report to General Custer for duty. It was my
first personal interview with the great cavalryman. He was at his
headquarters, in the woods, taking life in as light-hearted a way as
though he had not just come out of a fight, and did not expect others to
come right along. He acted like a man who made a business of his
profession; who went about the work of fighting battles and winning
victories, as a railroad superintendent goes about the business of
running trains. When in action, his whole mind was concentrated on the
duty and responsibility of the moment; in camp, he was genial and
companionable, blithe as a boy. Indeed he was a boy in years, though a
man in courage and in discretion.

After drawing rations and forage, the march was resumed and, little of
incident that was important intervening, on the 14th the division was
encamped on the north side of Bull Run, near the Gainesville or
Warrenton turnpike, where we remained undisturbed until the evening of
the 18th, when the forward movement began which culminated on the 19th
in the battle of Buckland Mills, which will be the theme of the next
chapter.

CHAPTER XIV

THE BATTLE OF BUCKLAND MILLS

Buckland Mills was, in some sort, a sequel to Brandy Station. The latter
battle was a brilliant passage at arms, in which neither side obtained a
decisive advantage. Kilpatrick was still pugnacious and both willing and
anxious to meet Stuart again. That his mind was full of the subject was
evinced by a remark he was heard to make one morning at his headquarters
on the Bull Run battle ground. He was quartered in a house, his host a
Virginian too old to be in the army, and who remained at home to look
after the property. It was a clear day, and when the general came out on
the porch, the old gentleman accosted him with a cheery:

"A fine day, general!"

"Yes, a--fine day for a fight;" was the instant reply.

In most men this would have sounded like gasconade. In Kilpatrick's
case, it was not so considered. He was credited with plenty of pluck,
and it was well understood that he was no sooner out of one action, than
he was planning to get into another. He ran into one, a day or two
later, which furnished him all the entertainment of that kind that he
wanted, and more too.

Reconnoissances across Bull Run on the Gainesville road disclosed a
considerable force of mounted confederates. When their pickets were
driven in by the Sixth Michigan on the 15th and again by