Then the villagers would be
questioned as to the news that had reached them of the movement
of the troops; the post office would be seized and the letters
broken open; any useful information contained in them being
noted. But in general questions were readily answered; for a
considerable portion of the people of Maryland were strongly in
favor of the South, and were only prevented from joining it by the
strong force that held possession of Baltimore, and by the constant
movement of Federal armies through the State. Vincent was often
employed in carrying despatches from Major Ashley to Stuart,
being selected for that duty as being the best mounted man in the
troop. The direction was always a vague one. "Take this letter to
Colonel Stuart, wherever he may be," and however early he
started, Vincent thought himself fortunate if he carried out his
mission before sunset; for Stuart's front covered over fifty miles of
ground, and there was no saying where he might be. Sometimes
after riding thirty or forty miles, and getting occasional news that
Stuart had passed through ahead of him, he would learn from some
outpost that the colonel had been there but ten minutes before, and
had ridden off before he came, and then Vincent had to turn his
horse and gallop back again, seldom succeeding in overtaking his
active commander until the latter had halted for his supper at one
or other of the villages where his men were stationed.
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