“I am going to Baltimore.”
“When?” asked my mother.
“I will start to-morrow morning.” My mother left the room without reply to what she thought were idle words.
When the doctor came for his morning visit, my mother said:
“What do you think this boy says? He says he is going to Baltimore.”
“Let him go,” said the doctor, with an incredulous smile.
The next morning when he came, expecting to find me in bed, my mother said: “Well, Doctor, he has gone to Baltimore.”
The doctor shook his head, and replied, “It will either kill or cure him.” And it cured him. The day I left my bed I went to Baltimore, and a week after that I was in Richmond.
When I reached Baltimore trains were running to and from the city without interruption, but troops were being rushed to Washington, and it was seen that Baltimore would soon be surrounded and hemmed in by Federal troops, and it would then be difficult to leave the city, so I left for Harper’s Ferry, where I understood a body of Confederate troops were already in camp. From Harper’s Ferry I went, via Strasburg, to Manassas. There I found a few regiments of Confederates assembled. From Manassas I started on train for Richmond.
Between Culpeper and Orange Court House we unfortunately came in collision with a train carrying infantry and a battery of artillery to Manassas. Both trains were on the same track and coming from opposite directions. There was a head-on collision; the two engines crashed into each other and the cars telescoped. There were fourteen killed outright and a great number wounded, many fatally.