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.