"It is no common cause which brings us here to-night. Tyrants and traitors are abroad in the land. A gigantic foe is invading the fair soil of Virginia, and we are here to protect our firesides. All law writers, from Blackstone down, agree that all men should protect their homes. Now, fellow-citizens, remember our forefathers all fought, and bled, and died for this glorious Union." [Applause.]
"Touch lightly on that," whispered Jones.
"I repeat" said Mr. Diggs, "that Washington was the greatest man that ever lived." And now, grown eloquent and excited, he mounted a bench and whipped his left hand under the tails of his coat, while he waved his right in vehement gesture.
All the efforts of Seth Williams and Howard Jones to keep him on the track were unavailing. He commenced to speak about the Stars and Stripes.
"Oh, thunder! go back to Rome if you can't make a better secession speech," said Jones.
The truth was that Mr. Diggs, like a great many others at this time, hardly knew which side he was on. When he swore to preserve the Union at all hazards, his astonished friends pulled him down.
A call was made for volunteers, and Mr. Diggs was the first to enroll his name. Though calling themselves a Home Guard, these volunteers were really enrolled in the army of the Southern Confederacy. Oleah Tompkins was among the first to thus espouse the Southern cause.
The clouds of war grew darker and darker every hour. At any moment the storm might burst in all its fury. Snagtown was in a constant state of excitement as the crisis approached. Her more timid citizens trembled with dread.
Henry Smith, a farmer's son, a young man of limited education, but of strong common sense, stood in the street one bright morning, engaged in conversation with Seth Williams.
"Come, now, Harry," said Williams, persuasively, "you had better come in with us. The time has come, or will soon come, when our homes will have to be defended. We shall be overrun with soldierly hirelings, who will rob and burn and murder as they go. Our families will need protection, and this duty devolves on us."
"But, Seth, some say the Home Guard will be marched South into the Confederate army."
"Oh, nothing of the kind," said Williams. "Our only object is to protect our homes from the soldiers of both sides, and to meddle with neither unless they invade our State."