Page:Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs (Volume One).djvu/325

Rh conduct of Virginia. He spoke also of the efforts that had been made to induce him to go with his State. He seemed like a man without hope, but there were no indications of a lack of fidelity to the country. Aside from the circumstance that he was a native of Virginia and that Virginia was engaged in the Rebellion, it was too much to expect that at his age he could cope with so formidable a movement as the rebellion of eleven States. While I was in Washington I presented to General Scott a young man, Henry S. Briggs, a son of ex-Governor Briggs, whom General Scott had known when Governor Briggs was in Congress. Young Briggs was a lieutenant in the Berkshire regiment, then on duty in Washington. He wished for a corresponding appointment in the regular army. This appointment General Scott secured for him. Afterwards he became colonel of a Massachusetts regiment of volunteers and at the end of the war he was a brigadier-general of volunteers.

I left Washington for Massachusetts May 1. I was delayed a night and until four o’clock the day following at Annapolis, where General Butler was in command. I had my quarters with him, and during the night the long roll was beaten. The troops came out, and I waited for the result, which was the discovery that the call was due to a misunderstanding of the signal rockets. I left Annapolis in a small steam tug that came out of the Raritan Canal. We were buffeted about in the bay by a heavy wind, the captain lost his reckoning, anchored, and the next morning we found ourselves uncomfortably near to the Maryland shore.

The next day, May 2, I reached New York and from there I sent the following letter to Governor Andrew:

, May 2, 1861.&emsp; Sir:—I arrived here this afternoon, and I hope to report to you in person Saturday. I had free conversations with the