Calvert of Maryland - James Otis |
As may be well understood, Captain Cornwallis took possession of the Claiborne pinnace, and within four and twenty hours after the battle had been fought, we who stood guard on the northern point of the harbor, sent word into our town of St. Mary's that the Maryland fleet was returning with a prize.
I am pleased to say that our people, after hearing that four human beings had been killed, over a matter which involved only a question of money, did not give way to rejoicing because of success.
When Captain Cornwallis sailed into the harbor, and the captured vessel was moored alongside the pinnace that had been taken in the Patuxent River by Captain Fleet, the people of St. Mary's gathered at the waterside, welcoming quietly those who had returned, but giving vent to no shouts of joy nor other tokens of victory.
It is not needed that I should set down here anything regarding the meeting between my father and myself. It had seemed to me, when he went on board the fleet, as if he were about to stand face to face with death, as really proved to be the case, and it was almost as if he had come back from the grave, when I felt his dear arms around me once more.
It was a bitter disappointment that he and I were forced to part so soon after being reunited; but duty called him to the blockhouse, where a council of war was to be held, and I could do no less than remain on watch at the point until word should come that such service was no longer needed.