Three Years in the Federal Cavalry

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CHAPTER I.

THE WAR FOR THE UNION.--CONTEST BEGUN.

1861.--Enthusiasm of the North.--Washington Threatened.--Bull Run, and
Its Lessons.--General Scott and the Cavalry.--Enlistment under
Captain Buel.--Harris Light Cavalry.--Leaving Troy, New York.--
Captain A. N. Duffié.--Drilling and Fencing at Scarsdale, New York.
--Bound for the Seat of War.--Philadelphia.--Baltimore.--
Washington.--Camp Oregon.


The eleventh of April, 1861, revealed the real intention of the Southern
people in their dastardly assault upon Fort Sumter. The thunder of Rebel
cannon shook the air not only around Charleston, but sent its thrilling
vibrations to the remotest sections of the country, and was the
precursor of a storm whose wrath no one anticipated. This shock of arms
was like a fire-alarm in our great cities, and the North arose in its
might with a grand unanimity which the South did not expect. The spirit
and principle of Rebellion were so uncaused and unprovoked, that
scarcely could any one be found at home or abroad to justify them.

President Lincoln thereupon issued a call for seventy-five thousand men
to uphold and vindicate the authority of the Government, and to prove,
if possible, that secession was not only a heresy in doctrine, but an
impracticability in the American Republic. The response to this call was
much more general than the most sanguine had any reason to look for. The
enthusiasm of the people was quite unbounded. Individuals encouraged
individuals; families aroused families; communities vied with
communities, and States strove with States. Who could be the first and
do the most, was the noble contention which everywhere prevailed. All
political party lines seemed to be obliterated. Under this renovating
and inspi