unavailable, and the arsenals in the Northern States had been stripped of arms and ammunition. A few companies of artillery garrisoned some of the Atlantic forts, and in the District of Columbia, Colonel Charles P. Stone, acting by authority of Judge Holt, then Secretary of War, and Lieutenant-General Scott, General-in-Chief of the Army, had enlisted a battalion of volunteers, but they had not been mustered into service.

On the twenty-sixth day of February I assumed the command of Fort McHenry, where I found Lieutenant S. H. Reynolds, of the 1st Regiment of Infantry, and Lieutenant A. T. Smith, of the 8th Infantry, and a garrison of one hundred recruits. Reynolds was relieved from duty at the post, and afterward resigned and entered the Confederate service.

Fort McHenry is situated on what is called Whetstone Point, between the north-west branch and the main branch of the Patapsco River, which forms the harbor of Baltimore. It was a work of five bastions, built of brick, without casemates or bomb-proofs, and surrounded by a dry ditch. It had a water battery on the south, and a demi-line in front of the sally-port. The armament consisted of about forty old thirty-two pounders, mounted en barbette, for which there was no suitable ammunition. The carriages were old, and many of them rotten. In case of an attack, these guns were of no more use than so many Quaker guns. On the parade ground there was piled a large number of eighteen-pound shot, and a quantity of eightinch shells.

The officers at the post were on friendly and visiting terms with some of the leading families of Baltimore, but when secession became the harbinger of war, they found many of these acquaintances were intensely Southern in their feelings, and ready to unite with the seceding States in their efforts to destroy the Union. *

In the month of March recruiting for the rebel service was secretly commenced in Baltimore under the superintendence of Louis T. Wigfall (Senator from Texas), and many men were enlisted and forwarded to Charleston.+

In the month of November, 1861, the writer called at the house of one of his Baltimore friends. The gentleman was very cordial, but the lady of the house received him coolly. On taking leave he said to her: "Mrs. you did not recognize me when I came in." "Oh yes, I did," she replied, "but, to tell the truth, I don't like the looks of your uniform." "I am sorry for that, madam," said he, and I will be careful not to wear it here again." She then said, "As you belong to the regular army, I suppose I ought not to object." "Pardon me, madam," said he, "I am now commanding a brigade of volunteers."

Wigfall to Genl. Beauregard

Genl. Beauregard. C. S. A.

Charleston S. C.

My dear Sir

Baltimore March 12 1861.

By the authority of the Secretary of War, I have established a recruit

The first regiment to respond to the call of the President was the Sixth Massachusetts militia, commanded by Colonel Edward F. Jones. This regiment left Boston on the evening of the seventeenth of April, reached New York in the morning, and Philadelphia the afternoon of the next day. The train bearing this command arrived at the President street depot in Baltimore about noon on the nineteenth day of April, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington. It was the intention of Colonel Jones to march his regiment across the city to the Washington branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, but as soon as the train arrived in Baltimore, the engine was switched off, horses attached to the cars, and they were hurried off to Camden station. A little more than half the regiment reached the station without molestation, but as soon as it became generally known that a Yankee regiment was passing through the city on its way to Washington, a mob collected in Pratt street, and piled anchors, stones, and other obstacles on the track, and prevented the remaining cars from proceeding.

Colonel Jones says: "After leaving Philadelphia I received intimation that our passage through the City of Baltimore would be resisted. I caused ammunition to be distributed, and went personally through the cars and issued the following order, viz.—‘The regiment will march through Baltimore in column of sections, arms at will. You will undoubtedly be insulted, abused, and perhaps assaulted, to which you must pay no attention whatever, but march with your faces square to the front, and pay no attention to the mob even if they throw stones, bricks, or other missiles, but if you are fired upon, and any one of you is hit, your officers will order you to fire. Do not fire into any promiscuous crowd, but select any man whom you may see aiming at you and be sure you drop him.""

When it was ascertained that the cars could not proceed, they were vacated, and the soldiers formed in line on the sidewalk. Captain Follansbee, of Lowell, being the ranking officer present, assumed the command and attempted to march through the crowd, when they were ing station here and am induced to believe that I will meet with decided success. By the time an officer can reach here, there will probably be one hundred recruits to examine.

I was merely requested and authorized to recruit for the Army of the Confederate States

Wigfall to Rebel Secy. of War.

Hon. L. P. Walker.

Very respy.

Yrs. Louis T. Wigfall

Washington March 20, 1861.

Large number of men in Baltimore, cannot be kept together there much longer. Nothing heard of or from Haskell. What shall I do? Louis T. Wigfall.

attacked by the yelling, hooting mob, with brick-bats, stones, pieces of iron, and other missiles. The command "double quick" was given. This the mob interpreted as evidence of fear, that the soldiers dared not fire, or, that they had no ammunition. Then the assault was redoubled, numerous pistol shots were fired into the ranks, and one soldier fell dead. Patience ceased to be a virtue, and officers gave the order to fire. The firing now became general on both sides. Three soldiers, Sumner H. Needham, of Lawrence, Addison O. Whitney and Luther Ladd, of Lowell, were killed, and about forty others were wounded. The number of citizens killed and wounded is not known. At this juncture, the mayor of the city, Mr. George William Brown, made his appearance, placed himself by the side of Captain Follansbee at the head of the leading company, and exerted himself to the utmost to quiet the affray. The city police, also, soon after arrived on the ground, and forming in line across the street allowed the soldiers to pass through and kept back the infuriated mob. At Camden station, where the cars were taken for Washington, the assault was renewed. Colonel Jones says of this: "As the men went into the cars, I caused the blinds to the cars to be closed and took every precaution to prevent any shadow of offense to the people of Baltimore; but still the stones flew thick and fast into the train, and it was with the utmost difficulty that I could prevent the troops from leaving the train and avenging the death of their comrades. After a volley of stones, some one of the soldiers fired and killed a Mr. Davis, who, I have since ascertained by reliable witnesses, threw a stone into the car; yet that did not justify the firing at him, but the men were infuriated beyond control." This Mr. Davis was a prominent citizen of Baltimore, and it is claimed by his friends that he was a quiet spectator and had taken no part in the affray. His death, under the circumstances, was considered by us a very unfortunate event.

While this tragedy was being enacted in the streets and at Camden station, a regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers, commanded by Colonel Small, arrived at the President street depot en route to Washington, but as they had been sent forward without arms, they were sent back to Philadelphia on the same train that brought them.

It is impossible to describe the intense excitement that now prevailed. Only those who saw and felt it can understand or conceive any adequate idea of its extent. Meetings were held under the flag of the State of Maryland, at which the speeches were inflammatory secession harangues, and it was resolved that no soldier should be allowed to pass through Baltimore for the protection of the National Capital. Secessionists and sympathizers with rebellion had everything their own way. The national flag dis

appeared. No man dared to display it, or open his mouth in favor of the Union. The governor of Maryland, who had been a strong Union man, was overawed, weakened, and induced to call out the State militia. The Maryland Guards" were immediately under arms, and batteries of artillery, with horses in harness, were paraded in the streets.

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On the morning of the 20th I went to the city in citizen's dress, and as I walked past a battery paraded in front of the Post Office, I was recog nized by Captain Woodhull, who immediately joined me and asked if I was armed. "Why do you ask that?" I inquired. Because," was his reply, "you are not safe here, and had better return to the fort." I told him I had some purchases to make, and when that was done I would follow his advice. He remained with me until I was ready to leave town. By order of the city government, to prevent the passage of other troops, the bridges over the Gunpowder and Bush rivers, on the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, and the bridge near Cockeysville, on the Northern Central Railroad, leading to Harrisburg were burned, which severed all connection by rail with the Northern States.

The conspiracy extended to the neighboring towns, and it seemed that for hours of the night mounted men from the country were crossing the bridges of the Patapsco. Marshal Kane, chief of the police force, telegraphed to Bradley T. Johnson, at Frederick: "Street red with Maryland blood-Send expresses over the mountains of Maryland and Virginia for the riflemen to come without delay-Fresh hordes will be down on us tomorrow-We will fight them and whip them or die." Threats were made to capture Fort McHenry.* Baltimore at that time was as much in rebellion as Richmond or Charleston.

The officers at Fort McHenry knew its defenseless condition. They also knew its importance. If it was lost, Maryland would probably secede and the Capital would be cut off. The officers determined to hold it at all hazards, and immediately set to work with the means at hand to prepare for its defense. Sand-bags were filled, timber was procured, and a splinter-proof built for the side of the magazine toward the city. A quantity of eightinch shells were filled with powder, and paper fuses calculated to burn about thirty seconds attached to them; gutters were manufactured and placed on the slope for the purpose of rolling these shells into the ditch in case of an

* A few years ago, a prominent Baltimore paper denied that there was ever any intention to attack Fort McHenry. It is a sufficient answer to this, to state that in the spring of 1862, the Maryland delegation in Congress, headed by the Honorable Reverdy Johnson, addressed a letter to President Lincoln, in which they said, "It was mainly owing to the determined stand taken by Captain Robinson that Fort McHenry was saved to the Government."