CHAPTER III.
THIRD YEAR OF THE WAR.
When we left home we thought our command had gone across the Blue Ridge and were in the valley of Va. But when we got to Port Republic we learned they were moving in the direction of Chancellorsville, so we had to recross the Blue Ridge.
Just about sun down of the day we recrossed, we arrived at a Mrs. Woolfork’s. There were about 24 other soldiers stopping there for supper, also. Mrs. Woolfork’s son-in-law, Mr. Poindexter, had been in prison with us at Washington, just about a month before. He knew the country well and we decided to march all night in order to join the command. Just as supper was ready a citizen who lived nearby and knew we were all there, came in and said there was a lot of cavalrymen on the Louisa Spring road, but he could not just tell which way they were aiming to go.
While we were eating supper, some of the family stayed on the front porch to see if the cavalrymen would come that way and just when we were about half through supper, the young lady who stood guard rushed in and said the cavalrymen had come near enough for her to see they were yankees and a couple of them where already dismounting.
The dining room was in the basement and we all went out at an east door while the Yankees were coming in on the west side of the house on the upper floor. We ran and got our horses as rapidly as possible and rode about a mile, and then Mr. Poindexter and I went to a cross road to see if we could hear anything of them coming and to our surprise there was a whole division of cavalry coming. We had left our two horses with the other 28 men and we just stayed in the heavy pine timber, where we knew the Yankees couldn’t see us, until Stoneman’s whole division passed.
It was fortunate for us that this all took place after dark, for had it been a couple of hours earlier, the Yankees would have undoubtedly captured us all. We stayed all night in this pine timber about a mile from Poindexter’s home and kept on the alert all the time for fear other Yankees were following.
After day-break we started on in the direction of Chancellorsville, but soon found there were troops moving in front of us. Poindexter and I went in ahead of the other 28, to see if we could find out who they were and soon found they were Confederates.
I left Poindexter and went to them as soon as they halted and found it was Gen. William Henry Lee’s Division. Poindexter went back and told the other men to come on and we joined Lee’s men. He had no rations for his men and as we had only had a half supper the night before and no breakfast, he told us to go to a farm house near by and try and get something.
We found the man of the house as kind as any one could be. He was the father of our present Judge, William A. Anderson. He fed all 30 of us and our horses also.
We went back to Lee’s division after our late breakfast and after a short march, overtook Stoneman’s division and began fighting his rear men.