MILITARY SEARCHING FOR ARMS.

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"It is anxiously desired that every Union man shall be under arms, and it would be a most gratifying result to have a Union Guard of at least ten thousand men fully armed. "The Rebel forces have levied a tax of $250,000 upon the people of York, such may be our fate unless we promptly organize for defence. The time for action has arrived. "It is advised that all places of business be closed at 6 P. M.

"JOHN LEE CHAPMAN, Mayor."

The effect of martial law was very annoying to the citizens, and an incessant rush for passes, principally on account of women and children, who were being sent from the city, was kept up at the provost-marshal's office. Soldiers were on guard in all the railroad depots and at the car doors, to prevent any one from leaving without a pass. This rule of guarding trains prevailed throughout the remainder of the war.

General Schenck, on the 1st of July, issued the following proclamation. to the citizens of Baltimore and the county, prohibiting them from keeping arms in their possession unless enrolled in volunteer companies for the defence of their homes:

"Headquarters, Middle Department, Eighth Army Corps, Baltimore Md., July 1st, 1863. § "Until further orders the citizens of Baltimore city and county, are prohibited keeping arms in their possession unless enrolled as volunteer companies for the defence of their homes.

"The execution of this order is entrusted to General E. B. Tyler, assisted by the provost-marshal and chief of city police, who are authorized to search for and seize such

arms.

"Any person violating this order shall be arrested and placed in close confinement until released by the general commanding the department.

"Until further orders the sale of intoxicating liquors to citizens in the city and county of Baltimore, will cease between the hours of 5 P. M., and 8 o'clock A. M. All orders, or parts of orders, conflicting with this are hereby revoked. The entire prohibition of such sale to soldiers will continue and be enforced under penalty of arrest and confiscation as heretofore.

"So much of the order issued by the general commanding as prohibits the passage of the barricades by citizens and others between the hours of 10 P. M., and 4 A. M., is hereby revoked. But all persons leaving the City of Baltimore, are required to procure passes from the provost-marshal, as heretofore.

"By order of

"MAJOR GENERAL SCHENCK.

"DONN PIATT, Lieutenant Colonel and Chief of Staff."

About ten o'clock on the morning of July 2d, Colonel Augustus Sprague's 51st Massachusetts regiment was placed at the disposal of the specified authorities for the execution of the order. In squads of three or four, they acted in concert with the police in diligently searching the dwellings of persons supposed to be "disloyal" for arms. Furniture wagons accompanied the squads, and as soon as arms of any description were discovered they were seized and placed in the wagons. Among the various arms seized were muskets, carbines, rifles, revolvers of all kinds, pistols, swords, sabres, bayonets, bird and ducking guns. Some of the latter were very valuable and

many of the articles were old family relics. In some instances citizens refused to surrender their cherished weapons, or permit their dwellings to be searched, when they were arrested and held in prison for a hearing.

General Schenck, who was prolific in military orders, issued the following proclamation forbidding under severe penalties, any correspondence with the South:

"General Orders No. 41.

“Headquarters Middle Department, Eighth Army Corps,

Baltimore, Md, July 1, 1863 §

"During the past six months great numbers of letters have been intercepted on their way to and from persons within the enemy's lines in the States in rebellion. This clandestine and contraband correspondence must altogether cease. Many of the letters that have thus come into the possession of the military authority are only of a family or personal character, but many more of them contain information as to military or public authority.

"Hereafter the writer of any such intercepted letter, living within this department will be arrested and sent beyond the lines, where the intercourse with his or her correspondent may be in person. The communication of the parties can be conducted without resort to this uncertain medium of secret mails. Many places and persons in this city and elsewhere are known as the depositories of such illicit letters.

"Hereafter such facilities for transmission will be broken up in all cases by the immediate arrest and punishment of the parties affording them.

"By command of

"W. H. CHESEBROUGH, A. A. General."

"MAJOR GENERAL SCHENCK.

As a system of correspondence with the South had been carried on secretly since the beginning of the war, this order had very little effect. One singular feature of the times was the suspension for a brief season, of commercial intercourse between New York and Maryland and Pennsylvania. On the 29th of June, Hiram Barney, Collector of the Port of New York, received a circular from General Schenck, requesting him under the exigency of the period, to permit no clearance to be made from New York for Maryland and Pennsylvania, nor for any portion of the Chesapeake excepting Accomac and Northampton Counties, which were held under strong military rule, and in their case only of goods to be used for family purposes, and in limited quantities. Upon the receipt of this circular, Collector Barney submitted it to Secretary Chase, who instructed him to comply with the suggestion of General Schenck.

Generals Hill and Longstreet, on the 29th, moved toward Gettysburg, from Chambersburg, and Ewell was directed to march from Carlisle to the same place. These marches were conducted slowly, the position of General Meade being unknown, and General Lee, in the absence of any information from Stuart his cavalry leader, did not know that the Federal army was so near him. The concentration of Lee's army was so admirably ordered that Ewell, from Carlisle, Early, from York, and Hill, from Chambersburg, all reached Gettysburg within a few hours of each other on July 1st. Meantime Meade was gathering his army at the same place. On the 1st, 2d

BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.

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and 3d, the contending forces fought the battle of Gettysburg, one of the fiercest battles of the war. In this, as in all the great contests of the war, the sons of Maryland, under either flag, bore a distinguished part. The 2d Maryland Confederate infantry, under Lieutenant Colonel James R. Herbert, which was the pride and the boast of the army1 made an assault on the Federal breast works, on Culp's Hill. On the first day they captured the first line of works, but on the next, in storming the hill in the face of heavy masses of infantry and artillery, they were compelled to fall back with heavy loss. Nearly all the commissioned officers were killed or wounded, and of the five hundred of the command who went into the fight, only two hundred escaped unhurt. In this terrible conflict the commander of the Chesapeake Maryland artillery, Captain William H. Brown, was killed. Captain Dement's battery of 1st Maryland artillery also suffered greatly. On the Federal side Colonel Maulsby's Potomac Home Guards displayed conspicuous gallantry, and suffered severely in killed and wounded.

2

On the 4th of July, Lee took a position to receive an attack, but as Meade showed no disposition to disturb him, he began to retreat on the following night, and reached Hagerstown on the 6th and 7th. Finding the river too full to cross, he took up a position covering the Potomac from Williamsport to Falling Waters. While at Hagerstown he issued the following address to his army:

“After long and trying marches, endured with the fortitude that has ever characterized the soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia, you have penetrated to the country of our enemies, and recalled to the defences of their own soil those who were engaged in the invasion of ours. You have fought a fierce and sanguinary battle, which, if not attended with the success that has hitherto crowned your efforts, was marked by the same heroic spirit that has commanded the respect of your enemies, the gratitude of your country, and the admiration of mankind.

“Once more you are called upon to meet the enemy from whom you have won, on so many fields, names that will never die. Once more the eyes of your countrymen are turned `upon you, and again do wives and sisters, fathers and mothers, and helpless children, lean for defence on your strong arms and brave hearts. Let every soldier remember that on his courage and fidelity depend all that makes life worth having, the freedom of his country, the honor of his people, and the security of his home. Let each heart grow strong in the remembrance of our glorious past, and in the thought of the inestimable blessings for which we contend; and, invoking the assistance of that benign Power which has so signally blessed our former efforts, let us go forth in confidence to secure the peace and safety of our country. Soldiers, your old enemy is before you. Win from him honor worthy of your right cause, worthy of your comrades dead on so many illustrious fields. "R. E. LEE, General Commanding."

The Federal army on the 12th, marched slowly from Frederick, but as it was greatly demoralized and scattered by the three days' conflict, Meade did

1 It was attached to Gen. George H. Steuart's brigade, Johnson's division.

2 Goldborough's Maryland Line in the Confederate States Army, p. 159.

not think it prudent to make an attack. On this day and the next, Lee waited the Federal attack, and then, the river having become fordable, and a bridge being ready, he crossed into Virginia and moved back to Bunker Hill. After some preliminary movements on the line of the Rapidan, the campaign of 1863 closed.

The news of the tremendous battle of Gettysburg produced great excitement in Baltimore, the hopes of the Southern sympathizers being blasted by Lee's retreat, while the feelings of the Unionists were much elated. The streets and newspaper offices were constantly thronged by crowds of people eagerly seeking the latest intelligence, and the knowledge of Lee's check had great effect upon the celebration of the Fourth of July.

General Schenck issued the following order, that every house in the city should display the United States flag:

"TO THE CITIZENS OF BALTIMORE.

"Headquarters Middle Department, Eighth Army Corps, } Baltimore, July 3, 1863. § "To-morrow is the anniversary of our National Independence. It will be celebrated here and elsewhere throughout the land, with various forms of public observance. Onesingle and appropriate demonstration all can make. Let every man on that day show his colors. I request and recommend, therefore, that every house and place of business of every loyal citizen of Baltimore shall have displayed upon it to-morrow, from 10 o'clock A. M. to 6 P. M., the American flag. Let this be done, the ensign being large or small,. occording to the means and opportunities of each person, and the city will be clothed with the glorious and honored emblem of our nationality. If there be any spot where it does not appear its absence there will only prove that patriotic hearts do not beat beneath that roof. “ROBERT C. SCHENCK, Major General Commanding.”

In consequence of this order, nearly every one complied with the request, and those who failed to comply were marked, and afterwards paid the penalty. The demand for and the exhibition of colors were quite unprecedented. Very soon, too, the terrible results of the battle became apparent, from the large number of wounded officers and men, both of the Union army and Confederate prisoners, who began to arrive in the city. Measures of relief for the wounded were at once adopted, and committees appointed to solicit and forward supplies. The City Council also appropriated about $6,000, and with the amount contributed by the citizens, there was raised in Baltimore $50,000 in cash, besides other articles. A large number of the surgeons of Baltimore were dispatched to the battle-field at Gettysburg, and the sanitary and Christian commissions went to the same place with a large amount of medical stores, clothing, delicacies, etc. Many ladies and gentlemen of Baltimore also went in search of friends and relations wounded in the battle, or to act as nurses in the hospitals, and a number of Sisters of Charity started on the same noble mission. The Adams Express Company, through Mr. Samuel Shoemaker its superintendent, established a hospital corps, and sent Mr. John Q. A. Herring with a large quantity of ice and other stores for the relief of the sick and wounded. The railroads having suspended travel, many loads.

ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY HOSPITAL CORPS.

551

were sent to Gettysburg by wagons. In consideration of the valuable services rendered by the "Adams Express Company Hospital Corps" in relieving the wants of the wounded and suffering soldiers, U. S. Surgeon General Hammond addressed Mr. Shoemaker the following letter:

“Surgeon General's Office, Washington City, D. C., July 20, 1863.

"S. M. Shoemaker, Esq., Baltimore:

"DEAR SIR;-I desire to express to you my sincere thanks for the great benefits rendered by the Adams Express Company and its agents to the wounded at the battle of Gettysburg.

"I assure you I shall always bear in grateful remembrance the noble services which the Adams Express Company and its agents have rendered, and I beg you will convey to your agents my high appreciation of their labors.

"Please accept for yourself my warmest acknowledgements, and believe me “WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, Surgeon General.”

"Yours sincerely,

Lieutenant Colonel J. M. Cuyler, the Medical Inspector of the United States army, in his report also gratefully acknowledge their services. He said: "To Adams Express we are also greatly indebted for much liberality and kindness extended to the wounded at a time when they were most in need."

As there were a great many Confederate wounded brought to Baltimore, General Schenck issued the following order relating to wounded prisoners: 'Headquarters Middle Department, Eighth Army Corps, Baltimore, Md., July 10th, 1863.

"General Order No. 42.

"Suitable and comfortable hospital accommodations will be provided for sick and wounded prisoners of war the same as for soldiers of the Union.

"On the arrival of wounded or sick rebel officers or soldiers in Baltimore, whose injuries or condition are such that, in the opinion of the proper medical authority, they should not be confined or sent for exchange with other prisoners, they will be immediately assigned and conveyed to the hospital designated for them; there to remain on parole until they are sufficiently recovered to be removed for imprisonment or exchange. No other paroles of prisoners of war will be taken or recognized.

"No rebel officer or soldier can be received or entertained in any private house, or in any place other than the hospital to which he is regularly assigned by proper medical authority.

Separate hospitals for prisoners of war will be established.

"No person not thoroughly loyal will be permitted, under any circumstances, to visit or have access to any military hospital

"If any person or persons within this department be found harboring, entertaining or concealing any rebel officer or soldier in his or her house, or on his or her premises, or in any place, after twenty-four hours from the publication of this order, the person so offending will be at once sent beyond the Union lines into the rebel States, or otherwise punished, at the discretion of the military authority.

"The medical director of the middle department and provost-marshal of the 8th army corps, are charged to see that this order is strictly executed.

"By command of

"MAJOR GENERAL SCHENCK.

"WILLIAM H. CHESEBROUGH, Lieutenant Colone! and A. A. G."