enish--
But as he is not, why, alas!
My ditty must come to a finish,
Because all the liquor is out."

* * * * *

THE SECOND ROCKBRIDGE ARTILLERY

The second Rockbridge Artillery Company, organized July 10, 1861, like
the first Rockbridge Artillery, was commanded by a clergyman, the Rev.
John Miller, of Princeton, New Jersey, as captain. In honor of his
wife's sister, Miss Lily McDowell, daughter of Governor McDowell, of
Virginia, who furnished in large part the outfit of this company, it was
named "McDowell Guards." She also paid a bounty to a youth under
military age to serve as her personal representative in this company.
Miss McDowell afterward became the wife of Major Bernard Wolfe, whose
service with the Rockbridge Battery has been mentioned.

Owing to lack of artillery equipment, the McDowell Guards served as
infantry until January, 1862, in the Fifty-second Virginia Regiment, in
West Virginia. I heard Captain Miller relate this anecdote, which
occurred in the battle of Alleghany Mountain, December 12, 1861: A boy
in his company was having a regular duel with a Federal infantryman,
whose shots several times passed close to the boy's head. Finally, when
a bullet knocked his hat off, he defiantly called out to his adversary,
"Hey! You didn't git me that time, nuther. You didn't git me nary a
time!"

In the early part of 1862 the McDowell Guards secured artillery and did
excellent service in McIntosh's battalion of A. P. Hill's corps until
the close of the war.

CHAPTER XXVII

OAKLAND--RETURN TO CAMP--OFF DUTY AGAIN--THE RACE FROM NEW MARKET TO
FORT GILMORE--ATTACK ON FORT HARRISON--WINTER-QUARTERS ON THE
LINES--VISITS TO RICHMOND

The desolation and dejection of the people of Lexington hastened my
departure, but before returning to the army I spent two weeks most
delightfully at "Oakland," the hospitable home of Mrs. Cocke, in
Cumberland County, Virginia. This was the last opportunity I had of
enjoying the "old plantation life," the like of which can never again be
experienced. It was an ideal life, the comforts and advantages of which
only those who followed it could appreciate. Two of Mrs. Cocke's sons,
who had passed many years at school and college in Lexington, were at
home--one on sick-leave; the other, still a youth, equipping himself for
the cavalry service, which he soon entered. William, the eldest son, had
been killed at Gettysburg and his bo