er name entitled, it nearly always impelled him to do
intuitively the right thing. In this case it seemed obstinacy, if not
insubordination. It was characteristic of him to care studiously for the
comfort of his men. And he did not believe in wasting their lives. It is
more than probable that there was in his mind a suspicion of the true
state of things. If so, he did not say so, even to the general
commanding the division. He kept his own counsel and had his way. The
delay was finally sanctioned by Kilpatrick, and the brigade remained on
the bank feeding their horses and making coffee, Davies meanwhile
advancing cautiously on the Warrenton road to a point within about two
or three miles of Warrenton. Stuart made slight if any attempt to resist
his progress.

The Gainesville-Warrenton pike, after crossing Broad Run, is bounded on
both sides by cleared farm lands, fringed about one-third of a mile back
by woods. From the place of Custer's halt it was not more than 500 or
600 yards to these woods. The road runs in a westerly direction and the
brigade was on the south side of it.

There is very little of record from which to determine the time consumed
by Custer's halt. It is a peculiar circumstance that not a single report
of this battle made by a regimental commander in Custer's brigade
appears in the official war records. A similar omission has been noted
in the battle of Gettysburg. Custer made a report and so did Kilpatrick
and Davies, but they are all deficient in details. There is no hint in
any of them as to the duration of the delay. The confederate chronicles
are much more complete. From them it would appear that the stop was made
about noon and that the real battle began at 3:30 in the afternoon.
Memory is at fault on this point for the reason that after coffee and
while the horses were feeding I lay down upon the ground and fell
asleep. Before that some of the men had gone into the adjacent fields
in search of long forage. It was understood that the Seventh Michigan
after crossing at the lower ford was scouting through the country toward
Greenwich and there was no hint or suspicion that an enemy could
approach from that direction without being discovered by this scouting
party.

Finally Custer was ready to move. Awakened by a staff officer I was
directed to report to the general.

"Major," said he, "take position with your regiment about 500 yards
toward those woods remain there until the command is in colu