Reveille in Washington

by Margaret Leech

  BLENKER, LOUIS 1812–1863 His military career, which opened so promisingly, dwindled into failure after his division was attached to Frémont’s Mountain Department in the spring of 1862. He saw no active service after the battle of Cross Keys, in which Frémont’s forces were defeated by Stonewall Jackson. He was injured by a fall from his horse, and, after being mustered out of the service, died on his farm in Rockland County, N. Y.

  BOYD, BELLE 1843–1900 In the spring of 1863, she sailed for England from Wilmington, N. C., on a blockade-runner, but the ship was overhauled by a United States vessel and Belle was imprisoned at Fort Warren and condemned to death. With the aid of Samuel Hardinge (or Harding), an officer on the boat which had captured her, she won her freedom and proceeded to England by way of Canada. In August, 1864, she was married in London to Hardinge, who had recently been discharged from the Federal service. He went back to the United States soon after the marriage and died without rejoining Belle. According to some reports, he was arrested and confined in a Federal prison. Left in want in London, Belle went on the stage, opening in the Lady of Lyons at Manchester in 1866. Returning to America, she starred on tour in the South. In 1868, she was seen in New York in The Honeymoon, and later played in stock in Ohio and Texas. Belle began, in 1886, a successful career as a dramatic diseuse, presenting her adventures as a spy for the Confederacy. Her second husband, whom she married in 1869, was a former British army officer, John Hammond. In 1885, she became the wife of Nathaniel High of Toledo, Ohio.

  BRECKINRIDGE, JOHN CABELL 1821–1875 In December, 1861, the Senate declared the Kentuckian a traitor, and went through the formality of expelling him, although he had joined the Confederate army months earlier. As a brigadier, Breckinridge fought at Shiloh the next spring, and was promoted major-general. He commanded a division at Murfreesboro', Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. In May, 1864, he defeated Sigel at New Market in the Shenandoah Valley, later joining Lee. After participating in Early’s raid on Washington, he was ordered to southwest Virginia. In February, 1865, he became Davis’s Secretary of War. On Lee’s surrender, Breckinridge fled South with the Confederate cabinet, eventually escaping to Cuba and thence to Europe. The Government in 1869 permitted him to return to his home at Lexington, where he was received with popular acclaim.

  BUCHANAN, JAMES 1791–1868 He had forty years of public life, serving successively as U.S. congressman, minister to Russia; U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, minister to England and President. After Lincoln’s inauguration, Buchanan returned to his country seat, Wheatland, near Lancaster, Pa., and passed his declining years in rural peace. He prepared a vindication of his administration, and consistently supported the war for the restoration of the Union.

  BURNSIDE, AMBROSE EVERETT 1824–1881 Born Indiana; West Point, '47; resigned, '53. He engaged in manufacturing a breech-loading rifle of his own invention in Rhode Island, where he became a major-general of State militia. Burnside failed in business, and through McClellan secured a position with the Illinois Central Railroad. Early in 1862, he gained national reputation by the capture of Roanoke Island, which led to the occupation of New Berne and Beaufort, and later to the capture of Fort Macon. Part of his North Carolina command—organized as the Ninth Corps—was engaged at Second Bull Run. At Antietam and during his ill-starred command of the Army of the Potomac, Burnside was criticized for military incapacity. In the spring of 1863, he took charge of the Department of the Ohio, where he embarrassed the President by causing the arrest and court-martial of the Copperhead politician, Clement L. Vallandigham. In the late summer, Burnside moved into East Tennessee, and occupied Knoxville where he was besieged for a month in the autumn. Once more commanding the Ninth Corps, he rejoined the Army of the Potomac in the spring of 1864. He designed the Petersburg mine, which was exploded with unfortunate results for the Federals. Meade blamed Burnside, and the censure was sustained by a court of inquiry. Burnside left the army, and resigned toward the end of the war. Always personally popular, he was three times elected governor of Rhode Island. In 1874, he was elected United States Senator, and served until his death.

  BUTLER, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 1818–1893 In August, 1861, Butler led the expedition from Fort Monroe which captured Forts Hatteras and Clark. He then recruited an expedition for the Gulf of Mexico, and after Farragut’s capture of New Orleans, occupied the city. His drastic and flamboyant administration was criticized in the North and abroad, and he was recalled in December, 1862. His most notorious order was that providing that any woman insulting a Northern soldier should be treated as a woman of the town. He executed a rebel for tearing down the United States flag, and was declared an outlaw by Jefferson Davis. In the autumn of 1863, Butler took charge of the Departments of Virginia and North Carolina. He showed little military ability, either in his command of the Army of the James in the spring of 1864, or in his ineffectual expedition against Fort Fisher, N. C., in the following December. Though Butler had a large following in the country, he made bitter political enemies. He was charged with personal corruption at New Orleans and in Virginia and North Carolina. After the war he served several terms in Congress, supported the Republican radical program of reconstruction, and, as one of the managers of Johnson’s impeachment trial, took a prominent part in denouncing the President. During Grant’s administration, Butler was regarded as the President’s spokesman in the House. After being twice defeated for governor of Massachusetts, he was elected in 1882 on the Democratic ticket. In 1884, he was the Presidential candidate of the Greenback and Anti-Monopolist parties.

  CAMERON, SIMON 1799–1889 He served as minister to Russia for less than a year. Returning home in 1863, he continued his manipulation of Pennsylvania politics, and built the Republican machine which was to control the State for many years. Although he had been chagrined by his removal from the Cabinet, he remained Lincoln’s staunch friend and supporter. He was elected to the Senate in 1867, and retained his seat for ten years, succeeding Sumner as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. During Grant’s second administration, he had his son, James D. Cameron, appointed Secretary of War. Cameron resigned from the Senate on a pledge from the Pennsylvania legislature that his son would be elected to replace him.

  CARNEGIE, ANDREW 1835–1919 In the autumn of 1861, after organizing military transportation and telegraphic service in the vicinity of Washington, Carnegie returned to his duties as superintendent of the Pittsburgh division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He soon made profitable investments in Pullman sleeping cars and western Pennsylvania oil wells, laying the foundation for the immense fortune he amassed in the iron and steel industries.

  CHANDLER, ZACHARIAH 1813–1879 An active abolitionist, who helped to organize the Republican party in Michigan, Chandler served in the Senate from 1857 until 1875. During the reconstruction period, as during the war, he was a prominent member of the radical Republican faction, opposed to the moderate policies of both Lincoln and Johnson. From 1875 to 1877, he was Secretary of the Interior in Grant’s Cabinet. As chairman of the Republican national committee in 1876, he directed the Presidential campaign of Rutherford B. Hayes. He was re-elected to Congress in 1879.

  CHASE, SALMON PORTLAND 1808–1873 As Chief Justice of the United States, he did not relinquish his ambitions for the Presidency, but early in 1868 he lost the friendship of the Republican radicals by his dignified and impartial conduct as presiding officer at the trial of Andrew Johnson before the Senate. He had hopes of receiving the Democratic nomination in 1868, and was much disappointed when he failed to do so. In spite of his enthusiasm for civil rights and suffrage for Negroes, Chase was too moderate to support the vindictive program of reconstruction. He showed reluctance to preside at Jefferson Davis’s trial for treason, and favored quashing the indictment. Chase was bitterly criticized in 1870 for handing down the opinion that the Legal Tender Act of 1862, which had authorized his issue of greenbacks as Secretary of the Treasury, was unconstitutional. Although he had a stroke of paralysis in 1870, his name was once mo
re brought forward as a candidate for the Presidential nomination at the Liberal Republican convention in 1872.

  CLAY, CLEMENT CLAIBORNE 1816–1882 He served as U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1853 until his withdrawal in 1861, on the secession of his State. After two years in the Confederate Senate, he was sent on a secret mission to Canada in the spring of 1864. Clay was engaged in planning raids on the frontier and in attempting to promote informal peace negotiations with the United States Government. Returning to the Confederacy shortly before the close of hostilities, he was listed as one of the conspirators accused of participation in Lincoln’s assassination. On learning of the reward offered for his arrest, he surrendered to the Federals in Georgia, and was taken to Fort Monroe, where he was confined for nearly a year. In the autumn of 1865, Clay’s wife went to the capital, where she had once been a famous belle, and beset President Johnson with appeals for her husband’s release. She had a futile interview with Stanton, but was kindly received by General Grant, who wrote a letter recommending that Clay should be freed. Senator Henry Wilson voluntarily called on Mrs. Clay to assure her of his belief in her husband’s innocence, and wrote a recommendation similar to that given by Grant. In April, 1866, Clay was at last released, without trial, his delicate constitution seriously impaired by his confinement.

  COBB, HOWELL 1815–1868 On resigning in early December, 1860, as Secretary of the Treasury, Cobb immediately returned to Georgia to give all his efforts to promoting the secessionist movement in that State. He was chairman of the provisional congress which organized the Southern Confederacy. He later became colonel of a Georgia regiment, was promoted brigadier, and, in 1863, with the rank of major-general, he commanded the District of Georgia. He surrendered at Macon after the fall of the Confederacy.

  COLFAX, SCHUYLER 1823–1885 From 1863 until 1869, he was Speaker of the House, supporting during the postwar period the radical reconstruction program. He was elected Vice-President on the ticket with Grant in 1868, but four years later failed to be renominated. Colfax, like many other prominent Republicans, was accused of being implicated in the Crédit Mobilier scandal, and his reputation suffered from charges of corruption. He passed his later years as a popular lecturer.

  CORCORAN, MICHAEL 1827–1863 The son of a captain in the British army, he served for a time in the Irish constabulary, but resigned in 1849, and emigrated to the United States. After nearly a year in Southern prisons, Corcoran was exchanged in the summer of 1862. He was promoted brigadier, and received welcoming ovations in Washington and New York. He organized the Corcoran Legion, which saw service in Virginia in 1863. After Gettysburg, the legion was attached to the Army of the Potomac. In December, 1863, Corcoran was thrown and killed while riding near Fairfax Court-House.

  CORCORAN, WILLIAM WILSON 1798–1888 His warm sympathy for the South led the Washington banker to go abroad in 1862. He remained in Europe until the close of the war. The Government’s attempted seizure of his Washington residence was at first prevented by the fact that it had been leased to the French minister, who claimed the right to occupy it. However, it was occupied for a time as a military hospital and another hospital was erected in the grounds of his summer home near the capital. The art gallery, which Corcoran later deeded to the city, was used as an army clothing depot during the war. On his return to Washington, Corcoran founded many charitable organizations, and was responsible for having the remains of John Howard Payne brought from Tunis to Georgetown.

  CUSTER, GEORGE ARMSTRONG 1839–1876 He was the youngest officer to attain high rank and reputation in the Civil War, graduating from West Point in 1861, in time to join his regiment on the field of First Bull Run. Singled out by McClellan for his energy on the Peninsula, Custer served as the general’s aide until Burnside took command of the Army of the Potomac. In July, 1863, with the rank of brigadier, he commanded Michigan cavalry at Gettysburg, and distinguished himself under Sheridan in the heavy cavalry actions in the Wilderness and the Shenandoah Valley, and in the final assaults on Petersburg and Richmond. At the end of the war, he was promoted major-general of volunteers, and brevetted with the same rank in the regular Army. He remained in the service, as lieutenant-colonel of the Seventh U.S. Cavalry. In 1866, he accompanied Hancock’s expedition against the Cheyenne Indians. While engaged in an expedition against the Sioux in 1876, Custer and two hundred and sixty-four men of the Seventh advanced on a large band of Indians, and were massacred.

  DAHLGREN, JOHN ADOLPHUS BERNARD 1809–1870 Promoted rear-admiral in 1863, he was eager for active service, and was given command of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. He co-operated with General Gillmore in the prolonged and unsuccessful attempt to take Charleston. Dahlgren was chiefly distinguished as a scientific officer and inventor. After holding various commands, he was appointed chief of the Ordnance Bureau in 1868, and the following year again commanded the Washington Navy Yard. His son, Ulric (1842–1864), served with great distinction in the Union army. In the pursuit of Lee’s forces after Gettysburg, he received a severe wound, which resulted in the amputation of his leg. He returned to active service on crutches, and was killed in an attempt to release Union prisoners at Richmond.

  DANA, CHARLES ANDERSON 1819–1897 After performing confidential missions for Secretary Stanton, he was made second Assistant Secretary of War in 1864. He acquired a part interest in the New York Sun in 1868, and edited that newspaper until his death.

  DAVIS, JEFFERSON 1808–1889 After the collapse of the Confederacy, he fled from Richmond and was captured by Federal cavalry in Georgia on May 10. He was imprisoned at Fort Monroe, where he was at first placed in irons. His health suffered from his confinement, and he was later less severely treated, and permitted to have his family with him. Davis’s case was involved in disputes over the jurisdiction of his trial. After two years in military custody, he was handed over to the civil authorities, indicted for treason and released on bail of $100,000. Davis was never brought to trial. He was included in the proclamation of general amnesty which President Johnson issued in December, 1868. His last years were passed on a country estate in Mississippi, where he wrote the two-volume story of his career, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. Davis might have resumed his place as United States Senator from Mississippi, but declined to ask for a Federal pardon.

  DENNISON, WILLIAM 1815–1882 As governor of Ohio in 1861, he enthusiastically supported the administration and in 1864, he was president of the National Union convention which re-nominated Lincoln for the Presidency. On Montgomery Blair’s resignation in the following autumn, Dennison was appointed Postmaster General. He continued in office under President Johnson, resigning in 1866.

  DIX, JOHN ADAMS 1798–1879 As a boy, he took part in the War of 1812, won a lieutenant’s commission, and remained in the Army until 1828, when he resigned with the rank of captain. Dix was active in Democratic politics in New York State, and was U.S. Senator, 1845–1849. By a flirtation with the Free-Soil movement, he estranged Southerners, and injured his political prospects, and Dix was thereafter a strongly reactionary Democrat. He was postmaster of New York City when, in January, 1861, he became Buchanan’s Secretary of the Treasury. He staunchly supported the Union, and in the early months of the war was active in organizing and forwarding New York regiments. Appointed major-general of volunteers, he anticipated a command in Virginia, but to his indignation was sidetracked in Baltimore in July, 1861. In May, 1862, he took command at Fort Monroe, being transferred in July, 1863, to New York, as commander of the Department of the East. Dix was minister to France for four years after the war, and in 1872 served one term as Republican governor of New York. He was a lawyer, editor and railroad president; a man of much culture, prominent in the affairs of the Episcopal Church. His son, Morgan Dix, was for many years rector of Trinity Church, New York.

  EARLY, JUBAL ANDERSON 1816–1894 Born Franklin County, Va.; West Point, '37. He resigned from the Army to practice law, but served as a major in Mexico, returning to civil life when the war was
over. In 1861, he entered the Confederate army, and was promoted brigadier-general in 1862, after receiving severe wounds on the Peninsula. The rout of his forces by the Army of the Shenandoah impaired the confidence he had won by his successful leadership in previous engagements, and he was relieved of command in March, 1865. Early went abroad after the war, but later returned to the United States. He remained until the end of his life an unreconstructed rebel.

  ECKERT, THOMAS THOMPSON 1825–1910 The chief of military telegraphs performed many confidential offices for Secretary Stanton. During the investigation of the assassination conspiracy, he devoted himself to detective work, to examining witnesses and especially to trying to get a confession from Lewis Paine, whom Stanton placed in Eckert’s custody. Eckert was made Assistant Secretary of War in July, 1866, resigning early in 1867 to become superintendent of the eastern division of the Western Union Telegraph Company. In 1875, he became president of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company. After its merger with Western Union, he was successively vice-president, president and chairman of the board.

  FARRAGUT, DAVID GLASGOW 1801–1870 He was born near Knoxville, Tennessee, the descendant of Spanish dons whose estates were in the Balearic Islands, and received his midshipman’s warrant before he was ten years old. He saw active service in the War of 1812. In April, 1861, he was an elderly captain with a long record of honorable service. Virginia was the State of his adoption, through his marriage and long residence there, but he did not hesitate to cast his fortunes with the Union. He became its great naval hero with the capture of New Orleans, and was commissioned rear-admiral. He assisted in opening the Mississippi to navigation, and in 1864 won the victory of Mobile Bay. With the vigor and adaptability of a younger officer, Farragut met new and complicated conditions of naval warfare, damned the torpedoes, shelled casemented forts, and handled ironclads, rams and fire rafts. A grateful nation loaded him with gifts and honors. Congress created the grade of vice-admiral for him, and in 1866 that of admiral, a rank never previously held in the navy of the United States.