The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-24
VETERANS EXPERIENCES
 WITH JACKSON'S CORPS

A TIER the Seven Days battle around "A Richmond, which terminated on July 1, 1862, Gen. Stonewall Jack sons corps was sent to Gordonsville, Va, to meet Gen. John Pope who had been made McClellan's successor and was ad- vancing to that point, commanding about
 6OO0O troops.
 Pope issued an address to these troops saying: My headquarters are in the
 saddle 1 have come to join you from
 the army of the west, where we have
 always seen the backs of our enemies;
 from an army whose business it has been
 to seek the adversary and beat him when
 found; whose policy has been attack. not defense l desire you to dismiss from
 your mind certain phrases, which I am
 sorry to find in vogue amongst you, of
 lines of retreat and basis of supplies, Let
 us dismiss such ideas. The strongest po-
 stion a soldier should desire to occupy
 is one from which he can most easily ad-
 vance towards the enemy. Let us study | the possible lines of retreat of our oppo-
 nents and leave our own to care for ! themselves Let us look before us and
 not behind us. Success and glory are
 in the advance. Disaster and shame turk
 in the rear"
 After this bombastic Illumination Pope l immediately proceeded to wage unsoldier- | ly war upon peaceable citizens. Old men,
 boys, women and children became vic
 tims of this braggart, who expressed
 himself so anxious to meet and fight the l Confederate soldiers.
 These utterances were scattered | throughout the army of Northern Vir- | ginia. Gen. Robert E. Lee protested to
 the war department at Washington
 against this cruel and inhuman mode of
 warfare Our whole army was filled with
 indignation and disgust. The address was
 a libel on peerless Albert S. Johnston,
 strategic Joseph E. Johnston and Gen. G. | T. Beauregard, the undaunted Bedford | Forrest, Pat Cleburne, the blazing comet
 of the west; the knightly and gallant
 "Joe'' Wheeler and the hosts of brave
 men that followed these and other great
 leaders who go down in the worlds s his
 tory challenging greater admiration for
 superior courage and bravery, the backs
 of whom were never seen in the heat of | battle.
 In the early part of August Jackson
 met Pope at Cedar Run, and after a ter rife battle, in which Popes forces were nearly three to one, his army was beaten
 back behind the Rappahannock river. On I the 22d day of August Gen. J. E. B. l Stuart, with three regiments of cavalry,
 viz, the Fourth Virginia. commanded by l Gen. T. T. Mumford the Fifth Virginia,
 commanded by Col. Thomas L. Rosser
 and the Ninth Virginia, commanded by | Col. W. H. F. Lee, more familiarity known
 as Rooney" Lee, and the gallant John | Pelham, with two pieces of his artillery, | crossed the Rappahannock river. l be- | longed to a squadron of the Ninth Vir-
 ginia cavalry. We carried sharpes Car pines, the best arm in the cavalry service | at that time. Immediately on crossing
 the Rappahannock we were dismounted and at once deployed as skirmishers, and | were hotly engaged for about thirty min | utes, when suddenly we were ordered to
 remount and go forward at a gallop to | oyertake the main column which was | moving at quick march to make a raid
 on Popes rear. Upon catching up we
 were told that we were put into the fight | as ruse to conceal General Stuart S
 movements. We had no casualties ex- cept the loss of a horse, and its rider
 captured a mule. We passed through l Warrenton about dark.
 The people there were wild with delight | upon seeing us. We had no time to stop
 to receive their cordial greetings. but
 pushed rapidly on to Auburn, where In the midst of laundering and lightning
 we captured the enemy's pickets, and
 also negro, who gave General Stuart
 the position of the enemy's camps at Cat 1 letts Station, twenty miles north and in
 rear of Popes front, which was resting
 on the Rappahannock river. There were
 4000 soldiers, including infantry and artil- | lery, and Pennsylvania regiment known | as "Bucktails," each of whom wore a
 deers tail on the side of his hat. The | depot was located in field. On the east ! side of the railroad was a camp of about | 2000, and also on the west side about the | same number. Each camp was in a wood. | The road that we were on intersectez | the railroad at right angles about 400 | yards north of the station.
 The Fifth Virginia cavalry took the
 lead, crossed the railroad and attacked | on the east side. The Ninth Virginia when it reached the railroad. filed right | in column of fours; moved at a slow walk | until the regiment was broadside to the | first row of tents, in front of which were | fires We could see the camp guards | moving along on their respective besrs. | unsuspecting the approach of an enemy. | thinking, I suppose, that we were some of their own cavalry going into camp | Silence was the watchword and Lee | was the countersign. We had been in- | structed that there would be but two
 blasts of the bugle; the first "by fours, | left wheel" the other charge" While | awaiting these orders you may we'll imag- inc the intensity of the excitement in | that moment.
 I heard distinctly the musical, clarion | voice of the gallant Lee above the blast | of the bugle. which thrilled and inspired | the hearts of every man. and they with the rebel yell plunged like an avalanche
 into that forest of tents, scattering the | hosts of men who occupied tNem. and | brought out 400 prisoners.
 Capt Thomas Haynes of my company | captured the station house and twenty | five prisoners, and also captured Gen. | John Popes military coat. Pope had but
 a few minutes before arrived at the sta- | ton. but he succeeded in making his es- | cape. An engine already fired up, with l a train, was on a switch track. and when | the charges were made man deliberately | got from the engine. with torch or lan- l tern. ran up the track, unlocked the