e for the body of her oldest son and to take
James home with her, as the only hope and solace of the declining
years of this aged father and mother. Much against his will and
wishes, but by mother's entreaties and friends' solicitations, the
young man consented to accompany his mother home. But fate seemed to
follow them here and play them false, for in less than two weeks this
brave, bright, and promising boy lay dead from a malignant disease.

As our brigade was moving through the thicket in the interval between
our main line and the skirmishers, and under a heavy fire, we came
upon a lone stranger sitting quietly upon a log. At first he was
thought an enemy, who in the denseness of the undergrowth had passed
our lines on a tour of observation. He was closely questioned, and it
turned out to be Rev. Boushell, a methodist minister belonging to
one of McGowan's South Carolina regiments, who became lost from his
command in the great flank movement of Jackson (McGowan's Brigade
belonged to Jackson's Corps), and said he came down "to see how the
battle was going and to lend aid and comfort to any wounded soldier
should he chance to find one in need of his services."

The batteries in our front were now raking the matted brush all around
and overhead, and their infantry soon became aware of our presence,
and they, too, began pouring volleys into our advancing column. The
ranks became confused, for in this wilderness we could not see twenty
paces in front. Still we moved forward with such order as was under
the conditions permissible. When near the turn-pike road General
Kershaw gave the command to "charge." The Fifteenth raised the yell;
then the Third dashed forward; the Seventh was somewhat late on
account of the almost impassable condition of the ground, but still it
and the Third Battalion, with the Second on the left, made a mad
rush for the public road, and entered it soon after the Fifteenth and
Third. A perfect sea of fire was in our faces from the many cannon
parked around the Chancellor House and graping in all directions but
the rear. Lee on the one side and Stuart on the other had closed upon
the enemy, their wings joining just in front of the house. Some of the
pieces of the enemy's artillery were not more than fifty yards in
our front, and the discharges seemed to blaze fire in our very ranks.
Infantry, too, was there massed all over the yard, and in rear of this
one vast, mingling, moving body of humanity, d