r up and leave. Just
then a large force of the enemy came in sight in the woods on our left.
The gunner of the piece nearest them had his piece loaded with canister,
and fired the charge into their ranks as they crowded through a narrow
opening in a stone fence. One of the guns of the battery, having several
of its horses killed, fell into the hands of the enemy. About this time
the Fifth Virginia Regiment, which, through some misunderstanding of
orders, had not been engaged, arrived on the crest of the hill, and I
heard General Jackson, as he rode to their front, direct the men to form
in line and check the enemy. But everything else was now in full
retreat, with Minie-balls to remind us that it would not do to stop.
Running back through the woods, I passed close by John Wallace as he lay
dying. Night came on opportunely and put an end to the pursuit, and to
the taking of prisoners, though we lost several hundred men. I afterward
heard Capt. George Junkin, nephew of the Northern college president,
General Jackson's adjutant, say that he had the exact number of men
engaged on our side, and that there were 2,700 in the battle. The
enemy's official report gave their number as 8,000. Jackson had General
Garnett, of the Stonewall Brigade, suspended from office for not
bringing up the Fifth Regiment in time.

It was dusk when I again found myself on the turnpike, and I followed
the few indistinct moving figures in the direction of safety. I stopped
for a few minutes near a camp-fire, in a piece of woods, where our
infantry halted, and I remember hearing the colored cook of one of their
messes asking in piteous tones, over and over again, "Marse George,
where's Marse Charles?" No answer was made, but the sorrowful face of
the one interrogated was response enough. I got back to the village of
Newtown, about three miles from the battlefield, where I joined several
members of the battery at a hospitable house. Here we were kindly
supplied with food, and, as the house was full, were allowed to sleep
soundly on the floor. This battle was known as Kernstown.

CHAPTER III

THE RETREAT--CEDAR CREEK--GENERAL ASHBY--SKIRMISHES--McGAHEYSVILLE

The next dawn brought a raw, gloomy Sunday. We found the battery a mile
or two from the battlefield, where we lay all day, thinking, of course,
the enemy would follow up their victory; but this they showed no
inclination to do. On Monday we moved a mile or more toward our old
camp--Buc