ve service. I had
repeatedly noticed in battle the perplexity of company, regimental, or
even brigade commanders, from lack of information as to the necessary
movements in unforeseen emergencies. It is not enough to say, as one
corps commander (Hancock?) is said to have done during the Battle of the
Wilderness in May, 1864, to a newly arrived colonel with his regiment,
who inquired, "Where shall I go in?" "Oh, anywhere; there's lovely
fighting all along the line!"

Here the step most vital to success, the _sine qua non_, was to keep
that outside door open for the outrush of two hundred men. To this end,
eight of our strongest and most determined, under a dashing leader like
Colonel Hartshorne or Lieutenant-Colonel Gregg, should have been sent
out as a water party. Instead, Captain Cook, who was brave enough, but
then physically weak, hardly able to carry a pail of water, was the
leader of an average small squad, "the spirit indeed willing, but the
flesh weak."

Hardly less important was it to select a dozen or twenty of the most
fierce and energetic, to be at the head of the stairs in perfect
readiness to dash instantly through the opening door and assist the
water party in disarming their guards, and, without a moment's pause,
followed by the whole two hundred, pounce upon the guard house. Ralston
or Duffie himself should have headed this band. Simultaneously, without
a second's interval, three or four desperate, fiery, powerful officers,
detailed for the purpose, should have grappled with the sentinel on duty
in the middle of the lower room and disarmed and gagged him.

Besides the field officers, we had with us many subordinates of great
intelligence like Capt. Henry S. Burrage of the 36th Mass., Lieut. W. C.
B. Goff of the 1st D. C. Cav., Lieut. W. C. Howe, 2d Mass. Cav., Adjt.
James A. Clark, 17th Pa. Cav., and the artist, Lieut. Henry Vander
Weyde; and nothing would have been easier than for Duffie to communicate
through them to every officer the most complete and precise information
and instructions.

Scarcely any of these precautions were taken. The general was impatient.
The next day, December 10th, he issued his command in these words: "I
order the attempt to be made, and I call upon all of you, who have not
forgotten how to obey orders, to follow." The water party was
immediately sent out, and its return was watched for. He and Ralston,
without the help of a third, made the mistake of personally grappling