The Beechwood Tragedy; a Tale of the Chickahominy Volume 64

Download or read book The Beechwood Tragedy; a Tale of the Chickahominy Volume 64 written by Mary Jane Haw and published by Theclassics.Us. This book was released on 2013-09 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 edition. Excerpt: ... chapter xv. When the plenty and prosperity of the year 1860 were celebrated in the Old Dominion by Christmas festivities even more bounteous and hilarious than usual, the great mass of the people found it hard to believe that the New Year so gayly heralded could be pregnant with ruin and misery. But although so many, steeped in the blissful ignorance of a false security, dreamed not of the fiery ordeal through which they were so soon to pass, there were many among our amateur as well as professional politicians who realized that the country was on the eve of a tremendous convulsion. Still, even the wisest of those who plainly foresaw the coming struggle between the North and the South, had no idea of the magnitude of the proportions it would assume. But if the dawn of this memorable year found many in happy ignorance of the approaching tempest, the rapid and startling progress of events through its opening months soon enlightened the most obtuse, The latter part of April found Virginia a vast c& and early in May. her highways were alive with bodies of armed men hurrying to the defence of her threatened frontier. About the 10th of May, the quiet community around Ingleside was startled, and not a little excited by the passage of a considerable body of troops towardsWilliamsburg. Early in the afternoon a detachment reached Ebenezer Church, where they bivouacked. Shortly after the regiment had gone into camp, the colonel mounted his horse and rode away alone in the direction of the Chickahominy. As he cantered on, often leaving the highway for by-paths and plantation roads, the negroes in the fields, the women and children at the cottage doors, and the travelers along the road gazed admiringly after the dashing officer wearing the showy...