AEMY OPEKATIONS. 



97 



ernment. Let us so discharge our duty that posterity 

 shall not blush for us. 



Come heartily and cheerfully to the rescue of our 

 noble commonwealth. Maintain now your honor and 

 freedom. 



Given under my hand and the great seal of the State, 

 at Harrisburg, this the 26th day of June, in the year 

 of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 

 three, and of the Commonwealth the eighty-seventh. 



By the Governor, A. G. CURTIN. 



ELI SLIFER, Secretary of the Commonwealth. 



In Maryland, on the 16th, various uniformed 

 organizations of Baltimore tendered their ser- 

 vices to the Governor for six months. Vigorous 

 efforts were made to enlist recruits under the 

 call of the President, with small success. The 

 troops, however, which could be raised were 

 retained for the defence of Baltimore. 



From Delaware, two regiments, the 5th and 

 6th, numbering 1,919 men, raised for State de- 

 fence, were sent into Maryland, and placed as 

 guards of the railroads. 



From West Virginia no troops came forward 

 at this time. 



Offers of troops for the emergency were made 

 by the Governors of several States to the Pres- 

 ident. But their distance from the scene of 

 operations, or the impression that the force at 

 hand was sufficient, prevented the acceptance 

 of them. 



The call of the President for one hundred 

 thousand men served to authorize the reception 

 of troops for the emergency, which could be 

 put into the field at once, but there was not 

 sufficient time to create new organizations, or 

 to fill up regiments partly organized. 



Meantime the construction of defensive works 

 was immediately commenced at Harrisburg, 

 which was supposed to be the first point of at- 

 tack. The records of the State and the specie 

 in the banks were removed to places of security. 



The scenes in that capital, on the 16th, were 

 thus described by a spectator : 



The morning broke upon a populace all astir, who 

 had been called out of bed by the " beat of the alarm- 

 ing drum," the blast of the bugle, and the clanging of 

 bells. The streets were lively with men, who were 

 either returning from a nights work on the fortifica- 

 tions, or going over to relieve those who were toiling 

 there. As the sun rose higher the excitement gathered 

 head. All along the streets were omnibuses, wagons, 

 and wheelbarrows, taking in trunks and valuables, and 

 rushing them down to the depot, to be shipped out of 

 rebel range. The stores, the female seminaries, and 

 almost every private residence, were busy all of the 

 forenoon in swelling the mountain of freight that lay 

 at the depot. Every horse was impressed into service, 

 and every porter groaned beneath his weight of re- 

 sponsibilities. 



The scene at noon at the depots was indescribable, 

 if not disgraceful. A sweltering mass of humanity 

 thronged the platform, all furious to escape from the 

 doomed city. 



At the bridge and across the river the scene was 

 equally exciting. All through the day a steady stream 

 of people on foot and in wagons, young and old, black 

 and white, was pouring across it from the Cumberland 

 valley, bearing with them their household gods and all 

 manner of goods and stock. Endless trains, laden with 

 flour, grain, and merchandise, hourly emerged from 

 the valley, and thundered across the bridge and through 

 the city. Miles of retreating baggage wagons, filled 

 with calves and sheep tied together, and great old-fash- 

 VOL. in. 7 A 



ioned furnace wagons, loaded with tons of trunks and 

 boxes, defiled in continuous procession down the pike 

 and across the river, raising a dust that marked the 

 outline of the road as far as the eye could see. 



The proceedings at Pittsburg, for the defence 

 of that city, were thus described on Friday, the 

 19th: 



Work on the city defences is still progressing vigor- 

 ously, and some of the more important works are now 

 ready to receive the guns. The number of men employed 

 on the fortifications yesterday was four thousand six 

 hundred and five. The works are on Herron's Hill, on 

 Harrison's Hill, on Mount Washington, on Squirrel 

 Hill, and on Negley's Hill. There are upward of five 

 thousand men in the trenches to-day, and with such a 

 large working force it cannot take many days to finish 

 the works now in hand. Gen. Bernard, with a compe- 

 tent staff of engineers, was engaged in laying out new 

 works yesterday on the outer side of the Alleghany, so 

 as to render the city secure against an advance from 

 that direction. Works have also been laid out near 

 Turtle creek and other important points. 



The activity in Baltimore to prepare for de- 

 fence is thus reported : 



The work of erecting barricades progressed rapidly 

 on Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday morning, the 

 .entire circle of the city was completed and ready for 

 military occupation at any moment that the scouts 

 should announce the approach of the enemy. The erec- 

 tion of lines of intrenchments and fortifications on all 

 the approaches to the city have also progressed rapidly. 

 On Saturday about one thousand colored men were 

 gathered by the police from different sections of the 

 city, causing much excitement among that portion of 

 our population as they were marched out to the differ- 

 ent locations for the defensive works. At night another 

 force was secured to relieve those who had been at 

 work throughout the day, and another relief gang was 

 provided on Sunday morning and evening, so that 

 rapid progress has been made, and the works are now 

 ready for immediate use. 



Meanwhile the movements of Gen. Lee upon 

 the headwaters of the Eappahannock had been 

 made in such force as to lay Gen. Hooker under 

 the necessity of hastily breaking up his camp at 

 Falmouth, and taking new positions to meet thjs 

 demonstration. On Saturday, the 13th, his army 

 began to move from Falmouth, and during Sun- 

 day the stores were removed from Aquia Creek 

 to Alexandria by twenty-six steamers, employ- 

 ed for that purpose. The storehouses and rail- 

 road buildings were not destroyed at that time, 

 as the gunboats commanded the place. On the 

 21st, a small party of the enemy burned the 

 quartermaster's buildings and the wharf. The 

 buildings and wharf known as Urba Switch 

 were not burned. 



On Sunday morning the force on the Frede- 

 ricksburg side recrossed, and on that day the 

 last of Gen. Hooker's army left Falmouth. The 

 corps of Gens. Longstreet and Ewell, of the 

 Confederate army, passed through Culpepper 

 just one week previous, and the latter marched 

 into the Shenandoah valley against Winches- 

 ter, &e. 



The march of Gen. Hooker's army was rapid, 

 and at times disorderly. Bridges broke down 

 beneath the teams; droves of horses became 

 frightened, and rushed through the column 

 like a tornado ; and the men, choked with dust, 

 straggled into the fields in search of water and 



