CHAPTER IX.

T

IN WAR TIMES.

HE Alfred teachers and students were no idle spectators of the stirring events that for years threatened the life of our republic. All sides of the great questions then agitating the public mind were represented in the school. Sharp and often angry debates on these questions formed continually a part of the program of not only the gentlemen's but frequently of the ladies' literary societies. Speakers from different parts of the country, and frequent and enthusiastic chapel lectures, kept these absorbing questions before the school and community. Naturally the vicinity of Alfred, with its New England endowment of sturdy character, became radical in all the burning political questions of that day; consequently those students who were conservative on these points received little sympathy in their ideas.

The call to make Kansas a free State was heeded by many old Alfred students and alumni. Some of these early became prominent men, not only in her Legislature, but in important business enterprises. S. M. Thorp and Solon Thatcher in the Senate, Dwight Thatcher as State printer, A. F. Randolph as attorney general, L. J. Worden as State librarian, with other names, might be mentioned, the years increasing the number of our students there, but not lessening their influence.

In 1861 came the terrible ordeal which meant life or death to our country, before which our young men stood aghast, though they did not shrink from personal responsibility. A call had come for volunteers to save the Union. Companions walked the streets with bated breath, and companies for military drill were speedily organized. Praying circles met 'every evening, with the one theme at heart-that of the salvation of our country.

Every young man in the senior class enlisted, and all were accepted save one, who was refused on account of nearsightedness. These, with many other students and citizens, went to Elmira to enter the 23d regiment of New York Volunteers. The morning meeting in the chapel the day that our boys were to leave can never be forgotten by any who were present. It was crowded to overflowing by citizens and students, so there was hardly standing room. The eleven members of the graduating class were called upon in turn to state their reasons for leaving their studies and all peaceful pursuits, for the turmoil and uncertainty of war. Every heart was stirred, especially when two of them said, "We give our all-our lives-and never expect to return." And so it proved, for these two came only in their coffins, and that within a year.

ment.

Professor Darwin Maxson went as chaplain of the 23d regi In all this movement Professor Allen took a prominent. part by encouraging and stimulating the patriotic sentiment of the school, by giving all the assistance in his power to the young men who went out, and by assuring their home friends that if all were true to duty, an overruling Providence would certainly guide all things for the best. He himself was only kept back from going because the trustees and Faculty would not spare him from what they felt to be of more importance. As soon as the term's work was over, he went to Elmira and thence on to Washington to look after the interests of our student soldiers. Of his observations and experiences at that time he wrote as follows:

WASHINGTONWARD.

"In harmony with the President's proclamation, we took seats at 12 M., July 14, not in Congress, but in the cars, Washingtonward. After a few hours' ride amid the usual indications of the patriotism of the day, we found ourselves at Elmira, a rendezvous of the New York Volunteers. It was, of course, a gala day with both soldier and citizen. The soldier was parading for the citizen, and the citizen feasting the soldier in anticipation of the departure on the morrow. The chaplain of the 23d very cordially invited us to participate in the eating exercises At the close, however, we were coolly informed that we must pay for our supper by

taking the pulpit and speechifying to the citizens and soldiers. We protested, affirming that it was in violation of all the rites of hospitality as handed down from most ancient times to make an invited guest pay for his fare.

"Friend F., being more modest than myself, if possible, undertook to run the guards, but, as he affirmed, found a blue-coated saint confronting him, and with cold glittering steel appealing directly, steadily, irresistibly, to his heart. So persuasive was the appeal that he yielded without resistance. We concluded ourselves under martial law, and in obedience to his behests, talked of all the big subjects we could think of-such as war, peace, home, hearthstones, union, liberty, progress, sacrifice, humanity, religion.

"After restoring our exhausted energies, we started again with other friends. Pleasant was the ride amid grain fields and grass fields, richly burdened with the coming harvest; pleasant the broad valley set round about with billowy hills, overspread at the time with a mottled covering of sunshine and thunder shower. Delightful the ride along the trout. brooks, up among the great hills of the Keystone State, amid the rocks from which are dug the keys that unlock her greatness, out into her splendid valleys and flourishing cities,-great and prosperous country this -too great, too glorious, to be destroyed by ambitious or disappointed demagogues.

"On passing the line of freedom, and entering the outposts of slavery, the signs of a free industry disappear, and the shabbiness and unthrift of unwilling toil take their place. Just at this line, also, the work of the defenders of the republic begins. Soldiers are posted all along the line of the railroad, to guard it from the vandalism of the rebels. It takes a very large force to guard and protect what conquest has won. This is one of the great difficulties of the war. As we sped along through the semi-wilderness region, soldiers' tents nestled thick and cozily in the groves. The soldiers themselves, peeping out from their tents, preparing their morning meal, or standing sentinel along the road, greeted us as we passed, and evidently had not the least objection to the morning papers that were tossed to them by the passengers. This was soldier life in its quiet, picturesque aspect; the stirring, the crimson, was to come soon. Baltimore was held obedient to the law and order by the unyielding grasp of military power. Flying artillery were stationed at chief points in the city, their cannon ranged so as to sweep the principal streets, or at a moment's notice to rush to any place of disturbance. The whole aspect of the city was that of a glum, unwilling loyalty. And thus, as Tennyson phrases it, with 'soldiers to right of us, soldiers to left of us, soldiers

in front, soldiers all about us, onward we rode, on through dust, decay, and desolation, to Washington, the greatest of American humbugs.'

IN WASHINGTON.

"Washington City is one of the first outgrowths, and the present rebellion has for its motive power slavery; its guiding star, State rights. These controlled in founding the national capital. Pennsylvania, in her sovereign capacity of State rights, failing, when appealed to, to protect Congress from a body of mutineers from the Continental army, Congress sought safety at Princeton, under the protection of New Jersey, and afterward adjourned to Annapolis, Maryland. Congress, thus a wandering mendicant, dependent for its leave to be upon the good pleasure of State sovereignty, began to look about itself for some permanent home of safety. At this point the North and South collided; and, at first, a doubleheaded government was resolved upon, with one head resting upon the Delaware, and the other upon the Potomac. Ultimately, however, through the recusancy of Northern members, a compromise, by a majority of three, was agreed upon, by which the Potomac was to be honored with an undivided national capital.

"On entering Washington, great earnestness, life, activity, were everywhere apparent. Two influences, two forces, controlled, moved allmilitary and legislative. Everybody seemed to be moving in one of two streams-to the Capitol or to the camp. Everyone was talking about law or war, and all law-making was for the war. Soldiers flocked everywhere—in the streets, in Congress, and in the hotels--especially the officers. Heavy, white-topped army wagons perform their daily rounds of relief, looking, in their long procession, like so many white-hooded sisters of charity. The tents of the great army encircle the city, sitting round in regimental groups to protect it from traitors without and traitors within. . . Many an officer evidently is out to the wars for a good time generally, with glory thrown in. As for the case of the soldiers the drill, the inconvenience of camp life, is it not for the common soldier? Let him see to it. The privates say: 'Behold our officers! What care they for us! Let us do as it seemeth to us good!' Nevertheless, the elements of a grand army are here, needing but the genius of a great general to develop them. The enthusiasm, the patriotism, of the voluntary soldiery is sublime. They are the heralds of that patriotism to which the North was instantaneously and almost miraculously converted by the fall of Sumter. May they soon be, likewise, the heralds of the universal liberty to which the nations are doubtless very soon to be converted."

ON THE MARCH.

While in Washington an order was made from the War Department for an advance movement. Friends being allowed to accompany the soldiers to the front, Mr. Allen, with several hundred senators, congressmen, and citizens, went forward. Marching with one of the New York regiments, he carried first the knapsack and gun of one and then of another of the young men, as they gave out in the rapid march. My last letter from him was from Centerville, when they were expecting that the following day would bring them to the battle field. Here, he often said, was the first time he ever realized that he might be growing old. A soldier called to the young man whose tent he was sharing, "Who is with you?" "Why, that old gentleman that marched down with us," was the reply. He said to himself, “That must mean me, for my hair is getting gray."

The call was made for them to move forward. He never forgot the picture of those wooded slopes on that early morning, over which were moving thousands of our noblest and best, with all the paraphernalia of war. The few miles from Centerville to Bull Run were quickly traversed. Burnsides' battery was placed behind a clump of trees and opened fire. This, being answered by opposing forces, was kept up for many hours, till every man was driven from the position. After the firing had ceased, Mr. Allen remained behind one of the big guns viewing the field of destruction, when suddenly his attention was called to a peculiar whizzing sound. Something said to him, "That's for you!" He moved quickly aside, and at that instant a large shell passed directly in line where he had stood, and burst but a few feet behind him.

About three o'clock there was a general feeling that the day was won. He then started for Centerville, where the ambulances had been taking the sick and wounded soldiers, in hopes that he could assist in caring for them. In a short time. McDowell and staff rode past; this seemed a strange movement to have the chief officer going to the rear. In a few moments the wildest dash of cavalry and foot came rushing by, crying,