The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-10-05


finally. we beheld about four or five
hundred rifcmcn scattered through the
wood, and prepared to dispute with us
our farther progress. Nor were many
moments wasted in idly gazing at each
other. Having warned the column by
the sound Of our bugles that an encm,
was in sight; we rushed forward, and
the forest echoed again to the report
of ours and the Americons' muskets.
There is nothing in war more inter-
esting and, if it be conducted with any
science, more entertaining, than skir-
mish in the bosom of a deep wood.
The cover is generally so abundant
and so excellent in kind, that fewer
casualties take place, than cne unac-
customed to such affairs might expect,
whilst, from the very nature OF the en-
countre, your thoughts are never for
an instant unemployed, nor your body
for an instant at rest. When advan-
ing, you dart from tree to tree, passing
with the rapidity of thought over the
space between, as if you had singled
out one or two individuals among the
enemy, to overtake whom was the great
object of your wishes. Then, again,
there is the necessity imposed upon
you, of watching that your men keep
we'll up; that they are careful not to
expose themselves unnecessarily; that
they are cool, take a good and deliber-
ate aim, and abstain from throwing
their fire away to no purpose. AS to
preserving 4 regular line, that is seldom
attempted; men rarely carry into the
| field the niceties of the parade ground;
it is enough if you see, that when the
right is hard pressed, the left shall not
push too far ahead of it; nor, when the
left hangs back, that the right passes
it by. Above all, the officer must, in
such situations, be careful to show his
men becoming example. He ought
not, indeed, to hurry too far above
them, because by so doing, though he
may lead some to follow, others taking
advantage of tue license which his
blind impetuosity grants, may keep
out of the fire altogether; but still less
ought he to lag behind. He is the best
director of a skirmish who moves back
wards and forwards among his troops;
cheers and animates them by his voice
and gestures; scrupies not TO expose
himself occasionally more than may be
exactly required, and appears to treat
his enemies with contempt. The spirit
which actuates him never fails to arise
among his followers, and when once
men despise their enemies, they seldom
fail to beat them.
Our skirmish to-day wac for while
tolerably hot, and extremely animated.
The Americans outnumbered us be-
yond calculation, whilst AS individuals,
they were at least our equals in the
skill with which they used their wea-
pons; yet, from the commencement, it
was on our part continual advance,
on thiers a continual retreat. We
! drove them from thicket to thicket,
from tree to tree, not, indeed with any
heavy loss, for they were no less ex-
pert in finding shelter than in taking
aim; but occasionally bringing down
an individual as he was running from
one cover to another. Our own loss,
again, was very trifling. Two men
killed, and about a dozen wounded,
made up the sum of our casualties;and
it may with truth be asserted, that
everything was going on as the Gen
eral himself could have wished But
uahappily he was not satisfied of this.
The firing struck him as being more
heavp and more continued than it
ought to be; he was apprehensive that
we had fallen into some serious ambus-
cade, and, unwilling to trihe with the
safety even of few companies, ,he rode
forward for the purpose of satisfying
himself that they were safe. How Bit
terly had the whole expedition cause
to lament that step! He had scarcely
entered tbs wood. when an American
rifleman singled him out; he fired, and
the ball, true to its mark, pierced his
side. When the General received his
death-wound, | Glanced to be standing
at no great distance from him; | saw
he was struck, for the reins dropped
instantly from his hand, and he leaned
forward over the pommel of his saddle:
and though l could not suffer myself
to imagine that there was any danger,
| hastened towards him, but | arrived
too late. His horse making move
ment forward, he lost his seat, and,
but for the intervention of his aidc-de-
campe's arm, must have fallen to the
ground. As it was, we could only lay
him at length upon the grass, for his
limbs could no longer perform their
ollice-it was but too manifest that his
race was run.
No language can convey any ade-
quate idea of the sensation which this
melancholy event produced in the bos-
som of all who were aware Oft. 1t may
with truth be asserted, that Il general,
young in command has rarely obtained
the confidence OF his troops in the de-
gree in which General Ross had Oh