A
Surprised Cavalryman
By James A.
Scott
(Originally
published in the Star and Sentinel on June 8, 1897)
Company "C" of Cole's Cavalry was
"on scout." It was investigating a portion of the country in
Loudoun County, Virginia in the region of Leesburg, the county
seat. Turning off a wide public road, the company entered a
private road skirting the edge of a forest. Before proceeding far
in this new direction we were startled by an unexpected volley of
bullets from the wood, but which caused no harm to man or animal.
We had surprised in a quiet
bivouac a small body of Confederate cavalry, and they returned to
the complacent with the aforesaid volley, and then mounted and
fled. Company C clashed after them, and a running fight was kept
up until they disappeared by scattering in all directions in the
thick undergrowth. They did not attempt to make a stand.
In the pursuit we came into the
grounds surrounding a large handsome mansion, which latter we
closed in upon, as some of our men who were foremost in pursuit
said they believed they had been fired upon from the windows of
the house. When a cordon was formed around it, the officer in
charge ordered a few of us to dismount and try to enter it with
him. We were at the rear of the house, part way along which ran a
porch or piazza.
On this latter we met an elderly
white woman, who had told us she was in charge of the premises and
that there were no rebel soldiers inside. The officer demanded the
keys from her, which she refused to hand over. She was told that
unless she produced them the door would be broken in. She then
stated the house was the property of Mayor Thomas Swann of
Baltimore, and that he was a well-known Union man.
The officer replied that that
fact would not prevent Rebels from harboring in it, and that it
must be opened, or, much as he regretted to injury the property of
Mayor Swann in anyway, it would be opened forcibly. She relented
and produced a bunch of keys. We opened the piazza door with drawn
pistols entered a wide hall, from which a door to the right opened
into a large room, through which we entered and found the floor
bare and the room empty of furniture. While a portion of the men
held this, others were sent to intestate the upper rooms, huge and
small, but found no enemy.
On one side of the large
downstairs room were closed and locked sliding doors leading into
another room, this part of the house evidently being for use as a
double parlor. The house keeper was asked to open these sliding
doors, but she refused to do so. So of course this was the place
the Rebels were in hiding, and she didn't want any fighting in the
house. Among the men was a very strong and heavy-bodied
mountaineer, who with the higher refinements of civilized life in
the matter of objects of art or adornment. While the officer was
parleying with the woman and before we knew what he was about, he
raised one of his powerful limbs and gave the door a mighty kick,
which sent a panel flying into the other room. He peeped in, but
immediately sprung back in astonishment and alarm and with a loud
cry of "Help! Help! Help!" at the same time cocking his carbine
and pointing it through the hole. All rushed rapidly to the
opening expecting to find a roomful of men, but saw nothing except
the faces of a couple of formidable-looking bronze lions, on which
our comrade had his gun leveled. He thought he had broken into the
den of wild beast. The loud laughter which ensued restored him to
his equilibrium, and he felt that he had made "A bad break" in
more ways than one. He said that he had never before seen "such
things" in his life as "stone or brass animals", and that when his
eyes first fell upon then he could have sworn that the saw one of
those lions move. When the house was abandoned, these objects of
art had been taken from their position on the front portico and
deposited in this room to keep them from despoilment. Our comrade,
if he is still living today, may not have yet heard the last of
his breach into the den of wild animals.
After the war ex-Governor Swann
returned to his mansion to live, and died there in July, 1883. He
was a native of Virginia, having been born in Alexander in 1805.
He was twice mayor of Baltimore before the war, and was elected
Governor of Maryland in 1864.
Interested in Cole's Cavalry? Then try our archived
edition for a complete listing of Emmitsburg &
Gettysburg names:
The
Solders of Company C, Cole’s Cavalry 1861-1865
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