The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1864-07-30
Correspondence Of The Cecil Wing.
Letter from StfI District.
EIGHrTH DISTRICT. July 2Sth. 1861


The principal topics which exercise this
neghborhood Mt present, seem to be the
Conowingo Home Guards, or 80 days men,
raised on the spur of the Rebel excitement.
by all accounts these Blue Hens Chickens
have been "sloshing round" with the most
inimitable freedom and nOnchaiance. These
Delaware emergency men and Marines were
sent here to guard Conowingo bridge, and
Bald Friar and Peach Bottom ferries, and
prevent, if any attempt should be made, the
rebels from crossing, and protect the citi-
zens. Now it is well known that immedi-
ately after these protectors arrived, the reb-
els re-crossed the Potomac. These men,
raised principally in Delaware, with the ad
diton of some Marines, however, have been
protesting to guard the Susquehanna, and
in order to scout the country the farmers
horses We're taken without much ceremony.
and used, not to scout on the West side of
the river the only quarter whence an enemy
could approach, but to gallop about the
roads on the Cecil side. amusing themselves
by running races, &C., &c. And thus for
two weeks, while all the time it was knolrn
that not an armed rebel was on this side of
the Potomac, the work horses of the farmers
were galloped over the roads by these fell
lows, mis- named officers. while their privates
engaged in forays on the neighboring farm
houses, demanding victuals, which were al
ways furnished them, and stealing poultry
and pigs. Such conduct cannot be too Sc
verely censured, and the perpetrators of
such disgracefnl deeds should be punished
with the utmost rigor. In place of being
protectors, the reputation they leave behind
them, is that of set of upstart, insolcnt
officers, dressed up for the time sin little
brief authority which they outrage to the
shame of every Union man and the disgrace
of the Government whose uniform they
wear. While this is the character their Off
GERS have left behind them, the men earned
the unenviable reputation of chicken thieves
SO reckless were they of the properly placed
under their charge, that, in preparing Con-
owingo bridge to Illustrate any attempt of the
enemy at crossing, with as little damage to
the building as possible, which need not
have amounted to more than SIS or 500,
they cut and slashed the timbers so as to
damage the bridge to the amount Of several
hundred dollars.
These worthless were still going on to i'm
press horses, brides and saddles to facilitate
their iocomotion from one public honsc to
another, when orders arrived from Head
quarters to return the animals they had been
abusing to their owners.
Had Governor Bradford acted as the Elk
ecullNe Oh II otate occupying the posllloh
that Maryland does; by giving the proper
assistance to its citizens who offered to en-
roll themselves, and form force for the
protection of the county from apprehended
invasion, our citizens would not have been
subjected to such outrages by shameless up
starts from another State, and pilfering of
hen-roosts by their, in every way worthy
recruits, and the Government would not
have been put to shame by such unlicensed
com duct, perpetrated by petty robbers,
clothed in its uniform and shielded in their
depredations by its flag.
We hope that if such an emergency should
again arise, that our own citizens will have
men for a similar duty, and thus supercede
the necessity of such another shameless gang
of mis-, called Union troops from foreign
State, re-enactng their depredations on our
citizens