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 headquarters at the armory, received these Virginians in a very courtly manner, and conducted them to a fire. Stephens had brought from Washington's house a sword which Frederick the Great of Prussia had sent as a gift to General George Washington, and which Lewis Washington had inherited. Brown took this sword, and carried it proudly until he was himself made a prisoner. Colonel Washington was much impressed by Brown's manner, and had no doubt at all that the wearer of his ancestral sword was in command of a large force.

At half-past one in the morning a train came in from the west. It halted at the bridge, finding the lights extinguished. A negro porter, who was sent forward to see what was the matter, refused to halt when challenged by the guard, and was shot and mortally wounded. Brown committed the mistake, which from this distance is inexplicable, of letting this train go on to