ope on
that morning, coming down the line of the officers' tents and calling
out to each as he came opposite: "Captain ----, get your company ready
to move at once."

Under such orders, companies have that same rivalry to be first on the
parade ground as exists among fire companies in towns and cities when
the fire bell rings. We were all soon in line and marching with a
hasty step in the direction of the breastworks above the city, Kershaw
taking position immediately to the right of the Telegraph Road. This
is a public highway leading into the city, curving in a semi-circle
around Mayree Hill on the left. From this road the hill rises on the
west and north in a regular bluff--a stone wall of five feet in height
bordering either side of the road. "Deep Run," a small ravine, runs
between the hill on which Kershaw was stationed and that of Mayree's.
Daylight was yet some hours off when we took position, but we could
hear the rattle of the guns of Barksdale's Mississippians, whose turn
it was to be on picket in the city, driving off the enemy's pontoon
corps and bridge builders.

The city was almost deserted, General Lee advising the citizens to
leave their homes as soon as it became apparent that a battle would be
fought here. Still a few, loath to leave their all to the ravages
of an army, decided to remain and trust to fate. But soon after the
firing along the river began, we saw groups of women and children and
a few old men in the glim twilight of the morning rushing along the
roads out from the city as fast as their feeble limbs and tender feet
could carry them, hunting a safe retreat in the backwoods until the
cloud of war broke or passed over. Some Were, carrying babes in their
arms, others dragging little children along by the hands, with a few
articles of bedding or wearing apparel under their arms or thrown over
their shoulders. The old men tottered along in the rear, giving words
of comfort and cheer to the excited and frightened women and little
ones. It was a sickening sight to see these helpless and inoffensive
people hurrying away from the dangers of battle in the chilly morning
of December, seeking some safe haunt in the backwoods, yet they bore
it all without murmur or complaint.

Anderson's Division of Longstreet's Corps rested on the river on the
extreme left, at Taylor's Hill; then Ransom's along the crest of the
ridge between Taylor's and Mayree's, and McLaws' from his left across
Deep Run Valley