1862 August 20 "Clifton," Fauquier County, Va.

[from the diary of Anne Madison Willis Ambler]

Wednesday, August 20, 1862

Pa went to the depot and came back much troubled-
said that the capt told him that seven guerillas
had been on his place for a week and that Mr. Timberlake
had fed them & the night before they were all at Mr. T's
to supper- Pa denied knowing anything of it &
the capt said he believed him: but it was strange as he
did not if they were on his place: & he was afraid
some of them in authority might not believe it - &
by giving such aid he laid himself open to
being taken up & sent to Fort McHenry.-- Pa
came home & asked Mr. T. of it who acknowledged
that a week ago a confederate came to his house
& asked for food & that he had given it to him &
carried some to Pa's woods to six others- but they
were going to the army & he knew nothing of them
since, but the night before, seven persons had
taken supper there-- two neighbors & four boys on
their way through the lines. Pa went back & told
Capt. S. the truth, but he did not seem to be entirely
satisfied.  Said he had the best authority for
believing that seven had been there for a week--
- Pa is much troubled about it.

[transcribed in 1972 by her granddaughter Ann Madison Wright Baylor]

MSS 15406