We soon heard the firing of the artillery back at Kelly’s Ford. Gen. Lee had taken a position on the heights above the ford and Averill made an attack on him. Gen. Stewart had been ordered from Fredericksburg up to Culpepper C. H., to attend a court-martial, and went with Lee as a spectator and not as a commander. He and Major John Pellam rode in front of Lee’s lines and the Yankees seeing him thought his whole corps was there and began to fall back at once, under fire from our forces, and lost a great many men in the retreat, and a few were captured. Some of our men were captured also, and among them the gallant Major Cary Breckinridge.
The couriers ordered the guards to hurry us on to Falmouth, then Hooker’s headquarters. We arrived at about an hour before sun-set, and about 9 o’clock the whole army returned.
We remained here three days and on March 21, ’63, were paroled and sent on the Fredericksburg & Aquia Creek Road, to a station called Aquia Creek. There was a boat landing here and we took a boat called “The State of Maine,” for Washington. Here we were put in the city prison on the second floor in the basement.
There were 75 of us and all put in one room. There were bunks on the walls and benches for seats, but still our quarters were not comfortable, as the men above us had bored holes in the water pipes and didn’t have them sufficiently stopped, and water was running down the walls and over all the floor except a little place in the centre large enough to spread a blanket.
We were kept here until the next day when they sent us to the Old Capitol prison. We were all put in the same room again, but the quarters were comfortable and alright. We had pork and beans, coffee and baker’s bread, good enough for any one.
As I was disabled by being caught in the quicksand, and was still very lame, the guard allowed me to go all over the barracks. I had to see the Dr. often, so I had a very pleasant time going around. Dr. had given me a pass, also, to go any where inside the barracks. The barracks was a Park of 3 or 4 acres and was said to contain 10,000 men. Rebels and Yankees together.
We had a full view of the street and often saw the Congressmen and President Lincoln pass by. The sentinel would often tell us when different important persons passed, which was a pleasure to us, to help pass time. We were given quite a lot of good literature to read, and altogether, we had a much better time than when in service. It paid to be a prisoner that time, certainly.
While we were there a lot of Yankees were raiding in the Valley of Va. and a lot of Confederates were raiding also, and the two forces met and a good number of the Yankees were killed. There was quite a lot of talk about it, and it seems that the Yankees thought the citizens had gotten the soldiers to attack them in some unfair way. So a lot of citizens from the valley, were summoned to come to Washington as witnesses in the case. They were brought to the barracks and put in with us. The Johnnie Rebs were all glad to see them. We called them fresh fish, and had to initiate them, of course.
One of us would go to a citizen and get him to talking and telling us about the affair, and the other boys would begin crowding around close by to hear, and we’d say “boys don’t push,” which meant to push and crowd more, until we got our fresh fish in such close quarters that some of them would get fighting mad. When he would laugh and enjoy it with the rest, that was a signal to give way.
Dr. Lucas, from Frederick Co., was a large fellow; weighed more than two hundred, and he got the maddest of all until he understood the joke, and then he was the best fellow we had to help initiate.