The National tribune., 1902-01-23
WHO GOES1THERE?
Continued from first page

| Mon forces against the main body oil
rebels merely forced, them 10 give ground
i'll the direction of Ashland. Lane, nj
Taliaferr"s Mill. was left to work his
way out. which he did later in the after
noon with considerable loss.
Now. when The fight opened, the most
of Br;nch's Brigade-having moved some
what forward-had placed itself between
me and our troops. / soon became aware
of this fact by seeing struggling Confcd-
rections: some of them seemed to be
wounded.
Half Il mile or so to the eastward the
battle was loud. BY this time il was a
little after noon: the sun was hot The
sounds of battle We're advancing toward
the north. Struggling men went by me.
giving mo 10 attention whatever. ! kept
my poSItlOn-n0t remaining still, how
ever, but walking about in the woods in
order TO prevent t.'a possibility Of being
suspected of trying to hidc-and awaited
the issue.
Soon the struggling had ceased. and the
battle died away. and | began to fear that
the C0nfedcratcs had had the best of it.
An hour or so passed; then Il new bat
tie broke ont in Il SOutheaSterly direction.
This was caused by Branch's endcavOr-
ing to throw 4 force in the rear of the
Union troops. who had pushed on nearly
10 Hanover COurt House in pursuit of
Lanes regiment, leaving Branch on their
left flank and in position to do great dam
age" Branch attacked vigorously, but
was eventually forced back. Again men
began TO rush 10y me, and this time some
of them We're i'll actual flight. There were
many wounded; gradually the woods were
scattered over with a regiment or two
the troops showing various degrees of
dlsorSanlZation, some of the companies
holding together and retiring slowly,
while men, single and in groups, were
making their way, as rapidly as they
could run, from the field, yet all in the
same direction. as though they had some
knowledge Of Il rallying-placc.
Seeing this confusion of many men, my
fear increased, and | decided quickly
whether right or wrong-that it would
not do for me to remain an idle and un-
armed spectator of the retreat; and |
thought. too, that it would be very haz-
ardous to attempt 10 get out of this mass
of men by going in northerly or south
eriy direction. either of which would be
taking them in line, If they could be said
to have line. | saw. of course, that if
l should simply stOp--it would have been
easy to play the wounded Confed-
erate-the Union troops would soon pick
me up; but | wanted to see where the de-
fcated rebels would rally A man. slight
" wounded, | suppose, threw down his
1
the gun-an Enfield rifle-and joined the
fugitives CnaccOuntably to me, the dis
order Of the troops became greater. and
good many Of the ystraggiers disbur-
dcned themselves Of whatever they could
throw away. ! soon secured a cartridge
box, and haversack. and with my own
canteen-the like of which there were
many IN the hands of the rebelS--I be-
came, for the time, complete Confed-
crate soldier a.,4.
No immediate cause for the disorder of
the rebels could be- seen. The Union
troops were not in sight. | expected the
brigade TO soon make Il stand, but the re
treat continued; sometimes I caught the
contagion and ran along with running
men, although / was sure that organized
bodies were now covering our rear had
no distinct purpose except to determine
the new line.
After some little time I began to wish
that | was well out of the scramble, but
l saw no way ont of ii. Officers were
riding about and trying to make the men
get into some sort Of formation. Evening
was near, but / saw that before dark
ness should cover me the brigade would
be formed again and would make new
stand, or else retreat in better order in
the night
now gave mp all hope of ever return
ing to find my horse, but felt confident
that Jones would recover him.
AS | had anticipated, the retreat be
came less disorderly, and at last ceased
altogether The officers succeeded in
the westward, which | believed, from my
knowledge of the map, to be the Ashcake
road. When / reached this forming line
| hesitated. | thought at first that !
ought to make no pretense of Joining it;
that prudence commanded me to keep far
from it. Then the thought came to me
that these disorganized battalions were
forming in any shape they could now
take-men belonging to different cOmpan-
les, and even TO different regiments, be-
ing side by side; so ! got into line with
them.
/ smiled when / remembered that DIR.
khayme had once said that n spy might
find it his duty to desert to the enemy.
The men seemed TO have lost none of
the proper pride of the soldier. but they
were very bitter against some General or
other unknown to me, and equally so to
them, as it appeared; he had allowed them
to be defeated when they could easily
have been reinforced. From the talk
which | heard | drew the inference that
there was large force of COnfedcrates
within supporting distance, and this new
or suspicion interested me so
greatly that | determined to remain longer
"i''A 'i'NfHN tIOVpo pNb maps cNti uLtll tiit
next day.
1t was now dark. There had never
been any pursuit. so far as | cOuld see
Soon the troops were put in motion west
ward, on the road TO Ashland. If we had
a skirmish-line on either flank. | did not
see it; but we had for rear-guard the 7th
\. G., still unbroten, under the command
as | learned. of Col. Campbell. 1t would
have been very easy for me to step out
Of ranks at any time, either to the right
or to the left, into the wOods-or into
open ground for that matter-and get
away, but such was not now my inten-
ton.
The retreat continued slowly, the mixed
men endeavoriDg while On the march to
find their respective regiments and com
panies. Mounted men-ofcers probably
rode up and down the column crying
out: Flag OF 9th is forward Flag
Of 45th is behind yon," and so on, thus
telling the men where to find their com
mands. 1t was really good work,
thought A little before midnight-or it
may have been much earlier. for | was
worn Out-a halt was made at
the crossroads which I afterward knew
to be the crossing of the Ashcake and
roads about mile and a half
of Ashland. Here all the men
could easily find their commands, and |
knew that perfect organization would be
effected in very few minutes. Before
the line was completely formed I walked
and of al,n., in 10 ,I,,