Eighteen Months in the Confederate Army. 41 



bility of captain, but with only the rank and pay of first 

 Heutenant, my captain being only present in our first engage- 

 ment. 



Mr. Murray then described the first battle in which he took 

 part, an engagement before Richmond between the Federal 

 General MacLellan and General Lee, who commanded the 

 Confederate forces ; — and continued : — If I must honestly con- 

 fess my own feelings, I had never any desire for a first 

 engagement. The more I heard of the whistling of the bullets 

 the more I became convinced that Charles XII. was a madman. 



The Confederate soldiers were miserably armed at the time, 

 particularly those regiments that had manned the heavy 

 batteries around Norfolk, conspicuously among which was my 

 own company. On inspection it was found that they were so 

 miserably equipped that the option was given of remaining in 

 camp. We had certainly never contemplated meeting an 

 enemy with such weapons, but while I suspected that many 

 shared my own feelings, 1 was sure that not one of us would 

 have lagged behind, even though we had been asked without 

 arms to act as a target for the enemy's shot. We, however, 

 were placed in the rear as a reserve, and during the whole of 

 the day the battle of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines raged in our 

 front. About sunset our regiment was ordered forward, and we 

 for the first time came under fire when it was too late to con- 

 tinue the contest. We bivouacked on the field, but all night 

 long our rest was broken by the shrieks of the wounded and 

 the twinkling lights of the ambulance corps. So sudden had 

 the call been made upon us, that we had neither haversacks nor 

 provisions, and we had to satisfy the cravings of nature by 

 collecting biscuits from the haversacks of the dead which lay 

 thickly scattered about us. 



Mr. Murray, proceeding, gave an account of the other 

 battles and engagements in which he took part or was a 

 witness of. His description of the privations which he and 

 the soldiers under his command, and the army to which he 

 was attached, demonstrated, if the fact needed such, that a 



