ere marching in pursuit all that night and for three succeeding
days, until the chase was seen to be hopeless and the army faced
northward again. Four killed and nineteen wounded were added at
Fisher's Hill to the growing record of the Second Connecticut's
losses.

[Illustration: Colonel Kellogg]

Such complete failure in their campaign had, it was now believed,
eliminated the enemy in the Shenandoah Valley. The Sixth Corps was
accordingly ordered back to Grant's army before Petersburg after a few
days of rest, and was moving toward Washington on its way when there
came a sudden change of orders.

Early, reinforced and once more ready, was again in the works he had
been driven from at Fisher's Hill. The corps, recalled to join the
forces of Sheridan, went into camp along the north bank of Cedar Creek
on October 14th, and here there soon took place one of the most
thrilling and dramatic conflicts of the war.

"For the next few days," the history of the regiment states, "there
was much quiet and a good deal of speculation among the troops as to
what would be the next shift of the scenes. The enemy was close in
front, just as he had been for weeks preceding the battle of
Winchester, but this attitude which might once have been called
defiance, now seemed to be mere impudence,--and it was the general
opinion that Early did not wish or intend to fight again, but that he
was to be kept there as a standing threat in order to prevent
Sheridan's army from returning to Grant. And yet there was something
mysterious in his conduct. He was known to be receiving
reinforcements, and his signal flags on Three-top Mountain (just south
of Fisher's Hill) were continually in motion. From the top of
Massanutton Mountain his vedettes could look down upon the whole Union
army, as one can look down upon New Haven from East Rock, and there is
no doubt that the exact location of every camp, and the position of
every gun and every picket post were thoroughly known to him.
Nevertheless, it seemed the most improbable thing in the world that he
could be meditating either an open attack or a surprise. The position
was strong, the creek and its crossings in possession of our pickets
both along the front and well out on either flank." But Early himself,
being in difficulties his enemy knew nothing of, says, "I was
compelled to move back for want of provisions and forage, or attack
the enemy in his position with the hope of driving him from i