Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 30.djvu/228

 220 Southern Historical Society Papers.

Painter's ice cream establishment which had a large supply of that luxury for the Baltimore market. As rations were scarce and issued with great irregularity, the ice cream was confiscated and issued to the troops, many of whom had never seen anything like it. The mountaineers thought the "beer" was nice, but too cold, so they put it in their canteens to melt.

Pushing on across the Baltimore and Ohio railroad above Wood- stock, we passed by " Doughoregan Manor," the seat of John Lee Carroll, Esq., since Governor of Maryland, with whom I had the pleasure of lunching. During the afternoon of that day, Monday, July nth, I dispatched another message to General Early by a trusty courier, guided by the son of a friend, who undertook to show him the way across the country.

After the battle of the Monocacy between Early and Lew Wallace on Saturday, the gth, the former had marched direct on Washing- ton. His advance arrived before the fortifications of that place on the nth, but owing to the heat of the weather and the broken down condition of the troops, the column was not closed up and in posi- tion before late in the evening of that day. " Under these circum- stances," says General Early, "to have rushed my men blindly against the fortifications, without understanding the state of things, would have been more than folly." After consultation with Major- Generals Breckinridge, Rodes, Ramseur and Gordon, he deter- mined to make an assault on the enemy's works at daylight next morning, unless some information should be received before then, showing its impracticability, and he so informed these officers. ' ' During the night a dispatch was received from General Bradley Johnson from near Baltimore, informing me that he had received information from a reliable source that two army corps had arrived from General Grant's army and that his whole army was probably in motion. This caused me to delay the attack until I could exam- ine the works again, and as soon as it was light enough to see, I rode to the front and found the parapets lined with troops. I had, there- fore, reluctantly to give up all hopes of. capturing Washington after I had arrived in sight of the dome of the capital and given the Fed- eral authorities a terrible fright." [Early's Last Year of the War, page 59.]

The preservation of Washington from capture was owing to the energy and decision of John W. Garrett, Esq., President of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, more than to any merit of the military authorities.