The procession was a very creditable one, the United States troops and the District Militia making a fine show, with the Albany Burgess Corps, and a few organizations from a distance. Mr. Lincoln rode with President Buchanan, and, on arriving at the Capitol, entered the Senate Chamber leaning on the old gentleman's arm. After Mr. Hamlin had taken his oath of office as Vice-President, and several new Senators had been sworn in, a procession was formed, as usual, which repaired to the platform erected over the steps of the eastern portico of the Capitol. When Mr. Lincoln came out he was easily distinguished as his tall, gaunt figure rose above those around him.
His personal friend, Senator Baker, of Oregon, introduced him to the assemblage, and as he bowed acknowledgments of the somewhat faint cheers which greeted him the usual genial smile lit up his angular countenance. He was evidently somewhat perplexed, just then, to know what to do with his new silk hat and a large gold- headed cane. The cane he put under the table, but the hat appeared to be too good to place on the rough boards. Senator Douglas saw the embarrassment of his old friend, and, rising, took the shining hat from its bothered owner and held it during the delivery of the inaugural address. Mr. Lincoln was listened to with great eagerness. He evidently desired to convince the multitude before him rather than to bewilder or dazzle them. It was evident that he honestly believed every word that he spoke, especially the concluding paragraphs, one of which I copy from the original print:
"»I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may be strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. »The mystic chords of memory which stretch from every battle-field and patriot grave to every loved heart and hearthstone, all over our broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as they surely will be, by the better angels of our nature."
Having closed his address, Mr. Lincoln was escorted to the White House, where he received the public for an hour, after which the doors were closed. The new Administration was thus successfully launched, and the Secretaries went to work to see what remained in the National coffers, arsenals, navy yards, and armories. The most important public measures were decided by Mr. Lincoln and one or two of his Cabinet officers without consultation with the others. Indeed, as hostilities approached, each member of the Cabinet was too busily engaged with his own official duties to discuss those of his colleagues, and Mr. Seward never wanted any criticism on his management of diplomatic affairs, any more than Mr. Cameron or Mr. Welles tolerated interference with the conduct of the war.
[Facsimile] Your friend as ever A. Lincoln ABRAHAM LINCOLN was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, February 12th, 1809; was in early life a farmer, a boatman, and a land surveyor, after which he studied law and practiced at Springfield, Illinois; was a Representative from Illinois to Congress, 1847-1849; was an unsuccessful candidate for United States Senator, in opposition to Stephen A. Douglas, in 1858; was elected President of the United States in 1860 as a Republican, and was inaugurated March 4th,1861; issued the first call for troops April 15th, 1861, and the Proclamation of Emancipation January 1st, 1863; was re-elected President in 1864, and was again inaugurated March 4th, 1865; was assassinated April 14th, and died April 15th, 1865; he was buried at Springfield, Illinois.
CHAPTER VI. THE STORM BURSTS.
Washington City presented a strange spectacle during the first month after the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln. Many of the Southern sojourners had gone to their respective States, while others, some of them holding important civil, military, and naval positions, remained, truculent and defiant, to place every obstacle in the way of coercion by the Federal Government. The North sent an army of office-seekers to the metropolis, and Mr. Lincoln was forced to listen to the demands of men who had made political speeches, or who had commanded companies of "Wide-Awakes," and who now demanded lucrative offices in return.
Among other officers of the army who resigned their commissions was Colonel Robert E. Lee, who was sent for by General Scott, and asked point-blank whether he intended to resign with those officers who proposed to take part with their respective states, or to remain in the service of the Union. Colonel Lee made no reply, whereupon "Old Chapultepec" came directly to the point, saying, "I suppose you will go with the rest. If your purpose is to resign, it is proper you should do so at once. Your present attitude is an equivocal one." "General," Colonel Lee then answered, "the property belonging to my children, all that they possess, lies in Virginia. They will be ruined if they do not go with their State. I cannot raise my hand against my children." General Scott then signified that he had nothing further to say. Colonel Lee, with a respectful bow, withdrew, and the next morning tendered his resignation, which was accepted five days afterward. Between the interview and the acceptance of Colonel Lee's resignation, General Shiras was sitting in the room of Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas, when Colonel Lee came in and walked up to the side of the table opposite to that at which General Thomas was sitting, saying: "General Thomas, I am told you said I was a traitor." General Thomas arose, and looking him in the eye, replied, "I have said so; do you wish to know on what authority?" "Yes," said Colonel Lee. "Well, on the authority of General Scott." Colonel Lee muttered, "There must be some mistake," turned on his heel, and left the room.
The long expected crisis came at last. Seven thousand armed Confederates attacked the seventy Union soldiers who garrisoned Fort Sumter, and forced them to haul down the stars and stripes on the 11th of April, 1861. Four days afterward President Lincoln issued his proclamation, calling for seventy-five thousand militiamen, "to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured." This proclamation was flashed over the wires throughout the Northern States, like the fiery cross of Rhoderick Dhu, which summoned his clansmen to their rendezvous, and it was everywhere received with the beating of drums and the ringing notes of the bugle, calling the defenders of the capital to their colors. Every city and hamlet had its flag-raising, while its enthusiasm was unbounded. Here and there a newspaper ventured to apologize for the South, but the editor would soon be forced by a mob to display the stars and stripes, amid the cheers and the shouts of those assembled.
The North proved itself ready for the emergency. The arguments of Daniel Webster against the right of secession, which, when delivered by him, were regarded by many as mere topics for the display of political eloquence, had fixed the opinion of the North, and there was a general uprising for the defense of the capital and the old flag. Even the Abolitionists, who had denounced the Union, the Constitution, the national ensign, and its martial defenders, seriously entered into the military movements, as they saw in the exercise of the war power the long desired panacea for the faults of slavery. Those who had jeered at the Southern threats of disunion as empty bluster, and at the Northern conservatives as cowardly doughfaces, became zealous Union men, although it must be confessed that very few of them took their lives in their hands and actually went to the front. The raising of troops went forward with a bound, and the wildest excitement and enthusiasm attended the departure of regiments for the seat of war. The seriousness of the emergency was not overlooked, but high above that consideration rose the tide of patriotic feeling, and swept all obstacles before it.