Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 28.djvu/141

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HOW LIEUT. WALTER BOWIE OF MOSBY'S COMMAND MET HIS END.

In the McClutt .Un^tti/'/ic for December, 1898, an account of the of Lieutenant Walter Bowie, of Mosby's Command, appears over the signature of " Roy Stannard Baker," in which he cleverly shows how Detective Trail secured the Lieutenant's shot-gun from his home in Prince George county, Maryland, and with it followed him and his two comrades while scouting in Maryland during the war between the States, and when a favorable opportunity presented itself he killed the Lieutenant by emptying both barrels of his gun, loaded with buck-shot, into his breast, and then overpowered his comrades with an empty gun! How strange to those who know differently.

I read this story with interest, because of the novel sense shown in it, yet with no little astonishment, on account of the vast amount of ingenuity displayed in its make-up. To be frank, Mr. Baker so disfigured the circumstances that attended Walter Bowie's death that those who were with him at the time of its occurence fail to recognize them. Distorted history, especially war history, is so distasteful to me that if I be pardoned for the personal element that may appear in this paper, I shall endeavor to give an account of the raid on which Lieutenant Bowie was killed.

About the 25th of September, 1864. Lieutenant Walter Bowie, Company F, 43d Virginia Battalion (Mosby's Battalion), received intelligence that the "White House" at Annapolis, Md., was not guarded, and that with a small force the Governor could be captured and conveyed to Richmond, Va. This the Lieutenant reported to Colonel Mosby and asked for permission to capture His Excellency and hold him as a hostage for friends of his in southern Maryland, who had been lodged in the old Capitol prison at Washington, be- cause of their southern proclivities. This request was made with so much earnestness that the Colonel espoused the cause of the young officer at once, and gave him a force of twenty-five men. with orders to proceed on the expedition.

All preliminary arrangements being completed, we were ordered to meet at Upperville, Va., at a given time. Every man answered