A tintype button portrait, tentatively identified as Manuel C. Causten, in the uniform of the President’s Mounted Guard. (see Manuel C. Causten, Prisoner of War)
The petition of the undersigned, a citizen of the State of Maryland residing in the city of Washington, respectfully showeth that on Mon day last an armed body of men from Virginia invaded the State of Maryland near Seneca, in Montgomery County, and by force arrested and carried into Virginia Manuel C. Causten ( brother-in-law of your petitioner), who was on a visit to his wife. Said Causten is a private in a volunteer mounted company of this city and was not on any military duty when he was kidnaped and carried out of the State by armed men. Rumor states that he was taken to Manassas Junction and thence to Richmond, but to this date none of his family or friends are aware of what has become of him.
_________
Evening Star, June 5, 1861
Private M. C. Caustin, Capt. Owen’s Company, (President’s Mounted Guard), D. C. Volunteers, whose wife lives near Seneca, Maryland, twenty-two miles above Georgetown, went to visit her night before last, and was taken prisoner by secession troops, who crossed from the Virginia shore in a boat. Where he was taken to is unknown, but it is supposed he was carried to Manassas Junction, where the Confederates have a considerable force. His company are in a great rage, and suspect Caustin is a victim to treachery. The Mounted Guard took an active part in the late advance on Virginia and the occupation of Alexandria by the Federal forces [May 24, 1861], having been selected by reason of their familiarity with the different localities on that side of the river, and the Confederates have offered a reward of five hundred dollars for any member thereof taken dead or alive, it is said. (see Manuel C. Causten, Prisoner of War)