Colonel Washington called this morning but could not see the
President.
It would seem like a happy chance to have a General
Washington living and fighting among us at this time.
The streets were full of the talk of Baltimore. It seems to
be generally thought that a mere handful of men has raised this storm that now
threatens the loyalty of a State.
I went up with Nicolay, Pangborn and Whitley to see the
Massachusetts troops quartered in the Capitol. The scene was very novel. The
contrast was very painful between the grey-haired dignity that filled the
Senate Chamber when I saw it last, and the present throng of bright-looking
Yankee boys, the most of them bearing the signs of New England rusticity in
voice and manner, scattered over the desks, chairs and galleries, some loafing,
many writing letters slowly and with plough-hardened hands, or with
rapid-glancing clerkly fingers, while Grow stood patient by the desk and franked
for everybody. The Hall of Representatives is as yet empty. Lying on a sofa and
looking upward, the magnificence of the barracks made me envy the soldiers who
should be quartered there. The wide-spreading sky-lights overarching the vast
hall like heaven, blushed and blazed with gold and the heraldic devices of the
married States, while, all around it, the eye was rested by the massive simple
splendor of the stalagmitic bronze reliefs. The spirit of our institutions
seemed visibly present to inspire and nerve the acolyte, sleeping in her temple
beside his unfleshed sword . . . .
The town is full to-night of feverish rumors about a
meditated assault upon the town, and one, which seems to me more probable, on
Fort McHenry. The garrison there, is weak and inadequate, and in spite of the
acknowledged bravery of Robinson and Hazard, it must fall if attacked.
Ellsworth telegraphs that his regiment has been raised,
accepted, and that he wants them sent to Fort Hamilton for preliminary drill. Cameron
authorised the answer that the commander there should have orders to that
effect. Much is hoped from the gallant Colonel's Bloodtubs. They would be worth
their weight in Virginia currency in Fort McHenry to-night.
The Massachusetts men drilled to-night on the Avenue. They
afford a happy contrast to the unlicked patriotism that has poured ragged and
unarmed out of Pennsylvania. They step together well, and look as if they meant
business.
Jim Lane wrote a note to the President to-day, offering to
bring any assignable number of northern fighting men over the border at the
shortest possible notice. Gen. Scott seems to think that four or five thousand
men will be a sufficient garrison to hold this town against any force that may
be brought out from Maryland or Virginia woods.
SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and
Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 13; Tyler Dennett, Editor, Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and
Letters of John Hay, Da Cappo Press, 1988 (Paperback), p. 4-6
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