Suitland Six
Posted by Raven
Date Posted: 11/04/2006

Toward the end of the Civil War a small group of seven rebel soldiers were on a secret mission to end the war and preserve the Confederacy by kidnapping Abraham Lincoln. The rebel soldiers camped in the woods for a night’s rest near present day Suitland, Md., before riding into the City of Washington the next day. Unknown to the rebels, one of their members was a Union spy.

After the men bedded down and went to sleep, the spy quietly snuck away. Splicing into a telegraph line, he alerted Union troops of the kidnap plan. As the rebel soldier slept, Union soldiers rode to the rolling hills of Suitland to capture the would-be kidnappers.

Early in the morning, as the rebels prepared for their mission, a voice from the woods ordered them to surrender. Someone fired a shot. Whether it was a Union or a Confederate soldier is unknown, but that single shot rang out resulting in the death of the six rebels. The Union soldiers dug a common grave and buried the rebel soldiers. The grave was left unmarked and the small skirmish faded into history.

Nearly 100 years later, during the Cold War, a small U.S. Army post, Suitland Station, was built to house soldiers who worked in nearby Washington, D.C., and the Pentagon across the Potomac River in Virginia. The unmarked grave of the rebel soldiers was in the woods, near a back gate that led to a nearby communication tower. The military police (MP) assigned to secure the post were required to check the back gate during their walking patrols, but since the gate was some distance from the rest of the installation, the duty always seem to fall to the most junior MP.

The first MP to go missing was thought to have gone AWOL (away without leave) because he was due to ship out to Vietnam in a few months. A cursory search was made, but after three months the missing soldier was declared a deserter and thought to be one of many who fled to Canada to escape the war.

Almost 10 years later, another MP went missing, but this time the Vietnam War was over and his friends knew without a doubt he was not AWOL. A thorough search resulted in finding the missing MP in a small clearing in the woods. He was found dead, a look of horror frozen on his lifeless face. The death was not explained and the circumstances surrounding it were never shared with the dead soldier’s family.

Ten years later, another MP making a check of the back gate reported over the radio that he saw what appeared to be a camp fire in the woods. Three fellow MPs joined him and together they entered the woods. Suspecting that homeless people had setup camp near the base, they carefully approached the clearing where the fire burned. As the four MPs approached the clearing they saw men dressed in old clothing setting around the fire, as if they were waiting for something. As the MPs moved closer, the men vanished, leaving the campfire burning. The senior MP reported the strange disappearance over the radio and said he and the others would put out the fire and return to the MP station. That was their last communications. The next day, they were found dead in the clearing, their pistols still in their holsters, with no sign of the reported fire.

Soon after, the small installation was closed and the land granted to the Smithsonian institute, which had a number of historical aircraft destined for Air and Space Museum stored in nearby warehouses.

The small clearing in the woods remained. Stories of the dead and missing MPs circulated among the museum’s security guards until a staff member overheard the story. This particular staff member was a military historian, who found an obscure reference to Suitland and the Confederate plot to kidnap Lincoln when she was doing post doctorate work at Georgetown University many years before. She questioned the security guards and requested to research the Army’s records until she was told to stop by her superiors.

Today, the clearing in the woods, where nothing ever grows, remains. The mystery of the single missing soldier and the death of five others also remain unsolved. No one ever checks the woods, even when sightings of mysterious camp fires are reported. The old gate is still there. Its lock rusted shut and closed forever. A faint trail leads into the woods and the unmarked resting place of six rebel soldiers.

You might wonder how I could know this story, but the answer is really very simple. My family has a long history of military service. We even had soldiers serving on both sides of the Civil War. The fact is, my great great grandfather was the leader of the rebels killed by the Union soldiers near Suitland those many years ago, but that’s not all. My great great uncle was the Union spy responsible for their deaths and the death of his own brother. As for me, I am that missing MP, the one who got away. The ghost of my great great grandfather saved me from the curse of the Suitland six — until six Union soldiers die in that clearing in the woods, no soldier is safe going there. Five modern-day soldiers have died so far and the ghosts of the Suitland six are still looking for one more before they can go to their overdue rest.

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