been
withdrawn and another put in its place, and the men did not seem to
understand that we were out on this mission. We made our report, and
shortly afterward mounted, re-crossed the river and went into camp. It
proved to be nothing more than a reconnoissance of the enemy's cavalry,
probably to find out whether Lee's army was still encamped on the river.

Some time after this, perhaps two or three weeks, while on picket some
miles up the river, a considerable distance from the main army's
encampment, a body of the enemy's cavalry crossed the river somewhere
between the pickets, and got behind the line of pickets unobserved.

It was a very foggy morning. Our post consisted of six men, and our
position was a few hundred yards back of the river.

Two of the men were on picket; the others were at the post.

About 6 o'clock in the morning we heard a few shots in our rear. One of
our men was sent back to find out the cause of it. He had not been gone
many minutes when we heard other shots, which forced us to the
conclusion that the enemy in some way had gotten behind us. Our pickets
had also heard the firing, and came in to find out what the trouble was.

We followed the direction of the shots, and had not gone far before we
saw through the heavy fog quite a large body of cavalry.

Whether friend or foe, it was impossible to determine. So we thought
discretion the better part of valor and immediately turned, each fellow
taking care of himself.

Three went up the river. Faunt Neal and myself took the opposite course.
The Yankees (for it proved to be the enemy) had seen us, and started in
pursuit. Neal and I rushed down the hill toward the river, passing a
grove of small pine trees. My comrade turned abruptly to the right and
hid himself in this sanctuary, while I continued across the meadow and
up the hill on the opposite side into the woods and escaped.

We all turned up in camp the next day except one. He had ridden straight
into the enemy's lines, thinking they were Confederates. This ended his
military career.

I think it was about the first of February an order had been sent from
headquarters allowing a certain number of regiments a furlough. It
extended to my regiment. Some of the companies could not avail
themselves of it, because their homes were wholly in the territory
occupied by the enemy. My company was among the fortunate ones, although
many of our men were from Loudoun and Fauquier, and the enemy was