The American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year, 1861-1865, vols. 1-5. New York: Appleton & Co., 1868.

Confederate States in 1861, Part 6: Territories

TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES.  The territories of the United States, which were originally of very vague extent, under the grants to the colonies, have gradually been consolidated by treaties until they extend across the continent; having an Atlantic coast line of 1,900 miles. The Gulf coast has a line of 1,000 miles from the Florida capes to the Rio Grande. The Pacific coast line is 1,620 miles, including California, Oregon, and the Straits of Fuca. The area of this vast territory is 2,059,623 square miles, or 1,818,156,720 acres. A large portion of this territory was acquired by various treaties; with Great Britain in 1783, 1842, and 1846; with Spain in 1795 and in 1819; with Franco in 1803; with Mexico in 1848. The area annexed by this last treaty is estimated to bo equal to all possessed before by the United States. This vast region has been very rapidly surveyed and organized into separate territories, or admitted as States within the last few years. In the year 1861 Kansas was admitted as a State; three new territories, Nevada, Colorado, and Dakotah, were created; and two, Arizona and Chippewa, were nearly ready for organization. The Territory of Dakotah was formed out of what was Minnesota Territory, 52,454,400 acres, and 156,762,880 of what was formerly the northern part of Nebraska. It contains, therefore, 209,217,280 acres, or 326,902 square miles, and is the largest of all the territories. There were surveyed during the year, 60,639 acres. Its boundary on the north is the international line of 49° north latitude; east, the States of Iowa and Minnesota; south, the Missouri River, the Page 686 Running "Waters, and the Turtle Hill River following this last to the Rocky Mountains, which form the western boundary. The Indian title is extinguished to 14,000,000 acres, and a land office opened at Yankton. The territory is drained by the Missouri River on the south, and by the Red River of the North emptying into Hudson Bay; possessing, for the most part, a fine healthy climate and good soil; it was first settled on the north by emigrants in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company, and is now peopled from the Northern and Western States. Capital, Yankton. The population in 1860 was 4,839 whites, and a large number of Indians of different tribes. In this territory the buffalo and other wild animals are found in great abundance. 

The Colorado Territory was organized by act of Congress, February 28, 1861. It was formed of 47,657,600 acres, formerly included in the territories of Utah and Kansas, and 10,262,400 acres in that of Nebraska, and 8,960,000 acres formerly in New Mexican territory; making an area of66,880,000 acres, or 104,600 square miles. By a treaty with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, made February 1861, but not yet ratified, about one third of the area of Colorado situated north of the Arkansas River and east of the Rocky Mountains was ceded to the United States. The mining attractions of Pike's Peak, included in the territory, had produced numerous settlements on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, and in May, 1861, the land office was opened at Denver City, and surveys were commenced. The name Idahoe, or "Gem of the Mountains," was originally proposed for the territory, from reference to Pike's Peak. The boundaries of the territory are: north, the 41st degree N. lat.; south, 37th degree N. lat.; east, 25th meridian of longitude; west, 32d meridian of longitude. The population of the territory in 1860 was 34,197, together with many tribes of Indians. The climate is very healthy and the soil fertile. It is remarkable as a grazing country. The timber in the mountains is plentiful, and coal and other minerals very abundant, including gold and silver.

The Nevada Territory, organized March 2, 1861, is mostly conspicuous for the possession of the famous Washoe silver mines. Its boundaries are: north, the 42d degree of latitude; east, the 39th meridian of longitude; south, New Mexico; west, the dividing ridge separating the waters of Carson's Valley from those that flow into the Pacific. This area embraces 64,550 square miles, or 41,312,000 acres, formerly n portion of Utah, and includes a strip of about 10,000 square miles from the eastern end of California, if that State consents. The surveyor opened his office in Carson City. Some surveys had been made under the authority of Utah, and some depredations were made by persons claiming under those surveys. The Washoe valley is 15 miles long by 5 wide, and contains numerous settlers. The surveyor-general reports the population in 1861 at 17,000, mostly in the mining regions, the resources of which are being very rapidly developed. The supply of silver from Washoe at the United States mint was in 1861 $213,420.

The projected Territory of Arizona may embrace all the territory obtained from Mexico east of the Colorado and its affluent, the Virgin River, and west of the 108th meridian; on the north, the parallel 36° 30' separates it from Utah, and on the south is the Mexican border. The area is estimated at 200,000 square miles, and the population about 8,000 Mexicans. The mineral wealth is very great, but only $12,260 reached the United States mint in 1861 from Arizona.

The territory lying between Nebraska, Dakotah, the Rocky Mountains and the British dominions, having an area of 130,000 square miles, and a population of about 8,000, it is proposed to call Chippewa.

TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES. The Territories of the United States are constantly changing their form, by the admission of some of them into the Union as States, and the division and new organization of others in Territorial governments. The third session of the 87th Congress admitted Nevada, hitherto a Territory (organized in 1860), as a State, and organized two new Territories, Idaho, from the eastern part of Washington Territory, including the recently discovered gold regions of the Salmon, John Day, and Powder rivers; and Arizona, formerly the southern portion of New Mexico.

The Territories now existing (April, 1863) are Nebraska, Dakota, Idaho, Washington, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and the Indian Territory.

NEBRASKA was organized in 1854, and the vote for its admission into the Union as a State passed one House and was lost by only a few votes in the other, at the second session of the 87th Congress. Its capital is Omaha City. Estimated area over 100,000 square miles. Population in 1860, 28,541, besides over 5,000 Indians. The governor, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is Alvin Saunders, whose official residence is at Omaha City. The Territorial secretary is Algernon S. Paddock, also residing at Omaha City. An election was held in the autumn for a delegate from the Territory to Congress, and Samuel G. Daly, republican, the delegate in the 87th Congress, was elected, receiving 2,833 votes, a majority of 153 over Kenney, the democratic candidate. Nebraska raised two regiments of volunteers for the war, and at the time of the Indian invasion in Minnesota in September, 1862, a third regiment was called into the field for home service by the acting governor, A. S. Paddock, one of the other regiments from the Territory being also recalled for that service There was some doubt whether the new mining region at the base of the Wind River Mountains, and on the headwaters of Grasshopper Creek, concerning which more will be said under Dakota, was not partly within the limits of Nebraska; it is probable at all events that the gold region extends into Nebraska. The new Territory of Idaho takes a long narrow strip from Nebraska, embracing the space between the 42dand 43d degrees of latitude from its western boundary to the 27th degree of west longitude.

DAKOTA is one of the three Territories organized by the 36th Congress in 1861. Its area is estimated at 325,000 square miles, and its population in 1860 was 44,501, of whom 39,664 were tribal Indians. Since its organization it has received a considerable addition to its white population. The capital is Yankton Page 770 on the Missouri river, about due west from Chicago, and 60 miles from the Iowa line. The governor to March, 1863, was Wm. Jayne, who was elected, in the autumn of 1862, delegate to the 38th Congress. The Territorial secretary was John Hutchinson. Both have their official residence at Yankton. The white population of the Territory was too small and too much scattered to permit of its furnishing any contingent for the war, but at the time of the Indian raid in Minnesota, some of the whites in the settlements bordering on that State were massacred, and all who were able volunteered for the punishment of the marauders. In the election for delegate to the 38th Congress, in October, 1862, William Jayne, republican, received 386 votes, a majority of 151 over J. B. S. Todd, democrat. On the official canvass the votes of Charles Mix and Bonhomme counties were thrown out for informality, and Governor Jayne's majority was thus reduced to 16. Union Territorial officers (auditor and treasurer) were also chosen by a small majority. About the 1st of August, 1862, John White and D'Orsay, miners from Colorado, who had started for the Salmon river mines in Washington co., commenced prospecting on Grasshopper creek or river (an affluent of the Yellowstone), near the summit of the Wind River Mountains, a spur of the Rocky Mountains, in the southwest corner of Dakota near the line of Nebraska. They soon found gold in great abundance, and other miners making discoveries of the precious metal in the vicinity, a government was organized by the miners, then about 250 in number, on the 27th of August, and the region named the Northwestern District. Subsequently two settlements were established, viz., Bannock City and Grasshopper Diggings, each of which, in December 1862, contained over 1,000 inhabitants. The gold, mostly in the form of scales, proved very abundant, and the earnings of the miners were very large. It is supposed that gold deposits exist all along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains to the northern line of Dakota. Most of this region is now included in the new Territory of Idaho.

IDAHO is the name given to the new Territory organized by the 37th Congress at its late session. It extends from the eastern boundary of Oregon to the 27th degree of longitude west from Washington, and from the 42d to the 46th parallel of north latitude, and will have an area of about 125,000 square miles. Its capital will probably be Bannock City in the new gold region on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, as it is most centrally situated, though Florence, in Idaho county, a village of 3,000 or 4,000 inhabitants in the Salmon river mining region, is now the largest town in the Territory. The discovery of extensive gold deposits on the Salmon and Nez Perc6 rivers (tributaries of the Snake river) in 1861 and 1862, has led to a rapid influx of population into this region. A good wagon road was completed in August last, by the Government, under the superintendence of Lieut. Mullan, from Fort Benton, the head of navigation on the Missouri, to Fort Walla Walla on the Columbia river; it is 624 miles in length and passes through a country well watered and easily traversed.

WASHINGTON TERRITORY was organized in 1853. Its capital is Olympia. The area was 176,141 square miles before Idaho was set off and the estimated population in 1861,14,249, aside from about 31,000 tribal Indians. Wm. Pickering is the governor, appointed by the President, and Elwood Evans secretary. The official residence of both is at Olympia. The Territory has a university at Seattle, for which buildings have been erected at a cost of about $30,000, and which has received from the General Government an endowment of 46,080 acres of land. The Territory was too sparsely settled and too remote from the seat of war to be able to send any considerable number of troops to the army, though some volunteers have united with the contingent sent from the Pacific States. Extensive gold mines were discovered in 1861 on the tributaries of the Upper Columbia, known as the Wenatchee, O'Kanagon, Kettle river, and Colville mines, and in the autumn of the same year others on the Salmon and Nez Perce rivers, now included in Idaho. It was estimated that the gold sent to market from the Washington mines in 1862 was about $5,000,000.

NEVADA, though now admitted into the Union, was a Territory during the whole of 1862. It was organized. March 2, 1861, and has an estimated area of 80,000 square miles. Its population in 1860 was 50,568, of whom 23,811 were Indians. Its present population is said considerably to exceed 100,000. The capital is Carson City. The Territorial governor was James W. Nye, and the Territorial secretary Orion Clemens. The official residence of both is at Carson City.

Silver mining was the all-engrossing topic in this Territory during the year 1862. In the spring there was for a short period a lull in the speculation in mining stocks, but the discovery of numerous new lodes and veins, some of them very rich in silver, gave it a fresh impulse, and from August to December new companies with capital amounting in the aggregate to more than $100,000,000 were organized in San Francisco and in Nevada Territory, three or four being often formed in a day. The Legislature of the Territory at its November session, 1862, passed a general incorporation bill requiring a majority of the trustees of these mining companies to be residents of the Territory, and protecting the stockholders and creditors against frauds, &c. The yield of the silver mines during the year was very large, amounting to nearly $15,000,000, and would have been double or triple this amount could sufficient machinery and labor have been procured to extract the ore. The Ophir, Gould and Curry, and Comstock leads have been known favorably for two or three years for Page 771 their large yield of ore containing a heavy percentage of silver and some gold, and to these have been added the Monterey, Simpson's Park, Rerse river, and numerous other leads equally valuable. The yield of several of these is from $385 to $1,093 worth of silver to each ton of ore, besides a small percentage of gold. The Territorial Government subscribed liberally to the Central Pacific Railroad to be constructed from Sacramento to "Washoe, and to form a part of the line of the great Pacific Railway. The boundary line between Nevada and California had never been carefully run, and the attempt to define it led to some difficulty and collision, although the governors of California and Nevada endeavored to come to an amicable agreement in regard to it,

UTAH.—This Territory was organized in 1850. Its capital is Great Salt Lake City. Its area is 120,000 square miles, and its estimated population in 1862, 79,193, of whom about 20,000 are Indians; fully 50,000 of the whites are Mormons, or, as they term themselves, members of the "Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints." The Territorial governor is Stephen S. Harding, and the Territorial secretary, Frank Fuller, both residing at Great Salt Lake City. The principal topic of interest in Utah during the year has been the organization by the citizens of the Territory of a State Government, and their urgent request to be admitted into the Union. On the 20th of January a convention, called in accordance with a resolution of the Territorial Legislature, met, and, on the 23d of January, hod reported a State constitution, in its provisions essentially similar to those of most of the States. On the 3d of March the constitution was submitted to the people for ratification, and at the same time an election for State officers and member of Congress took place. The name of the State was to be " Deseret." The constitution was adopted by a vote of 9,879. Brigham Young was elected governor, receiving 9,980 votes (the whole number cast), Heber O. Kimball, lieut.-governor, receiving 9,880 votes, and John Bernhisel (delegate from the Territory in the 37th Congress) representative in Congress, receiving 9,862 votes. The entire board of State officers and the State Legislature, elected at the same time, were Mormons, and bound to support the Mormon creed and practices, while the head of the Mormon Church was elected their chief magistrate. Senators were elected by the Legislature, which commenced its session April 14. Congress did not take action on their application during the session further than to refer it to the proper committee. A law "to punish and prevent polygamy" was passed by Congress, July 1, 1862, which was evidently intended for Utah, and a strip of land, the whole length of the Territory, and one degree in width, was taken from Utah, and annexed to Nevada. These measures did not please the authorities of Deseret, and loud threats were uttered in public and private by the leaders of what they would do unless the State should be admitted without restriction. On the second Monday of December, 1862, the Territorial Legislature assembled, and Governor Harding sent them a long Message, in which he avowed his determination to enforce the law of Congress for the punishment of polygamy, and discussed in very free and decided terms some of the derelictions of the Legislature and citizens of the Territory. There was manifested on both sides a considerable bitterness of feeling, which might at any time result in an outbreak. The 37th Congress did not at its third and final session admit the State of Deseret, and there were indications in the spring of 1863 of a collision between the Territorial and State authorities.

COLORADO.—This Territory, like Nevada and Dakota, was organized in March, 1861. Its capital is Denver City. Its area is about 100,000 square miles, and its estimated population in 1862 was about 70,000, of whom about 6,000 were tribal Indians. The Territorial governor is John Evans, and the Territorial secretary Samuel H. Elbert. The official residence of both is at Denver City. At the election, on the 1st Tuesday of October, Hiram P. Bennet, republican, was elected delegate to Congress by a plurality vote, receiving 3,655 votes, while William Gilpin, also republican, had 2,312, and Francisco, democrat, 2,754. Colorado has raised for the war two regiments of cavalry, one of infantry, and a battery of artillery, besides a volunteer militia force organized at home to repel anticipated invasions from the Indians. The inhabitants of Colorado have shown themselves thoroughly loyal throughout the war. The gold mines of Colorado are very rich, and of a peculiar character, the gold being mostly deposited in connection with pyrites (sulphuret of iron, in a rotten quartz,) and these deposits grows richer the deeper they are mined. The gold raised in the Territory in 1862 amounted to about $12,000,000, and could have been easily doubled with a sufficiency of labor and machinery. On the western slopes of the Snowy Mountains there are extensive silver deposits, as well as some gold mines; lead and quicksilver ores of great extent and value have also been discovered in the Territory, and immense beds of coal of good quality near Denver City—an important discovery, as the proposed route of the Pacific Railroad is directly past these coal beds, which will furnish the needed fuel, the want of which has hitherto been the greatest difficulty apprehended in the working of that gigantic enterprise.

INDIAN TERRITORY.—Under the head of Kansas the only incidents of interest in connection with this Territory, those relating to the expedition of the force of General Blunt, have been mentioned. The capital of the Indian Territory is Tahlequah. The Territory contains 65,171 square miles, and had in 1860 a population of Indians and negroes of 65,380 persona.

NEW MEXICO.—This Territory was organized in 1860. Its capital is Santa F6. Area, before Arizona was separated from it, 256,300 square miles; population, in 1860, 83,009, besides 55,100 tribal Indians. Territorial governor, Henry Connelly; Territorial secretary, W. F. M. Amy. Both have their official residence at Santa F6. The slave laws of the Territory were repealed in December, 1861. New Mexico, during the year 1862, was the theatre of some of the most desperate and hard-fought battles of the war. On the 4th of January, 1862, it was ascertained that a Texan force 1,500 strong, under command of the Confederate general Sibley, were approaching Fort Craig, 200 miles south of Santa Fe, which Colonel E. R. Canby held with about 1,000 regular troops, and 1,500 volunteers. Finding the Federal force too strong to be attacked, Sibley and his Texans fell back, and did not again approach Fort Craig till they had been largely reinforced. In the last days of January, having received reënforcements, which brought his force up to fully 8,500, the Confederate general again advanced slowly and cautiously, in two columns, toward the fort. Colonel Canby, hearing, on the 13th of February, from scouts and deserters, that the enemy were within 80 miles from Fort Craig, sallied out with a large force to meet and attack them, but could find no trace of them, and returned to the fort. On the 18th the Confederates appeared in front of the fort, about 2,000 strong, but retired the same day, and it was supposed commenced a retreat. Colonel Canby despatched Major Duncan, with a squadron of dragoons and mounted men, to follow and harass them. The Texans retreated down the valley of the Rio Grande to a ravine about eight miles below the fort, where they had a battery of eight guns strongly planted. From this, after a sharp skirmish, Major Duncan was recalled. On the 19th and 20th the Texans attempted to cross the Rio Grande, in order to take possession of the heights opposite Fort Craig, but were driven back by the Federal forces without material loss on either side. On the 21st a desperate battle was fought, lasting most of the day, at a place called Valverde, about 10 miles below Fort Craig. Early in the morning the Federal forces captured 200 mules belonging to the Texans, and burned many of their wagons, and soon crossed the Rio Grande to attack them, with a battery of six pieces and two mountain howitzers. Both parties fought with the greatest desperation, the Texans, to capture the battery, the deadly execution of which cut them off from access to water, for want of which they and their animals were near perishing, and the Federal troops to hold the ground they had gained. The two howitzers were under command of Lieut. Hall, who successfully,' and with great carnage, repulsed their attempts to capture them; the six-gun battery was commanded by Captain McRae, and to the capture of this the main efforts of the Texans were directed. They would not have succeeded, however, had not the New Mexican volunteers (Colonel Pino's regiment) been panic-stricken and fled in great disorder, and the regulars refused to obey their commander. The Texans, repeatedly repulsed by the terrible fire of the battery, which was admirably served by Captain McRae, finally came up to the charge, armed with only their long bowie knives and Colt's revolvers, and though more than half their number fell before they reached it, they finally succeeded in killing all the gunners, and capturing the battery. The brave McRae and his two lieutenants, Wichler and Bell, stood at their guns when all the rest had fled, and defended themselves with their revolvers till they were killed. The loss of this battery compelled Colonel Canby to fall back to Fort Craig. His loss was 62 killed and 140 wounded; that of the Confederates was very much greater, and effectually crippled their subsequent operations. They did not attempt to Capture Fort Craig, but proceeded up the Rio Grande to Albuquerque and Santa F6, both of which towns were evacuated by our forces, which fell back to Fort Union, 100 miles east of Santa Fe, a strong position, where the Government stores for the department were concentrated. Colonel Canby intercepted and captured a force of 400 Texans on their way north to reenforce General Sibley. .Colonel Slough, in command of a force of 1,300 Colorado mounted volunteers, reached Apache Pass, on the 26th of March, on his way to reenforce Colonel Donelson at Fort Union, and there met a considerable force of Texans, whom, after a severe action, he routed, capturing 100 men and officers, killing and wounding between 300 and 400, and burning 60 loaded wagons. The Federal loss was less than 150 killed and wounded. On the 28th he had another battle at Pigeon's Ranche, 25 miles north of Santa Fe, and captured more prisoners and supplies. He then fell back to Fort Union, and there received orders from Colonel (now General) Canby to form a junction with his forces at Galesto, which he accomplished on the 9th df April, and there learned that the Texans were retreating from the Territory. Major Duncan, commanding the advance guard of General Canby's forces, had a battle with a body of Texans in the early part of April, and defeated them. Finding themselves hard pressed in their retreat, the Texans took a strong position at Parillo, on the Rio Grande, and fortifying it hastily, awaited an attack there about the middle of April; General Canby attacked them in front, and sent Major Paul, in command of the Colorado troops, to assail them in the rear. After a sharp action, in which the Federal forces lost 25 killed and wounded, the Texans were defeated with great slaughter, and compelled to fly to the mountains. From this point their retreat was a succession of disasters; the destruction of the greater part of their train reduced them to the verge of starvation, and more than one half of the original number Page 773 were left in New Mexico, as killed, wounded, or prisoners. They reached Nusilla with five pieces of artillery and seven wagons, and even this scanty supply, the small remainder of the magnificent train with which they had invaded the Territory, was destined to be still further diminished before they reached El Paso. With bitter curses on their leaders, who had gone on in advance, and left them to take care of themselves, the half-starved and wretched remnant of the Texan troops, once the flower of the Texas chivalry, made their way, sadly and slowly, homeward, and every point which they left, as for instance, Nusilla, Fort Fillmore, Fort Bliss, and El Paso, was immediately occupied by loyal troops, under the efficient movements of General Carleton.

ARIZONA.—This new Territory, organized in March, 1863, comprises about two fifths of the former territory of New Mexico, being all that portion lying S. of the line of 34° N. lat. The eastern portion, forming a part of the Llano Estacado or Staked Plains, is arid and not desirable for settlers; the western portion, watered by the Colorado and the Gila and its tributaries, has many fertile valleys and abundant mines of gold, silver, quicksilver, and copper of great productiveness. Many new mines, rivalling in richness the best of those in California, Idaho, or Colorado, were discovered in the summer of 1862. A new port, with a good harbor, near the head of the gulf of California, has been opened, and bids fair to open this region abounding in mineral wealth to the commerce of the world.

WASHINGTON, the political capital of the United States, is situated on the left bank of the Potomac River, between two small tributaries—the one on the east called the East Branch, and the one on the west called Rock Creek, the latter separating it from Georgetown. It is 38 miles south-southwest of Baltimore, and 122 miles north of Richmond, Virginia.

The Constitution of the United States provides that the Federal Government shall have exclusive jurisdiction over a territory 10 miles square, in which shall be located the capital of the nation. Quite a strife arose in the early sessions of Congress relative to the location of the seat of Government. Many places were proposed, as Trenton in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania, Wilmington in Delaware, and Baltimore and Georgetown in Maryland. The measure finally became combined with what was called the "Assumption Bill." This bill proposed that the Government should assume the debts of the several States, which were contracted during the revolutionary war. This bill, and the one to locate the seat of Government, had failed in Congress by small majorities. There was a strong sectional party in favor of each, but not a majority. The Eastern and Middle States were for the assumption, and the Southern States against it; the latter desired the location of the seat of Government on the bank of the Potomac; the former upon the Susquehanna. The discontent was extreme on each side at losing its favorite measure. At last the two plans were combined. Two members from the Potomac, who had voted against the assumption, agreed to change their votes; a few from the Eastern and Middle States who had voted against the Potomac, agreed to change in its favor. Mr. Jefferson gives the following account of it: "This measure (the assumption) produced the most bitter and angry contest ever known in Congress before or since the union of the States. I arrived (from France) in the midst of it; but a stranger to the ground, a stranger to the actors in it, so long absent as to have lost all familiarity with the subject, and as yet unaware of its object, I took no concern in it. The great and trying question, however, was lost in the House of Representatives. So high were the feuds excited on this subject that, on its rejection, business was suspended. Congress met and adjourned from day to day without doing any thing, the parties being too much out of temper to do business together. The Eastern members threatened secession and dissolution. Hamilton was in despair. As I was going to the President's one day I met him in the street. Ho walked me backwards and forwards before the President's door for half an hour. He painted pathetically the temper into which the Legislature had been wrought—the disgust of those who were called the creditor States—the danger of the secession of their members, and of the separation of the States. He observed that the members of the Administration ought to act in concert—that, though this question was not of my Department, yet a common duty should make it a common concern—that the President was the centre upon which all administrative questions ultimately rested, and that all of us should rally around him, and support, with joint efforts, measures approved by him; and that the question having been lost by a small majority only, it was probable that an appeal from me to the judgment and discretion of some of my friends, might effect a change in the vote, and the machine of government, now suspended, be again set in motion. 1 told him that I was really a stranger to the whole subject; that not having yet informed myself of the system of finances adopted, I knew not how far this was a necessary sequence; that, undoubtedly, if its rejection endangered a dissolution of the Union at this incipient stage, I should deem that the most unfortunate of all consequences, to avert which all partial and temporary evils should be yielded. I proposed to him, however, to dine with me the next day, and I would invite another friend or two, bring them into conference together, and I thought it impossible that reasonable men, consulting together coolly, could fail, by some mutual sacrifices of opinion, to form a compromise which would save the Union. The discussion took place. I could take no part in it but an exhortatory one, because I was a stranger to the circumstances which Page 750 should govern it. Rut it was finally agreed that, whatever importance had been attached to the rejection of this proposition, the preservation of the Union and of concord among the States was more important, and that therefore it would be better that the vote of rejection should be rescinded—to effect which some members should change their votes. But it was observed that this pill would be peculiarly bitter to the Southern States, and that some concomitant measure should be adopted to sweeten it a little to them. There had before been propositions to fix the seat of Government either at Philadelphia or Georgetown on the Potomac, and it was thought that by giving it to Philadelphia for 10 years, and to Georgetown permanently afterwards, thi9 might, as an anodyne, calm in some degree the ferment which might be excited by the other measure alone; so two of the Potomac members agreed to change their votes, and Hamilton undertook to carry the other point." Congress accordingly continued its sessions at Philadelphia until suitable preparations were made, and then removed to Washington. The subsequent growth and improvement of the city have been on a scale corresponding to its importance. The population in 1860 was 61,123.

In January of 1861, it was reported at Washington, then the scene of the greatest political excitement in the country, that the President elect, Mr. Lincoln, had contemplated coming to Washington from the West by the route of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, but in consequence of apprehended dangers had changed his purpose. This led to the following letter from the mayor of Washington to the president of the railroad company:

Mayors Office, Washington, 

February 1, 1861.

Sir: I learn that the President elect, until very recently, contemplated passing over your road from "Wheeling to this city, and that, owing to rumored intentions on the part of citizens of Maryland and Virginia to interfere with his travel to our capital, you were induced to make diligent inquiry as to the truth of these threats. If correctly informed, will you do me the favor to state the result of your inquiries touching this matter?

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

                    JAMES BERRET, Mayor.

Jno. W. Garrett,

Pres. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Comp'y.

On the 4th of February Mr. Garrett replied:

I can assure you that there is not and has not been the least foundation for any of the rumors to which you refer, and which have been industriously circulated in the Northwest. They are the simple inventions of those who arc agents in the West for other lines, and are set on foot more with a hope of interfering with the trade and travel on the shortest route to the seaboard than with any desire to promote the safety and comfort of the President elect. His safety and comfort would have been perfectly assured from the Ohio River to Washington, bad he adhered to his original purpose.

Our road is regarded, both in Maryland and Virginia, as a monument of the common enterprise of their people and as the means of a common prosperity. This feeling is of itself sufficient to protect the travel and freight of the road from all annoyance. I can only regret that the purpose of the President elect to travel by another route should serve to give countenance to stories which are in every respect unfounded.

Rumors of an attack upon Washington by bodies of men sympathizing with the secessionists had prevailed for some time previous. The substance of them was that an organization had been formed with the design of capturing the city. Small bodies of the regular army were therefore from time to time concentrated there.

On the 4th of February the Senate of the Virginia Legislature adopted a resolution, that in their opinion, there were "no just grounds for believing that citizens of Virginia meditate an attack on or seizure of the Federal property, or an invasion of the District of Columbia, and that all preparations to resist the same are unnecessary so far as this State is concerned."

Ex-Governor Wise of that State, upon whom such a design had been charged, in a speech at Richmond on February 14, "denounced as false the report that he ever contemplated the invasion of Washington to prevent the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln. He deprecated civil war, but counselled active preparations to resist coercion. Ho was for the Union and the Constitution, but would never submit to a Northern Confederacy. He believed that if Virginia would take a firm 6tand and do her duty faithfully, all would yet be well. But she should demand that the Government should vacate the forts and arsenals in the South, and stand as a mediator between the North and the South."

On the 11th of February the House of Representatives of Congress adopted a resolution requesting the President to communicate "the reasons that had induced him to assemble so large a number of troops in this city, and why they are kept here; and whether he has any information of a conspiracy upon the part of any portion of the citizens of this country to seize upon the capital and prevent the inauguration of the President elect." To this resolution the President replied on the 1st of March, stating that the number of troops in Washington was 653, exclusive of marines, who were at the navy yard as their appropriate station. He further stated that these troops were ordered to Washington to act as a posse comitatus, in strict obedience to the civil authority, for the purpose of preserving peace and order in Washington, if this should have been necessary before or at the period of the inauguration of the President elect. At a time of high excitement, consequent upon revolutionary events—when the very air was filled with rumors, and individuals indulged in the most extravagant expressions of fears and threats, the President did not think that, before adopting this precautionary measure, he should have waited to obtain proof of the actual existence of a conspiracy to seize the capital. The safety of the immense amount of public property in the city, and that of the archives of the Government, in which all the States, and especially the new States in which Page 751 the public lands are situated, have a deep interest, required prompt action, no less than the peace and order of the city, and the security of the inauguration of the President elect, which were objects of vast importance to the whole country.

The resolution of the House had been referred by the President to the Secretary of War, Mr. Holt, who returned an answer to the President on the 18th of February, in which he thus expressed his belief in the existence of an organization to capture Washington:

At what time the armed occupation of Washington City became a part of the revolutionary programme, is not certainly known. More than six weeks ago, the impression had already extensively obtained that a conspiracy for the accomplishment of this guilty purpose was in process of formation, if not fully matured. The earnest endeavors made by men known to be devoted to the revolution, to hurry Virginia and Maryland out of the Union, were regarded as preparatory steps for the subjugation of Washington. This plan was in entire harmony with the aim and spirit of those seeking the subversion of the Government, since no more fatal blow at its existence could be struck than the permanent and hostile possession of the seat of its power. It was in harmony, too, with the avowed designs of the revolutionists, which looked to the formation of a confederacy of all the slave States, and necessarily to the conquest of the capital within their limits. It seemed not very indistinctly prefigured in a proclamation made upon the floor of the Senate, without qualification, if not exultingly, that the Union was already dissolved — a proclamation which, however intended, wag certainly calculated to invite, on the part of men of desperate fortunes or of revolutionary States, a raid upon the capital. In view of the violence and turbulent disorders already exhibited in the South, the public mind could not reject such a scheme as at all improbable. That a belief in its existence was entertained by multitudes, there can be no doubt, and this belief I fully shared. My conviction rested not only on the facts already alluded to, but upon information, some of which was of a most conclusive character, that reached the Government from many parts of the country, not merely expressing the prevalence of the opinion that such an organization had been formed, but also often furnishing the plausible grounds on which the opinion was based. Superadded to these proofs, were the oft-repeated declarations of men in high political positions here, and who were known to have intimate affiliations with the revolution—if indeed they did not hold its reins in their hands—to the effect that Mr. Lincoln would not, or should not, be inaugurated at Washington Such declarations, from such men, could not be treated as empty bluster. They were the solemn utterances of those who well understood the import of their words, and who, in the exultation of the temporary victories gained over their country's flag in the South, felt assured that events would soon give them the power to verify their predictions. Simultaneously with these prophetic warnings, a Southern Journal of large circulation and influence, and which is published near the city of Washington, advocated its seizure as a possible political necessity.

A select committee of the House of Representatives, of which Mr. Howard of Michigan was chairman, made a report, in which they said that they had thoroughly investigated the subject, and were of opinion that the evidence before them did not prove the existence of a secret organization at Washington or elsewhere hostile to the Government, and that had for its object, upon its own responsibility, an attack upon the capital, or any of the public property there, or an interruption of any of the functions of the Government. At the same period a resolution was offered in the House of Representatives, expressing the opinion "that the regular troops now in this city ought to be forthwith removed therefrom." This was laid on the table.

Whatever of excitement and alarm existed in the city, had entirely subsided before the 1st of March, and a feeling of comparative peace and security prevailed.

The ceremonies at the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln were in some respects the most brilliant and imposing ever witnessed at Washington. Nearly 20 well-drilled military companies of the District, comprising a force of more than 2,000 men, were on parade. Georgetown sent companies of cavalry, infantry, and artillery of fine appearance. The troops stationed at the City Hall and Willard's Hotel became objects of attraction to vast numbers of both sexes. At noon the Senate Committee called upon President Buchanan, who proceeded with them to Willard's Hotel to receive the President elect. The party thus composed,' joined by other distinguished citizens, then proceeded, in open carriages, along the avenue at a moderate pace, with military in front and rear, and thousands of private citizens, in carriages, on horseback, and on foot, crowding the broad street. The capitol was reached by passing up on the north side of the grounds, and the party entered the building by the northern door over a temporary planked walk. During the hour and a half previous to the arrival of President Buchanan and the President elect in the Senate chamber, that hall presented a gayer spectacle than ever before. The usual desks of the senators had been removed, and concentric lines of ornamented chairs set for the dignitaries of this and other lands with which this country was in bonds of amity and friendship. The inner half-circle on the right was occupied by the judges of the Supreme Court, and by senators. The corresponding half-circle on the extreme left was occupied by the members of the cabinets of Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Lincoln, mingled together, and further on by senators. The concentric circle further back was filled by senators. The next half-circle on the right by the members of the diplomatic corps, all in the full court dress of their respective countries. In the half-circle immediately in the rear of that occupied by the ministers were the secretaries and attaches. The half-circles on the left, corresponding to those occupied by the corps diplomatique, furnished places for senators and governors of States and Territories. Outside of all, on both sides, stood—for there was no further room for seats—the members of the House of Representatives and chief officers of the executive bureaus. The galleries all round the Senate were occupied by ladies.

At a quarter past one o'clock the President Page 752 of the United States and the President elect entered the Senate chamber, preceded by Senator Foot and the marshal of the District of Columbia, and followed by Senators Baker and Pearce. They took seats immediately in front of the clerk's desk, facing outward; President Buchanan having the President elect on his right, and the senators equally distributed right and left.

In a few minutes Vice-President Hamlin, who had been previously installed, ordered the reading of the order of procession to the platform on the east of the capitol, and the line was formed, the marshal of the District of Columbia leading. Then followed Chief-Justice Taney and the judges of the Supreme Court, the sergeant-at-arms of the Senate, the Committee of Arrangements of the Senate, the President of the United States and President elect, Vice-President of the United States and Senate, the members of the diplomatic corps, governors of States and Territories, and members of the House of Representatives. In this order the procession marched to the platform erected in the usual position over the main steps on the east front of the capitol, where a temporary covering had been placed to protect the President elect from possible rain during the reading of his inaugural address. The greater part of an hour was occupied in seating the procession on the platform, and in the delivery of the address of Mr. Lincoln, which he read with a clear, loud, and distinct voice, quite intelligible to at least 10,000 persons below him. At the close of the address Mr. Lincoln took the oath of office from the venerable chief-justice of the Supreme Court. After the ceremony of inauguration had been completed the President and ex-President retired by the same avenue, and the procession, or the military part of it, marched to the executive mansion. On arriving at the President's House, Mr. Lincoln met General Scott, by whom he was warmly greeted, and then the doors of the house were opened, and thousands of persons rapidly passed through, shaking hands with the President, who stood in the reception room for that purpose. In this simple and quiet manner was the change of rulers made.

The proclamation of the President calling for 75,000 men was issued on the 15th of April. The impression had spread through the North that the first point of attack by the Southern troops would be Washington. As early as the 18th, therefore, seventeen car loads of troops, numbering about 600 men, arrived from Harrisburg, via Baltimore, and were quartered in rooms in the capitol. They passed through Baltimore about five o'clock, without serious molestation from disorderly persons. Other bodies from the same quarter were expected to arrive during the night.

At the same time a new kind of deposit was made in the basement rooms of the Treasury building, in the shape of several hundred casks of middlings, barrels of white beans, sugar, sacks of coffee, &c, to supply the troops which were concentrating at Washington. It is not often that such commodities have storage in buildings of such elegant and costly architecture. In and around the General Post-Office and public buildings also were stored hundreds of barrels of pork, and other army supplies from Baltimore and other points.

During the whole day and night of the 18th, the avenues to the city were guarded and closely watched. Cannon were planted in commanding positions so as to sweep the river along that front, and these were supported by infantry. A proclamation was also issued by Mayor Berret, exhorting "all good citizens and sojourners to be careful so to conduct themselves as neither by word or deed to give occasion for any breach of the peace." After the outbreak at Baltimore on the 19th, no mail was received at Washington, either from the North or South, except from Alexandria on the one side and Baltimore on the other, until the 25th. On the 27th the New York Seventh Regiment arrived, having left New York on the 18th. A delay took place between Annapolis and Washington, in consequence of the damage done to the railroad track. The news brought to Washington by the Seventh was that four New York regiments were at Annapolis, with a part of a Massachusetts regiment, the remainder of which was at the Junction. The Seventh, therefore, as they marched up Pennsylvania Avenue, preceded by their band, and making a fine appearance, were received with the wildest demonstrations of pleasure on the part of the citizens. On the next day another body of troops arrived. They consisted of one-half of the Rhode Island regiment, 1,200 strong, commanded and headed by Governor Sprague; and the Butler brigade, under Colonel Butler, of Massachusetts, numbering nearly 1,400 men. They were met at the depot by the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, stationed in the capitol, who greeted their friends with the heartiest cheers. These men, though severely worked by the toilsome labor requisite to repair the bridges and road track from Annapolis to the Junction, presented a fine appearance as their long and serpent-like lines wound through the streets. Troops now began to arrive daily, and Washington soon became the most military city on the continent.

On the night of the 23d of May the troops proceeded to occupy the heights on the opposite side of the Potomac in Virginia. The large camps formed in such positions in Virginia, that a rapid concentration by railroad could be made, rendered it prudent for the Government to occupy these positions, which, in consequence of the railroad connections between Alexandria and Richmond, were of great importance to the security of Washington.

The night of the 23d was beautiful on the Potomac. A full moon looked peacefully down, and perfect quietness prevailed over all the shores in the neighborhood of Washington.

Companies of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, were stationed near and on the Long Bridge. About midnight two companies of rifles were advanced across the bridge to the neighborhood of Roach's Spring. Scouts were sent out in all directions, who managed to get past the line of Virginia pickets. Somewhat later the latter, getting the alarm, set spurs to their horses, and made off down the road towards Alexandria in haste. Volunteers of the District of Columbia were also advanced towards Alexandria. At Georgetown, above, a movement was made about half-past eleven over the aqueduct by the Georgetown battalion. They drove off the two or three pickets on the Virginia side of the river, and soon established themselves in position. Next followed the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment, Twenty-eighth Brooklyn Regiment, Company B of the United States Cavalry, and the Sixty-ninth Regiment. The last-named regiment scoured Alexandria County, and went back as far as the Loudon and Hampshire Railroad. The sight of the troops crossing the aqueduct, with their burnished weapons gleaming in the bright moonlight, was strikingly beautiful. About 2 o'clock in the morning another large body of troops passed over from Washington and the neighborhood. The Seventh New York Regiment halted under orders at the Virginia end of the Long Bridge; the Second New Jersey Regiment went to Roach's Spring, half a mile from the end of the bridge; the New York Twenty-fifth and one cavalry company, and the New York Twelfth and the Third and Fourth New Jersey regiments, proceeded to the right, after crossing the bridge, for the occupation of the heights of Arlington. They were joined by the other troops, which crossed at the Georgetown aqueduct.

Ellsworth's Zouaves, in two steamers, with the steamer James Guy as tender, left their camp on the East Branch, and made directly for Alexandria by water. The Michigan Regiment, under Colonel Wilcox, accompanied by a detachment of United States Cavalry and two pieces of Sherman's battery, proceeded by way of the Long Bridge directly for Alexandria. At four o'clock a. m., at about the same time, the Zouaves landed at Alexandria from the steamers, and the troops, who proceeded by the bridge, reached that town. As the steamers drew up near the wharf, armed boats left the Pawnee, whose crews leaped upon the wharfs just before the Zouaves reached the shore. The crews of the Pawnee's boats were fired upon by the few Virginia sentries as the boats left the steamship, by way of giving the alarm, when these sentries instantly fled into the town. Their fire was answered by scattering shots from some of the Zouaves on the decks of the steamers. Immediately on landing, the Zouaves marched up into the centre of the town, no resistance whatever to their progress being offered. Thus quiet possession was taken of that part of Alexandria, in the came of the United States, by that portion of the troops immediately commanded by Colonel Ellsworth. The Michigan regiment, at the same time, marched into the town by the extension of the Washington turnpike, the cavalry and artillery marching in two or three streets below. The destination of both these detachments was the depot of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, which they instantly seized. They also found near by a disunion company of cavalry, of thirty-five men, and as many horses, who were made prisoners, not having heard the alarm made by the firing of the sentries below. A portion of the Virginian force escaped in cars. Thus was possession taken of the Virginia shore. Intrenching tools were conveyed over from Washington; the next day intrenchments were thrown up, and about noon a large national flag was raised within them, and thrown out to the winds. Great numbers of spectators, of both sexes, lined the heights on the east bank of the Potomac, watching the movements of the troops with eager interest. The only disastrous event occurring was the death of Colonel Ellsworth, commander of the Fire Zouave regiment of New York. (See Ellsworth). The intrenchments thus commenced, subsequently became of immense extent, and with those on the other sides of Washington, consisted of forty-eight works, mounting 800 guns. The whole defence perimeter occupied was about thirty-five miles.

On the 9th of June a movement of troops up the Potomac took place from Washington. The Rhode Island battery, under Colonel Burnside, was sent to join the force under General Patterson at Chambersburg, and on the next day three battalions of District of Columbia Volunteers, numbering 1,000 men, moved up the Rockville road along the Potomac towards Edwards' Ferry. This point is about thirty miles from Georgetown, and equidistant from Washington and Harper's Ferry. It is the only crossing for teams between the Point of Rocks and the District. The road passed from Frederick (Md.) across a bridge over the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, to the established ferry across the Potomac, and terminated in Leesburg, Virginia, which is only four miles distant from the crossing. This route was at the time a general thoroughfare for the transit of secessionists from Maryland, and also for military stores, provisions, &c.

The quota of 1,000 men required from the District of Columbia was furnished to the Government by Washington and Georgetown at once. The supplies of military stores held by the Government at Washington were of the most extensive nature. The issues of ordnance and ordnance stores for the space of four months, between the 1st of July and 31st October 1861, were as follows: 152,347 small arms, 14,454 sabres, 8,740 swords, 48,000 sets of accoutrements for foot soldiers, 16,465 do. for mounted soldiers, 16,685 sets of horse equipments, 2,654 sets of artillery harness. Ammunition.—18,48 Page 754 150,000 rounds for foot soldiers, 1,124,900 rounds for mounted soldiers, 61,306 rounds for field batteries, 16,942 rounds for garrison and seacoast. Cannon.—382 guns and howitzers, 717 gun-carriages and caissons, 53 travelling forges, 27 battery wagons.


Source: The American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year, 1861-1865, vols. 1-5. New York: Appleton & Co., 1868.