Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1920-12-18
CHAPTER VII.
l.In llamllton ~.rorr.~ JnnIeE.

black Hamilton Tore. junior, II Was
simply perfect and the grandcst thing
ever seen / had eSaded Moliy's watch
funess Two or three times. and had
slipped on with some negro boys from
The quarters. and watched the riding
ana shooting If the Corps and
thought that they alone could whip
the universe. and Kill all the Yankees
in the world without half trying
or course promptly organized a
tore of my own of the negro boys Of
the quarters" Of from four TO ten
Years of age. with ducky-horses for
chargers. broom sticks for guns and
number Of wooden swords uneia Josh
Iin4de ,0r me for sabres With his
army conf lcted fcrcc canlpaigns
Eshroagn the ports of the park, hi,iden
from the house and IN the adjoining
woods and fields and slew in laa&i-
nation millions upon millions Of Van
keel
rI,is playing soldier continued 10 oe
my chief pleasure and amusement
during the whole course Of the var IL
perhaps il WAS Of large laiority of
ths hoys OF tile South
AS the war progressed and tales Of
real battles arrived tho tore was re-
organized into two armies, one of
'.Sccesh. and The other Of Yankees;
and We began. TO have real battles too
with rocks and slings. ane some of the
honorable scars Saincd in that mimic
warfare remain on me TO the present
day
was. Of course. always general Of
the Secesh, and | appointed uncle
Dicks grandson, little Josh, as gen-
eral of the Yankees FOR long time
could not decide whether would be
General Ice or General "Stonewall"
Jackson but that fatal shot at Chan
cellorsyille decided the question for
me. and became after that General
Lee permanently to the end Of the
war
II would he difficult to recall all the
names that little Josh bore during the
course OF our campaigns. but he. too,
finally obtained permanent title
old" Grant doubt if Generals
Johnston. Stuart. Bragg, Hood Pick
Ell and others on the southern side.
md still less Generals Grant EIalleck.
Mcpherson. Thomas. and especially
sherman on the northern. would have
oeen much fiattered had they seen
their prototypes III the two armies OF
Oak Hill.
In all the fierce battles we waged,
the Secesh were. OF course, uniformly
victorious. and the Yankees as uni
foymly driven with ignominy from the
feld Had tho result OF the great civil
conflict depended more on the armies
Of Oak Hill and less on the armies of
Northern Virginia and Of the Potomac.
the Union had undoubtedly been
severed forever, and the history of the
world wonderfully changed
Sometimes we carried the war fur
tier afield, and The Secesh and the
Yankees Of the Oak Hill forces would
amicably combine into one grand
army to meet the combined forces
from THE Downs the place Of our
nearest neighbour Colonel Hawkins
rhe great difficulty about these bat
Ties was that bGh Arthur Hawkins
he generalissimo of the Downs army
and insisted on being Secesh, and
zach stoutly resisted being Yankee Il
vas only after many arguments and
struggles that we reached mutual
,,,a,,,4 H., toiyn trrne ~ so.,. y4f,v.
srily representing the Yankees, but
with the distinct understanding that
xe were never 10 be considered real
Yankees Furthermore. when some
mastery strategic movement on The
1art Of the general acting as Yankee
or the nonce gave that side the ad
tantage. they instantly by that fact
became Secesh, and tho former Secesh
sarc instantaneously transmitted into
Yankees; foT Ike oevesn must he al
Ways victorious
Those we're glorious days, and the
mighty struggle Of divided nation
Wrestling for life or death in the
throes OF battle. spending its best
blood and treasure in having brother
overcome brother, affected us not one
whit Tho faint echoes OF bloody bat
ties and awful carnage. that reached
our Foyish ears from time to time,
only furnished US food for further JOY
and pleasure, by melting us to new
and more daring deeds in the conduct
OF our mimic war
This vent so far that. a one time.
our battles only escaped by happy
accident from becoming like the
bloody anu fatal conflie they emf
lated.
oar usual field OF battle was RAJ
virte about halfway between ..The
Downs and Oak Hill Each amry
defended its own side. and little
miniature rodoubts aud breastworks.
arranged according to the genius OF the
fwo generals. faced each other across
the shallow rayine.
One day Arthuf and completed
what we though were Two marvellous
~ fine forts. holding the centres Of our