Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-17
Baileys Cross Roads Made Famous by Grand Review
By JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR.

r DO not know what my friend
Tracewell would say about it, but
It does seem to me that there is
II something in the old saying that
curiosity once killed a cat, and
believe we might safely add to this that
the felis Observation-Disclosures known
as the common, or house tabby-is
little less inquisitive, If any, than is
the order Of homo sapiens to which we
creatures belong.
only mention this because of my
recent curiosity to see Baileys Cross
Roads, Just short way the other side
of the Potomac in Virginia. Upon the
particular day 1 visited the place the
roads seemed sufficiently dry for fast
travelling, although it had been raining
earlier in the day. I found my visit
profitable and interesting, and every
thing went along finely until my return
to Washington was begun when, with
out the slightest warning-as is usually
the case-my car began to do a spiral
skid near the top of long hill just
this side of Baileys
Whether the skidding was due to the
abrupt application of the brakes or to
the car being suddenly afflicted with
spinal meningitis" is a question I shall
never be able to answer, for it all hap
pened so quickly and ended so soon that
1t seemed more circus trick than an
accident. Indeed, for brief while your
humble servant did not know whether
he was coming or going, and while his
car was performing its peculiar evolu-
tions he felt that it might be long
time before he would again see Baileys
Cross Roads and his many friends back
home, expecting every instant, as he did,
to be turned upside down and probably
his -too-slender thorax.
In the writer's IL years of bicycle
riding and his equal number of years Of
automobile driving. this was ebout the
closetst call he ever experienced. Well
does he remember the days when Wash
ington had its thousands of horses and
the streets we're none too clean, how he
has in fall from his wheel upon In
Vulnerable occasions, wiped up the
streets, perhaps with his brand-new
suit, and burst out the knees of his best
trousers. But in all this there was lack
Ing the thought of the novelty of hav-
ing ton or two of weight piled upon
him until the arrival of the wrecking
car, which might take hours.
However, the fellow who said it was
better to be born lucky than rich knew
whereof he spoke, for just about the
time he was giving up hope the car
stopped In its mad career and, strangest
Of all, it was headed directly toward
home, and @ cautious stepping on the
gas brought him, much relieved, back
to dear old d. G.
But about Baileys Cross Roads-or
Daileys, as it is comm Jnly called by the
inhabitants of that vicinity. 1t is, in
deed, a place Of much historic value,
for here, in the early Gays of the Civil
War, was the rendezvous of the prin-
cipal part of the Army of the Potomac.
Here many man had his first train
ing as soldier, subsequently to become
conspicuous as an officer on the Union
side. Here, later on, Mosby and his men
frequently spread alarm when sudden
dash was made upon some outpost or
small, unsupported detachment of
troops, and here, most historic of all,
occurred the grand review, or great"
review. as it is also called, of the vast
number of troops assembled on Novem-
Der 20, 1861, by the President of the