VI X. 25 



riders' bed, that brought Vix and me very close- 

 ly together. On the 18th we reached the valley 

 this side of Centreville, while the skirmish of 

 Blackburn's Ford was going on, — a skirmish 

 now, but a battle then. For three nights and 

 two days we lay in the bushes, waiting for ra- 

 tions and orders. On Sunday morning McDow- 

 ell's army moved out ; — we all know the rest. 

 Miles's thirteen thousand fresh troops lay with- 

 in sight and sound of the lost battle-field, — he 

 drunk and unable, even if not unwilling, to take 

 them to the rescue, — and all we did was, late 

 in the evening, to turn back a few troopers of 

 the Black Horse Cavalry, the moral effect of 

 whose unseen terrors was driving our herds, 

 panting, back to the Potomac. Late in the 

 night we turned our backs on our idle field, 

 and brought up the rear of the sad retreat. 

 Our regiment was the last to move out, and 

 Vix and I were with the rear-guard. Wet, cold, 

 tired, hungry, unpursued, we crept slowly through 

 the scattered debris of the broken-up camp equi- 

 page, and dismally crossed the Long Bridge in a 

 2 



