y thing I particularly recall of the stay here, was a trivial
circumstance. One of the batteries we found in this field, belonged to
the "Reserve Artillery" of which the "_un_reserved artillery" had a very
humble opinion indeed,--just at that time.

These fellows had not fired a shot, through all the late fighting, and
their guns were as bright, and clean as possible; which ours were not.
One day a blue bird started to build her nest in the muzzle of one of
their guns. Some of the sentimental fellows took this as an augury. "A
sweet gentle little bird building her nest in the muzzle of a cannon!
What _could_ that mean but, that peace was about to be made, and these
cannon useless?"

The rest of us scouted this fancy, and took it as a rare good joke on
that "Reserve Artillery." We said "their guns were not of any use anyhow
_except_ for birds' nests; the birds knew they would be perfectly safe
to build their nest, and live in _those_ guns. _They_ would not be
disturbed!" We "chaffed" the officers and men of that battery most
unmercifully. The whole field was on the _grin_, about that birds' nest.
The poor fellows were blazing mad, and much mortified; so _disgusted_
that they took their nice, clean guns, and went off to a distant part of
the field, to get rid of us. We were _sorry_ to lose them! They afforded
_us_ a great deal of fun, if they didn't have any themselves. That blue
bird story got all over our part of the Army, and those "Reserve
Artillerists" were "sorry that they were living."

CHAPTER IV

COLD HARBOR AND THE DEFENSE OF RICHMOND

About the 20th or 21st we started from Spottsylvania battlefields for
others. The Army was on the move, and we went along. For a day or two we
were constantly marching, not knowing where we were going, and along
roads that I remember very little about. At last, about the 22d, we
crossed the North Anna River, and struck the Central Railroad (now "the
Chesapeake and Ohio") and marched along it, till we halted near Hanover
Junction.

Our Army had crossed and stopped on the south bank of the North Anna,
two or three miles in front of the Junction, and was taking the river
for a new line of defence. Presently the Federal Army came up pushing
on, for the same point, and found us, already ahead, in front, and
across their track! Then they went at the same old game of trying to
break through us. They got across the river on our right, and on our
left. General Lee then threw