A Brave and Impetuous Soldier

Wherein we begin the tribulations of Charles P. Stone

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The Senate had changed since it last met in the summer. In the days following the Union defeat at Bull Run (actually, before it too) the top critics of the Lincoln Administration were Democratic Senators John C. Breckinridge from Kentucky and Trusten Polk from Missouri. Neither was present when the Senate reconvened at the beginning of December. Breckinridge had fled to the Confederacy and was expelled December 4, but Polk's whereabouts (as well of those of his fellow Missouri Senator Wade Johnson) were unknown. It was suspected (correctly) that both had joined the Confederates, and on December 18 the Senate debated expelling two more of their colleagues. The fourth missing member was Senator Edward Baker of Oregon, who had been killed leading troops at the Battle of Ball's Bluff in late October.

Outside the Senate, the war effort had changed to. The top military adviser was now Maj. General George B. McClellan, who had advocated a policy of holding on all fronts while the Army of the Potomac, which he also commanded, was built up for an advance on the Confederate capital at Richmond. Unfortunately, the Lincoln administration still favored a policy closer to that devised by the former general-in-chief, Winfield Scott, which relied on a blockade of the South and controlling the Mississippi River to break the control of secessionists over Southern State governments.

The combination of traitors in their midst and strategic shifts brought back a Senate (and House) much more aggressive about overseeing the Administration's execution of the war. One of their very first acts when returning was to create a Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, Chaired by Senator Benjamin Wade (D-OH). At the top of the Committee's list of priorities was to find out what had happened at Bull Run and Ball's Bluff.

Preventing Crime and Mock Auctions

In which we wish the MPDC a happy anniversary

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MPDC Crest,
based on the 1861 badge

When Abraham Lincoln stepped off the train into the nation's capital the city was different. First of all, stately Union Station wouldn't be completed until 1908. Lincoln arrived in the middle of the night at the old Baltimore & Ohio rail station in the same location. Lincoln was there early to prepare for his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol without a complete dome, facing a quarter-built Washington Monument at the end of the rather scrubby National Mall (the land that is now the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial wouldn't be reclaimed from the Potomac River until the end of the 19th Century). After he was sworn in he would travel back to the the Executive Mansion ("White House" was just a popular nickname that wouldn't become official until 1911), avoiding B Street, next to the stinking, festering canal, not much used except as a garbage dump (today both are incorporated into Constitution Avenue).

A great deal of the Washington we know today has its roots in the transformation unleashed by the American Civil War, and on August 6, 1861, on the last day of session before August recess, Congress authorized a little transformation that helped make DC what it is today -- it authorized the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, the first District-wide, non-Congressional authority.

Pointed Arguments

Wherein sharp words find their logical place in the Senate

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In the wake of the Northern loss on the hills overlooking Bull Run all the fears of March returned to Washington. The rout of Irvin McDowell's army had galvanized the South, in the same way the surrender of Fort Sumter had months before. Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina had all waited until after Lincoln's April 17 call for volunteers to secure Federal property before seceding, but the fall of Sumter on April 12 couldn't have been overlooked when they decided to leave the Union. Another Confederate victory in northern Virginia could be the push Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, or Missouri needed to declare for Richmond.

The Lincoln Administration had been aggressively attempting to make sure this did not happen. In Missouri, where the state's secessionist governor and part of the state militia had taken up arms against the Federal government claiming the state had left the Union already (the legislature voted to do so, but without a proper quorum), there was an army of militia under Nathan Lyon and John C. Fremont marching to quash the insurrection. In Maryland, soon-to-be Major General (USV) Nathaniel P. Banks had been using military might to detain suspected secessionists (especially in Baltimore) without trial since May, and his successor when he took over at Harper's Ferry, John Dix, was actively searching for secessionists too.

Starting Anew

In which U.S. leaders decide to get back on the horse

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Burnside (center) and the leadership of the 1st Rhode Island, back home

On July 25, Colonel Ambrose Burnside reluctantly formed up the 1st Rhode Island and prepared to lead them out of Washington for the last time. Because Burnside had pulled them back to Matthew's Hill to rearm rather than send them up Henry Hill, the regiment was in considerably better condition than most in the army. Burnside reported 13 killed, 39 wounded, and 39 missing. But their 90 days of Federal service had been reached, so it was back to Rhode Island, where the men would return to their homes and Colonel Burnside would again become a private citizen.

They left behind a capital trying to get back on track after the shock of their defeat on the hills overlooking Bull Run. The attempts to reconstitute the Northern war effort began immediately as the first troops stumbled through the terrible storm back to their fortified positions, but on the 25th it finally began coalescing into something like concrete changes.

Rec: The Man Who Financed The Civil War at Disunion

While soldiers marched from Alexandria and Washington on July 17, in Washington itself the Congress sent a bill to finance the war. The $250 million worth of bonds would be issued in small denominations that would pave the way for a paper currency. Disunion has the full story, well worth the quick read.

The Congressional Globe reported it in its enrolled bills signed section. The Senate also debated an important bill on the organization of the army.

Battling In The Senate

As noted earlier, I have been out of town for a few days and have the blog autoposting, but July 10, 1861 was an important day in the U.S. Senate and worth noting in this quickie post. Lincoln had transmitted with his July 4 message a list of legislative requests to raise and pay for an army. However, the first order of business that the Senate took up was addressing the legitimacy of the President's actions while Congress had been out of session.

The President had made arrangements for and begun a war without Congressional approval, so his allies in the Senate set about passing a resolution approving of everything he had done so far ( thanks to the departure of the Southern delegates they were the majority party, 30-16 -- officially, anyway, soon to be 30-13 when three Senators who hadn't bothered resigning were expelled on July 11).

Independence Day, 1861

Lincoln's draft of July 4 message

Almighty and everlasting God, be not angry with us for our sins, which we only confess and deplore; but pardon our offenses and extend us Thy favor. We thank Thee for Thy goodness on this anniversary of our nation--a day tenfold more precious by reason of our present troubles...disasters have befallen us and darkness broods in the land. And now we ask Thy mercy as the Senate is convening at a most momentous crisis in our history... And we beseech Thee to guide us... to cause that nothing shall fail, that the disorders of the land may be speedily healed, that peace and concord may prevail, that truth and righteousness may be established, and that Thy Church and Kingdom may flourish in a larger peace and prosperity...

So prayed Rev. Byron Sunderland, the new chaplain of the Senate at noon on Thursday, July 4. He was also the popular minister at the "Old First", the First Presbyterian Church located across from the Capitol, where the Rayburn House Office Building now stands. In 1857, he had rocked sleepy Washington by preaching abolition, and his close connections with the majority Republicans had led to his appointment (Sunderland would make waves again in 1866, when he allowed Frederick Douglass to preach from the Old First's pulpit -- he would also be instrumental in the early days of Howard and Gallaudet).