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plan *,0lt;K), v foro yet may esent ivate s we ronld :. At juici-ut a plaut *eless It.waslow Is pause dican i, and few Is of ; ex-arrc-ere is iown ident , the lakes ruths sses. same lance \ the ay a igar* -rend it usandb to irlds ndcd the iome ever ugle nag* dis-w itstlCSla !e of the the pre-the igbt on are lion was joy jerebraveAnd Gallant .Soldier Recalled by Capt. Mclardell When Camping Near Thus Citr.T. F. McCardell writes in Leader An item that appeared in a local paper a few days ago announcing the ap proaching marriage of Gen, E A. Alex ander, of Georgia, to a Hagerstown lady ' Miss Mary L. Mason i recalls an incident of the occupation of Williamsport by the Confederate Armv after the batt’e of Gettysburg. As the army passed through Hagerstown some weeks previous to the great battle, uucle Willoughby McCardell was arrested and carried off. The great difficulty in procuring his release was to find the officer who had been the means of bis arrest, and the next was to ascertain his place of confinement. He had been arrested by by a captain in Alexander’s battalion of artillery. Where was that battalion to be found in an army stretching from the neighborhood of Falling Waters around by Hagerstown, and inclining back to the vicinity of Clearspring There was one man who could tell me what I w'anted to know, and that man was Robert E. Lee. I knew where his headquarters were, aud thither I went. At that time there was an open wood (it is gone now a short distauce this side of the 4th milestone on the Hagerstown nike. In my day it was known as the Sloler woods, and was a pretty glade in* deed. In that wood, about 200 yards trorn the pike I found Gen. Lee sitting aloug in front of his tent. He listened to what I had to say with his characteristic graciousness, and then arising from his stool said, “come with me and I will show you how to find Alexander’s battalion.” He walked with me to the pike, and pointed toward Williamsport remarked! “Go back in that direction a little over half a mile, and you will find a lane leading off to the right. Follow that lane about one mile and I think you w ill find Maj Alexander.”.In the orchard on the «dd McCardell farm now StartzmanV I found Maj Alexander’s battalion, and was most kiudly received by the gallant ofllcir him*c!' All charges agnlnst hiiu were withdrawn in an tirnGt note requesting bis liberation. He furlliei informed me that I would find him in charge of Provost Guard of Pickett’s division camped “somewhere over there”—and he pointed in the uirection of the farm upon w hich Hon. L E. McComas was born. I found him in a little grove on Bprinfield farm, and five minutes later he was free,Maj Alexander was a soldier of distinguished merit, and i se to tht* rank of Brigadier General, and I think com manded all the artillery of Lorn:street's Corps during tne last year of the war, winning the commendatiou of Gen. Lee upon many occasions.Arr«**te«l on .*u»pldont.dlintiifuAtbhtto
Newspaper Details
Hagerstown Mail
Hagerstown, Maryland, US
Fri, Aug 16, 1901
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 12 Feb 2024
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