the powder
into the muzzle, and then rammed down the ball; this being done, a cap
was placed on the nipple of the breech, and the gun was ready to be
fired. That musket is antiquated now, but it did much execution in
former days.

Maj. J. H. Lacy, for whom the company was named, presented an elegant
silk banner, which at Captain Gresham's request I received in the best
language at my command. It was never borne in battle, for it was not
companies but regiments that carried banners. There was but one flag to
a regiment, and that was always carried in the center. Twice a day there
was a course of drilling in tactical evolutions and in the handling of
the muskets. At first I was hardly strong enough to sustain the fatigue,
but I rapidly grew stronger under the combined influence of exercise,
sleeping in the open air, and the excitement of a military life. The war
did me harm in many ways, but it was the means of increasing my capacity
for bodily exertion. During the encampment at Fredericksburg many of my
spare moments were spent in reading the New Testament and Pollok's
"Course of Time."

We did not long remain in Fredericksburg; but being transported on cars
to Brooke Station we marched up to camp Chappawamsic, near a Baptist
church of that name. There the Lacy Rifles became Company F in the 47th
regiment of Virginia Volunteers, commanded by Col. G. W. Richardson of
Henrico county, who had been a member of the Virginia Convention that
passed the ordinance of secession. He was a brave and patriotic
gentleman, but unskilled in military affairs; and he did not long retain
the command.

From the summer of 1861 until the spring of 1862 we spent the time in
company and regimental drill, and in picketing the shore of the Potomac
river day and night, lest the enemy should effect a landing and take us
unaware. During that time no shots were exchanged with the enemy,
because no landing was attempted. The only fighting that we saw was at
Dumfries where there was a Confederate fort, to which we marched to act
as a support in case the Yankees came ashore. Three vessels of the
Federal navy passed slowly down the river, between which and the fort
there was a brief but lively cannonade; but so far as I know there was
no resulting damage to either side.

On Sunday, July 21, we heard the booming of the cannon at Bull Run,
lamenting that we had no part in the battle. When we afterward heard how
McDowell's army skedaddled back to Wash