r his horse was satisfied, instead of
returning by the way he went in, concluded to cross the stream and come
out on our side. The water was deeper than he anticipated and his horse
nearly lost his footing. However, when he got to our side, he urged his
horse to climb out at a point where the bank was steep. In this effort
he fell over backward, Custer going out of sight in the water. In an
instant, however, he was up on his feet and the horse struggled out amid
the shouts of the spectators, when, mounting his horse, the march was
resumed. The dust at this time was so thick that one could not see more
than a set of fours ahead, and in a few minutes, when it settled on his
wet clothes and long wet hair, Custer was an object that one can better
imagine than I can describe.

[Illustration: BREVET MAJOR GENERAL D. McM. GREGG]

In a short time, Kilpatrick, at the head of our column, met Fitzhugh
Lee's command at Aldie, and drove it through the town, where a desperate
fight occurred just beyond it, the enemy being strongly posted there
behind stone walls. As soon as the first shots were heard, General Gregg
hurried to the front and took his position on a hill just beyond and to
the right of the town, upon which Kilpatrick had posted a battery. It
was then found that Kilpatrick was outnumbered, all his command had
been charging and he had no reserves. General Gregg then directed me to
go back and bring Colonel Irwin Gregg, commanding the Second Brigade, by
a short cut back of the town, through the woods, to this part of the
field as quickly as possible. Just as I went over the ridge to carry
this order, I met the First Maine cavalry, with Colonel Doughty at its
head, coming onto the field. As I passed him, the Colonel, who knew me,
laughingly remarked, "You are going in the wrong direction." I replied:
"Yes, I know it, but I will be back in a few minutes." Very shortly I
returned to this spot with Colonel Gregg at the head of his brigade,
when I saw a man leading a horse upon which was a body, evidently dead,
as his arms were hanging on one side and the feet on the other, a man
supporting it. Inquiring, "Whom have you got there?" the man replied,
"Colonel Doughty." The Colonel, who was a most gallant man, as soon as
he arrived on the field at a moment most critical for Kilpatrick,
charged at the head of his regiment, routing a charge of the enemy that
had repulsed the Fourth New York, and then charged upon dismounted men
behi