Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1873-06-20

I am now an old man, and have been the
chief fisherman in this locality for thirty
five years | first saw the light in this
region, and here | expect to die. Time
is beginning to tell on my storm-exposed
bones, but as | have raised around me a
large family of good boys and girls,
shall be quite willing to go away when
my Maker calls Such swarms of fish,
of rock fish, and shad, of herring, catfish
and sturgeon, as | have caught in the
old Potomac, and such quantities of
ducks, rabbits and cartridges as [ have
killed in this valley during the winters.
it would be hard to estimate. And o.!
how many and what awful freshets have
| witnessed /! | have worked hard, tried
to do my duty, and upon the whole, have
led a happy life. / can remember when
the first Chain Bridge was thrown across
the river, just below the big Eddy; :"
that bridge and all its successors saw
carried away. Little did think in those
old days that | should ever hear the guns
of civil war on this spot, and see thous-
ands of soldiers marching from one side
of the river to shoot down in cold blood
their brothers ON the other side. But
the rebellion is over now, and ! am very
glad and thankful. The fighting is at
an end, and all the troops have long since
gone to their various homes, excepting
those who are sleeping on the hills of
Arlington. 1t used to be real pleasure
to me to see these poor follows enjoying
themselves when in camp at the Little
Falls, and to hear he music of their
regimental bands That music was very
grand, know, and the blast of the bugle
stirred ones blood but to my ear, after
all, nothing sounded so sweetly as did
the singing of the birds, roar of the river,
and the mellow horns of the canal boat
men, in the good old times. when you
might have travelled many miles up this
valley in the pleasant autumn without
meeting a single man. Peace and real
comfort filled the land in those days, and
such sounds as the railroad whistle and
the beating of the drum were unknown
The drum That makes me think of
the drummer boy who persisted in these
waters more than hundred years ago.
1t is an old tradition, and q sad one, too :;
and now that my steps are getting feeble
and slow, ] cannot well drive it from my
mind, as | could in former years. Il was
in the time of the Indian wars, and a
band of British infantry, on their way
from the Old Dominion to the regions Of
the great lakes, Glanced to cross the
Potomac at this point. They crossed in
batteau, and although the first of them
stepped into the boat, to the music of the
drum, before the last Of them were fer
ried over, an accident occurred, and the
favorite of the band the drummer boy,
with his drum about higneck, was drown
ed and forever disappeared from human
sight The soldiers had no more music,
and their march through the internina-
bic woods was sorrowful indeed They
could not forget their happy little com
radc, the drummer boy; and since that
time, the valley of the Potomac has
ever and anon resounded with the music
of the phantom drum. Old men tell me
that it was often heard in Revolutionary
times, and | know that ] have heard
something like it in my own--yes, more
than a hundred times 1t was often
heard at midnight in the pauses Of
thunder storm; now mingling with the
roar of waters in summer flood, and
again stealing softly through the quiet
summer or autumnal atmosphere. But
what was very strange, whenever that
phantom drum was heard, the river was
sure to bring up from its depths the body
Of some man who had been drowned
It was thought by many that the man
who first heard the pealing Of this strange
sound was sure to lose bis life by drown
ing before the coming morrow. am not
supcrstitious, but this may be something
more than fancy. very well know that
when / fell from high rock into the
upper pool, or Spout" of the Little
Falls, heard mysterious sound and
thought of the phantom drum. So, also,
when once floating tree upset my boat,
and plunged me into the hell Of waters
below the Falls. That the ghost of the
drowned drummer once haunted this
place was believed by many of the in
habitants of this part of Virginia, which
has been long known as Cooney; and
there is a man still living who will take
his oath that the phantom once on
moonlight night climbed into his boat
while he was fishing, and that he sat
there for n LONE time beattno tho air a &