Willmar tribune., 1902-09-17

of the army of the Potomac. Hero
were gathered all of the convalescent
cavalrymen who were ready to be re-
turned to their regiments, after hav-
ing been sent forth from the hospitals.
Thousands of horses were purchased
by the government and sent to this
point for the purpose of keeping the
cavalry corps we'll equipped. The piers
cf the once busy wharves are rotting
away, and only few of them rear
their jagged heads above the surface,
for, at last, it is "all quiet on the Po-
tomac."
Fort Washington and Fort Foote are
passed. They are harmless reminders
of the great war which eliminated in
the victory for human freedom. Mod
ern guns would crush and crumble
them. But further down stream,
where the river deepens not, but wild
ems, we come to Fort Sheridan, an in
nocent looking place, but the strong
est defense OF the national capital,
riverwards. The luxuriant foliage and
velvet swar1 conceal the 13-inch dis
appearing rifle which covers the chan
mel, an instrument of destruction
which could dispose of an entire fleet,
as the vessels must come up stream
in single file, because of the narrow
ness of the channel.
We pass Mount Vernon on our right,
where all of the bells of passing steam
ers are tolled, and few miles beyond
I, hro To-
wide, where the channel was mined
during the war with Spain, to prevent
the incursion of hostile fleets. No
cheap mining work was done here,
such as the corrupt Spanish officials
did for their ports. The river was
checker boarded here, and in certain
squares tremendous mines were
placed. They were anchored securely
| and electric wires connected them
with shore batteries. If any hostile
vessel had entered one OF those
squares it's destruction would have
surely ensued.
AS the river broadens into the bay
and beyond the ripraps, we see the
smoke of ocean steamers, we swing
| about to the right past Fortress Mon
roe and into Hampton Roads, where
| the greatest naval battle of the nine
teenth century was fought; the bat
tie which relegated wooden fighting
ships to the junk shops of history
along with the galleys of the Caesars;
! the battle in which the ironclad Mer'
rimac attacked a powerful feet of bat
tleships, sunk the Congress, captured
| the Cumberland, set the Minnesota
on fire and returned to her anchorage
| intending to complete the work Of de-
struction on the morrow. After that
| this city would have been at the mercy
| of the guns of that invincible marine
| monster. But the Monitor wobblec
into the Roads that night, and the Mer
| rimac's mission was ended.
Fortress Monroe is a valueless relic
| of half century ago. Any moderr
battleship could steam along eight OF
ten miles away and batter the ole
| stone walls to atoms. Fortress Mon
roe is no protection to this city or the
surrounding country. But in the i'm
| pIODdUlc CfcAU VI dAOlA0A "dA "4CA {
foreign foe plans are ready which
could be developed rapidly, so as te
make a modern defense on that site
Useless as it is, the old fort looks dan
gerous enough to frighten off foes.
Historic old Norfolk we pass as W.
swing out into ocean and around into
bay, not having time on this occasion
to visit the numerous interesting revo
lutionary relics of the town. While
in the bay we enjoy oysters in ever,
style, fresh from the water, although
| it is claimed that the bivalves shoulc
not be eaten between April and Sep
tember.
We visit Annapolis, view the nava
academy and the interesting revolu
tionary sites of interest. We stop al
Fort McHenry, where the ''star Span
gled Banner" was born in the brai1
of Key; and with greater pride thar
ever we salute that banner $50 gal
lantly streaming over the ramparts
of the ancient fort.
So you see that during our entire
ten vacation days we have been en-
joying study of history, as we'll as be
ing invigorated by the unusual outing
| SMITH D. FRY.