, and, after a good
sleep, was able to take my dinner that evening. I had on citizen's
clothes and was not recognized as a private soldier in the United States
Army, so the head-waiter assigned me to a seat at a table where General
Halleck, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, sat opposite.

That evening, my uncle, E. V. Price, who was in Washington, met me at
the hotel and took me to General Pope's room. The latter had just
arrived in Washington to take command of the Army of the Potomac. My
uncle procured a pass from him to enable me to go through the lines and
join my regiment, the Second New York Cavalry (Harris Light). It was
stationed at Falmouth, Virginia. J. Mansfield Davies was the colonel at
that time, and Judson Kilpatrick the lieutenant-colonel. My uncle, who
knew Colonel Davies, introduced me to him that evening at the hotel. The
following morning I accompanied him on the boat to Aquia Creek and
reached the regiment on the evening of that day.

In two or three days I received my uniform and a horse was given to me.
The fact that I had been seen coming into camp with the Colonel led some
of the non-commissioned officers and men of my company to assume that I
did not intend to serve in the ranks, but would likely be commissioned
shortly and probably be jumped over them, who had already been out some
time, though they had not been in any battle, their previous service
being confined to drilling and a skirmish or two. This made it very
unpleasant for me, and for a short time I was subjected to some little
annoyance.

As I wore to the front the best suit of citizen's clothes I had, a man
in our company by the name of Rufus West proposed to buy them and agreed
to pay me eleven dollars for them. That night he deserted and joined
Mosby's command, having made the remark before leaving that he did not
"propose to fight to free niggers." He owes me the eleven dollars yet.

In a day or two I was assigned to picket duty with a man of my company,
on the Rappahannock River, with instructions to keep a sharp lookout, as
they said a female spy was expected to cross at that point. My comrade
was Henry E. Johns, who enlisted from Hartford, Connecticut. He appeared
to take pity on me, and that evening we discussed our families and our
affairs; and at that time a warm attachment was formed, which lasted
throughout the war, and since. As we were to remain on guard all night,
he suggested that we should take turns, each being o