, upon which occasions he was always found in the
front, and while on the march was ever bright and cheerful.

On the evening of the 4th, General Lee, in preparation for his
retreat, began to send his wagons to the rear in the direction of
Williamsport, when it was found that the enemy's cavalry had gone
around our left and taken possession of a pass in South Mountain,
through which lay our line of march. To dislodge them required a
stubborn fight, lasting late into the night, in which General Jones's
brigade was engaged, and he himself, becoming separated from his men
in the darkness, was supposed to have been captured or killed.

Finally the Federals were repulsed, and the wagon-train proceeded on
its way to Williamsport. In the morning Watkins's command was ordered
to march on the left flank of the train to prevent a renewal of the
attack upon it, and on approaching Hagerstown those in the rear of the
column heard loud and repeated cheering from the men in front. After
having been in an enemy's country fighting night and day, in rain and
mud, those cheers came to those who heard them in the distance as the
first rays of sunshine after a storm. Many were the conjectures as to
their cause: some said it was fresh troops from the other side of the
Potomac; others that it was the ammunition-wagons, for the supply was
known to be short; while others surmised that it was General Jones
reappearing after his supposed death or capture. Whatever the cause
was, its effect was wonderful upon the morale of those men, and cheers
went up all along the line from those who did not know the cause in
answer to those who did. When the command had reached a stone mill,
about three miles southeast of Hagerstown, they found the cause only a
little girl about fourteen years of age, perhaps the miller's
daughter, standing in the door wearing an apron in which the colors
were so blended as to represent the Confederate flag. A trivial thing
it may seem to those who were not there, but to those jaded, war-worn
men it was the first expression of sympathy for them and their cause
that had been openly given them since they had crossed the Potomac,
and their cheers went up in recognition of the courage of the little
girl and her parents, who thus dared to give their sympathy to a
retreating army, almost in sight of a revengeful foe. When Company D
was passing the house the captain rode up and thanked the little girl
for having done so much to reviv