Harper's Weekly for June 1, 1861, carries the following article on page 347, illustrated with an artist's sketch of the military in the College Quadrangle:

With regard to the Sixty-ninth the Washington Republican says: "We paid a visit to this regiment, who are quartered in Georgetown College, yesterday, and found the men all busy in the various duties pertaining to military life. They are all in fine spirits, and seem to enjoy the soldier's life amazingly, although many of them are getting impatient, and wish to be off to some fighting region. The grounds exhibit quite a busy scene, the men in companies and squads learning the use of their arms. Several companies were also in the distant portion of the grounds engaged in target firing, and exercising in loading and firing.

The targets were generally brought in completely riddled, and the firing by company was executed with the greatest precision. Several officers of the Army lately graduated from West Point, are constantly employed in instructing the men in the use of their arms, which they are beginning to handle like regulars. The hours of drill are 9 1/2 A.M. and 2 1/2 P.M. for company, and 4 o'clock the regimental review takes place. The officers of the Catholic Church near the College have placed it at the disposal of the regiment, and the chaplain, the Rev. Father Mooney, officiates before the regiment every Sabbath morning at 9 o'clock. The citizens of the neighborhood speak in the highest terms of the conduct of the men, and Colonel Corcoran may well be proud of the good name the regiment has earned.

The New York Times correspondent writes of the 69th: "The parade of the 69th today was very fine. The regiment was very full, over one thousand men in the ranks. Colonel Corcoran exercised his men in battalion drill, bayonet charges in double quick time, in hollow square, etc. Toward the close the music of a band was heard, and the gates being opened, the 5th Massachusetts Regiment marched in and saluted the 69th. After the usual courtesies the Massachusetts and New York regiments were brought in line on opposite sides of the square, and they cheered each other most lustily. It was an exciting scene to see the Puritan New Englanders and Catholic Irishmen thus fraternizing. After the drill the officers of the two regiments had a friendly glass of wine and most cordial reunion.

General Runyon and staff, of the New jersey Brigade, also visited the 69th, and partook of the hospitalities of Colonel Corcoran and Father Mooney. General Runyon, in response to a sentiment offered by Father Mooney, made an eloquent and patriotic address.

It is a noticeable fact that the first inter-change of military courtesies was between Colonel Vosburgh, of the American 71 st, and Colonel Corcoran, of the Irish 69th. The common danger appears to have made native and foreigners common friends.

Nor was the Regiment free of rumor and criticism in a city famous for those commodities. The Washington Star reported, in its issue of May 10, 1861, the receipt of a letter from Colonel Michael Corcoran, commanding the 69th, and dated from Georgetown College, Georgetown Heights, D.C., "that there was no truth to the story that many of the 69th would not take the oath of allegiance." Again, in its issue of May 17, 1861, the Star reports that "A Student at Georgetown College complains that sentries of the New York 69th, stationed there, refuse to let the students pass about after hours without the Countersign. He proposes to have Colonel Corcoran court-martialed for issuing such orders. Our opinion is that the Colonel would run a greater risk of being court-martialed for failing to keep up such discipline in and around the quarters of the Regiment."

On May 24th the Sixty-ninth New York moved out to join McDowell's forces gathering in Virginia, and scholastic quiet descended on the College and its fifty students. But not for long. On June third, Father Early was again notified that he was to prepare to house another regiment, this time the Seventy Ninth (Highland Regiment), New York National Guard. The members of this regiment were less disciplined than the Sixty-ninth, and their frequent quarrels made their presence less to be desired. On July 4th all of the troops had left and students and faculty alike returned to their former freedom from military restrictions.

It was at this period that Father James Clark who had trained the early Cadet Corps was called upon by the War Department to become one of the examiners at the Military Academy at West Point, and the old West Pointer returned to his Alma Mater in his clerical garb to pass upon the Class of '61. At this time also, the priests of the College were encouraged to visit the camps across the Potomac to serve as chaplains to the Catholic soldiers.

On July 21, 1861, the members of the faculty and the few students remaining on the campus heard all day long the roar of artillery which marked the first Battle of Bull Run. J. Fairfax McLaughlin, who received his A.B. degree in 1860, but remained for post-graduate studies, writes in his College Days at Georgetown, "On the 21st of July, 1861, about two or three o'clock in the afternoon, I stood with Father Early on the back porch of the Old Building while the first Battle of Bull Run was in progress. At short intervals we heard the ominous roar of distant cannon, which perceptibly grew more distinct as the afternoon advanced, presaging the defeat of General McDowell. When we saw horsemen over near Arlington galloping like mad toward Washington and constantly increasing in numbers, and heard guns as the afternoon waned thundering louder than ever, Father Early remarked to me, "The tide of battle tends this way. The Union forces evidently have met with a serious reverse. They may be in here before night. God help the poor sufferers, both Northern and Southern. If they come, every bed in the College shall be turned over to the wounded.'"

The second Battle of Bull Run, at the end of August, 1862, sent hundreds of wounded into Washington and the Government requisitioned the buildings of the College, as well as Holy Trinity Church, then under the jurisdiction of the College, to serve as hospitals. The Bull Run casualties were followed by other hundreds from Antietam, and all but a small portion of the College buildings remained in Army control until February 25th, 1863, providing hospital beds for four hundred and forty-five soldiers. In 1873, the President and Directors of the College sought reimbursement to the amount of $7,500 for the occupation of the premises by the government. The Depot Quartermaster's Office in Washington rejected the claim following a report to General William Myers, Depot Quartermaster, from one John S. Hawkins who evidently investigated the claim. Part of the refusal to pay was based upon Georgetown's supposed Southern sympathies. "For before the War the College was principally sustained by the Southern people; and in 1861, when those states seceded, they left the College and returned home." And again, in the same document, "the amt. claimed of the United States, viz. $7,500 is an extravagant charge. I am of the opinion they ought not to be paid anything for love of country, human sympathy, and Christian love should have prompted them to have offered their buildings to the Government free of charge, for the purpose used."

After the last of the wounded was removed from the College on the Feast of the Purification, 1863, the scholastic life of the institution returned to something resembling normal conditions. The student body numbered about sixty. The Jesuit community, save for those who had left as chaplains, was intact. An entry in the Diary for January 1, 1864, says " At 9 paid our compliments to Fr. Rector. "Deo Gratias' at table. Those who wish were allowed to go and pay their tribute of respect to Abe Lincoln." And the entry for March 9, 1864, says "A notice was posted up recommending to the Scholastics to make a Novena in honor of St. Joseph. Besides individual necessities, they were requested to ask of St. Joseph an increase of novices."

News from the various fronts brought sad tales of death, wounds, and imprisonment for many who had been happy collegians a few years before. On Washington's Birthday, 1865, a student wrote "Things very quiet at the College. A great change since the war began. Even the old flag (long may it wave!) seemed unwilling to move on the old tower. It hung drooping and sluggish, as if mourning over the woes of the land of Washington." The flag soon hung at half-mast, and the gateway as well as the doors of the North and South buildings, were draped in black, when the country was startled with the tidings of the assassination of President Lincoln.

When the military court convened to try the alleged assassins, three Georgetown men sat manacled in the prisoners' dock. Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, '55, who had set the broken leg of the escaping John Wilkes Booth; David E. Herold, who had spent a short time at the College with the class of '63, and who was caught with Booth on the Garrett farm, and Samuel B. Arnold, who was at the College briefly with the Class of '43. Herold was hanged and Mudd and Arnold sentenced to life at hard labor at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. Dr. Mudd was eventually pardoned, largely as a result of his having taken over medical super-vision on the death of Medical Director. Dr. Joseph S. Smith, of the Georgetown Medical Class of '57. Arnold also was released on February 8, 1869, on order of President Johnson.

The last mention of the War appears in the Diary for May 23, 1865: "Holiday and general permission to go to town for those wishing to be present at the grand review of the 'Army of the Potomac' returned from war." And in the same diary for May 24th: "As yesterday; Review of General Sherman's Army."

JAMES S. RUBY
Georgetown University
May 6, 1961

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