either gone forth to remember forever the scene of their suffering, or been borne away to graves which their children will come to look upon.

The fields where fierce conflicts have taken place, will each, no doubt, be visited with peculiar interest; but attention will be divided among the number, while some of those of greatest note will be most accessible from Washington; and every man who has served, will, on his way, stop to point out to his companions the place in the Capitol, the Treasury, or other edifice, where he first spread his blanket upon the floor of stone; or to revisit the grass-grown fort where he braved the storms of winter; or the place where, with fifty thousand others, he passed in review.

II.

APRIL, 1861.

WHO that was on the spot will ever forget the days he passed between the fall of Sumter and the arrival of the New York Seventh regiment? First came the startling account of the attack on the Massachusetts troops at Baltimore -then a long suspension of all news-no cars came or went-no mails-no telegraph-nothing but rumors of the wildest kind. Now we were told of an immense Rebel force coming to

Alexandria; "the rolling stock on the railroad" had "all gone to bring them up; " their mortars had been planted on Arlington heights, the city was to be shelled, the public buildings blown up, and the place left a ruin that the North might find it useless to fight for, and the South be saved the cost of defending it, yet obtain all the éclât in the eyes of foreign nations which the capture of the seat of Government could afford. The uprising of the North was known, but the troops-where were they? Now it was reported that steamers full of soldiers were coming up the river, and hundreds of spyglasses were pointed from the housetops to reveal nothing but the glassy surface, with scarce a ripple or a sail thereon; then came word that batteries had been planted at the White House bluff, commanding the channel, and there could be no hope from water transports. Every morning the question was anxiously put, whether any cars had come; and every evening a crowd collected round the depot to greet the Seventh regiment, which was now at Perryville-now at Annapolis-then at the Junction-would certainly be here to-night -then to-morrow--until at last many began to think it was a myth. An alarm of famine was raised: no supplies could come in from Maryland or Virginia; provisions of all kinds were

bought up at extravagant prices, much to the benefit of the grocers, who refused credit to anybody; and families were put on short allowance, as if we were in a state of siege, until the Government announced that a sufficient quantity of flour and salt meat had been stored to support a hundred thousand persons for ninety days. Long trains of wagons and carts traversed the streets at night, carrying arms, ammunition and food to the Patent Office, the Post Office, the Treasury and the Capitol, while the arches in the basements of the two last-named buildings were filled with firewood and other materials as barricades for musketry. The three or four batteries of regular troope, which had been ordered on before the war began, were kept constantly on the move, going to or returning from picket duty; and at all hours of the day horsemen were seen galloping from General Scott's headquarters in every direction, as if on the most urgent errands: while many of the strangers in the city formed a company to watch at the Navy Yard bridges by night. In almost every street the raw militia of the District were being drilled, with much distrust as to their loyalty. All this was new, unlike anything ever before seen by the lookers on, and consequently far more alarming than when, at a later day, they were surrounded by two

hundred thousand, for whose advent they had been gradually prepared. Property holders became objects of pity, under the impression they mostly entertained that their interests were becoming worthless-only "dwelling places for the bats and the owls." Ordinary business was neglected, and people seemed to do nothing but walk the streets, looking anxiously in each other's faces for words of cheer and comfort, hardly daring to ask questions lest they should hear of some new alarm. Some tried to look cheerful, but the effort was too apparent. A few boldly expressed the confidence they felt in the power and determination of the North, but were listened to with a smile of incredulity by those who reasoned that the South was prepared, but the North was not, and who had so long seen the former carry every point, that they could not realize the possibility of her failing now. One report had it that a plan was on foot by the secession mob to fire the town in many places at once, and, in the confusion, make it an easy conquest to an armed mob from Baltimore and Alexandria. Some, frightened out of their wits, fled from the city by every vehicle they could command at the most extravagant prices; others, obliged to remain, scarcely slept: but these were exceptions to the general rule, for the majority seemed to have made up their minds to await the result as

calmly as possible, satisfied that they could do nothing to change it. A conviction very generally prevailed that all hope for the Union was gone, and that those who had been friends were now turned to foes, engendering in every man a distrust of his neighbor.

III.

AFTER THE TROOPS ARRIVED.

WHEN the Seventh regiment actually did arrive, those who saw them marching up the Avenue one morning, could hardly credit their senses. Some waved handkerchiefs, many wept for joy, and those of secession proclivities looked on in silence, or sneered at them as "mere boys." But, as day after day new regiments made their appearance, astonishment was depicted on every countenance, and many of the hitherto silent ones suddenly discovered they had been good Union men from the start. A new excitement now arose. Everybody wished to see the fresh arrivals,-the Avenue became the scene of a daily spectacle, and, for the first time, the use of so wide a street for military evolutions began to be realized. Every public building, every warehouse was filled with troops. "There are twenty-five thousand men here, the city is safe," was the general remark,