the wedding of my
daughter, Ruth Monroe, to his cousin, Doctor William Crawford Johnson,
of Frederick. We naturally discussed our first meeting when he was
greeted with less cordiality than he received during his present visit.

Upon learning of the approach of the Confederates, we made rapid
preparations for their advent. As we had learned from our neighbors that
the South stood in great need of horses and we owned a number of them of
more than usual value, Mr. Gouverneur seized upon an ingenious plan for
concealing them. Under our house was a fine cellar which, unfortunately,
the horses refused to enter until the steps leading into it were
removed. When this had been done, they were led down one by one into a
darkened room, and bags were securely tied over their eyes to prevent
them from neighing. During the visit of the Confederates, which seemed
to us interminably long, owing to our anxiety about the horses, General
Johnson sat directly over their hiding place; but they behaved like
well-bred beasts and never uttered a sound. I had serious misgivings,
however, when I saw a mounted officer, riding around the house to make a
survey of the premises, stop at the upturned steps. For a moment I
thought all was over and my feelings were akin to those, I fancy, of a
person secreting stolen goods; but the investigation happily went no
further and he rode on.

When the active preparations for hiding the horses were in progress my
children were running hither and thither and watching the process with
much interest and excitement. I called them to me and in my sternest
tones told them of the near approach of the soldiers and gave them to
understand that if they said "horse" or "rebel devil" in their presence
I should punish them severely. They had been taught by the negroes on
the place to call the Southerners "rebel devils," and I feared for the
result if they allowed their childish tongues to wag too freely. A few
hours later I spoke to one of the little girls upon some topic entirely
foreign to our original subject, but she was so overawed by my threat
and the presence of the troops that she seemed afraid to utter a word.
After a little encouragement, however, she crept up to my side and
whispered: "Mamma, they have taken all of our saddles!" General Johnson
was still sitting on our porch, when a soldier approached and asked for
an ax. One was immediately procured, when the General, asking the man's
name, said: "That ax is