The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-12-26
soslaas, of newspapsr corsespeadean in

s@~R VI E~S - war.
 "l remember ence getting q beat hy accident. The general Who commanded at Harper's Ferry got angry at something l had said about him ia my dispatches. 90 he took scutvy revenge on mo by talk ing away my transportation pass, thus preventing my going te Baltimore by one of the trains that left the Ferry every day, Ky that means he gave me no end oi trouble, kor, ot course, the only telegraph wire within ordinary reach was at Balti- moro or Washington. So my paper lost a story about a small fight, aud deter mined that it should not occur again, About a week after that the opposing armies go, into a squAbsle just above ChArlestown (where John Brown was hangedl and we correspondents all started in a body to catch the oae o'clock train at the ferry. Knowing that could not do anything to soften the generals anger, decided to ford the Potomac ssvef mile or two above Hall Town Heights and ride down on the opposite side to point ot Rocks, where 1 agreed to meet my companions on the train.
 iound the river deeper than 1 ex. pected, and had good deal of trouble in selecting a suitable place 10 cro4s, TAis delayed me, and 1 found on reaching Point ot Rocks that 1 was too late. as the train had gone by. Fortunately | had A fresh horse stAbled at the paint, 90 1 at once saddled him and rode ali the way to Frederick City, arriving there just as the telegraph operator WAS shutting up hts office for the night. With his help managed to send nay story to New York, going to bed contentcd that 1 was not beaten. Judge of my astonlshment on discovering n fee days after that ali oi the other correspondents had n some way managed to miss the train, thereby giving me clear beat, But never told them about my ride to Frederick City. My victory over the HaIper's Ferry com mandant so disguxted him that he te.s. sued my pass, and had no occasion to repeat that experiment.
 War correspondents, who were worth anything as news gathercTS, were always getting into temporary trouble with gen. erals. If you tired to do your duty as A writer you were suse tread on somebody's toes, and whenever that happened there was music by the band. Occasionally brief authority was the origin of the trou. ble, and tt only required little patience to get the best of it. had seen the bat. tie Of Winchester, and by hard riding sue. ceeded in reaching Washington twenty. four hours ahead oi any comrades oi the note, book and pencil This led to my being invited, at tSo o'clock In the morn ing, to the White House by Mir. Lincoln, where gave my details of the picturesque engagement. In return for my se4vice the president ordered me what was known As red letter pass, from its being printed in that color. This pass was an exceed tngly valuable one, for it gave the bearer the right to pass through all army lines, pickets. etc.
 Having been ordered by MT. Ray mond ,o take charge of the movements ot the armies ot the Potomac and the James, as chief Correspondent 1 proceeded to City Po,ai, and arrived there while the guns st both commands were laundering away to keep Lee from reinforcing Early in the valley. had scarcely landed be- fore learned that Meade was extending his line on his left, and that fercc bat. tic was in progress. Of course l wanted to be there, SO ran up the cliff to the pro- voss marshal, exhibited my pas: and de- mandcd local one for train travel to and fro. The clerk examined my pass os- riously. and announced in a hlppant manner that no passes were issued while the troops were in motion, and that must wait until the next day. As news papers are not served Tn that way de- cided to reach the battlefield at all has. ards. Borrowing horse from our City Point man, rode out to the provost liues and had no difficulty h passing through A sharp gallop of twelve miles carried me to Peeble's farm, and 1 witnessed the closing scenes of that day. As you may suppose, l wrote long description of the movement, and in due time it was pub lished. To the meantime 1 received my local pass, and was snugy domiciled with General Warren of the Fifth corps, he being my old colonel when 1 was in the ranks.
 :" The day after the newspapers arrived containing reports of the battle, 1 was summoned by the provost marshal. On my reporting 10 him he asked if l had written the dispatches printed over my signature, and cn my answering in the affirmative, he furiousiy demanded how 1t came that was on the 6eld without his pass. l began explaining when he inter rupted and announced that he intended to place me under arrest protested and pointed out the fact that carried q special pass from the president of the United States, and metsphoricaIiy told the provost to go to the devil, As 1 was only responsible to the secretary of war. After some warm language on both sides, the provost marshal concluded to take me before General Grant. We found the lieutenant-gensral quietly sitting at the fire before the door of his hut, calmly smoking a cigar. He listened .o sks statement of the provost marshal, looked at my pass, blew big cloud of smoke from his firm lips, and then said
 "' Is there apything wrong with Mir. WilllAmH' dAarruffar ,S the &0htT