course of its prosperity-you may cloud its reputation for stability, but its tranquillity will be restored, its prosperity will return, and the stain upon its national character will be transferred and remain an eternal blot on the memory of those who caused the disorder."

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'Having the fullest confidence in the justness of the legal and constitutional opinions of my duties, which has been expressed, I rely, with equal confidence, on your undivided support in my determination to execute the laws, to preserve the Union by all constitutional means, to arrest, if possible, by moderate but firm measures, the necessity of a recourse to force; and, if it be the will of Heaven, that the recurrence of its primeval curse on man for the shedding of a brother's blood should fall upon our land, that it be not called down by any offensive act on the part of the United States."

Such was the language of that sterling patriot when treason first raised its head in South Carolina.

Was Mr. Lincoln justified in his determination to maintain the Union at all hazards, or should he have submitted peaceably to its dissolution? A peaceable dissolution was impossible, except by the surrender of the National Capital and the border States of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, all of which at the late election had gone against the South by casting their electoral votes for Mr. Bell, excepting Missouri, which went for Mr. Douglas. And more than this, all of them had sent delegates to meet those from the Northern States in a peace conference, and showed unmistakably their attachment to the Union. Delaware and Maryland refused to secede, Virginia elected Union delegates to the State Convention and refused to adopt the rebel constitution. Kentucky subsequently elected nine Union members of Congress and one secession, Tennessee had elected a majority of Union delegates to a State convention and refused to hold a convention, and Missouri subsequently elected Union delegates to its State convention. Could the Government

JUSTIFICATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

27

withdraw its protection and support from the union-loving people of those States and surrender its Capital to traitors who would soon become a foreign and hostile nation? Could the Government voluntarily surrender the navigation of the Mississippi river, the great outlet of the Western States to the Gulf of Mexico? Could a great Nation submit to its political death and destruction without an effort for self-preservation? No, God forbid it, yet Americans have argued these questions in the affirmative, but only those who were deceived themselves, or were trying to deceive others. But Mr. Lincoln, the chosen of the people, the instrument of God, was inspired with the knowledge that he held not only the destiny of the country, but of liberty throughout the world in his hand, and rose equal to the emergency.

Throughout his inaugural address, he is firm, without being provoking. The limits of concession are clearly marked out, and a conciliatory spirit is maintained. The President, while manifesting the most pacific disposition, distinctly declares he will abandon none of the rights of the Government, but will leave to others the odium of aggression. He declares secession is unconstitutional, and nothing can induce him to consent to the destruction of the Union. That he will endeavor to shun 'a war, that he will not be the aggressor, but that he will fulfill the duty of preserving federal property and collect federal taxes in the South. "In your hands," says Mr. Lincoln, "my dissatisfied fellow-citizens, in yours and not mine, is found the terrible question of civil war. The Government will not attack you; you will have no conflict, if you are not the aggressors. You have not, on your part, an oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, whilst I, on my side, am about to take the most solemn oath to maintain, to protect and defend it."

If Mr. Lincoln had acted otherwise than he did, he would have been derelict in his duty to his God, his country and mankind, and when the intelligence of the assault upon Fort Sumter was received, the issuing of his

proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand volunteers to maintain the laws of the United States over the seceding States, and admonishing the rebels to lay down their arms and quietly submit to the laws within twenty days, was but the response of the great American heart. And America's reply to the proclamation was such an uprising of free men as the world never witnessed before. Where ever it was received, it produced the wildest excitement and enthusiasm, the booming gun, the pealing bell, and rattling drum, announced it throughout the land, until from the broad Atlantic it rolled across the plains and echoed over the snow-clad peaks to the Pacific.

CHAPTER III.

WAR FOR THE UNION-PENNSYLVANIA'S RESPONSE ORGANIZATION OF THE RESERVES-COLONELS MANN'S, MARSH'S, AND DE KORPONAY'S REGIMENTS - CAMP WASHINGTON-QUAINT NAMES-WHISKEY IN A MUSKET BARREL GETTING THE COUN

TERSIGN.

IN Philadelphia business was suspended, flags were thrown to the breeze in every street, rendezvous were opened in every section, and placards calling for volunteers, covered the walls of every corner. Recruiting parties traversed the city in every direction, followed by crowds of men eager to enroll their names, the armories of the volunteer companies were crowded to overflowing with men drilling night and day, the public parks of the 'city were given up for the same purpose, and the quietude of the Sabbath was forgotten amidst the preparation for war. The citizens furnished armories free of rent, and such of the volunteers as could not support themselves without work were fed on the bountiful supply of the neighborhood. The lady congregations of the different churches set themselves diligently to work supplying

PENNSYLVANIA'S RESPONSE.

29

the volunteers with shirts, drawers, socks and other clothing and contributions of all sorts were freely given. The generous impulses of the heart of a nation never flowed freer. The soldiers rode free on the cars, and went free to all places of amusement. The only trouble the men had was to find companies that were sure of acceptance, and some who had good reputations numbered two hundred and fifty and three hundred men, while all were rapidly filling up. In fact twenty thousand men could have been raised in the city in one week.

The quota assigned to Pennsylvania was fourteen regiments, and in four days after the call six hundred menthe first to arrive for its defence-were placed in the National Capitol, and ten days later twenty-five regiments were organized and put in the field, eleven more being furnished by the State than called for. In fact, such was the patriotic ardor of the people, that the Adjutant-General of the State, in his Annual Report for 1861, states, that the services of about thirty additional regiments had to be refused, making in all more than two-thirds of the requisition of the President. Eight of these regiments were from Philadelphia, but there were scores of full companies that were not accepted. The second call for volunteers was made upon the State in May. The allotted share to Pennsylvania was ten regiments; but the General Government would not allow these to be raised, but simply credited the State with them, as she had already furnished more than her two quotas.

The extra session of the Legislature of Pennsylvania convened on the 30th day of April, in pursuance of the proclamation of the Governor, fully appreciating the gigantic task the North had before them, wisely and patriotically resolved, in accordance with Governor Curtin's recommendation, to organize, arm, equip and discipline a division to be called the "Reserve Volunteer Corps of the Commonwealth," and to be composed of thirteen regiments of infantry, one regiment of cavalry, and one regiment of light artillery, to be held in readi

ness to obey any requisition the President might make on the State for troops. In organizing this division, the conception of which originated with the Governor, the greatest difficulty he experienced was, not in finding officers and men to fill it, but to select between the numerous applicants who beset him night and day, not only in the executive chamber and public streets of the Capital, but even in his bed room. His Excellency having resolved that the division should be a true type of Pennsylvanians, proportioned it among the different counties, so that every township should be represented

in it.

Among the regiments organized in Philadelphia, at that time, were those known as Mann's, March's, and De Korponay's, from the first of which eight companies were accepted, from the second seven, and from the third five. All these were mustered into the State service about the latter part of May, by Captain Henry J. Biddle, Assistant Adjutant-General of the Division, at the Girard House, where the men went through the most severe medical examination by the surgeons, who required every man to strip, and rejected all who had the least blemish or defect. "Never," said Dr. Henry H. Smith, the Surgeon-General of the State, "were a finer formed or more hardy body of men collected together in one division."

Gabriel De Korponay commenced the organization of his regiment about the middle of April, and among the captains who joined with him were George A. Woodward, "Pennsylvania Rifles;" J. Orr Finnie, "Scotch Rifles;" E. M. Woodward, "Taggart Guards;" P. I. Smith, "Consolidation Guards;" and I. W. Kimble, "Hatborough Guards." These captains were selected by the Governor from DeKorponay's regiment.

Wm. B. Mann commenced the organization of his regiment about the same time, and the companies chosen by the Governor were Captains P. McDonough, “Governor's Rangers;" James N. Byrne, "Hibernia Target Company;" R. Ellis, "Governor's Rangers;" T. Bring