Governor Buckingham, of Connecticut, whose labors throughout the war were unceasing and of vast importance, responded to the President's call for troops by issuing a proclamation on the same day, urging the citizens of the State to volunteer their services in aid of the Government. The banks offered all the money necessary to equip the regiment of men required by the circular letter of the Secretary of War. So enthusiastic were the people, that the Governor, in a message to the Legislature on the 1st of May, averred that forty-one volunteer companies had already been accepted. The prediction that there would be a divided North--that blood would flow in New England, in the event of an attempt of the National Government to enforce the laws against Southern insurgents,1 was most signally falsified.
New York, as we shall observe presently, responded nobly to the call; and the neighboring inhabitants of New Jersey were so full of enthusiasm, that they became
Burnside's riflemen. |
Wm. A. Buckingham. |
Pennsylvania, like Massachusetts, had been watchful and making preparations for the crisis. Her militia force was about three hundred and fifty thousand. The resources of the State had been pledged by the Legislature, in January, to the support of the