EXPLOSION ON THE PRINCETON.

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by Rev. Messrs. Hawley, Butler and Laurie (a Presbyterian). There was an immense procession from the Capitol to the White House, sweeping trains of crepe hung from doors and windows everywhere, cannons were slowly firing, bells tolling, the vast crowd mute and dumb at the great calamity, and over all the mist and cloud of a dark day in contrast to the warm, genial day of the explosion, all presented a scene of woe greater than had ever been seen before.

I saw ex-President Buchanan during the war washing his hands out of doors at the Relay House. It was said that he was insulted by the father of the lady to whom he was engaged telling him he was a fortune hunter, and never married her or any The lady died from the effects of her grief.

one.

The only time I ever saw Jefferson Davis was at the White House when he was Secretary of War. It was at this time that the wonderful single arch of stone over Cabin John Run was built, though Davis' name has been cut out of the stone from some petty spirit of dislike.

I

CHAPTER XXII.

WAR TIMES.

HAVE been asked to give some account of my experiences in the Civil War. As I look back upon them they do not seem to have happened to me, but to some one else. They do not differ materially from those of many others who were refugees, like myself. The "Diary of a Refugee," by Mrs. McGuire, who lately died at the age of eighty-four, gives in a simple and easy style her reminiscences. It is a book that deserves a much wider circulation than it has received. I do not propose to enter into any discussion about the causes of the war-simply to give a narrative of the experiences of myself and family.

It is extraordinary how few persons brought on the war. The more I think of it the more unnatural it seems. The mass of people, North and South, did not desire the war, and some of the strongest Union men were Southerners, who, however, felt constrained to go with their States. Clay and Webster had with equal earnestness tried to preserve the Union in their day.

I know of many instances where brothers were equally divided on the two sides-a dreadful state of things, when you think of it.

"And every hand that dealt a blow,

Ah me! it was a brother's,"

it might be truly said, showing the strong convictions on each side.

In the session of 1860-'61 the Seminary had seventy-three students, a greater number than ever before. There had been much agitation in Congress and in the country, and much uneasiness as to what would be the issue. There was great excitement in the whole country; rumors of impending war became more and more frequent, but we had had no experience of war, and in our ignorance thought that it might be averted. One-half of our students were from the North, and gradually left us as the spring advanced. There was the utmost good feeling between the Northern and Southern students at the breaking up of the Seminary. There was a panic among the families in the neighborhood, who left their homes for a place of refuge. The Mayor

of Alexandria sent out word that there might be firing and they had better move away. Little did we think that the storm of war would sweep over our homes for more than four years, and our houses be despoiled of their contents. We went away leaving everything, thinking a lock and key sufficient to protect our household goods. We left everything in the house-linen, pictures, books, china, furniture; and silver in a box in the library. Never did my home look fairer than when I left it in May, 1861, my family having gone before. It seemed to put on all its loveliness as I was about to leave it. Some natural tears I shed. We expected, ignorant as we were, that we would soon return and find our goods in peace. When after four years I returned, my house was dilapidated, few panes of glass left in it, and books, furniture and cherished memorials were all gone. A friend at the North thought I spoke with acerbity of my loss, since he had seen my books carefully packed away. His remark was repeated to me by a friend, and I simply said: "Packed up! yes; but they did not send them to me." My large family Bible with records was carried off, and twenty years after the postmaster at Alexandria received a letter asking of me, and the writer said that he would send it to me if I would forward stamps, which I did.

Some neighbors had kindly come in and saved a picture or two. A beautiful portrait of Anne Lee, my wife's grandmother, by Sully, copied from Stuart, was ruthlessly ripped up by a bayonet. I carried Dr. May to town in my carriage, as he was going to Philadelphia and he looked like Jeremiah, the weeping prophet; we were both very sad at parting.

Rev. Herman L. Duhring, of Philadelphia, who was here when the war began, visited the Seminary lately, when in Alexandria, to address the Convocation on Sunday Schools. He had not been here for more than thirty-five years, and remembered my telling them all good-bye as they left in '61, and saying, "We will soon see you again." He kindly said to me, "Doctor, your Hebrew has been of use to me all my life;" then jokingly, "I tried it on the beggars in Europe with great effect." He told me that I looked pretty much as I did when he saw me in 1861, only my hair was whiter.

Rev. W. II. Neilson told me that in the middle of April, 1861, Mrs. McGuire met him on the walk and told him that Virginia had seceded. Then he and the other Northern students decided to leave, and four went together-Bancroft, Duhring, G. Zabriskie

266

USE OF THE BUILDINGS.

Gray and himself. When they reached the boat from Alexandria to Washington there were so many on board that the captain said no more baggage should be taken after his. When they got to Baltimore the great riot was going on and the streets were filled with confusion and fighting. Shortly after they got on the train the angry mob rushed in and surrounded it. They pulled down the blinds and felt much anxiety. Presently the mob was attracted to the baggage room and the conductor started his train out, and it was the last train that left for some time.

The Seminary and High School buildings in the month of June, 1861, were occupied as hospitals. One of the largest hospitals of the Union army was established here. Additional barracks were put up in the Seminary grounds, so that at one time there were no less than 1,700 patients here. Five hundred and more died during the four years' occupancy and were buried in the lower corner of the Seminary grounds, opposite my place, and afterwards removed to the National Cemetery outside Alexandria. Some boys playing in Dr. Walker's garden, as late as 1870, fell through a hole in the ground into a shallow grave, where a skull and bones were found.

Rev. John A. Jerome, class of 1851, Dr. Sparrow's son-in-law, was stationed as chaplain at the Seminary Hospital, and did good service by taking care of things as much as possible during the war. I think he had the library books boxed up, and he saved Dr. Sparrow's library. On one occasion he saw that a soldier had written his name on the Seminary wall. He had him called

up and made him wash it off.

My own house was used as a bakery, and fifteen hundred loaves of bread baked daily in my kitchen in a brick oven which was built along its side. Many soldiers convalescing were imprudent in eating apples in my orchard and some, it is said, died thereby.

As the Seminary was in the Union lines, repeated applications were made to Congress after the war for rent for the buildings, which after twenty-five years was granted by an appropriation of $20,000, of which $8,000 went to the lawyers and agents. As much as this had probably been expended in the repairs of buildings and renewal of fences. The barracks that had been put up were cut up and used to fence the Seminary grounds. On one of them we found written in large letters, "Things aint am as they used to was;" true enough, if not elegantly expressed.

At the session of Congress which made the appropriation for

DR. PEYTON'S HOME.

267

rent, General W. H. F. Lee, a member of the House of Representatives, who had the bill in charge, was asked whether the Professors were loyal or prayed for the President of the United States. He replied very pleasantly that "they prayed for all sinners," which excited a general smile. It was the very last bill that President Cleveland signed in his first administration.

I took refuge with my family in the home of my brother-in-law, Dr. Robert E. Peyton, near "The Plains," Fauquier county, Virginia. He was a physician and a large farmer, and one of the most earnest Christian men I ever knew. Dr. Peyton was in the habit of collecting his servants early in the morning before they went out to their work and praying with them, and on Sunday evening he gathered them for a service of prayer, exhortation and song. He had a good, strong voice, and led the singing, which was fine. He told me once that no one of them had died on the place since he came in possession of it without showing in some way evidence of faith and of a good hope of salvation. I have never met with any one so familiar with Scott's Commentary on the Bible as he was. He made it the man of his counsel, and I recall him as he sat reading it before breakfast. I kept open the little church at "The Plains" while I was there and officiated at burials in the neighborhood. Dr. Peyton's home, Gordonsdale, was a large, handsome residence, and the yard and garden were beautiful. There my family had a comfortable, delightful home for more than two years, and Dr. Peyton refused to make any charge for board.

On Sunday, the day of the battle of Bull Run, I preached for Rev. William Meredith, in Winchester. The army corps under the command of General J. E. Johnston, which was stationed near Winchester to check General Patterson's advance, had left on Thursday before to reinforce General Beauregard's army at Bull Run. This movement was made with as much secrecy as possible, and it was not until the army had marched some distance from Winchester that General Johnston gave them a short and stirring order. "Soldiers: General Beauregard has been attacked at Manassas by overwhelming forces. We are going to help him. The general commanding hopes that the troops will step out briskly, keep close order, and by a forced march save the country." They cheerfully obeyed, and at an eventful moment in the battle a cloud of dust was seen on the western horizon, causing anxiety at first in the hearts of the Confederates, as they feared it was the enemy, soon giving place to every demonstra