THE OPENING OF THE WAR. -
MR. WILSON'S ENERGETIC ACTION. - HIS MEASURES IN CONGRESS. - GEN.
SCOTT'S OPINION OF HIS SERVICES. - THE MASSACHUSETTS TWENTY-SECOND
REGIMENT. - HIS UNSELFISH PATRIOTISM. - HIS LABORS IN THE SENATE.
THE inaugural of Mr.
Lincoln was conciliatory, but decided. It echoed the sentiment of the
Republican party, declaring that the Constitution should be faithfully
regarded, and the rights of Southern men respected. It served, however,
but to inflame the animosity of the secessionists; and, on the afternoon
of April 12, the fearful drama opened by the cannonade upon Fort Sumter.
"Those guns proclaim the doom of slavery," said Mr Wilson; "but a
tremendous conflict is before us." He and Mr. Wabridge of New York
advised the president (May 1) to call for three hundred thousand instead
of seventy-five thousand men; and, persuading the secretary of war to
double the number of men apportioned to the State he represented, he
telegraphed immediately to Gov. Andrew, requesting that one brigade be
sent at once to Washington. Returning home, he received intelligence
that the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, under Col. Edward F. Jones, had
been fired upon while passing through the streets of Baltimore. Spending
a sleepless night, he started on the following day for Washington.
Learning that communication with that city had been closed, he left New
York on April 21, and went by water with the troops to Annapolis. On
finding Gen. Butler here in want of cannon to defend the place, he
returned immediately to New York, obtained some heavy pieces of
artillery, and then, as soon as possible, went to Washington, where he
continued laboring day and night in making preparations for the coming
conflict. In the hospital, the camp, the cabinet, his cheerful voice was
heard encouraging and counselling; and, by his earnest exhortations,
many persons in those dark days of doubt and indecision were induced to
ignore minor differences, and to stand fast by the Union. As the
rebellion strengthened, Mr. Lincoln saw that more efficient measures
must be taken to subdue it; and he therefore called an extra session of
Congress, which assembled on the fourth day of July, and at once
proceeded to important business.
As chairman of the
Military Committee of the Senate, Mr. Wilson entered on a course of'
ceaseless toil and vigilance. It was a post of vast responsibility,
demanding clear conception, solid judgment, great executive ability, and
a practical knowledge of military affairs. An army was to be raised,
equipped, and officered; supplies and hospitals were to be provided, and
funds for carrying on the war obtained. It was fortunate that the
government found in Mr. Wilson one who, by long experience in
legislative and military life, by comprehensive views, by good sound
common sense, and by celerity of execution, was qualified to meet the
With an energy
unparalleled in the annals of legislation, he engaged in making
preparations for the coming conflict.
On the 6th of July he
introduced into the Senate the important bill authorizing the president
to call for five hundred thousand volunteers, which on the 21st of that
month became a law; also the bill to "increase the military
establishment of the United States," which was approved by the president
on the 29th of July; and the bill providing for the "better organization
of the military establishment." It contained twenty-five sections, and
received the signature of the president on the third day of August.
Of the last bill Mr.
Wilson said, "I have labored night and day for many days and nights to
fit and prepare this bill to meet the actual wants of the country; and,
in doing so, I confess that in every step of it I have had to meet the
interests, the jealousies, or the prejudices of men connected with the
army of the United States: but, in framing it, I have endeavored to be
governed wholly by the public interest."
On the 2d of July he
introduced the bill authorizing the president "to accept of the services
of volunteers, either as cavalry, infantry, or artillery, in such
numbers as the exigencies of the public service might in his opinion
demand." This bill became a law on the 26th of the same month. On the
29th be brought forward a bill to provide for the purchase of arms,
ordnance, and ordnance-stores, which was approved by the president on
the third day of August; and on the last day of July he presented the
bill for the appointment of additional aides-de-camp, which was enacted
on the 5th of August. By a provision of this act, the barbarous custom
of flogging was abolished in the army. On the first day of August he
introduced the bill for making an appropriation of a hundred thousand
dollars for contingencies for fortifications, and on the next day the
"bill to authorize an increase in the corps of engineers and
On the 5th of the same
month he introduced an important bill to increase the pay of privates in
the army from eleven to thirteen dollars per month; also to extend the
provisions of the act "for the relief of the Ohio volunteers and other
volunteers" to all volunteers, no matter for what term of service they
might have been accepted. He also added an amendment to the bill, that
all the acts, proclamations, and orders of the president after the 4th
of March, 1861, respecting the army and navy, be legalized and made
valid. This received the approval of Mr. Lincoln on the 6th of August.
To frame, explain, and
defend these various bills, which called into being, organized, and
provisioned a vast army, demanded an extent of information, a
constructive ability, and a rapidity of execution, such as but few
law-makers possess. In view of these herculean labors, Gen. Scott
remarked that "Senator Wilson had done more work in that short session
than all the chairmen of the military committees had done for the last
twenty years." He afterwards addressed to him the following note of
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 1861.
DEAR SIR, - In taking
leave of you some days ago, I fear that I did not so emphatically
express my thanks to you, as our late chairman of the Senate Committee,
as my feelings and those of my brother-officers of the army (with whom I
have conversed) warranted, for your able and zealous efforts to give to
the service the fullest war development and efficiency. It is pleasing
to remember the pains you took to obtain accurate information, wherever
it could be found, as a basis for wise legislation; and we hope it may
be long before the army loses your valuable services in the same
With great esteem,
Yours very truly,
Hon. H. WILSON,
Chairman Senate Military Committee.
Such strenuous action for
the soldier in the Senate-chamber, camp, and hospital, such cordial
sympathy with him in his toils and suffirings, gained for Mr. Wilson the
enviable name of "THE SOLDIER'S FRIEND."
Mr. Wilson was personally
present at the disastrous battle of Bull Run, July 21, aiding and
encouraging officers and privates as he had opportunity. Attempts were
made by the confederates to secure his person; but he returned to
Washington in safety. Undismayed by the repulse, he said to one of his
friends on Monday following, "This is our chastisement for fighting on
the sabbath. But we are right in principle: God is on the side of right;
and we shall win if we obey him. We want more men; we must go to work
for them; and, just as soon as possible, I intend to raise a regiment in
On the adjournment of
Congress, the president was desirous that Mr. Wilson should be appointed
brigadier-general of volunteers; but, as this would compel the
resignation of his seat as senator, he preferred to carry out his
original design of raising a regiment of men at home. Obtaining
authority for this, he returned to Massachusetts, issued an address,
held an enthusiastic meeting in Faneuil Hall, and commenced recruiting.
Such was his popularity, that, in the space of forty days, he raised
nearly two thousand three hundred men. They were strong, intelligent
farmers, mechanics, and tradesmen, from the good families of the
Commonwealth. Out of them were formed the Twenty-second Regiment, a part
of the Twenty-third Regiment, one company of sharpshooters, and two
batteries of artillery. The first company went into camp at Lynnfield on
the second day of September; and on that day Mr. Wilson received his
commission from the governor as colonel, with the distinct
understanding, however, that his senatorial duties would permit him to
remain with the regiment only for a brief period; and that he would, on
leaving it, endeavor to find some able commander to assume his place. On
the eighth day of October, the regiment, with full ranks, and armed with
Enfield rifles, together with the company of sharpshooters and the third
battery of light artillery, left for Washington. Previous to his
departure, Mr. Wilson received as a present from some friends a fine
Morgan horse, with saddle and housings, as a testimonial of their
confidence and regard; and a splendid flag was presented by Robert C.
Winthrop to the regiment on Boston Common. On their way to Washington,
these troops were most enthusiastically greeted by the people. In New
York a banquet was prepared for them, attended by eminent men of every
party. A beautiful flag was presented to the regiment by the late
distinguished lawyer, James T. Brady. They arrived at Washington on the
eleventh day of October; and two days later, crossing the Potomac, went
into camp with Gen. Martindale's brigade in Fitz-John Porter's division
at Halls Hill in Virginia. His duties in connection with the Senate
rendered it necessary for Mr. Wilson to leave his fine regiment: and he
therefore gave up his commission on the 28th of October; and the
accomplished Jesse D. Gore (killed June 27, 1862, at Gaines's Mills, Va.)
was appointed to fill the vacancy.
When the regiment, after
the unfortunate battle of Ball's Bluff, Oct. 29, was expected to advance
to an engagement with the enemy, Mr. Wilson offered to share the danger;
but, as circumstances changed, his personal presence was not demanded.
This regiment, and
especially the third battery under the command of the able and heroic
Augustus P. Martin, performed effective service in many warm engagements
during the Rebellion. "The valuable and efficient service you have
rendered your country," said Gen. Charles Griffin in a letter to the
commander of the regiment at the expiration of Its term of service in
October, 1864, "during the past three years of its eventful history, is
deserving of its gratitude and - Mr. Wilson always took the liveliest
interest in the regiment, and provided for the intellectual and moral
advancement, as well as for the personal comforts, of the men; for he
believed that "bayonets which think fight best." The manner in which its
officers and men regarded him may be seen from the following letter,
HALL'S HILL, VA., Oct. 21,
MY DEAR SIR, - I know not
what I am going to write: but I know what is in my heart; and that is, a
deep respect and affection for yourself.
My father died more than
four years since; and I have not met, until I knew you, one whom I could
look up to with that mingled respect and affection which is due to a
father. You have chidden only when it was for our good, and have
exhibited a kindness and benevolence of heart which no man shall ever
dare to deny to you before me.
Be assured, sir, that I
fully appreciate your acts of kindness to me; and they have been many, -
so many, indeed, that I have come slowly to the conclusion that a man
may, even in these days, occupy a high position without abandoning his
good qualities. May God prosper you in your labors for our beloved
country! I tremble when I think what power is in your hands to do our
country good or evil, and only pray that you may never be swerved from
that bright pathway along which you are now journeying.
WM. S. TILTON.
On resigning his position
as colonel of the Twenty-second Regiment, Mr. Wilson, by the pressing
invitation of the secretary of war, took position for a brief period as
an aide-de-camp on Gen. McClellan's staff; in order that he might, by
practical observation of the condition of the army, increase its power
and efficiency by his labors in the legislative hall. The organization
of fresh forces on so vast a scale demanded practical knowledge of the
art of war; and the best place to obtain it was at head-quarters on the
field. But senatorial duties soon compelled him to return to Washington
; and, in the letter accepting his resignation as an aide-de-camp, Gen.
Williams said, "The reasons assigned in your letter (Jan. 9) are such,
that the general is not permitted any other course than that of
directing the acceptance of your resignation. He wishes me to add that
it is with regret that he sees the termination of the pleasant official
relations which have existed between you and himself, and that he yields
with reluctance to the necessity created by the pressure upon you of
other and more important public duties."
He cheerfully bore his
own expenses while raising his regiment, and received no pay whatever
for his services as colonel or as Gen. McClellan's aide-de-camp.
To the infamous charge of
W. H. Russell of "The London Times," that Senator Wilson was interested
in large shoe contracts, and had taken better care of himself and his
fortunes than of a suffering nation, he made the following distinct and
unequivocal reply: -
"NATICK, Nov. 9, 1861.
To the Editor of 'THE
I ask you, and other
conductors of public journals in Massachusetts willing to do me a
personal favor, to publish this explicit denial of the truthfulness of
the story some person or persons have invented and put in circulation,
that I have a government contract for a million pairs of shoes, by when
I am to realize the sum of a quarter of a million of dollars. This
story, in all its parts and in every form, is utterly false; and the
person or persons originating it knew it to be a false and wicked
slander. I have no contract, I have had no contract, with the
government, either directly or indirectly, for shoes, or for any thing
else; nor have I now, nor have I had, any interest in any contract of
any person whatever with the government. I not only have no contract
with the government, nor interest in the contracts of others, but no man
now has, nor has had, any contract with the government through any
agency or influence of mine. The government, since the 4th of March, has
made no contract with any man, for any purpose whatever, through any
agency or influence of mine ; and it never will make contracts through
any agency or influence of mine. As a senator of Massachusetts, mindful
of her interests, I have sometimes reminded the department of the
manufacturing and mechanical skill of her people; of their losses by
this wicked Rebellion ; of their readiness to furnish men and money to
sustain the national cause; of their capacity to furnish the army, at
the lowest rates, needed articles: and I have expressed the hope that
the agents of the government, in their purchases, would not forget the
people of my State. This much I have said; this much I felt I had a
right to say; and this much I felt it my duty to say. But to all men,
who have asked me by word or letter to aid them in obtaining contracts
of the government, I have said that my sense of propriety would not
permit me to have any thing to do with contracts; that I could not, in
any way, aid in procuring contracts; that no man ever had, or ever would
have, contracts through my agency or influence. This has been, now is,
and will ever be, my position,"
While many men in power
most shamefully enriched themselves and families by "the spoils of war,"
the record of Henry Wilson is absolutely clean and clear. "I am not
worth enough," said he in one of his addresses, "to buy a pine coffin
for my burial." Immaculate as an old Roman patriot, he stands unscathed
by any charge of bribery, venality, or corruption.
Eleven States were now in
open rebellion against the government. A Southern confederacy had been
formed, with Jefferson Davis at the head; many forts and arsenals had
been seized, and a vast confederate army was in the field. Old landmarks
had been broken down, and a new order of things had begun. Four million
slaves were panting to be free. The capital of the nation had become a
camping-ground, and open war was the order of the day.
It was forced upon the
government: the South must take the consequences. The president had, on
the sixteenth day of August, declared a state of insurrection; and the
leading questions were, "How shall the Union be preserved?" "How
increase and officer, and impart efficiency to; the army?" "What shall
be done with slaves and rebel property?" "How, at the least expense of
blood, crush the Rebellion?"
Rapid, efficient, and
decisive legislation was demanded for the exigency; and it was fortunate
for the country that strong men were in the halls of Congress. For the
most part they were true reformers, educated in the school of freedom,
and prepared for the tremendous issue. Among them Henry Wilson stood
prominent. He had studied America, her spirit and her institutions; he
saw distinctly where the merit of the question lay; and, though he
shuddered at the sacrifice, he felt certain of the ultimate result.
Entering with indomitable industry upon business at the second session
of the Thirty-seventh Congress, he introduced, and carried to enactment,
many bills and resolutions which had an an immediate bearing on the
efficiency of the army and the government. Among the more important
measures was a bill providing for the appointment of persons to procure
from volunteers their respective allotments of pay for their families,
which was enacted Dec. 24, 1861; a bill regulating courts-martial in the
army; "a bill to provide for the better organization of the signal
department of the army," approved on the twenty-second day of February,
1862; a bill for the "appointment of sutlers in the volunteer service;"
a bill "to increase the efficiency of the medical department of the
army;" a bill to facilitate the discharge of enlisted men for physical
disability; a joint resolution providing for the presentation of medals
of honor to the enlisted men of the army and volunteer forces who may
distinguish themselves in battle;" a bill, introduced on the eighth day
of July, "to amend the act calling forth the militia to execute the
laws, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions," which became a law
on the 17th of July, 1862.
By this important act the
president is authorized to receive persons of African descent for any
military service for which they are competent; and all Africans
rendering such service shall be free. This act authorized, for the first
time, the drafting of negroes, and their regular introduction as
soldiers into the service of the United States.
Mr. Wilson also, on the
23d of December, introduced the bill into the Senate, dismissing from
the service officers guilty of surrendering fugitive slaves to their
masters. After much discussion, it became a law March 13, 1862.
It was framed to protect
those slaves, who, as our armies advanced into the rebel States, fled to
them for refuge, and who offered, in the words of Mr. Wilson, "to work
and fight for the flag whose stars for the first time gleamed upon their
vision with the radiance of liberty."
On resigning his office
as secretary of war during this session, Mr. Cameron addressed to him
the following letter: -
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 1862.
MY DEAR SIR, - No man, in
my opinion, in the whole country, has done more to aid the war
department is preparing the mighty army now under arms than yourself;
and, before leaving this city, I think it my duty to offer to you my
sincere thanks as its late head.
As chairman of the
Military Committee of the Senate, your services were invaluable. At the
first call for troops, you came here; and up to the meeting of Congress,
a period of more than six months, your labors were incessant. Sometimes
in encouraging the administration by assurances of support from
Congress, by encouraging volunteering in your own State, by raising a
regiment yourself when other men began to fear that compulsory drafts
might be necessary, and in the Senate by preparing the bills, and
assisting to get the necessary appropriations, for organizing, clothing,
arming, and supplying the army, you have been constantly and profitably
employed in the great cause of putting down the unnatural Rebellion.
For the many personal
favors you have done me since the beginning of this struggle I shall
ever be grateful. Your friend truly,
Hon. HENRY WILSON.
On the 16th of December,
1861, he introduced a bill "for the release of certain persons held to
service or labor [that is, for the abolition of slavery] in the District
of Columbia." "If it shall become a law of the land," said Mr. Wilson,
"it will blot out slavery forever from the national capital, transform
three thousand personal chattels into freemen, obliterate oppressive,
odious, and hateful laws and ordinances which press with merciless force
upon persons, bond or free, of African descent, and relieve the nation
from the responsibilities now pressing upon it. An act of beneficence
like this will be hailed and applauded by the nations, sanctified by
justice, humanity, and religion, by the approving voice of conscience,
and by the blessing of Him who bids us "break every yoke, undo the heavy
burden, and let the oppressed go free."
This bill met with bitter
opposition from the secession element in Congress, but was finally
passed; and the president gave it his approval on the sixteenth day of
April, 1862. The freedmen then assembled in their churches, and offered
thanks to God for their deliverance.
In the enactment of this
law Mr. Wilson saw the realization of those hopes which he had expressed
in his first public speech, made a full quarter of a century before, in
Strafford (N. H.) Academy. He surely had been led in a way he knew not
to the accomplishment of a part in rending the chain of the bondman, for
which his name will ever be held by the friends of freedom in grateful
The following letters
from two eminent philanthropists the general sentiment of the North in
respect to Mr. Wilson's course: -
NEW YORK, April 28, 1862.
Hon. HENRY WILSON,
Senator in Congress from Massachusetts.
My dear Sir, - I have to
day read your speech of March 27 "On the Bill to abolish Slavery in the
District of Columbia," for the second time, and must drop you a line to
say that it deserves to be written in letters of gold, and be put into
the hands of every citizen of the United States. To you, especially, is
the country indebted for the passage of this bill. May the country ever
be grateful! and may the blessing of the God of the oppressed rest upon
you! As a native of Massachusetts, and the son of a Massachusetts
mechanic, I feel thankful that one of her senators has, under the divine
blessing, accomplished such a humane deed.
Although it will at all
times give me pleasure to hear from you, I do not expect, that, amidst
your arduous labors, you can acknowledge the receipt of the many letters
addressed to you. My object is not now, more than heretofore, to draw
from you a response, but to assure you of the very grateful sense I have
of your successful services in the case to which I have alluded, and of
the eminent services rendered to your country throughout your whole
Respectfully and truly
THE JAY HOMESTEAD, KATOUCH,
N.Y., April 17, 1862.
MY DEAR GEN. WILSON, - I
must thank you, and congratulate you that our National Government sits,
at last, in a free capital. Your part in the accomplishment of this
great triumph of national justice and national dignity will be long
remembered by a grateful people; and, if you had not done so much else
for the country, you might safely rest your historic fame on that single
act and your sturdy efforts to crown it with success.
For myself, I can hardly
recall without emotion my boyish efforts to arouse attention to the
atrocity of slavery in Washington, commenced nearly thirty years ago,
and those of my father, which I find, from one of his petitions,
commenced in 1826, as I read the record of the vote in the House, and
the president's message, and thank God that the work of abolition has
begun, and the first great step boldly taken towards the position of a
I trust the good work
will be pushed speedily. Slavery is doomed; and it is worse than useless
to prolong the agony of dissolution.
Always faithfully yours,