To be arrested within twenty miles of home, on suspicion of being
delegated from Charleston or Montgomery, was one of my most amusing
experiences of the war. The gentleman who accompanied me was a very
earnest believer in coercion. His business in Portsmouth on that
occasion was to offer his services in a regiment then being formed.
A few months later he received a commission in the army, but did not
obtain it through any of our temporary acquaintances at Portsmouth.

Our captors were the solid men of the city, any one of whom could
have sat for the portrait of Mr. Turveydrop without the slightest
alteration. On taking us into custody, they stated the grounds on
which they arrested us. Our dark complexions and long beards had
aroused suspicions concerning the places of our nativity. Suspicion
was reduced to a certainty when one of them heard me mention my
presence in Missouri on the day of choosing candidates for the
Convention. Our purpose was divined when I asked if there was any
activity at the Navy Yard. We were Rebel emissaries, who designed to
lay their Navy Yard in ashes!

On our release and departure we were followed to our homes, that the
correctness of our representations might be ascertained. This little
occurrence, in the center of New England, where the people claim to
be thoroughly quiet and law-abiding, indicated that the war spirit in
that part of the North was more than momentary.

The West was not behind the Eastern States in the determination
to subdue the Rebellion. Volunteers were gathering at Cairo, and
threatening to occupy points further down the Mississippi. At
St. Louis the struggle was active between the Unionists and the
Secessionists.