various regiments, who had been hiding here during
the hours of battle. Some of these miserable wretches asked me the
particulars of the fight, and when told of the defeat, muttered that
they were not to be hood-winked and slaughtered.

"I was sick, anyway," said one fellow, "and felt like droppin' on the
road."

"I didn't trust my colonel," said another; "he ain't no soldier."

"I'm tired of the war, anyhow," said a third, "and my time's up soon; so
I shan't have my head blown off."

As I progressed, dozens of these men appeared; the fields were strewn
with them; a true man would rather have been lying with the dead on the
field of carnage, than here, among the craven and base. I came to a
spring at last, and the stragglers surrounded it in levies. One of them
gave me a cup to dip some of the crystal, and a prayerful feeling came
over me as the cooling draught fell over my dry palate and parched
throat. Regaining the road, I encountered reinforcements coming rapidly
out of Culpepper, and among them was the 9th New York. My friend
Lieutenant Draper, recognized me, and called out that he should see me
on the morrow, if he was not killed meantime. Culpepper was filling with
fugitives when I passed up the main street, and they were sprinkled
along the sidewalks, gossiping with each other. The wounded were being
carried into some of the dwellings, and when I reached the Virginia
Hotel, many of them lay upon the porch. I placed my blanket on a clean
place, threw myself down exhaustedly, and dropped to sleep directly.

CHAPTER XXV.

OUT WITH A BURYING PARTY.

When I rose, at ten o'clock on the morning of Sunday, August 10, the
porch was covered with wounded people. Some fierce sunbeams were gliding
under the roof, shining in the poor fellows' eyes, and they were
stirring wearily, though asleep. Picking my way among the prostrate
figures, I resorted to the pump in the rear of the tavern for the
purpose of bathing my face. A soldier stood there on guard, and he
refused to give me so much as a draught of water. The wounded needed
every drop, and there were but a few wells in the town. I strolled
through the main street, now crowded with unfortunates, and pausing at
the Court House, found the seat of justice transmuted to a headquarters
for surgeons, where amputations were being performed. Continuing by a
street to the left, I came to the depot, and here the ambulances were
gathered with their scores of inmates.