Secrets of the Late Rebellion, Now Revealed for the First Time — John Shaqi
Secrets of the Late Rebellion, Now Revealed for the First TimeFreese, Jacob R.
History
Secrets of the Late Rebellion, Now Revealed for the First Time
Freese, Jacob R.
United States -- Politics and government -- 1861-1865
By midnight all were ready. As before, in the case of Lamb and Waddell,
Ben led the way, and, by playing drunk, and treating the sentinel with
whiskey and cigars, got them safely by the first post. From there
they walked about two miles to Widow Ennis' farm-house; thence rode to
Hendrickson's, nine miles; thence walked to the Falls, one mile. Here
Garrett and Morse received them with open arms, and furnished such
refreshments as were needed. Mrs. Morse seemed specially impressed at
the presence of a live lord, and honored the occasion by putting on her
best silk dress before coming down-stairs to be introduced. The guide
was in waiting, and within two hours all three left their friends to
cross the Potomac. To reach the place where the boat for crossing had
been concealed required a walk of about two miles; and, when across,
it required a walk of another mile to reach the negro hut of old "Aunt
Rachel." It was now so near daylight that the Colonel deemed it unsafe
to go further, so that all that day the three remained concealed in Aunt
Rachel's humble quarters. They could not venture outside the door even
for a moment, and at times the lord seemed in great distress at such
close confinement; but the day wore away at last, and soon after
nightfall the three walked about four miles to Mr. Francis Latimer's.
Here the Colonel had expected to get saddle-horses, as before, but the
horses were away, and nothing remained in the shape of a conveyance but
an old mule, blind in one eye, and a two-wheel dirt-cart. After some
consultation and delay, it was decided to take these, and in a little
while after the blind mule and two-wheeled cart, with an old darkey,
"Uncle Jarrett," as driver, stood before the door. Some straw had been
thrown in the cart, on which our travellers might lay; but Mr. Latimer
thought this beneath the dignity of a live lord, and therefore had an
old splint-bottom chair set in the cart, on which the lord might sit,
while the Colonel could lay upon the straw at his side.
The night was very dark, besides which the age and blindness of the mule
made him to stumble frequently. They had not gone half a mile before
Lord Brewerton found that his seat was a very uncertain and a very
uncomfortable one. Down would go one of the wheels into a deep rut. "Ha!
hi! be careful, my man! be careful! What a bloody road this is, to be
sure!" the lord would cry out. On a little farther, and down would go
the other wheel into a deep rut. "Ho! ha! hi! here we go over, to be
sure! Be careful, my good man; be careful! Why, Colonel, I never saw
such bloody roads in all my life. Do they ever work them?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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