The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-11-23

shipping, and not less than twice that
distance from the main, was small
desolatc spot of earth, called Pine Is
land upon which the General had de
termined to collect and arrange his
army, previous upon their entrance up
on actual service. OF this place, the
naval officer who, it appeared. had al
ready visited it, gave us the most d.,
couraglng account. 1t was indeed 4
miserable swamp; not only devoid Of
all human habltations, but bare even
of trees and shrubs A large pond or
lake, shallow and reedy, occupied the
Genre !; and its edges consisted Of moth
ing more than circle Of sand, slight
ly diversified, here and there, with a
thin coat of heritage. There certainly
was nothing in such an account calcu-
lated to excite any ovcr-weening ex-
pectation of comfort, yet to confess the
truth, when the island itself appeared,
we were more than half disposed to ac-
cusc our pilot of dealing in misrepre-
sentations; so far did the reality exceed
the description ofthis most melancholy
band of sand.
The sun had set ere we reached the
landing place, but there was still light
enough left to convince us, that we had
indeed arrived where all hope of com
fort, even in the limited sense in which
soldiers are so often called upon to en-
ploy that phrase, had better be laid at
once aside. Two stunted frs, with
about half dozen sycamores, formed
the only growth of the whole island;
and they grew out of soil, which mani
testify contained not moisture enough
to nourish any other vegetable sub
stance besides themselves. There was
not a bank to shelter us from the blast,
nor dell or green spot upon which to
lie down; and as to fuel, unless we
could get the sea-beaten plants to take
fire, we must make up our minds t.
subsist as best we could without it.
have no wish to laud myself when !
say; that few men are or rather were,
in those days, less mindful Of luxuries,
or more capable Of enduring hardships,
but l must confess, that | could not
contemplate the prospect now before
us: withoct experiencing a degree of
alar such as | am not conscious of
having felt on any similar occasion. |
not only dreaded the sojourn, as it
threatened to affect myself, but l
trembed for the health of the troops,
if it should be found necessary to keep
them many days exposed on the hor-
rible desert.
Happily for is, the night of the 10th
though cold and frosty, proved fair.
For myself, having seen my men ar
ranged in as snug situation rs could
be procured for them, and superintend-
ed the fall of one or two of the trees, |
returned to the -side-the boats, it
appeared, had received orders to rest
their crews during the night, and were
not to set out for fresh troops till dawn.
I gladly availed myself of the circum-
s;"nr =, by taking up my abode in one
of them. We spread a sail over from
gunwale to gunwale, and lying down
on the seats, ,contrived to sleep as sound
ly, as very crampcd position, and no
slight suffering from frost, would al
low.
1t was still dark, when a general
stir among the sailors warned me TO
quit my uneasy couch. rose stiff and
uncomfortable; and having broke my
fast with little hard biscuit, and q
glass ofrum,I proceeded to the grounds
where the men were bivouacked. |
found them up and employed; not from
any apprehension of an attack, or be-
cause they had fallen instnctively in
to their old customs, but because they
felt the necessity Of motion to keep
their blood in circulation, and were
heartily tired of their omfortab.e
lairs. Their fires, poor at the best,
were all burned OUT and as there is no
period of the day so severe as that
which Immediately proceeds the dawn,
they felt the absence of fires now Sc
verely. Some accordingly set to work,
for the purpose of renewing them,
whilst others ran about to recover their
limbs from state of absolute torpi-
tude. But as day dawned upon them,
better humor and better hopes, began
to prevail; and when the sun once more
shone out in splendor, not murmur
could he heard, from one end of the en-
campment to the other.
There was no difficulty in discover
that Pine Island, though inhabited by
rational creatures was not entirely de-
void of animal life. Wild fowl of va
rious descriptions abound here. Floclls
of geese, duck, widyeon, and species
of wood igeon, capcred over our heads
continually, and seemed to challenge
us to pursuit. We had brought no
fowling-picces on shore; we came with
no idea that they would be wanted, or
that an opportunity of using them
would be furnished But my friend
and myself made a couple of muskets
supply their place to-day, and set out
at an early hour in quest of game. TO
saw the TRUTH we were but ciumsily