e regiment was
being mounted, I allowed my own horse to be unsaddled and hitched him by
the halter to a sapling in front of my shelter tent which was quickly
pitched, Barnhart, the acting adjutant, and an orderly pitching theirs
by the side of it. Then, removing sword and belt but keeping on
overcoat, boots and spurs, I crawled in with a "poncho" under me, using
the saddle for a pillow.

It was a raw, rainy night, and snow was falling. The bad weather of the
first night out was worse than repeated. It seemed more like Michigan
than Virginia. It was very dark. I do not believe that any man living
could make a map of the camps which the two brigades occupied that
night--the exact locations or even the relative positions of the various
commands. I doubt if the actual participants could point them out were
they to visit the place. I know that at the time I had not the slightest
knowledge on the subject and could not have told which way to go to find
any one of them or even brigade or division headquarters. It looked like
a case of "wisdom consists in taking care of yourself." We were on the
north side of the Chickahominy and, with the bridges guarded, it would
be difficult for the forces with which we had been contending during the
day to get in on our night encampment. At least they could not well take
us by surprise. But this made the position all the more vulnerable from
the north. It was idle to suppose that Stuart's cavalry was doing
nothing. It was as certain as anything could be that his enterprising
horsemen were gathering on our track, urging their steeds to the death
in an endeavor to stop the audacious career of the federal commander.

During the early evening it was known throughout the command that the
general had not given up the hope of capturing the city and liberating
the prisoners. A body of five hundred men led by Lieutenant Colonel
Addison W. Preston of the First Vermont cavalry was to start out from
our camp by the Mechanicsville road, charge in, release the prisoners
and bring them out, Kilpatrick covering the movement with his entire
command. The latter's official report says there were two bodies, one to
be led by Preston, the other by Major Taylor of the First Maine cavalry.
The name of Preston was a guarantee that the dash, if made at all, would
be bravely led. There was no more gallant officer in the whole cavalry
corps.

The conditions were such as to make one wakeful and alert, if anything
co