Baltimore is to be closed in from Havre-de-Grace, from the Relay House, from the Carlisle line, and by an efficient naval force. She will be reduced to unconditional submission. The passage of the troops through Maryland has had a great moral effect. The people are changing rapidly in the country places. Many instances of a popular revolution, in towns through which troops have passed or been stationed, have come to my knowledge. I came to Washington with the Twelfth New York Regiment; and from Annapolis Junction there were cheers from three fourths of the houses by the wayside.
Everything appears well at Annapolis, where General Butler commands in person. There is a large body of troops, the people are gradually gaining confidence in the army and the Government, and the regulations seem to be effective. General Butler is popular with the officers whom I met. He has taken command of the highlands that command the town and the encampment. All sorts of rumors are spread among the troops concerning an attack upon the Annapolis Station; but the place can be defended under any conceivable circumstances. I am sorry to say, that everything is in confusion at Annapolis Junction, and a moderate force might, in a single night, break off the connection of this city with the North. Each colonel, as he moves towards Washington, commands for twelve or twenty-four hours. My own belief, however, is, that Maryland will never see two thousand men together as a military organization in opposition to the Government.
I presume that your Excellency has means of obtaining information concerning the condition of Massachusetts men, morally and physically; but, as I am here, I shall try to obtain and transmit any information that seems important. I may say now, that the Eighth Regiment is quartered in the rotunda of the Capitol; and a military man, not of Massachusetts, says, that they are already suffering from the cold and dampness of the place. He advises tents and out-door encampment.
I repeat what is every hour and in my hearing, that Massachusetts has taken her place at the head of the column in support of the Government; and our regiments are everywhere esteemed as noble examples of citizen soldiers. I, for one, feel anxious that everything that is proper should be done.
I have written this communication in great haste; and I have only time to subscribe myself your Excellency's obedient servant.
GEORGE S. BOUTWELL.
The next day I called upon General Scott. It was apparent that he was in no condition to organize or lead armies. He was lying upon a lounge, and when he arose he walked with his hand upon his hip and gave an account of his wound at the battle of Lundy's Lane. He was national in his views of duty, and he spoke with earnestness in reprobation of the conduct of Virginia. He spoke also of the efforts that had been made to induce him to go with his State. He seemed like a man without hope, but there were no indications of a lack of fidelity to the country. Aside from the circumstance that he was a native of Virginia and that Virginia was engaged in the Rebellion, it was too much to expect that at his age he could cope with so formidable a movement as the rebellion of eleven States. While I was in Washington I presented to General Scott a young man, Henry S. Briggs, a son of ex-Governor Briggs, whom General Scott had known when Governor Briggs was in Congress. Young Briggs was a lieutenant in the Berkshire regiment, then on duty in Washington. He wished for a corresponding appointment in the regular army. This appointment General Scott secured for him. Afterwards he became colonel of a Massachusetts regiment of volunteers and at the end of the war he was a brigadier- general of volunteers.
I left Washington for Massachusetts May 1. I was delayed a night and until four o'clock the day following at Annapolis, where General Butler was in command. I had my quarters with him, and during the night the long roll was beaten. The troops came out, and I waited for the result, which was the discovery that the call was due to a misunderstanding of the signal rockets. I left Annapolis in a small steam tug that came out of the Raritan Canal. We were buffeted about in the bay by a heavy wind, the captain lost his reckoning, anchored, and the next morning we found ourselves uncomfortably near to the Maryland shore.
The next day, May 2, I reached New York and from there I sent the following letter to Governor Andrew:
NEW YORK, May 2, 1861.