Following the Flag

ong period of inactivity in the autumn of 1861,-a di

n, between Poolesville and Washington. General McCall's division was at a little hamlet called Lewinsville, on the turnpike leading from

s, a court-house, a market-place, where, before the war, the farmers sold their wheat, and corn, oats, and garden vegetables. Three miles east of the town we behold the Potomac sparkling in the sunlight, its current divided by Harrison's Island. The distance from the Virginia shore to the island is about one hundred an

He therefore directed General McCall to move up to Dranesville, on the Leesburg turnpike. Such a movement would threaten to cut General Evans off

nel Devens of the Massachusetts Fifteenth to send a squad of men acro

through the woods, also through a cornfield, and went within a mile and a half of Leesburg, seeing no pickets, hearing no alarm. But the men saw what they thought w

for crossing troops was one flat-boat,

p of the bluff. By daybreak he had five companies on the Virginia shore. He moved through the open field towards the encampment which Captain Philbrick and his men had seen, as they thought, but which proved to be only an

d out of their tents and formed in line, and the people of the town jumped

ll, if he should push beyond Dranesville. He had the Eighth Virginia, the Thirteenth, Seventeent

sburg. As soon as Colonel Devens's advance was discovered, he formed his men in the w

de of the river. Colonel Baker was a Senator from Oregon,-a noble man, an eloquent orator, a patriot, and as brave as he wa

anded by Colonel Cogswell, and Lieutenant-Colonel Wistar's California Regiment. Colonel Baker went over about two o'clock in the afternoon. By constant effort, he succeeded in getting about seventeen hundred men over during the day, and three cannon,-two mountain howitzers and one rifled gun. It was nearly three o'clock in the afterno

enth and Eighteenth Mississippi, commanded by Colonel Jennifer. About two o'clock the Eighth Virgi

nto the river!" was

higher ground than that occupied by Colon

eth Massachusetts, which had been sent over, and then the California and Tammany regiments. The Rebels began to fire at long range. Some of them climbed into the trees,-some

round the north side of the field and came upon the Fifteenth Massachusetts, but

s advanced. The howitzers and the cannon were placed in position to rake t

ock that the Rebels outnumbered them, but they prepared to make a bra

, with fifteen hundred men. General Evans, to prevent a junction of the Union forces,

out there," said Colonel Baker to Colonel Wist

o had been lying upon the ground, sprang to their feet, and, without firing a shot, advanced upon Captain Marco. His men, without waiting for orders, fired, and for fifteen minutes there was a very hot time of it,-the two companies

all their corporals and sergeants but three, and two-thirds of the men, were killed or wounded! They fell back at

r saw them in the ravine, faced four of his companies to meet them, and gave them a volley which threw them in

shelter of the woods. The men were ordered by Colonel Baker to shield themselves as mu

nel Wistar, as a bullet came between them. Soon an

d to company C, of Colonel Wistar's regiment. The soldiers singled out the man, who soon tumbled from the tree. He repeatedly c

" he said to a brave soldier who w

ose yourself, and

es senator and a colonel, you will feel that

was his duty to expose himself, to show his men and all the world that he

on Tr

ich the Rebe

el Tr

oxes became empty, helped themselves from the boxes of their fallen comrades. They could not obtain reinforcements for want of boats, although there were troops enough upon the Maryland shore to overwhelm the enemy. The boats were old and leaky, and were used to carry the wounded to the island. General Stone had taken no measures to obtain other boats. He was at Edward's Ferry, within sight and sou

rough to Edward's Ferr

e Massachusetts Fifteenth, I would cut

s again and again to fall back. Lieutenant-Colonel Wistar was wounded, but refused to leave the field. He remained with his men and kept a close watch upon the ravi

ac," said General Evans, again. H

ehind the hill and they are getting ready to advanc

five others wounded. Colonel Baker, Colonel Wistar, and Colonel Cogswell used the rammer and sponges, and aided in firing it till other cannoneers arrived. Colonel Wistar was wo

d collected, standing with his face to the foe, his left hand in his bosom. A man sprang from the Rebel ranks, ran up behind him, and with a self-cocking revolver fired six bullets

ornia regiment leaped from the ranks and bl

not of life or death. They had no fear. Each man was a host in himself. There was a close hand-to-hand contest, bayonet-thrusts, desperate struggles, trials of strength. Men fel

one said, "Fall back to the river." So

ound!" shouted

banks to the boats. They pushed off into the stream, but the overloaded flat-boat was whirled under by the swift current, and the soldiers were thrown into the water. Some sank instantly, others came up and clutched at sticks, thrust their arms towards the light, and with a wild, des

themselves in the bushes till darkness came on, then sprung into the river and swam to the island, and thus escaped,-reaching it naked, chilled, exhausted, to shiv

es, shouted "Bull Run," "Yankee Invaders," but the men who had fought so bravely under such disadvantages were too noble to take any notice of the insults. Indians seldom taunt or insult their captives taken in war. Civilized nations everywhere respect those whom the fortunes of war have placed in their han

rs of the rebellion arguments which they used to prove that the Yankees were co

e way. Hundreds of soldiers came into the lines naked, having thrown away everything to enable them to swim the river. The night set in dark and stormy. After swimming the river, they had crowded along the Maryland shor

rifice. Grave doubts were entertained in regard to the loyalty of General Stone, for he permitted the wives of officers in the Rebel service to pass into Maryland and return to Virginia, with packa

was arrested and confined in Fort Warren in Boston Harbor, but he

lesville, where he died the next day. He came of noble blood. His father was descended from the ancestor of old General Putnam, who fought the French and India

an Clarke, at hi

His great grandfather, Judge Lowell, inserted in the Bill of Rights, prefixed to the Constitution of this State, the clause declaring that 'all men are born free

[West Church, Boston,] honored and loved as fe

languages, and where he faithfully studied classic and Christian antiquity and art. Under the best and most loving guidance, he read with joy the vivid descriptions of Virgil, while looking down from t

im to go to the service of his country. His strong sense of duty overcame the reluctance of his parents, and they consented. A presentiment that he should not return alive was very strong in his mind and theirs, but he gav

it might not cease till it opened the way for universal liberty. These earnest opinions were connected with a feeling of the wrong done to the African race and an interest in its improvement. He took with him to the war as a body servant a colored lad named George Brown, who repaid the kindness of Lieutenant Lowell by gratitude and faithful service.

roup of devoted souls, our heroes and saints! Go with Ellsworth, protomartyr of this great cause of freedom. Go with Winthrop, poet and soldier, our Korner, with sword and lyre. Go with the chivalric Lyon, bravest of the brave, leader of men.

ng talk with him a few days before his death. He felt keenly the humiliations which had come upon the

pronounced upon him in the Senate of the United States. It was on the 11

ars before they were out together upon the plains of the West riding at night, and Colonel Baker recit

to marshal us, in a

snow-white plume up

s people, and a t

aitors, and his glanc

smiled on us, as r

afening shout, 'God sa

bearer fall, as fal

promise yet of s

white plume shines a

amme to-day the h

ummer sai

his God, while with him was more than one gallant youth, the hope of family and friends, sent forth by my own honored Commonwealth. It i