Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1880-01-27

g wink the night befOre-hurried us OIL
: by rail to attack the enemy at day break.
! About O'Clock on the morning of the
18th of April, we disembarked from the
II trains at Halltown, -four miles from
q Harper's Ferry, and formed column of
attack. Our field-guns had to be drawn
by the men-not difficult, however, on
well macadamiZed road. Some of the
g cavalry had preceded US, and their pres
D eHce caused Lieutenant Jones, of the
: United States army-who had but part
;. or company under his cOmmand-to
r Immediately set fire to the armory and
shops, and escape across the Potomac to
3 the Maryland side. By the light of the
} cOEilagratlOn we fastened forward, but
| arrived too late to save the building in
{ which so many fire arms-not far short
, of 20 0O0-Were stored and burned. But
, we saved all the machinery from de-
struction, and it was, after its removal
, South, Of inestinable value to the Con-
] federacy. It was matter of amaZement
, to us that the government at Washing
ton had taken no steps to guard the mill
itary stores and machinery of so much
value. Lieutenant Jones, the comman-
dant of the guard, had appreciated his
danger and helplessness, for we found
he had laid trains and made arrange
|
near doing so. but the celerity of our
movements frustrated him.
sECREsY OF THE MOVEMENT.
An incident that occurred when some
OF US left Richmond on the morning Of
the 18th, shows how near we were being
thwarted. One of those present at the
conferences the night before at the Ex-
change Hotel. incautiously spoke to a
friend on the train before it started and
told him our plans. A Northern man,
in seat near by, overheard it, and at
once wrote long telegram to Mr. Lin
coin, disclosing the danger to him, and
not having time to take it to the tele-
graph office himself, sent it by negro
man, with the money to pay for its
transmission. Luckily for US the office
had just been put under surveillance,
and the dispatch was withheld. And
as we cut the wires on the 18th from
| Gordonsvlle North, Mr.. Lincoln was
kept in blissful ignorance of the danger
to Harper's Ferry till Lieutenant Jones
| reported that he had been driven out
and the Nirginians were in possession.
We found few hundred rifle muskets
and revolvers in other places than the
burned arsenal that were useful to US,
and the barrels OF all the burned arms
were afterward worked over and were
as good as ever. The quantity of mate
rial for gun stocks which we captured
was very large and valuable, being old
seasoned thoroughly. This was the first
overt act of war in Virginia in its in
ception, though simultaneous, believe,
i'll its consummation with the capture Of
the Navy Yard at Portsmouth. Its sue.
cess created great enthusiasm through
out the State. There never was doubt
on the minds of those who engaged In
the movement, that if the arrangements
for the concentration of the widely scat
| tered volunteer companies in the State,
had not been perfected, as it was on the
| 10Th of April, the capture of Harper's
| Ferry, without serious bloodshed, would
| have been impossible, for as soon as it
had become known at Washington that
| Virginia had seeded, large body of
troops would have been sent to guard
the shops and arsenal there. At ell
events, the loss of another day in our
movement would at least have enabled
| the Government at Washington to de-
stroy, if it could not defend, the vast
military property and machinery that
fell into our hands. Governor Letcher's
hands were tied by his understanding
with the convention not to make any
military demonstration with its knOwl-
|
cussiOn of the question of taking Har-
per's Ferry by the Governor and con-
vention would have been fatal to its
success, for all the proceedings of that
body were very promptly known at
Washington. Governor Wise, in his
narrative, alleges that when he an
| nounced to the convention in secret seS-
sion, on the 18th, that troops were en-
route to Harper's Ferry, and only
awaited their action and Governor
Letcher's orders to strike the actual
blow, it fell like bombshell in the body
and led to an immediate vote and pas
sage of the ordinance.
THE ARMY OF OCCUPATION.
An amusing account could be written
of the appearance md condition of our
''arny Of occupation" o at Harper's Fer
ry. during the first two weeks of its ex-
istence and until Colonel r j Jackson
| (afterward called Stonewall was put in
| command. Ii was common saying
that the force consisted of 500 officers
and 1900 men. We had one major
general and four brigadiers, and the
lower grades in proportion. In fact.
militia officers fiocked in there from all
quarters t. 'see how war looked" and
'how things We're done in the field" 80
that when their turn came, they, too,
would know how to do it. With very few
exceptions we were all green and raw,
and the exhibition of fuss and feath-
ers" was ridiculous in the extreme when,
in after years of hard service, we looked
back to these scenes with the eyes of
experience Questions of rank prece-
dence were the source of wrangling and
| ii-puie, a,iI sun,etlmes not easily set
tied Luckily we were not attacked
while in this embryo condition, and
when Jackson came with the simple
rank of "colonel" and ordered to as
sumo command of the post, he soon
licked us into shape by dint of inces-
SAINT drilling and instruction, and
brought order out Of chaos, so that by
the time the armed foe appeared on our
side of the Potomac few weeks later,
the holiday soldiers of the piping times
| of peace had learned some of the ele-
ments of endurance and obedience to
orders that fitted them for the first
real tug at fighting, in which they took
a hand at Bull Run, in July. OF the
men and officers who marched into Har-
per's Ferry on that April morning, sew
enteen years ago, how few survive? In
four short years more than half of them
had answered their last roil-call on the
battlefield or in the hospital, and since
pilS W tIS AIC CIOSSliS CESI
the river to rest under the shade
AS soon as Jackson assumed COM
mand he began to move away every
thing of value from the shops. General
Joseph K Johnston, who succeeded him
in the command, continued the work,
so that by the early part of June we
finished what Lieutenant Jones begun,
and burned ali the public buildings and
retired to Winchester, expecting a visit
from your venerable and honored fe!-
low-citizen, General Robert Patterson,
whom our commanding officers thought
they could not properly receive in what
they called Harper's Ferry, q man
trap and which it afterward proved to
be, when occupied by General Miles.
BEEF TEA FOR TYPHOID FEvER.-
Take one ounce of the very best beef
and one ounce of water. Cut up the
. beef, taking care there is no tat or skin.
Pound it III q mortar for quarter of an
hour. Then put in glass or cup pour
tha cold water upOn if and Lot il Stapd