re comparatively light, 2
men killed, 2 officers wounded (one of whom died a few days later), and
39 men wounded, and one man missing; total loss, 44, or about fifteen
per cent. of the number we took into action. This missing man I met at
the recent reunion of our regiment. He was picked up from our skirmish
line by that flanking party of rebels on the third day's fight described
in my last. The circumstance will show how close the rebels were upon us
before we discovered them. Our skirmishers could not have been more than
a dozen yards in advance of our main line, yet the thicket was so dense
that the enemy was on him before he fairly realized it. He said he was
placed with a lot of other prisoners and marched to the rear some
distance, under guard, when a fine-looking Confederate officer rode up
to them. He was told it was General Lee. He said he wore long, bushy
whiskers and addressed them with a cheery,--

"Good-morning, boys. What did you come down here for? a picnic? You
didn't think you could whip us men of the South, did you?"

One of the prisoners spoke up in reply,--

"Yes, d----n you, we did, and we will. You haven't won this fight yet,
and Joe Hooker will lick h----l out of you and recapture us before you
get us out of these woods."

The general laughed good-naturedly at the banter his questions had
elicited, and solemnly assured them that there were not men enough in
the whole North to take Richmond. Our man was probably misinformed as to
who their interlocutor was. General Lee did not wear long, bushy
whiskers, and was at that time probably down directing operations
against Fredericksburg. This was probably Jeb Stuart, who had succeeded
Jackson in command of that wing of the rebel army.

Our prisoner fared much better than most prisoners, for it was his good
fortune to be exchanged after twenty-three days' durance, probably
owing to the expiration of his term of service. Although the actual
dates of enlistment of our men were all in July and their terms
therefore expired, the government insisted upon holding us for the full
period of nine months from the date of actual muster into the United
States service, which would not be completed until the 14th of May. We
had, therefore, eight days' service remaining after our return from the
battle of Chancellorsville, and we were continued in all duties just as
though we had months yet to serve. Our principal work was the old
routine of picket duty again. Our