Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-08-25
number of relatives and sons Of his nearest
friends in the company, SO

| GOVERNOR extra BnLY) SMITH
had accompanied them to the village and the
Old war-horse liked to be near at hand when
powder was to be burned anyhow. When the
nring began In front of the court house the COM
pany was hastily formed in front Of the church,
| and Governor Smith was soon in tho midst OF
them dealing out oratorical announcement.
ore rotando, to fight bravely for flag and state.
soon Col. Ewell, who had been rousted out of
his quarters BY the firing and yelling came up
| TO the company as it was moving off down a
| side lane towards the firing, and as he was in
his shirt sleeves Che had taken off his CAPTAINS
coat-it was the only one he had-he had worn
IN the regular army, because, as he said after
wards, he never wanted to fight in that livery
AGAIN., and did not condescend to explain who
| he was. his peremptory manner and rough
handling OF some of the men who did not move
| TO suit him. came near getting for him the butt
| END OF rifle over the head. However Gov.
Smith soon explained things, and his orders
| were Obeyed.
When the command reached the gate Of Stev-
enson's farm, where the lane made q bend to-
wards the turnpike, squad of cavalry suddenly
burst through the center of the column and
| Threw the whole line into mOmentary confrl-
sion. In which there was considerable leaping of
| fences into the fields. 1t is not known to this
| day what cavalry this was, whether confederate
| or federal; but number of shots were fired a
portion OF the company retreated towards Ma
| nassaS, and when order was restored Col. Ewell
| found be had only about forty men to aid him.
| With this force, accompanied by Gov Smith, he
marched to the turnpike and took possession on
| either side, facing the way the federal cavalry
| had gone. And here may state that hap
pened to be present at the only real fight of the
| night, owing to the fact that was sitting up
with sick father, and was awake when the
firing began. | took my double-barreled shot
/ gun and sufficiency Of buck-shot, and made
| my way cautiously (some three hundred yards
| on towards the point where the shooting was
gong on and fortunately fell in with one OF the
Rifles. who was lying in wait behind fence on
| the side of the pike. Soon dark mass ap-
peared moving slowly towards the position
taken by the Rifles It was evident they were
cavalry, from the height of the mass; but it was
impossible to distinguish the forms of the
riders from those of the horse.
FIRING IN THE DARK.
When they had approached within fifty yards
Col Ewell stepped out in the middle of the
pike, revolver in hand, his white shirt making
him conspicuous, and cried out:
"What cavalry is that?"
He reiterated the demand twice. when sud
denly there belched out from the front of the
dark mass three or four tongues of flame. and
Ewell, staggering to the right of the roadside,
shouted. :" Fire on the and
| sunk down beside the fence behind which his
troops were posted. Then the rihemen blazed
away. loading and firing as fast as possible,
while the federal cavalry kept up pyrot echnic
fire from their pistols Strange to say they did
not use their carbines that night. The cavalry.
not approaching the fierce fusilade which greeted
them on their first appearance, retired
Tor few hundred yards. but soon
tney came on again. and the order was
distinctly heard for the charge; but
the men were 10th to obey; they were as much
in the dark as to what they were opposed to as
had been the cOnfederates in the early part of
the melee. The officer of the federals cried ont:
In it, they are nothing but citizens;
charge" A voice from the ranks REPLIED ..No
citizens fire that way" In the meantime Col.
Eweli, though sOrely wounded through the
shoulder. had gOti en- hiSTilemen in better shape
now that the position of the enemy was known.
ana as they came up for the second time by
order one-half the men reserved their fire; but
they went back again without hurting a man on
the confederate side by their return fire All this
time Gov. Smith was exposing himself i'm ex-
h0rtlng the men. both by voice and example.
and he was only silenced by being forcibly ad-
m0niShed by his kinsfOlk that he was doing more
narm than good in revealing the position to the
enemy. After an interval of fifteen minutes or
so. and just as an order had been given for
the company to form in the turnpike,
the pickets who had been sent in front fred and
came running in 1t was yet too dark to
see objects distinctly. but the outline of man
and horse, could be Well. noted The federal
cavalry advanced at a trOt, and the Rifles
stretched In double line across the pike with ,
Mississippi rifles without bayonets, stood firmly
and at eighty yards poured in a well-directed
Voiley that sent them to the rightabOut once
more. They then (the cavalry retreated north
ward, and as was seen at daylight by the line of
dead horses, had gone Off finally by the right and
to the As soon as it was fully light the loss
began to be estimated.
EwELL WOUNDED.
As far as then known Col Ewell was painfully
wounded. one Of the Rappahannock cavalry
MORALLY and several of the Rifles had received
slight scratches. There was no telling then
how many had been captured, for Capt MARI.
with one-half Of his company, had disappeared
and only few Of the cavalry had returned from
their skedaddle. In company with others, about
sun-up, was searching the field where the in
fantry was first broken, when came upon an
officer living on his face In the high grass with
ms sword and belt in his left hand and pistol
lying near his hand, which was flung forward
l lifted his hand and saw that he was dead. I
went up to the rifle company then drawn nm
about hundred yards off and told what had
SEEN Instantly a cOlored man behind the ranks
cried out,
my GOD, RS MARsE JOHN"
and sohbing and crying he broke into run for
| the place had indicated. 1t was too true 1t
was the body of Captain John O. Marr the first
| officer killed in battle on the soil of Virginia
during the late war. He had been shot through
the heart by bullet from a carbine held by
horseman. The direction of the wound proved
that.
Lieut.. TOmpkins, in his official report. states
that he lost one man killed and five wounded
including himself. His small loss may be at
tribnted to the fact that owing to the darkness
the rifles fired too low, and. hit the horses in
stead of their riders. H was lively little fight
at any RATE and of Importance, as the first clash
OF arms between the hostile forces In Virginia
have written the above from memory only.
and may have too much coOred some facts and
omitted Others. but at least Ihave tried to write
honestly. In what 1 have stated about the
harshness Of Gen. Ewel's discipline and III
treatment OF the volunteers and civilians with
whom he came in contact at that period. have
only to say that afterwards they came to know
MIN better, and his men loved and trusted him
as he In turn loved and trusted them.
THE HONE OF THE TROUT.
Notes OF an August VacatiOn-T7,e
Place Whore You Don't Have % 60