"Truly it was a strange sight to see father, an old man, with a handful of mountaineers holding the town of Harper's Ferry against that company of Maryland regulars, besides receiving an occasional shot from behind buildings or other places of safety. He was facing odds of more than fifty to one, who, not knowing what father's re-enforcements might be, were really panic stricken. "Through continuous firing, one after another of our few men were shot down, until father abandoned the arsenal and seemed to be barricading the engine house with his few men, probably not more than three or four besides himself. "Colonel Robert E. Lee, with a company of United States Marines, appeared just before dark but did not attempt to capture the enemy's stronghold in the engine house, possibly because he had heard the rumor that father had three or four thousand men in the mountains waiting his command. "Knowing that anything more on our part to help father would virtually be suicide, we gathered up our effects and started on our night tramp through the Blue Ridge Mountains in a northwesterly direction. "We traveled in the roads strung out about ten rods apart, myself in advance, so when I met anyone I would engage him in conversation until the other boys were concealed from the view of the road. When passing villages we climbed the fences and ran around. "Soon our food was ear corn, which we pillaged from the farmers. This we could not pop or roast, as we dare not build a fire. We could travel in the rain nights, but we could not sleep days when it was wet and cold, and we suffered terribly. After several days suffering, Cook proposed to venture into the town for food, to which Tidd strongly objected and I often had my hands full trying to quiet their quarrels. "About the sixth day out we slept on a mountain which overlooked Ole Forge, near Chambersburg, Pa., where Cook was determined to go down for food, which he did, and never returned, and as you know, was captured and will soon share the fate of others at Charlestown. "Marriam was now so weak that he could go no further, and I at a great risk, got him down to Chambersburg, where he boarded a train without detection. Then we were but three." "Fearing that Cook might be forced to reveal our whereabouts and intentions, we traveled all that night back towards the hill from whence we came, making our course as zigzag as possible, so detectives would be unable to design our intentions or lay in wait for us. "The third day after Cook's capture, an old lady hunting nuts in the woods came spank upon us, while we were sleeping in the sun. We were still near Chambersburg and from what she had heard she knew who we were, and told us so. To kill her would be wrong, to let her go back and report would be dangerous; but she soon put us at ease by telling about her abolition friends in Massachusetts and how her son, with whom she lived, and all her neighbors would help us on the way.