The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-01-16

~" A1"h OIL
ment were useless the news spread
like wildfire, and the men deliberate
ly commenced a retreat which soon
turned into a rout. In the meantime
a few faithful followers had gathered
their brave commander upon a blan-
ket, and throwing him more dead than
alive upon a horse steadied him upon
either side while some one led the
charger oil the field as rapidly as pos
| sible. Col. III. A. Brown of the First
n. c. commanding the SHARP shooters
Of the division, galloped off the field
for an ambulance, which fortunately
was secured i'm a short time. The con
eyanc was then backed up in order
to keep the horses attached, from be-
ing shot until those who were hurry>
ing with the wounded General could
reach it, when he was tumbled rather
than lifted into the ambulance In the
most expeditions and driven
at a flu ious rate in the direction OF the
turnpike Cor Strasbury. The rout had
now become general, and the men
WHO a few hours before were charging
VIGOROUSLY over the field after a re-
treating foe, were themselves now re-
treating precipitately, dlsmayed and
panic slicken over the same ground
The glorious orb of day which had
risen that morning upon a splendid
field of vic5ory for the men in gray
who were battling upon their ma
tive soil for their rights as freemen.
was now sinking to rest b ehind clouds
of smoke, leaving no partln grays to
guild the disastrous scene. Gen. Cox
had the misfortune to have his horse
shot in the morning about two hours
,c%o. %l.~ Iottln I,a1 a,n,p,nnoal u-o
offered him our charger but he cour-
~teousIy declined, remarking hat he
hated TO ave so fine a horse shot, as
he certainly would be or might be, if
he mounted him This being the case
ard not caring to he mounted while
our General was or foot. we sent cur
steed to the rear.
So when the retreat, or more prop
erly speaking, the stampede commen-
ced both the General and his stall
were on foot. Horses had been sent
for however, long before the beginning
OF the disasters, but had failed To
reach US. The enemy's cavalry began
to press us o on flank and in rear.
and without any attempt at order
every man began 90 the move TO The
rear after liiS OWL fashion: Fortunate
u we came up with Il man strad
ding our horse. and we were not long
in swapping places with him and then
turned uul attention to making some
efforss 10 stay the tide of retreat.
The only troops upon Il side that
we discovered IN line as we We're re-
crossing Cedar Greek was General
Robert Johns5on's n. G.. brigade
which was ~galIan:ly contesting every
inch of advance made by the enemy
and sulleniy ~retreating before them:
preserving ut the same time a beauti-
ful line of battle and delivering vofley
after volley of minnie balls in to the
ranks of blue coats as they pressed
hard upon them.
We tried to rally other troops and
pointed TO JohnstOn's gallant com
mand as worthy of emulati N. We
begged, we entreated, we prayed the
men 20 halt and form a line to resist
the attack, but all TO no purpose when
losing all patience, and as a last resort,
we "cussed" and SwOre, and must we
write the truth. we SwOre hard too. 1t
was enough to make a chaplin swear
and we couldn't help 1T. But just
right in the midst of this little ex-
ercise, a shell struck under our hor-
SEES belly, richocheted aud going be-
yond exploded, our face and eyes we're
filled with sand and our horse becom-
ing terribly frightened, plunged and
reared to such an extent that we
couldn't ,ell at first whether u horse
or ourself was shot, but as soon as
our vision became clear, we discover
ed with an inward ejaculation of
thanks and with a mental resolution
TO swear any more that evening.
that neither the steed nor his rider |
was hurt. We took a hasty glance
around, and discovered JOhnstOn's
line had broken and the enemy's
cavalry were dashing in among our
men. 1t was folly to remain longer,
and spuring our horse towards the
turnpike with the intention of making
Strasburg, we We're met by stray
Cling C~onfederates double quicklng
away from the turnpike road who
shouted to us, 1.-THE pike is full OF
Yankee cavalry; if you go that way
you will be certain to be captured.
Our line OF retreat was now cut Oft;
the enemy were between us and
which way to go, we did
not know. The shot and shell
falling thick in the woods
either side of the turnpike, and the
Confederates were fleeing to
mountains to escape capture;
we follow them or run the
gauntlet and endeavOr to reach our
tortiti cations ut Fishers Hill? We
lie ermined upon tue latter course.
We rode On rapidly through the
woods, made quite a clrcuitOus route,
one OF Two of the branches OF
he Shenandoah, thanked Strasburg
and came on to the turn
bike about one hour after da' k at the
yery point where u column had left