June 27, 1863, The New York Herald
Mr. George H. Hart’s Letter.
HEADQUARTERS, CAVALRY, June 24, 1863.
My despatches embrace all the points of general interest or importance relating to the reconnoissance to the front by a portion of the Union cavalry; but a more detailed account may not be unacceptable.
AT NEW BALTIMORE, a pretty little village of about fifteen houses and a population in ordinary times of about one hundred, we halted and refreshed man and beast. We found at this place – and, in fact, such was the case all along the route travelled – that the male population consisted only of decrepit old men and small boys under the age of sixteen.
The female portion of the community practised no dissimulation to conceal their political sentiments, but, on the contrary, vauntingly displayed their secession proclivities, forcibly reminding me of Alexander the Great visit to the Amazons. As a general rule the people are reduced in the way of provisions to the simplest necessaries of life, possessing no luxuries, not even the luxury of a lucifer match.
THE VALUE OF A LUCIFER MATCH.
I was much surprised when, on asking for a light for my segar I was informed they had neither a fire nor […..] means of obtaining one,” and learned that the method pursued in this town for creating fire, not having matches, was for each family to keep a fire burning all the time, and when, by accident or neglect, a fire was extinguished, application was made to a neighbor. On learning this fact I took a few matches from my haversack and formally presented them to the venerable matron of the house, who eagerly accepted them, and I left, satisfied in my own mind, that although the mines of Golconda were rich in wealth and a prize to the possessor, yet a mine that yielded lucifer matches would be more valued in the village of New Baltimore.
ON TO WARRENTON.
From New Baltimore, as already previously stated, we proceeded to Warrenton, at which town we arrived precisely at ten minutes past eleven o’clock in the morning by the Court House clock. I had seen much of Virginia, and had visited a large number of its towns prior to visiting Warrenton; I have been in the Shenandoah valley in midsummer, when Nature wore her comeliest garb, and I then thought as I gazed around me that surely the garden of Eden was not a fiction, and in my mind located its site in the Shenandoah valley; but I was not prepared, by the character of the scenery along the route or the appearance of the towns, to find Warrenton, as it is, one of the most charming, neat, chaste and picturesquely situated little towns I have ever seen or expect to see. It is surrounded on all sides by a continuous chain of gracefully clustering hills, whose tops and sides are beautifully bedecked with mantles of fragrant green grass, interspersed and adorned by occasional groups of symmetrical trees, as perfect and precise as if directed by an artist’s superior taste. This chain of hills forms collectively a circular ridge. In the hollow and centre can be seen the town of Warrenton, producing a coup d’ like a magical enchantment.
THE POPULATION OF WARRENTON before the war was in the neighborhood of one thousand five hundred; and this town, being the county seat of Fauquier, has an expensive and elegant Court House, fine hotels and elegantly paved streets. The springs, which are about seven miles distant, used to form a centre of attraction to the fashionable people residing within fifty miles around, and as a summer resort made Warrenton a very lively and aristocratic place. I was struck on entering at the sullen stillness that pervaded the place every store was closed; the inhabitants, with an exceptionable bewildered darkey staring at the passing troops, remained concealed in their houses, not even a horse or a dog broke the monotonous and impressive silence that almost struck with awe, and I can only compare my feelings to those described by the travellers who visited an old Aztec town in Central America. Just as we entered the clock chimed eleven. Oh! how solemn – how strangely suggestive of a funeral – the mourning for the slain and the tears and moans of the bereaved survivors. But an hour’s stay changed the whole aspect of affairs, and in place of monotonous and irksome quiet all was life; in place of the angry but subdued scowls and lowering countenances of a few isolated men, the windows of the houses were thrown open, and pretty faces – if not smiling graciously, it was excellently counterfeited by the young ladies of Warrenton – who we soon found were the principal and most distinguished portion of the inhabitants.
Shortly a lively air was struck on a piano, pressed on the keys by the hands of a charming little secesh; then another, and as if to exemplify the truth of the old adage, […..] example is powerfully productive of imitation,” every house in town lent its assistance to swell the volume of harmonious concert of sweet sounds that saluted the ears of the surprised yet grateful audience of Yanks.
THE PRINCIPAL HOTEL.
The Warren Green is not at present prepared to receive guests, for the reason that they have nothing to give them to eat – not, however, a serious objection or impediment to the Virginia hosts generally to keeping a hotel. We were refreshed here by the host with some very welcome deliciously cool ice water, and as a desert some bouncing ripe black cherries.
We dined at the Warrenton House, and when I sat down to the table a waiter, decorated in a white apron, politely came forward and inquired whether I would take soup. Certainly, I replied, and allowed my fancy to roam, and thought, well, this looks natural. Next will come the fish, according to the recognized regime dictated by the etiquette de table; but was startled by the darkey confidently remarking: – “Sah, will hab some ham, or” – I heard the balance of the sentence very indistinctly; but if my recollection serves me it was or […..] is nothing else?”
OUR RETURN.
We remained at Warrenton overnight, and at nine the next morning took our departure, on our return repassing New Baltimore, at which place a government (rebel) tanner and outbuildings were burned by order of our general, and we could see the smoke curling in spiral columns through the air when miles away from the smoking ruins. Our cavalry attracted universal comment, and complimentary encomiums could not be withheld on the condition and appearance of the troops as they filed by.
A CAPTURE.
We made a capture in the shape of the editor of the Warrenton Whig, Colonel of the Eighty-fifty Virginia, commanding all the State militia of Fauquier county. This gentleman is one of the leading men of the State, and I had an interesting conversation with him, hoping to obtain an insight into the internal arrangements of the confederacy. I found him, of course, a secessionists, but modified and qualified so that with a little careful training we might make a Union man of him; and I understand there are many more such as he, made secessionists by the fanaticism and imbecility of the abolitionists of the North.
OUR RETURN ROUTE laid through the classic grounds of Bull run; and a suggestion was here made that might afford a capital speculation to some Yankee. It is to purchase the ground, say for $25,000, put up a hotel for $25,000 more, and then make a fortune by exhibiting it to visitors. Certainly a bright idea. Without any occurrence of interest arising beyond Major Van Voorhies, Provost Marshal, chasing and capturing an attache of the ambulance corps for a rebel, we arrived here, and soon again expect to be ordered away on some other expedition.