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Real World 6Th Edition Ferris Test Bank Full Chapter PDF
Real World 6Th Edition Ferris Test Bank Full Chapter PDF
Real World 6Th Edition Ferris Test Bank Full Chapter PDF
ASSASSINATION OF COLONEL
ELLSWORTH.
May 24, 1861.
The defenders of the Union had been gathering at Washington and
in its vicinity for more than a month, in answer to the call for troops,
that rang through the land clear as clarion notes. The arduous labor
of providing for and disciplining the large number of untrained
recruits, collected in such haste, had been met with energy and
perseverance by the officers of the government. Very much had been
accomplished, notwithstanding all the embarrassments incident to
an extensive and untried field of labor.
The heart of the country was beating restively at delay, and
popular feeling, as it found its voice through the press, thundered
anathemas, and clamored for a forward movement. Nothing but
prompt and decisive action would satisfy the people that the
government was sturdily bending its whole energies to strangle the
monster treason in its youth. The people had not yet learned the first
great secret of success—how to wait. They saw the ship of state
struggling fiercely amid the rocks of an untried ocean, and
worshiping the flag at her mast-head, grew clamorous for its
protection. Every newspaper, and almost every household, had its
own ideas of how this was to be accomplished. The government,
unused to war, and anxious to gratify the spirit of patriotism that had
supported it so nobly, was ready to answer the rash clamor; and so
this long, loud cry of ignorant impatience became words of fate, and
ended in giving us the defeat of Bull Run.
The people, the generous loyal people, ever dissatisfied with
anything but lightning speed, in peace or war, clamored for action,
and must be appeased. Under this pressure, events forced each other
on, culminating in action.
Though an act of secession had been passed by a State Convention,
held at Richmond on the 17th of April, it was professedly to be
submitted to the people of the State of Virginia for their approval on
the 23d of May; and though it had been determined by the United
States Government to take possession of, and fortify the Virginia
hills, in front of the capital, it was deemed advisable to await that
event before making any military movement into that State which
could be interpreted into an attempt to influence or control the
popular vote. The conspirators, however, without waiting for any
ratification of their secession act by the people, immediately made a
conveyance of the State to the Confederate government, and claimed
its protection; thus effectually leaving the “mother of States” to
associate with the disobedient daughters.
In consequence of the action of Governor Letcher, Confederate
troops from Georgia, Mississippi, and other Southern States, were
sent rapidly into Virginia, and located at various points, where it was
deemed that they could be of the most use, and best serve the
interests of the Confederacy. The result of this movement could
easily have been foretold. The election was held under military
regime and terrorism, and loyal men, having been warned of the
penalty of voting against secession, either feared to do so, or
neglected to vote altogether; a majority was secured for the
ordinance, and Virginia, “mother of Presidents,” had taken her
second grand step in the downward path of disunion.
The people of the city of Alexandria were generally infected with
disloyalty, and rebel flags floated boldly from many of the principal
buildings. A detachment of Confederate troops was at all times
quartered within its limits, and with the hope of capturing them and
their supplies, it was determined to occupy the city by a surprise
movement. The result of the election clearly foreshadowed,
arrangements were made for action—prompt and decisive action—to
follow immediately upon the closing of the polls, where disunionists
had played a mere farce, and disloyal bayonets had fettered the
freedom of the ballot-box.
On the night of May 23d, orders were given for an advance to the
troops designed for this expedition, numbering in all about 13,000,
and at ten o’clock an advance guard of picked men moved cautiously
over the bridge. Sent to reconnoitre, their commands were
imperative that if assaulted they were to signalize for reinforcements,
which would be speedily furnished by a corps of infantry and a
battery. At twelve o’clock the regiment of infantry, the artillery and
the cavalry corps began to muster, and as fast as they were prepared,
proceeded to the Long Bridge, the portion of the force then in
Washington being directed to take that route. The troops quartered
at Georgetown, comprising the Fifth, Eighth, Twenty-eighth and
Sixty-ninth New York, also proceeded across the Chain Bridge, under
the command of General McDowell.
At half-past one o’clock, six companies of District Volunteers,
including the National Rifles, and Turners, stepped from the Long
Bridge upon Virginia soil. To capture the enemy’s patrols by the
means of boats had been the original plan, but the bright moonlight
prevented it. This vanguard was commanded by Inspector-General
Stone, under whom Captain Smead led the centre, Adjutant Abbott
the left, and Captain Stewart the right wing. When within half a mile
of Alexandria, they halted and awaited the arrival of the main body.
The remainder of the army crossed in the following order: The
Twelfth and Twenty-fifth New York, First Michigan, and First,
Second, Third, and Fourth New Jersey; two regular cavalry corps of
eighty men each, and Sherman’s two batteries; next and last came
the New York Seventh. General Mansfield directed the movements of
the troops. At a quarter to four the last of the forces left, and fifteen
minutes later Major-General Sanford, accompanied by his staff,
proceeded to Virginia to assume the command.
The famous Sixty-ninth New York, after crossing the river below
Georgetown, took position on the Orange and Manassas Gap
railroad, and surrounded and captured the train from Alexandria,
with a large number of passengers, of which a few, known to be
violent secession partizans, were retained as prisoners.
As the Michigan regiment, accompanied by two guns of Sherman’s
renowned battery, and a company of regular cavalry, marched into
the town, a detachment of thirty-five rebel horsemen were found
preparing to mount. The battery came up the street towards them
like a whirlwind, and they soon surrendered.
The New York Fire Zouaves, under the command of Colonel E. E.
Ellsworth, were conveyed in steamers, and as the day was dawning
their dashing uniform and fearless faces flashed upon the citizens of
Alexandria. Not until they had landed did the rebel sentinels discover
them, and then, after firing their muskets as a signal of warning, they
hastened to alarm the sleeping city.
Little need had those brave and untameable “fire fighters” of
directions. The master spirit of all their movements had imbued
them with feelings akin to his own. They knew their duty, and men
trained as they had been in a severe school of danger, could never be
backward in performing it. Ellsworth, who, as it might seem, with the
shadows of death already gathering around him, could sit calmly
down in the dim midnight, after addressing his men in a brief and
stirring speech, announcing the orders to march on Alexandria,
closing with the well remembered words, “Now boys, go to bed and
wake up at two o’clock for a sail and a skirmish;” and after arranging
the business of his regiment, pen letters that seemed “as if the
mystical gales from the near eternity must have breathed for a
moment over his soul, freighted with the odor of amaranths and
asphodels”—needed none to tell him of his duty or to urge him to its
even rash fulfilment.
In the early light of morning he entered the rebel town. A secession
flag waved defiantly from the Marshall House, and with the fiery
enthusiasm of his nature, Ellsworth rushed to tear down the hated
emblem of enmity to the Union he loved so well. With his own hand
he tore the flag from its fastening, and descending the stairs flushed
with the pride of success, came upon his fate. A musket in the hands
of the proprietor, J. W. Jackson, pealed his death-knell, and he
sealed the glories of that too well remembered morning, with his
heart’s blood.
ASSASSINATION OF COLONEL ELLSWORTH.