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live Northern woman and two Northern men might reasonably be expected to intimidate a Virginia army.
The escort consisted of a file of eight mounted riflemen, under a sergeant.
Captain Moore, of the Montgomery Guards, stationed at this place, very kindly offered his own services as a personal escort to Mrs. Brown, and she gladly accepted it.
The Captain referred frequently, as they came along, to the unfortunate situation of her husband.
She exhibited no sorrow or regret, so far as he could observe.
The gallant
Captain had the brutality to attempt to argue with a wife, thus circumstanced, in favor of that great crime against God and man, for assailing whose power her husband was doomed to die.
The writer, above quoted, continues:
I was in sight when the formidable cavalcade arrived.
The military went through manoeuvres in Scott's Manual, named and nameless, and which were well calculated to impress the beholder with the wonderful effectiveness of a Virginia regiment at a general muster, but in a no more sanguinary conflict.
At last, however, Mrs. Brown was admitted.
She was kindly received by CaptainAvis and Mrs. Avis. Mrs. Avis, by order of the powers that be, conducted Mrs. Brown into a private apartment, where her clothing was searched for concealed weapons, or other means which the morbid suspicion of the Virginia army of occupation suggested Mrs. Brown might surreptitiously convey to her husband.
In the mean time Captain Brown had been informed that his wife had arrived.
The announcement was made by General Taliaferro, when the following dialogue took place:
“ Captain Brown, how long do you desire this interview to last?”
asked the Virginian.
“Not long; three or four hours will do,” said Captain Brown.
“ I am very sorry, Captain Brown,” said the Virginia General, “that I shall not be able to oblige you. Mrs. Brown must return to-night to Harper's Ferry.”
“ General, execute your orders; I have no favors to ask of the State of Virginia,” was the brave old man's reply.
This fact was related to an acquaintance of mine by a Virginia gentleman, as an illustration of Captain Brown's courage and bravery.
He did not see in it the scathing rebuke to the pusillanimity of a great State, which, with a cordon of twenty-five hundred men, would not protract the last interview between a brave man and his sorrow-stricken wife.
