Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-14
TRYING DAYS OF 1914
Events of Year City Was In
Hands OF the Enemy.
LETTER FROM EYEWITNESS
Thomas Bruff Describes Burning Of
Public Buildings.
RELOCATED ENGLISH SOLDIERS
Originator Of Order for Retreat De-
serving Of Death, In Opinion
Of Writer.
ENGLISH SOLDIERS

The writer says:
Your letter of September has been de-
tanned somewhere. 1t came to my hands
yesterday, almost five weeks since you put
1t into the post office. I was glad to get
second one from you, as could not answer
your former one, having nhsiaid the letter
and forgotten the name Of the place at
which you reside
Il was anxious to inform you of the loss
have sustained by the British entering
this city, who. not knowing anything of me,
would very probably have spared my prop
erty; but, strange to tell our own people
had orders. In case of such event, to de-
stroy the navy yard and the battery at the
point. at which place adj my machinery for
making ball were, and shared the common
fate of the buildings. steam engine, tools.
together with the vast stores of munitions
and implements of war.
AT the battery, where my first machinery
has been In operation, the balls had not
been removed that were made in it and
were melted down when the machinery was
burned. My loss Is very great, and having
been occasioned by the miserable folly Of
our own people have made application to
Congress for remuneration, and, I think,
with great prospect of success.
Il had, after a long struggle obtained
leave for the director of the smiths shop
at the navy yard to make a complete ma
chine. Considerable progress had been
MADE before the entrance of the British,
and In consequence of this arrangement 1
had taken my first contract with the War
Department and received an advance of
5000, and have now accompanied my petit
ton with certificates of the efficiency of the
invention and product of the machine.
Loss Sustained.
"Dr. Thornton, director of the patent
office, has certified that 1 operated with a
small machine in his presence with full eff
feet and had given him satisfactory evil
dence of the efficiency Of the invention, and
you may imagine what loss 1 have sus-
tanned In regard to my earnings in the bust
ness when l inform you that Mr.. King. d.
rector OF the smiths department at the
navy yard, has stated in his certificate that
II the machine he was making had been
finished the product would have been 100
pounds OF musket balls per minute. This
would have been at the rate of $40 an hour
except the trifiing deduction for loss of
lead which l had agreed to bear.
Having given you some account Of my
loss l will now inform you OF some of the
circumstances attending the capture of
our city. While the enemy were approach
ing the people were moving out their goods,
and before their entrance the city was al
most drained of it's Inhabitants. I sent our
two eldest children away. but Mrs. Bruff,
with myself and the small children. remain
ed at home. after burying our plate, etc,
and as much as We suffered, during the
dreadful confiagration of the buildings, 1
believe 1t went better with us than IL we
had beheld it at distance. 1t was. Indeed.
the most awful and distressing scene have
ever witnessed. and considering their num-
Der and the quantity of troops we had to
oppose them I am fully persuaded that
nothing but treachery could have effected
ii and prevented the total destruction OF the
British army Whoever the order for re-
treat originated with, he was the cause of
all our misfortunes, and deserves, in my
opinion. nothing short of death.
THE enemy were more than thirty miles
from their shipping. in the heat OF August
exhausted by fatigue; they had only three
nr fnI NM and frtx hot
their lines being once broken they had no
chance of retreat. Our army was about
equal in number, say six or seven thou
sand. and we had three fine companies of
artillery besides Barney and his brave
men with the guns of the exploded fotilla;
we had two excellent companies of rifle
men and about 500 dragons. The execution
was about six or eight to one in our favor
while the battle lasted, but with all these
advantages. and just as the enemy Gas
they acknowledged afterward were about
army thrown into confusion. Most of our
men had never seen a battle. consequently
the order alarmed some Of them: others
were vexed almost to Distraction several
with disappointment and 1 believe not
more than one-third had been brought into
action
Begged Army to Make Stand.
81 met the retreatng army and begged
them to make a stand; I sought some Of
the officers and plead with lem to rally
the troops and save the city, but the an
swer was, The general has ordered US not
to stop short of Montgomery fourteen
miles below the city The British A. no
thought the contest was over and remained
until late in the evening recruiting their
strength and bringing up their reserve to
meet, as their general supposed. the hardest
part of the battle, but behold, there was no
army to oppose them, not an American SOL
der to be seen.
we looked out and beheld the Capitol navy
yard and fort with two private ropew alks
in flames. Soon after three large private
buildings near the Capitol were added. and
in a short space the treasury and Presi-
dents house completed the horrid scene of
the night.
Next day the incendiaries employed them
selves in firing another rope walk, the war
office, Potomac bridge, another dwelling
house and some fre-proof rooms of the
treasury that escaped their notice before.
This completed the scenery of the SECOND
night.
Their army retired, leaving upward of
100 men to complete the work OF. destruc-
ton. and they were busily engaged Many
private buildings were threatened. when,
being in the midst of their sport and care
less of their fire, some Of it found its way
to subterraneous magazine when they
were all about it and they were nearly all
killed by the explosion.
Thus ended their bushes here. The
army, being alarmed, / suppose, by some
intelligence they had received. retreated in
haste leaving their wounded behind and
their dead unburied.
In general they respected private prop.
erty while they stayed. We remained quiet
ly at home and they did not disturb us,
but do not think 1t would have been pru-
dent for me to go out among them as
others did. so only saw them from a dis
lance.
Not Fault, but Misfortune.
These circumstances, which We're not our
fault, but our misfortune. had determined
Congress to remove during the war, but
they could not agree about the place to
move to. so the bill was put to rest on
Saturday last. If the enemy visit us again
! have no doubt of their defeat unless
they get large renforcements, and l hope
the approach of winter will prevent them,
IL they could find the inducements, which /
hope they cannot do.
Our eldest son has gone to West Point 4
determined to be a soldier; 1t was much
against my inclination. but he would take
no denial. and he had his mother and sis
ter on his side; he has great mechanical