"It was the wild midnight—
The storm was on the sky;
The lightning gave its light,
And the thunder echoed by."
After resting awhile and mourning the loss of our great soldier, Lee's army began to move. The question was (not only on our side of the river, but on the other), "What is Gen. Lee up to now?"
The Northern commander determined to investigate, and early in the morning of the ninth of June, 1863, a portion of the Union army began to cross the Rappahannock at every ford for miles, up and down the river.
I was on picket at one of the fords, and was relieved at 3 o'clock in the morning, another soldier taking my place.
I went up through the field into the woods where our reserves (some 20 men) were in camp. It was from this squadron that pickets were sent out and posted along the river.
I hitched my horse, and wrapped in a blanket, lay down to sleep. But I was soon rudely awakened by the watchman, who shouted that the enemy was crossing the river. We all jumped up and mounted our horses. Our captain was with us.
The day was just breaking. The pickets were hurrying up from the river in every direction, firing their pistols to give the alarm.
Our captain formed the men in the edge of the woods for the purpose of checking for a few minutes the advancing enemy, so as to give the 10,000 cavalrymen that were encamped a mile or so in the rear time to saddle and mount their horses and prepare for battle.
The enemy came pouring up from the river, and we opened fire on them, checking them for the moment. Two of our men were killed, several wounded, and two horses killed.
Two couriers had gone ahead to arouse the camp. We soon followed them along the road through the woods, the enemy hard on our heels.