Reveille in Washington by Margaret Leech

Author:Margaret Leech [Leech, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-59017-467-8
Publisher: New York Review Books
Published: 2016-04-15T04:00:00+00:00

XIII. Winter of Security

AUTUMN LEAVES were bright along the Eastern Branch, as the jolly procession of carriages rolled across the Navy Yard Bridge. There were parties of sporting men in lively waistcoats, and smart, brass-buttoned officers on horseback. Mr. John Usher, the Secretary of the Interior, was driving out; and so were Marshal Lamon, Mayor Wallach and young Mr. John Hay. Everywhere ladies, in fall costumes of redundant skirts and sugar-loaf beaver hats, gleamed with scarlet like the maples. Chickamauga had been another costly blunder. General Rosecrans had been relieved of his command. The Army of the Cumberland, besieged at Chattanooga, might be starved into surrender, and the concentration of troops in Tennessee portended still more desperate fighting. But the war had lasted a long time; Tennessee was far away; and, in October, 1863, Washington was going to the trotting races.

By two o’clock, the stands at the new National Race-Course near the Insane Asylum were packed. The plank enclosure was blue with standees drawn from the rank and file of the near-by military posts; while carriage-loads of spectators covered an area of ten acres. In front of the judges’ stand, the purse of one thousand dollars swung in its wire cage. The band played, the bell clanged, and the three contestants were driven onto the track: Butler, a slashing black gelding; a bay gelding called Prince; and Hartford Belle, a bay mare. Butler was the favorite. His name was actually General Butler, but he had been deprived of rank because military titles led to difficulties at the Washington track. The soldiers who formed a great proportion of the crowd had recently displayed passionate insistence that a horse named General McClellan should be permitted to win.

The race was for three heats out of five. At the second stroke of the bell, the track was cleared. There was a drum tap, and the sulkies went twinkling around. Butler won the heat. His backers greeted his success with deafening cheers, but he seemed to blow pretty hard, and there was speculation over his staying qualities. In the second heat, Prince struck out briskly, and was nearly at the home stretch, when Butler shot forward and came in a length ahead. Hartford Belle was withdrawn, and the two geldings got away splendidly for the third heat. Prince had a slight lead, but Butler passed him, and opened a bad gap. Prince closed up and the black gelding broke. To the excitement of the crowd, the bay won by two lengths.

The odds on the favorite dropped. He appeared to be a dull horse when not in motion. But the Butler backers were noisily confident. His driver had removed his coat; and his businesslike appearance in shirt sleeves was received with shouts. The tap for the fourth heat sent the geldings flying neck and neck. Suddenly Butler made a dash. Prince gradually drew upon him, and lapped him. For a dozen rods, the two ran beautifully together. Butler swung into the homestretch ahead. The bay pulled up, shutting out the daylight between them.

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