The National tribune., 1900-11-15

nj every fence corner. II soon began to
rain again, and hut very few hal gum
blankets, and Advent tru1siug along. wet
through. 1t was now seven miles to LEX
lhGtOn, and, concluding the march IF the
| regiment too slow for me, feeling refreshed
after the rain, lfstarted ahead along the
fences. and summoninS all m? strength
passed man alta tine until ahead If the
regiment, and finallyEahead of the whUic
| army baggage wnguus and all. stretching
as it did nearly threeimiles along the pike.
When within two mills from town
stopped at one Of the many fine houses
along the road. They could be seen back
of the rows of trees that frOnted them.
Seeing n colOred man at gate, l asked
who lived there, and was told it was Jas.
Il. ClayS place, relation of Henry Clay.
He was anxious to hear from his master,
who was Colonel of one of the cavalry
| regiments, and was in the fight the day
before. | told him he was safe, as l had
seen him that day, and he wanted me to
go up to the house to reaSSure his mis-
tress. Thinking | might get something to
eat, | went up. Within the row of trees
| found the largest. finest and smoothcst
lawn | had seen since | saw the one Mt
the Capitol in Washington City. In the
center was a fine house. built of brick,
looking like n house and a private hotel
combined The lady, with her girls, was
on the steps, and InquirlI'g as soon as |
WIS hiiHlh S,lcthlilp ulSlillit- lDlu H'l
that Col. Clay was safe, and would be
home that night, and other things to re
lieve her fears. They invited me i'll and
had the servants prepare a supper. The
servants were of all ages, shades of color
and sex, and the house was furnished like
a palace. They brought me warm cakes,
ham, honey, apple sauce and coffee from
silver coffee pot. Hurrying through the
sumptUOus meal, | left them and went
back to the pike just in time to catch
wagon going into town with tired soldiers.
Arriving i'll Lexington, | found the streets
filled with soldiers, army wagons and cay
airy. ] plodded on through town to our
camp, and hunted out my knapsack from
a pile as large as haystack, put on dry
Undertaking, and made bed from ban-
kets, and was soon sound aSleep-all two
hours ahead of the regiment. / would
like to have stayed mp and helped the boys
when they came in, but in times like these
L realized everyone must look out for him
self. | awOke in the morning and found
had not taken cold, although l had been
wringing wet, and spent almost all the
forenoon trying to get my wet boots on
my sore feet
AT noon our company was ordered out
on picket for the day, marched into the
city, and We're assigned by the Provost
Marshal the duty of guarding the Yer
sailles Pike, about a mile from town. We
established camp by a beautiful wood
near Union lady's house, who sent her
negroes down with baskets of apples and
peaches. 1t was here under q large tree
on beautiful Indian mound that / be-
gan to write you this letter. | had scarce
ly begun when word was received that
the city was being evacuated; that the
rebels were coming in great force. Going
TO the fence and looking up the road,
saw it was crowded with army wagons
hurrying out. Alongside of them We're
hundreds of people, soldiers, stragglers
from regiments, some mounted on horses
or mules. Through the fields in one d-
rection could beIseen squads of soldiers
and citizens moving; soon came along bod
les of cavalry, and next to them six big A.
lib. cannon, eight lib. brass pieces but
worthless to us for want of artilerymen
and ammunition Thus it went on all the
afternoon, while we were sitting by the
fences asking about the retreat and wait
ing for orders to go Jalong. Fearing the
regiment might leave without US, the Cap
tain thought the, Colonel might not know
where we were, and he then sent me to
camp, across the fields about two miles.
SCENES 1oF CONFUSION.
After difficult timeII found our camp
and the regiment all in line, and the
Colonel was hurrying affairs in the swift
est manner. The wagons We're crowded
with what could be put in and started on
the run. There stood all our beautiful |
new tents, full of our knapsacSs, blankets,
etc, and not one lof- them touched. / re-
ported to the Colonel that Co. G. was on |
picket and was awaiting orders. rie said |
he had not known where we were, and |
ordered us in, but could not tell me where |
to come, as the regiment was moving and |
he did not know in which direction. /
ran TO our tent and tried to pack my KNAPP |
sack; threw out my white shirts and put