I left Hagerstown at 8 A.M., in my conductor's good buggy,
after saying farewell to Lawley, the Austrian, and the numerous Confederate
officers who came to see me off, and wish me good-luck. We passed the
Confederate advanced post at about two miles from Hagerstown, and were allowed
to pass on the production of General Lee's authority. I was now fairly launched
beyond the Confederate lines for the first time since I had been in America.
Immediately afterwards we began to be asked all sorts of inquisitive questions
about the rebels, which I left to my driver to answer. It became perfectly
evident that this narrow strip of Maryland is entirely Unionist.
At about 12 o'clock we reached the top of a high hill, and
halted to bait our horse at an inn called Fairview. No sooner had we descended
from the buggy than about twenty rampageous Unionists appeared, who told us
they had come up to get a good view of the big fight in which the G—d d----d
rebels were to be all captured, or drowned in the Potomac.
My appearance evidently did not please them from the very
first. With alarm I observed them talking to one another, and pointing at me.
At length a particularly truculent-looking individual, with an enormous
mustache, approached me, and, fixing his eyes long and steadfastly upon my
trousers, he remarked, in the surliest possible tones, “Them breeches is a d----d
bad colour.” This he said in allusion, not to their dirty state, but to the
fact of their being grey, the rebel colour. I replied to this very disagreeable
assertion in as conciliating a way as I possibly could; and in answer to his
question as to who I was, I said that I was an English traveller. He then said
that his wife was an English lady from Preston. I next expressed my pride in
being a countryman of his wife's. He then told me in tones that admitted of no
contradiction, that Preston was just forty-five miles east of London; and he
afterwards launched into torrents of invectives against the rebels, who had run
him, out of Virginia; and he stated his intention of killing them in great
numbers to gratify his taste. With some difficulty I prevailed upon him and his
rabid brethren to drink, which pacified them slightly for a time; but when the
horse was brought out to be harnessed, it became evident I was not to be
allowed to proceed without a row. I therefore addressed the crowd, and asked
them quietly who among them wished to detain me; and I told them, at the same
time, that I would not answer any questions put by those who were not persons
in authority, but that I should be most happy to explain myself to any officer
of the United States army. At length they allowed me to proceed, on the
understanding that my buggy-driver should hand me over to General Kelly, at
Hancock. The driver was provided with a letter for the General, in which I
afterwards discovered that I was denounced as a spy, and “handed over to the
General to be dealt with as justice to our cause demands.” We were then allowed to
start, the driver being threatened with condign vengeance if he let me escape.
After we had proceeded about six miles we fell in with some
Yankee cavalry, by whom we were immediately captured, and the responsibility of
my custody was thus removed from my conductor's shoulders. A cavalry soldier
was put in charge of us, and we passed through the numerous Yankee outposts
under the title of “Prisoners.”
The hills near Hancock were white with Yankee tents, and
there were, I believe, from 8000 to 10,000 Federals there. I did not think much
of the appearance of the Northern troops; they are certainly dressed in proper
uniform, but their clothes are badly fitted, and they are often
round-shouldered, dirty, and slovenly in appearance; in fact, bad imitations of
soldiers. Now, the Confederate has no ambition to imitate the regular soldier
at all; he looks the genuine rebel; but in spite of his bare feet, his ragged
clothes, his old rug, and tooth-brush stuck like a rose in his button-hole,* he
has a sort of devil-may-care, reckless, self-confident look, which is decidedly
taking.
At 5 P.M. we drove up in front of the door of General
Kelly's quarters, and to my immense relief I soon discovered that he was a gentleman.
I then explained to him the whole truth, concealing nothing. I said I was a
British officer on leave of absence, travelling for my own instruction; that I
had been all the way to Mexico, and entered the Southern States by the Rio
Grande, for the express purpose of not breaking any legally established
blockade. I told him I had visited all the Southern armies in Mississippi,
Tennessee, Charleston, and Virginia, and seen the late campaign as General
Longstreet's guest, but had in no way entered the Confederate service. I also
gave him my word that I had not got in my possession any letters, either public
or private, from any person in the South to any person anywhere else. I showed
him my British passport and General Lee's pass as a British officer; and I
explained that my only object in coming North was to return to England in time
for the expiration of my leave; and I ended by expressing a hope that he would
make my detention as short as possible.
After considering a short time, he said that he would
certainly allow me to go on, but that he could not allow my driver to go back.
I felt immensely relieved at the decision, but the countenance of my companion
lengthened considerably. It was, however, settled that he should take me on to
Cumberland, and General Kelly good-naturedly promised to do what he could for
him on his return.
General Kelly then asked me in an off-hand manner whether
all General Lee's army was at Hagerstown; but I replied, laughing, “You of
course understand, General, that, having got that pass from General Lee, I am
bound by every principle of honour not to give you any information which can be
of advantage to you.” He laughed and promised not to ask me any more questions
of that sort. He then sent his aide-de-camp with me to the provost-marshal, who
immediately gave me a pass for Cumberland. On my return to the General's, I
discovered the perfidious driver (that zealous Southerner a few hours previous)
hard at work communicating to General Kelly all he knew, and a great deal more
besides; but, from what I heard, I don't think his information was very
valuable.
I was treated by General Kelly and all his officers with the
greatest good-nature and courtesy, although I had certainly come among them
under circumstances suspicious, to say the least. I felt quite sorry that they
should be opposed to my Southern friends, and I regretted still more that they
should be obliged to serve with or under a Butler, a Milroy, or even a Hooker.
I took leave of them at six o'clock; and I can truly say that the only Federal
officers I have ever come in contact with were gentlemen.
We had got four miles beyond Hancock, when the tire of one
of our wheels came off, and we had to stop for a night at a farmhouse. I had
supper with the farmer and his labourers, who had just come in from the fields,
and the supper was much superior to that which can be procured at the first
hotel at Richmond. All were violent Unionists, and perfectly under the
impression that the rebels were totally demoralised, and about to lay down
their arms. Of course I held my tongue, and gave no one reason to suppose that
I had ever been in rebeldom.
_______________
* This tooth-brush in the button-hole is a very common
custom, and has a most quaint effect.
SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three
Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 298-303
