| The Battle of Bldensburg by a veteran of the battle Jojn Pendelton Kennedy Part 3 |
| Jamison�s best crackers--- made the support of our table--- a board picked from some neighboring house, and here we enjoyed our ease, and ham, chicken and coffee. �My feet were sore and swollen from the days march in boots, such as none but a brand new soldier would ever put on; so for my comfort, I had taken them off, and substituted my neat pair of pumps from the pocket of my knapsack, we smoked our cigars and talked about the battle of to-morrow until the hour when the camp obliged us to extinguish our lights and �turn in�. �I was too much exhausted by the by the novelty and attraction of my position and by the talk of my comrades in the tent, to get asleep much before midnight. About an hour after this--- one o�clock--- we were aroused by the scattered shots of our pickets, some for or five in succession, in the direction of the Marlborough Road, and by the rapid beating of the long roll from every drum in the camp. Everyone believed that the enemy was upon us, and there was consequently an immense bustle of getting ready to meet him. We struck a light to be able to find our coats, accouterments, etc� but in a moment it was stolen away by some neighbor who came to borrow it only for a moment to light his own candle, and in the confusion forgot to return it. This gave rise to some ludicrous distresses. Some got the wrong boots, others a coat that didn�t fit, some could not find their cross belts. There was no time allowed to rectify these mistakes. I, luckily was all right, except that I sallied out in my pumps. We were formed in line and marched off toward the front, perhaps a mile, and then we came to a halt, we were soon ordered to march back again to camp. �What was the cause of this sudden excursion and abandonment of it I never learned. But it evident there was a false alarm. On our return march our attention was called to the sudden reddening of the sky in the direction of the lower bridge of the Eastern Branch, by which the river road from Marlborough crossed to Washington. The sky became more lurid every moment, and at last we could discern the flames. A dispatch which reached us when we got back to camp, and had just laid back down to sleep, brought us information that Winder had just crossed the bridge and then burnt it to impede the march of the enemy, who in consequence, was forced to direct his march upon the Bladensburg Road. Winder himself as en route to join us, and we were ordered forthwith to break up our camp and march towards Washington. Here was a new excitement--- everything was gathered up in a few moments. All of our baggage was tossed into our regimental wagon--- knapsacks, provisions, blankets, everything but our arms. Among them went my boots. The tents were struck and stacked away with speed of the shifting of the scene upon the stage, and in half an hour from the time of receiving the order we were in full column of march upon the road. Descending into the village we crossed the bridge and moved toward Washington; but after making about two miles at a very slow pace, we found ourselves brought to a halt, and after this we loitered, as slow as foot could fall, along the road, manifestly, expecting some order that should turn us back towards the village we had just left. What a march that was! I never was so sleepy in my life. We had been to much exhilarated in the early part of the night to feel the fatigue of our days march, but now that fatigue returned upon me with double force. It was but an hour or two before day--- that hour when the want of sleep presses most heavily upon all animals that go about by day. Nothing could keep us awake. I slept as I walked. At every halt of a moment whole platoons laid down in the dusty road and slept till the officers gave the word to move on. How very weary I felt! The burning of the bridge lighted up the whole southern sky, but it had no power to attract our gaze. At length when we had reached a hill some three miles on our route, we were marched into a stubble field and told we might rest until daylight. Here we threw ourselves upon the ground without any covering, exposed to the heavy dew which molested the earth and hung upon the stubble, and slept. Mine was the sleep of Enydymion. When I awoke I was lying on my back with the hot sun of the summer morning beaming upon my face. Our orders were then to march back to Bladensburg. Soon we had the famous �trial of souls� the Battle of Bladensburg. The drafted militias ran away at the first fire, and the fifth regiment was driven off the field with the bayonet. We made a fine scamper of it! I lost my musket in the melee while bearing off a comrade. James W, McCullogh, afterwards the cashier of the Branch Bank of the United States in Baltimore, whose leg was broken by a bullet. The day was very hot, and the weight of my wounded companion great, and not being able to carry both, I gave my musket to a friend who accompanied me, and he, afterwards being wounded himself, dropped his weapon as well as mine.� �Thus abruptly ends Mr. Kennedy�s account of the battle, but among his posthumous papers is one endorsed �memoranda taken from the company book of the Baltimore United Volunteers in reference to the campaign if 1814.� |
 |
| Return to 5MR |
 |
 |
| Return to Kennedy, Part 2 |