It was nearly sundown, the weather was hot and oppressive, and the
general was full of troubles. The worst of these was that he could
not find the troops he was sent to command. Nor could he get any
tidings concerning General Early and his rebels. Hence it was that
he concluded, and very naturally, that the enemy would not be within
sight of the defenses until morning, and that the city would at
least be safe until that time without any more of his generalship.

He therefore went into camp for the night, pitching his headquarters
in a clump of wood near Rock Creek, and not far from Crystal Spring.
And here let me record that the general had not even a camp guard.
To make the matter worse, there was no forage for the horses, and
nothing for supper. Never was general so much to be pitied. The two
orderlies, however, were willing fellows, and soon had a fire
lighted. They then proceeded to a neighboring house, and got
refreshments for the general, without which he must have gone hungry
to bed.

As the night advanced, the discomforts of the situation increased.
In short, it may as well be confessed, the general's headquarters
were besieged long before midnight, and that sleep was a thing not
to be enjoyed. You may have made up your mind that the besiegers
were an advance guard of the rebels; but they were not. They were
nothing less than an army of fierce musquitoes, who made such a
persistent attack on the general and his staff as to make his
position almost untenable. In truth, they so harassed the corpulent
engineer, in rear and flank, that he mounted his horse and returned
to the city, where he spent a comfortable night at Willard's Hotel,
and went back in the morning refreshed. My authority for this is the
distinguished engineer himself.