cursing, commanding, and yelling, that we halted for a moment to
listen and consult. In the dim twilight we could distinguish some men
about one hundred yards in front moving to and fro. Whether they were
friends, and like ourselves, trying to escape the cavalry in turn and
creep by and over the bridge, or whether they were a skirmish line of
the enemy, we could not determine. The Captain of a Georgia regiment
(I think his name was Brooks), with four or five men, volunteered to
go forward and investigate. I heard the command "halt," and then a
parley, so I ordered the men to turn towards the river. The command
came after us to "halt, halt," but we only redoubled our speed, while
"bang, bang," roared their guns, the bullets raining thick and fast
over our head. I never saw or heard of my new found friends again, and
expect they, like many captured that day, next enjoyed freedom after
Lee and Johnston had surrendered. When we reached the river it was
undecided whether we could cross or not. So one of my men, a good
swimmer, laid off his accoutrement and undertook to test the depth. In
he plunged, and was soon out of sight in the blue waters. As he arose
he called out, "Great God! don't come in here if you don't want to be
drowned. This river has got no bottom." Our only alternative was to go
still higher and cross above the intersection of the north and south
prongs of the Shenandoah, where it was fordable. This we did, and
our ranks augmented considerable as we proceeded up the banks of the
stream, especially when we had placed the last barrier between us and
the enemy. We had representatives of every regiment in Early's Army,
I think, in our crowd, for we had no regiment, as it naturally follows
that a man lost at night, with a relentless foe at his heels, will
seek company.

We returned each man to his old quarters, and as the night wore on
more continued to come in singly, by twos, and by the half dozens,
until by midnight the greater portion of the army, who had not been
captured or lost in battle, had found rest at their old quarters. But
such a confusion! The officers were lost from their companies--the
Colonels from their regiments, while the Generals wandered about
without staff and without commands. The officers were as much dazed
and lost in confusion as the privates in the ranks. For days the
men recounted their experiences, their dangers, their hair-breadth
escapes, the exciting chase during that memorable