CHAPTER XV.
BLADENSBURG.
If I would tell all that was done in and around Washington by ourpeople, and then have space in which to set down that which we ladswere able to accomplish after the British had worked their will, verymuch of what then seemed highly interesting to us of the Avenger, mustbe passed over with but few words.
Perhaps it is well that it should be so, for we moved here and therewithout apparent aim or purpose until every man and officer was on theverge of exhaustion, and then, when it required no slight effortsimply to remain on our feet, we were forced to meet the British army,which had advanced by short stages to the end that the men should bein the best physical condition for that struggle which decided thefate of the nation's capital.
We had no sooner struck our tents than word was brought that thePresident was on his way from the Potomac to review our troops, and atsuch information Darius grumbled loud and long, therefore we ladsknew full well that Commodore Barney was opposed to suchmonkey-shines, otherwise the old sailor would not have dared to voicehis complaints so stoutly.
When we might have been resting preparatory to the extraordinaryfatigues that were before us, all our little army were forced toremain in line a good two hours, when President Madison was ready tobegin the review, after which we marched and countermarched in frontof him when three men out of every four were unable to understand thewords of command.
It was a most ridiculous performance, as can well be fancied, and ifthe chief magistrate of the land was well pleased with the result, itis more than can be said for the officers in command.
By the time this mockery of a review had come to an end, scoutsarrived with information that the main body of the enemy was stillresting comfortably at Upper Marlboro, whereupon we were allowed toremain in line while the general sent couriers to the differentcommanders under him, directing them to move in the direction of theBritish camp.
We remained on parade from shortly after sunrise until ten o'clock inthe forenoon, when we were as tired as if from a long march. Then wewere dismissed; but since all the tents had been carried away in thebaggage-wagons, there was nothing for us to do save lounge around inthe open field exposed to the burning rays of the sun.
Nothing more was done in the way of throwing up breastworks, thereforewe who had been the last to leave the fleet, were not called upon tohandle pick or shovel.
An hour before noon General Winder, escorted by a troop of Laval'scavalry, left the encampment, and it was reported that he had gone tohold a conference with General Stansbury at Bladensburg.
All our rations, save what each man had held back in his pockets, werewith the baggage-train, therefore we did not make a very hearty mealat noon, and perhaps it was as well, for while we were eating thesmall amount of food at our disposal two companies of Marylandmilitia, under command of Major Peter, came into camp on the doublequick, with every evidence of terror on their faces.
Immediately the long roll was sounded, and as we fell into line oncemore, expecting to see the enemy advancing, word was whispered aroundthat Major Peter, scouting in the direction of Marlboro on the WoodYard road, had skirmished with the Britishers, and been driven back.
Commodore Barney and General Smith, who had command of the militia inthe absence of General Winder, set about making preparations forbattle, and Major McKenney was sent in hot haste to inform ourcommander of the position of affairs.
We remained under arms, and in momentary expectation of being engagedin a life or death struggle, until near sunset, when General Winderarrived, and without loss of time we were headed for Washington at asharp pace, thus being forced to march over the same ground threetimes without having seen the enemy once.
We arrived for the second time at the capital about midnight, and wereposted near the Eastern Branch bridge, there to get such repose asmight be possible while we did guard duty on that side of the city.
In order to show that my grumbling had good foundation, I am going toset down here a portion of General Smith's report, as I heard it reada week later:
"The arrival at the Eastern Branch bridge terminated the four days ofservice of the troops of this District. They have been under arms,with but little intermission, the whole of the time, both night andday; have traveled, during their different marches in advance andretreat, a considerable tract of country, exposed to the burning heatof a sultry sun by day, and many of them to the cold dews of thenight, uncovered. They have in this period drawn but two rations, therequisition therefor in the first instance being but partiallycomplied with, and it being afterward almost impossible to procure themeans of transportation, the wagons employed by our quartermaster forthat purpose being constantly impressed by the government agents forthe purpose of removing the public records when the enemy's approachwas known, and some of them thus seized while proceeding to take inprovisions for the army."
On that night after our arrival we heard that the British wereadvanced within two miles of Long Old Fields. We who comprised thecommand under General Winder were worn and dispirited; Laval'shorsemen were exhausted, and Stansbury's men at Bladensburg were tiredout by long marches, lack of sleep and scarcity of food.
As if to make bad matters worse, our general fell from his horse nearabout daybreak, and really was not fit to remain in the saddle,although he pluckily kept on duty, not the least of which were manyconferences with the President and members of his Cabinet.
At sunrise, after our force had indulged in less than two hours'sleep, Laval's scouts brought in positive information that the BritishGeneral Ross was marching directly toward Bladensburg; half an hourlater messengers came from General Stansbury with the word that theenemy was in his front, and urging that reinforcements be sent atonce.
It was a case of making another march without breakfast, and, for thematter of that, we had had no supper the night previous.
There was more than one grumbler when we obeyed the summons to "fallin;" but the men under Commodore Barney held their peace after ourleader urged that we act "like patriots, and not like children who hadcome out expecting to enjoy a holiday."
Well, off we posted for Bladensburg, a good eight miles from where wehad halted, and I for one hoped that the battle, since there must beone, would be on at once, for it seemed better to be shot at than worndown by apparently aimless running to and fro.
We of the flotilla arrived near Bladensburg shortly after noon, andwere stationed about a mile from the village on the Washington road.There we found two eighteens and three 12-pounders, all ship's guns,mounted on carriages, which had been drawn to the spot by the marinesfrom the navy yard, and with these we were supposed to hold ourposition, having no other support than a crowd of raw militia in frontof us.
Our force, meaning those under Commodore Barney's command, numbered,as I have already said, about five hundred, and although we had noknowledge of military tactics, we knew enough to obey our officers tothe best of our ability, which was considerably more than could besaid for very many of the troops near at hand.
I cannot set down that which followed, in proper fashion so that itcould be understood by those familiar with the game of war; I onlyknow what happened near my comrades and myself, for the crew of theAvenger had taken good care to stand side by side at this time whenone or all of us might meet death through the medium of British lead.
For myself, I can say this: that when I looked around at the mass ofmen--five thousand strong I have since heard--, and saw them wranglingover this trifling matter or that, openly disputing some command, orboldly leaving an assigned position to take up one which pleased thembetter, I had more fear of what might come to us through the cowardiceor ignorance of our own people, than regarding the ability of theenemy to cut us up.
Darius made his preparations for the conflict by stuffing a huge pieceof tobacco into his mouth, after which he proceeded to read us alecture on behavior while under fire.
"Remember this," he said with the air of one who knows it all, "itisn't every bullet
that finds its billet, an' the toughest time isjust now, when we're waitin' for what all hands know is bound to come.Think of the folks at Benedict, an' kind'er figger out what they'dsay if you went home after showin' yourselves cowards under fire.There are worse things than bein' killed or wounded in battle, an' thehardest is to live knowin' every youngster on the street has the rightto call you a white-livered sneak what ran away when danger came.Stand here behind Joshua Barney, for I warrant he won't give you achance to get in front of him, an' you'll be doin' about right."
When the old man had come to an end of his instructions, we would haveconversed among ourselves, speaking much, no doubt, of the folks athome; but he sternly bade us hold our tongues, thinking that we wouldnot be heartened by such talk, and straightway began to tell us a yarnof how he and Bill Jepson had fought under Commodore Barney, when theenemy was a ship of thirty-two guns, and they in a schooner carryingonly twelve 10-pounders.
The yarn had not yet come to an end when a commotion among the men infront of us caused me to crane my neck to look in the direction manywere pointing, and there I saw the lines of red marching directlytoward us in perfect order, as if on parade.
At almost the same moment the enemy began to throw rockets among ourpeople, and these, exploding, hurled bullets' in every direction.
Within two minutes from the time I first saw the Britishers, no lessthan five men near me were stricken down, and the sight of the gapingwounds, together with the moans of the sufferers, gave me a sensationof faintness which was well-nigh overpowering.
"Stand steady you lads from the Avenger!" Darius cried sharply,warned, no doubt, by the sight of our pale faces that we were growingsick in more ways than one. "Somebody must get hurt, else the battlewould never be over, an' we're here to spoil the Britishers' fun,which we shall do mighty soon. Joshua Barney is only waitin' for theproper time, an' when he gives the word to begin work, there'll be achange of tune."
At that moment, and before a gun had been fired, the militiamen infront of us broke into a run toward the rear, many of them throwingdown their muskets as they took part in a most disgraceful retreat.
For the credit of our flotillamen, and the marines, I must set it downthat not one of them wavered when the retreat was begun, and after thelast of the cowards was in the rear I heard the commodore shout:
"Now's your time, lads! Give it to 'em hot an' strong, but make everycharge count!"
Then our ship's guns were discharged, and the faintness left me as Isaw the missiles cut down long lanes in the red-coated ranks; thesmell of burning powder must have got into my brain, for from thatmoment I knew nothing save that my musket was to be loaded anddischarged as rapidly as possible.
Men fell around me by the score, yet I gave no heed to the evidencesof suffering. Once, a man shot through the head, pitched forwarddirectly into my arms, covering me with blood as he sank dead at myfeet, and yet, unused though I was to such scenes, it caused me noother feeling than that of anger because he had spoiled my aim.
I knew nothing of what was going on immediately in front of me, savethat the red line, now broken by many a gap, was before my eyes; thatit advanced, fell back and advanced again, sending among us such ashower of bullets that the buzzing in the air was like unto a swarm ofangry bees.
Once Jerry tried to say something to me, but I pushed him backpetulantly, so strong a hold had the fever of battle upon me. Mymusket barrel grew hot to the touch, and it was no longer possible tocharge it properly. Without compunctions I exchanged weapons with oneof the dead men at my feet, and continued the work, shouting aloud invengeful joy when I saw an enemy fall by my hand.
Darius cried out in my ear; but I heard him not, nor did I heed thefact that he wanted to speak with me. I was insane with the scene ofcarnage, the salty odor of blood, and the choking, stifling fumes ofburning powder.
Then, suddenly, Darius pulled me back by the coat-collar, forcing meto run with him, and as we went swiftly past our guns toward the rear,I asked what he was doing.
"The word had been given to retreat!" he cried. "Do the best you canwith your legs, lad, for there'll be no quarter given if we are taken.We of the flotilla, with the marines, have borne the brunt of thiswhole battle for the last half hour, an' we've left our mark on thered-coats, even if we are turnin' tail now!"
"But the commodore?" I cried, now getting back a portion of myscattered senses.
"Wounded ten minutes ago, an' taken off the field, I hope. It was inmy mind to help him; but he ordered me to go back to duty, an' I went,for when Joshua Barney gives the word, even though he's half dead,it's safest to obey without makin' much talk. Captain Miller of themarines was shot down at about the same time."
Then I had sense enough to see that all my comrades of the Avengerwere close about me, none of them appearing to be hurt, and while weran to save ourselves from being made prisoners, let me set down thatwhich was written less than a week after the battle of Bladensburg,for, as it turned out, we had fought a regular battle.
"No troops remained in line, except the party under Commodore Barney,and two detachments on his right, that were well posted. Having beenso roughly handled, the enemy made no attempt to advance directly infront of the seamen and marines, but, after forcing the troops ontheir right from the field, by a demonstration in that direction, theyprepared to turn the rear of Barney in order to surround him.
"While these movements were going on in front, a party of light troopshad been thrown out on the enemy's right, and the militia havingabandoned the ground, they were also beginning to close upon theAmericans that stood. By this time Commodore Barney, Captain Miller,and several other officers were wounded, and, victory being impossibleagainst odds so great, an order was given to commence a retreat.
"The defense had been too obstinate to admit of carrying off the guns,which were necessarily abandoned. All the men retired, with theexception of the badly wounded; among the latter, however, wereCommodore Barney and Captain Miller, who both fell into the enemy'shands.
"Of the marines, nearly one-third were among the casualties, and theflotilla-men suffered considerably, though in smaller proportions. Thepeople of the flotilla, under the orders of Barney, and the marines,were justly applauded for their excellent conduct. No troops couldhave stood better, and the fire of both artillery and musketry hasbeen described as to the last degree severe."
Jerry, who reads each day what I write, says that by putting down theaccount of what we of the flotilla did, I am blowing my own horn; butI do not so consider it, since the fact is a matter of history, and ifwe won praise on that disastrous day, then we should boast of it tothe end that the picture may not be so black.
And now to return to us of the Avenger who were fugitives, without anyidea of where safety might be found.
Strange to say, not one of us had been wounded, while many a betterman close beside us had met his death.
Darius took it upon himself to lead our party, and right willing werewe to have him act as commander, though I question if he really knewwhere he was going when we left the bloody field.
There is no shame in my heart when I set it down that we ran from theenemy, and did our level best at that game; the order to retreat hadbeen given after we had done all that might have been expected fromwell seasoned troops, and to have remained longer would have been auseless sacrifice.
By instinct, rather than deliberation, Darius led us southward, closeon the heels of several hundred men, all of whom were quite as eageras we to keep out of the enemy's clutches.
To the best of my knowledge the British did not pursue; they had won avictory, but in so doing received quite as much of a drubbing as wasneeded, and officers as well as privates were willing to remain on thehard-earned field.
I believe it was a full hour before Darius would allow us to slackenthe pace, and then we were well among the foremost of the fugitives.
By this time we were so nearly winded that it was impossible tocontinue the flight without a breathing spell, and the o
ld man allowedus to halt when we were close upon the city.
We could see that our people were bearing to the west, in order togive Washington a wide berth, and, when it was possible to speakbecause of my heavy breathing, I asked Darius where he proposed to go.
"That's what I haven't rightly made up my mind on," the old man saidthoughtfully. "It stands to reason that the enemy will, sooner orlater, try to make as many prisoners as possible, an' I'm allowin'that those fellows ahead are bound to have a hot time of it beforethey're many hours older. If we could only get down the river!"
"But we can't, an' that much is certain," Jerry said petulantly.
"Perhaps you've got another scheme in your head, since the oysterbusiness turned out so well," and it is possible that I spokesharply, realizing with bitterness just then that but for mypartner's proposition to sell fish to the fleet I might never havediscovered I owed my country a duty, and, consequently, would not atthat moment be hunted down, or in danger of it.
"Perhaps I have," Jerry replied quietly, giving no heed to mydisagreeable manner of speaking.
"What is it, lad?" Darius asked curiously. "I take it that at such atime as this a bit of advice, no matter from whom it comes, is wellworth listenin' to."
"Why not go straight into Washington, an' stay there till we find achance to slip down the river?"
"Into Washington?" Jim Freeman cried in alarm. "Why the Britishershave promised to burn the town!"
"I know that, an' it ain't likely any of our people will go therebecause of that same thing."
"An' yet you allow that we should stick our noses into the mess?"Darius asked.
"Ay, because the Britishers never will suspect that any who took partin the fight would go there. It should be possible to find ahiding-place somewhere in the town, an' it strikes me we wouldn't bein as much danger as if we kept with the crowd."
I began to think that there was more in Jerry's scheme than appearedwhen he first suggested it, and Darius seemed to be considering thematter very seriously.
"In the first place," my partner continued, warming to the subjectwhen he saw that we were interested, "it would be necessary to getthere before the Britishers took possession, an' it might be we couldpass ourselves off as fellows who had stayed in the town like cowards,rather than take the chances of bein' shot."
"It's a pretty good scheme, lad, an' I for one am willin' to try it,"Darius said abruptly as he rose to his feet. "If the others think as Ido, we'd better be movin'."
After the old man had thus spoken there was not one of us who wouldhave ventured to object, for he had shown that in any business of thiskind he knew more than all of us put together, therefore we made readyto set out; but before the first step had been taken we saw comingtoward us from the direction of Bladensburg, a man riding a mule, andwaving his arms as if to attract our attention.
"Go on," I said petulantly. "We can't afford to hang around here verylong if we count on finding a hiding-place in the city, and that isonly one of the country people who wants to sell his mule."
"I reckon we'll wait a bit," Darius replied firmly. "Unless I'm wayout of my reckonin', yonder man was in the fight, an' has scooped upone of the baggage-wagon mules to help him along."
"But our party is too big for safety now, and what will it be if weallow every straggler to trail on behind? We might as well follow theother fugitives."
All this I said like a peevish child, and no sooner had I ceasedspeaking than Darius seized me by the shoulder, forcing me to turnuntil I had a full view of the newcomer.
"Look at the man," the sailor cried sternly, "an' then say whether youwill allow every straggler to trail on behind us when the road is asfree to one as another?"
In an instant I was covered with confusion and remorse. The man towhose company I had objected was none other than my own father, and ashe approached I could see that he was wounded in the right leg.
There was nothing I could say just then to show my comrades how deeplyI regretted having spoken in such a tone, therefore I ran forward togreet him who, a moment previous, I had been eager to leave behind.
My comrades joined me as I saluted my father much more warmly than Imight have done but for the unkind words I had spoken, and in a fewseconds we heard all the story he could tell.
He had been wounded quite severely during the early part of thebattle, and went to the rear in search of the surgeons. Failing tofind those whose duty it was to be near the scene of action, andunable to walk any further owing to loss of blood, he laid down underone of the baggage-wagons which had been used to transport ammunition.
Here he bandaged his wound as well as possible, and was about to setout once more in search of aid, when the final retreat was ordered.Unable to walk, he would soon have been made a prisoner, or, perhaps,in the heat of the moment, received worse treatment, when the idea ofescaping on one of the mules occurred to him.
Cutting the traces he rode off, taking a course to the north in hisignorance of the country; but, discovering his mistake, he turnedabout, and the first persons he saw were those of our party.
Without wasting any time we told him of Jerry's scheme, and he, havingnothing better to propose, agreed to make the venture, moreparticularly because he stood sadly in need of some attention, sincethe wound had been only rudely bandaged.
Darius claimed that he could treat it after a sailorly fashion,provided we found clean water and cotton cloth, and declared that itwould heal as well after such treatment as if any save a skilledsurgeon had dressed it.
As a matter of course we kept the mule, for it was necessary myfather should ride, and after the delay needed in which to explainmatters, our little party started toward Washington, knowing full wellthat we were going where it was certain the enemy would soon come.
Although I had agreed to Jerry's scheme, and was willing to dowhatsoever the majority of my companions decided was for the best, Icould not but believe that ours was as rash a move as fugitives evermade, for of a verity it was thrusting ourselves into the jaws of thelion.
Now that my father was with us, having his wound as proof that he hadtaken part in the battle, we could no longer hope to pass ourselvesoff as cowards who remained at home while others were fighting for us,and in event of being captured in the city I believed we would receiverougher usage than those taken prisoners on the battle-field.