The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-08-24

and made signs that he gave himself
up. The Colonel, satisfied with this,
was directing a file of his men to 60
forward and secure the prisoner, when
the American, with the utmost deliber-
alton, levelled his piece and fired
Happily he missed his mark; but that
circumstance would have availed him
little had he fallen into the hands of
our people Fleet of foot, however,
and well acquainted with the country,
he soon managed to battle his pursuers,
who, after having wasted few rounds
at him, were compelled to abandon the
chase and return to their ranks.
1t has been already stated, that our
corps experienced great Inconvenience,
and was sorely crippled in one of its
most important aims, through the want
of horses. We had no artillery; three
of the smallest pieces ever used, hardly
deserved to be termed such; we were
without cavalry, and even our staff
was miserably provided. The General
felt this, and he did his best to remedy
the evil, by causing every horse which
was found in the fields or stables near,
to be seized and brought in. BY this
means we were enabled to muster, at
the close of the third day, troop of
about forty horsemen; and such horse
men! The men, indeed, were like 9th
er British soldiers; they were artillery
drivers, and they were commanded by
an officer of artillery; but the horses
were, for the most part indifferent
enough, whilst the appointments ofthe
troopers proved, in many instances, a
source of merrimcnt, not oni y to us
but to themselves. 1t was not always
that saddles could be found for the
horses; and when such were totally
wanting, recourse was had to blankets,
doubled repeatedly, and strapped on
the animals lacks. On other occa-
sions, the absence of bride was COM
pensated by a halter; very many of
the men made stirrups for themselves
out of pieces of rope, and a few rode
bare backed. Nor were their weapons
more uniform or more graceful than
their horse equipage. A few only car
ried their own sabres; the rest were sup
piled with the cutlasses which belonged
to the seamcn who dragged the guns.
Yet this irregular and wretchedy
equipped cavalry proved repeatedly of
the most essential service to the eXpe-
dition.
1t was one o'clock, when the neat
houses, and pretty gardens of Marl-
borough, presented themselves to our
view. know not whether the scene
would strike me now, as it struck me
then, were | again to visit it; but at
that moment | imagined that | had
never looked upon a landscape more
pleasing, or more beautiful. The little
green hills which on either hand in
closed the village, tufted here and there
with magnificent trees, the village itself,
struggling and wide, each cottage, be-
ing far apart from its neighbors, and
each ornamented with fower-beds, and
strawberries, these, with lovely stream
that wound through the valley, formed,
as far as my memory may be trusted,
one of the most exquisite panoramas
on which it has ever been my good for
tune to gaze Though. no lover Of the
American character and nation then,
(whatever may be the case now) |
could not behold this peaceful scene
without experiencing sincere regret
that it should suffer PROCLAMATION from
the presence of hostile force; and |
determined that no eXertion on my
own part should be wanting to hinder
the orders already issued against plum
der and rapinc, from being neglected.
To say the truth, however, it was an
easy matter to keep our men within
the bounds Of tOlrrahlc sub ordination
and discipline The attacks which
they from time to time made II ,,on farm
yards and pig-sties, were, to certain
degree at least, allowable enough 1t
would have been unreasonable to ex-
pect that hungry soldiers, in an enc
my's country. would sit down to digest
their hunger whilst hocks of poultry
and herds of swine were within their
reach. But not a single act of wanton
mischief was perpctrated; and when
we marched out on the following day,
we left Marlborough, not perhaps so
rich in live stock, but quite as pictur-
c>lue and rural as when we entered it.
In this place we learned, that Com
mo'lore Barney, aware of our design,
and, unable any longer to clude it, had
blown up the gun-hoats of which we
were in pursuit. This piece of intclli-
gcnce sufficiently accounted for the
many explosions which we had heard
whilst on the march; but though it
might have caused some disappoint-
mcnt to the heads of departments, by
us it was treated as a very dull and
unintcrcsting piece of news
The first matter about which sold
iers interest themselves on arriving at
the ground where they are to halt for
the night, is to secure as comfortable 4
sleeping place as circumstances will
allow; and then to provide materials