during the Spanish-American war. The doctor told me I must go
home and insisted on making out a certificate of disability, on which I
might obtain a "leave of absence." General Custer and most of his staff
were present. I recall the circumstances very well, for a conversation
in which the general asked me confidentially certain questions, was
incautiously repeated by some one who was present and returned to vex me
after many years. I returned to my own camp about nine or half past
nine, much cast down over the doctor's diagnosis of my case. I mention
all this to show how secretly the preparations for the eventful next day
had been made. Not a word was dropped during my long interview with the
general and his staff to arouse the suspicion that the army was about to
attack Early. Yet, at midnight, orders were received to be ready to move
at two o'clock in the morning. Before that hour, horses were in line
saddled, the men ready to mount. My cook made a cup of tea and a slice
of toast. I drank half of the tea but could not eat the toast. At three
o'clock I mounted my favorite saddle horse "Billy" and by order of
General Custer, led my regiment in advance of the division, toward
Locke's Ford on the Opequon creek. Nothing was said, but every one knew
that the army was in motion and that great things were in store for us.

[Illustration: BATTLE FIELD OF WINCHESTER VA.]

We neared the ford about daylight. There was a faint hope that the enemy
might be taken by surprise and the ford captured without resistance, as
it was a difficult crossing when bravely defended. In this, however, we
were doomed to disappointment, for an alert foe was found awaiting the
attack. Indeed, they must have known of the federal approach. Halting an
eighth of a mile back and out of sight, Custer directed me to dismount
the regiment and move in column of fours through a ravine at right
angles with the creek. This ravine ran out at the top, where it reached
the edge of a plowed field. This field extended some 100 or 150 yards to
the crest overlooking the ford. Along the crest were fences,
outbuildings, and the farm house. Thence, there was an abrupt descent to
the bed of the Opequon Creek. This side hill slope consisted of cleared
fields divided by fences. The hill where the house and barns were, also
sloped off to the left. The road to the ford skirted the hill to the
left till it reached the bank, then ran parallel with the creek to a
point about on