Upon completion of the service demanded by Lieut. Smith, you will return to this port and report to me.
Respectfully,
A. M. Cummings,
Capt. & Quartermaster.
I cannot recall what the expedition was for. Incidentally, I may say, I am continually recognizing that many good stories will be omitted from lapses of memory, but you will not lose much, as the ones I am furnishing serve to show the general varied character of my work. My own personal work and the work of my men, employed in every direction, kept me busy. I had a man on every steamer plying Chesapeake Bay.
In glancing over subpoenas to attend courts, I find name after name, none of which occur here; but the most important proposition before me was to gather information that would assist me in my proposed work to cripple Mosby's damaging work in the territory known as "between the lines." It was the country outside our lines and outside the Confederate lines, peopled by our enemies, always willing to serve the Confederacy, never serving us; acting as a sponge to draw supplies from us by means of blockade-running, which could in turn be absorbed by the Confederates. The efforts of our gunboats to stop the traffic were futile, as I have heretofore remarked.
Office Provost Marshal,
8th Army Corps.
Baltimore, Jany. 19, 1865.
Statement of George Carlton, deserter, Battery Baltimore, Rebel Horse Artillery, says:
"I am a native of Brooklyn, New York. Went South in the year 1859; went to Mobile. I was engaged in a dry goods store. In May, 1862, I was put in the Rebel Army at Richmond, which place I was taken to from Mobile. I had the chance to join what command I pleased and I joined the Baltimore Battery in Richmond. I staid in the company two weeks, then was detailed in the Quartermaster's Department at Gordonsville, Va.
"I remained there until the spring of 1864, when I was sent to my Company, then in the valley, under Early. I stayed with the Company until Oct. 1864, when I deserted from my Company and came to Westmorland County, Va., and then took a boat and crossed the Potomac River and landed in St. Mary's County, Md., and from there I walked to Baltimore.
"I was afraid to attempt to desert before that time. (Oct. '64.) I deserted during Early's retreat. The Battery that I was a member of lost all their guns. I heard officers say that they lost forty-four pieces.
"I had a hard time getting through Westmorland County. I did not cross the river until about two weeks ago, and during that time I have been on my way from St. Mary's County to this city.