In mid-march of 1863, exhausted from their labors as Provost Guard for the 12th Corps of the Army of the Potomac, Lieutenants Francis Crowninshield & Albert Powers decided that they had earned a rest. But they wondered if their Corps Commander, MG Henry Warner Slocum, would see things their way. Undaunted, said Crowninshield, they pitched their idea for a three-day pass to Slocum, "never dreaming that he could consent." Sure enough, the general intially refused their request, "but on learning that we were his Provost Guard, he said he would give us a pass to Alexandria, but that he had no power to grant us one to Washington." On the strength of this pass, the two young officers decided to take their chances. "All that is required is a little 'cheek,' of which article we have both in considerable quantity."

Once in Washington, the two checked themselves into the Kirkwood Hotel, on the corner of 12th Street & Pennsylvania Ave. Although they were stopped once or twice by the Provost Guard, they managed to blarney their way out of trouble. "The greater part of my time," Crowninshield informed his family, "has been devoted to cocktails and oysters....As soon as I entered the city I stopped at the first oyster saloon and took a dozen raw, and then went to the next saloon on the street, an so on, eating my way up Pennsylvania Avenue." The two did not risk taking in any of the shows, however, for fear of the Provost Guard who visited the theatres every night, deciding that "it would not be very agreeable to be arrested in so public a place."

The two officers returned to camp satisifed that they had made "Rome howl" during their three day adventure.

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