Troops Came to U.S. Capitol in 1861 and Left It In a Total Mess-- Part 1

From the Jan. 14, 2021, Washington Post "Troops lodged in the Capitol in 1861.  It was a wreck when they left" by Meryl Sonmez.

What with that huge turnout of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. for President Biden's inauguration this Wednesday, I thought this article I found was appropriate.

At the beginning of the Civil War, President Lincoln, fearing for the safety of Washington, D.C., called out for thousands of soldiers to come to town on April 15, three days after Fort Sumter was attacked.  Three days later, they began arriving. 

Ohio Senator John Sherman, younger brother of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, recalled in his memoirs, "The response of the loyal states to the call of Lincoln was perhaps the most remarkable  uprising of a great people in the history of mankind."

But, he noted that they were not trained soldiers and had no discipline.  Some were housed in the Capitol building and they  wrecked it, getting bacon grease on the walls, swinging from ropes hanging from the ceiling of the dome and debating if they should ask for more booze

This greatly frightened the people who had to work in its hallowed halls and rooms.

--Old Secesh