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river, was one of the protections of Washington.
Great numbers of troops, concluded Major L'Enfant, could readily be brought down the Susquehanna River, and landed anywhere upon its banks or in the bays, and so march to protect Washington.
I had read those pamphlets in earlier days, and now that I saw our means of access by railroad in the hands of hostile States, I was at once put in mind of the advantage of holding the port of Annapolis as the port and harbor of Washington.
This would give the North, by means of its naval superiority, at all times the possibility of marching upon Washington, or marching for the purpose of carrying on war with the South.
And thus my want of military experience was instructed in that regard by reading these two political pamphlets which are not taught at West Point, and probably had never been read by any West Point man then alive.
And the knowledge thus derived determined me upon the proposition with which I set out as the last and best resort for defending Washington.
How much the Father of his Country was disturbed by the Randolph pamphlet will appear by a little anecdote which I beg leave to transcribe for the benefit of some of my younger readers if not most of the older ones:--
Mr. James Ross, of Pittsburg, was Washington's agent for the sale of his lands in Pennsylvania.
He came to Philadelphia to settle his account, and sent word to the President that he would wait upon him at his pleasure, and was invited to breakfast with him the next morning.
On arriving, he found all the ladies — the Custises, Lewises, Mrs. Washington, and others in the parlor, obviously in great alarm.
Mr. Ross described them as gathered together in the middle of the room like a flock of partridges in a field when a hawk is in the neighborhood.
Very soon the President entered and shook hands with Mr. Ross, but looked dark and lowering.
They went in to breakfast, and after a little while the Secretary of War came in and said to Washington: “Have you seen Randolph's pamphlet?”
“I have,” said Washington, “and by the eternal God he is the damnedest liar on the face of the earth;” and as he spoke he brought his fist down upon the table with all his strength, and with a violence which made the cups and plates start from their places.
Ross said he felt infinitely relieved; for he feared that
A. M. Thayer and Co. 1892.
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