uards in
1852 took him to Washington at the head of the Excelsior Brigade,
consisting of five regiments, fully armed and equipped, and ready to
serve during the war. He reached the capital at the time when more
regiments were offered than General Scott would accept, but with the
energy that afterward characterised his action at Gettysburg he sought
the President, who promptly gave him the order that mustered his men
and put him in command.[776] Other leaders who had voiced Southern
sentiments, notably John Cochrane, soon found places at the front.
Indeed, those who had professed the warmest friendship for the South
were among the first to speak or take up arms against it.

[Footnote 776: "He went direct to the President, and asked him, in
proper language, if he approved of the petty intrigues that sought to
defeat his patriotic purpose. 'I know nothing of them, General,' said
the President, 'and have only this to say, that, whatever are the
obstacles thrown in your way, come to me, and I will remove them
promptly. Should you stand in need of my assistance to hasten the
organisation of your brigade, come to me again, and I will give or do
whatever is required. I want your men, General, and you are the man to
lead them. Go to the Secretary of War and get your instructions
immediately.'"--New York _Herald_, May 17, 1861.]

The Confederates, entering upon the path of revolution with the hope
of a divided North, exhibited much feeling over this unanimity of
sentiment. "Will the city of New York 'kiss the rod that smites her,'"
asked the leading paper in Virginia, "and at the bidding of her Black
Republican tyrants war upon her Southern friends and best customers?
Will she sacrifice her commerce, her wealth, her population, her
character, in order to strengthen the arm of her oppressors?"[777] Ten
days later another influential representative of Southern sentiment,
watching the proceedings of the great Union Square meeting, answered
the inquiry. "The statesmen of the North," said the Richmond
_Enquirer_, "heretofore most honoured and confided in by the South,
have come out unequivocally in favor of the Lincoln policy of coercing
and subjugating the South."[778] The Charleston _Mercury_ called the
roll of these statesmen in the several States. "Where," it asked, "are
Fillmore, Van Buren, Cochrane, McKeon, Weed, Dix, Dickinson, and
Barnard, of New York, in the bloody crusade proposed by President
Lincoln against the South? Un