"Let this be your war-cry, as you rush to the onset. Wave this banner in triumph only, and do you bring it back though it be tattered and torn in the fight. When the fire bell rings in the night the citizen rests securely, for he knows that the New York firemen are omnipotent to arrest the progress of destruction. You are now called to exhibit your gallantry in another field. You are called to quench the flames of rebellion, and we know that, whether in the midst of burning cities, or in the tented field, you will sustain your own high character, and these banners will ever wave in triumph, even though it be in the midst of ruins."

Col. Ellsworth briefly replied, that, though his acquaintance with his men had been brief, he thoroughly understood their feelings, and he was sure that, as long as one of them lived, that flag would never be disgraced.

Mrs. John Jacob Astor and Major-General Dix also took part in these imposing ceremonies. Five thousand firemen accompanied the regiment in procession to the Baltic, which was lying at the foot of Canal Street. A banner was borne upon which were inscribed the words,

"If our country calls the rest are ready."

The regiment marched on board to the tune, "The Red, White and Blue," the soldiers and the attendant multitude joining sublimely in the chorus. Hurried adieus were made. Mothers, wives, and sisters took their last embrace, sobbing bitterly. Even strong, stern men wept. The paddlewheels commenced their revolution, and the steamer soon disappeared on its path to the sea. They went to Washington by the way of Annapolis.

General Butler, on the 5th of May, took possession of the Relay House, on the railroad, nine miles from Baltimore. He planted eight howitzers on the viaduct, and invested the entire neighborhood. On the 14th, with a strong force, he advanced to Baltimore, and marched through the streets of the city, with music and banners, thus practically saying to the rebels, "Now attack us if you dare." The patriots, who were in the majority, were overjoyed in being thus rescued from the mob. The streets were thronged with people who cheered at every step. Ladies, waving their handkerchiefs, joined in the applause. The Federal forces then took possession of the heights about Baltimore, which commanded the city, and treason no longer dared to raise its hideous front. On the evening of the 16th, General Butler, having performed these signal services, was serenaded at his hotel in Washington. In the brief speech he then made, he said, in terms which met with a response in every patriotic heart,

"There is this difference between our Southren brethren and ourselves, that, while we love our State with the true love of a son, we love the Union and the Country with an equal devotion. We place no States' Rights before, beyond, or above the Union. To us, our country is first, because it is our country, and our State is next and second, because she is a part of our country, and our State. Our oath of allegiance to our country, and our oath of allegiance to our State, are interwreathed harmoniously, and never come in conflict, or clash. He who does his duty to the Union, does

his duty to the State.
duty to the Union, one and inseparable, now and forever.

And he who does his duty to the State, does his

"We will hold as a brother, him who stands by the Union. We will hold as an enemy, him who will strike from its constellation a single star. But I hear some one say,

Shall we shed our brothers

"Shall we carry on this fratricidal war? blood, and meet in arms our brothers of the South?'

"I would say, 'As our fathers did not hesitate to strike the mother country, in the defense of our rights, so we would not hesitate to meet the brother as they did the mother.' If this unholy, this fratricidal, war is forced upon us, I say, 'Woe to them who have made the necessity.' Our hands are clean, our hearts are pure; but the Union must be preserved, at all hazards of money, and, if need be, of every life this side the Arctic regions.

"If the 25,000 Northern soldiers here are cut off, in six weeks 50,000 will take your place. And if they die by fever, pestilence, or the sword, a quarter of a million will take their place. He is mistaken who supposes we can be intimidated by threats, or cajoled by compromise. The day of compromises is past."

This glowing address was interrupted with repeated bursts of acclaim. The alacrity with which citizens of foreign birth entered into this war, for the defense of our national integrity, was one of the most remarkable features of the times. There is hardly a country in Europe which was not represented in the Union armies. And Germany and Ireland in particular furnished soldiers by the thousand, often organizing full regiments, for the defense of the land of their adoption. Kentucky and Maryland, though border States in which the rebels had plied every power of misrepresentation, persuasion, and terror, to force them into the ranks of Secession, came forward with large majorities in favor of the Union. On the 4th of May, fourteen companies of Kentuckians tendered their services to the Secretary of War.

The seventy-five thousand troops first called for, was only summoning men to rush for the protection of the endangered Capital. Their services were required only for three months. It now became evident, that an arduous and perhaps protracted war was before us. The rebels were acting with demoniac energy, confiscating the property of all Union men; mobbing and hanging all who ventured to speak against the rebellion, or in favor of the Government; compelling every man, capable of bearing arms, to enter their ranks; issuing paper money to any amount they desired, and punishing with revolting violence any who refused to receive it. A more terrible despotism was never developed. Under these cicumstances, the President, on the 4th of May, called for an increase of the regular army and navy, and for 42,000 volunteers for three years' service. The patriotic contributions from the North, in three weeks, amounted to $23,277,000. At the South, dictatorial power was practically placed in the hands of Jefferson Davis, as it were by the unanimous assent of the rebels. The Richmond (Va.) Examiner, of May 8th, said:

"No power in executive hands can be too great, no discretion too

absolute, at such moments as these. We need a dictator. Let lawyers talk when the world has time to hear them. Now let the sword do its work. Usurpations of power by the chief, for the preservation of the people from robbers and murderers, will be reckoned as genius and patriotism by all sensible men in the world now, and by every historian that will judge the deed hereafter."

In accordance with these views, the Confederate Congress authorized Jeff. Davis to raise such forces for the war as he might deem expedient, and it may be added, that he proceeded to the most atrocious acts of violence to compel enlistments.

The Vermont troops, "Green Mountain Boys," and the hardy sons of New Hampshire and Maine, now began to make their appearance in the streets of Washington. The First Regiment of Vermont, under Colonel Phelps, consisting of ten companies of 77 men each, attracted much attention for their stalwart frames and broad shoulders. They were all higly esteemed citizens, who, at the call of their country, had abandoned profitable business at home. As the cars were leaving Rutland, Vermont, one of the privates, in response to the cheers of the people, said:

"The Vermont Regiment, citizens in peace, soldiers in war, give you the sentiment embodied in the charge of the Grecian matron to her son:We will bring back our shields, or be brought back upon them."

The waves of patriotic excitement spread across the wide continent, even to the shores of the Pacific. At San Francisco, Cal., there was a magnificent Union demonstration, on the 11th of May. All business was suspended. The Stars and the Stripes waved everywhere. The city was thronged. Three stands were erected for the speakers. Senators Latham and McDougal, and Generals Sumner and Shields, addressed vast audiences. But one voice was heard, and that was, "The Administration must be preserved in its endeavor to crush rebellion, and perpetuate the Union."

Every day brought tidings of new acts of atrocity by the rebels. Their armies were gathering fast in Virginia, privateers were rapidly fitted out to prey upon our commerce; all Northern property in the South was confiscated. On the 21st of May, Jeff. Davis approved the act of the Confederate Congress, prohibiting Southerners, owing money to Northern merchants, from paying the same, and compelling them to pay it into the treasury of the rebels.

Notwithstanding these apparent successes of the rebels, few Northern men doubted, for a moment, the ability of the United States to crush the rebellion. The whole seven revolted States had only a white population of 2,656,481, less by more than a million and a half than the single State of New York, which had 3,887,542. If all the Slave States were to make common cause, they had only 8,907,894 whites, with 4,000,000 of slaves; while the remaining free Union had 20,000,000 of homogeneous people, as powerful in peace and war as the world has ever seen.

At the almost miraculous uprising of the North, after the assault of the rebels upon Sumter, there was a great Union meeting at Union Square, New York, on the 20th of May. Such a gathering, both as to the masses assembled and the enthusiasm manifested, New York had never witnessed

before. The most illustrious men of the State and of the nation there spake in strains, which moved the hearts of patriotic men, all over our land, like bugle notes. Prof. O. M. Mitchel, a graduate of West Point, was, at that time, in charge of the observatory at Cincinnati, Ohio, intensely absorbed in scientific pursuits, and was probably the most illustrious astronomer in the land. The speech he made upon this occasion was so soulful and thrilling, and Prof. Mitchel, subsequently as General Mitchel, so signalized himself upon the field of battle, that his words are worthy of permanent record. The nation will not forget him as one of her sons whom she will love to honor.

"I know that I am a stranger among you. I have been in your State but a little while; but I am with you, heart, and soul, and mind, and strength; and all that I have and am belongs to you and our common country, and to nothing else. I have been announced to you as a citizen of Kentucky. Once I was, because I was born there. I love my native State, as you love your native State. I love my adopted State of Ohio, as you love your adopted State, if such you have; but, my friends, I am not a citizen now of any State. I owe allegiance to no State, and never did, and God helping me I never will. I owe allegiance to the Government of the United States. I did not abjure the love of my own State, or of my adopted State, but over all that rose proudly, triumphant and predominant, my love for our common country. And now, to-day, that common country is assailed, and alas! alas! that I am compelled to say it, it is assailed, in some sense, by my own countrymen.

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My father and my mother were from Old Virginia, and my brothers and sisters from Old Kentucky. I love them all; I love them dearly. I have my brothers and friends down in the South now, united to me by the fondest ties of love and affection. I would take them into my arms to-day with all the love God has put into this heart; but if I found them in arms I would be compelled to smite them down. You have found officers of the army, who have been educated by the Government, who have drawn their support from the Government for long years, who, when called upon by their country to stand for the Constitution and the right, have basely, ignominiously, and traitorously, either resigned their commissions, or deserted to traitors, rebels, and enemies.

I

"The rebels and the traitors in the South we must set aside. They are not our friends. When they come to their senses we will receive them with open arms; but till that time, while they are trailing our glorious banner in the dust, when they scorn it, condemn it, curse it, and trample it under foot, then I must smite. In God's name I will smite, and as long as I have strength I will do it. I know these men. I know their know their courage; I have been among them; I have been with them. They have courage; and do not pretend to think that they have not. I tell you what it is; it is no child's play you are entering upon. They will fight, and with a determination and a power which is irresistible. Make up your mind to it. Let every man put his life in his hand, and say, 'There is the altar of my country; there I will sacrifice my life.' Lead me to the conflict. Place me where I can do my duty. There I am, ready to go. I care not where

it leads me. I am ready. God help me to do my duty. I am ready to fight in the ranks, or out of the ranks. Having been educated at West Point, having been in the army seven years, having served as commander of a volunteer company for ten years, and having served as an adjutartgeneral, I feel I am ready for something. I only ask to be permitted to act; and in God's name give me something to do."

In accordance with the spirit of this speech, which roused the audience to the utmost pitch of enthusiasm, Prof. Mitchel soon assumed command, and, as will be subsequently shown, performed deeds of heroism and of successful generalship unsurpassed during the progress of the war.

Throughout the South, among the leaders of the rebellion, there seems to have been no love for our common country, and no recognition of its authority. When General Quitman was governor of Mississippi, he was seriously implicated in the piratic raid of Lopez upon the Island of Cuba, and was in danger of arrest by the United States authorities. The Hon. Jacob Thompson, whose treason has already been alluded to, when he was a member of the Cabinet of Mr. Buchanan, as Secretary of the Interior, wrote, on the 2d of September, 1850, in the following strain to General Quitman:

"When the President of the United States commands me to do an act, and the Executive of Mississippi commands me to do another thing, inconsistent with the first order, I obey the government of my State. To Mississippi I owe allegiance, and because she commands me I owe obedience to the United States. But when she says I owe obedience no longer, right or wrong, come weal or woe, I stand for my legitimate sovereign, and not to obey her behests is, in my conscience, treason."

Such were the principles of the man who took the oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States, assumed 'the important office of Secretary of the Interior, and then availed himself of all the information and power which his office gave him, to overthrow that Government which he had sworn to uphold.

There were such appalling cases of treason daily arising, that no one knew whom to trust. Even the loyalty of the noble General Scott was suspected, very unjustly. In a speech which Senator Douglas made in Ohio, about this time, he said:

"I have been asked whether there is any truth in the rumor that Gen. Scott was about to retire from the American army. It is almost profanity to ask that question. I saw him only last Saturday. He was at his desk, pen in hand, writing his orders for the defense and safety of the American Capital. Walking down the street, I met a distinguished gentleman, a member of the Virginia Convention, whom I knew personally, and had a few minutes' conversation with him. He told me, that he had just had an interview with General Scott; that he was chairman of the committee appointed by the Virginia Convention, to wait upon General Scott, and tender him the command of the forces of Virginia in this struggle. General Scott received him kindly, listened to him patiently, and said to him:

"I have serve my country, under the flag of the Union, for more