EDWIN M. STANTON.
Secretary of War. Appointed Jan. 15,1862.
pants of Beach’s hall increased rapidly, and I found it well to have a skilful New York detective officer, who had "been placed at my disposition, enrolled among them. These men called themselves “National Volunteers,” and in their meetings openly discussed the seizure of the national capital at the proper moment. They drilled industriously, and had regular business meetings, full reports of which were regularly laid before me every following morning by “the New York member.” In the meeting at which the uniform to be adopted was discussed, the vote was for gray Kentucky jeans, with the Maryland button. A cautious member suggested that they must remember that, in order to procure arms, it would be “ necessary to get the requisition signed by ‘ Old Stone,’ and if he saw that they had adopted the Maryland button, and not that of the United States, he might suspect them and refuse the issue of arms!” Doctor B-------- supported the idea of the Mary-
land button, and said that, if Stone refused the arms, the Governor of Virginia would see them furnished, etc.
The Washington Light Infantry organization and the National Guard were old volunteers composed of Washington people, and were almost to a man faithful to the Government. Of their officers, Major-General Weightman, though aged, and Major-General Force, aged and infirm, were active, and true as steel; Brigadier-Generals Bacon and Carrington were young, active, and true. Brigadier-General Robert Ould, who took no part in the preparations of the winter, joined the Confederates as soon as Virginia passed her ordinance of secession, and his known sentiments precluded consultation with him.
Having thus studied the ground, and taken the first necessary steps toward security, I commenced the work of providing a foree of volunteers.
I addressed individual letters to some forty well-known and esteemed gentlemen of the District, informing each one that it would be agreeable to the Government should he in his neighborhood raise and organize a company of volunteers for the preservation of order in the District. To some of these letters I received no replies to some I received replies courteously declining the service; to some I received letters sarcastically declining; but to many I received replies enthusiastically accepting the service. In about six weeks thirty-three companies of infantry and riflemen and two troops of cavalry were on the lists of the District volunteer force; and all had been uniformed, equipped, and put under frequent drill.
The Northern Liberties fire-companies brought their quota; the Lafayette Hose Company was prompt to enroll; the masons, the carpenters, the stone-cutters, the painters, and the German turners responded: each corporation formed its companies and drilled industriously. Petty rivalries disappeared, and each company strove to excel the others in drill and discipline. While the newly organized companies thus strove to perfect themselves, the older organizations resumed their drills and filled their ranks with good recruits. .	.	.
While the volunteer force for the support of the Government was organizing, another force with exactly the opposite purpose was in course of formation. I learned that the great hall over Beach’s livery-stable was nightly
filled with men who were actively drilled. Doctor B---,
of well-known secession tendencies, was the moving spirit of these men, and he was assisted by other citizens of high standing, among whom was a connection of Governor Letcher of Virginia. The numbers of these occult
WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
Secretary of State throughout Mr. Lincoln’s Administration.
Prom a daguerreotype taken about. 1851.
they are uncertain as to what can be done or what the Government desires to have done, and they have no rallying-point.”
The general walked the room again in silence. The carriage came to the door, and I accompanied him toward it. As he was leaving, he turned suddenly, looked me in the face, placed his hand on my shoulder, and said:
“ These people have no rallying-point. Make yourself that rallying-point! ”
The next day I was commissioned by the President colonel in the staff and Inspector-General of the District of Columbia. I was mustered into the service of the United States from the 2d day of January, 1861, on the special requisition of the General-in-Chief, and thus was the first of two and a half millions called into the military service of the Government to defend it against secession. . . .
An office was assigned me in the War Department, convenient to the army-registers and near the Secretary of War, who kindly gave orders that I should at all times be admitted to his cabinet without waiting, and room was made for me in the office of Major-General Weightman, the senior major-general of the District, where each day I passed several hours in order to confer with him, and to be able promptly to obtain his authority for any necessary order.