While chewing the cud of reflection, and anxiously considering the situation, a major of cavalry appeared from the woods calling for assistance, and cold perspiration covered us as our captain was ordered to place his company under the major's direction. Command was given to "Fall in," which we did with very solemn faces, and whisperings went through the ranks that we guessed it was all up with us; but the order to "March" called us to duty and we proceeded down the road accompanied by a battery, which had at that moment arrived and proved a welcome addition to our meagre force. Halting in a clump of trees, a short distance from the river, we divested ourselves of all luggage and then made our way through the woods to the edge of a field that bordered on the river bank; quietness reigned as we deployed as skirmishers, and just before we advanced, the cavalryman pleasantly informed us that when the line struck a certain stump, we should get abundant notice of our Confederate friends' proximity. Not in the least overjoyed at this information, we crept slowly forward, all eyes and ears, and as the extreme left came into line with the stump, the heavens opened, or at least we thought they had, and six pieces of artillery sent their compliments in the shape of so many barrelsful of grape. One grand whir-r-r-r went over us, around us, and, in imagination, through us; it took but the sixtieth part of a minute for fifty men to flatten themselves upon the earth and wish they had never gone to the war. No time was wasted in examining the topography of the position, or in looking for safer quarters, our military discipline showing itself in the unanimity with which we then and there dropped as one man. In the short interval between the first and second discharges of grape, one of those incidents occurred which often turns the seriousness of battle into a seeming frolic. While considering the expediency of advancing, our attention was drawn to the antics of several cattle, which had been quietly grazing near by, now so thoroughly astonished at the strange proceedings that they were literally attempting to carry out the old Mother Goose rhyme of "jumping over the moon." With tails stiff as crowbars and hind legs higher than their heads, they were cavorting around the field, bellowing with fright, and making such an extremely ludicrous spectacle, that, in our excited condition, it was more than we could bear, and almost hysterical laughter weakened us so that we were hardly able to move. But the range of the enemy's guns was too accurate to admit of a long stay in this locality, so we pushed on, rolling or crawling, to the thin line of trees by the river, continual discharges of grape adding increased momentum to our movements, and solid shot from our own battery crossing us so closely that it made the neighborhood more dangerous than social. Drawing long breaths of relief at last, behind the partial shelter of a rail fence, we began to make as close investigation of our opponents across the stream as the difficulties of the position would allow. We found the country thickly inhabited, every stump and tree sheltering its quota of men in gray, and six ugly-looking cannon at work upon our position with a rapidity and precision that was certainly commendable to them, if not fully appreciated by us. However, we soon lost our fears and misgivings in our eagerness to make the climate as warm for them as they had so far made it for us, and we settled down to our work with a vim that would have made old veterans envious. The river was so narrow that every movement on either side was visible, and, lying flat upon the ground, we fired for hours at any signs of life, and were continually answered by the zip-zip of bullets as they flew past our heads, or buried themselves in the rails above us. Thus the conflict continued; grape and solid shot tore frantically over us, plowing up the dirt and crashing through the woods in the rear, filling our ears with the most frightful din. Our greatest difficulty was in loading, for if so much as a hand was exposed to view, such a rain of lead would be sent our way that it took some minutes to assure one's self that he was not killed. Once in a while, the word would be passed along, "George is wounded," "Ned is killed," or, "Serg't Smith" has a hole through his arm, and we would instinctively get closer to the ground and flatten ourselves out as thin as possible. Hunger and thirst also began to tell on us, and we longed for the darkness to come, but our opponents with their larger force held us to our work, seeming loth to have us depart.
About dusk the order was given to fall back quickly and quietly, but how to do it safely in the face of a regiment of Confederates was a puzzle to be solved; edging backward till at fair distance from the fence, we suddenly rose and scampered, in knots of two or three, at break-neck speed for the other side of the field, with bullets and grape buzzing around us like angry wasps. When, at length, we gathered, shivering with the cold, around our pile of blankets, and felt hungrily in the emptiness of our haversacks for one remaining cracker, the prevailing feeling was that "we wanted to go home," but, to our intense disgust, we were ordered to eat our hardtack, if so fortunate as to have any, and, as soon as sufficiently dark to conceal our movements, to picket the river bank near the bridge and be ready to support the battery in any attempted night surprise. This we felt to be an outrage on good nature, and so expressed ourselves in language not at all polite. We were tired and hungry, and the night cold and sharp, but orders are orders and must be obeyed, and we moodily wended our way to our various stations.
It was a good time to illustrate those lines of Tennyson,—
"Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why."
Nevertheless we were not at all in harmony with the poem, but felt perfectly willing and wholly competent to instruct our commanders on the correct way to handle troops. As we pushed on through the underbrush and débris of the forest, the smallest stick trod upon would crack like a rifle-shot, and the unearthly howl of a dog, in the yard of a hut near by, made our hair stand on end as it echoed through the woods. The hours passed tediously as we peered through the darkness across the sluggish stream to the opposite side; but a little after midnight movements of the enemy, which they did not try to conceal, awakened our fears; the noise of bodies of men moving from different points, mingled with the sound of voices and frequent shouts, led us to feel that life would be safer and pleasanter behind our battery, when an officer came from the rear and ordered us to come out in a hurry. We didn't stand upon the order of going, but "got, right smart,"—not a word of fault was found, nor a complaint made, out of harmony with the officer's wishes. Company was formed at once, and the retreat up the road commenced, many an eye peering back into the darkness to see if the expected pursuit had begun; and had we waited an hour longer, our march would have been towards the prison-pens of Georgia, for our opponents then crossed the bridge with a force that would have swept us away in a moment; and the longer we live the happier we feel that our curiosity remained unsatisfied. Upon reaching the regiment we learned that our corps, having been unable to accomplish the object in view, as so many other expeditions failed to do, were in retreat, with heavy forces fresh from Lee's army in pursuit, and that it behooved us to cover the three-mile interval in double-quick time if we would join the procession in safety. We had been without rations all day, and for drinkables had only the water that lay in puddles by the roadside; but, wearied as we were, we kept pace with the other companies, muttering bitter imprecations against everybody in general, as we stumbled into holes or tripped over sticks in the intense darkness of the forest road. At early dawn we fell into the line of the retreating corps, but not till near midnight did the army halt with the feeling that it had placed safe distance between it and our adversaries. Then we 'broke ranks for rails,' and, with coffee and pipes, sat beside the cheering blaze recounting the incidents of the engagement. Our little encounter, so insignificant beside the story of great battles, was yet full of interest to us, and some were missing from our ranks who would never again respond to their country's call. To them and theirs it was the great battle of the Rebellion; to us, who live to tell of it, only an episode of army life.