this as a rendezvous, small parties were sent into
the surrounding country, visiting each plantation within a
radius of twenty or thirty miles. The parties, sometimes
under charge of an officer, usually consisted of a
non-commissioned officer and ten or twelve men.

"In these journeys through the country the recruiting
officer often met with strange experiences. Recruits were
taken wherever found, and as their earthly possessions
usually consisted of but what they wore upon their backs,
they required no time to settle their affairs. The laborer
in the field would throw down his hoe or quit his plow and
march away with the guard, leaving his late owner looking
after him in speechless amazement. On one occasion the
writer met a planter on the road, followed by two of his
slaves, each driving a loaded wagon. The usual questions
were asked and the whilom slaves joined the recruiting
party, leaving their teams and late master standing in the
highway. At another time a negro was met with a horse and
wagon. Having expressed his desire to "'list," he turned his
horse's head toward home, and marched away in the opposite
direction.

"On one occasion the writer visited a large plantation near
Capeville, Va., and calling upon the proprietor asked him to
call in his slaves. He complied without a word, and when
they came and were asked if they wished to enlist, replied
that they did, and fell into the ranks with the guard. As
they started away the old man turned to me, and with tears
in his eyes, said, "Will you take them all? Here I am, an
old man; I cannot work; my crops are ungathered; my negroes
have all enlisted or run away, and what am I to do?" A hard
question, truly. Another officer was called upon by a
gentleman with this question, "You have taken all my
able-bodied men for soldiers, the others have run away, and
only the women and children are left;--what do you propose
to do with them?" Another hard question.

"At another time, when the _Balloon_ was lying at the mouth
of the Pocomoke, accompanied by Lieut. Brown and with a
boat's crew, we pulled up the river to the plantation of a
Mrs. D., a noted rebel sympathizer. We were met, as we
expected, with the most violent abuse from the fair
proprietoress, which was redoubled