| When
the Civil War erupted in April 1861, the Smithsonian Institution
itself was vulnerable. Located between the Capitol Building
and the White House, the institution was not immune from
the forces threatening to turn the city of Washington into
an armed camp. Both
the Smithsonian and Joseph Henry, its first Secretary, somehow
persevered. "The
interruptions and embarrassments," he wrote, "although
frequent, and in some cases perplexing, have not prevented
the continuance of the general operations of the Institution." However,
were it not for his steadfast leadership, the institution
might have suffered permanent damage.
The
Smithsonian Building, physically cut off from the rest
of the city by the Washington Canal, was close to the Potomac
River, which divided the District of Columbia from Virginia
and the rebel south. For
its defense the secretary of war issued the following order: "The
Colonel of Ordnance will cause to be issued to Professor
J. Henry of the Smithsonian Institute twelve muskets and
240 rounds of ammunition, for the protection of the Institute
against lawless attacks."
Trying
to accommodate the sudden influx of soldiers, the government
used a variety of public buildings and proposed that the
Smithsonian Building also be used. Henry suggested that
if the Smithsonian had to be used by troops, it would be "more
in accordance with the spirit of the Institution" to
use it as an infirmary. Fortunately,
the building was not used.
Henry
had always tried to keep the Smithsonian out of the controversies
of the day and his political opinions private. It is clear,
however, that he abhorred war and favored a peaceful separation
over a bloodbath. His assistant, Spencer Baird, not only
did not volunteer for the Union but also cautioned other
young men not to volunteer. He
also, like Henry, clearly saw the Smithsonian as an institution
founded, in the words of James Smithson's will, "for
the increase & diffusion of knowledge among men," meaning,
throughout the world. He
thus expressed a sentiment undoubtedly shared by Henry: "Whatever power may control Washington, it is our hope
to be allowed to carry out our sublime mission in the most
catholic manner."
Living
in the Smithsonian Building, Henry's family couldn't help
but be affected by the many soldiers passing through Washington
throughout the war. In her diary, his oldest daughter wrote
of streets filled with soldiers and the sound of drums.
Mary Henry found the flashy New York Zouaves "quite
disorderly since their arrival." But, she found the nearby Union encampments "indescribably
picturesque."
The
Smithsonian soon began to feel the impact of the war on
its programs. One
of the first affected was its national network of volunteer
weather observers. As
soon as the war started, observers in the South and West
stopped sending monthly reports. After the war, one observer in Richmond sadly informed Henry
that when Sheridan's troops occupied his house, his barometer
had been broken and the mercury taken out. Even
in the North reporting was disrupted as some observers
left for military duty and were unable to find substitutes. The
program was also hurt by government preemption of the telegraph
lines, which telegraph operators used to report daily weather
information for display on a map in the Smithsonian Building
and for publication in the evening paper. Henry
wrote in December of 1861, "Our system of meteorology
has been sadly broken in upon by the war."
The
war affected the Smithsonian's pocketbook also. The
institution had three main sources of income at this time.
The first derived from the principal of Smithson's bequest
and amounted to about $31,000 a year. The
second was $141,000 remaining of the interest the bequest
had earned prior to 1846. The third was an annual congressional
appropriation of $4000. Throughout
the war Henry worried whether the government funds would
be late or not paid at all; the currency itself was devaluated;
and the institution's investments in the state bonds of
Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia stopped yielding interest. Henry
feared that if Congress failed to appropriate money for
the museum, "we shall be obliged to close the doors or
charge an admittance to visitors." (Fortunately
for us all, that precedent was not set.)
Although
Henry lamented the human losses, he viewed the war as an
opportunity for scientific research. He
foresaw "investigations as to the strength of materials,
the laws of projectiles, the resistance of fluids, the
applications of electricity, light, heat, and chemical
action, as well as of aerostation [ballooning]." Historian
Robert V. Bruce has pointed out, however, that most of
the technology used in the Civil War was invented before
the war and that because the war was not expected to last
long, little research was initiated. He
also concluded that the war actually had a negative effect
on science, by diverting personnel and resources, and on
individual scientists, whose skills or even lives were
given to the war effort. He
mentions particularly the case of George Gordon Meade,
best known as the Union commander at Gettysburg. Before
the war, Meade had been a captain in the army's Corps of
Topographical Engineers in charge of the Great Lakes Survey. Henry
had cautioned Meade not to become "mere food for powder." Meade
survived the war but never returned to science.
In
early 1861, Henry promoted the work of the balloonist T.S.C.
Lowe, believing he could be "of advantage to the Government
in assisting their reconnaissance of the district and country
around Washington." In
mid-June, Lowe ascended from the site now occupied by the
National Air and Space Museum to prove the feasibility
of communicating by telegraph between balloons and the
ground. With
Henry's support, Lowe became head of a balloon corps that
was to provide Union commanders with accurate information.
According to historian Bruce, this was the first successful
military air force in American history.
The
height of the Smithsonian Building's highest tower made
it a superior location to test signaling systems. Surviving manuscripts refer to the testing of different signaling
systems between the Smithsonian and the Coast Survey office
on Capitol Hill, between the Smithsonian and Fort Washington
sixteen miles south of the city, and between the Smithsonian
and the U.S. Soldier's Home, the second highest elevation
in Washington.
A
famous anecdote relating to signaling appears in Carl Sandburg's
biography of Lincoln. He
writes, "One dark night Lincoln with four other men
climbed up the tower of the Smithsonian Institution. Toward
hills encircling Washington they flashed signals. The next day an army officer marched into Lincoln's office
a prisoner, Professor Joseph Henry, secretary and director
of the Smithsonian Institution, the most eminent man of
learning in the employ of the United States Government. 'Mr.
President,' said the officer, 'I told you a month ago Professor
Henry is a rebel. Last
night at midnight he flashed red lights from the top of
his building, signaling to the Secesh. I
saw them myself.'
Lincoln
turned. 'Now
you're caught! What
have you to say, Professor Henry, why sentence of death
should not immediately be pronounced upon you?' Then,
turning to the army officer, Lincoln explained that on
the previous evening he and others had accompanied Henry
to the Smithsonian tower and experimented with new army
signals."
Although
Henry devoted many hours of unpaid labor to the Union effort,
he was a target of rumors questioning his loyalty. His
opposition to a series of abolitionist lectures in the
Smithsonian Building was one cause. His earlier friendship with Jefferson Davis was another. Davis
had been a regent of the Smithsonian from 1847 to 1851
and proved to be one of Henry's most consistent supporters
and an effective advocate in Congress of the Smithsonian's
interests.
In
trying to assert the Smithsonian's international scientific
character, Henry may have seemed less than patriotic. He
was criticized for not flying the United States flag over
the Smithsonian Building throughout the war. His
reason was that he wanted the institution to be viewed
as independent. In addition, no Smithsonian employees actually
served in the military. Spencer
Baird was eligible but hired a "colored substitute" for
three years at a cost of $278. Solomon Brown wrote Baird
in September 1864 that he had received a draft notice but
was "Exempted on the grounds of Physical disability." Chief
Clerk William Jones Rhees and paleontologist Fielding B.
Meek were also drafted but were excused by the examining
surgeon.
Henry,
somewhat bitterly, made this remark to Baird near the end
of the war. "I
know that I shall not be considered as good a patriot as
some of your friends I could name, who, while expressing
with one hand in violent gesticulations their devotion
to their country have with the other been filling their
pockets with the spoils of office."
Despite
the turmoil of four years of war, the Smithsonian emerged
in a surprisingly strong position. To explain this, we
need to look to Joseph Henry, who never lost sight of what
he wanted the Smithsonian to be. With
his vision of an institution devoted to the support of
basic research and dissemination of its findings throughout
the world, he took the "interruptions and embarrassments" caused
by the war and used them to further realize that vision. As a result, both the Smithsonian Institution and the nation
became stronger.
We
are indebted to Kathleen Dorman for providing this summary
and sharing her research. For
the complete text and more information and links associated
with the Joseph Henry Papers project go to: http://www.si.edu/archives/ihd/jhp/index.htm |
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