ht or ten miles an hour,
but that speed seemed dangerous. The cars swung, bumped and rolled along.
I expected every minute they would leave the track, but they did not, and
about the middle of the afternoon we reached Culpepper Court House. We
marched through the town out a little way into the country and camped for
the night. August the 15th we moved forward again in the afternoon about
five or six miles and camped near the battlefield of Cedar Mountain. We
had then become a part of General Pope's army, a part of which was in camp
near by, and we immediately proceeded to take advantage of Pope's General
Order No. 10, which allowed the army to live off of the country.

The land was not overflowing with milk and honey; the cows, what there
were of them, were kept milked pretty dry. However, the next day after we
reached that neighborhood, a party of our boys did get a hive of bees, and
another party to which the writer belonged succeeded in capturing a sheep.
We had plenty of pork and bread, and with mutton and honey added, we lived
very well.

One afternoon while we were there, Harding Witt and I started out for a
walk to see what there was to be seen going over towards the battlefield.
We had just passed a deserted log house with a dead horse lying in front
of it, when we overtook a long, lank, lean woman; she had a boy about
eight years old with her. She had a large bundle of bedding on her head;
in one hand she had a basket full of cooking utensils and was holding onto
the bundle with the other.

As we approached she called out to James, who was heavily loaded with
household things, "Geems, whorey up, you are so slow!"

"Who lives in that house we have just passed?" said I, pointing to the log
cabin.

"I did."

"Were you there during the fight?"

"Guess I was."

"Where was your husband?"

"He war dead."

"Was he killed in the battle?"

"No, big Pete Jones killed him about two months ago."

"How far is it to Germania Ford?"

"Two skips and a right long jump ar reckon," and Harding and I trudged
along as we had learned the distance to Germania Ford.

By the 16th, it became interesting and picturesque to see the Johnnies
signaling in the evening from every hilltop on the other side of the
Rapidan; we seemed to be very near them--almost among them.

The afternoon of the 18th, things looked very ominous; great clouds of
dust could be seen rising all along the southern horizon; our trains were
moving to