Evening star., 1914-09-27


Marlboro. From the route followed
the American military men could not
divine whether the British meant to
strike Annapolis, Baitimors or ssar wash
they would go across country to take
Fort Washington in reverse or would
come direct to this city:
The American force. then very small.
for many Of the troops which Gen.
Wfnder commanded at Bladensburg had
not then Joined him. took UP posi-
tion at woodward. which is very small
cluster of houses on an old narrow dirt
pike across the Washington-T. B. road
at Surrattsville and continues on to
Piscataway. This movement OF the
Americans was to- put Themselves be-
tom. Then the. Americans moved to
the Meadows. often called Old Fields
and Long Old Fields. The place is still
there.
The British kept the Americans
guessing as to their Intentions. They
would march on one road and counter
march into another. When It was OBJ
vious that the enemy was headed Tor
Washington 1t was considered certain
that they would seek TO cross the
the foot Of Kentucky avenue. not Tar
from the present Pennsylvania avenue
bridge, or on the Upper bridge. the
site Of the present Benning bridge;
those bridges. But on the morning OF
August 25 scouts brought word that
the enemy had turned north which
showed that II they meant to strike at
ern branch on the Bladensburg bridge
or in that neighborhood where the
Eastern branch was fordable. -~
It is moro difficult than one would
think to trace with certainty the march
of the British from Marlboro TO Wash
ington. The reports which came into
Gen. winders headquarters seemed to
show that they were on many roads
at the same moment. They did change
from road to road. and since 1914 the
course of most Of the roads in that
part Of the country has been altered
from time to time and lines Of road
have been abandoned and forgotten
and many new roads have been opened.
Part of the British column seems to
have entered Bladensburg by the road
which crosses Lowndes hill-the pres
ent road between Bladensburg and
Ardwick-and part came over the road
which skirts the south and west sides
Of Lowndes hill, which Is the present
road from Langdon to Bladensburg. At
any rate they were on Lowndes hill
built the fine house Bostock. still
standing, and who sleeps in the church.
yard of Addison chapel. about nve
miles east and south OF Bladensburg.
Benedict. aside from its historic sig
nificance. may be an interesting or an
uninteresting village. according to ones
view. A good many Washington mo-
torists go down there on Sunday and
a good many of the men from the
surrounding country congregate there.
The Washington-T. r. road, which used
to be one of the hilliest roads here
abouts, has been regarded and sur
faced and Is now one Of the fine au-
tomobile roads of this section. Its old
name has almost disappeared and 1t Is
called the State road.
The Rambler believes that at Bene-
dict there is not one house which was
there when the British landed 100
wood and has been swept by fire sew
eral times In its long life. The town
lies on the river shore and fat al
luvial lands stretch westward from the
river for nearly a mile to the foot of
a ridge that rises 100 feet above the
river level. On this ridge, south OF
the road which leads down 1t to Bene-
dict is an old house that was there
a century ago. 1t is. or was. when
the Rambler last Travelled that way,
one of the landmarks Of Charles county.
All the Rambler learned about this
house was that 1T belonged to the Slye
family. a very old one in Maryland.
The first member Of that family Of
note in Maryland was Robert Slye who.
as speaker of the house in the general
assembly, was associated with Gov.
FendaH in the latter's unsuccessful at
tempt to overturn the government Of
the lord proprietary in 1857. The OBJ
ject was to secure a legislature for
the colony Independent of the house
of Baltimore, and which would be only
nominally subject to the king. The
idea of colonial independence was
sproutfng,
The village of Benedict most prob
ably took its name from Benedict