The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-03-03

broke the surface, which was further inter
rupted ny some low copse, outcrorping stone,
and two fences. On the Summit the Federal
aIn,, were posted behind , one, and
Worn somewhat Into the soil, this road served
as a counter -sink, and strengthened the posi-
tion. Farther west there was break In the
ridge; This was occupied by q body of caval-
scarcely time TO mark these features before the
head Of my column appeared, when 1t WINS
filed to the left, close to the base Of the ridge,
FOR protection from the punging fire. Mean
fully, and eDgaseA Sthe 's enemy's attention.
Riding Oh the flank Of my column, between It
and the enemy, saw Jackson beside me.
| =, was not the place for the commander Of
he paid no attention to thee remark. We
where the enemy could depress his guns ayd
bis fire became close and fatal Many men
casioned much dueking of heads In the
column. This, annoyed me not u little
as II was but chids play to the work imme-
diately ID hand. >, Always an admirer of
delightful Uncle, Toby. ! had contracted the
most villainous habit of his beloved army In
Flanders and forgetfnl Of Jaotson's presence
ripped out: i" hat the h are you dodging
for2 If there is any more of 1t, you viii be
halted under this fire for an hour!' The
sharp tones Of a familiar voice produced the
desired effect and the men looked MS If they
had swallowed ramrods; but | shall never
| forget the look Of reproachful surprise on
Jackson's face He placed his hand on my
shonldero said, IN gentle voice, =" am afraid
rode back into the picket.
| The proper ground gainetp tho column
faced to the front and began the ascent. At
| the moment the sun rose over the Blue Ridge
| without cloud OF mist to obscure his rays. 1t
was lovely Sabbath morning, the twenty
/. fifth of May, 1869. The clear, pure atmos-
phere brought Blue Ridge and Allegheny and
Maseanutten almost verhead. Even the
above made beautiful sprals In the air, and
the broad fields of uxuriant wheat glistened
with dew. IL is remarkable how ones atten-
tion may be fixed by some insignificant object,
az mine was by the flight past the line Of .
bluebird, one of the brightest plumaged of
our, feathe,ed tribe, bearing worm IN his
beak breakfast for his caow brood. Birdie
had been on tho war-path and was carrying
home spoil. AS we mounted, we came in full
view of the army, whose efforts In other QUAR-
ters had been saekened to await the result of
our movement, and felt an anxiety amount
ing to pain for the brigade to acquit itself
handsomely, and this feeling was shared by
every man In It,. @
About halfway No, the enemy's cavalry
from his right charged. | directed
LIEUTENANT COLONEL NICHOLAS,
Eighth Louisiana. whose regiment was on
the left of the line, TO withdraw slightly his
two flank companies and receive them with
volley. Willis listening to the order, Nichols
and loss of blood forced him to quit the field
With some cmpted saddles, the cavalry fled
Progress was not stayed by this incident.
Closing the many gaps made by the fierce fire.
steadl1 ,, the rather by It. and preserving
crcditable on parade, the line, with
cadenoed step and eyes on the foe,
swept grandly over copse and ledge and
fence, to crown the heights from which the
enemy had melted away. Loud cheers went
up from the army, prolonged to the east,
where warn-hearted Ewell chcered himself
hoarse, and led forward his mon with renewed
energy. In truth IL was superb feat of arms,
worthy the pen Of him who immortalized the
charge of tho "Bulrs" at Albuera Breaking
into column, we pursued closely jackson
came up and grasped my hand-wurth
thousand words from another-and we were
soon In the streets Of Winchester, n quaint old
town OF some five thousand inhabitants.
There was q little fighting In the streets,
but the people were all abroad certainly all
the women and babies. They were frantic with
delight only regrstting than SO many Cyan
movements. A buxom comely dame, of some
tive-nnd-t thirty summers. with bright eyes
and tight ankles, and conscious Of these ad-
vantages, was especially demonstrative, ex-
whereupon q tall creole from the Teche
sprang from the ranks of the Eighth Louis
lana, Just passing, claspod her In his arms
and imprinted sounding kiss on her ripe
tardr' A loud laug ii went up, and the dame
with a rosy face, but merry twinkle in her
eye, escaped. Past the town, We could see the
enemy flying mort on the Harper's Ferry and
was n considerable force with tho army,
might have leaped q rich harvest. but none
came forward. Raised in the adjoining re-
gon, our troopers were gossiping with their
friends, on worse perhaps, they thought the
war was over. Jackson joined me. and in re-
sponse to my question, Where is the caval-
ry2' glowercd, and was silent. After pursu-
ing for several miles, finding wc were doing
no good, rs indeed Infantry, preserving It's or
ganzation, cannot hope to overtake a ilving
enemy, turned into the fields and camped
The headquarters and depot of all the Fed
eral forces in the Valley, Winchester, was
filed with stores. Prisoners, guns and wag-
ons in large numbers fell into our hands OF
supplies. The subsequent occupation Of Mar
tinsburg added TO the spoil The following
day my command was moved ten or twelve
miles north on the pike leading by Charles
day, some miles cast toward the Shcnan-
doah-this in consequence of the opera
tons of the Federal General Shields, who, in
command Of O considerable force on the east
drove from Front Royal a regiment of Gecr-
gians left there by Jackson.
forward to Martnsburg and beyond hey, adt''' as
stated, while another part threatened and
shelled Harper's Ferry. Jackson himself was
engaged in forwarding t9ptured stores to
Staunton: On Saturday orning, thirty-tirst
of May, | received orders to move through
Winchester, clear the town of strag-
glers, and continue to Strassburg, Three
days rations We're prepared for haver-
sacks, and the brigade marchedo But
few stragglers No,re found I'm Winchester from
which the wounded and sick Except eY reme
cases, bPd been taken. We reached camp pl
strasbHrg after dark-a march of five-and-
thirty miles weather very warm. Windcr,
with his brigade, came in later after a longer
march from the direction of Harper's Ferry.
Jackson sat some time at my camp fire that
Right. and was more communicative than ]
ever remember him before or after. He said
nrem Of with force wa was three IN miles
Govt cd in tho 1,,l1rtin1r Shiolls