Year: 1872

third man riding behind one of them,
rode up to my gate on the main road.
The man who was riding behind got
down and came to my house, while the
other two men rode on toward Port Roy
al. When this man came to the house
the man who was here introduced him TO
my son, John NJ, who was in the yard,
as Mr.. Boyd, his cousin. They walked
up the road from my yard, and seemed
to be in earnest conversation. Very
soon after this the two men who had pass
ed on horseback returned, riding very
rapidly Gone of whom was Lieut.. Rug
gles) and said to the two men who were
here, " The Yankees are crossing at Port
Royal, and you must take care of your
selves the best way you can" and rode
off Immediately. was short distance
from my house, and where my laborers
were at work, and on coming to the
house saw these two men going off to-
ward the woods. Soon after getting to
the house one of these men, who proved
to be Harold, returned to my yard. l
and my son said to him we should not be
surprised if these forces were in pursuit
of him and his friend. He said, "Oh
no, we have done nothing to make them
pursue us; but that he had heard that
some federal soldiers that were stopping
the night before at place called The
Trap, between here and Bowling Green,
| had had their horses stolen, and he ex-
pected these forces were sent down from
| Fredericksburg to capture the thieves" !"
Soon after this the federal forces passed
the road by my house and went on to-
ward the place at which the horses were
said to have been stolen. After the for
ces passed, Harold went to the woods
and brought his friend back to the house.
They took supper with my family, and
after supper, |, being unwell, went di-
rectly to my room, and my sons and
these two then went to my front porch.
My son said they seemed to be very un-
e easy and that they said they were anx
ious to get conveyance to Orange Court
House, at which place they heard there
were good many Marylanders, who
were endeavoring to get West of the
Mississippi river, and that they wished
to go with them. They asked my son if
he knew of any conveyance they could
get that evening to 60 a part of the way.
He told them there was a colored man
living near by who had a horse and a
carryall that he hired out at times. They
endeavored to get it but the man was
from home. They then offered my son
SO to carry them about 20 miles on the
way. He told them he could not go that
night, but that if they wished to go next
morning he could take them. They pro-
posed sleeping in my house that night,
but my son objected, as he thought from
their excited manner there was something
wrong about them. They then proposed
sleeping under my front porch; but he
told them we had bad dogs, and they
might be annoyed by them. They then
asked him if they had not an clubhouse
in which they could sleep. He told
them there was fodder and hay in the to-
bacco-house, and they could go in there
if they liked.


They went in there. and after they did
SO my two sons having heard Harold
say We should like to get the horse we
saw you riding this evening"" and fear
ing they might get up in the night and
take their horses and 60 off, my sons
concluded to take their blankets and go
into courthouse, between the tobacco
house and stable, and guard the horses ;
and my youngest son, fearing, as these
men were heavily armed, that if they
attempted to take the horses they might
have great difficulty and might probab-
! ~ SOb elUb, OOHCluutu u6 NOulu TAKE LD6
key to the house and lock the door out
side, so as to prevent them coming out
if they wished it. This is the reason why
the door as found locked when the of
ficers went to the house. About 2 o'clock
A. M. l was awakened by the violent
barking of my dogs. L arose from my
bed and went to the window and found
the house surrounded by armed forces.
| drew on my pantaloons and, without
waiting to put on any other dressing, I
opened the door to my end porch, and
when | did so three men rushed in and
one of them put pistol to my head and
said to me, "are there not two men in
your house?" l said, "No; that there
we're two men here last evening that
they went to the woods when you were
passing and afterward returned and got
their supper, and did not know at that
time where they were. had gone from
my supper to my sleeping room and did
not know where they slept.


The officer said was not telling them
the truth and called for a rome and said