Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1897-02-20

the NonfeueratSS, the puuing ana
whistling oflocomotives. and the beat
ing Of drums in I.yuchburg, and knew
that reinforcements were arriving for
the foe, ant we had some serious
thoughts about the coming morrow
when we considered there were no re-
Inducements for us, and our $50 or
more miles from base.
About midnightp ickets wentquietly
around among the men arousing them
with the intelligence that the army
was in retreat and orders were for us
to mount and fall in line iman ediately
and as silently as possible and proceed
to the turnpike. We could hear the
distant roar Of our wagons in hasty
movement on the pike. and it was not
long until we were on the pike also
with our horses tails towards Lynch
burg. | found our quartermaster and
asked him what provision he had on
hand for man aud beast "Only
pair OF boots--nothing else, he re-
Piled When daylight came we were
quite number of miles away from
the scene of fighting, and were warned
to husband the strength oiour horses,
as there was no grain for them and
they would have tosubsist upon grass.
Wherever there was grass we would
have to halt and let them Craze. The
cause of our sudden retreat was the
alarming fact that was made apparent
during the night that the ammunition
was nearly exhausted, and further
fighting would lead to worse disaster
Therefore, retreat was the least oftwo
evils. Some time in the morning the
sound was borne to us OF fighting in
the rear. The Confederates were pur-
suing, and we had yet many miles to
the mountains, as Lynchburg is about
90 miles away from where we expected
to reach then. In this rear fighting
Of course the infantry and artillery
had to stand the blunt. A good many
Of the infantry were killed, wounded,
or captured. Many gave out in the
terrible heat of the sun and gavethem
selves up, and besides they we're al
most in a perishing condiction from
hungerand thirst. ecavalry plodded
along in the hot sun by day, almost
choked with dust, and at night the re
was no rest, we had to keep right on.
We made occasional halts of half an
hour to Craze our horses. We saved
them all we could by walking and
leading them untilwe were exhausted,
and then we would mount and ride
awhile. It was not unusual at night
to hear men snoring loudly on their
horses--fast asleep on the march.
When halt was made some would
dismount and lie down on the ground
and be asleep instantly, and had al
most to be kicked awake. So it went
day after day and night after night
tor several days. One night the writer
Of this, while on the march, also fell
asleep on his horse and was suddenly
aroused by shout: Hello, there
where are you goings Where do you
belong?' My horse had left his place
in the ranks and walked briskly ahead
half mile or so to the head of the
column and was passing it. The ex-
clamation came from General Taylor,
who with his staff, marched at the
front. | explained matters and waited
where was until our men came along.
Wherever cattle or stock ofany kind
were found they were driven along
and slaughtered. as we needed them.
Fresh meat without salt was all we
had to subsist on-when it could be
had when not, nothing. The coun-
try was sparsely populated, and It had
been raided through 50 much atvarious
times in the war. by both armies, that
the citizens were about destitute them
selves. We cooked our meat by hold
ing it on the ends of green sticks over
fires. One day some Of our men out
foraging came to barn, where they
had the good fortune to find a couple
OF bagsful Of oats and corn chopped
together for horse feed. They brought
them along and we made cakes OF the
stuff-frst picking out all the straw
and chaff we could--by stirring it to
batter in our tincups and baking it on
heated stones. The chat in it made
it a little rough to swallow, but we
were glad to have it, We heard that
the infantry in the rear were starving,
and presume there was much truth
in it. We pitied them, but could moi
help them. as we were very near the