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

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and ho!icr feelings are in force. Sor-
row we did proicss-ay, and felt 1t too
we loved. were absent but our minds
were too much occupied with other
thoughts, to afford room for any pro-
found or even acute repinings.
We had been thus employed for per-
haps an hour and something better,
when an orderly sergeant arrived with
intelligence, that the second and third
brigades were in motion, and that we
also should be required to push on as
soon as the men were collected. A few
minutes only elapsed, before the bugle
gave notice, that the corps was mus
tered We obeyed the summons in
stantly: and in five minutes more, the
Light Brigade took the road to Wash
ington.
1t was dusk when we quilted the
position. and perfectly dark before we
reached the high-road; but neither con-
fusion nor delay took place. The path
was broad and well-marketl: and the
troops were all in that state of disci-
plinc, which would have carried them
through more serious difficulties, had
such come in their way, whilst the con-
sciousness of having done their duty,
and the expectation of reapng the
fruits of their toll, supported them un
der the cxertion which was required.
For NY own part, though the effort to
keep up became, by degrees, seriously
painful, | shall never cease to congrat-
ulatc myself on having persisted in
making it. No one. unless he has
Glanced to travel under similar cir
cumstanccs. can form the most distant
notion of the state Of our feelings dur
ing the progress of that journey. The
destruction of Washington, or rather
of the stores or public buildings in
Washington, had already begun; and
the heavy explosions which from time
to time occurred, the sheets of fire
which quiyered through the air-the
very waving Of the flames heard i'll the
stiffness Of night to ali extraordinary
distancc-tormed altogether such a
scene as | have no words adequate to
describe The field of battle was dis
tant not more than four miles from the
city; from the first, therefore, these
sights and sounds reached us: but as
we drew nearer and nearer to the spot
from whence they proceeded, we all
felt that conversation, under such cir
cumstanccs, would have been sacri-
legious. We moved in that state of
up the voice, and Expresses the very
reason.
Having arrived at sort of common
about a quarter Of a mile distant from
the town, the halt was sounded. and
bivouac directed TO he formed With
this view the men piled their arms and
lighted large fires, for which fuel was
found among the fences and palings
near, and set about preparing their
evening meal. That done, all sat
down; not with our usual noisy merri-
mcnt, but to gaze in silence upon the
cohtlagration which still proceeded.
The hum of conversation which gener-
ally mur,nurs through a camp, was not
heard to night; those VIII, spoke at all,
spoke only i'll whispers, as if we had
been guilty Of some act which made us
ashamed to hear the sound of our own
voices, or were placed in a situation of
extreme peril. 1t was thus with us
for tull two hours. At last, however,
a consciousness of great bodily fatigue
overcame every other sensation, and
we turned our feet towards our fires;
and wrapping up as usual, soon fell
asleep.
But the night was not even now des-
tined to be passed in quiet 1t mi ght
be about twelve or one O'Clock, when a
tremendous peal of thunder, 50 loud as
to drown, for an instant, every noise,
awokc us. The rain was falling in tor
rents, and flash after flash of vivid
lightning displayed not only the bv,
ouac, but the streets, the houses, nav
the very windows in the town, with a
degree Of mnutcncss far greater than
the beams Of Il noon-ilay sun would
have produced. The effect was mag
nlllccnt beyond the power of language
to describe. Not even the drenchlng,
against which cloa!ls and blankets fail
rl to afford protection could lead me
80 ncgi"ct the occurrence: for | really
do not rccollect, at any period OF my
life, 70 have been witness to spectacle
So Imposing. The thunder storms i'm
*Nirginia, though violent: TO degree
unknown in European countries, are
seldom Of very long continuance In
less than All hour, the present had died
away, and there was again nothing to
break in upon the quiet of the night,
except an occasional roar as Il maga-
zine blew up, OF a crash, as a wall or
roof fell to the ground But these
were already familiar to us; they in
tcrtercd in no respect with our slum-
bcrs, which, being speedily renewed,
*MaryIand.