A History of Massachusetts in the Civil War

Front matter

A HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR BY WILLIAM SCHOULER, LATE ADJUTANT-GENERAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH. BOSTON: E. P. DUTTON & CO., PUBLISHERS, 135 Washington Street. 1868. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1868, by WILLIAM SCHOULER, In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. CAMBRIDGE: STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON. TO THE HONORABLE LEVI LINCOLN, OF WORCESTER, THE MOST VENERABLE AND DISTINGUISHED LIVING CITIZEN OF MASSACHUSETTS, 3Tf)ts Uulume IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR.

Preface

. The original plan of this work would have included a brief narrative of each Massachusetts regiment which had served in the war, and a sketch of the meetings held in the several cities and towns in the Commonwealth to encourage recruiting, and to raise money and provide for the families of the soldiers. I soon found it was impossible to carry out this plan so as to do any thing like justice to the subjects. The mass of papers, letters, and reports bearing upon them placed in my hands, convinced me that one volume should be devoted exclusively to the three years' regiments, and one to the cities and towns. There are several thousand letters in the files of the Gov ernor, Adjutant-General, and Surgeon-General, written from the front by officers and enlisted men, which contain information both interesting and valuable ; and many more are doubtless in the possession of the families of those who served in the war.

From these and other sources, material can be furnished to make an interesting volume ; and it is due to the veteran regi ments that it should be written. I have received new and valuable material from nearly every city and town in the Commonwealth, showing what was done by them in carrying on the war ; and from this could be com piled a work which would reflect the highest honor upon the municipalities of this Commonwealth. Should the present volume be received with favorable regard

PREFACE.

. VI by the people of Massachusetts, it is my purpose to write a volume of the same size and style, devoted exclusively to the three years' regiments and batteries, to be followed by another, devoted to the cities and towns. William Schouler. Lynn, March 17, 1868. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

Massachusetts — Civil Government — Election, 1860 — Legislature — President of the Senate — Speaker of the House — State of the Country — Farewell Address of Governor Banks — Governor Andrew's Inaugural — Their Views of the Crisis — Sketch of Governor Andrew — Lieutenant-Governor — Executive Council — Adjutant- General — Military Staff — Congressmen — The Volunteer Militia — Military Equipment — Early Preparations — Salutes, 8th of January — General Order No. 2 — Report of Adjutant-General — General Order No. 4 — Proceedings of the Legislature — Regular Session — Emergency Fund — Loan Credit of State — Delegates to Peace Convention — South Carolina to Massachusetts — Two thousand Overcoats — Order of Inquiry — Letter of Adjutant-General — Letter of Colonel Henry Lee, Jr. — Meeting of Officers in Governor's Room — Colonel Ritchie sent to Washington — His Letters to the Governor — Secretary Seward's Letter — Letter of Colonel Lee — Charter of Transports — John M. Forbes, Esq. — Meeting in Faneuil Hall — Meeting in Cambridge — Speech of Wendell Phillips, Esq., at New Bedford — Remarks — The President calls for Troops — Tlie Eve of Battle 1-48

Chapter II

The Call for Troops — The Marblehead Companies first in Boston — The Excitement of the People — Headquarters of Regiments — Four Regiments called for — General Butler to command — New Companies organized — Liberal Offers of Substantial Aid — Dr. George H. Lyman, Dr. William J. Dale, Medical Service — Action of the Boston Bar — The Clergy, Rev. Mr. Cudworth — The Women of the State — The Men of the State — Liberal Offers of Service and Money — Robert B. Forbes, Coast Guard — Colonel John H. Reed appointed Quartermaster — The Personal Staff — Executive Council — Mr. Crowninshield appointed to purchase Arms in Europe — An Emer- CONTENTS.

VIII gency Fund of Two Hundred Thousand Dollars — Letter of the Governor to Secretary Cameron — General Butler consulted — The Route by Annapolis — Narrative of Samuel M. Felton — Mr. Lin coln's Journey to Washington — His Escape from Assassination — The Third Regiment — Speech of Ex-Governor Clifford — The Fourth Regiment — Address of Governor Andrew — Departure for Fortress Monroe — The Sixth Regiment — Departure for Washing ton — Reception in New York and Philadelphia — The Eighth Regi ment—Departure—Speeches of Governor Andrew and General Butler — Reception on the Route — Arrival in Philadelphia — The Fifth Regiment sails from New York for Annapolis — Major Cook's Light Battery ordered to Washington — The Third Battalion of Rifles sent forward — The Massachusetts Militia — Arrival of the Third Regiment at Fortress Monroe — Attempt to save Norfolk Navy Yard — The Fourth Regiment the first to land in Virginia — Fortress Monroe — Big Bethel — The Fifth Regiment — Battle of Bull Run — The Sixth Regiment — Its March through Baltimore — The Nine teenth of April — First Blood shed — The Eighth Regiment — Lands at Annapolis — Saves the Frigate Constitution — Arrives in Wash ington — The Rifle Battalion at Fort McHenry — Cook's Battery at Baltimore — End of the Three Months' Service — Conclusion . .49-108 CHAPTER in.

The People of the Towns — The Press — The Pulpit — Edward Everett — Fletcher Webster offers to raise a Regiment — The Sunday Meeting in State Street — Mr. Webster's Speech — Meeting in the Music Hall — Speech of Wendell Phillips — Meeting in Chester Park — Speeches of Edward Everett and Benjamin F. Hallett — Meeting under the Washington Elm in Cambridge — Ex-Governor Banks, George S. Hillard, and others — Letters received by the Governor — Extracts — Reception of the Dead Bodies of the Killed in Baltimore — Mr. Crowninshield goes abroad to buy Arms — Ex-Governor Boutwell sent to Washington — Letter of John M. Forbes to Mr. Felton — Letter to General Wool — To Rev. Dr. Stearns — To Robert M. Mason — Offer of a Ship Load of Ice — Purchase of the " Cambridge " — Provisions sent to Fortress Monroe and Washington — Governor to President Lincoln — Attorney-General Foster — The Ladies of Cambridge — Call for Three Years' Volunteers — Letter of John M. Forbes — Letters received by the Adjutant-General — Extracts — Letters from Dr. Luther V. Bell and Richard H. Dana, Jr. — Ex-Governor Boutwell arrives at Washington— Letters to the Governor — State of Affairs at Washington — Letter from Mr. Foster— Cipher Telegram — Judge Hoar at Washington — Letters to the Governor — The War Department will accept no more Troops — Charles R. Lowell, Jr., Massachusetts Agent at Washington — His Instructions — Letter of Governor to Dr. Howe — Appointed to examine the Condition of the Regiments — His Report — Colonel Prescott — Letters of the Governor and General Butler — Slavery 109-1G1 CONTENTS. IX

Chapter IV

Companies sent to the Forts — Officers appointed to Command — Militia Battalions — First Call for Three Years' Troops — Delays at Washington — Letter to Montgomery Blair — Letter of Secretary of War — General Order No. 12 — Six Regiments allowed — Governor anxjous to send more — Letter of General Walbridge — Governor to Senator Wilson — More Delay — Extra Session of the Legislature — Address of the Governor — Proceedings of the Legislature — War Measures adopted — Debate on Colored Troops — Bills passed by the Legislature — Sinking Fund — Government Securities — Pay of Troops — Established Camps — Seven Millions of Dollars — State Aid to Families of Soldiers — The Six Regiments of Three Years' Men — Ten more Regiments called for — Their Organization — Additional Staff Officers appointed — Surgeon-General's Department organized — Letter of Governor to Dr. Lyman — Board of Medical Examiners — Promotion of the Surgeon-General — Letter of the Governor to Colonel Frank E. Howe — New-England Rooms, New York — Letter of Colonel Lee to Charles R. Lowell — Letters of the Governor to Different Parties — Circular of the Secretary of War — Colonel Browne to Colonel Howe — Abstract of Correspondence — Colonel Sargent to General Scott — Cobb's Battery — Letter to Colonel Webster — Letter to the President — Irish Regiments — Flag-raising at Bunker-Hill Monument — Speech of Governor Andrew — Speech of Colonel Webster — Interesting Ceremonies — Conclusion 162-215

Chapter V

Death of Governor Andrew — The Great Loss — Mission of Mr. Crowninshield to Europe — The Purchase of Arms — Colonel Lucius B. Marsh — Vote of Thanks by the Council — The Policy of the Governor in making Military Appointments — Letter to General Butler in Regard to our Soldiers — Neglect of Officers — Letter to Colonel Couch, of the Seventh — Sends Two Thousand Muskets to Wheeling, Va. — General Lander — Governor Stevens, of Oregon — General Sherman comes to Boston to confer with the Governor — The War Department and Appointments — Governor makes an Address to the People — Mission to Washington — Writes to Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania — Blockade-runners at Halifax — Governor saves the Life of a Private Soldier — His Letter to Patrick Donahoe — Religious Toleration — To the Editor of the Boston Post — Massachusetts Companies in New-York Regiments — General Sherman's Command — Liberality of the People — Battle of Ball's Bluff— The Massachusetts Dead — A Noble Letter — Exchange of Prisoners — Governor's Letter to President Lincoln — Scheme to invade Texas — Suggests that Congress offer Bounties — Controversy about making Massachusetts Soldiers catch Fugitive Slaves — Letter to General McClellan — Another Letter to the President, about Exchange of Prisoners — Our Men in Richmond Jail — San Francisco sends Two Thousand Dollars for Soldiers' Families — The Maryland Legislature — Liberal Action CONTENTS.

X — The Republican State Convention — Interesting Debate — Demo cratic Convention — Thanksgiving Proclamation — Thanksgiving in the Massachusetts Camps — Major Wilder Dwight — The Second Regiment at Harper's Ferry — Full Account of the Controversy be tween Governor Andrew and Major-General Butler about recruiting and raising Regiments in Massachusetts 216-282

Chapter VI

The Campaign of 1862 — Meeting of the Legislature — Ex-Governor Clifford elected President of the Senate — His Speech — Alexander H. Bullock elected Speaker of the House — Speech of Mr. Bullock — Of Caleb Cushing — Proceedings of the Legislature — Abstracts of Military Laws passed — Massachusetts Prisoners in Richmond — Clothing sent — Letter from Adjutant Pierson — Expedition of General Burnside — Capture of Roanoke Island — Massachusetts Troops first to land — Care of the Sick and Wounded — Dr. Hitchcock sent on — The Wounded in New York — Colonel Frank E. Howe — Establishment of the New-England Rooms — Care of the Sick and Wounded — The Army of the Potomac — The Wounded at Williamsburg — Letters of Colonel Howe — Every Assistance given — The Agencies of the State for the Care of the Men — The Office in Washington — Colonel Gardiner Tufts, Mrs. Jennie L. Thomas, Robert C. Corson, William Robinson, appointed Agents — Visits of the Adjutant-General, Colonel Ritchie, and Colonel John Q. Adams, to the Front — Report to the Governor — The Appearance of Washington — Reports of Edward S. Rand and Dr. Bowditch — First Massachusetts Cavalry at Hilton Head — Our Troops in North Carolina — Appointment of Allotment Commissioners — Their Valuable Services — Letters of the Governor — Rule for making Appointments — Illegal Recruiting — Colonel Dudley — Thirtieth Regiment — Captured Rebel Flags — Death and Burial of General Lander — Letters of Governor to Secretary of War — Secretary of the Navy — To the President on Various Subjects — Letter to General Burnside — Secretary Chase — The Retreat of General Banks — Great Excitement — Troops sent forward — Militia called out — The Position of our Regiments — The War in Earnest 283-337

Chapter VII

Recruiting for the New Regiments — The Position of the Armies in the Field — Letters from the Adjutant-General to Different Persons — Establishment of Camps — Departure of New Regiments — Recruits for Old Regiments — Letter to Secretary Seward — Suggestions adopted — Foreign Recruits — Letter to General Couch — Deserters — Want of Mustering Officers — Letter from General Hooker — Our Sick and Wounded — Letter to General McClellan — General Fitz- John Porter— Call for Nineteen Thousand Soldiers for Nine Months — Appointment of Major Rogers — Preparing for a Draft — Militia CONTENTS. XI Volunteers — Letter to the President — Great Activity in Recruiting — Liberality of John M. Forbes — Colonel Maggi — Town Authorities ask Civilians to be commissioned — First Attempt to raise Colored Troops — Letter to Hon. J. G. Abbott — Recommends Merchants and Others to devote Half of each Day to Recruiting — Hardship to Sea board Towns — Attempt to have Credits allowed for Men in the Navy — Difficulties — Earnest Letter — Surgeons sent forward — Several Recommendations — Battle of Antietam — Dr. Hitchcock sent forward — His Report — Affairs at the Front — Recruiting Brisk — Republican Convention — Sharp Debate — Nominations — People's Convention — General Devens nominated for Governor — Speeches — Letter to General Dix — Contrabands — Complaints — Quotas filled — Depar ture of Regiments — Invasion of Texas — Major Burt — State Appointments, &c 338-390 CHAPTER VHI.

The Proclamation of Freedom — Colored Regiments — Letter to Samuel Hooper — The California Battalion — Meeting of the Legislature, January, 1863 — Organization — Address of the Governor — Delay of the Government in paying the Soldiers — The Commission of Mr. Crowninshield — His Claim not allowed — Reports of the Adjutant, Surgeon, and Quartermaster Generals — Abstract of Military Laws — Letter to Hon. Thomas D. Eliot — Western Sanitary Commission — Confidential Letter to General Hooker — Efforts to reinstate Major Copeland — The Pirate "Alabama" — Curious Coincidence — Authority to recruit a Colored Regiment — The Governor's Policy in the Selection of Officers — Colonel Shaw — The Passage of the Fifty-fourth (colored) Regiment through Boston — Departure for South Carolina — Death of Colonel Shaw at Fort Wagner — Letter of the Governor to Captain Sherman — Letter to General Hamilton, of Texas — Major Burt — Plan to invade Texas — Mortality of Massachusetts Regiments in Louisiana — War Steamers — Rights of Colored Soldiers — Temperance — General Ullman's Expedition — Coast Defences — General Wilde — John M. Forbes writes from London — Colonel Ritchie — A Rebel Letter — Robert C. Winthrop — Letter to Mr. Gooch, M.C. — Army Officers in Boston — Cases of Suffering — Useless Detail of Volunteer Officers — Letter to General Wool — Suggestions about Recruiting — About Deserters — Staff Appointments — Complaints — Nine Months' Men — Letter to J. H. Mitchell, Massachusetts Senate — Claims for Money in the Legislature — Case of Mr. Maxwell, of Charlemont — Sergeant Plunkett, of the Twenty-first Regiment — Soldiers to be shot — Troubles in the Department of the Gulf, &c 391^40

Chapter IX

The Military Condition — Reverses and Successes of the Union Arms — Service and Return Home of the Nine Months' Regiments — List CONTENTS. XII of Casualties —Deserters — The July Riot in Boston — Prompt Ac tion — An Abstract of the Orders — Alarm in other Cities — The Attack in Cooper Street — The Eleventh Battery — The Word to fire — The Riot suppressed — The Draft — Appointment of Provost-Mar shals—The Fifty -fifth Colored Regiment — Letters from Secretary Stanton — Injustice to the Colored Troops — Letters of the Govern or on the Subject — Difficulties with the Draft — Major Blake sent to Washington — Request to allow Bounties to Drafted Men refused — John M. Forbes in Washington — Letters to the Governor — Heavy Ordnance — Colonel Lowell — The Attack on Wagner — Death of Colonel Shaw — Instances of Bravery on the Part of Colored Troops — Letters to General Dix — Troops for Coast Defence — Gov ernor writes to Governor of Ohio — Formation of Veteran Regiment — Massachusetts Militia — Letters to Colonel Lee — Colored Cavalry — Letter of Secretary Stanton — Confidential Letter on the Exposed Condition of the Coast — Telegraph Communication with the Forts — Letters to Senator Sumner — Exact Condition of the Defences — Letter of the Adjutant-General — Reports of General William Ray mond Lee — Colonel Ritchie sent to England — Democratic State Convention — Republican State Convention — Re-election of Govern or Andrew — The President calls for Three Hundred Thousand more Volunteers — Extra Session of the Legislature called — Governor's Address — Bounties increased — Abstract of Laws 441-506

Chapter X

The Military Camps in Massachusetts — Number of Troops Jan. 1, 1864 — Where Serving — Letter of Governor to Lewis Hay den — From Miss Upham — Soldier's Scrap-book — Letter to Samuel Hooper — Sale of Heavy Ordnance — The Condition of our Defences — Colonel Ritchie in England — Meeting of the Legislature — Organization — Addresses of Mr. Field and Colonel Bullock — Address of the Governor — Eloquent Extract — Abstract of Military Laws — Members of Congress — Letter to John B. Alley — The Springfield Companies — Secretary Stanton refuses to pay them Bounties — Correspondence in Regard to it — Letters from General Butler — Governor to Miss Upham — Complaints about Soldiers at Long Island — Re-enlisted Veterans — Order of War Department — Returns of Veteran Regiments — Their Reception — Letter to General Hancock — General Burnside reviews the Troops at Readville — Letter to the Christian Watchman — General Andrews — • Surgeon-General Dale — Confederate Money— Letter from General Gordon — Battle of Olustee — Letter to Selectmen of Plymouth — A Second Volume of Scrap-book— Letter from Mr. Lovejoy — Lieutenant-Colonel Whittemore — Correspondence — The Heavy Artillery — Condition of Fort Warren—Misunderstanding—Secretary Stanton and the Governor— Colonel William F. Bartlett — His Promotion — Earnest Letter to Mr. Sumner — Troubles about Recruiting — Complaints made — A Convention held — Letter of the Adjutant-General — The Recruiting of New Regiments — Forwarded to the Front — The Advance of General Grant 507-559 CONTENTS. XIII

Chapter XI

Ceneral Position of Affairs at the Beginning of 1864 — Credits in the Navy — Law of Congress — Appointment of Commissioners — Circular Letter — Agents to Recruit in Rebel States — Letter to Mr. Everett — Governor Andrew in Washington — Pay of Colored Troops — Letter to the President — Letter to Mr. Stanton — Expectation of Rebel Attack on our Coast — Present of a Turtle — Brigadier-General Bartlett — Letter to Governor Seymour, of New York — Letter to the Secretary of War — Letter to the Attorney-General — Letter to Andrew Ellison — Colonel N. A. M. Dudley — Letter of Governor Yates, of Illinois — Case of Otis Newhall, of Lynn — Case of Mrs. Bixby, of Boston — Letter to the President — Plan to burn the Northern Cities — Speech of Mr. Everett — Destruction of the " Alabama " — Honors paid to Commodore Winslow — Donations for our Soldiers — Letter of Mr. Stebbins — Letter to the Union League Club, New York — Colored Officers — Letter to James A. Hamilton — Battle before Nashville — Case of Jack Flowers — National Conventions — Nominations — Republican State Convention — Proceedings — Renomination of Governor Andrew — Democratic State Convention — Nominations — Report of the Adjutant-General's Journey to the Front — Staff Appointments during the Year — Conclusion 560-608

Chapter XII

Public Confidence — Meeting of the Legislature — Organization — Address of Governor Andrew — Acts passed by the Legislature — General Sargent — Death of Edward Everett — Frontier Cavalry — Governor and Secretary Stanton — Abolition of Slavery — Boston Harbor — Fast Day — Currency Question — Proclamation of President Lincoln — Case of a Deserter — Letter from Secretary Seward — Foreign Enlistments — The End of the Rebellion — Capitulation of General Lee — Rejoicings throughout the State — Governor sends a Message to the Legislature — Meeting in Faneuil Hall — Proposition for a National Thanksgiving — Death of President Lincoln — Action of the Legislature — Governor's Letter to Mrs. Lincoln — Original Copy of General Lee's Farewell Address, sent to the Governor by General Russell — Death of General Russell — Monument to the First Martyrs in Lowell — Address of the Governor — Letter to F. P. Blair, Sen. — Meeting at Faneuil Hall — Letter of the Governor — Reconstruction — Colonel William S. Lincoln — Memorial Celebration at Harvard — Letter to Mr. Motley, Minister to Austria — Miss Van Lew — Alexander H. Stephens — Governor to President Lincoln — Relics of Colonel Shaw — Letter to Colonel Theodore Lyman — State Prisoners in Maryland — Letter to James Freeman Clarke — Freedman's Bureau — Emigration South — Letter to General Sherman — Governor's Staff — Governor declines Re-election — Republican Convention — Democratic Convention — Reception of the Flags — Forefathers' Day — Speech of General Couch — Speech of Governor Andrew — Compliment to the Adjutant-General — General CONTENTS.

Grant visits Massachusetts — Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis — Her Services — New-England Women's Auxiliary Association — What it did — New-England Rooms, New York — Massachusetts Soldiers' Fund — Boston Soldiers' Fund — Surgeon-General's Fund — Number of Men sent from Massachusetts to the War — Governor Andrew's Valedic tory Address — Governor Bullock inaugurated — Last Military Order — Close of the Chapter 609-670 CIVIL AND MILITARY HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS IN THE EEBELLION. CIVIL AND MILITARY HISTORY OP MASSACHUSETTS IN THE REBELLION.

Chapter I

Massachusetts — Civil Government — Election, 1860 — Legislature — President of the Senate — Speaker of the House — State of the Country — Farewell Address of Governor Banks — Governor Andrew's Inaugural — Their Views of the Crisis — Sketch of Governor Andrew — Lieutenant-Governor — Executive Council — Adjutant-General — Military Staff — Congressmen — The Volunteer Militia — Military Equipment — Early Preparations — Salutes, 8th of January — General Order No. 2 — Report of Adjutant-General — General Order No. 4 — Proceedings of the Legislature — Regular Session — Emergency Fund — Loan Credit of State — Delegates to Peace Convention — South Carolina to Massachusetts — Two thousand Overcoats — Order of Inquiry — Letter of Adjutant-General — Letter of Colonel Henry Lee, Jr. — Meeting of Officers in Governor's Room — Colonel Ritchie sent to Washington — His Letters to the Governor — Secretary Seward's Letter — Letter of Colonel Lee — Charter of Transports — John M. Forbes, Esq. — Meeting in Faneuil Hall — Meeting in Cambridge — Speech of Wendell Phillips, Esq., at New Bedford — Remarks — The President calls for Troops — The Eve of Battle.

To write the part taken by Massachusetts in the civil war which began in April, 1861, and continued until the capture, by Gen eral Grant, of Lee and his army in Virginia, and the surrender of Johnston and his forces to General Sherman in North Caro lina, in 1865, requires patient research, a mind not distracted by other duties, and a purpose to speak truthfully of men and of events. Massachusetts bore a prominent part in this war, from the beginning to the end ; not only in furnishing soldiers for the army, sailors for the navy, and financial aid to the Government, but in advancing ideas, which, though scouted at in the early months of the war, were afterwards accepted by the nation, before the war could be brought to a successful end. Massachusetts is a small State, in territory and in population.

With the exception of Maine, it lies the farthest eastward of all the States in the Union. Its capital is four hundred and fifty miles east of Washington, and is separated from it by the States of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. It contains seven thousand eight hundred square miles of land, river, lakes, and sea. In 1860, it had a population of 1,231,066, engaged in farming, manufacturing, fishing, and mercantile pursuits. Less than one-half the land is improved. It is about -gjso Part 0I" tne whole Union, ranking the thirty-sixth in size among the forty States and Territories. It is divided into fourteen counties, and three hundred and thirty-five cities and towns. Its governor, lieutenant-governor, eight councillors, forty senators, and two hundred and forty representatives, are elected every year, in the month of November, by the free suffrage of the qualified voters.

The executive department of the Government is vested in the governor and Executive Council, — the governor, however, be ing the supreme executive magistrate, whose title is, His Excellency; the legislative, in a Senate and House of Rep resentatives, each having a negative upon the other, and known and designated as the General Court. The judicial depart ment is composed of different courts, the judges of which are appointed by the governor, and hold their offices during good behavior, and can only be removed upon the address of both houses of the Legislature, or by the abolishment of the court; this to " the end, that it may be a government of laws, and not of men." In the election for governor, in 1860, there were four candi dates and four political parties. John A. Andrew, of Boston, was the candidate of the Republicans ; Erasmus D. Beach, of Springfield, of the Douglas wing of the Democrats ; Amos A. Lawrence, of Boston, of the conservative party ; and Benjamin F. Butler, of Lowell, of the Breckenridge wing of the Demo- ELECTION, 1860.

LEGISLATURE. 3 cratic party. John A. Andrew received 104,527 votes ; Erasmus D. Beach, 35,191 ; Amos A. Lawrence, 23,816 ; Benjamin F. Butler, 6,000; all others, 75. Mr. Andrew's majority over all the opposing candidates was 39,445. The eight councillors elected were all Republicans, as were all the members of Congress. The presidential electors in favor of the election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin, for President and Vice-President of the United States, received about the same majority Mr. Andrew did for Governor. Nearly all of the members of the Senate and House of Repre sentatives were of the Republican party. The newly elected Legislature met on the first Wednesday in January, 1861. Hon. William Claflin, of Newton, was chosen President of the Senate, and Stephen N. Gifford, Esq., of Dux bury, clerk.

Hon. John A. Goodwin, of Lowell, was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives, and William Stowe, Esq., of Springfield, clerk. On assuming the duties of President of the Senate, Mr. Claf lin made a brief address, in the course of which he said, — " While we meet under circumstances auspicious in our own State, a deep agitation pervades other parts of our country, causing every true patriot to feel the greatest anxiety. Disunion is attempted in some States, because, as is alleged, laws have been passed in others con trary to the Constitution of the United States. Massachusetts is accused of unfaithfulness in this matter in some of her enactments, although she has always been ready to submit to judicial decisions, and is so still. She has ever guarded jealously the liberties of her citizens, and, I trust, ever will.

We cannot falter now without disgrace and dis honor. Whatever action we may take, let us be careful of the rights of others, but faithful to our trust, that we may return them to our constituents unimpaired." Mr. Goodwin, on taking the Speaker's chair, referred to national affairs in the following words : — "The session before us may become second in importance to none that has been held in these halls, since, threescore years ago, our fathers consecrated them to popular legislation. For the second time in our history, we see a State of our Union setting at naught the common compact, and raising the hand of remorseless violence against a whole section of her sister States, and against the Union itself. But for the first time in our history are unrebuked traitors seen in the high places of the nation, where, with undaunted front, they awe into trea sonable inaction the hand the people have solemnly deputed to hold the scales of justice, and wield her imperial sword.

To what points this ignominious crisis may compel our legislative attention, cannot now be stated ; nor is it for the Chair to allude to particular measures of legislation. But it is to be remembered, that Massachusetts sacrificed much to establish the Union, and to defend and perpetuate it. She is ready to sacrifice more, provided it touch not her honor or the principles of free government, — principles interwoven with her whole his tory, and never dearer to the hearts of her people of all classes and parties than they are to-day. Let us approach this portion of our du ties with coolness and deliberation, and with a generous patriotism." Not since the days of the Revolution had a legislature assem bled at a time of more imminent peril, when wise counsels, firm resolution, and patriotic devotion to the Constitution atid the Union, were imperatively demanded.