The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1861-06-06
FROM WASHINGTON.
The Alarm of Saturday.
w ashiDgtou, May 20. 1856

inS Po'se'oiou VI AleXandria ana occupy
ing Arlington Hights, the War Depart.
ment, in due preoautiou against an at
tack upon the advanced portions of our
line, bad established signal by which it
should be known to the forces in the Cap
ital that fresh battle has. begun on the
other side of the Potomac, and that re-
enforce meuts in that direction we're at
once required. The signal was to be
three discharges of caqnon from the
War Department, and this was to be ta-
ken BY all the troops in town ss an order
to move across the bridge aud hold them
selves iu readiness to take part in the &C.
ton. Most eagerly. thereof, were thou
sands of ears inclined during the whole of
this morning for the hoped-for signal,
and there was scarcely an officer who
possessed feld-glass who did not fire.
quently mount to some lofty perch, where
he might sweep the expected scene of bat
tie. The day wore on, however, without
any OF the expected symptoms; and as
public atte ntion became more and more
engrossed with the obsequies of Col. Ellis
worth, and speculations as to the proba-
BILE engagements then raging at Sewsll's
Point and Harpers Ferry, the aDxiety
for fresh operations in our immediate
neigbborhood began gradually to die out.
But Of sudden there came an unusual
stir among the crowds along the streets,
aud men could be seen upon the house
tops gesticulatiDg violently, aud taking
turns at lorsUettes, while women as fran
tic as themselves flung about their arms,
and waved ther bandkerchiefs, to euer-
getic exclamations. The people in the
streets seemed to catch by instinct the
meaning of these signs, bat not knowing
what to DO, went swiftly to and fro in
purposeless confusion. | could fancy
nothing more like it than the hoarse be-
ginnings of tremendous storm, aud just
as [ was feeling its Influence with the
rest, the boom of great gun sounded
from the neighborhood of the White
House. The report seemed to traDs6x
every listener at once, and all ears were
bent to hear another. 1t 5000 came. but
on all sides the only words which respon-
ded to it Rere-"That is tee second!'-
Another pause of ieyerish interest en-
sued, and then, in third report, peslcd
forth the complete announcement that
war, grim, bloody, earnest war had be-
gun between the people Of the North and
South. This, too. vas the call to arms,
and as the last shot fell upon the car
II re sas burst of cheering voices, such
y perhaps never befors welcomed and
iuaugurated civil strife. And then the
most strange things we're done. Many,
in running to and fro, would turn two or
three times. and come back to the same
spot to shake hands with their friends
upon the joyful prospect; others went Of
ter their pistols, and commenced buokling
them about their waists, while others,
still, enthusiastically offered any sort of
odds that Uncle Sam woud win the fight.
Before three minutes bad elapsed from
the sound OF the last guu, there came
Gathering along past Wizards from the
neighborhood of the Treasury building a
party Of dragons, taking their way o.
round the corner of Fourteenth street to-
ward Long Bridge. Cheers rose from
the crowds as they went by, but before
those cheers were done vast rumbling
was heard n the same direction which
the dragons bad come from, and in the
next instant Sherman's famous battery,
with six horses to each gun, werc seen
tearing around into the Avenue at fearful
speed, the troopers and cannoDiers
screaming wildly, like SO many madmep,
as they went Their rate of progress
was SO swift that in turning the Four
teenth street corner, the whirl of the gun
carriage spun off left.hand wheel, and
dashed the vehicle against an iron post,
flinging the men off the caissons. aud
knocking down two of the horses. But
the remaining horses were whipped on,
dragging the fallen animals on their sides
along the road, and the naked axle doing
duty for the missing wheel. They pass.
ed shouting out of sight, and the acceler-
ating huzzas of the equally crazy multi
tude, went after them as long as their
wheels and voices could be heard. But
the excitement eliminated with the ap-
pearance of the Massachusetts, Fifth,
which, like the flying battery, appeared
in the next moment from the direction of
the Treasury. They, too, came along oD
a foil run, and every man was screaming
and uhooping as if just escaped from
Bedlam. 1t was not the utterance Of any
particular cry, with which they sought to
direct or stimulate each other. but it was
the rage for battle, burning in their
veins. seeking this necessary vent. Tho
crowd focked after them, and after the
crowd, followed a column from Copnecti-
sut. and after them swarmed hurriedly
collected local troops. The whole mass
poured on together, every man Oh dead
run, and thousands of voices rising con-
tiuually out Of the yellow coil OF dust that
"a arked the direction of the line, IN min
eled screams aud cheers. 1t was sight
such as has never been seen on this con-
tinept before, aud must have convinced
eyery locker -on that we are essentially
- ,oaola On arrivinO at the