Everything was very quiet in camp after the “cattle raid” until the 27th of September, when the eager longing of the “Ash by Brigade” to go home was gratified, and General Rosser, in a beautifully touching General Order, in which he reviewed the past campaign and paid eloquent tributes to the fallen members of the command, announced that he was ordered to proceed immediately to the Valley, and the brigade marched out for the “promised land” again.
Colonel White had obtained a furlough, or rather a sick leave, and Captain Myers commanded the “Comanches.” The season was the most pleasant of the whole year, and the line of march was through a beautiful (in part, a grandly magnificent) country, and notwithstanding the unfavorable news from General Early’s department, the “Laurel Brigade” moved with joyous hearts towards “their own country.”
A journal of the march will tell best of its pleasures, and it is inserted for the benefit of the men who made it.
Tuesday, September 27th.—Bade (we hope) a long farewell to the “Old Virginia lowlands, low,” and turned our faces towards the grand old mountain-bound Valley of the Shenandoah, and everybody is glad.
September 28th.—Passed Blacks-and-Whites and Burksville Junction; camped sixty miles from Lynchburg.
September 29th.—Marched through Prince Edward by the C. H. and camped in Charlotte county, thirty miles from Lynchburg. The people down here reckon all distances “from Lynchburg.”
September 30th.—Marched at 9-1/2 A. M. into Campbell county, and camped three miles from Lynchburg among the bushes; weather delightful and news from Valley more so, for they say Early has whipped the Yankees.
October 1st.—Passed the great “Tobacco city,” a dingy old town; crossed the James on a dilapidated bridge and took the road to Lexington; raining all day.
October 2d.—Marching all day through the mountains, along the James river and canal, and it is worth a whole year of life to ride for the first time through this wildly picturesque country, but for the men who love the mountains as we do, and have not so much as seen them for five months, it is more than glorious to find ourselves in their very heart.
October 3d.—Still in the blessed old Blue Ridge, but passed Lexington about 1 o’clock P. M. and camped near Fairfield; raining very hard.