Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1897-12-09
IN THE EHBHY's COUNTRY.


On December the 7. 1852, / was order
ed BY the Confederate Government ID
proceed to Maryland and subscribe Il
the principal newspapers published in
New York, in order that we might b.
posted In regard 20 the tone of the North
ern press. Ny friend, Judge Robert
Ford, subscribed TO them lin his name
and We received them regularly acros.
the Potomac In few days the couns5
OF St. Mary's was overrun with Yankee
soldiers, and the gunboafs were so vigi.
liant that could not find an oppoftuni.
ty to recross the Potomac river. Ny old
friend, Col. ii. G.. ). Key, sent me word
that he had talked with the Yankee of
ficers and he thought that they were
looking for me, and advised me to leave
the county and have it noised about that
| had crossed the river, hence | took his
advice and went to Washington in a
buggy with friend, ''bearding the lion
in his den"
A soon as / arrived in Washington |
purchased new suit of clothes and a
pair of Eyeglasses and went into the
Willard's Hotel to secure room, but the
clerk informed me that there was not a
vacant room in the hotel. Several spies
asked me numerous questions, and one
ofthem followed me two or three squares.
| finally made my way to the Kimmel
House, against my judgment. as it was
considered Southern house. AS soon
as roughly wrote my name on the book,
Mr.. Kimmel behind the counter, with
his old-fashion rufiled shirt on, wrote on
piece of paper and showed it to me.
read it, and il was, Beware of that man
with white hat on reading the Sun,' he
is spy" | have never beer able to
learn how the old gentleman knew that
/ should be aware of spies, for this was
the first time that ! had ever seen him.
| had two friends thoroughly South
ern, who kept a wholesale liquor store
on Pennsylvania Avenue, whom called
to see every day, and they would intro
duce me to Yankee officers as Mr.. Jones,
some of whom would abuse the internal
rebels, which / did not relish; but still
prudence was the better part of valor,
so | kept as quiet as possible. / met
with quite number OF old friends from
Baltimore on the streets, but was afraid
to speak to them, not knowing what
changes had taken place since left on
the 1st of May, 1861. The 18th day of
December arrived, on which day the bat
tie of Fredericksburg was fought, when
Burnside's army was completely defeated
and thoroughly demoralized.
The news reached Washington that
evening and the whole city was in state
of excitement. Thinking it time for me
to leave, we crossed the Eastern Branch
bridge, though halted by the guard for a
short time. We made our way to Wood
vile, p. 9. county, to the residence of
my friend, Col. George Forbes. When
about two miles from the bridge there
came company of cavalry in great
haste, apparently after us, but they soon
went on after talking with us awhile.
That evening Col. John ID. Bowling in
vited us to spend the evening with him,
which we did, and had a game of whist,
and enjoyed ourselves delightfully."-.
In few days / crossed the Patuxent
river and went to Col. James r. Bris-
GOES; from thence l visited DIR. McDan-
iefs, with whom / went hunting with
Col. Jenifer's celebrated dogs. In a few
days / recrossed the river and stopped
with my friend, James II. Thomas, in St.
Mary's county. When leaving, they in
sisted, for my safety, that should be
dressed in female attire, as would have
To pass through Yankee soldiers i'm or
der To arrive at the point where ex-
pected to cross the Potomac We passed
through the Head of st. Clements Bay,
where quite a crowd OF Home Guard had
assembled, all of whom knew me, but
touched their hats as passed through,
thinking was lady. Ipassed through
Leonardtown, filed with Yankee sold
iers, and drove to Medley's Neck and dis
robed in the presence of several ladies
and gentlemen, to their utter astonish-
ment, some OF whom have vivid recol-
lection of it now.
A few days after my arrival a man
promised to take me over the river
0Yp a.wtN 1wmA A1wA N
took supper with my old friend, Joseph
Il. Cough. Esq, and he walked with me
To the appointed place, but not finding
any one there, we walked slowly around
the shore, when we soon heard persons
talking. Mr.. Cough concluded that they
were the men waiting for me. but | sug-
gested that they might be Yankees. /
had large salt sack filled with new un-
derclothing and other things. which he
told me to throw aside If they should
prove to he Yankees, and he would tell
them that we were 'possum hunting:
sure enough we met a tall Yankee Irish
man, with boat and crew a few wards
of. This Captain (as Cough afterward
told me he was) talked quite boisterous-
ly, and said he would take us to Wash
ington, &c. Mr.. Cough walked along
side of this thieving Captain (as most of
them were on the Potomacl and L was
just behind them. took out my pistol.
intending to shoot him, bat then upon
rejecting that IL / escaped nv friend
Cough would be sufferer, / placed NV
pistol in my pocket and made few long
strides across the beach, and over the
fence | went. Nv foot struck the rail
and they heard it, and came a yelling at
the top of their voices, Who's that rot
away" In the meantime L was going
nc full speed and came TO large pond
of water, into which / plunged. and got