Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1896 — WAR DAYS RECALLED. [ARTICLE]

WAR DAYS RECALLED.

Survivors of the First Troops Retrace the Old Line of March. Thirty-five years ago last Thursday the first Union troops to respond to President Lincoln’s proclamation asking for volunteers started on their way to the defense of the capital. One hundred and thirtyfive survivors of those Pennsylvania militia companies celebrated the anniversary by following the same line of march, but their reception in Baltimore in 1896 was somewhat different from that of 1861. They represent what is known as the First Defenders Association, the living remnants of five battalions of militia, numbering nearly 700 men, as follows: The Washington artillery and national light infantry of Pottsville, the Ringgold light artillery of Reading, the Logan guard of Lewiston and the Allen infantry of Allentown. President Lincoln issued his proclamation on the 15th of April. The same day the officers of these companies reported at Harrisburg with their men, and on Tuesday, April 16, having been mustered in, they boarded a train on the Northern Central Railway and started for Baltimore. There they were compelled to change cars and march through the city. Although a platoon of police furnished them an escort, they were followed by a mob of several hundred persons, who threw stones at them as they marched. But only one person was wounded, and that was a colored servant of the captain of the Pottsville artillery, who was cut on the face by a brick. On the 19th of April the Sixth Massachusetts regiment, which followed them, encountered an even more angry mob, and the riot which occurred on that day in Baltimore is a matter of history. The survivors of the First Defenders Association met at Harrisburg to begin their historic pilgrimage, which covered the entire route over which they went in

1861. In Baltimore they were the guests of the city, and were entertained by the Grand Army of the Republic. They went to Washington Friday and remained until Saturday night.