in the dim light, I
failed to find the course it had taken. Following on for some distance I
came to General Lee's headquarters in a farmhouse by the roadside, and
was informed by Capt. James Garnett, one of the staff, that the battery
would soon pass along the road at the point we then were. Sitting down
with my back against a tree I, of course, fell asleep. From this I was
shortly roused by rapid firing close by, and saw our wagon-train
scattered and fleeing across the fields, with horses at a run and hotly
pursued by Federal cavalry, who, with reins on their horses' necks, were
firing at them with repeating guns. I was overlooked and passed by in
the chase as too small game for them.

The road over which I had passed was in the form of a semi-circle, and
to escape I obliqued across the fields to a point I had gone over an
hour or two before, where it crossed Sailor's Creek. Along the road,
ascending the hill on the south side of the creek, I found several
brigades of our infantry, commanded by Ex-Governor Billy Smith, Gen.
Custis Lee and Colonel Crutchfield, halted in the road and exposed to a
sharp artillery fire, which, notwithstanding the fact that the place was
heavily wooded, was very accurate and searching. Colonel Crutchfield was
killed here, his head being taken off by a solid shot. This was not a
comfortable place in which to linger while waiting for the battery, but
comfortable places in that neighborhood seemed exceedingly scarce.

[Illustration: JOHN M. BROWN]

Very soon my friend, Henry Wise, who was a lieutenant in Huger's
battalion of artillery, appeared on horseback and informed me that
almost all of the cannoneers of his battalion had just been captured and
that he was then in search of men to take their places. I offered my
services, and, following the directions he gave, soon found his guns,
and was assigned to a number at one of them by Lieut. George Poindexter,
another old acquaintance of Lexington.

The infantry at this part of the line was what was left of Pickett's
division, among whom I recognized and chatted with other old friends of
the Virginia Military Institute as we sat resignedly waiting for the
impending storm to burst. The Federal cavalry which had passed me
previously in pursuit of our wagons, quartermasters, etc., was part of a
squadron that had gotten in rear of Pickett's men and given General
Pickett and staff a hot chase for some distance along the line of his
command. Some