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[141] partisans that were left. On the day following the proclamation (April 16th) the governor of Virginia called out the State militia for the purpose of preventing the Federal troops from entering her territory, and his colleagues of the other slave States followed his example by addressing insulting replies to Mr. Lincoln. The few governors who remained faithful to the Union could not prevent the secessionists from taking the initiative of insurrection. The militia of Maryland, having assembled spontaneously in spite of Mr. Hicks, took possession of Annapolis, the capital of the State, and of the Federal naval school, which was located there. The Texans seized the transport-ship Star of the West, which was lying at anchor in the bay of Galveston. Finally, the Confederate government, having openly declared war, announced the issue of letters of marque, and invited the rebel States to fit out privateers to prey upon the merchant-vessels of the North. The secession excitement reached the capital. This city, surrounded by slave States, had always lived under the servile institution, to which its population was ardently attached. The secessionists flocked to it in great crowds, and loudly proclaimed their sentiments; they even thought of attempting a revolution for the purpose of driving the Federal government away, and some among them were actually arming with a view to that daring feat. The position of Mr. Lincoln was a critical one, for he had only a few companies of regular troops to make any defence with. On being advised of this state of things, the Northern States redoubled their activity in order to be in time to succor the capital, the loss of which would have been a disastrous check to the national cause. Massachusetts, always the most zealous, was the first in the field, and on the 17th she forwarded two regiments of volunteers from Boston to Washington Pennsylvania, although nearly one-half of her votes had been given for Mr. Breckinridge, followed this example; and owing to her geographical position, her volunteers reached the shores of the Potomac in advance of all the others. After passing through the great city of Baltimore in the midst of an incipient insurrection, they encamped around the Capitol, on the 18th of April. The seceders, on their side, had not lost a moment in Virginia.
Philadelphia, Jos. H. Coates and co., 1876.
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