Part 6 (2/2)

Just before sunset the bugle sounded ”saddle up,” and soon Stuart's cavalry was in the saddle and on the march.

Everything was trending one way, namely, northeast.

The infantry went into camp at night, but the cavalry marched through most of the night, crossing the Rappahannock several miles above where we had been fighting.

Lee's entire army was en route for Pennsylvania, as we afterward learned, the cavalry keeping in between the two armies, protecting the wagon trains and concealing, as far as possible, our army's destination.[2]

The infantry, artillery and baggage train crossed the Blue Ridge at the various gaps, fording the Shenandoah river, and moved down the valley of Virginia toward the Potomac.

Lee's cavalry kept on the east side of the mountain, holding the enemy back as much as possible.

When we reached Fauquier and Loudoun counties the Union cavalry made a desperate effort to drive in our cavalry and discover the route of our main army.

Heavy fighting began at Aldie, below Middleburg, and was continued up the pike through the town of Middleburg up as far as Upperville, where I had been captured the year before.

The enemy's cavalry was supported by infantry, and our forces fell back fighting foot by foot until they reached Upperville, where we met a division of infantry that Gen. Lee had sent to help us beat back the enemy. The Confederates who were killed in this action are buried in Middleburg and Upperville, in the cemeteries just outside of the two towns, and the ladies of these villages and the country round about were kept busy caring for the wounded.

I escaped some of the heaviest of this fighting by being detailed to guard the prisoners back to Winchester.

The night before the battle I was sent out along the road at the foot of the mountain to discover whether the enemy was approaching from that direction or not. After a lonely ride of several hours I came back and had a time finding Gen. Stuart, to whom I was instructed to report. I found him asleep on the porch of the home of Caleb Rector. I aroused him and delivered my message. His reply was, ”All right.” I looked up my own command, and lay down for the remainder of the night.

Lee's army crossed the river at Williamsport, Md., on the pontoon bridge.[3] The Northern army crossed between Harper's Ferry and Was.h.i.+ngton, and our cavalry, strange to say, went below the Union army and crossed the river near Was.h.i.+ngton, thus circling the Union army and arriving at Gettysburg the last day of the battle. Stuart captured and destroyed many wagons and much property on this expedition.

My brigade of cavalry did not follow Stuart, but followed the main army, bringing up the rear.

After crossing the river, Lee led his main army straight for Chambersburg, Pa. I cannot describe the feeling of the Southern soldiers as they crossed the line separating Maryland and Pennsylvania, and trod for the first time the sacred soil of the North. Many of our soldiers had been on Maryland soil before this, and although Maryland was not a part of the Confederacy, we felt that she was one of us, and while marching over her roads and fields we were still in our own domain, but not so when we crossed into Pennsylvania. We were then in the enemy's territory, and it gave us inexpressible joy to think that we were strong enough and bold enough to go so far from home and attack our enemy upon his own soil. The joy of our soldiers knew no bounds. We were as light-hearted and as gay as children on a picnic, and we had no fear as to result of the move.

Marching along the pike one day, the cavalry halted, and just on our left there was a modest home of a farmer. The garden was fenced, and came out and bordered on the road. His raspberries were ripe, and our soldiers sat on their horses, and leaning over were picking the berries from the vines. One soldier was bold enough to dismount and get over into the garden. We saw the family watching us from the window. The impudence on the part of this soldier was a little too much for the farmer. He came out with an old-fas.h.i.+oned shotgun and berated us in a manner most vehement, but did not shoot. This stirred the risibles of our soldiers to such an extent that the whole command broke out with loud laughter and hurrah for the brave farmer, who single-handed, and with a single-barrel shotgun, was defying the whole rebel horde. If the entire command had leveled its guns at him I think he would have stood his ground, but he could not stand our ridicule, so he went back into his house, and all was quiet again. Presently the command moved off, leaving what berries they did not have time to pick. From Chambersburg, Lee turned his columns southward and moved toward Gettysburg to meet the Union army that was advancing in the opposite direction. The armies met, and the whole world knows the result.

The battle lasted three days. The first two days were decidedly in favor of the Confederates. My command took an active part in the battle, and the adjutant of my regiment was killed, also several in my company, and some were badly wounded and had to be left. I was struck with a ball on the shoulder, marking my coat, and had a bullet hole through the rim of my hat; but as the latter was caused by my own careless handling of my pistol, I can't count it as a trophy.

As the years go by the students of history are more and more amazed at the boldness of Gen. Lee in placing his army of 75,000, some say 65,000, at Gettysburg,[4] when he knew that between him and the capital of the Confederacy (which his army was intended to protect) was the capital of the United States protected by an army of not less than 200,000 soldiers, and I might add by the best-equipped army in the world, for the United States Government had the markets of the world to draw supplies from.

In the morning of the third day of the battle of Gettysburg there had been a terrible artillery duel that made the earth tremble for miles around, and was heard far and wide.

When the guns got too hot for safety the firing ceased, the noise died away and the soldiers lay down to rest.

During this interval Gen. Lee called his generals together for counsel.

They discussed the situation for some time, which had grown serious.

Lee's losses had been heavy in killed and wounded, and his stock of ammunition was growing low.

After considerable discussion Lee mounted his gray horse, rode off a few paces to a slight elevation, and lifting his field gla.s.s to his eyes looked intently at the long lines of blue that stretched along the slopes, in the hope of finding some weak point which he might attack.

Then returning to his officers he said in a firm voice: ”We will attack the enemy's center, cut through, roll back their wings on either side and crush or rout their army.” Then he said: ”Gen. Pickett will lead the attack.”

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