On Tuesday, there was a rumor that the Southern Confederacy had
attacked at regiment at Alexandria, for the purpose of creating a
confusion, so that it might pick the colonel's pockets, and Regiment 5,
Mackerel Brigade, was ordered to go instantly to the rescue. Just as we
were ready to march, a distinguished citizen of Washington presented a
sword to the colonel from the ladies of the Capital, and made an
eloquent speech. He spoke of the wonderful manner in which the world
was called out of chaos at the creation, and spoke feelingly of the
Garden of Eden, and the fall of our first parents; he then went on to
review the many changes the earth had experienced since it was first
created, and described the method of the ancients to cook bread before
stoves were invented; he then spoke of the glories of Greece and Rome,
giving a full history of them from the beginning to the present time;
he then went on to describe the origin of the republican and democratic
parties, reading both platforms, and giving his ideas of Jackson's
policy; he then gave an account of the war of the Roses in England, and
the cholera in Persia, attributing the latter to a sudden change in the
atmosphere; he then went on to speak of the difficulties encountered by
Columbus in discovering this country, and gave a history of his
subsequent career and death in Europe; he then read an extract from
Washington's Farewell Address; in conclusion, he said that the ladies
of Washington had empowered him to present this here sword to that ere
gallant colonel, in the presence of these here brave defenders of their
country.