lieutenant in rank, because of the fact
of my prior service with the Harris Light Cavalry and with Generals
Gregg and Kilpatrick. Nothing serious occurred, however, to my command
that day.

On the evening of the last day of the battle of the Wilderness we built
a new line of breastworks, which were in close proximity to the enemy's
lines. With a view to sparing my men, who were then much exhausted, I
had the works in my front built by stragglers from other regiments, of
whom there were a large number, releasing them when the work was
finished. At dark, in order to prevent a surprise, as it was extremely
difficult to keep the men awake, we placed a line of pickets about fifty
yards outside of our works. A short time after, some one on our line
fired a shot, when immediately the whole line arose and began shooting.
Believing that it was a false alarm, I jumped up to look over the
breastworks to see if I could see any firing from the enemy's lines. At
that moment I heard our pickets outside, who were subjected to this
fire, calling out, "For God's sake stop firing, you are killing your own
men!" Running along the line giving orders to stop the firing, I had a
narrow escape from one excited fellow who fired his carbine off, the
muzzle of which was close to my ear as I was in the act of grabbing
another man who, in his excitement, was about to shoot. The line,
however, soon quieted down.

Presently a messenger came to me and speaking in a low tone directed me
to keep a sharp lookout and when I saw the troops on my right move, to
have my men follow as noiselessly as possible, and he enjoined me to see
that the men carried their canteens and tin cups in their hands in order
that no noise might be heard by the enemy whose lines were so close by.
I was soon notified, "They are moving." Quickly walking along the line I
awoke the men and cautioned them to be as quiet as possible. In this
manner we moved out and for some moments were in suspense lest the enemy
hear the movement and, by attacking, stop it. After a while we reached a
place where we could form in column of fours, and all that night we
marched through narrow roads in the woods of that region, halting every
few minutes because of obstructions due to teams and other troops in our
front. This fatiguing process continued until about daylight, when we
reached the main road where the country was open. We were all greatly
depressed, since after the three days' desperate figh