The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-09-14


common, and marched into the town.
Proceeding along Il narrow street,
which was crossed al right angles by
two or three Of similar description,
we arrived At large open space, sur
rounded on three sides by the rudi-
ments Of square. and having its fourth
imperfectly occupied by the ruins of
the Senate House 1t is slightly raised
above the level Of the rest of the city,
and is crossed by a paltry stream, call
ed, in the Yankee grandiloquence, the
Tiber,.as the hill itself is called the
Capitol. Here the brigade halted, and
piling their arms in two close columns,
the men were permitted to lie down.
Whilst the corps continued thus, I
very gladly accompanied the surgeon
into a house hard by, for the purpose
of having my wound perfectly exam
ined and dressed | found the build
ing deserted 10y its owners; but of the
domestics some had vcntured to remain
behind: and from nn, "f these in par
ticular ! rrcvIy,,i the kiH,lest treat
ment. She was an o:l nogress; a free
woman. however. Is she took care to
inform us. aHd ii nc l., ai of the es-
tablishmcnt The 200; naturcd crca-
ture not only produced The contents Of
her masters tarder, bat conducted me
up stairs, took a nice linen shirt from
a drawer, carefully aired it, and then
begged that | would accept and wear
it for her sake. Now | know not
whether al otter thus made ought, ac-
cording to the strict letter of moral
propriety, to have been attended to;
the good woman was certainly giving
away that which was not hers to give.
Yet let the truth be told | had worn
my shirt 10y night and by day, under
hrolins marches, and through rainy
bivouacs, the better half of Il week; and
| confess, that the opportunity Of eN
changing it for 4 snow-whte piece of
linen and camhric, was a great deal
too tempting too he NEGLECTED. | glad
" took the American shirt; and saved
my own conscience, and the housekeep-
er's reputation. by leaving an English
one upon the dressing table in the room.
1t so happened that neither my
friend nor myself were employed in
perpetrating any one of the deeds of
violence by which the visit of the Eng
lsh army to the capital of the United
States was distinguished OF the ar
senal, public rope work, armory,
bridge and palace, we accordingly saw
nothing, except the smoke and flame
which marked their destruction. Meth
er was an opportunity afforded ofmak-
ing ourselves very intimately acquant-
ed with the general appearance of the
ruin. Having procured 4 horse, |
rode indeed through few of what were
called streets; that is to say, along eX-
tensive lanes, paved only in part, and
boasting, in numerous instances, of no
more than five or six houses on each
side Of the way. planted at the distance
of some eighth part Of mile l.o.n o.,c
another. But with such opportunities
of gathering information, it would i'll
become me to speak as large ola place,
which has doubtless changed it's aspect
greatly in the course of twelve years,
and may be, for aught know to the
contrary, as it might have been then,
possessed of thousand secret attrac-
tions, known only to its own denizens.
The feature, in its general aspect,
which remains most prominently in my
recollection is, however, not quite in
accordance with our notions of a great
capital. | perfectly recolIect, that in
the line ofsevcral ofits public thorough
fares, as well as throughout the range
of its more fashionable quarters, rem
nants, and no inconsiderable remnants,
of the ancient forest were still left
standing.
Noon had passed when heavy clouds
of dust, rising from certain high
grounds on the opposite bank of the
Potomac, attracted our notice. We
were not left long in doubt as to the
cause from whence they proceeded; for
the glittering of arms became instantly
visible, and large American force
showed itself. 1t took up u position
Immediately before us, and pushed fer
ward to patrol OF cavalry as far as
the suburbs of Georgetown There
was not an individual in the army to
whom these circumstances communi-
Gated feeling at all akin to surprise
We had been led to expect an attack,
from the hour OF our advance into
Washington, and We were both ready
and willing TO meet it, let it happen
when it might. Bat the elements in
tertercd to frustratr the design OF the
enemy.-if indeed they seriously en-
tertained such 4 design-of driving us
from our positions; for just at this mo-
ment the heavens became black with
clouds, and Il hurricane such as never
before witnessed, and shall probably
never witness again, began. | know
not anything in art or nature to which
the noise of the wind may be aptly
compared 1t differed essentially from
thunder; yet never listened to thun-