ertook
the battery. Davis was shot through the body, and suffering dreadfully,
able to move only in an upright posture. He entirely recovered, however,
and did gallant service until the close of the war.

Still photographed on my memory is the appearance of the body of one of
the Second Virginia Regiment being hauled on our rear caisson. His head
had been shot off, and over the headless trunk was fastened a white
handkerchief, which served as a sort of guide in the darkness. Weary of
plodding thus, Graham Montgomery and I left the road, a short distance
from which we concluded to spend the night and be subject to no more
orders. A drizzling rain was falling. Each having a gum-cloth, we spread
one on the loose stones and the other over us, with our feet against a
big tree, to keep from sliding down the mountainside. We were soon
asleep, and when we awoke next morning we had slid into a heap close
against the tree. To give an idea of the ready access we had to the
enemy's stores. I had been the possessor of nine gum-blankets within the
past three weeks, and no such article as a gum-blanket was ever
manufactured in the South. Any soldier carrying a Confederate canteen
was at once recognized as a new recruit, as it required but a short time
to secure one of superior quality from a dead foeman on a battlefield.

Following the road up the mountain, we came across one of our guns
which, by bad driving, had fallen over an embankment some forty feet.
Two horses still hitched to it lay on their backs, one of which I
recognized as Gregory's one-eyed dun which I had ridden foraging at
Bridgewater. After my arrival on top of the mountain I was sent with a
detail which recovered the gun and the two horses, both alive. Dandridge
and Adams were driving the team when the gun went over. They saved
themselves by jumping, and came near having a fight right there as to
who was at fault, and for a long time afterward it was only necessary to
refer to the matter to have a repetition of the quarrel.

After a day or two we countermarched toward Port Republic and went into
camp a mile from Weir's cave, where we spent several days. Thence toward
Staunton and camped near the town. Here we were told that we were to
have a month's rest in consideration of our long-continued marching and
fighting. Rest, indeed! We lost the three days we might have had for
rest while there, preparing our camp for a month of ease. During our
stay here my father paid