Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/28

 22 Southern Historical Society Papers.

and very complimentary recital of the circumstances above narrated about Beers and ourselves in conclusion begging his honor not to notice this last episode. Mr. Mayo yielded to this appeal, taking occasion, however, to deliver himself of another little speech, at the conclusion of which Beers marched out a free man and a hero, being heartily cheered as he passed through the crowd. I had never be- fore seen Mr. Mayo, and he made a strong, and, upon the whole, a very favorable impression upon me.

This account is lengthening out far beyond my original intention, yet the fundamental facts are, so far as I know, quite unparalleled, and they are striking enough to justify a full record of the surround- ing circumstances.

I recall, this moment, this additional incident. Mr. Ran. Tucker, then, I believe, Attorney-General of Virginia, was an intimate friend of my father, who had now arrived in Richmond, and suggested to him that Mr. Beers and I, being citizens, not only of the United States, but of the State of Connecticut, where I had recently cast my first vote, were in rather an exceptional position, as bearing upon a possible charge of treason, in case we should enlist in the military service. The suggestion was deemed of sufficient import- ance to refer to Mr. Benjamin, then Attorney-General of the Con- federate States, and Mr. Tucker and I interviewed him about it. These two great lawyers expressed the view that the principles which protected citizens of the Southern States were, to say the least, of doubtful application to us, and that it would probably go rather hard with us. if we should be captured. Notwithstanding, I enlisted, and Beers would doubtless have done so with equal promptness, had he not been an expert mechanic men so qualified being then very scarce in Richmond and very much needed. He was requested to assist in the work of transferring some old flint-locks belonging to the State of Virginia into percussion muskets, and all of us insisting that he could thus render far more valuable service than by enlisting in the ranks, he rather reluctantly yielded and went to work.

How long he was thus employed I do not know. Things were moving on rapidly. The hostile lines were facing each other at Manassas, and then the great battle shocked and shook the entire continent. "Junior Company F" hung fire too long; so, the morning after the battle, my brother and I, without saying "by your leave" to any one, boarded the train bound for Manassas Junction, in company with Billy Wait (son of Dr. J. G. Wait, the