Soldiers Also Occupied U.S. Capitol in 1861-- Part 5: 'Voted Down On Constitutional Grounds'

Troops also used senators' desks and stationery to write letters home and conducted mock debates in their spare time.

"Our life in the Capitol  was most dramatic and sensational,"  Theodore Winthrop of the 7th  New York Regiment wrote to the Atlantic Monthly magazine,  "We joked, we shouted, we sang, we mounted the Speaker's desk and  made speeches."

In one faux Senate session, the troops debated asking the president to send booze, one correspondent wrote.

"The presiding officer was just putting the question on a resolution directing the sergeant-at-arms to proceed immediately to the White House and to request the President, if, in his opinion, not incompatible with the public interest, to send  down a gallon of his best brandy," the reporter wrote.

"A motion to strike out the word 'Brandy' and substitute 'Old Rye' was voted down, on Constitutional grounds because  the 'Hon. Senator from South Carolina' who offered it had both legs on the desk, while the rules permitted only one," he continued.

When the Senate convened for an emergency session in July 1861 and returned to regular session in  December, the soldiers quartered at the Capitol moved out.

In 1964, the plaque commemorating their stay was placed  on the wall by Lincoln's bust, recalling the earlier instance of soldiers being quartered there.

--Old Secesh