pester him much." Learning our
purpose, he was eager to go in with us, and was not at all pleased to
hear that I declined to change General Ewell's dispositions. A plucky
fellow, this colonel, whose name, if ever known, I cannot recall. The
brigade moved forward until the enemy was reached, when, wheeling to the
left, it walked down his line. The expression is used advisedly, for it
was nothing but a "walk-over." Sheep would have made as much resistance
as we met. Men decamped without firing, or threw down their arms and
surrendered, and it was so easy that I began to think of traps. At
length we got under fire from our own skirmishers, and suffered some
casualties, the only ones received in the movement.

Our whole skirmish line was advancing briskly as the Federals retired. I
sought Ewell, and reported. We had a fine game before us, and the
temptation to play it was great; but Jackson's orders were imperative
and wise. He had his stores to save, Shields to guard against, Lee's
grand strategy to promote; and all this he accomplished, alarming
Washington, fastening McDowell's strong corps at Fredericksburg and
preventing its junction with McClellan, on whose right flank he
subsequently threw himself at Cold Harbor. He could not waste time
chasing Fremont, but we, who looked from a lower standpoint, grumbled
and shared the men's opinion about the _lemon wagons_.

The prisoners taken in our promenade were Germans, speaking no English;
and we had a similar experience a few days later. In the Federal Army
was a German corps, the 11th, commanded by General O.O. Howard, and
called by both sides "the Flying Dutchmen." Since the time of Arminius
the Germans have been a brave people; to-day, in military renown, they
lead the van of the nations; but they require a cause and leaders. In
our Revolutionary struggle the Hessians were unfortunate at Bennington,
Saratoga, and Trenton. We have millions of German citizens, and
excellent citizens they are. Let us hope that the foregoing facts may be
commended to them, so their ways may be ways of peace in their adopted
land.

Although the movement along the enemy's line was successful, as
described, it was rash and foolish. Fremont had troops which, had they
been in the place of these Germans, would have made us pass one of
Rabelais's unpleasant quarters of an hour. Alarm and disgust at my own
nervousness occasioned it, proving weak nerves to be the source of rash
acts.

Fremont mad