CHAPTER V.

DURING THE WAR.

In the following we sometimes, indifferently use the words "rebel,"

"insurgent" and "confederate," "federal," "union men," "northern men"

&c. These different epithets are used only to avoid disagreeable

repetitions of the same words. There is no offense intended, and it is

hoped that none will be taken. George Washington was a rebel and he was

proud to be considered one. We have noticed lately that some people are

sensitive on this subject, and hence our explanation. Personally, we owe

too little to either party to take sides very decidedly.

When, on the election of Mr. Lincoln, the Gulf states seceded and the

Legislature of Virginia called a convention of the people to consider

what course was best to be pursued under the circumstances, Mr. A. M.

Barbour, superintendent of the Harper's Ferry armory, and Mr. Logan

Osborne, both now dead, were elected to the convention to represent the

union sentiment of the county of Jefferson over Andrew Hunter and

William Lucas, eminent lawyers, both of whom, also, are now deceased,

who were nominated on the secession ticket. While in Richmond, however,

attending the convention, Mr. Barbour is said to have been drawn into

the vortex of rebellion through the powerful influences brought to bear

by the secessionists on the members of that body. Mr. Barbour's family

is one of the oldest and most aristocratic in Virginia, and many of his

relatives had seats in the convention and were ultra-southern in their

views. These, no doubt, had great influence over him, and, anyway he was

finally induced to vote for a separation of his native state from the

union. Indeed, many at Harper's Ferry who voted for him at the election,

did so with strong misgivings respecting his sincerity, but, as there

was no better choice under the circumstances, they gave him their

support. Some who enjoyed his confidence said that he afterwards

bitterly regretted his course, and the writer is convinced that Mr.

Barbour acted from sheer compulsion. The author of these pages was then

a young man--poor and without weight in the community, but Mr. Barbour

appeared to have some confidence in his judgment, for he sought an

interview with him and asked him his advice as to the proper course to

pursue in the convention. The author told him that he had a fine chance

to immortalize himself by holding out for the Union of the States; that

he was of a prominent southern family and that, if he proved faithful,

his loyalty under the circumstances would give him such a national

reputation as he could not hope for from the opposite course. They

parted to meet but once again, and that for only a minute. After the

fatal vote of the convention, Mr. Barbour called on business at the

place where the author was employed and said just three words to

him--"You were right." These words told the tale of compulsion or,

perhaps, of contrition. The ordinance of secession was passed by the

Virginia convention on the 17th of April, 1861, and, on the following

day Mr. Barbour made his appearance at Harper's Ferry in company with

Mr. Seddon, afterwards prominent in the confederate government. He made

a speech to his old employes advising them to co-operate with their

native state and give in their allegiance to the new order of things. He

appeared to be laboring under great excitement caused, perhaps, by his

consciousness of having done wrong and unwisely. This speech excited the

anger of the unionists to a high pitch, as he had received their

suffrages on the understanding that he was for the old government

unconditionally. A partial riot took place and the appearance soon after

of a southern soldier, a young man named John Burk, on guard over the

telegraph office, aroused the loyalists to frenzy. Lieutenant Roger

Jones, with forty-two regular United States soldiers, was then stationed

at Harper's Ferry, a company of military having been kept there by the

government for the protection of the place since the Brown raid. Hearing

that a large force was marching from the south to take possession of the

armory, he made some preparations to defend the post and called on the

citizens for volunteers. Many responded, prominent among whom was a

gigantic Irishman named Jeremiah Donovan, who immediately shouldered a

musket and stood guard at the armory gate. This man was the first--at

least in that region--who took up arms in defense of the government and,

as will be seen shortly, he was very near paying a heavy penalty for his

patriotism. As before mentioned, a southern soldier was on guard at the

telegraph office and he and Donovan were not fifty yards apart at their

posts. To use a homely phrase, Harper's Ferry was "between hawk and

buzzard," a condition in which it remained 'till the war was ended four

years afterwards. All day the wildest excitement prevailed in the town.

All business was suspended except in the bar-rooms, and many fist fights

came off between the adherents of the adverse factions. Mr. William F.

Wilson, an Englishman by birth, but long a resident of the place,

attempted to address the people in favor of the Union, but he was

hustled about so that his words could not be heard distinctly. Mr.

Wilson continued all through the war to be an ardent supporter of the

Federal government. Mr. George Koonce, a man of great activity and

personal courage, and Mr. Wilson, above mentioned, who is also a man of

great nerve, were very prompt in volunteering their aid to Lieutenant

Jones, and the latter put great confidence in them. With a few young men

they advanced a little before midnight to meet the Virginia militia,

about two thousand in number, who were marching towards Harper's Ferry

from Charlestown. They encountered and, it is said, actually halted them

on Smallwood's Ridge, near Bolivar. At this moment, however, news

reached them that Lieutenant Jones, acting on orders from Washington

City or under directions from Captain Kingsbury, who had been sent from

the capital the day before to take charge of the armory, had set fire to

the government buildings and, with his men, retreated towards the north.

This left the volunteers in a very awkward position, but they succeeded

in escaping in the darkness from the host of enemies that confronted

them. Mr. Koonce was obliged to leave the place immediately and remain

away until the town again fell into the hands of the United States

troops. A loud explosion and a thick column of fire and smoke arising in

the direction of Harper's Ferry, gave to the confederate force

information of the burning, and they proceeded at double quick to save

the machinery in the shops and the arms in the arsenal for the use of

the revolutionary government. Before they had time to reach Harper's

Ferry the citizens of that place had extinguished the fire in the shops

and saved them and the machinery. The arsenal, however, was totally

consumed with about fifteen thousand stand of arms there stored--a very

serious loss to the confederates, who had made calculations to get

possession of them. Lieutenant Jones had put powder in the latter

building and hence the explosion which had given notice to the

confederates and, hence, also, the impossibility of saving the arsenal

or its contents. Just at 12 o'clock on the night of April 18th, 1861,

the southern forces marched into Harper's Ferry. Poor Donovan was seized

and it is said that a rope was put 'round his neck by some citizens of

the place who held secession views, and who threatened to hang him

instanter. A better feeling, however, prevailed and Donovan was

permitted to move north and seek employment under the government of his

choice. The forces that first took possession of Harper's Ferry were all

of Virginia and this was lucky for Donovan, for the soldiers of that

state were the most tolerant of the confederates, which is not giving

them extravagant praise. Had he fallen into the hands of the men from

the Gulf states who came on in a few days, he would not have escaped so

easily. These latter were near lynching Dr. Joseph E. Cleggett and Mr.

Solomon V. Yantis, citizens of the town, for their union opinions. The

Virginia militia were commanded by Turner Ashby, afterwards so famous

for his exploits in the Valley of Virginia. His career was short but

glorious from a mere soldier's view. He was killed near Port Republic

June 6th, 1862, by a shot fired, it is said, by one of the

Bucktail--Pennsylvania--regiment, and he and his equally gallant

brother, Richard, who was killed in the summer of 1861 at Kelly's

Island, near Cumberland, Maryland, now sleep in one grave at Winchester,

Virginia. It may be noted that Donovan met with no valuable recognition

of his gallantry. He worked all the rest of his days as a helper in a

blacksmith's shop at laborer's wages, while many a smooth traitor who

secretly favored the rebellion and many a weak-kneed patriot who was too

cowardly to oppose it, while there was any danger in doing so, prospered

and grew fat on government patronage. There are many instances of this

prudent patriotism not far from Harper's Ferry and certain it is that

few of the noisy politicians, so loyal now, exhibited the courage and

disinterested attachment to our government that was shown by this

obscure laborer. Harper's Ferry now ceased for a time to be in the

possession of the national government. Next day--April 19th--news

arrived of the disgraceful riot in Baltimore, when the 6th Massachusetts

regiment was attacked while marching to the defense of the national

capital. Exaggerated reports of the slaughter of "Yankee" soldiers were

circulated and Maryland was truly represented as ready for revolt.

Numbers of volunteers, arrived from various parts of that state,

especially from Baltimore, and many of those who participated in the

riot came to Harper's Ferry and for a season were lionized. In a few

days the troops of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and other

southern states arrived and were greeted with the utmost enthusiasm. The

forces of Kentucky, like those of Maryland, were volunteers in the

strictest sense. Neither of these last two states ever formally seceded

and therefore their sons were not in any way compelled to join the

confederate army. The Kentuckians who came to Harper's Ferry were among

the worst specimens of the force to which they were attached, being

composed mostly of rough, Ohio boatmen and low bummers from the purlieus

of Louisville and other river towns. Martial law was at once substituted

for the civil and for the first time--if we except the Brown raid--the

peaceful citizens experienced the dangers and inconveniences of military

occupation. General Harper, a militia officer of Staunton, Virginia,

was put in command, but in a few days the confederates wisely dispensed

with "feather bed" and "corn stalk" officers and put into important

commands West Pointers and men of regular military education. In

consequence of an order to this effect many a "swell" who had strutted

about for a few days in gorgeous uniform was shorn of his finery and it

was amusing to see the crest-fallen, disappointed appearance of the

deposed warriors. General Harper, like many of inferior grade, was

removed and Colonel Jackson was put in command of the place. The latter

officer was at this time quite obscure. He was known to few outside of

the walls of the Virginia military academy at Lexington, but he

afterwards gained a world-wide reputation under the name of "Stonewall

Jackson." All the government property at the place was seized and many

families who were renting houses from the government were obliged to

vacate their homes at great inconvenience and procure shelter wherever

they could. Guards were posted along the streets at very short intervals

and these, like all young soldiers, were extremely zealous and exacting.

Of course, regular business was entirely destroyed, but new branches of

industry of the humblest and, in some cases, of the most disreputable

kind sprang into existence. The baking of pies and the smuggling of

whiskey were the principal employments of those who felt the need of

some kind of work, and these trades continued to flourish at the place

all through the war to the probable detriment to the stomachs and the

certain damage to the morals of the consumers. The whiskey business was

exceedingly profitable and it was embraced by all who were willing to

run the risk attending it (for it was strictly interdicted by the

military commanders of both sides) and who regardless of the disgraceful

nature of the employment.

Another trade soon sprang up--that of the spy. Malicious and officious

people--many of whom are to be found in all communities--stuffed the

ears of the hot-headed southern men with tales about sneaking

abolitionists, black republicans, unconditional union men, &c., and

private enmity had an excellent opportunity for gratification, of which

villains did not hesitate to avail themselves. Many quiet, inoffensive

citizens were dragged from their homes and confined in filthy guard

houses, a prey to vermin and objects of insult to the rabble that

guarded them. Large histories could be written on the sufferings of

individuals during this period and our proposed limits would not contain

the hundredth part of them.

Sometimes a false alarm about advancing "Yankees" would set the soldiers

on the qui vive and, of course, the citizens were on such occasions

thrown into a state of the utmost terror. Sometimes, also, the officers

would start or encourage the circulation of these reports in order to

test the mettle of their men and several times were lines of battle

formed in and around the town. On one occasion a terrible hail storm

came up which, of itself, is worthy of a place in the annals of the

town. In the midst of descending cakes of ice the 2nd Virginia

regiment--raised mostly in Jefferson county--was ordered to march to

Shepherdstown to repel an imaginary invasion. They obeyed with alacrity

and returned, if not war-torn, certainly storm-pelted and

weather-beaten, as their bleeding faces and torn and soaked uniforms

amply proved.

The confederates exercised control over the Baltimore and Ohio railroad

and also the Winchester and Potomac railway, the latter being entirely

within the territory of Virginia, and, whenever a passenger train

stopped at the station, the travelers were scrutinized and, if a man of

any prominence who was attached to the old government was recognized

among them, he was greeted with groans, hisses and threats of lynching.

On one occasion the Hon. Henry Hoffman, of Cumberland, who, even then,

was regarded as an ultra-Republican, was a passenger and, when the train

stopped at Harper's Ferry, the fact of his presence was made known to

the crowds of soldiers on the platform of the depot by a fellow

passenger who evidently entertained some private malice against Mr.

Hoffman. The informer stood on the platform of one of the cars and, with

wild gestures and foaming mouth, denounced Mr. Hoffman in the fiercest

manner and, no doubt, the life of the latter would have been sacrificed

had not some of the more cool-headed among the confederate officers

present poured oil on the troubled waters until the starting of the

train. One evening the mail train was detained and the mail bags were

taken away from the government agent by an armed posse. The letters were

sent to headquarters and many of the townspeople to whom friends in the

north and west had written freely denouncing secession, were put under

arrest and some were in imminent danger of being subjected to the utmost

rigor of military law. Mr. William McCoy, of Bolivar, an aged, infirm

man and one of irreproachable character, was handled very roughly on

this occasion. He was arrested on some charge founded on evidence

obtained from the plundered mail bags and he was kept for several days

in close confinement. The military authorities in the meantime expressed

their intention of making him a signal example of vengeance. Whether

they really meant to go to extremes with him or not is uncertain; but

there is no doubt that the ill usage he received from them hastened his

death. With the utmost difficulty some powerful friends succeeded in

obtaining for him a commutation of the proposed punishment, and he was

allowed very grudgingly to move with his family to Ohio, on condition

that he should never return. Hastily picking up a few necessities, he

started on the first train going west for the place of his exile, glad

enough to escape with his life, even at the sacrifice of his valuable

property in Bolivar. The confederate soldiers immediately destroyed the

neat fence around his residence and filled up the post holes, in order,

as they said, to give him as much trouble as possible in case he was

enabled at any time to return. The house itself being necessary to them

as barracks, was spared unwillingly. The poor old man died in a short

time after and, no doubt, he now enjoys all the happiness promised to

those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. It is true that, even

in the peaceful realms to which poor "Uncle Billy" has ascended there

was once a rebellion, but there never will be another in that happy

land and, if there should be, he need not fear any worse treatment than

he received on earth from the chivalry of his native south.

Mr. Abraham H. Herr, proprietor of the Island of Virginius, was

arrested, like Mr. McCoy, on some charge founded on his intercepted

correspondence. He was taken to Richmond, but was released soon after on

parole, as is supposed. He was a native of Pennsylvania and, although he

had voted with the south to ratify the ordinance of secession passed by

the Virginia convention, he lay under suspicion of unfriendly thoughts

toward the south, and it will appear hereafter that he suffered for his

supposed attachment to the union, a heavy loss in property, besides the

deprivation of liberty above noted.

Harper's Ferry was occupied for nearly two months by the confederates.

The fine machinery at the workshops was torn down and transplanted to

Fayetteville, North Carolina, where the rebels had established an

armory. While the place was held by the insurgents it presented a scene,

novel at the time, but very familiar during the remainder of the war.

One night great excitement was caused by the capture of General Harney

of the United States army, who was a passenger on board of one of the

trains en route for Washington City from Saint Louis. The general was

sent a prisoner to Richmond, but his advanced years rendering it

improbable that he could do much good or harm to either side, he was

soon released, and he was not again heard from 'till the close of the

war. While a prisoner on the road from Harper's Ferry to Charlestown, he

and his guards came up to a squad of farmers who, on their plough

horses, were learning the cavalry drill. The officer who was instructing

them sat in a buggy, either because he could not procure a decent horse

or on account of illness. The sight furnished the old veteran with

infinite amusement and, turning to his guards, he said that in all his

army experience of over half a century and, in all he studied of

warfare, he had never before seen or heard of a cavalry officer

commanding his troop from a buggy seat, and his fat sides fairly shook

with laughter at the oddity of the conceit. The sarcasm was felt by the

guards, and they were forced to admit that this innovation on cavalry

methods was hardly an improvement. In a short time after his appointment

General Jackson was succeeded by General Joe Johnston, who continued in

command of the post until the retreat of the confederates from the place

after an occupancy of it of two months.

On the 14th of June the insurgents blew up the railroad bridge, burned

the main armory buildings and retreated up the valley, taking with them

as prisoners, Edmond H. Chambers, Hezekiah Roderick, Nathaniel O.

Allison and Adam Ruhlman, four prominent citizens of Harper's Ferry,

whom they lodged in jail at Winchester on the charge of inveterate

unionism. From the first, preparations had been made for the destruction

of the railroad bridge under the superintendence of competent engineers

and, early in the morning of the day above named, the town was alarmed

at hearing a loud explosion and seeing the debris of the destroyed

bridge flying high in the air. The noise was apparently the signal for

the march or retreat of the confederates up the valley, for instantly

their columns set out in that direction leaving, however, the most

dangerous of their forces--that is the most dangerous to civilians, to

loiter in the rear and pick up whatever was unprotected and portable.

Fortunately, however, they soon quarreled among themselves and, as

usual, when bad people fall out, the honest are the gainers. Toward

night the marauders were gathered up by a guard sent back for them and

they vacated the place, leaving one of their number murdered by his

fellows.

After the retreat of the confederates a dead calm reigned for a few days

and the stillness was rendered oppressive by contrast with the former

bustle and confusion. On the 28th of June a force, composed of some

Baltimoreans and a part of the 2nd Mississippi regiment, under the

command of Colonel Faulkner of the latter, made its appearance in the

early morning hours and destroyed with fire the rifle factory and the

Shenandoah bridge, as also engine No. 165 and some cars of the

Baltimore and Ohio railroad company which they pushed on the ruins of

the bridge destroyed on the 14th, until they fell through into the

Potomac. Again, on the retreat of this force, did a silence deep as that

of an Arabian desert brood over the place, broken only by the stealthy

step of some petty thief engaged in picking up stray articles belonging

to the army or to the citizens who had fled in every direction, and

almost completely deserted the town as soon as the confederates had

pushed far enough up the valley to leave the roads comparatively safe.

It is to be noted that the confederates had outposts in Maryland and

that they refused permission to depart in any direction to any one of

whose loyalty to them they had any doubt. On their retreat the way to

the north was open to all whose inclinations led them in that direction

and very many availed themselves at once of the opportunity to escape

offered by the retreat of the rebels.

On the 4th of July a lively skirmish took place between Captain John

Henderson's company of confederate cavalry and a part of the 9th New

York regiment of militia, which a few days before had occupied Sandy

Hook in Maryland--one mile east of Harper's Ferry--the same village in

which John Brown boarded when he first came to the neighborhood--the

federal soldiers being on the Maryland side and the confederates on the

Virginia shore of the river, the game was at "long taw" and

comparatively little damage was done. Two men were killed on the

Maryland bank and at least one wounded on the Virginia side. The name of

one of the slain New Yorkers was Banks and it was said that he was a man

of high character in his regiment and at his home, but the name of the

other is unknown to the author. The man wounded on the Virginia shore

was a shoemaker of Harper's Ferry, named Harding, who, although not in

the army, was a sympathizer with the south. On this occasion he was on a

spree and, having exposed himself recklessly, he received a dangerous

wound. He was an Irishman by birth, and had served many years in the

British East India Company's forces. The honor of having wounded him

was claimed by John, better known as "Ginger" Chambers, a citizen of

Harper's Ferry, who, being strongly attached to the Union and, happening

to be at Sandy Hook at this time, picked up a gun and fell into ranks

with the New Yorkers. Poor Ginger afterwards met his weird not far from

the spot where he fought on that 4th of July. On the morning of October

14th, 1874, he was almost literally cut to pieces by an engine of the

Baltimore and Ohio railroad while on his way to take charge of a train

of which he was the conductor. Prominent among the confederates in this

skirmish was a man named James Miller, of Halltown, Jefferson county,

and it is thought that it was he who killed Banks. In a short time

after, while he was under the influence of whiskey, he, in company with

a fellow-soldier named Kerfott, shot his captain--Henderson--wounding

him severely, and for this offense he was executed in Winchester by

order of a court martial. The skirmish, of course, effected little

beyond putting the few old people who still clung to their homes at the

place into a most uncomfortable state of alarm.

In the evening when the fight was over a sad occurrence took place

whereby the community lost one of its very best citizens. When the

confederates had retired Mr. F. A. Roeder walked towards the railroad

office and, while he was sauntering about, a shot was fired from the

Maryland side of the Potomac, which inflicted a mortal wound on him, of

which he died in half an hour. It is known that the bullet was

discharged at Mr. Ambrose Cross who, also, was on the railroad at the

time. The man who thus deprived the place of a valuable citizen was an

old bummer belonging to a Pennsylvania regiment, who had straggled from

his command in Pleasant Valley and had become drunk, celebrating the

"glorious Fourth" at Sandy Hook. Hearing of the skirmish at Harper's

Ferry, he staggered towards that place and arrived after the end of the

fight, and, when the enemy had retired. Seeing Mr. Cross on the railroad

he fired off his gun at him, swearing that he would kill some d-- rebel

anyway. The shot missed the object at which it was directed and,

striking the end of Fouke's hotel, it glanced and hit Mr. Roeder, who,

unfortunately, happened to be then coming 'round the corner of that

building. The bullet tore a ghastly hole in his groin through which his

intestines protruded. He managed to reach his home unassisted--for there

was scarcely an able-bodied man then at the place--when death soon

released him from his sufferings. Little did the slayer know and little,

perhaps, would he care if he knew--that the man he shot at--Mr.

Cross--was one of the sternest Union men in the whole land and that his

bullet proved fatal to one of the first men in the State of Virginia who

dared to express sympathy with the Republican party. Mr. Roeder was a

native of Saxony, but he had resided for many years at Harper's Ferry,

where he was very much respected and where by industry he had

accumulated a considerable property. He was very much opposed to slavery

and his death, especially under the circumstances, was very much

deplored. It is singular that the first man killed by John Brown's party

was a negro and that the first who lost his life at Harper's Ferry at

the hands of the union army was a warm friend to the government and one

who would have sacrificed, if necessary, all the property he possessed

to preserve the union of the states. Who knows what design an all-wise

Providence had in permitting these mistakes, or what good purposes the

death of these men may have subserved. Mr. Roeder appeared to have a

presentiment of his fate. On the 14th of June, when the confederates

retreated, he called the author of these pages into his house and

invited him to partake of a cup of "Schnapps," for a similarity of

tastes and sentiments on many subjects had bound them for several years

in the closest friendship. When they were seated Mr. Roeder remarked:

"Well, we have got rid of that lot and have escaped at least with our

lives, but what will the next party that comes do with us?" He appeared

to be in very low spirits and to look forward to the next party with

apprehension. His fears were prophetic for, in a few days, he met his

fate at the hands of the first body of federal troops that made its

appearance at the place after the evacuation by Lieutenant Jones.

It was sad to see the rapid demoralization of the people at this time

and the various phases of corrupt human nature suddenly brought to light

by the war. Not only were the government buildings ransacked for

plunder, but the abandoned houses of the citizens shared the same fate.

Even women and children could be encountered at all hours of the day and

night loaded with booty or trundling wheelbarrows freighted with all

imaginable kinds of portable goods and household furniture. In many

instances their shamelessness was astounding and it appeared as if they

considered that a state of war gave unlimited privilege for plunder.

Citizens who recognized their property in the hands of those marauders

and claimed it, were abused and sometimes beaten and, sadder yet to be

related, women were in many instances, most prominent in those

disgraceful scenes. Spies were constantly crossing and recrossing the

Potomac to give information to their friends on either side, and it

frequently happened that the same parties were or pretended to be

working in the interests of both armies and, as the phrase goes,

"carried water on both shoulders." In the country horse-stealing was

prosecuted on a gigantic scale and quite a brisk business was carried on

by certain parties pursuing the thieves and capturing runaway negroes,

for slavery had not yet been abolished by law and many slaves were

taking advantage of the unsettled state of affairs to make their escape

to freedom.

On the 21st of July General Patterson, who had been operating with a

large union army watching General Joe Johnston's motions around

Winchester, fell back from Charlestown to Harper's Ferry. This was the

day on which the first battle of Bull Run was fought in which Johnston

took an important part, having given the slip to Patterson, who no

doubt, was much surprised afterwards to learn that his antagonist was

not still at Winchester on that fatal day. Patterson's army occupied

Harper's Ferry for several days and helped themselves to most of what

was left by the rebels. Whatever may be said of their exploits on the

field of battle their achievements in the foraging line are certainly

worthy of mention in this and all other impartial histories of that

period. The United States army at that time was composed of "three

month's men" and certainly, it must be said that if they were not

thieves before their enlistment their proficiency in the art of stealing

was extraordinary, considering the short time they were learning this

accomplishment so necessary or at least so becoming in a thorough

campaigner, especially while in an enemy's country. Hen's teeth are

articles the scarcity of which is proverbial in all countries, but it

can be safely averred that, when this army left Harper's Ferry, the

teeth of those useful fowls were as plentiful at that place as any other

part of them, and Saint Columbkill himself could not desire more utter

destruction to the race of cocks than was inflicted on them at Harper's

Ferry by General Patterson's army. Indeed, every thing movable

disappeared before them and, at the risk of not being believed, the

author will declare that he learned of their carrying off a tombstone

from the Methodist cemetery. What they wanted with it he will not

venture to guess, but a regard for the truth of history compels him to

relate the fact. It may have been that some company cook wanted it for a

hearth-stone or it may have been that some pious warrior desired to set

it up in his tent as an aid to his devotions, but certain it is that six

or eight soldiers of this army were seen by many of the citizens

conveying it between them from the cemetery to their bivouac in the

armory yard.

When Patterson's men crossed into Maryland on their way home--their

three month's term of service having expired--quiet again, and for a

comparatively long time, reigned at Harper's Ferry. At Sandy Hook,

however, there was a lively time during the month of August and a part

of September. General Nathaniel Banks, of Massachusetts, at one time

speaker of the House of Representatives, was sent with a large army to

occupy that village and Pleasant Valley, and, for six or seven weeks,

those places enjoyed the felicity that had fallen to the lot of

Harper's Ferry during the spring and early summer. General Banks earned

for himself the reputation of being a thorough gentleman and, although

his after career in the war was not signalized by much success, no

failure on his part has been sufficient to erase the respect which he

earned from people of all shades of political opinion in that region.

His army occupied the low grounds between the Blue Ridge and the

Chesapeake and Ohio canal, as, also, Pleasant Valley, while the

General's headquarters were at the house of Mr. Jacob Miller, near Sandy

Hook. The latter place, though a mere hamlet, at once acquired a

national importance, but, for some reason, Harper's Ferry was entirely

ignored for the time. Indeed it appeared to be an axiom with the

officers of both armies that the latter place could not be defended

successfully against any considerable force. The first battle of Bull

Run or Manassas had been fought July 21st--the day on which General

Patterson's army retreated from Charlestown to Harper's Ferry, instead

of being engaged with General Joe Johnston's forces, who were that day

aiding Beauregard at Manassas, having stolen away from Patterson.

General Banks as well as other commanders of the union army were being

re-organized and prepared for future operations, and Sandy Hook for some

reason, was assigned as the temporary position of that General. Early in

the Fall he moved to Darnestown, twenty miles farther down the river and

after a short stay there he moved to Frederick City, where he spent the

winter. After the departure of the main army for Darnestown the 13th

regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers was left at Sandy Hook as a corps

of observation and a guard for the ford at Harper's Ferry. These men

were uncommonly zealous in shooting at rebels as long as they--the

13th--were on the Maryland side of the river with the broad Potomac

between them and the enemy, or rather between them and Virginia for,

now, it rarely happened that a Confederate soldier appeared anywhere

within gun shot of them. Crouching under the buttresses of the ruined

bridge on the Maryland side of the river in the now dry bed of the

canal, or among the thickets and rocks of the Maryland Heights, the

gallant 13th kept up a constant fire on the few inhabitants of Harper's

Ferry, suspecting or affecting to suspect them of being rebels.

Everything that moved about the streets they shot at vindictively. The

appearance of even a mullein leaf swaying in the wind elicited a volley

from these ever vigilant guardians of the nation, and it was lucky for

the place that they were indifferent marksmen, else it would have been

wholly depopulated. They had field glasses through which they watched

the motions of the inhabitants and there is no exaggeration in saying

that they shot at weeds set in motion by the wind, for it frequently

occurred that volleys were fired at bushes which in no way could hide an

enemy and which were noteworthy only because they were set in motion by

the breeze. Sometimes the 13th would send detachments in skiffs across

the river and on one or two occasions they were encountered by parties

of Confederates who would occasionally lurk in the cemetery and behind

the fences on Camp Hill and keep up a scattering fire on the "Yankees"

in the town. In one of these skirmishes a rebel soldier named Jones was

killed near the graveyard, a bullet having penetrated through the palm

of his hand and then into his stomach. In this affair an officer of the

13th, whose name need not be given, very much distinguished himself. At

the first fire he jumped into the Shenandoah to hide behind a stone wall

that protects the Winchester and Potomac railroad from the strong

current of the river. Although he effectually shielded himself against

fire, he was not equally successful against the river which at this

place is both deep and rapid and he had much difficulty in saving

himself from being drowned. As it was, his fine clothes were much

damaged and a red sash, which he wore around him, left a stain on his

uniform which could not be removed by any amount of washing. It would

appear as if a soldier's uniform eternally blushed for the cowardice of

the unworthy wearer. This officer was loaded down with medals and badges

of merit which he said himself he had gained in the Crimean campaign,

fighting against the Russian Bear. After this skirmish he lost caste in

his regiment and soon after he was sentenced by a court martial to a

term in Sing-Sing for embezzlement. It is told that when he entered the

prison and the principal keeper, with a view of assigning him to some

suitable employment, inquired if he had learned a trade of any kind, he

answered, that he never had labored any, but that he was a scholar and

could talk in seven languages. The keeper on this told him that at

Sing-Sing there was but one language spoken and d-- little of that, and

he immediately set the scholar to work in one of the shops. This was

unkind in the keeper but, no doubt, it would be difficult to please all

penitentiary prisoners in assigning them employment during their terms

of servitude. An Irishman, under similar circumstances, was asked what

trade he would have and answered that he always had a liking for the

sea, and that he would choose to be a sailor. History does not record

what success the Irishman met with in the assignment to work.

Our hero was certainly a poor specimen of the men who fought at Alma and

Sebastopol, if, indeed, he ever saw the Crimea, which is very doubtful.

In justice it ought to be noted that he was not a Massachusetts man by

birth. His men, however, on this occasion showed a good deal of

gallantry and, under Lieutenant Brown, of the same company--=his= name

needs no concealment--they stood their ground like good soldiers until

the enemy retired. The writer is not prone to saying harsh things, but

he cannot forget the many bullets shot at him by the above regiment and

that a whole platoon of them once opened fire on him and a young lady in

whose company he was at the time, actually cutting off with their balls

portions of the lady's headgear. He also remembers a degrading

proposition made to him by some of them--that he should inform them as

to what rebels in the neighborhood were in good circumstances, with a

view of plundering them, the rebels, and dividing the proceeds with the

informer. The officer whose conduct in the skirmish was so discreditable

would have been left to oblivion, had not his behavior to some ladies of

the place been as disgraceful as his cowardice in battle. But,

notwithstanding all this, his name is mercifully omitted.

Early in October Mr. A. H. Herr, proprietor of the Island of Virginius

and the large flour mill on it, having a large quantity of wheat which

he could not grind into flour--his mill having been partially destroyed

by some federal troops under Lieutenant Colonel Andrews, brother of the

governor of Massachusetts, in order to prevent the confederates from

using it--and being a union man at heart, invited the government troops

to remove the grain to Maryland. There being no bridge across the

Potomac at the time, a large boat was procured and a company of the 3rd

Wisconsin regiment impressed the few able-bodied men at the place into

the service of the government to take the wheat from the mill to the

boat and ferry it across with the aid of the soldiers. The citizens were

promised a liberal per diem, but that, like many other good promises and

intentions, forms a part of the pavement of a certain region where it

never freezes. Even the sacred person of the future historian of the

town was not spared, and many a heavy sack did he tote during several

days, under the eye of a grim Wisconsin sergeant who appeared to enjoy

immensely the author's indignation at his being put to this servile

employment. Like the recreant soldier at Sing-Sing, the historian

derived no benefit on this occasion from the smattering of different

languages with which he is credited, while the sergeant was indifferent

as to the tongue in which the writer chose to swear or to the number of

anathemas he thought proper to vent against the world in general and

soldiers in particular, he took care that the hapless author did his

full complement of the work. Suddenly, on the 16th of October--the

second anniversary of the Brown raid--while the citizens and soldiers

were busy working at the wheat, a report reached them that Colonel

Ashby, at the head of the Virginia militia, was approaching from

Charlestown to put a stop to their work. The news turned out to be true

and Colonel--afterwards General--Geary, at one time governor of the

territory of Kansas, and, after the war, chief executive of the State

of Pennsylvania, at the head of three companies of the 28th

Pennsylvania, three companies of the 13th Massachusetts and the same of

the 3rd Wisconsin regiments, crossed the river from Maryland and marched

through Harper's Ferry to Bolivar Heights, where the enemy were posted.

A very sharp skirmish took place, which is known in history as the

battle of Bolivar Heights. Both sides claimed the victory, though both

retreated--Geary to Maryland and Ashby up the valley towards

Charlestown. Four or five federal soldiers lost their lives in this

affair, but the loss of the Confederates is unknown to the writer. It is

certain that many of them were wounded severely, but they acknowledged

only one death. Many young men of the neighborhood of Harper's Ferry,

who were serving in the confederate army, were wounded in this battle,

among whom were J. W. Rider and John Yates Beall, the latter of whom was

afterwards executed in New York for being engaged in hostile acts within

the limits of that state. Colonel Geary succeeded in capturing and

taking to Maryland a large cannon belonging to the confederates, but the

latter claimed that they had abandoned it as being unserviceable and

that there was no honor attached to the possession of it by the union

troops.

The federal soldiers were very much excited on this occasion, in

consequence of a malicious report spread among them that some citizens

of Bolivar were harboring the enemy in their houses and giving them an

opportunity to pick off the unionists from the windows. Mr. Patrick

Hagan was arrested on this charge and hurried away to Maryland without

his getting time to put on his coat of which he had divested himself for

work around his house. This gentleman was one of the most peaceable men

of the place, and no citizen of either party in Harper's Ferry or

Bolivar believed that he was guilty. Notwithstanding his high character,

however, he was taken away in the condition mentioned and kept in

confinement for several months in a government fort. This is one of many

instances where private malice got in those unhappy times an opportunity

for venting its spite under the cloak of patriotism. In a few days

after this skirmish a party of confederate cavalry entered the town and

burned Mr. Herr's extensive mill, thereby inflicting an irreparable loss

on the people of the place. As before noted, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew

had partially destroyed it--that is--he broke up a part of the

machinery--just enough to render the mill incapable of being worked.

This damage could have been easily repaired and, if no further harm had

been done to it, the mill could have been put into working order in a

few days. The confederates, however, destroyed it completely and the

shattered and toppling walls are still to be seen, a monument of

vandalism and a reproach to civilized warriors.

From this time the town was visited nightly by scouts from both sides

and the citizens were, as the Irishman says, "between the devil and the

deep sea." As the nights grew longer and lights became necessary the

people felt the inconveniences of their situation the more keenly. The

sides of the houses fronting the Maryland Heights were, of necessity,

kept in total darkness, else the fire of the unionists was sure to be

attracted. The sides fronting the south stood in equal danger from the

confederates and, families were obliged to manage so that no lights

could be seen by either of the contending forces.

On the 11th of November a party of union men determined to cross the

Potomac and throw themselves on the protection of the United States

government, as they were threatened with conscription by the Virginians

as well as exposed to insult for their opinions. They were, moreover,

men in humble circumstances and they wanted employment somewhere. Their

interest as well as their sympathies were with the north, or rather with

the old government, and they resolved to make a break from the danger

and humiliation of a residence in a debatable territory. Six of them,

namely: Alexander Kelly, the same who had so narrow an escape from

Brown's men; John Kelly, J. Miller Brown, G. S. Collis, Lafayette Davis,

and the author of these annals, therefore procured a leaky skiff from

"Old Tom Hunter," the Charon of the Potomac and Shenandoah since the

destruction of the bridges. Hunter's son ferried them across, just in

time to escape a party of confederates then entering the town, to

impress them into their service. Joyfully, the refugees approached the

Maryland shore after the dangers of their stay at Harper's Ferry and the

no small risk they had run of being drowned, as the river was then very

high and rapid and the skiff unsound and over-burdened with passengers

and baggage. Their disappointment and astonishment were great,

therefore, on their being informed that they would not be allowed to

land; that their crossing was in violation of the rules established by

the officer in command at the post and that they must return to

Virginia. This was not to be thought of and, after a long parley, they

received an ungracious permission to disembark, when they were

immediately made prisoners by order of Major Hector Tyndale, of the 28th

Pennsylvania regiment, in command at the place. This potentate was not

to be cajoled by their protestations of loyalty to the United States

government. In every one of them he saw a rebel spy. He took them

separately into a private room, examined their clothes and took

possession of every paper found on them. Their baggage was searched

thoroughly and several poetical effusions of the author of these pages,

addressed to various Dulcineas of Virginia and Maryland on the day of

"Good Saint Valentine" some years before--copies of which he had

unfortunately retained--excited the wrath of the puritanical Tyndale to

a high pitch and brought down on the hapless poet the heaviest

denunciations. Mr. Collis, also, fell in for a share of the Major's

displeasure. Being a member in good standing of the Independent Order of

Odd Fellows, Mr. Collis had obtained a traveling card from Virginia

Lodge, No. 1, of that society at Harper's Ferry, to which he belonged.

This card he had, or thought he had, put away safely in his vest pocket

which he had pinned securely for the safety of its contents. Major

Tyndale felt the pocket and demanded to know what was in it. Mr. Collis

replied that it was his "traveling card." The major insisted on seeing

it and, lo, when Mr. Collis showed the package and opened it, instead of

an Odd Fellow's card, it turned out to be a daguerreotype likeness of

one of that gentleman's lady friends which, through some inadvertence,

Mr. Collis had substituted for what he had intended to guard with so

much care. The Major taking this mistake for a wilful personal insult,

stormed wildly and remanded the six prisoners for further trial, when

they were confined with other captives in Eader's hotel at Sandy Hook.

It will be believed that, under the circumstances, they were a gloomy

party and, in view of the probability that things would grow worse as

the night advanced, the author uttered a pious ejaculation, expressing a

wish that he had the freedom of Sandy Hook for half an hour to improve

the commissariat of the prisoners which was rather scant and entirely

wanting in that article so indispensable to people in trouble and to

many under any circumstances--whiskey. As luck would have it, the prayer

reached the ear of the sentinel at the prison door, who was a six-foot

representative of that beautiful island which is so touchingly described

by one of its inspired sons as:

"Poor, dear, ould Ireland, that illigent place

Where whiskey's for nothing and a beating for less."

The word "whiskey" was the sesame to the sentinel's heart. He looked

around cautiously to see if the officer of the guard was near and, the

coast being clear, he opened the door and, in a confidential way,

remarked that he supposed the speaker was a =dacent= boy who would do

the =clane= thing and that he--the sentinel--would run the risk of

letting him out =on= parole of honor for half an hour. The offer was

accepted joyfully and, in an incredibly short time, the author, who in

those days, "knew all the ropes," returned with a load of crackers,

cheese and sausages, pipes and tobacco, and the main desideratum, a very

corpulent bottle of "tangle foot," a very appropriate name for the

particular brand of Sandy Hook whiskey. With these refreshments and a

greasy pack of cards, the night wore away pleasantly and, before

morning, the Irish sentinel was the jolliest man of the party for, on

every passage of the bottle, his services were gratefully remembered and

rewarded with a jorum. When the time came for relieving the guard the

sentinel was too drunk to stand upright and present arms and the

sergeant who, too, was a good fellow or who was, perhaps, himself drunk,

did not change the guard. Anyway, the jolly Irishman was left at the

post 'till morning and he did not complain of the hardship of losing his

sleep. The greater number of his prisoners were too top-heavy to make

their escape, even if they were inclined to play false with their

indulgent keeper. Next day they were examined again and subjected to

various sentences according to their supposed delinquencies or their

ability to do mischief. The hapless author was condemned to banishment

to a distance of at least ten miles from the lines of the army for his

unholy poetry and--as Major Tyndale actually expressed it--because the

expression of his eye was unprepossessing. Mr. Collis was permitted to

stay at Sandy Hook, but he was obliged to report every morning at 10

o'clock at the major's office. Many and various were the adventures of

this as well as of other parties of Harper's Ferry people who were

scattered about by the chances of the times. A narrative of them would

fill a very large volume, if not a fair-sized library, and it may be

that some of them will appear in future biographical sketches.

On the 7th of February, 1862, two parties of hostile scouts encountered

each other at Harper's Ferry. The federal spies had spent the most of

the night of the 6th at the place and about dawn on the 7th had entered

a skiff to return to Maryland, when they were fired on by some

confederates who were watching for them, and one of them, named Rohr,

was killed. Another, named Rice, threw himself into the river and, by

his dexterity in swimming and by keeping under cover of the skiff,

managed to save his life and escape to Maryland. The confederate scouts

were of Captain Baylor's company, who kept Harper's Ferry in a state of

terror all the winter, entering the town every few nights and doing many

harsh things, without the order or approval of their captain, who,

however, was held responsible for their acts and was treated with a

great deal of unjust severity when in the course of events he became a

prisoner of war.

The killing of Rohr was the cause of another calamity to the hapless

town. Colonel Geary, who was commanding the federal troops at the Point

of Rocks, Sandy Hook, and the bank of the Potomac to Harper's Ferry and

under whom Major Tyndale was acting at Sandy Hook, became highly

incensed at the death of Rohr, who was a favorite scout, and he

immediately sent a detachment to destroy the part of Harper's Ferry in

which the confederates were accustomed to conceal themselves and watch

and annoy the federal soldiers on the Maryland shore. This they

accomplished, ruthlessly destroying with fire Fouke's hotel and all of

the town between the armory and the railroad bridge. Certainly, this

must be considered a wanton destruction of property as the trestle

buttresses or even the ruins of the burnt buildings furnished enough of

shelter for spies or sharpshooters. The demolition of this property was

accomplished under the immediate supervision of Major Tyndale, and here

occur some curious coincidences such as often appear in history and in

ordinary life. It will be remembered that John Brown, on the day of his

capture, prophesied the destruction of Harper's Ferry, to take place in

a short time. It will be recollected, too, that his wife came to

Virginia to get possession of his body after his execution. This same

Hector Tyndale accompanied her from Philadelphia as a protector and

conducted the transportation of the remains from Virginia to New York.

In a little more than two years the town, to all intents and purposes,

was destroyed and the finishing stroke was given to it by this very

Tyndale. Who will say that these were merely coincidences and who will

not rather suspect that there were in these affairs something like a

true spirit of prophecy and a divine retribution. Major Tyndale is now

dead and peace to his soul! At the battle of Antietam he was shot

through the head, but he recovered, at least partially, from his wound

and in some years after he served as mayor of Philadelphia. He was no

friend to the author of these pages, but truth compels a rather

favorable summing up of his character. Like his great namesake of Troy,

he was a sincere patriot and, although he often descended to the

consideration of mere trifles and harassed innocent people with

groundless suspicions, it is believed that he was thoroughly honest and

he certainly had courage enough to do no discredit to his Homeric name.

All that winter--'61-'62--Harper's Ferry presented a scene of the utmost

desolation. All the inhabitants had fled, except a few old people, who

ventured to remain and protect their homes, or who were unable or

unwilling to leave the place and seek new associations. This ill-boding

lull continued--excepting the occasional visits of the Confederates and

the Rohr tragedy with its consequences--until the night of the 22nd of

February, 1862, when General Banks made a forward move in conjunction

with General Shields, who proceeded up the valley from the neighborhood

of Paw Paw, on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, between

Martinsburg and Cumberland. General Banks sent a detachment across the

Potomac at Harper's Ferry in advance of the main body of his troops.

They crossed in skiffs and their object was to lay a pontoon bridge.

With them was a man named James Stedman, a native of the place, and

another named Rice, who acted as guides. The night was stormy, blowing a

gale down the river through the gorges of the Blue Ridge. Stedman, Rice

and five soldiers of the 28th Pennsylvania regiment were in one skiff,

when, through the severity of the gale or mismanagement, the boat was

upset and all were cast into the icy waters. Rice escaped by swimming to

one of the buttresses of the bridge, but Stedman and the five soldiers

were drowned and their bodies were never recovered. This man--Rice--was

the same who had so narrow an escape a few nights before at the same

place, when Rohr was killed. He lived many years after these two close

calls and served as a railroad engineer. One day he fell from his engine

and was cut to pieces by it. It is supposed that his fall was caused by

an apoplectic fit and that he was dead when his body reached the ground.

From the time of this crossing until the retreat of Banks from

Winchester, May 25th, 1862, the town was held by federal troops.

Immediately after the battle of Kernstown, March 23rd, of that year, the

Baltimore and Ohio railroad company took possession of the Winchester

and Potomac railroad and worked it for the government, thus relieving in

some measure the strict blockade the place had endured all the winter.

Perhaps, it would be more correct to say the government seized the road

and employed the Baltimore and Ohio railroad company to run it for them.

The place, of course, now became very important as a base of supplies

for the union troops, and the great number of soldiers who were

stationed there at this time and the many civilian strangers who daily

arrived to visit friends in the army, threw a new life into the town.

Besides, many of the old citizens returned to their homes, now

comparatively safe, and accumulated snug fortunes in providing small

luxuries for the wearied soldiers and their friends. When General Banks

was pursued to the Potomac at Williamsport a portion of the confederate

forces marched towards Harper's Ferry and the union garrison there, with

all the citizens who held to the old government, crossed over to

Maryland. The rebels, however, approached no nearer to the place than

Halltown, about four miles west, on Charlestown road and, in a day or

two, they returned up the valley. All through the spring and summer,

except the few days noted, the town continued to be a base of supplies

for the union forces in that region, and it was notably so while the

armies of Shields, Banks and Freemont were operating against Jackson in

the campaign of Cross-Keys and Port Republic. After the second battle of

Manassas, General Lee decided to invade Maryland, and of course, the

capture of Harper's Ferry became very desirable if not absolutely

necessary to him. It was then under the command of General Miles, a

veteran of the regular United States army. He had a force which,

including a large number under Colonel Tom Ford, of Ohio, posted on the

Maryland Heights, amounted to twelve thousand. While General Lee with

the main body of the confederates crossed at the lower fords of the

Potomac and marched on Frederick City, Generals Jackson and A. P. Hill

attacked Harper's Ferry with their commands. The siege commenced on

Friday, September 12th, 1862, by the confederates opening fire from the

Loudoun Heights with several batteries. The federal guns on the Maryland

Heights replied, but the position of the latter was soon attacked in the

rear by a portion of the rebel army that had got a footing in Maryland

and, of course, the rebels on the Virginia shore profited by the

diversion. The extreme right of the confederates in Maryland and the

left of the federals who were following them up from Washington under

McClellan, approached very near to the northeastern slope of these

heights and Colonel Ford was attacked by a strong body of troops

detached for that purpose. Lee had marched through Frederick City and,

thence, westward towards Hagerstown and Sharpsburg, where he faced about

and made a stand against his pursuers. This placed the confederate right

close to the Maryland Heights as above stated. A desultory though

destructive musketry fire was kept up all through Friday and Saturday,

September 12th and 13th, and thus Colonel Ford was placed, as he

thought, in a hopeless situation. The forces fighting him in the rear

were probably of South Carolina, as many headboards long standing at

graves on the ground they occupied bore the names of soldiers and

regiments from that state. The bombardment from the Loudoun Heights

continued in the meantime until Colonel Ford abandoned his position and

shut himself up in Harper's Ferry. His conduct on this occasion has been

severely criticised and, indeed, it is understood that he was cashiered

for misconduct. His military judges, no doubt, knew more about the

merits of the case than any civilian, but it is certain that many

instances of what appeared to be greater mismanagement occurred during

the war, when little or nothing was said in condemnation of any one and

nobody was punished. The loss of Harper's Ferry was a severe one, and

the popular sentiment demanded a scape-goat. The condemnation of Colonel

Ford was some balm and the unreasoning multitude were appeased. The

abandonment of the Maryland Heights was, of course, a virtual surrender

of Harper's Ferry. On Monday, September 15th, therefore, the national

flag was lowered and the garrison laid down their arms. The

confederates, besides capturing some twelve thousand men, got possession

of a large amount of arms and valuable stores. General Miles was killed

by a shell immediately after his giving the order to surrender and, in

all probability, his death saved him from a fate still worse to a

soldier. Great indignation was felt through the loyal states and in army

circles at what was called his treason or cowardice, and, had he lived,

his conduct, no doubt, would have been the subject of a strict

investigation, as in the case of Colonel Ford, if, indeed, the supposed

misconduct of the latter was not forgotten when the principal was under

indictment. If poor Miles had lived to give =his= version of the matter

the public verdict might have been different in the course of time.

Anyway, he died for his country and let no one belittle his memory.

Before the surrender a small body of federal cavalry made a gallant

charge and succeeded in making their escape, capturing and destroying an

ammunition train belonging to Longstreet's corps of confederates, which

they overtook near the Antietam and effecting a junction with

McClellan's army, then posted on that river. Full justice has never been

done in history to this gallant little body of men--the 8th New York

Cavalry--or to its heroic leader, Colonel B. F. Davis.

After the surrender, General Jackson marched towards Shepherdstown and

arrived at General Lee's position in time to take a part in the great

battle of the 17th of September. He left General A. P. Hill in command

at Harper's Ferry, but he, too, departed next day and, like Jackson,

effected a junction with Lee's main army in time to aid in the great

conflict that was impending.

The direction in which Jackson marched from Harper's Ferry to

Antietam--due north--disposes of a controversy that for years has

exercised the pens of many people eminent in letters. The poet Whittier

makes Jackson march through Frederick City on his way to join Lee, and

the fame of Barbara Fritchie rests on her supposed defying of him and

her shaking the national flag at him, as he passed her house at that

place. Whittier's poem is certainly a spirited one and it is too good to

be without foundation in fact, but is to be feared that so it is. In all

probability General Jackson never set foot in Frederick City. Certainly,

he did not do so in the Antietam campaign, and the flag-shaking that has

immortalized Barbara--was done by the small children of a Mrs. Quantril,

who lived near the Fritchies, and the rebels paid no heed to what was

done by the little tots. How many of the heroes and heroines of history

or song are mythical and how many real deeds of gallantry have been

consigned to oblivion can anyone tell?

The siege and surrender of Harper's Ferry, though important events of

the war were not as disastrous to its people as other occurrences of

less national interest. There was no very hard fighting on the occasion,

considering the numbers engaged and the magnitude of the stake and no

loss of life or property to the citizens of the place. While the siege

was in progress, the battle of South Mountain took place, September

14th, and on the same month was fought the murderous battle of Antietam.

Both fields are near Harper's Ferry and the thunders of the artillery

and the roll of the musketry could be heard distinctly at that place

from those famous battle grounds. At the former engagement the lines

were very long and the left wing of the Federals under General Franklin,

and the right of the confederates under General Howell Cobb, of Georgia,

extended to the very foot of the Maryland Heights. These wings met at

"Crampton's Gap" about five miles from Harper's Ferry and a very fierce

battle was the consequence. This engagement, though properly a part of

that of South Mountain, has been considered a separate affair on account

of the distance from the main armies at which it was fought, and its

extreme severity and it is called the "battle of Crampton's Gap." The

union troops were victorious and they drove the confederates through

"the gap" and some other wild passes in the Blue Ridge near the place.

The battle was fought almost entirely with musketry at close range

which accounts for the great loss of life on both sides. Had General

Miles held out a little longer, the advantage gained at Crampton's Gap

would have enabled General Franklin to come to his relief, and the loss

and disgrace of the surrender might have been prevented.

Both sides claimed a victory at Antietam, but Lee retreated and his

garrison at Harper's Ferry abandoned that place. McClellan did not

pursue, but he concentrated his whole army around Harper's Ferry, where

he remained apparently inactive for nearly two months. The whole

peninsula formed by the Potomac and the Shenandoah from Smallwood's

Ridge to the junction of the rivers, as well as the surrounding heights,

soon became dotted with tents, and at night the two villages and the

neighboring hills were aglow with hundreds of watchfires. From Camp Hill

the ridge that separates the towns of Harper's Ferry and Bolivar the

spectacle was magnificent, especially at night, and a spectator was

forcibly reminded of a fine description of a similar scene in the eighth

book of the Iliad. A hum of voices like that of an immense city or the

hoarse murmur of the great deep arose from the valleys on either side

and filled the air with a confusion of sounds, while to a person of

sensibility it was sad to contemplate how many of this mighty host may

have been fated never to leave the soil of Virginia, but sleep their

long, last sleep far from home and kindred and in a hostile land. The

bands of the various regiments frequently discoursed their martial

strains, and nothing that sight or sound could do to stir the

imagination was wanted. Of course, innumerable instances occurred of

drunken rioting among the soldiers and of outrage on the citizens. A

list of these would fill many volumes each much larger than this little

book, and imagination can picture but faintly the sufferings of a people

exposed helpless to the mercy of an undisciplined armed rabble, for

candor obliges us to thus designate both the armies engaged in this war.

Officers and men on both sides were brave as soldiers can be, but,

except the West Pointers and the graduates of a few military academies,

they knew nothing about the science of war, and it was impossible for an

officer to check the excesses of his command, when many of the privates

under him were, perhaps, his superiors socially in the civil life they

had all left so lately and where all were volunteers fighting for a

principle and not for a soldier's pay. General McClellan proceeded south

in November, leaving a strong garrison at Harper's Ferry, and that place

was occupied by the federals without interruption until the second

invasion of the north by General Lee in June, 1863. All this time, as

all through the war, the roads leading to Leesburg, Winchester,

Martinsburg and other places were infested by guerillas in the service

of the confederates and sometimes by deserters from and camp followers

of the federals, the latter frequently committing outrages that were

charged to the southern men. The most noted of the guerillas was a youth

named John Mobley. He was a son of a woman named Polly Mobley, who lived

on the Loudoun side of the Shenandoah, near Harper's Ferry, and his

reputed father was a man named Sam. Fine, who at one time lived in the

neighborhood, but who moved west long before the war. The son took his

mother's name and it is one that will ever be famous in that region on

account of his exploits. He and his mother were poor and, when a mere

boy, he used to drive a team for a free negro butcher named Joe Hagan,

who lived in Loudoun and used to attend the Harper's Ferry market with

his meat wagon. Mobley was at this time a lubberly, simple-looking lad,

and the pert youths of the town used to tease him. He gave no indication

then of the desperate spirit which he afterwards exhibited. On the

contrary, he appeared to be rather cowardly. When the war broke out,

however, he joined a company of confederate cavalry raised in Loudoun

county, and, although not much above seventeen years of age, he was

detailed by his captain as a scout to watch the federal army around his

native place. Under the circumstances, this was an important and

delicate duty. With this roving commission he, with a few others, ranged

the neighborhood of Niersville and Hillsborough and sometimes he came to

the bank of the Shenandoah at Harper's Ferry. He is said to have kept,

like Dugald Dalgetty, a sharp eye on his private interests, while

obeying to the letter the commands of his superiors. He was a great

terror of sutlers and wagonmasters and he is supposed to have captured

many rich prizes, displaying the most reckless courage and committing

some cold blooded murders. Like many other gentlemen of the road,

however, he had his admirers, and many anecdotes are told of his

forbearance and generosity. On the 5th of April, 1865--four days before

Lee's surrender--his career ended by his being shot to death by a party

of three soldiers of the union army, who had set a trap for him with the

connivance, perhaps, of some neighbors and pretended friends. His body,

with the head perforated in three places by bullets, was thrown, like a

sack of grain, across a horse's back and conveyed in triumph to Harper's

Ferry where it was exposed to public view in front of the headquarters.

The body was almost denuded by relic hunters who, with their jack

knives, cut pieces off his clothes as souvenirs of the war and of the

most noted of the Virginia guerillas.

For some years before the war there resided in the neighborhood of

Harper's Ferry a schoolmaster named Law. He claimed to be a brother of

the famous George Law, of New York. He was an eccentric man, but he

appeared to have a good deal of strength of character, for he always

denounced slavery and advocated its abolition. For the expression of his

sentiments on this subject he was driven out of Harper's Ferry, shortly

after the Brown raid, and narrowly escaped a coat of tar and feathers.

On the breaking out of the war he attached himself to the union army as

a spy, and he was murdered, as it is supposed, by some of Mobley's gang.

One of them related to a friend of the author the manner of Law's death

and it was as follows, according to the confession: Having made him a

prisoner, they took him to a lonely part of the Loudoun Mountain, laid

him flat on his back and fastened him to the ground with withes twisted

'round his limbs and driven into the earth with mauls, and firmly

secured. There he was left to perish of hunger, thirst, cold or any

more speedy death from the fangs of wild animals that Heaven might

mercifully vouchsafe to him. Whether all this is true or not, there is

no doubt of his having been murdered, and considering all the

circumstances, there is reason to believe that the poor fellow was

treated as stated.

When General Lee a second time invaded the north on his disastrous

Gettysburg campaign, again did Harper's Ferry change masters, and, when

he again retreated, the re-occupation of the town by the union army was

a matter of course, and the place then remained in the uninterrupted

possession of the latter for a year.

On the 4th of July, 1864, the federal army was driven out again by a

portion of General Early's forces, who penetrated into Maryland and were

encountered on the 9th of the same month by General Lew Wallace at

Monocacy Junction, about twenty-three miles east of Harper's Ferry. Here

a very sharp engagement took place, when the unionists retreated towards

Washington City and were followed cautiously by Early. On the 4th of

July, while the federal troops were evacuating Harper's Ferry and some

of them were yet at Sandy Hook preparing to retreat farther into

Maryland, one of them, partially intoxicated, went into the store of Mr.

Thomas Egan at the place and offered to buy some tobacco. The proprietor

handed him a plug. The soldier took it but refused to pay for it and, on

Mr. Egan's attempting to recover the tobacco, a scuffle ensued. Mr. Egan

succeeded in ejecting the soldier and he shut the door to keep the

intruder from re-entering. At this moment the proprietor's only child, a

very interesting girl of about thirteen years, noticed that the

soldier's cap was on the floor of the storeroom, it having fallen off

the owner's head in the struggle. She raised a window, held out the cap

and called the soldier to take it, when the ruffian shot her dead with

his carbine, the bullet entering her mouth and coming out at the back of

her head. The lamented Colonel Mulligan of the 23rd Illinois regiment

happened to be passing the scene of the murder at the time and he

ordered the brute to be arrested and confined for trial, but, in the

confusion of the following night, he escaped and was never seen

afterwards in that region. It is said that he deserted his regiment and

joined the United States navy. The mother of the child--a most estimable

lady--soon succumbed to her great sorrow and died broken-hearted. The

father became dissipated and a wanderer until he lost his mind, and it

is supposed that he ended his days in some asylum for the insane. On the

same day a lady from North Mountain was killed, while standing on High

street, Harper's Ferry, at a point exposed to the fire which was kept up

from the Maryland Heights by the federal troops. A colored woman, also,

was killed on Shenandoah street, of the place, and a child was mortally

wounded in Bolivar, and a young lady--Miss Fitzsimmons--seriously

injured at the same time and place. The child was a daughter of Mr.

Thomas Jenkins and Miss Fitzsimmons was his step-daughter. A shell

struck Mr. Jenkins' house, shattering it badly and injuring his family

as noted. The author of this little volume was seated at the time under

the gun that discharged the shell. The cannon was on the fortifications

of the Maryland Heights and the writer could see Mr. Jenkins' house was

struck. He remonstrated in strong language with the gunners for doing

wanton mischief to inoffensive citizens. They took good-naturedly his

indignant protests and ceased firing, which, no doubt, prevented much

harm. The lady killed on High street and the colored woman received

their death wounds from Minnie bullets. A shell from some other battery

penetrated a government house on High street, Harper's Ferry, occupied

by Mr. James McGraw, passed directly through it without injuring any

one, and then penetrated the house of Mr. Alexander Kelly, where it fell

on a bed without exploding. Miss Margaret Kelly, daughter of the

proprietor of the house, was in the room when the unwelcome visitor

intruded and settled down on the bed, but fortunately, she received no

injury beyond a bad fright.

While this skirmish was progressing, a confederate officer of high rank

sauntered into the armory yard, either to watch the enemy on the

opposite side of the river or to take shelter from the heat which was

intense that day. He was alone and excited no particular attention. On

the next day a young girl who was searching for a cow that had strayed,

found his dead body and, as the rebels had retreated on the previous

night, the task of burying him devolved on the citizens. The body was

much swollen and decomposition had made great head-way. So nobody knows

how he came to his death and, indeed, no examination for wounds was

made. He was interred somewhere under the railroad trestling and it

would be worth something handsome to discover the exact spot. After the

war his family offered a large reward for the discovery of his resting

place, but, in the campaign of Sheridan which followed shortly after

this fight cavalry horses were picketed under this trestling and they

tramped the ground so hard and obliterated so completely all traces of

the grave that the search for it, which continued some time, was finally

abandoned. Poor fellow, his fate was a sad one. No doubt, he left a

happy home and loving friends and, now, he moulders in an unknown grave

without even the companionship of the dead.

"His sword is rust;

His bones are dust;

His soul is with the saints, we trust."

At no time during the war was there as deep a gloom on Harper's Ferry as

on that anniversary of the birth of our nation. The people had

entertained the fond hope that the war was nearly over, or, at least,

that the theatre of it was to be moved farther south. Therefore, when,

on the 2nd of July, the sound of cannon was heard in the direction of

Martinsburg, utter despair appeared to take possession of all hearts at

Harper's Ferry. The battle sounds were from a heavy skirmish between a

part of Early's troops and Colonel Mulligan's Irish regiment--the 23rd

Illinois--at Leetown, about midway between Martinsburg and Harper's

Ferry. It may interest the reader to know that Leetown took its name

from the famous General Charles Lee of unenviable reputation in the war

of our Revolution. Here it was he buried himself in a morose solitude

after his quarrel with General Washington and the cabin which he

inhabited, with only his dogs for company, is still standing and

occupied by a family. The firing was the first intimation the people of

Harper's Ferry had of approaching danger. Mulligan, although greatly

outnumbered by the enemy, succeeded in checking their course for a

while, and he gave the garrison and people of that place time to prepare

for defense or retreat. However, as the darkest hour comes immediately

before the dawn, so was this gloomy time the precursor of, at least,

comparative tranquility. Although the people were obliged to fly on this

occasion, as usual, they were not again driven from their homes, and,

although peace was not restored to the whole country for many months

after this, Harper's Ferry was happily exempted from any more of its

accustomed calamitous evacuations.

The writer has adverted to the want of discipline in both the armies

that in this war exhibited so much gallantry and, as an evidence of this

he will relate an incident that occurred on Maryland Heights while the

federal army was yet defending Harper's Ferry on that memorable Fourth

of July. It will be remembered that the State of Ohio a short time

before had furnished to the government a force called "the Hundred-Day

Men." A portion of these were doing duty on the Maryland Heights on this

occasion. They were brave enough but, as the following will show, they

had little or no conception of the military appliances which they were

expected to use with some degree of intelligence. A company of them were

preparing dinner and, not having anything else convenient on which to

build their fire, they procured from an ammunition wagon several large

shells on which they piled their wood which was soon ablaze. 'Round the

fire they all squatted, each intent on watching his kettle or saucepan.

Soon a terrific explosion shook the surrounding hills, sending all the

culinary utensils flying over the tree tops and, unfortunately, killing

or wounding nearly every man of the group. This is but one of many

instances seen during the war of incredible carelessness produced by the

excitement of the times and a lack of military training in the

soldiers. While "the hundred-day men" were stationed near Harper's Ferry

many yarns were spun at their expense, such as the following: One of

them, it is said, presented himself on a certain occasion to the

commander of the post, a grim old warrior, who had seen a hundred

battles, and who had the reputation of being a martinet. On being asked

what he wanted, the soldier said that he had a complaint to make of the

commissary who had not yet furnished butter or milk for the company

mess. The wrath of the old campaigner is said to have been appalling

when he heard this, and it is narrated that about this time a figure was

seen to retreat with precipitation from the general's tent, with a boot

in close proximity to its seat of honor.

Another party of the same corps was stationed at Kearneysville, ten

miles west of Harper's Ferry, for the protection of the Baltimore and

Ohio railroad at that point. These hearing of a much superior force of

the enemy approaching to destroy the road and kill or capture them,

wisely resolved to retreat to Harper's Ferry without waiting orders from

their superiors. A freight car happened to be at the time on the

sidetrack near, and the thought struck them that they could load all

their "traps" into this and push it to their destination. Kearneysville

is situated on the very top of a ridge, halfway between Harper's Ferry

and Martinsburg, and there is a very steep grade of ten miles in length

either way from these points--the summit being, as noted, at

Kearneysville. This the Ohio men did not know and it is possible that

they had never heard of the existence of grades on surfaces apparently

so level as railroads. Having procured a switch key, they transferred

the car to the main track, and having loaded on it all their

paraphernalia, they proceeded to push the car towards Harper's Ferry. At

first it was moved with some difficulty, but soon they discovered that

it gradually attained speed and that, after a little time, it rolled

along without the necessity for any exertion in pushing. Supposing,

perhaps, that some kind fairy had greased the track for them, they felt

overjoyed and, giving the car a few vigorous pushes, they all jumped

aboard and "let her slide." Soon, however, the rate of travel increased,

so as to give them some uneasiness and, after their having accomplished

a mile or two, the speed was terrific and increasing every moment.

Knowing little about railroading they did not understand the use of the

car-brake, which would have done something towards reducing their

dangerous rate of locomotion. On the car shot like a meteor, and the

long hair of the western men streamed behind like the tail of a comet,

as would also their coat tails, if their uniforms had any such

appendages. The astonished track hands along the road fled in dismay

from the apparition and well might the knowing ones among them feel

alarm as the westward bound mail train was then due on the same track on

which the car was rushing in an opposite direction at far more than

legitimate railroad speed. Onward and faster the Ohio men flew 'round

the innumerable curves of the road in that neighborhood until to the

amazement of Mr. Donohoo, the railroad agent at Harper's Ferry, the car

came in sight of his station. Fortunately, the mail train had been

detained for some reason by order of Mr. Donohoo, and thus the Ohio men

and the passengers on board the train were saved from the consequences

of a collision which, under the circumstances, would have been of the

most disastrous kind. When the car came to the level a short distance

above Harper's Ferry, its rate of travel gradually declined and it

stopped of itself before reaching the passenger train, the engineer of

which had presence of mind to back his train far enough to the east to

keep out of the way until the momentum of the engineless car had

expended itself beyond the incline. The soldiers half dead with fright,

jumped off the car with all possible speed, but they were put in irons

immediately by order of the commander at Harper's Ferry for disobedience

of orders with the aggravation of the danger to which they had exposed

the passenger train. The Ohio men were very gallant soldiers, however,

and that more than compensated for their inexperience.

After the failure of the confederates in their attempt on Washington

City, and their retreat into Virginia again and for the last time did

the federal troops get possession of Harper's Ferry. After the battle of

Monocacy General Sheridan was appointed to command in the Valley of

Virginia, and his brilliant and successive victories over Early around

Winchester saved the whole of the lower valley, henceforth from its

accustomed alternation of masters.

There was then residing near Harper's Ferry a German known as "Dutch

George," his real name being George Hartman. He was a bachelor and he

worked among the farmers of the neighborhood with whom he was deservedly

popular for his harmless simplicity of character and his efficiency as a

farm-help. During the severe conscription George entered the confederate

army as a substitute for one of his employers and his achievements in

the war are thus summed up. After the last retreat of Early, George and

many of the young men of the neighborhood who were serving in the

confederate army, and who had taken advantage of the forward movement of

their troops to visit their homes, remained on furlough, trusting for

concealment to their knowledge of the locality and the sympathy of all

their neighbors with their cause. One day they got information that a

force of their enemies was approaching and, fearing that their houses

would be searched for them, they all assembled in a deserted

blacksmith's shop where the enemy would suspect their being concealed.

As an additional precaution, they threw out pickets to watch the motions

of the enemy, and George was detailed for this duty. He took post in a

fence corner, but he kept a poor lookout and was surprised and taken

prisoner by a squad of the enemy that had stolen a march on him. "By

damn," said George to his captors, "you did dat wery vel, but you ain't

schmart enough to find de boys in de blackschmidt shop." Of course, "a

nod was as good as a wink" to the shrewd "Yankees," and they surrounded

the shop and made prisoners of the whole party, greatly to the

astonishment of George, who never could be made to understand by what

intuition the "Yankees" discovered "de boys in de blackschmidt's shop."

Poor George is now dead, and it is only fair to his memory to say that

he was not suspected of cowardice or treachery. He stood well with his

comrades in regard to courage and loyalty, and it is possible that the

tale was invented or greatly exaggerated by the mischievous youngsters

of the neighborhood to tease the poor fellow.

During the winter of 1864-65 several military executions took place at

Harper's Ferry and, indeed, there is no phase of war that was not

experienced at some time by its people. A man known as "Billy, the

Frenchman" was executed by hanging on the 2nd day of December, the fifth

anniversary of John Brown's death. His proper name was William Loge. He

was a native of France and was but a short time in this country. He

enlisted in a New York regiment and, while he was stationed at

Berlin--now Brunswick--on the Maryland side of the Potomac, he deserted

and, crossing over to Virginia, he attached himself to Mobley's gang and

became a terror to the people of Loudoun--rebel as well as loyal. He was

a young man of an attractive appearance and great physical strength, as

well as of iron nerve. After marauding successfully for many months he

was made prisoner by federal scouts, near Johnson's stillhouse--the

scene of the pugilistic encounter between Yankee Sullivan and Ben

Caunt--and taken to Harper's Ferry, where he was executed as soon as the

formalities of a court martial could be complied with. He displayed the

utmost courage on the scaffold and many pitied him on this account, as

well as for the great brutality with which the execution was conducted.

The provost was Major Pratt of the gallant 34th Massachusetts regiment,

a very kindhearted man, but others who acted under him displayed the

greatest cruelty and barbarity. On the whole it was the most sickening

affair witnessed at the place during the war.

On another occasion two deserters were taken out for execution by

shooting. The Reverend Father Fitzgibbon, a Catholic priest, chaplain to

one of the regiments then at the place, took an interest in them and,

although they did not belong to his communion, he volunteered his

spiritual aid for the occasion. Father Fitzgibbon had officiated in the

ministry years before at Springfield, Illinois, and had become well

acquainted with Mr. Lincoln, then a practising lawyer at that place. It

occurred to the good priest, therefore, to use his influence with the

President for the pardon of the condemned men, or a commutation of their

sentence. He telegraphed his request to Mr. Lincoln. No reply came until

the hour appointed for the execution had actually passed. Major Pratt,

with his usual kindheartedness, delayed the catastrophe as long as he

could do so consistently in view of his duty. At length the condemned

men were placed on their knees and a file of soldiers held their guns

ready to fire at the command of the provost, when a horseman was seen

riding furiously from the direction of the telegraph office and it was

hoped that he might be the bearer of some message of mercy. True enough,

the benevolent Lincoln had pardoned them, and there was not one in the

crowd of spectators who did not feel relieved on hearing the good news,

and many a rough cheek was wet with tears. It will be readily believed

that the prisoners participated largely in the joy of the occasion.

There is an old fatalistic saying that "every wight has got his weird,"

or that every man's career on earth and the manner of his death are

predestined. This may or may not be true, but many things occur to give

at least plausibility to the belief. One of these men thus rescued from

the very jaws of death, lost his life some twenty years afterward by

being shot by a woman whom he had grossly insulted with improper

proposals, and to whom he was about to offer personal violence. The

"weird," if there is such a thing, missed him at Harper's Ferry, but

overtook him some thirty miles farther up the Potomac. The author will

give another instance of apparent fatality. Like the sentimental Sterne,

he loves philosophical digressions which, perhaps, the reader may

pardon. Besides, the occurrence took place near enough to Harper's Ferry

to give it some little claim on the chronicles of that neighborhood. In

the confederate army during the civil war was the scion of a very

respectable house in the lower valley of Virginia. Like other young men,

no doubt, he felt that in him was the making of a hero but, in his first

battle, he discovered that he had missed his vocation. In his second and

third battles his fears were confirmed and, still worse, his comrades

suspected the truth. He held on to the colors, however, but, after a few

more experiences, he ever sought some excuse for absence from his post

in time of battle, until his example was considered detrimental to the

service, and by a tacit connivance he was allowed to quit the army and

return home. It often happened that scouting parties of the opposite

sides would encounter one another near his home and so great was his

fear of death that on these occasions he would hide himself in some

bullet-proof retreat. Once, a skirmish took place nearly a mile from his

home and he thought he could view it safely at that distance. He

however, took the precaution of hiding in some high grass while looking

at the encounter. All in vain was his care, for a stray bullet found him

and he received a mortal wound.

An understanding may be got of the war experience of Harper's Ferry from

the fact that the railroad bridge at the place was destroyed and rebuilt

nine times from June, 1861, to the surrender of General Lee at

Appomattox in April, 1865. Mr. Thomas N. Heskett, now dead, assistant

master of road for the Baltimore and Ohio railroad company, every time

superintended its construction, assisted by Milton and Oliver Kemp, his

foremen, and it very creditable to these gentlemen that, notwithstanding

the many disadvantages under which they labored, and the hurry with

which they were obliged to perform the work of reconstruction, no

accident occurred to any of the thousands of railroad and wagon trains

that passed over it during these years, which could be traced to any

defect in the bridge itself, or the track laid on it.

At every evacuation of the place the wildest excitement pervaded the

town, and scenes of terror were frequently presented, mingled with

ludicrous occurrences. Few, however, could at the time command

equanimity enough to appreciate the laughter-moving side of those

pictures and see where the joke came in. A few days prior to a retreat

a vague rumor of approaching danger could be heard and immediate

preparations would be put on foot for a "skedaddle." There were in the

town many sympathizers with the rebellion, especially among the fair

sex. These were in constant communication with the insurgents, who kept

them informed of what was going on within the confederate lines, in

return for the news with which they were supplied of the doings of the

union troops. While, at heart, thoroughly loyal to the rebel cause, the

women of southern proclivities could never keep their information

concerning the movements of the confederates entirely secret. The love

of talk and the pride in knowing more than their neighbors always

betrayed them into giving some hints of what was impending and, in

consequence, the townspeople were but seldom taken by surprise. As the

enemy approached, the excitement would increase and, finally, a motley

crowd of fugitives of every shade of color could be seen tramping along

the turnpike to Frederick City, ankle deep in mud or enveloped in a

cloud of dust and stewing with heat, according to the season. Ideal

socialism existed among them for the time being and a practical

illustration of the equality of mankind was frequently exhibited when a

darkey of the blackest shade of color, with a wallet well supplied with

hard tack and bologna sausages, or a bottle of whiskey, commanded more

consideration than the purest Caucasian, though he could trace his

lineage to the Crusades or the Norman conquest, if deficient in his

commissariat. Uncle Jake Leilic's hotel in Frederick City was the

headquarters of the fugitive Harper's Ferry people on these occasions,

and assembled there, they contrived to receive intelligence about the

movements of the rebels, until the danger had passed away, and the

confederates had retreated up the valley. Mr. Leilic deserved well of

many refugees whose pecuniary resources became exhausted while they were

away from home, and he is remembered by many with gratitude. He was a

good, honest, kindhearted, though blunt German--a native of Hesse

Darmstadt. He has been dead many years and few there are to fill his

place in the estimation of his surviving friends. The retreats were

called "skedaddles," a term invented at the time by some wag. The

originator in all probability was not aware that a similar word is used

by Homer to express the same idea and, if at any time, the inventor

should chance to read these pages, or should learn by any other means of

the coincidence, the information, no doubt, will afford him the

liveliest satisfaction. It must be confessed, however, that the

termination "daddle" is not homeric, as it is lacking in dignity and

such as would not be tolerated for a moment in the grand old language in

which the great bard wrote his sonorous hexameters. A correction in the

next edition is, therefore, respectfully suggested.

After the surrender of General Lee a garrison was left at Harper's

Ferry, and for more than a year after the restoration of peace were the

ear-piercing notes of the fife and the boom of the drum heard on the

streets of that place. It may be said with truth that no spot in the

United States experienced more of the horrors of the war than that

village. The first act of the great tragedy--the Brown raid--was enacted

there and, at no time until the curtain fell, was Harper's Ferry

entirely unconnected with the performance. Even the cessation of

military operations was far from restoring the tranquility that used to

reign in this once prosperous and happy little community. In the spring

and summer of 1865 many families that had cast their lots with the

confederacy returned to the place to find their homes occupied by

tenants to whom the national government had rented them as being in a

condition of semi-confiscation. Some found their houses occupied by mere

squatters who had seized them as so much Treasure Trove, and who

impudently asserted their superior right to the property on the score of

loyalty, although the government had given no sanction to their

occupancy, and was simply passive with regard to the ownership. General

Egan, a gallant soldier of the State of New York, was for a short time,

in the summer of that year, in command of the post and, filled with pity

for the forlorn condition of the hapless owners and indignation at the

effrontery of the intruders, he, regardless of technicalities, cleared

many of the houses of the riff-raff that had unjustly settled in them

and restored them to the former and real proprietors. Unfortunately,

this generous, brave and impulsive soldier was moved to some other

command, before his noble work of restoration was completed. We have

never been able to fully ascertain the identity of this gallant soldier

with the General Egan so prominent in the late war with Spain, but

assuredly our people at Harper's Ferry owe him a heavy debt of

gratitude.

The new State of West Virginia had been created during the war, and

Harper's Ferry is the eastern extremity of that state. The then dominant

political faction, as usual, persecuted those, who in their day, were so

intolerant, and harsh election and school laws were enacted for the

purpose of rendering the defeated party incapable of ever again

asserting itself. During this state of affairs the writer was elected

superintendent of free schools, and never will he forget the

perplexities imposed on him by the office. It was his bounden duty to

establish schools all over the county, but it was equally incumbent on

him by law to see that no teacher was employed for any of the public

schools who refused to take an iron-clad oath setting forth his or her

unfaltering love for the union and hatred for its enemies, and also,

that the applicant for the place of teacher had never given aid in any

way to the late rebels. When it is considered that ninety-nine in every

hundred of the inhabitants of the county had been in active sympathy

with the rebellion, it will be evident that the school superintendent's

only way to escape a dilemma was to send to the loyal states for

teachers. Again, the salaries paid were too small to tempt people from

the north to reside in a hostile land to train pupils rendered

refractory by the bad examples of the war and imbued by their parents

with a hatred for "Yankees" as all northern people were styled. Finally,

the writer, finding it impossible to comply with the letter of an absurd

and contradictory law, resolved on following the spirit and underlying

principle of all public school legislation, and he took on himself to

dispense with all test oaths and employ teachers without reference to

their politics. His action in the matter brought him very near to

impeachment, but he brazened it out until the expiration of his term.

Again, a registration law then enacted, depriving sympathizers with the

south of the right to vote at elections, put into the power of county

boards to allow or refuse this right at their own sweet wills. Of

course, the boards were composed of "loyal men" and it is easy to

imagine how petty spite or interest in the election of some candidate

for office too often swayed the judges. Those whose property had been

injured by the rebels sought recompense by suing before the courts the

officers whose men had inflicted the damage, and all these causes, with

many others, combined to keep the town and neighborhood in a ferment for

several years, so that many thought that they had gained but little by

the cessation of actual warfare. Time, however, has happily cured the

wounds, though the scars will ever remain, and it is confidently hoped

that the historic village--the theme of this little book will flourish

again some day--the better, perhaps, for the fiery ordeal through which

it has passed--so mote it be!

This concludes an imperfect account of Harper's Ferry in the war, and

the writer is impelled to comment on a fact which, although it may have

been accidental, appears to have a strange significance for a reflecting

mind. Of all the government buildings in the armory inclosure before the

war, the only one that escaped destruction in that fearful struggle was

John Brown's famous engine-house or fort. Of the occurrence that gave

fame to that little building there can be but one opinion from a legal

standpoint--that it was a violation of law for which the aggressors paid

a just penalty, if we consider obedience to human enactments without

reference to the moral code as obligatory on man. On the other hand, it

must be admitted that slavery was not only an evil that affected

perniciously every member of any community in which it existed, but an

anomaly in the model republic of modern times and this civilized

century. Who knows then by what providential interference an

enthusiastic fanatic may have been selected as an instrument in removing

that anomalous stain of slavery from the state that boasts of having

given birth to Washington and of containing his ashes, and from this

whole nation that now, at least, can truly call itself the Land of the

Free! The preservation of this little building was certainly remarkable

and, although the present owners of the old armory property have

sold--unfortunately, it is thought by many--this interesting little

relic of stirring times, and every brick of it has been conveyed away by

Chicago speculators, the actions of man do not lessen the significance

of the protection accorded to it by Providence from the day when the

first active protest against the great wrong of slavery was uttered in

fire from its door, until that sin was finally banished from the land.

The writer has no intention to dictate to property owners what they

ought to do with what belongs to them justly, but he cannot help heaving

a sigh for this great sacrifice of sentiment, as well as for the

material loss of a great attraction that brought hundreds of people

every year to the place to see a curiosity, and incidentally and

necessarily, to leave some money behind when they departed. But the site

is there yet and it takes but a slight stretch of imagination to

prophesy that it will be the Mecca to which many a pilgrim of this land

and of other lands will journey in future times as to a shrine

consecrated to liberty. Some seventy-five miles farther down the Potomac

is another shrine--the grave of Washington--and it is not his countrymen

alone who bare their heads in honor of the great man who rests in the

consecrated ground. From all civilized lands they come to venerate, and

even his ancient foes have been known to lower the haughty flag of their

country in his honor. They who come to Mount Vernon do not ask how much

right the British or the Americans had on their respective sides in the

war of the Revolution. They come to honor the heroic man who did so much

for humanity in obedience to his conscience and the same motive will

bring many to the site of the famous engine house--people who will not

take the trouble to examine the fine-spun sophistries and subtleties we

used to hear from politicians before the war, but will honor and revere

bona-fide honesty and the heroism that upholds the right and combats

wrong, even to the death, despite of legal quibbles. Many will consider

it sacrilege to compare George Washington with John Brown, but all must

admit that what the former began the latter completed or, at least, put

in the way of completion by Abraham Lincoln. All three deserve

imperishable monuments for all of them did the best according to their

light for the cause of humanity, and "Angels could no more." In 1859 it

was a high crime against the laws of Virginia and, we believe, of other

states, to teach a man of color the alphabet. In 1866, within a quarter

of a mile of John Brown's fort, was established "Storer College" for the

education of the ex-slaves and their descendants. Mistaken, fanatical,

or criminal as John Brown may have been, if we judge him by the results

of his actions at Harper's Ferry, we will not be considered

unreasonable, we hope, when we point to this flourishing seat of

learning to justify a great deal of favorable consideration for him by

posterity. He is getting it already, even in the life-time of many who

clamored for his blood, and the heroic old confederate soldiers are not

behind in doing honor to his undoubted courage and honesty. Brave men

will ever honor the brave.

"Exegi monumentum aere perennius" may well be inscribed on the graves or

monuments of those three extraordinary men. No one now grudges it to

Washington or Lincoln, and the day will be when all will concede the

right to John Brown as well. "Tempora mutantur, nos et, mutamur in

illis."