The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1821-1823, 1821-06-20


night, and until 2 o'clock ON the following day.
They then moved on, the avowed object be-
ing the city of Washington. On coming to
the meeting Of the Washington and Alexan-
dria roads, to deceive our commander, they
took the direction Of Alexandra, and bivouac-
ed for the night at the woodward. The whole
of this march is described with particularly
which gives Il a strong degree Of interest, but
we cannot give room for the whole narrative.
From this point, however, we copy the au-
thor's account of the capture of Washington,
as this is the first particular account by the
enemy which we have seen of this memorable
exploit.
6 Having started on the Gath, at an
early hour, our march was for some
time both cool and agreeable. The
road, if road it might be called, wound
for the first FIVE miles through the heart
of an immense forest, and being, in
every sense of the word, by-path,
was completely overshadowed by pro-
Jecting branches of trees, so closely in
terwoven as to prevent single sun
beam from making its way, even at
noon, within the arch. We continued
to move on, therefore, long after the
sun had risen, without being sensible
that there was not cloud in the sky
to screen us from his influence whilst
a heavy moisture, continually emitted
from the grass and weeds, on both sides
of us, produced GOODNESS, which, had
it been less confined, woald have been
extremely pleasant So far then we
proceeded without experiencing any
other Inconvenience than what was pro-
dueed by the damp and fetid atmos-
phere which we breathed-but no soon
er had we began to emerge from the
woods, and to enter the open country,
than an oyerpowering change was per-
ceived The sun, from which we had
been hitherto defended, now beat up
on US in full force and the dust, rising
in thick masses from under our feet,
without breath of air TO dispense it,
flew directly into our faces, occasioning
the greater Inconvenience, both to the
eyes and respiration have stated this
to you, at length, because do not rec
elect a period of my hfe> when | suf-
fered more severely from heat and ia
tigue and, as a journey Of few miles
under such circumstances, tells more
than one OF thrice the distance in cool
day. and along firm wintry road, you
cannot wonder that before many hours
had elapsed, numbers Of men began to
fall behind, from absolute inability to
keep up.
Yet in spite of all this, there was
that in to-day's march which rendered
it infinitely more interesting than any
we bad performed since the landing -
We had learned, from various quarters,
that the enemy was concentrating his
forces, for the purpose of hazarding a
battle in defence of his capital, The
truth of these rumours we had no cause
to doubt, confirmed as they were by
what we had ourselves witnessed, only
the evening before; and the aspect
of various fields on, each side of the
high road (which we had regained)
where smoking ashes, bundles of straw,
and remnants Of broken victuais were
scattered about, indicated that consider
able bodies of troops had passed the
night in this neighbourhood. The APP
pearanee of the road itself, likewise,
imprinted as it was with fresh marks
of many feet and hoofs,. proaea that
these troops could be no great way be-
fore US; whilst our very proximity TO
Washington, being distant from it not
more than ten or twelve miles, all tend
ed to assure us that we should at least
see an American army before dark
It was. now that we experienced
the great usefulness of our badly mount
ed troopers, or; as, they were called by
the private soldiers, cossacks.. The
country, from being extremely close,
had become open on every side, to a
considerable extent although thick
groves, instead of hedges, frequently
separated one field from another, This
was exactly the ground on which caval-
ny could act VITA advantage, because
they might lie in ambush behind these
groves, totally impoverished, and when
an opportunity Offered, charge the col
umn, before it had time TO prepare for
their reception There were one or
two'plsces, indeed, where such events
were confidently anticipated; whole
rows Of paiing having been pulled up
from the sides of the road, and open
spaces left, through which several
souadrons of horse miobt oaIIon md