Page:Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs (Volume One).djvu/322

Rh instructions to make his way to Washington at the earliest moment. I followed in the next boat. Upon my arrival at General Butler’s headquarters, I learned that Bixby had left on foot. As the troops were at work in re-laying the track, there was no danger. Indeed, the small squads of men who had burned bridges and torn up tracks disappeared upon the arrival of troops. At nine o’clock in the evening, a train, the first train, carrying the New York Sixty-ninth Regiment, left for Annapolis Junction, at which place we arrived at one o’clock in the morning. The only light upon the train was the headlight, and we moved only the length of the train at each inspection of the road. I made a pillow of my small valise, and a bed of my blanket, and camped on the floor of one of the small houses at Annapolis Junction. In the morning I found Colonel Butterfield of the New York Twelfth and Colonel Scott, a nephew of General Scott, who assumed the direction of affairs. He afterwards joined the rebels. I observed also that our encampment was commanded by hills on the north and east, and Colonel Butterfield informed me that the picket line was a long way inside the base of the hills. At about six o’clock in the evening, a train with troops and three civilians was made ready for Washington. The American flag was displayed at many of the houses on the line of the road.

I arrived in Washington the 27th day of April. I annex a copy of a letter that I wrote to Governor Andrew the day following:

, April 28, 1861.&emsp; To His Excellency Governor Andrew.

Sir:—I arrived in Washington to-day, after a journey of forty-eight hours from Philadelphia by Annapolis. There have been no mails from the North for a week; and you may easily understand, that the mighty public sentiment of the Free States is not yet fully appreciated here.