Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1895 — Why They Didn’t Take Washington. [ARTICLE]

Why They Didn’t Take Washington.

Strolling along the Virginia roads leading into Washington, lam often tempted to wonder why the Confedv erate troops did not capture the city when they had the chance early in the civil war, says a writer iq Kate Field's Washington. Somebody asked General Beauregard why the Southern army did not occupy the capital at once after the first Bull Run, and he answered very seriously: “Well, I will tell yqu; the Washington papers received,in camp informed us the city was overcrowded!” Which was as felicitous as Parepa Rosa's response when asked how it was she came to marry Carl Rosa. "Oh, because, because he asked mo to.” General Joseph E. Johnston gave a different answei from General Beauregards. “There were two reasons why we did no! take Washington,” said he, “my self and the Potomac river. I had reached that age that T -knew ac American soldier could hot ford a river a mile wide aad eighteen feet deep.”