The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-08-17

like huntsmen about a fox -covcr-the
officer must he phlegmatic indeed,
whose energies are not wrought up to
a degree of enthusiasm which causes
all apprehension of personal risk to be
forgotten, and directs his whole
thoughts into one channel-namely
how he is most successfully to discharge
his duty when the moment of trial shall
arrive | am not one of those who,
writing in my own study, pretend to
say, that | should prefer bloody bat
tie to snug dinner with my friends,
and social glass of wine after it; but
| confess, that during the remainder
of our progress, one wish, and one on
ly, rose into my mind; and that was,
that the Americans would afford me an
opportunity, with the twenty brave
men whom commanded, to make what
impression l could upon any Of their
ambuscsdes, however numerous, cr
however juliciously disposed.
All my eager aspirations after re-
nown, were, however, doomed to suffer
disappointment The Americans would
not make a stand We saw them, in
deed. ac&r. iust as we reached the
skirt OF til. Iul, 81, and, ia hng in once
more with the river. wheeled up to-
wards the open country around Not
tingham: but it was in full flight, and
already at the farther extremity OF the
town. We saw. likewise, that few of
our mounted officers, Colonel Thornton
Major Brown, and, if | mistake not,
the General himself, attempted, in the
most dashing and gallant style, to
charge their rear, and cut off their
stragglers; but the charge of three or
four horsemen was easily repulsed, and
the stragglers, striking off towards the
plantations on either flank were soon
safe from farther molestation. Some
what vexed that they should have thus
escaped us, We were accordingly ly obliged
to halt, where we had been ordered to
halt, in a village; and here the rest
OF the army joining US, dispositions
were made to spend the night. The
pckets were planted without delay;
the different brigades took up their re-
spective ground: and Charlton, Will
liams, and | not Il little weary with
our excursion, ensconced ourselves un-
der the shade of large barn, plenti-
fully stored with tobacco.
The reader must be already well
aware, that. if the purport of the pres
ent debarkation really was to seize
Commodore Barney fotilla of gun
boats, it cumpletely failed of success;
The boats were all gone. They Sc:
sail, as one Of the few remaining inhab-
itants informed us, at an early hour
this morning, and were now many
miles nearer to the source of the Pa
tuxent than we. But this circumstance
whatever effect it might have had up
on the minds of those at the head of
affairs, was the cause of no annoyance
to US. We were, on the whole, very
we'll pleased with all that had yet be-
fallen us. We were particularly salts
fed in finding ourselves so snugly
housed for the night; and it added not
a little to our qualification, when We
discovered that our Portuguese SER
wants had not been remiss in providing
the requisites for sumptuous evening
repast. Turkeys and geese had by
some chance or another flown int o their
hands rs they procceded; and these
they now made ready, for their own.
and their masters supper. And then
with respect to tobacco, that principal
delicacy of soldiers upon active service,
there was no reasonable cause either
for scarcity Or complaint The house
which sheltered us was full of it; and
though the broad arrow had been i'm
pressed upon the door, we scruped not
to appropriate to our own use, not only
as much as we required at the moment,
but a stock sufficient, as we guessed,
to supply our wants for several days
to come. To sum up all, the quarter
master arriving soon after the halt,
with stores of bread and rum, an addi-
tional allowance of both was served out,
rs we'll to the men as to the officers.
On the whole, therefore, thousand
situations may be conceived many de-
grees less enviable than ours: when.
with !, fire blazing before us, and the
remains Of our supper taken away, we
reclined, pipe in hand, and drinking
cup hard by, within the porch of the
hospltable barn, chatting over the oc-
currences of the morning, and calcula-
ting wha: might be the issue of tomor-
rows operations.
OF the disposition of the army in gen
eral, it falls not in with the plan of my
present story to say much. Let it
suffice to observe that \ottinUham n
small town, or rather an overgrown
village upon the Patuxent, was occu-
pied by the light an second brgades;
the third brigade taking post among
the outbuildinys Of a few flrm houses
on the left of the road. The pickets,
again, eNten led across the whole front,
round the left flank, and so back to the