pilot. He did not conceal that he was frightened. He said he never had
seen such weather. We breasted that storm for about twelve hours. The
only encouragement from Captain Cannon was that if our boat could live
until we got under the influence of North Point we would be all right;
we lived.

The heavens were never more unkind in appearance. I did not spend much
time in gazing that way, for the awful waves occupied me. Captain Cannon
kept the vessel as near head on as possible, first on top of the wave
and then in a trough of the sea. Half the time our screw was revolving
in the air. Everything loose on deck washed away. I never had a better
chance to contemplate my past and future than in that twelve hours. I
remember my great regret was that if we should go down, no one could
know what became of us, for I had not reported at Point Lookout and we
were unknown on the peninsula. The severity of this storm became a
matter of history. Seagoing steamers remained tied to their wharves. The
shores of the Chesapeake Bay were strewn with wrecks. The "Adriatic"
(our vessel) was iron bottomed and drew six feet of water. The
Chesapeake can kick up a sea, give it a northeaster, that would gratify
the most hungry tar.

When we were opposite the mouth of the Severn river we saw the steamer
"Nellie Pentz" headed out, her bow tossing up and down in the air like a
cork. She did not dare come out, to certain wreck, dared not turn
around, so she backed up the river again. When we got under the lee of
North Point I became courageous and generous; off towards the west was
in view a schooner, on the rocks. Her crew of four men were in the
rigging. I proposed to Captain Cannon to rescue them. He said it was
impossible, as our boat drew more water than theirs and would be wrecked
before we could reach them. However, we notified the revenue cutter and
they were rescued. When we arrived at Baltimore (nine o'clock P.M.) the
wharves were afloat. The big Bay Line steamers, sea-going vessels, had
not left the wharf. They had not dared to venture out in the storm our
little eighty-foot craft had passed through.

[Illustration: MAJOR GENERAL M. W. LEW WALLACE]

FILE IX.

General Wallace assumes command of the Middle Department--General
Schenck's comments on Maryland--Colonel Woolley.

General Wallace assumed command of the Middle Department, 8th Army
Corps, March 22d, 1864. The Department headquarters were located in a
large mansion on