My adieus over, I
set out in the broad light of day. When the cars arrived at Camden, I
proceeded, with the rest of the through passengers, in the boat to the
navy yard, without going ashore in the city. The passengers were strangers to
me. Many could be easily recognized as Southern men; but quite as many were
going only as far as Washington, for their reward. They were bold denouncers of
the rebellion; the others were silent, thoughtful, but in earnest.
The first thing
which attracted my attention, as the cars left the Delaware depot, was a sign-board
on my left, inscribed in large letters, “union
Cemetery.” My gaze attracted the notice of others. A mocking bon-mot was
uttered by a Yankee wit, which was followed-by laughter.
For many hours I
was plunged in the deepest abstraction, and spoke not a word until we were
entering the depot at Washington, just as the veil of night was falling over
the scene.
Then I was aroused
by the announcement of a conductor that, failing to have my trunk rechecked at
Baltimore, it had been left in that city! Determined not to lose it, I took the
return train to Baltimore, and put up at Barnum's Hotel. Here I met with Mr.
Abell, publisher of the Baltimore Sun, an old acquaintance. Somewhat
contrary to my expectations, knowing him to be a native of the North, I found
him an ardent secessionist. So enthusiastic was he in the cause, that he
denounced both Maryland and Virginia for their hesitancy in following the
example of the Cotton States; and he invited me to furnish his paper with
correspondence from Montgomery, or any places in the South where I might be a sojourner.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 14
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