His  defeat,  and  the  stories  of  the  magnitude  of  the  Bebel
force,  put  Baltimore  and  Washington  in  great  excitement.  The
battle  at  Monocacy  was  fought  on  Saturday.  On  Sunday  morn-
ing the  church-bells  in  Baltimore  were  rung,  and  the  citizens,
instead  of  attending  worship,  made  haste  to  prepare  for  the
enemy.  Alarming  reports  reached  that  city  from  Westminster,
Beisterstown,  and  Cockeysville,  that  the  Bebels  were  in  posses-
sion of  those  places.  Couriers  dashed  into  Washington  from
Bockville,  only  twelve  miles  distant,  crying  that  the  Bebels
wore  advancmg  upon  the  capital.  On  Monday  morning  tliey
were  near  Havre-de-Orace,  at  Ounpowder  Biver,  where  tliey
burned  the  bridge,  cut  the  telegraph,  captured  trains,  and
robbed  passengers,  entirely  severing  Baltimore  and  Washington
from  the  loyal  North.  Only  five  miles  from  Washington,  they
burned  the  house  of  (Governor  Bradford,  and  pillaged  Mont-
gomery Blair's.  (Government  employees  were  imder  arms,  and
troops  were  hastening  out  on  the  roads  leading  north  and  west,
when  I  arrived  in  Washington.  Loud  cheers  greeted  Wright's
two  divisions  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  and  still  louder  shouts  the
veterans  of  the  Nineteenth  Corps,  from  the  Mississippi,  as  they
marched  through  the  city.  It  was  amusing  and  instructive  to
watch  the  rapid  change  in  men's  countenances.  When  dis-
aster threatens,  men  are  silent;  the  danger  past,  the  tongue
is  loosened.
