left the ranks, but Colonel Stone soon succeeded in organizing a small compact force with those that remained loyal, and a number of recruits, which did good service.  In addition to these, a light battery, under Captain John B. Magruder, First Artillery; Captain (afterward General) William Farquhar, Barry’s Battery of the Second Artillery; and a battery made up at West Point and commanded by Captain (afterward General) Charles Griffin, arrived.  With these, some infantry ordered from distant points, and the District militia, which had been very much increased in numbers, General Scott had about three thousand men under his command for the defense of Washington, the preservation of order, and to guard the approaches to the city.  It is but due to the citizens of Washington to state that, when trouble was apprehended and an intimation went out that there was a possibility of trouble, they came in great numbers to offer their services in defense of their city and the Government.  Companies were organized, and persons in all positions and callings, from the highest in social life to the humblest resident, were not backward in asserting their allegiance and giving proof of it by entering the ranks.  By marching and maneuvering the men on the streets frequently they made the impression that a greater force was present than really was.

Many efforts were made to induce General Scott to resign, but he never once wavered in his devotion to the Union.  On one occasion Judge Robertson, a small, thin, but venerable-looking man, who had filled the office of chancellor in Virginia and was a man of high character and standing, came to Washington with two other Virginia gentlemen to offer Scott the command of the Army of Virginia if he would abandon the United States service and go with his State.  The general listened in silence as Robertson feelingly recalled the days when they were schoolboys together, and then spoke of the warm attachment Virginians always cherished for their State, and of their boasted allegiance to it above all other political ties.  But when he began to unfold his offer of a commission, General Scott stopped him, exclaiming:  “Friend Robertson, go no further.  It is best that we part here before you compel me to resent a mortal insult!” It is needless to say that this ended the interview, and Judge Robertson and his companions departed, looking and doubtless feeling very much discomfited.  No man stood higher in the esteem of the people of Virginia than Judge Robertson, and it is not probable that he and his friends would have taken it upon themselves to make the offer they did upon a contingency.  If, however, they had any authority to act on the part of the Commonwealth of Virginia, no act of the Convention to that effect can be discovered.

Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, a Senator from Illinois and one of the unsuccessful candidates for the presidency in 1860, made a speech in Ohio early in 1861, in which, in alluding to a question that had been asked, or rather suggested, as to General Scott’s loyalty to the Government, said:  “Why, it is almost profanity to ask such a question.  I saw him only last Saturday.  He was at his desk, pen in hand, writing his orders for the defense and safety of the American capital.”