they were on a parade-ground, instead of the field of battle.– (Doc. 70.)

–About five o’clock this morning twenty-five of Hawkins’ Zouaves encountered a rebel force, supposed to number about one hundred and fifty, including twenty-five cavalry, and one field-piece, seven miles from Newport News, Va.; three of the rebels were shot, and also six of Hawkins’ Zouaves. The latter sent for reinforcements, and five companies were sent to sustain them.–N. Y. Evening Post, July 6.

July 5, 1861

A Chronological History of the Civil War in America¹

• President’s Message read in Congress: he called for 400,000 men and $400,000,000 to aid in putting down the rebellion.
• Battle at Carthage, Mo. (Sigel 1,100 v. Jackson 4,000): rebels routed.

1. A Chronological History of the Civil War in America by Richard Swainson Fisher, New York, Johnson and Ward, 1863

Engagement Between the Gunboat Flotilla, Freedom and Reliance, Under the Command of Captain James H. Ward, and a Secession Force at Mathias Point, Va, on the Potomac River, June 27, 1861—Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, July 6, 1861

The newly composed unit—later known as the Potomac Flotilla—saw its first action on June 1, when guns from Ward’s ships silenced Confederate shore batteries at Aquia Creek, Virginia during the Battle of Aquia Creek. On June 27, at the Battle of Mathias Point, Ward sent a landing party ashore to dislodge Southern forces from another battery at Mathias Point, in King George County, Virginia, but it encountered heavy resistance. The Federals gave up the attack and retired under heavy sniper and cannon fire to their ships. Ward brought his flotilla in close to the shoreline to provide gunfire support for the retreating landing party. As he was sighting the bow gun in his flagship, Thomas Freeborn, Ward was struck by a bullet in his abdomen and fell to the deck, mortally wounded. He died within an hour. He was the great-grandfather of actor Andy Devine. (read more at Wikipedia)

THURSDAY 4

The weather has been delightful and very favorable to the great Military Review. Twenty three Regiments, or over twenty thousand men, marched past the Prests House on the Ave. It was a great display for NY, for it was a Review of only the NY Regts by Maj Genl Sanford. Genl Scott, the Prest, and Cabinet were out on a platform erected for the occasion. Met Mr VanMaster at Willards, attended the Dress Parade of the 12th, and their festivities in the evening at their camp. Came with the family at 1/2 past nine.

______

The three diary manuscript volumes, Washington during the Civil War: The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865, are available online at The Library of   Congress.

July 4th, 1861.—This day, which was once so filled with merriment and pleasure, is now a thing of the past, where we are concerned. Father and my uncles let the negroes go ahead with the usual Fourth of July barbecue. Father said it would not be right to curtail their pleasures because of our own troubles; so they are having a merry time today.

Susan Bradford is 15 years old when this entry was made.

July 4th.–Russell abuses us in his letters. People here care a great deal for what Russell says, because he represents the London Times, and the Times reflects the sentiment of the English people. How we do cling to the idea of an alliance with England or France! Without France even Washington could not have done it.

We drove to the camp to see the President present a flag to a Maryland regiment. Having lived on the battlefield (Kirkwood), near Camden, ¹ we have an immense respect for the Maryland line. When our militia in that fight ran away, Colonel Howard and the Marylanders held their own against Rawdon, Cornwallis, and the rest, and everywhere around are places named for a doughty captain killed in our defense–Kirkwood, De Kalb, etc. The last, however, was a Prussian count. A letter from my husband, written June 22d, has just reached me. He says:

“We are very strongly posted, entrenched, and have now at our command about 15,000 of the best troops in the world. We have besides, two batteries of artillery, a regiment of cavalry, and daily expect a battalion of flying artillery from Richmond. We have sent forward seven regiments of infantry and rifles toward Alexandria. Our outposts have felt the enemy several times, and in every instance the enemy recoils. General Johnston has had several encounters–the advancing columns of the two armies –and with him, too, the enemy, although always superior in numbers, are invariably driven back.

“There is great deficiency in the matter of ammunition. General Johnston’s command, in the very face of overwhelming numbers, have only thirty rounds each. If they had been well provided in this respect, they could and would have defeated Cadwallader and Paterson with great ease. I find the opinion prevails throughout the army that there is great imbecility and shameful neglect in the War Department.

“Unless the Republicans fall back, we must soon come together on both lines, and have a decided engagement. But the opinion prevails here that Lincoln’s army will not meet us if they can avoid it. They have already fallen back before a slight check from 400 of Johnston’s men. They had 700 and were badly beaten. You have no idea how dirty and irksome the camp life is. You would hardly know your best friend in camp guise.”

Noise of drums, tramp of marching regiments all day long; rattling of artillery wagons, bands of music, friends from every quarter coming in. We ought to be miserable and anxious, and yet these are pleasant days. Perhaps we are unnaturally exhilarated and excited.

Heard some people in the drawing-room say: “Mrs. Davis’s ladies are not young, are not pretty,” and I am one of them. The truthfulness of the remark did not tend to alleviate its bitterness. We must put Maggie Howell and Mary Hammy in the foreground, as youth and beauty are in request. At least they are young things–bright spots in a somber-tinted picture. The President does not forbid our going, but he is very much averse to it. We are consequently frightened by our own audacity, but we are wilful women, and so we go.

______

¹ At Camden in August, 1780, was fought a battle between General Gates and Lord Cornwallis. in which Gates was defeated. In April of the following year near Camden, Lord Rawdon defeated General Greene.

Arkansas True Democrat [Little Rock],
July 4, 1861

Newspapers, as well as other institutions, North and South, are constantly succumbing to the storm, but the True Democrat still weathers it bravely and securely. No matter at what sacrifice to ourselves pecuniarily, we intend the True Democrat shall live and issue regularly during the war; but while we so intend it is our purpose to furnish it to no one who will not contribute his mite, at least to the amount of his subscription. We may have to decrease the size of our paper–we expect to be compelled to do so–but as our advertising will be small during the prevalence of the war–we shall always be enabled to furnish as much reading matter as we do with our present proportions.

Since the commencement of the troubles between the North and the South, the increase of our subscription list, with the subscription price always in advance, has been unprecedented. In north-eastern Texas alone we have received over two or three hundred subscribers within the last six or eight weeks.

Arkansas True Democrat [Little Rock],
July 4, 1861

When the tocsin of war was sounded throughout the land none were more prompt to respond to their country’s call than Arkansians, and none in the State more prompt than the citizens of Little Rock and Pulaski county. Pulaski county has furnished and sent to the seat of war eight full companies, and the ladies of Little Rock have worked night and day for months making uniforms, not only for the soldiers of their own county, but for soldiers from all portions of the State.

It is not our purpose to speak in praise of one section of our State over another–we believe all are alike devoted in this struggle for liberty and sanctity of our hearthstones–but since an unjust and malicious report has been circulated to the prejudice of the Little Rock ladies, it becomes us not only to correct it, but to accord to the ladies their full merit. It has been reported of them that they were paid for their work out of the State treasury.–The report is false, and the originator of it a malicious slanderers. What the ladies did, and they did much, as thousands of soldiers will attest, was a free-will offering to the State and its gallant defenders.–They labored night and day–spent their time and their money–in equipping the many soldiers that passed through our city on their way to the war, but they neither charged or received one cent of remuneration for any service. The report to the contrary was a cruel slander, and should be accordingly denounced.

JULY 4th.—These simple things provoked some remarks from the young gentlemen in the department, and gave rise to predictions that he would soon supplant us all in the affections of the Secretary. And he is nimble of foot too, and enters the Secretary’s room twice to Col. B.’s or Major T.’s once. I go not thither unless sent for; for in a cause like this, personal advancement, when it involves catering to the caprices of functionaries dressed in a little brief authority, should be spurned with contempt. But Col. Bledsoe is shocked, and renews his threats of resignation. Major Tyler is eager to abandon the pen for the sword; but Congress has not acted on his nomination; and the West Pointers, many of them indebted to his father for their present positions, are inimical to his confirmation.

July 4th.–”Independence Day.” Fortunate to escape this great national festival in the large cities of the Union where it is celebrated with many days before and after of surplus rejoicing, by fireworks and an incessant fusillade in the streets, I was, nevertheless, subjected to the small ebullition of the Washington juveniles, to bell-ringing and discharges of cannon and musketry. On this day Congress meets. Never before has any legislative body assembled under circumstances so grave. By their action they will decide whether the Union can ever be restored, and will determine whether the States of the North are to commence an invasion for the purpose of subjecting by force of arms, and depriving of their freedom, the States of the South.

Congress met to-day merely for the purpose of forming itself into a regular body, and there was no debate or business of public importance introduced. Mr. Wilson gave me to understand, however, that some military movements of the utmost importance might be expected in a few days, and that General M’Dowell would positively attack the rebels in front of Washington. The Confederates occupy the whole of Northern Virginia, commencing from the peninsula above Fortress Monroe on the right or east, and extending along the Potomac, to the extreme verge of the State, by the Baltimore and Ohio Railway. This immense line, however, is broken by great intervals, and the army with which M’Dowell will have to deal may be considered as detached, covering the approaches to Richmond, whilst its left flank is protected by a corps of observation, stationed near Winchester, under General Jackson. A Federal corps is being prepared to watch the corps and engage it, whilst M’Dowell advances on the main body. To the right of this again, or further west, another body of Federals, under General M’Clellan, is operating in the valleys of the Shenandoah and in Western Virginia; but I did not hear any of these things from Mr. Wilson, who was, I am sure, in perfect ignorance of the plans, in a military sense, of the general. I sat at Mr. Sumner’s desk, and wrote the final paragraphs of a letter describing my impressions of the South in a place but little disposed to give a favourable colour to them.

When the Senate had adjourned, I drove to the State Department and saw Mr. Seward, who looked much more worn and haggard than when I saw him last, three months ago. He congratulated me on my safe return from the South in time to witness some stirring events. “Well, Mr. Secretary, I am quite sure that, if all the South are of the same mind as those I met in my travels, there will be many battles before they submit to the Federal Government.”

“It is not submission to the Government we want; it is to assent to the principles of the Constitution. When you left Washington we had a few hundred regulars and some hastily-levied militia to defend the national capital, and a battery and a half of artillery under the command of a traitor. The Navy-yard was in the hands of a disloyal officer. We were surrounded by treason. Now we are supported by the loyal States which have come forward in defence of the best Government on the face of the earth, and the unfortunate and desperate men who have commenced this struggle will have to yield or experience the punishment due to their crimes.”

“But, Mr. Seward, has not this great exhibition of strength been attended by some circumstances calculated to inspire apprehension that liberty in the free States may be impaired; for instance, I hear that I must procure a passport in order to travel through the States and go into the camps in front of Washington.”

“Yes, sir; you must send your passport here from Lord Lyons, with his signature. It will be no good till I have signed it, and then it must be sent to General Scott, as Commander-in-Chief of the United States army, who will subscribe it, after which it will be available for all legitimate purposes. You are not in any way impaired in your liberty by the process.”

“Neither is, one may say, the man who is under surveillance of the police in despotic countries in Europe; he has only to submit to a certain formality, and he is all right; in fact, it is said by some people, that the protection afforded by a passport is worth all the trouble connected with having it in order.”

Mr. Seward seemed to think it was quite likely. There were corresponding measures taken in the Southern States by the rebels, and it was necessary to have some control over traitors and disloyal persons. “In this contest,” said he, “the Government will not shrink from using all the means which they consider necessary to restore the Union.” It was not my place to remark that such doctrines were exactly identical with all that despotic governments in Europe have advanced as the ground of action in cases of revolt, or with a view to the maintenance of their strong Governments. “The Executive,” said he, “has declared in the inaugural that the rights of the Federal Government shall be fully vindicated. We are dealing with an insurrection within our own country, of our own people, and the Government of Great Britain have thought fit to recognise that insurrection before we were able to bring the strength of the Union to bear against it, by conceding to it the status of belligerent. Although we might justly complain of such an unfriendly act in a manner that might injure the friendly relations between the two countries, we do not desire to give any excuse for foreign interference; although we do not hesitate, in case of necessity, to resist it to the uttermost, we have less to fear from a foreign war than any country in the world. If any European Power provokes a war, we shall not shrink from it. A contest between Great Britain and the United States would wrap the world in fire, and at the end it would not be the United States which would have to lament the results of the conflict.”

I could not but admire the confidence–may I say the coolness?–of the statesman who sat in his modest little room within the sound of the evening’s guns, in a capital menaced by their forces who spoke so fearlessly of war with a Power which could have blotted out the paper blockade of the Southern forts and coast in a few hours, and, in conjunction with the Southern armies, have repeated the occupation and destruction of the capital.

The President sent for Mr. Seward whilst I was in the State Department, and I walked up Pennsylvania Avenue to my lodgings, through a crowd of men in uniform who were celebrating Independence Day in their own fashion–some by the large internal use of fire-water, others by an external display of fireworks.

Directly opposite my lodgings are the head-quarters of General Mansfield, commanding the district, which are marked by a guard at the door and a couple of six-pounder guns pointing down the street. I called upon the General, but he was busy examining certain inhabitants of Alexandria and of Washington itself, who had been brought before him on the charge of being Secessionists, and I left my card, and proceeded to General Scott’s head-quarters, which I found packed with officers. The General received me in a small room, and expressed his gratification at my return, but I saw he was so busy with reports, despatches, and maps, that I did not trespass on his time. I dined with Lord Lyons, and afterwards went with some members of the Legation to visit the camps, situated in the public square.

All the population of Washington had turned out in their best to listen to the military bands, the music of which was rendered nearly inaudible by the constant discharge of fireworks. The camp of the 12th New York presented .a very pretty and animated scene. The men liberated from duty were enjoying themselves out and inside their tents, and the sutlers’ booths were driving a roaring trade. I was introduced to Colonel Butterfield, commanding the regiment, who was a merchant of New York; but notwithstanding the training of the counting-house, he looked very much like a soldier, and had got his regiment very fairly in hand. In compliance with a desire of Professor Henry, the Colonel had prepared a number of statistical tables in which the nationality, height, weight, breadth of chest, age, and other particulars respecting the men under his command were entered. I looked over the book, and as far as I could judge, but two out of twelve of the soldiers were native-born Americans, the rest being Irish, German, English, and European-born generally. According to the commanding officer they were in the highest state of discipline and obedience. He had given them leave to go out as they pleased for the day, but at tattoo only 14 men out of 1000 were absent, and some of those had been accounted for by reports that they were incapable of locomotion owing to the hospitality of the citizens.

When I returned to my lodgings, the coloured boy whom I had hired at Niagara was absent, and I was told he had not come in since the night before. “These free coloured boys,” said my landlord, “are a bad set; now they are worse than ever; the officers of the army are taking them all away from us; it’s just the life they like; they get little work, have good pay; but what they like most is robbing and plundering the farmers’ houses over in Virginia; what with Germans Irish, and free niggers, Lord help the poor Virginians, I say; but they’ll give them a turn yet.”

The sounds in Washington to-night might have led one to believe the city was carried by storm. Constant explosion of fire-arms, fireworks, shouting, and cries in the streets, which combined, with the heat and the abominable odours of the undrained houses and mosquitoes, to drive sleep far away.

July 4.—This day General Scott promised himself and his Northern friends to dine in Richmond. Poor old renegade, I trust he has eaten his last dinner in Richmond, the place of his marriage, the birthplace of his children, the home of his early friendships, and so near the place of his nativity and early years.

How can he wish to enter Richmond but as a friend? But it is enough for us to know that he is disappointed in his amiable and patriotic wish to-day. So may it be.

I have seen W. H., who has just returned from Fairfax. Last week he scouted near our house, and gives no very encouraging report for us. Our hills are being fortified, and Alexandria and the neighbourhood have become one vast barracks. The large trees are being felled, and even houses are falling by order of the invader! Our prospect of getting home becomes more and more dim; my heart sinks within me, and hope is almost gone. What shall we do, if the war continues until next winter, without a certain resting-place? Our friends are kind and hospitable, open-hearted and generous to a wonderful degree. In this house we are made to feel not only welcome, but that our society gives them heartfelt pleasure. Other friends, too, are most kind in giving invitations “for the war”—” as long as we find it agreeable to stay,” etc.; but while this is very gratifying and delightful, yet we must get some place, however small and humble, to call home. Our friends here amuse themselves at my fears; but should the war continue, [continue reading…]