nated with the
second battle of Bull Run, where Lieutenant Compton, the only remaining
officer with my company, was killed. This occurred the evening before
the last day of the battle.

CHAPTER III

There had been some very severe fighting on the part of King's division.
We approached the field from Manassas Junction, arriving about nine
o'clock. As we were riding through this division, the men called out,
"What regiment is that?" When we told them they arose and cheered us,
for we had been with them on a former occasion. Then, as we were
approaching the Centerville pike, Kilpatrick rode down the column
calling out, "General MacDowell wants the Harris Light to take a
battery." "Draw sabres." We drew sabres, put our cap bands under our
chins, and turned into the pike, then to the left, moving a short
distance, and then into a field, also on the left, forming in column of
squadrons. It was then too dark to see any distance ahead. My position
was within one or two of the flank of my company, where I heard
Kilpatrick order my squadron to go out into the road to charge this
battery, which we could not see. As we were not the last squadron in the
column, which happened to be Captain Seymour's, he said, "Never mind,
take the last one," which was fortunate for us. In a moment or two we
heard the clatter of the horses' hoofs on the pike, and then saw a
sheet of fire from the enemy's lines some distance ahead, which I
understood was on the edge of a piece of woods. This fire was also doing
damage to our columns exposed to it, when the order was given for us to
"wheel and retire," where we could get under cover.

From this unfortunate charge only eleven men came back that night. It
was said that they were subjected to not only the fire of the enemy but
also from our infantry on the right of the road, who, hearing the
clatter of the horses' hoofs, and unable to see what caused it, assumed
it to be a charge of the enemy's cavalry, when they also opened fire. It
was felt at the time that the ordering of this charge was a blunder, and
yet it was one of the many blunders from which our volunteer army
constantly suffered in the early years of the war. Kilpatrick was
severely criticised in the regiment for it that night and the next day;
little, however, was ever said about it in the reports. Whether
Kilpatrick acted under superior orders or on his own initiative, I never
learned.

A few minutes after the regiment had retire