coin, and this
coin was disappearing from circulation. We had to appeal to the
patriotism of bankers to accept the demand notes of the United
States as money, with no prospect of being able to pay them. Our
regular army was practically disbanded by the disloyalty of many
of its leading officers. Washington was then practically in a
state of siege, forcing me, in May, 1861, to go there at the heels
of the 7th regiment of New York militia, avoiding the regular
channels of travel. The city of Baltimore was decked under the
flag of rebellion. Through the State of Maryland, loyal citizens
passed in disguise, except by a single route opened and defended
by military power. The great State of Kentucky, important as well
from its central position as from the known prowess and courage of
its people, hung suspended in doubt between loyalty and secession.
In the State of Missouri, St. Louis was the only place of unquestioned
loyalty, and even there we regarded it a fortunate prize that we
were able to take the public arms from a government arsenal. The
whole State of Virginia, with the single exception of Fortress
Monroe, was in the possession of the revolutionary force.

But from the passage of the legal tender act, by which means were
provided for utilizing the wealth of the country in the suppression
of the rebellion, the tide of war turned in our favor. Delaware,
after a short hesitation, complied with the proclamation of the
President. Maryland had, by clear and repeated votes and acts,
arrayed herself on the side of the Union. Her rebellious sons who
fought against the old flag could not tread in safety on a single
foot of the soil of that state. Western Virginia, the eastern
peninsula, and many ports on the eastern coast, were securely
reclaimed. The State of Kentucky had distinctly, by the vote of
her people, and by the action of all her constituted authorities,
proclaimed her loyalty, and her sons were fighting side by side
with the soldiers of other states to expel traitors who, in her
days of doubt, had seized upon a small portion of her soil, which
they still occupied. In the State of Missouri the constituted
authorities, organized by a convention of the people duly elected,
were sustained by physical power in nearly all the state, and the
rebellion there was subsiding into bands of thieves, bridge burners,
and small parties of guerillas, who could soon be readily controlled
by local militia. In nearly e