regiments were sent in transports to garrison Fortress Monroe, while
General Butler accompanied the eighth regiment in person. At
Philadelphia, on the nineteenth of April, General Butler was apprised of
the attack on the sixth regiment during their passage through Baltimore,
and he resolved to open communication with the capital through
Annapolis.

At Annapolis, General Butler's great executive qualities came into
prominence. He was placed in command of the "Department of Annapolis,"
and systematically attended to the forwarding of troops and the
formation of a great army. On May 13, with his command, he occupied the
city of Baltimore, a strategic movement of great importance. On May 16,
he was commissioned major-general, and on the twenty-second was saluted
as the commander of Fortress Monroe. Two days later, he gave to the
country the expressive phrase "contraband of war," which proved the
deathblow of American slavery.

A skirmish at Great Bethel, June 10, was unimportant in its results
except that it caused the loss of twenty-five Union soldiers, Major
Theodore Winthrop among the number, and was a defeat for the Northern
army. This was quickly followed by the disastrous battle of Bull Run,
which fairly aroused the North to action.

On August 18, General Butler resigned the command of the department of
Virginia to General Wool, and accepted a command under him. The first
duty entrusted to General Butler was an expedition sent to reduce the
forts at Hatteras Inlet, in which with a small force he was successful.

Early in September, he was authorized by the war department to raise and
equip six regiments of volunteers from New England for the war. This