Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 / From Lincoln to Garfield, with a Review of the Events Which Led to the Political Revolution of 1860

by James Gillespie Blaine

—Mr. Lovejoy of Illinois gave a characteristic turn to the debate. "I believe before God," said he,—"and if it be fanaticism now it will not be when history traces the events of the day,—that the reason why we have had Bull Run and Ball's Bluff and other defeats and disasters is that God, in his providence, designs to arraign us before this great question of human freedom, and make us take the right position." Slavery, according to Mr. Lovejoy, was the Jonah on board the National ship, and the ship would founder unless Jonah were thrown overboard. "When Jonah was cast forth into the sea, the sea ceased from raging." Our battles, in Mr. Lovejoy's belief, "should be fought so as to hurt slavery," and enable the President to decree its destruction. "To be President, to be king, to be victor, has happened to many; to be embalmed in the hearts of mankind through all generations as liberator and emancipator has been vouchsafed to few."

THE DISASTER AT BALL'S BLUFF.

—Mr. Wickliffe of Kentucky believed we should "preserve the Union and slavery under it." He wised to "throw the Abolitionists overboard."

—Mr. Mallory of Kentucky, while not believing slavery to be incompatible with our liberty under the Constitution, declared that so far as he understood the feeling of the people of Kentucky, "if they ever come to regard slavery as standing in the way of the Union, they will not hesitate to wipe out the institution." Loud applause followed this remark.

—Mr. McKee Dunn of Indiana, while believing that "if slavery stands in the way of the Union it must be destroyed," was not yet "willing to accept Mr. Lovejoy as prophet, priest, or king." He thought "the gentleman from Illinois was not authorized to interpret God's providence" in the affairs of men.

—Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, in recalling the debate to the immediate question before the House, took occasion to protest against the doctrine of non-interference laid down by Mr. Crittenden. "Has it come to this," said Mr. Stevens, "that Congress is a mere automaton, to register the decrees of another power, and that we have nothing to do but to find men and money? . . . This is the doctrine of despotism, better becoming that empire which they are attempting to establish in the South."

The resolution offered by Mr. Conkling was adopted by a vote of 79 to 54, on a call of the yeas and nays. The affirmative vote was wholly Republican. A few Republicans voted with the Democrats in the negative. The reply of Secretary Cameron was no more satisfactory than to the first resolution. He informed the House that "measures have been taken to ascertain who is responsible for the disastrous movement of our troops at Ball's Bluff, but it is not deemed compatible with the public interest to make known these measures at the present time." The difference between this answer and the first, was that the Administration assumed the responsibility of withholding the information, and did not rest it upon the judgment of the general in command of the army.

Brigadier-General Charles P. Stone was a graduate of West Point Military Academy, from Massachusetts. His family belongs to the old Puritan stock of that commonwealth, and had been honorably represented in every war in which the American people had engaged. General Stone served as a lieutenant in the Mexican war with high credit, and in 1855 resigned his commission and became a resident of California. It happened that he was in Washington at the breaking out of the civil war, and in response to the request of his old commander, General Scott, took a prominent part in the defense of the capital, considered to be in danger after the rising of the Baltimore mob. His conduct was so admirable that when the President, a few weeks later, directed the organization of eleven new regiments in the Regular Army, he appointed General Stone to the Colonelcy of the 14th United-States Infantry. After the battle of Bull Run, when General McClellan was promoted to the command of the Army of the Potomac, General Stone was selected to command a division which was directed to occupy the valley of the Potomac above Washington, as a corps of observation. The Union troops, engaged in the disastrous battle of Ball's Bluff, belonged to his corps, but were under the immediate command of Colonel E. D. Baker. The repulse and slaughter on that melancholy field were followed by excitement and indignation throughout the country quite as deep as that shown in Congress. The details of the disaster were greatly exaggerated. The official summary of losses, made up with care, showed that the total number killed, including both officers and men, was 49; wounded, 158; missing, 714, of whom a few were drowned, and the great mass taken prisoners. The popular admiration for Colonel Baker was unbounded, and the suspicion that his life had been needlessly destroyed created such a feeling as demanded a victim. General Stone was selected for the sacrifice, and popular wrath was turned upon him with burning intensity. Rumors and exaggerations filled the newspapers; and the public, in that state of credulity which is an incident to the victim-hunting mania, accepted every thing as true. It was widely believed that Colonel Baker said mournfully, as he marched to the battle-field, "I will obey General Stone's order, but it is my death-warrant."

BALL'S BLUFF DISASTER INVESTIGATED.

Goaded by these injurious and unfounded rumors, General Stone, in a letter to the Adjutant-General of the army, written a fortnight after the battle, deemed it his "duty to answer the persistent attacks made through the press by the friends of the lamented Colonel Baker." He called attention to the "distinct violations by Colonel Baker of his orders and instructions," and declared that he was left "to use his own discretion about crossing his force, or retiring that already over." He found it "painful to censure the acts of one who gallantly died on the field of battle," but justice to himself required "that the full truth should be made to appear." Colonel Baker did not receive the order "as a death- warrant," for it was delivered to him "at his own request." That "Colonel Baker was determined to fight a battle" was made evident by the fact that "he never crossed to examine the field, never gave an order to the troops in advance, and never sent forward to ascertain their position, until he had ordered over his force, and passed over a considerable portion of it." On the 5th of January, 1862, General Stone appeared before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, and was examined under oath as to every detail of the Ball's-Bluff disaster which could in any way, directly or remotely, involve his responsibility as a commander. His answers were frank, withholding nothing, and were evidently intended to communicate every pertinent fact. So far as may be inferred from the questions and comments, the evidence was entirely satisfactory to the committee.