intelligent newspaper narrators of the affair, "to have attacked them
with thirty or forty men; but those who had families here were strongly
opposed to it."

As usual, each man was pinioned to his own hearth-stone. As usual, aid
had to be summoned from a distance; and, as usual, the United-States
troops were the chief reliance. Col. House, commanding at Fort Monroe,
sent at once three companies of artillery under Lieut.-Col. Worth, and
embarked them on board the steamer "Hampton" for Suffolk. These were
joined by detachments from the United States ships "Warren" and
"Natchez," the whole amounting to nearly eight hundred men. Two volunteer
companies went from Richmond, four from Petersburg, one from Norfolk, one
from Portsmouth, and several from North Carolina. The militia of Norfolk,
Nansemond, and Princess Anne Counties, and the United States troops at
Old Point Comfort, were ordered to scour the Dismal Swamp, where it was
believed that two or three thousand fugitives were preparing to join the
insurgents. It was even proposed to send two companies from New York and
one from New London to the same point.

When these various forces reached Southampton County, they found all
labor paralyzed and whole plantations abandoned. A letter from Jerusalem,
dated Aug. 24, says, "The oldest inhabitant of our county has never
experienced such a distressing time as we have had since Sunday night
last.... Every house, room, and corner in this place is full of women and
children, driven from home, who had to take the woods until they could
get to this place." "For many miles around their track," says another
"the county is deserted by women and children." Still another writes,
"Jerusalem is full of women, most of them from the other side of the
river,--about two hundred at Vix's." Then follow descriptions of the
sufferings of these persons, many of whom had lain night after night in