several roads
crossed, on all of which were columns of infantry and artillery. During
the remainder of the day the soldiers gave vent to their feelings by
cheering the different generals as they passed to and fro, Jackson
naturally receiving the lion's share.

McClellan's army being now under cover of their gunboats, and gunboats
being held in mortal terror by the Confederates, we began slowly to make
our way out of this loathsome place, a place which I felt should be
cheerfully given up to the Northerners, where they could inhale the
poisonous vapors of the bogs, and prosecute the war in continuous battle
with the mosquitoes and vermin. The water of the few sluggish streams,
although transparent, was highly colored by the decaying vegetable
matter and the roots of the juniper. For the first time in my life I was
now out of sight of the mountains. I felt utterly lost, and found myself
repeatedly rising on tip-toe and gazing for a view of them in the
distance. Being very much worsted physically by the campaign and
malarial atmosphere, I was put on the sick-list, and given permission to
go to Richmond to recuperate.

My entrance into the city contrasted strikingly with that of soldiers I
had read of after a series of victories in battle. The portable forge
belonging to our battery needed some repairs, which could be made at a
foundry in Richmond, and, as no other conveyance was available, I took
passage on it. So I entered the city, the first I had ever visited,
after dark, seated on a blacksmith-shop drawn by four mules. Not having
received my eleven dollars a month for a long time, I could not pay a
hotel-bill, so I climbed the fence into a wagon-yard, retired to bed in
a horse-cart, and slept soundly till daylight. That morning I took
breakfast with my cousin, Robert Barton, of the First Virginia Cavalry,
at his boarding-house. After which, having gotten a sick furlough, he
hurried to take the train, to go to his home, and left me feeling very
forlorn. Thinking that I could fare no worse in camp than I would in the
midst of the painful surroundings of a hospital, I returned in the
afternoon to the battery. The arduous service undergone during the past
three weeks, or rather three months, had left the men greatly depleted
in health and vigor. Many were seriously sick, and those still on duty
were more or less run-down.

CHAPTER XI

FROM RICHMOND TO GORDONSVILLE--BATTLE OF CEDAR RUN--DEATH OF GENERAL
WINDER--D