University of Virginia Library

14. CHAPTER XIV.
THE BATTLE OF BLADENSBURG.

General Crook began the cannonade at sunrise, and
when the two armies were yet some twelve or fifteen hundred
yards apart. This was quite an unexpected occurrence
to Ruffleton. That some fifty thousand men would
make a stand against three times their number, seemed the

very madness of temerity. When informed that morning
that the Southern army was drawn up in battle array, his
own forces were much scattered. They had encamped in a
line extending some six miles in length, and the van and
rear were now that distance apart, while the flanks were, as
usual, in much disorder, for about one-fourth of his men
were robbing hen-houses, killing pigs, and hunting forage.
Crook had his troops in good position, and well concentrated;
his left extending to a steep hill, and his right
defended by a stream of water, then considerably swollen
by the recent rains.

President Randolph, at the head of five thousand horse,
was hidden from view by the crest of a hill, in readiness to
appear on the field at any moment, if it should be requisite
for him to take any active part in the engagement. And
Alice was at the side of her father, mounted on a spirited
charger. She wore a velvet cap, and her riding dress was
confined by a silken scarf, en militaire.

“We have a fine view, here,” said Randolph, as his
steed and Alice's stood on the summit of the hill, whence
they could behold the greater portion of both armies.

“And General Crook is firing his cannon! See the white
smoke!” said Alice. “There!” she continued, when their
thunder was heard; “how long between the smoke and
report! And, father, it is not so frightful as I supposed.
See! Sir Archy merely curves his neck and snuffs
the breeze. He did not lift a hoof to paw the earth. Brave
Sir Archy!”

“I have had him trained, Alice. But there is a different
scene over yonder. Take my glass and view the meadow
to the left of the grove.”

Alice did so—and uttered no more points of admiration.
Some forty thousand of Ruffleton's rabble were crowded
in a meadow of about five acres in extent, and through
these the cannon balls were ploughing fearfully. The commotion
was indescribable; and in a few minutes the place
was almost entirely deserted.

“Father!” said Alice, returning the glass, “you are the
President of the United States!”

“I understand, daughter,” said Randolph, again surveying
the field. “It is my duty, if possible, to prevent
domestic violence and suppress insurrection. These men

will not regard my authority, and I would, if possible, avoid
shedding their blood. But you shall be my witness that I
strove to prevent the collision.” He then beckoned an
officer, stationed some twenty paces in the rear, to advance.

“Take a flag, sir, and go to Ruffleton. Deliver this note,
and return with an answer.” The officer spurred down the
hill in view of both armies, regardless of the cannon balls
and bombs now discharged from both sides, the distance
separating them being still too great for the effective use
of small arms. The flag was respected, and the officer
passed the lines in safety. The message was delivered, and
an answer promptly returned.

“What does he say, father?” inquired Alice, when the
officer had retired to his original position.

“He is impudent and defiant!” said Randolph, in tones
of anger. “He says the Federal Government has ceased
to exist, and that I have no more authority to require him
to retire and dismiss his forces than he has to demand my
abandonment of the city and the functions of the Presidency.”

“Alas! I know you will not brook such language.”

“I can smile at him, Alice, until forced to act. But if
I should pounce upon him, he will find it a different matter
than merely withstanding this lazy assault of Crook. Not
so slothful either, by Jupiter!” he exclaimed, again looking
through his glass. “Well done, and worthy a military
genius!”

General Crook, while attracting attention to his batteries
in the centre, had detached ten thousand men from his right
wing; they marched by a circuitous route, and were entirely
unperceived, until they fell perpendicularly upon the left
flank of the enemy. The effect was tremendous. One-half
the invading army fell back instantly, panic-stricken, while
the other half was impelled forward. The ten thousand
Southern men were between them, and, for a time, did great
execution. That portion of the Northern army precipitated
forward, was, for a considerable length of time, subjected
to two fires, in front and rear, and much slaughter was the
result. The field seemed lost, and doubtless would have
been with disciplined armies. But it has occurred more
than once, that novices in war, unable to appreciate the
advantages of a superior position, or the fatal effects of a

blundering movement, have failed to realize success with
victory in their grasp, or refused to retire, when completely
beaten, according to all the precepts of military science.
Men inexperienced in battle, are unable to conceive how
an army can be defeated until all the soldiers are killed!
And Ruffleton's army, although cut in twain, still presented
two mighty hosts, each more formidable in numbers than
the enemy. Ruffleton, perceiving this, soon rallied his
forces, and then the detachment of ten thousand, which had
performed so great a manœuvre, was subjected in turn to a
fire both in front and rear. There was no alternative but for
the Hon. Mr.—now General—Steel, to retrace his steps, and
endeavor to reunite his column with the main body of the
army, now menaced by overwhelming numbers.

Ruffleton had contrived to secure the services of a number
of experienced officers, always to be found in New
York, travellers, or exiles from many nations. These gentlemen,
who at one time supposed everything lost, now disposed
their columns with alacrity as for certain victory.
But they were deficient in artillery, and almost destitute of
horse.

Crook stood his ground manfully, and continued to make
frightful chasms in the ranks of the foe, both with his well-served
cannon and with one thousand minie rifles he had
borrowed from General Valiant. But still the mighty wave
of invaders continued to roll on, threatening to inundate or
sweep away every opposing obstacle.

“Now, father!” exclaimed Alice. “If you do not interpose,
that multitude will annihilate the little army of the
defenders of the South!”

“The moment has not yet arrived, my daughter,” said
the President, calmly and deliberately, a distinguishing
trait of his character, always evinced in moments of peril,
and whenever any species of panic seized upon those by
whom he was surrounded. “But how is it, Alice, that you
manifest so sudden and so decided a sympathy for Crook
and his followers? Is it your Southern blood instinctively
pulsating in behalf of your countrymen?”

“No, father!” said Alice, resuming her statue-like patriotism.
“The South is but an integral portion of the Union.
Maine and Texas are alike my country. To you I confess
the cause of the solicitude I felt and expressed. It was a

woman's pity for the weaker party. But now I am Marble.
Call me, if you please, a statue of Liberty, or of
America. All I ask, father, is that you will preserve the
whole Union, as one country, one Republic, as Washington
and his compatriots formed it. If it be necessary that yonder
little army, now struggling in defence of their native
soil, should perish a few years before their allotted time in
the course of nature, that the Great Republic may survive
for generations, be it so! Man cannot live beyond a limited
term—but the republic may be immortal.”

“It is not necessary, Alice. Now gentlemen!” he continued,
in a loud voice, to his aides, awaiting his commands
a few paces apart, “sound the charge! Blow all your
bugles! We will rush down like a torrent towards the
plain. But not a shot must be fired, not a sword bathed in
blood. I will lead the van myself, as soon as we shall have
attracted the attention of Ruffleton.”

But this was not accomplished in a moment, although a
vast number of bugles and kettle-drums did their utmost.
The reason was that General Steel, whether from accident
or design, in executing the detour which was to accomplish
a junction with the main body of the army, fell somewhat
short of the contemplated march, and was once more precipitated
on the left flank of the advancing enemy. This
time he did not attempt to sever the van from the rear, but
his well-directed fire, now that his men had recovered from
the first trepidation of the battle, did much havoc, and
created great consternation. Ruffleton himself spurred
towards the menaced point, and in the confusion of sounds
the charge of the bugles did not reach his ear. With difficulty
he succeeded in restoring some degree of order, and
in impelling forward the columns whose progress had been
arrested.

It was at this moment that he received intelligence of the
demonstration on his right. Several of his most experienced
generals despatched very urgent messages to him to the
effect that if the formation of squares were delayed a moment
all would be lost. That a charge of 5,000 cavalry, at
such a juncture, on their right, would be fraught with the
most fatal consequences. He then spurred to the other
side of the field, and assisted in the vain endeavor to form
his undisciplined rabble into hollow and solid squares.

Meanwhile, Steel kept up an incessant fire from the fine
position so fortunately occupied, while Crook's batteries in
front, like so many volcanoes, belched forth destruction.
And President Randolph, placing himself at the head of his
glittering cavalry, thundered down the hill on the right.
The effect was complete. More than 100,000 men, deaf to
the commands of their officers, simultaneously wheeled and
fled away. Randolph, infinitely diverted at the scene, inclined
to the right, and swept along in the opposite direction
to that pursued by the fugitives; and as none of them
turned their eyes behind, they naturally supposed the cavalry
were cutting down their comrades, who had been the
farthest advanced on the bloody field. But Randolph led
his horse without striking a blow, into the first valley he
encountered, and wheeling once more, conducted his entire
column back to the position they had occupied early in the
morning, and where his daughter, guarded by a select
troop, awaited the result.

“I witnessed everything, father,” said Alice. “The invaders
are routed. But, see! The terrible Crook pursues!
What slaughter! And yonder dark mass of horse! Father,
they are yours! Was that right?”

“The horses are mine, Alice, but not the men. Valiant,
it seems, has loaned General Crook some 8,000 animals,
and Crook has mounted his own followers on their backs.
No doubt I shall be charged with having fought this battle
in conjunction with the Southerners. But to-morrow, or
next week, the South may accuse me of throwing my weight
into the Northern scale. My duty is to prevent aggression,
to punish offences, and support the Constitution. But who
comes hither from the woods? It is Wiry Willy!”

This was true. Willy emerged in view, urging his pony
to the top of his speed, while his long coat floated out on
the breeze.

“What news now, Willy?” demanded the President, as
the young man halted in his presence.

Willy, with mingled pain and consternation, by speech
and gesture succeeded in making known the catastrophe
which had befallen Mary.

“Father!” exclaimed Alice, “let me be her rescuer!”

“Then be my Knight of the Velvet Cap!” said the President,
drawing his sword and striking her gently on the

shoulder. “Colonel Carleton,” he added, “consider yourself
under the command of the Knight of the Velvet Cap.
Take one hundred of your best dragoons—hereafter let them
be known as the Blue Caps—and rescue this fair maiden.
Willy will show you the way to intercept Major Snare. Do
not kill him; merely ensnare him. I must shed no blood,
unless compelled to do so to preserve, protect, and defend
the Constitution, in obedience to my oath. I entrust my
daughter to you, sir!” he added, in a lower tone.

Alice touched her noble steed with her whip. He sprang
forward proudly, with curved neck, distended nostrils, and
flashing eye, as if eager for the service demanded of him.

“I want one hundred volunteers!” said she. Three hundred
came forward. It was necessary to select every third
man, and the fortunate ones were heartily cheered by the
rest.

Wiry Willy indicated the road by which Major Snare
would be likely to attempt to form a junction with the main
body of Ruffleton's army, then in full retreat, with Crook
thundering in the rear. The squadron set off at a rapid
pace, in a line parallel with the flying army. They continued
in this manner for several miles, when the carriage
containing the captive, and the escort under the command
of Major Snare, were discovered at some distance to the
left, making almost superhuman exertions to join the rear
guard of their Northern friends. Alice and Carleton, perceiving
the object, made every effort to intercept them;
and this they certainly should have done, if they had not
been unexpectedly confronted by a deep chasm, over which
it was deemed impossible or hazardous to leap the horses.
Thus their career was momentarily checked, but only momentarily,
for Alice, supposing it might be solicitude for her
safety which deterred the Colonel from attempting the passage,
spoke the word to Sir Archy, and with a bound he
cleared the ditch. The rest followed, of course, excepting
poor Wiry Willy, whose pony fell short of the opposite
side, and rolled down to the bottom, landing, however,
without injury to horse or rider, in a bed of leaves.

Carleton, placing Alice in the centre of the troop, renewed
the chase, and reached the extreme left flank of the now
fugitive army just in time to prevent Snare from dashing
into it. There was no alternative but to surrender, and

Major Snare yielded to the summons; and this, too, within
sixty paces of the Northern army! But the poor infantry,
defeated, fatigued, hacked, and pelted, had no disposition to
pause and turn aside for the relief of the abducting party
of horsemen.

Alice, giving the reins to her attending servant, sprang
into the carriage beside the half-fainting Mary, who uttered
many heartfelt thanks for the timely interposition. Carleton,
embarrassed by the presence of his prisoners, for it was
not known by what authority he could detain them, lost no
time in separating his charge and his men from the line of
march of the armies, for General Steel was roaring in pursuit
like a tornado. Finding that Snare and his men still
followed, though guarded very loosely, Carleton, after having
proceeded about a mile on the way back to the position
occupied by the President, liberated his prisoners.

When the Blue Caps, for by this name were they to be
afterwards known, returned to their disappointed if not
envious comrades, the President was holding a conference
with General Crook, who had sent General Steel in pursuit
of the fugitives.

“Very well done, Sir Velvet Cap!” said Randolph, when
the result was made known to him. “Perhaps, in time,
you may win a regiment. But where is Willy?” he continued,
observing that Mary, notwithstanding his congratulations,
was very pale, and ever and anon looked round in
quest of some one evidently not then present.

“Willy! and true enough, where is he?” exclaimed
Alice.

“He is not here—nor was he present when you released
me,” said Mary; and surely she must have looked for him.

“He must be found,” said the President, in a confident
tone to Mary. “I would send a thousand men to bring
him back, if it were necessary. Therefore be not uneasy.
Return with Alice. The battle is over, and no further dangers
can menace us.” Then, kissing his hand to the ladies
as they departed, he resumed his conversation with
Crook.

“General,” said he, “you should not have taken so
many prisoners.”

“If you advise it,” said the General, very coolly, “I'll
have every — rascal of them shot!”

“No, sir, that is not what I mean. Too many have
already fallen, and, I fear, are falling still. But you might
have released them on parole. You can do so yet.”

“Do you know how many abolition members of Congress
and editors we have taken?”

“No; I have not heard the quality of any of your prisoners;
but the quantity is enormous. It cannot be short
of thirty thousand.”

“On the contrary, it is rather longer than that. But
these gentlemen alluded to put in a plea that they are non-combatants,
and claim both an exemption from duress and
from a forfeiture of the horses and other property taken
with them.”

“Were they taken with arms in their hands?”

“No—they had thrown them away.”

“How many of this non-combating class have you?”

“Four hundred.”

“Four hundred members of Congress, abolition preachers,
and editors?”

“Such is the report to me. If they are non-combatants—
and I must confess they were captured when huddled together
where bullets could not reach them, and where it
would have been impossible for them to inflict injury on us
—I would like to know what they were doing in the midst
of Ruffleton's invading army, and on the slave-soil of the
South?”

“Oh, merely missionaries and reporters. Political and
spiritual guides, and inoffensive chroniclers of the events of
the campaign for the delectation of the world, at three
cents per copy. I suppose you mean to dismiss them as the
Roman Emperor's Proconsul did the first vagabond Christians—with
pity and contempt?”

“If I do, may I be —! Why, sir, these miscreants
have produced all the mischiefs which have afflicted the
country, or are likely to afflict it. If it had not been for
them, I should have been a peaceful citizen on my cotton
plantation, in the midst of my family, instead of skulking
about of nights, forming plots to seize the archives and
carry off the President. Yes, sir, these same — rascals
are the originators of all the slaughter and destruction now
cursing the land, and likely to scourge it hereafter. Dismiss
them with pity and contempt! Why, sir, if I were to

let one of these scoundrels escape, I would be denounced
from the Gulf to the Potomac!”

“But what can be done with them?”

“That's the difficulty. I don't know. I won't kill them;
and, besides, according to the military code, if not the code
of honor, perhaps I have no anthority.”

“But you have authority, General Crook, it seems,” said
the President, with irony, “to wage war without the sanction
of either the Federal or the State governments?”

“In a case of emergency. The people are the source of
all authority. We were invaded, and —”

“Self-defence is the first law of nature,” said the President.
“We will say nothing more about these agitators
and non-combatants! Do nothing cruel or unjustitiable—
nothing that may not be sanctioned hereafter—and whatever
you do, let me know nothing about it until it be done.
But now, General Crook, that you have repelled the invaders,—”

“Mr. President,” said the General, interrupting him, “a
very large share of the glory belongs to you.”

“You are welcome to all. And, I assure you, it will be
inscribed in our annals as a very great victory. But the
thing I desire to impress upon you is this—that if it was a
duty to hurl back an invader, the merit of the achievement
may be easily extinguished by becoming, in turn, an invader
yourself. You understand me. Whoever becomes the aggressor
must be defeated. To-day I have assisted you in
driving Ruffleton out of Maryland. To-morrow it might
be my duty to assist Ruffleton in driving you out of Pennsylvania.”

“Who could have thus misrepresented me to your Excellency?”
exclaimed Crook, in apparent earnestness; for he
well knew that Randolph was a man of his word, and possessed
the ability to perform all his promises, and to execute all his
threats. “I give you my word, sir, that when our men reach
the Pennsylvania line they will relinquish the pursuit. But
Blount, who is now advancing with another Southern army,
spontaneously levied since the announcement of this invasion,
will not find many laurels to reap, unless your Excellency
should prove a partial mediator, and permit him to
cross over the border.”

“No—I shall not prove a partial mediator; nor shall I

approve an invasion of the North, under any circumstances
likely to arise—never, unless the North, in a confederated
capacity, should declare war against the South. But this
will not be done, General Crook, if the South, in the same
capacity, does not first set the example.”

“And why not?”

“Because it would be wrong?”

“Wrong! And which section has suffered the most
wrong? Have not the Southern people been despoiled of
their property to the amount of fifty millions of dollars?
Have they not been denied the equal rights of citizens, and
precluded from taking their lawful private property into
territories won by the common blood and treasure of the
Union? When have the Southern people ever pillaged the
North of her property? When have they ever decreed
that Northern citizens should be deprived of their right to
settle on the public domain, carrying with them every description
of property they possessed, or might choose to
possess?”

“These are grievances, sir, I admit, demanding a remedy;
and if nothing else sufficed, I would not be averse to the
arbitrament of the sword. The first has grown out of the
forbearance of the Executive power, which will forbear no
longer; the last is a mere menace of these very gentlemen
you have now in captivity, whose fate it is so difficult to
determine. No, sir; I am satisfied that a large majority of
the Northern people are quite willing to accord the South
all the rights and privileges guaranteed by the Constitution.
Let us afford them a fair opportunity of manifesting it.
The Union is necessary to them—to us—to all.”

“The Union!” said General Crook, sighing deeply.
“May Heaven forgive me if I err—but I shall deem it the
happiest day of my life when I can see the last link of it
severed. You, Randolph, are that link!”

“If that be so, sir,” said the President, with an erect
form and noble expression of face, “the last link was made
of stubborn metal. But, General, I have detained you long
enough. Restrain the sanguinary steel. I shall rely on
your pledge not to cross over the line. Farewell!”

They separated, the President returning to the head
of his splendid cavalry, and the General spurring his steed
over the bloody plain.