destroyed before the country was abandoned. Sheridan had already decided
on another retrograde movement down the valley and it was his purpose to
leave a trail of fire behind, obeying to the letter the injunction of
the general in chief to starve out any crow that would hereafter have
the temerity to fly over the Shenandoah valley. The order had gone out
the day before and the work was to begin that morning. Custer was to
take the west and Merritt the east side and burn all barns, mills,
haystacks, etc., within a certain area. Merritt was provoked. He pointed
to the west and one could have made a chart of Custer's trail by the
columns of black smoke which marked it. The general was manifestly
fretting lest Custer should appear to outdo him in zeal in obeying
orders, and blamed me as his responsible subordinate, for the delay. I
told him, with an appearance of humility that I am sure was unfeigned,
that those mills would never grind again, after what had passed.

The wheels were not stopped but the torch was applied and the crackling
of flames intermingled with the rumbling of the stones made a mournful
requiem as the old mills went up in smoke and General Merritt's loyalty
was vindicated.

It was a disagreeable business and--we can be frank now--I did not
relish it. One incident made a lasting impression on the mind of every
man who was there. The mill in the little hamlet of Port Republic
contained the means of livelihood--the food of the women and children
whom the exigencies of war had bereft of their natural providers and,
when they found that it was the intention to destroy that on which their
very existence seemed to depend, their appeals to be permitted to have
some of the flour before the mill was burned, were heartrending. Worse
than all else, in spite of the most urgent precautions, enjoined upon
the officers in charge, the flames extended. The mill stood in the midst
of a group of wooden houses and some of them took fire. Seeing the
danger, I rode across and ordered every man to fall in and assist in
preventing the further spread of the flames, an effort which was,
happily, successful. What I saw there is burned into my memory. Women
with children in their arms, stood in the street and gazed frantically
upon the threatened ruin of their homes, while the tears rained down
their cheeks. The anguish pictured in their faces would have melted any
heart not seared by the horrors and "necessities" of war. It was to