he first ready, and
started immediately in the direction of the firing, with Captain Poague
in the lead, the other guns following on as they got ready.

Three or four hundred yards brought us in full view of Port Republic,
situated just across the river. Beyond, and to the left of the village,
was a small body of woods; below this, and lying between the river and
mountain, an open plain. We fired on several regiments of infantry in
the road parallel to and across the river, who soon began moving off to
the left. The other guns of the battery, arriving on the scene one at a
time, took position on our left and opened vigorously on the retreating
infantry. My gun then moved forward and unlimbered close to a bridge
about two hundred yards below the town, where we took position on a
bluff in the bend of the river. We commenced firing at the enemy's
cavalry as they emerged from the woods and crossed the open plain. One
of our solid shots struck a horse and rider going at full gallop. The
horse reared straight up, then down both fell in a common heap to rise
no more.

While in this position General Jackson, who had narrowly escaped being
captured in his quarters in the town, came riding up to us. Soon after
his arrival we saw a single piece of artillery pass by the lower end of
the village, and, turning to the right, drive quietly along the road
toward the bridge. The men were dressed in blue, most of them having on
blue overcoats; still we were confident they were our own men, as
three-fourths of us wore captured overcoats. General Jackson ordered,
"Fire on that gun!" We said, "General, those are our men." The General
repeated, "Fire on that gun!" Captain Poague said, "General, I know
those are our men." (Poague has since told me that he had, that morning,
crossed the river and seen one of our batteries in camp near this
place.) Then the General called, "Bring that gun over here," and
repeated the order several times. We had seen, a short distance behind
us, a regiment of our infantry, the Thirty-seventh Virginia. It was now
marching in column very slowly toward us. In response to Jackson's order
to "bring that gun over here," the Federals, for Federals they were,
unlimbered their gun and pointed it through the bridge. We tried to
fire, but could not depress our gun sufficiently for a good aim.

The front of the infantry regiment had now reached a point within twenty
steps of us on our right, when the Federals turned their