The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-12-14

that do know is, that nothing of thu
kind was thought of; and that even or
the 9th, when the whole army was
put in motion, our progress was for :
while as slow, and as circumspect, as
if Il thousand ambuscades had been or
all sides of us. The right column, tol
example, which skirted the wood, after
moving forward about three or four
| hundred PAGES, was commanded to halt
The house, it appeared, which the enc
my usually occupied, had not been ex
amined, and it was not deemed prudent
to pass it by without examination
Instead, therefore, of leaving this tc
he effected 10y the light troops, a cou
pie of cannon were ordered to the front
and the empty mansion had the homer
of being several times perforated with
round shot. This being done and nc
troops seen to evacuate it . the columns
again pressed forward The day was
clear and bright, there was just enough
frost in the air to he agreeable, and we
were all in the highest spirits. On We
went, therefore, for about three miles
without any halt or hindrancc, either
from man or inanimate nature, coming
in our way. But all at once specta.
| Gle was presented to us, such. indeed,
as we ought to have looked for, but
such as manfestly took our leaders by
surprise The enemys army became
visible. 1t was posted about forty
yards in rear of canal, and covered,
though most imperfectly, by an unfin-
ished breast-work. The outlines of
several batteries had been traced, :,
ditch was marked out and partly be-
gun-in word, the rudiments of an
entrenched position were before us
We who were on luc right felt neither
astonIshment nor regret at the pros
poet. We saw that the works were
contemp,iblr. and we made no doubt
Of carrying them as soon As We should
fairly attempt it-above all, we met
with no interruption to our progress.
But the case was otherwise on the left
The head Of that column had no sooner
arrived within range OF the lines, than
tremendous cannonade, not only from
the guns in position, but from the ship
and a hotilla of armed boats, opened
upon it. We could perceive plainly
enough, that the fire was not harmless;
for the column instantly dcployed into
lines Of battalions, and the lines, after
pushing forward some little way, halted,
and lay down, On our side, however,
an opposite course was pursued
Though the column paused, for what
purpose is, | confess, a mystery to me,
our s>irmishers dashed in increased
force into the wood, and became imme-
diately engaged with Il body of rifle
men, who were posted there for the
purpose Of covering the right of the
enemy's centre. For an instant the
firing was tolerably sharp; but we
drove them before us in gallant style,
and had penetrated as far as their outer
deftnccs, when an order arrived that
we should proceed no further. Whilst
| live, | shall never cease to regret
that such an order was issued Con-
trary to all expectation, We found the
bog within the cypress wood perfectly
passahlr; whilst the entertainments,
which it behooved as to carry, con-
sisted then of nothing more than a few
abattis, with low mound of earth
thrown up in the rear. One spirited
dash, such as we were preparing to
make. must have carried us through
them. But our ar'lor was reprcssed;
we were even directed to fall back. and
We spent full four hours standing or
sitting idly under cover of the trees,
and listening to the sound of the enc
m, 5 guns, which played necessarily
upon our comrades. TO complete the
business, we were informed, about three
O'Clock IN the altrrno N, that the main
body WAS /, tlriny, and 4 little before
dark We followed the example. Ehus,
without SO much as one effort to force
through them, was British army
baillrd and repulscd by horde of raw
nilItiamen, ranged in line behind
mud-wall, which could hav. hardly
protected them from muskctry, far
lY.ss from round-shot; there was not a
man among us who failed to experience
both shame and indiynation, when he
found himself retreating before Il force
for which I've entertained the most SOW
ercign contempt.
have said, or | ought to have said,
That the retroyradc muvement, of
which | am now speaking, WAS con-
ducted in the most dsorlerly manner.
To save the men as much rs possible
from the cannonadc, which still con-
tinued, the different regiments were
directed to break of in files and small
parties from the ri Iht. This was done,
and to the \ mericans it doubt less con
veyrd the idr. that we were lot retir-
ing, bu' dying, for they rent the air
with shouts, and piled us more and
more briskly with grape, round-shot
and shells. 1t was impossible that so
many missiles could he thrown with
ont causing some loss; about thirty