till unable to use it. In
our party was another lieutenant, an aide on the staff of General James
C. Rice, whose horse had been shot under him while riding at full speed
with despatches. Lieutenant Hadley had returned to consciousness to find
himself a prisoner in hospital, somewhat bruised, and robbed of his
valuables, but not otherwise disabled. We two concluded to start for
Washington by way of Kelly's Ford. I traded my penknife for a haversack
of corn-bread with one of the Confederate nurses, and a wounded officer,
Colonel Miller of a New York regiment, gave us a pocket compass. I
provided myself with a stout pole, which I used with both hands in lieu
of my left foot. At 9 P.M. we set out, passing during the night the
narrow field and the dry ditch where I had left my guns. Only a pile of
dead horses marked the spot.

On a grassy bank we captured a firefly and shut him in between the glass
and the face of our pocket compass. With such a guide we shaped our
course for the Rapidan. After traveling nearly all night we lay down
exhausted upon a bluff within sound of the river, and slept until
sunrise. Hastening to our feet again, we hurried down to the ford. Just
before reaching the river we heard shouts behind us, and saw a man
beckoning and running after us. Believing the man an enemy, we dashed
into the shallow water, and after crossing safely hobbled away up the
other side as fast as a man with one leg and a pole could travel. I
afterward met this man, himself a prisoner, at Macon, Georgia. He was
the officer of our pickets, and would have conducted us into our lines
if we had permitted him to come up with us. As it was, we found a snug
hiding-place in a thicket of swamp growth, where we lay in concealment
all day. After struggling on a few miles in a chilling rain, my leg
became so painful that it was impossible to go farther. A house was near
by and we threw ourselves on the mercy of the family. Good Mrs. Brandon
had harbored the pickets of both armies again and again, and had
luxuriated in real coffee and tea and priceless salt at the hands of our
officers. She bore the Yankees only good-will, and after dressing my
wound we sat down to breakfast with herself and daughters.

After breakfast we were conducted to the second half-story, which was
one unfinished room. There was a bed in one corner, where we were to
sleep. Beyond the stairs was a pile of yellow ears of corn, and from the
rafters and sills hung a varie