ishment befell, I had had a
day. Arriving there, my apprehensions were relieved, possibly because
offenses of the kind were too numerous to be handled conveniently. About
dusk that evening a free fight between the members of our company and
those of Raines's battery, of Lynchburg, was with difficulty prevented
by the officers of the companies, who rushed in with their sabers. The
Alleghany Roughs, hearing the commotion, one of their men cried out,
"Old Rockbridge may need us! Come on, boys, let's see them through!" And
on they came.

We spent two or three days in a clean, fresh camp in this fertile
country, supplied with an abundance of what it afforded. At noon each
day apple-dumplings could be seen dancing in the boiling camp-kettles,
with some to spare for a visitor, provided he could furnish his own
plate.

On the tenth came orders "to hitch up," but to our surprise and
disappointment we turned back in the direction from which we had come,
instead of proceeding toward Baltimore and Washington, and the
realization of our bright hopes. We crossed the Potomac at Williamsport,
thirty miles northwest, but not dry-shod. Thence southwest into
Jefferson County, West Virginia.

CHAPTER XVII

RETURN TO VIRGINIA--INVESTMENT AND CAPTURE OF HARPER'S FERRY

At Harper's Ferry there was a considerable force of the enemy, which
place was now evidently the object of the expedition, and which we
approached soon after noon on the thirteenth. After the usual delays
required in getting troops deployed, our battery was posted on an
elevated ridge northwest of Bolivar Heights, the stronghold of the
Federals, and confronting their bold array of guns directed toward us.

We opened fire and were answered, but without apparent effect on either
side. This was late in the afternoon, and night came on before anything
was accomplished. The situation of Harper's Ferry is too well known to
require description. Only by a view of its surroundings from some
adjacent eminence can one form an idea of its beauty. As we stood by our
guns on the morning of the fifteenth we were aware of what had been in
progress for the investment of the place, and now, that having been
accomplished, we awaited with interest the general assault that was soon
to follow.

Directly on the opposite side of Bolivar Heights from where we stood
was Loudoun, or Virginia Heights, the extreme north end of the Blue
Ridge in Virginia, at the base of which flowed the Sh