The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1902-09-12

a standing guard there, the con-
tinental authorities will obtain an
escort guard from Pennsylvania
and send prisoners there.
Two months later, on December
IS, letter was sent to Rawlings
which affords quite an insight in
to the keeping of the prisoners.
ave wish you would let out as
many as you think will behave
with propriety, in order to save
public provisions, for you will OBJ
serve as rule that no prisoner
employed by a private person is
allowed to draw rations. But if
you perceive any assertions or
any capital Inconvenience from
their being out of the garrison
you will call them in, that no loss
that prudence will prevent may
arise to the public by lessening
the means of redeeming our own
subjects"
In the next year, on October II,
the continental war Office asks
Rawlings to "call in all the pris-
oners in the neighborhOOd of your
post or its dependencies and, as
the practice of letting them out
to farmers and suffering them to
go at large is attended with great
mischiefs, you will in future keep
them in close confinement" Con-
sequently the prisoners were var
iously employed within the fort,
"daubing and underpinnlng the
barracks, cleaning and repairing
the well, etc., and with great
leniency, they were paid for exc
cutting these tasks. After Corn
wallis surrender with the plethora
of prisoners thus in our hands, a
large nun Der of them were ordered
to Fort Frederick. On October
&c, 1871, the Light Infantry, the
18th, 33rd, list and S0th Regi-
ments of the line, the Prince
Hereditary Regiment, de Bose
Yagers, the British Legion and
North Carolina Volunteers were
sent thither. Field officers were
allowed three enlisted men as ser
wants, captains two, and other
proper warranted officers one. L
have found no record of the life of
these prisoners at the old fort"
While kind to prisoners, the
Frederick county people were ever
severe towards their fellow citi
zens who chung to their allegiance
to Great Britain. i is true that
the judgments of outlawry for
treason pronounced on the Dula-
neys, the Episcopal clergy and
other prominent citizens of the
county came from the General
Court at Annapolis and the con
fiscation act OF 1880, whereby so
much of the land of Frederick
county found new owners, was
passed by the Legislature of the
whole State, but the local bodies
were no less severe. Heavy fines
were imposed on those who drank
the "health of King George and
damnation to General Washing
ton and the Congress of the
United States" and who said
they wished "all persons who
went about warning the people on
he militia duty, might be hanged
not by the necks but by the heels"
The most famous proceeding
against Tories was taken in 1871.
In that year there was a second
plan of the British to cut the
colonies in half. CORVALLIS was
to march inland from the Chesa-
peake and was to be met by en-
rolled bodies Of Tories, whose help
would enable him to cut off the
South from the North. The tale
which has come to us is that this
farreaching scheme failed, be-
cause, like the earlier one of Con-
molly, the plot was discovered in
Frederick county. A disguised
British officer was TO meet Tory
messenger at fixed place to put
him in possession of all of the de
tails of the plan. The watchful-
ness of the Americans prevented
the officer from fulfilling his part
of the agreement, while the Tory's
papers fell into their hands. These
revealed the plot and the names
of the prominent conspirators and
they were accordingly arrested.
On July 20, seven of the accused
were brought to trial at Frederick
before a court consisting of Alex
ander Contee Hanson, afterwards
Chancellor of the State, Colonel
James johnson and Upton Shere-
dine. The defendants were found |
guilty of high treason in "enlist-
ing men for the service of the
King of Great Britain and admin
istering an oath to them to bear
true allegiance to the said king
and to obey his officers when
called on.o We can imagine the
crowd in and abOur the court room
when the defendants were de,
clared guilty of the crime of doing