.^''^'-< 
 
 
THE 
 
 Falling Flag. 
 
 EVACUATION OF RICHMOND, 
 
 RETREAT AND SURRENDER 
 
 AT 
 
 APPOMATTOX. 
 
 AN OFFICER 
 
 OF THE REAR- 
 
 -aU ARD. 
 
 
 X>^, 
 
 ■ V' ^ 
 
 
 
 - - J 
 
 
 
 
 r^o 
 
 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 
 
 
 E. J. HALE 
 
 1 & SON, PUBLISHEKS, 
 
 
 
 MURRAY STREET. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1874. 
 
 
 
 
cH7 
 
 .67 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, oy 
 
 E. J. HALE & SON, 
 the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
I \ 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 TO THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE 
 
 7th: Sauth ©amlma l^atralrtj; 
 
 SHORT ACCOUNT OF AN INTERESTING PERIOD IN THEIR 
 MILITARY HISTORY, 
 
 AND THAT OF 
 
 THE CAUSE THEY LOVED SO WELL, AND FOR WHICH THEY 
 FOUGHT SO FAITHFULLY, 
 
 BY ONE WHO CONSIDERS HAVING BEEN THEIR COMRADE THE 
 PROUDEST RECOLLECTION OF HIS LIFE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE writer only attemj)ts to give some account of 
 what occurred witliin his own observation -, he 
 would have esteemed it a privilege to enter into all 
 the detail that lights up the last desperate struggle, 
 made by that glorious remnant of the Army of 
 IsTorthern Virginia, with its skeleton battalions from 
 every Southern State; illustrating their own fame 
 and that of their noble leader, mile by mile, on that 
 weary march from Eichmond to Appomattox. 
 
 But he has confined himself to his own experi- 
 ences, and in a great measure to what hapi^ened to 
 his own Brigade, because it was written out, imme- (/ 
 diately after the war, from that standpoint. - And if 
 there be any merit in it, it is simply as a journal — 
 what one man saw, and the impression produced 
 thereby. This, even within a limited range, if truly 
 put, represents at least a phase of the last act in the 
 bloody drama that had been enacting for four years. 
 More than this he could not hope to do, but leaves 
 to abler hands the greater task that swells the cur- 
 rent of events into the full tide of history. 
 Camden, South Oakolina, 
 June 15th, 1874. 
 
EVACUATION OF RICHMOND, 1865. 
 
 On Saturday, the 1st day of April, 1865, orders 
 Teaclied us at camp headquarters of the Seventh 
 South Carohna Cavalry, Grary's Brigade, to send for- 
 ivard all the dismounted men of the regiment to re- 
 port to Lt. Col. Barham, Twenty-fourth Kegiment 
 Yirginia Cavalry, in command of dismounted men of 
 the brigade, for duty on the lines. Began to think 
 that a move was intended of some sort, but on the 
 brink, as all knew and felt for some time, of great 
 events, it was difficult to say what was expected. On 
 Sunday, the 2d, about mid-day, orders came for the 
 wagon train of the brigade, spare horses, baggage of 
 all sorts, that was to go at all — the greater part was to 
 be left — ^to move into Richmond at once, and fall into 
 the general train of the army of the north bank of 
 the James Eiver. Richmond then was to be evac- 
 uated, so all felt, though no public statement of the 
 fact had been made ; heavy fighting had been going 
 on during the day, in the neighborhood of Petersburg, 
 but there had been one unceasing roar of battle 
 around us for months, and no particular account was 
 taken of that. 
 
 The brigade was ordered to move after nightfall 
 from its position (our winter quarters) between the 
 
8 THE FALLIXG FLAG. 
 
 Williamsburg and tlie " Nine Mile " road, about four 
 miles from Kichmond, and immediately beliind tlie 
 outer line of works on the edge of the battle field of 
 the " Seven Pines." 
 
 We moved after dark — the Seventh Sou.th Carolina, 
 Col. Haskell ; the Hampton Legion, South Carolina, 
 Lieut. Col. Arnold ; the Twenty-fourth Virginia, Coh 
 Robbins, and a small party of the Seventh Greorgia, 
 part of a company only — Gren. Gary commanding the 
 brigade. 
 
 The Seventh Georgia were, with the exception 
 spoken of, dismounted, though belonging to our 
 brigade. We halted on the Charles City road, found 
 all the infantry gone ; Gen. Longstreet, who com- 
 manded on the north bank, had been withdra^m with 
 Gen. Field's Division across the river, to reinforce 
 Gen. Lee around Petersburg, some two or three days- 
 before, leaving only the Division of Gen. Kershaw 
 in our immediate neighborhood, and Gen. Custis Lee 
 in command of the Marine Brigade and City Eeserves, 
 next the river, near Fort Gilmer, all under the com- 
 mand of Lt. Gen. Ewell ; also Hankin's Batteiy, Yir- 
 ginia, attached to our brigade. 
 
 We were to wait until two o'clock, and as soon as 
 our dismounted men, who were filling the place of 
 infantry pickets withdrawn, should come in, we were 
 to move on to the city, acting as " rear guard," and 
 burn Mayo's Bridge. It was all out now ; there had 
 been a heavy fight in the morning, near Petersburg, 
 Gen. Lee all but overwhelmed. Gen. A. P. Hill killed^ 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 9 
 
 and the army in full retreat on Burkville, to effect, if 
 possible, a junction with Gren. Johnston, in ISTorth 
 Carolina. 
 
 We built big fires of brush wood, to give light and 
 warmth, and deceive the enemy. It was cold, though 
 in April ; the men, as usual, light-hearted and cheerful 
 round the fires, though an empire was passing away 
 around them ; some, with an innate consciousness of • 
 the work before them, when they heard that the halt 
 was to be for two or three hours, wrapped in their 
 overcoats, with the capes drawn over their heads, 
 were soon sound asleep, forgetting the defeat of ar- 
 mies, the work of yesterday, the toil and danger of 
 to-morrow, in some quiet dream of a home perhaps 
 never seen again. 
 
 Two o'clock came and passed ; our men had not 
 come in. The General waited until four o'clock. 
 I think we were at this point six miles from Eich- 
 mond. We should have been there at daylight, and 
 we were to burn the bridge in time to prevent the 
 enemy's crossing, as our whole train-, with infantry 
 and artillery, had crossed during the night. Our 
 brigade of cavalry, and one company of artillery at- 
 tached to it, were all that were on this side — the north 
 bank of the river. We could wait no longer, and 
 moved off slowly. In a short time after we started a 
 tremendous explosion took place toward the river, 
 lighting up everything like day, and waking every 
 echo, and every Yankee for thirty miles around. It 
 was evidently a gunboat on the river at " Drury's 
 
ID THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 Bluff." Two otliers followed, but they did not equal 
 the first. She was iron-clad — ^the " Virginia," as we 
 afterwards heard — just completed. She burst like a 
 bomb-shell, and told, in anj^thing but a whisper, the 
 desperate condition of things. There was no time to 
 be lost; the Yankees had heard it as well as our- 
 selves, and we moved on at once. 
 
 We overtook, just at daylight, and passed a small 
 squad of our dismounted men from the Seventh, who 
 had got in from the picket line. When we reached 
 the intermediate line of works, where the '^ Charles 
 City " and " l^ew Kent " roads come together, not far 
 from the "turnpike gate," which all who travelled 
 that road — and who of the army of Northern Yirginia 
 did not? — will remember, the sun was just rising, and 
 an ugly red glare showed itself in the direction of 
 Richmond that dimmed the early sunshine. 
 
 At this point the Greneral determined (though ex- 
 pecting the enemy's cavalry every moment) to occupy 
 the works, and wait for the dismounted men. The 
 guns of the battery that accompanied us were placed 
 in position, and our men dismounted and occupied 
 the lines on the right and left of the road. In about 
 a half hour's time, and to our great satisfaction — for it 
 seemed a hard case to leave the poor tired fellows to 
 be gobbled up — a straggling line of tired men and 
 poor walkers, as dismounted cavalry always must be in 
 their big boots and spurs, showed themselves over the 
 hill, dragged themselves along, and passed on before 
 us into the city. We followed on, went down the 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 11 
 
 steep hill by the house where Greneral Johnston's 
 headquarters were about the time of the retreat from 
 Yorktown, and got into the river road, and so had 
 "the enemy behind us. It was here he might have 
 €ut us off from the city and secured the bridge. 
 
 We passed into the "Eockets," the southern suburb 
 of Kichmond, at an easy marching gait, and there 
 learned that the bridge had taken fire from some of 
 the buildings, which by this time we could see were 
 on fire in the city. Fearing our retreat would be cut 
 ofi at that point, which would throw us from our 
 position as rear guard, we pushed on rapidly, the 
 €olumn moving at a trot through the " Eockets." 
 
 The peculiar population of that suburb were gath- 
 ered on the sidewalk ; bold, dirty looking women, who 
 had evidently not been improved by four years' mili- 
 tary association, dirtier (if possible) looking children, 
 and here and there skulking, scoundrelly looking men, 
 v^ho in the general ruin were sneaking from the holes 
 they had been hiding in — not, though, in the numbers 
 that might have been expected, for the great crowd, 
 as we soon saw, were hard at it, pillaging the burn- 
 ing city. One strapping virago stood on the edge of 
 the pavement with her arms akimbo, looking at us 
 with intense scorn as we swept along ; I could have 
 touched her with the toe of my boot as I rode by her, 
 closing the rear of the column ; she caught my eye — 
 " Yes," said she, with all of Tipperary in her brogue, 
 ^'afther fighting them for four jesiYS ye're running 
 like dawgs !" The woman was either drunk or very 
 
12 THE FALLI^^G FLAG. 
 
 mncli in earnest, for I give lier credit for feeling alt 
 she said, and her son or husband had to do his own 
 fighting, I will answer for it, wherever he was, or get 
 no kiss or comfort from her. But I could not stop to 
 explain that Greneral Longstreet's particular orders 
 were not to make a fight in the city, if it could be 
 avoided, so I left her to the enjoyment of her own 
 notions, unfavorable as they evidently were to us. 
 
 On we went across the creek, leaving a picket at 
 that point to keep a lookout for the enemy, that we 
 knew must now be near upon our heels. It was after 
 seven o'clock, the sun having been up for some time. 
 Afte]^ getting into Main street and passing the two to- 
 bacco warehouses opposite one another, occupied as 
 prisons in the early years of the war, we met the 
 motley crowd thronging the pavement, loaded with 
 every species of plunder. 
 
 Bare-headed women, their arms filled with every 
 description of goods, plundered from warehouses and 
 shojjs, their hair hanging abou.t their ears, were rush- 
 ing one way to deposit their plunder and return for 
 more, while a current of the empty-handed surged in 
 a contrary direction towards the scene. 
 
 The roaring and crackling of the burning houses^ 
 the trampling and snorting of our horses over the 
 paved sti-eets as we swept along, wild sounds of every 
 description, while the rising sun came dimly through 
 the cloud of smoke that hung like a pall around him, 
 made up a scene that beggars description, and which 
 I hope never to see again — the saddest of many of 
 
THE PALLING FLAG. IB 
 
 the sad sights of war — a city undergoing pillage at the 
 hands of its own mob, while the standards of an em- 
 pire were being taken from its capitol, and the tramp 
 of a victorious enemy could be heard at its gates. 
 
 Eichmond had collected within its walls the refuse 
 of the war — thieves and deserters, male and female, 
 the vilest of the vile were there, but strict military 
 discipline had kept it down. Now, in one moment, 
 it was all removed — all restraint was taken off — and 
 you may imagine the consequences. There were said 
 to be 6,000 deserters in the city, and you could see 
 the grey jackets here and there sprinkled in the mob 
 that was roaring down the street. When we reached 
 somewhere between Twentieth and Twenty-fifth 
 streets — I will not be certain — the flames swept 
 across Main street so we could not pass. The column 
 turned to the right, and so got into the street above 
 it. On this (Franklin street) are many private resi- 
 dences; at the windows we could see the sad and 
 tearful faces of the kind Virginia women, who had 
 never failed the soldier in four long years of war 
 and trouble, ready to the last to give him devoted 
 attendance in his wounds and sickness, and to share 
 with his "Decessities the last morsel. 
 
 These are strong but not exaggerated expressions- 
 Thousands, yes, tens of thousands, from the Rio 
 Grande to the Potomac, can bear witness to the truth 
 of everything I say. And it was a sad thought to 
 every man that was there that day, that we seemed, 
 as a compensation for all that they had done for us, to 
 
14 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 be leaving them to the mercj of the enemy ; but their 
 own Greneral Lee was gone before, and we were but 
 ^s the last wave of the receding tide. 
 
 After getting round the burning square we turned 
 back towards the river. The portion of Mayo's, or 
 rather the lesser bridge that crossed the canal, 
 had taken fire from the laro'e flourino^ mill near 
 it, and was burning, but not the main bridge ; so 
 we followed the cross street below the main ap- 
 proach to the bridge, at the foot of which was a 
 bridge across the canal, forcing our horses through 
 the crowd of pillagers gathered at this point, greater 
 than at any other — they had broken into some 
 government stores. A low white man — ^lie seemed a 
 foreigner — was about to strike a woman over a barrel 
 of flour under my horse's nose, when a stout negro 
 took her part and threatened to throw him into the 
 canal. We were the rear regiment at this time. All 
 this occurred at one of those momentary halts to 
 which the rear of a marching column is subjected; in 
 another moment we moved on, the croAvd closed in, 
 and we saw^ no more. After crossing the canal we 
 were obliged to go over a stone conduit single file. 
 
 At last we were on the main bridge, along wlfich 
 were scattered faggots to facilitate the burning. Lieut. 
 Cantey, Sergt. Lee and twenty men from the Seventh 
 were left, under the supervision of Colonel Haskell, 
 to burn the bridge, while the rest went slowly up the 
 hill on which Manchester is built, and waited for 
 them. Just as the canal bridge on which w'e had 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 15 
 
 crossed took fire, about forty of Kautz' cavalry gal- 
 loped easily np Main street, fired a long shot with 
 their carbines on the party at the bridge, but went on 
 up the street instead of coming down to the river. 
 They were too late to secure the bridge, if that had 
 been their object, which they seemed to be aware of^ 
 as they made no attempt to do so. Their coming 
 was of service to the city. General Ord, as we after- 
 wards understood, acted with promptness and kind- 
 ness, put down the mob, and put out the fire, and 
 protected the people of Eichmond from the mob and 
 his own soldiers, in their persons and property. 
 
 As we sat upon our horses on the high hill on 
 which Manchester is built, we looked down upon the 
 City of Eichmond. By this time the fire appeared to 
 be general. Some magazine or depot for the manu- 
 facture of ordnance stores was on fire about the cen- 
 tre of the city ; it was marked by the peculiar black- 
 ness of smoke; from the middle of it would come 
 the roar of bursting shells and boxes of fixed ammu- 
 nition, with flashes that gave it the appearance of a 
 thunder cloud of huge proportions with lightning 
 pla3n.ng through it. On our right was the navy yard, 
 at which were several steamers and gunboats on fire, 
 and burning in the river, from which the cannon 
 were thundering as the fire reached them. The old 
 war-scarred city seemed to prefer annihilation to con- 
 quest — a useless sacrifice, as it afterwards proved, 
 however much it may have added to the grandeur of 
 the closing scene ; but such is war. 
 
16 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 Moving slowly out of Mancliester, we soon got 
 among the liost of stragglers, who, from a natural 
 fear of the occupation of the towns both of Peters- 
 burg and Eichmond, were going with the rear of our 
 army. Civilians, in some cases ladies of gentle nur^ 
 ture, without means of conveyance, were sitting on 
 their trunks by the roadside — refugees from Peters- 
 burg to Eichmond a few days before, now refugees 
 from Eichmond into the highway ; indeed the most 
 were from Petersburg, driven out literally by the 
 -artillery fire. The residents of Eichmond, as a gen- 
 eral thing, remained. 
 
 Two ladies here got into our regimental ambulance, 
 rode for a few miles, and then took refuge in some 
 iarm house, I suj^pose, as they disappeared before the 
 day was over. 
 
 By the roadside, or rather the sidewalk, were sit- 
 ting on their bags some hardy, weather-beaten look- 
 ing men. They were what was left of the crew of 
 the " famous Alabama," and had just landed from the 
 gunboats that had been blown up on the river, which 
 had first started us on our march. Admiral Semmes 
 was with them ; I remember some of our young men 
 jesting with the bronzed veterans, but we did not then 
 know the renowned Captain of the great Confederate 
 war ship was there in person, or he certainly should 
 not have had to complain of being left standing in 
 the road and dusted by the "young rascals of the 
 cavalry rear-guard," as he does in his book. Some 
 one of the "young cavalry rascals" would have, been 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 17. 
 
 "dismounted, and liis liorse given to tlie man wlio Taad 
 carried our flag so far and fonght it so well. 
 
 Acting as rear-guard, we moved very slowly, giv- 
 ing time for all stragglers, wagons and worn out artil- 
 lery horses to close up. Already we began to come 
 upon a piece of artillery mired down, tlie horses dead 
 beat, the gun left, and the horses double-teamed into 
 the remaining pieces. So we went into camp that 
 night, after marching all day, only eleven miles from 
 Eichmond, on the "Burkville road." Burkville is the 
 point at which the railroad branches west to Lynch- 
 burg and south to Danville, and was our objective 
 point. 
 
 The brigade went into camp, or bivouac rather, by 
 : squadrons, in a piece of woods, the men picketing 
 their horses immediately behind their camp fires. 
 The fires burned brightly, the horses ate the corn the 
 men had brou.ght in their bags and what forage they 
 could get hold of during the day. Our surgeon, Dr. 
 McLaurin, had gotten up his ambulance, and helped 
 out our bread and bacon with a cup of coffee and 
 some not very salt James River herring, that he had 
 among his stores — and so ended the first day's march. 
 
 We did not move until nearly nine o'clock next 
 morning, as at our slowest marching gait we out-trav- 
 elled the march we were covering. The day was 
 spent in following after the movements of the army. 
 Occasional pieces of artillery left u.pon the roadside 
 showed that the horses were giving out. After dark 
 we crossed the Appomattox, some twenty or twenty- 
 
18 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 five miles from Eichmoiid, at tlie railroad bridge, 
 wHcli was planked over so onr horses could cross. 
 After crossing tlie river we went into camp about a 
 mile beyond, surrounded by most of the infantry of 
 the north bank, General Longstreet's immediate com- 
 mand, the men leading their horses over. One of the 
 young men attached to our mess, a good looking 
 young fellow, had his pockets filled with ham and 
 biscuits near the crossing by some good Samaritan he 
 had met, and so our herring, grilled by one of the 
 couriers on the half of a canteen, was helped out by 
 this addition. 
 
 We were suddenly roused in the night by a fire in 
 the dry grass on which we were sleeping. It caught 
 from our camp fire and was among our blankets before 
 we knew it. There was a general jumping up and 
 stamping it out. One of the men created quite a sen- 
 sation by shaking his India rubber, which was on fire ; 
 it flew to pieces in a shower of flame. The efiect of 
 the night attack is still shown in the blistered and 
 scorched condition of my field-glasses. We were at 
 this point but a few miles from Amelia Court House, 
 between which and our camp of that night the road 
 from Petersburg joins the road from Richmond, and 
 the two columns respectively met — the two streams 
 flowed into one — forming what was left of Lee's gi'eat 
 army of Northern Virginia — the men exchanging in 
 the fresh morning air kindly greetings with one an 
 other, from Texas to Marjdand, from the Potomac 
 to the Rio Grande. They marched along, leaving 
 
' THE FALLING FLAG. 19 
 
 their fate in the hands of the gi-eat leader they knew 
 so well and had trusted so long. 
 
 About a mile or two from Amelia Court House 
 our brigade was ordered to graze their horses in a 
 clover field, still keeping the regiments together as 
 near as could be in squadrons, for we could make no 
 calculations, as will be seen, upon the movements of 
 the enemy's cavalry. Colonel Haskell, Colonel Eob- 
 bins, of the Twenty-fourth Virginia, and myself were 
 seated upon the steps of an old house, breakfasting 
 with Colonel Kobbins, who had been fortunate 
 enough to meet a friend who had filled his haver- 
 sack, and shared his good luck with us, watching the 
 men and horses who were eating what they could 
 get, when here it came at last : " Mount the brigade 
 and move up at once!" The enemy had gotten in 
 force between us and Burkville, and his cavalry had 
 struck our wagon and ordnance train some three or 
 four miles from where we were. So there was mount- 
 ing in hot haste, and off we went at a gallop. 
 
 We soon reached the point they had first attacked 
 and set fire to the wagons — the canvas covers taking 
 fire very easily. Their plan of operation seemed to 
 be to strike the train, which was several miles long 
 at a given point, fire as many wagons as their number 
 admitted of doing at once, then making a circuit and 
 striking it again, leaving an intermediate point un- 
 touched. 
 
 We did not suppose the troops actually engaged in 
 the firing exceeded three or four hundred well mount- 
 
20 " THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 ed men, but liad a large body of cavalry moving par- 
 allel with, them in easy supporting distance. This was 
 a very effectual mode of throwing the march of the 
 wagon train into confusion, independent of the abso- 
 lute destruction they caiised. 
 
 The burning caissons, as we rode by, were anything 
 but pleasant neighbors, and were exploding right and 
 left, but I do not recollect of any of our men being 
 hit by them. 
 
 We could hear the enemy ahead of us, as we 
 pressed our tired horses through the burning wagons 
 and the scattered plunder which, filled the road, giv- 
 ing our own wagon-rats and skulkers a fine harvest 
 of plunder. Many of the wagons were untouched, 
 but standing in the road without liorses, the teamsters 
 at the first alarm taking them out and making for the 
 woods, coming back and taking their wagons again 
 after the stampede was over, sometimes to find tliem 
 plundered by our own cowardly skulkers, that I sup- 
 pose belong to all armies. I have no doubt Csesar 
 had them in his tenth legion, and Xenophon in his 
 famous ten thousand. 
 
 So far the enemy, m carrjang out his plan of at- 
 tack, had kept in motion ; but after passing a large 
 creek that crosses the road and runs on by "Amelia 
 Springs," the}^ halted at an old field on the side of 
 the road and made a front. As the head of our col- 
 umn crossed the creek a lady was standing in the 
 mud by the road side with a soldier in a "gTcy 
 jacket." She had been with the ordnance train — the 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 21 
 
 ambulance in wMcli she had been riding was taken, 
 the horses carried off, and as we closed np she was 
 left as we found her. She was from Mississippi, and 
 had left Eichmond with her friends in the "Artillery," 
 and was much more mad than scared, and she stood 
 there in the mud (she was young and pretty) and 
 gesticulated as she told her story, making up a pic- 
 ture striking and peculiar. There was no time to 
 listen, but promising to do our best to punish the ag- 
 gressors, who had taken her up and dropped her so 
 unceremoniously in the mud, which was the amount 
 •of the damage, and advising her to take shelter in a 
 large white house on the hill, we moved on to meet 
 the party ahead, who, near enough their reserve now 
 for support, had halted to give us a taste of their 
 quality. 
 
 At first they called out to come on and get their 
 "greenbacks," seeing the small party in advance 
 with the Greneral, but as the regiments rode into the 
 field, which was large enough to make a display of 
 the entire line, they stood but to exchange a scatter- 
 ing fire, and then moved in retreat along a road run- 
 ning parallel to the main road and leading to "Amelia 
 Springs.'' The Seventh, from position, was the lead- 
 ing regiment, and moved at a gallop in pursuit The 
 road swept round a point of wood on the left and an 
 old field on the right grown up with pine. In ad- 
 vance rode five well mounted men of the regiment, 
 as a lookout, led by the adjutant — General Gary im- 
 mediately behind them — and the head of our column. 
 
22 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 the Seventh cavalry, next As the advance guard 
 rounded the bend in the road it was swept by the 
 fire of the enemy, who had halted for that purpose, 
 wheeling instantly in retreat as soon as they delivered 
 their fire. Four men out of the five, all except the 
 adjutant, were hit, one of them in the spine, "Mills," 
 an approved scout, and one of the best and bravest 
 men in the army. Throwing his arms over his head 
 with a yell of agony, wrung from him by intense 
 |)ain, he pitched backwards off his horse, which was 
 going at full speed. The horse, a thoroughbred mare, 
 kept on with us in the rush. (I will here say that I 
 never saw the young man again — he was just in front 
 of me when he fell — until three or four years after, in 
 a pulpit, as a Presbyterian preacher. He had gotten 
 over his wound without its doing him permanent in- 
 jury). On we went, picking up some of the rear of 
 the party who had not moved quick enough. The 
 main body had gotten where there were thick woods 
 on both sides of the road, where they halted to 
 make a stand. But we were upon them before they 
 made their wheel to face to the rear, or rather while 
 they were in the act of making it, and so had them at 
 advantage ; we were among them with the sabre. The 
 work was short and sharp, and we drove them along 
 the road clear of the wood into the open field, where 
 there was a strong dismounted reserve. Here we 
 caught a fire that dropped two of our leading horses 
 — Captain Caldwell's and Lieutenant Hinson's. Cald- 
 well's horse was killed dead. Hinson's fell with a 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 23 
 
 l^roken leg, catching his rider under him and holding 
 him until relieved. ' A heavy fire swept the woods 
 and road, so we dismounted the brigade as fast as the 
 men came up, extending the dismounted line along 
 the front of the enemy's fire, and moving to the left as 
 he fell back to a stronger position. As we moved in 
 advance they gave up the position by the house they 
 had first taken, fell back across the field and ravine 
 to the top of the opposite hill, where they halted in 
 force and threw up temporary breastworks, made 
 from a rail fence, and from that position repeated 
 the invitation to " Come and get greenbacks." We 
 moved up, occupied the ravine immediately in their 
 front, which was deep enough to shelter the mounted 
 officers, the line officers and the men being dis- 
 mounted. Here General Gary determined to hold 
 his position, until General Fitz Lee, who commanded 
 our cavalry, came up, not deeming it advisable to at- 
 tack the enemy in his present position and numbers. 
 In half an hour's time General Fitz Lee came up 
 with his division, dismounted his men, formed line, 
 flanked the position, charged it in front, two or three 
 heavy volleys, a shout and a rush. The enemy find- 
 ing his position untenable moved off to the main 
 body, not more than two or three miles from them — 
 moving rapidly, as we found several of their wounded 
 on the roadside, left in the hurry of their retreat. 
 We moved on slowly after them — the sun being 
 nearly down — to "Amelia Springs," some two miles 
 -ofi, crossed the creek, and, though we had commenced 
 
24 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 the fight in the morning, were pohtely requested 
 (everybody knows what a mihtary request is) by 
 General Lee to move down the road until we could 
 see the Yankee pickets, put the brigade into camp, 
 post pickets, and make the best of it — all of which 
 we did. 
 
 We did not have far to go to find the pickets — 
 about a mile ; posted our own two or three hundred 
 yards from the brigade ; sent to the mill on the creek 
 at "Amelia Springs " and drew rations of flour and 
 bacon. 
 
 I had here one of those unexpected surprises that 
 sometimes gleam upon us under the most unpropi- 
 tious circumstances. As we rode up to the big white 
 house on the hill General Fitz Lee stood giving 
 orders for the disposition of the troops. Our men 
 were in numbers filling their canteens with water at 
 the well in the yard, when a lieutenant from the 
 Hampton Legion came from the well with his can- 
 teen in his hand. .'' B.," I said, " I am very thirsty ; 
 will you give me a drink from your canteen?" 
 " Certainly, sir," said he, and handed it to me. I 
 took a large swallow and discovered it was excellent 
 old a|>ple brandy. I had eaten nothing since a very 
 light breakfast ; had been working hard in the saddle 
 all day ; had the breath knocked out of my body by 
 a spent ball on the chest at the close of the charge in 
 the woods ; the excitement of the fight was over, 
 and I was lying over the pommel, rather than sitting- 
 on my saddle, but as that electric fluid went down 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 25 
 
 my throat I straightened up like a soldier at the word 
 of command ; I felt a new life pouring through my 
 veins, and the worry and care of the situation was all 
 gone, and I was ready for what was to come next — 
 such is the power of contrast. B., who was watching 
 me, raised a warning finger not to betray his secret, 
 for what was a canteen of applebrandy to that crowd, 
 that would not be denied ? so I concealed my satis- 
 faction and his secret, but have never forgotten my 
 obligation to Lieutenant B. of the Hampton Legion. 
 
 All around us through the stillness floated the 
 music of the Yankee bands, mocking with their 
 beautiful music our desperate condition ; yet our men 
 around their fires were enjoying it as much, and, 
 seemingly, with as light hearts as the owners of it. 
 Occasionally, as a bugle call would ring oat, which 
 always sounds to a trooper as a challenge to arms, a 
 different expression would show itself, and a harder 
 look take the place of the softer one induced by 
 "Home, Sweet Home," or "Annie Lawrie." 
 
 So we made our bivouac in sight of the enemy's 
 pickets, eating our homely rations with the keen rel- 
 ish and appetite health and hard work give. While 
 our neighbors, whose interest in us could not be 
 questioned, gave us the benefit of many a soft air, 
 that told of other and very different scenes, we, 
 in the language of romance, addressed ourselves to 
 slumber, expecting an attack at or before daylight. 
 This was our first night in sight of their outposts, 
 and we had yet to learn their plan of attack. The 
 
26 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 game was m tlie toils and they meant to play a sure 
 hand, with no more waste of material than was ab- 
 solutely necessary. There was no night attack that 
 T recollect in the course of the retreat. General 
 Grrant's large force seemed to be kept perfectly in 
 hand, massed with great care to strike with effect at 
 any given point on our line of march, gain the result 
 of an overwhelming attack in force, and draw off in 
 time to prevent disorder among their own troops — a 
 wise arrangement under the circumstances. 
 
 Another pleasing incident occurred at this camp, 
 as everything is relative and is great or little, accord- 
 ing to circumstances. One of the non-commissioned 
 officers of my old company came to me and asked if 
 I would like to have my canteen filled with some 
 very fine old apple brandy. One of G-eneral Lee's 
 couriers had found a barrel of it covered up with 
 leaves in an adjoining piece of woods, and let a few 
 of his friends into the secret. Would I? Of course I 
 wou.ld, and if we ever came out ahead I would recom- 
 mend him for promotion. The canteen came full, and 
 proved to be of the same tap as the " long swallow " 
 was of which I had partaken so unex|)ectedly. That 
 canteen of apple brandy, like Boniface's ale, was meat 
 and drink for the rest of the time I was a soldier of 
 the Southern Confederacy. 
 
 We got off about eight o'clock in the morning, not 
 having been disturbed, as we expected, moved back 
 across the creek that runs through the meadows at 
 the foot of the hill below the hotel at " Amelia 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 27 
 
 Springs," halted and formed line, facing to the rear 
 along the creek, from the ford at the road down the 
 creek to the mill, destroyed the bridge, and held the 
 position as rear-guard, untfl Greneral Lee, whose camp 
 was above us on the hill, around the hotel, formed 
 liis column and moved, we following slowly in the 
 rear. 
 
 We marched that day, until the afternoon, among 
 the infantry, artillery and wagons, going towards 
 Farmville, on the Appomattox river and the Lynch- 
 burg railroad. There was a bridge across the river, 
 at which, as was afterwards shown, it was General 
 Lee's purpose to cross his infantry wagons and artil- 
 lery. 
 
 We had been having a very tiresome march on our 
 worn-out horses, through the fields on the side of the 
 road, giving up the road proper to the wagon trains 
 and troops, sometimes dismounting and leading our 
 liorses, to relieve them as much as possible. 
 
 About two or three o'clock we saw the infantry in 
 iront of us breaking from the line of march by bri- 
 gades into a large field on the left of the road, and 
 rapidly forming into compact masses in proper posi- 
 tion and relation with one another, to be used as 
 might be required. We halted and did the same, 
 being the only cavalry at that point. We soon heard 
 lieavy firing on another road over to the right, two or 
 three miles from us, artillery and small arms, and 
 nearer to us — not a mile — was a lesser fight go- 
 ing on, to which we moved at once. The last, 
 
28 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 wMcli was over before we got to it, was between 
 General Lee's division of cavalry and a body of tbe 
 enemy's infantry. They were, as we were told, a 
 fresh, set of troops who had just come on, and were 
 literally gobbled up by Lee. We met the prisoners 
 — some eight or nine hundred — going to the rear. 
 Their coats were so new and blue, and buttons sa 
 bright, and shirts so clean, that it was a wonder to 
 look upon them by our rusty lot. 
 
 They were pushing on to cooperate with the larger 
 movement that was going on to the right, and fell in 
 with General Lee's cavalry, and after a very respect- 
 able fight had their military experience brou.ght to an 
 abrupt conclusion. Lee's men had possessed them- 
 selves of a complete set of new brass instruments 
 that formed their band. 
 
 The fight on the right was the heaviest and most 
 damaging to us that occurred on the retreat, and is- 
 known as the Battle of " Sailor's Creek," or " High 
 Bridge," where the divisions of General Kershaw and 
 General Custis Lee, under the command of Lieuten- 
 ant General Ewell, were knocked to pieces — and 
 General Kichard Anderson's command, composed of 
 Pickett's Division and Bushrod Johnson's, with Hu- 
 ger's artillery. Pickett's and Huger's commands were^ 
 I think, destroyed, but Johnson managed to get 
 through. Generals Kershaw, Ewell and Lee were, I 
 know, taken prisoners. All this we knew nothing o£ 
 at the time, only that there was heavy fighting, and 
 that being a matter of course, excited no surprise. 
 
THE FALLING- FLAG. 2& 
 
 The sun was nearly down and we moved towards 
 Farmyille, to go into camp for the night. It was 
 after dark when we got there, went through the town 
 to the grove on the other side, and made the best of 
 it. We lived upon what we could pick up, as we had 
 no wagons with us, and our servants and spare horses 
 were with the wagon train. 
 
 The most fruitful source of supply was when we 
 passed a broken down commissary wagon. The men 
 would fill their haversacks with whatever they could 
 find ; and whatever they got, either in this way or at 
 the country houses, was liberally shared with their 
 friends and officers. 
 
 By a big fire we lay down, and slept the sleep of 
 the tired. The nights were cold, so near the moun- 
 tains, and, with light coverings on the cold ground,, 
 the burning down of the fire was a general awaken- 
 ing and building up of the same. At one of these 
 movements we were surprised to find, between Colo- 
 nel H. and myself, two men, who, attracted by 
 the fire, cold and tired, had crept to its friendly 
 warmth, making a needless apology for their pres- 
 ence. We found one to be a colonel of Pickett's 
 division, the other a lieutenant, and realized fully 
 how complete the destruction of that famous fighting 
 division must have been as an organization, that we 
 should find a regimental commander who did not 
 know where to look for its standard. There seemed 
 to be no particular hurry in getting off in the morn- 
 ing. We were waiting for orders by our fire, and 
 
so THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 filled up the time pressing horses in the town, from a 
 kind consideration of the feelings of the owners, that 
 they should not fall into the hands of the Yankees, 
 much to the disgust of the said owners, who seemed 
 much to prefer (good men and true as they were) the 
 possible chance of the Yankee to the certainty of the 
 Confederate abstraction. 
 
 One or two amusing incidents occurred in that con- 
 nection. One of ou.r young lieiitenants had heard of 
 a very fine bay stallion, belonging to a gentleman in 
 town, and as the rumor had spread that pressing 
 horse flesh was going on, he went off promptly with 
 a man or two, reached the house, and was met at the 
 door by a young and pretty woman, who, with all the 
 elegant kindness of a Yirginia lady, asked him to 
 come in. He felt doubtful, but could not resist ; or- 
 dering his men to hold on a minute or two, while he 
 talked horse with the lady, wishing, in the innocent 
 kindness of his heart, to break it to her gently. After 
 a few minutes' general conversation he touched on 
 the horse question. " Oh ! yes, sir," she said, getting 
 up and looking through a window that overlooked the 
 back yard. " Yes, sir ; I am sorry to disappoint you, 
 but as you came in at the front door my husband was 
 saddling the bay, and while you were talking to me I 
 saw him riding out of the back gate. I am so soiTy ; 
 indeed I amr With a hasty good morning our lieu- 
 tenant rode back to camp upon a horse some degrees 
 below the standard of a "Eed Eye'' or any other 
 Tace horse. The laugh was with the lady. 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 31 
 
 Another case was against a class who met with but 
 little sympathy from a soldier in the field — a local 
 or collecting quartermaster, when of a particular class — 
 some able bodied young man, every way fit for the sol- 
 dier, except in spirit, getting the position to screen him- 
 self from field duty and make money out of a suffer- 
 ing people. The order had been given through the 
 brigade to take the horses wherever they could be 
 found. A wagon with two good horses drove between 
 our fire and that of the squadron lying next. A captain 
 stepped out, stopped the wagon, and the horses were 
 taken out and appropriated — the boy diiving them 
 ran off — and soon there came riding up a dashing 
 young quartermaster on a fine grey horse, gi'oomed to 
 perfection, and horse and rider redolent of the sybar- 
 itism of the department, claimed the horses as belong- 
 ing to Ms department^ with a most insolent air, looking 
 daggers and court martials, and swelling as only over- 
 fed subsistence agents on home duty could do. While 
 he was talking I saw Captain D. walking round him 
 looking at the gallant grey, and then at our colonel 
 inquiringly. A nod from the colonel and Captain D's 
 hand was on the grey's bridle, and a quiet but firm 
 request, that sounded very much like an order, for 
 him to get down, as his horse was wanted for cavalry 
 service. The man of the subsistence and transporta- 
 tion department was so dumbfounded that he would 
 have let pass the best operation possible of making 
 money out of the necessities of the people for which 
 his tribe was famous ; but just then a bugle rang out 
 
S2 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 the call for "boot and saddle;" tlie bugles of tbe 
 otlier regiments took it np ; the momentary diversion 
 of the horse pressing and the quartermaster was for- 
 gotten ; work was at hand ; the rumbling of the artil- 
 lery and wagons crossing the bridge, with columns of 
 infantry between, could be heard down in the town at 
 the foot of the hill, and the cavalry were wanted on 
 the other side of the town, by the Eandolph House, 
 to hold the enemy in check and cover the crossing of 
 the river. 
 
 The brigade was soon in the saddle, and mo^dng at 
 a swinging trot down the long street that constitutes 
 mainly the town of Farmville. As the regiment 
 passed a large building on the right, which was shown 
 to be a boarding school for young ladies, from the 
 number gathered on the piazza in front, we were 
 greeted by their waving handkerchiefs and moist eyes, 
 while cheer after cheer rose from our men in response 
 to their kindness and sympathy. They did not know, 
 as we did, that their friends and defenders were to 
 pass by, leaving them so soon in the hands most 
 dreaded by them. They saw us going to the front ; 
 our men were excited by the circumstances and the 
 prospect of a fight, and the light of that wild glory 
 that belongs to war shone over it all. . The rough, 
 grey soldier, the tramping column, and the groups of 
 tender girls, mixed with it like flowers on a battle 
 field, incongruous in detail, but blending with the pic- 
 ture, like discords in music, making it complete. 
 
 So on through the town, across the little stream, 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 83 
 
 and up tlie hill, on the top of which on the right 
 Btood a large white building, called, as I recollect, the 
 Eandolph House ; in the field around were gathered 
 and gathering large bodies of our cavalry, under the 
 -command of General F. H. Lee, Greneral Eosser and 
 ■other distinguished cavalry officers. We took our 
 position among them. As before stated, our column, 
 artillery and wagon train, were pouring in a steady 
 -stream across the bridge, and the enemy were press- 
 ing up theii' artillery, and already throwing long shots 
 at it from batteries not near enough to do much if 
 ■any harm, and too much under cover to admit of an 
 efiectual attack from us. 
 
 Greneral Lee dismounted the most of his command 
 .■and formed a line of battle along the road looking to- 
 ward the point from which the enemy were advancing. 
 
 We (our brigade) were kept in the saddle at the 
 point we first occupied on the right of the road. 
 There was a house some three hundred yards from 
 the road on the left, directly in front of General Lee's 
 line, in a grove of oak, with a lane or avenue leading 
 to it from the main road. Behind the house a battery 
 seemed gradually advancing and already throwing its 
 shells at or about the bridge. So far they were com- 
 pletely masked by the house, and we could only 
 judge of their movements from their fire, which 
 seemed closer every moment. 
 
 In pursuance of some order we changed our posi- 
 tion, and rode to General Lee's dismounted line of 
 battle. As we rode up — our regiment, the Seventh, 
 
34 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 leading — ^we were tlie right flank regiment in tlie bri- 
 gade formation, and in column with, the right in front 
 were necessarily in advance. The battery seemed by 
 this time to have gotten immediately behind the 
 honse, and was pitching shells about the bridge and 
 into the town (the bridge was at the foot of the street) 
 with precision and rapidity. Expecting to see it un- 
 mask itself in front of the house every moment, Gen- 
 eral Lee said to our colonel, " Haskell, as soon as 
 that battery shows itself take it with your regiment ; 
 you can do it." 
 
 We moved at once down the avenue toward the 
 house up to the edge of the oak wood, with which the 
 lawn in front was surrounded, formed the regiment in 
 column of fours in the road. The colonel rode along 
 the side of the column, the adjutant detailing three of 
 the best mounted men from each company — the horses 
 were the animals specially selected — the men at that 
 stage of the game were all known to be good — making 
 thirty men, and the senior captain, Doby, in immedi- 
 ate command of the party. 
 
 The colonel rode in front of the halted column 
 some forty or fifty yards, with his thirty men, after 
 directing the officer next in command to ride down 
 the flank of the regiment, form, and speak to each 
 " set of fours " separately. Each set of fours waited 
 for the word of command to be given to themselves 
 specially, and as the order was given " to close u|) and 
 dress," they did so steadily and firmly, and I looked 
 into the eyes of each man in the regiment, and they 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 60 
 
 looked into mine. There was little left for words to 
 say. 
 
 There we sat, waiting to charge the battery that 
 was momentarily expected to unmask in front of the 
 house — something over two hundred men of the t^^ 
 thousand on our muster roll, and all the cavalry of 
 the army of Northern Yirginia, looking on to see 
 ■ how we did it. 
 
 The shells from the battery whistled four or five feet 
 above our heads, for they had discovered our line on 
 the hill and turned their fire on it. ' The shells went 
 over our heads, but struck a few feet in front of 
 General Lee's dismounted line, making gaps in it as 
 they did so. 
 
 Just then information was received that our march- 
 ing column had crossed the bridge — our charge was 
 not to be — there was nothing to wait for. Greneral 
 Lee mounted his men, formed, and moved oS 
 promptly to cross the river at a ford some two 
 miles farther up, leaving General Gary with his bri- 
 gade to cover his retreat. "We drew off from the posi- 
 tion we had taken to attack the battery, the regiment 
 resiiming its position at the head of the brigade, with 
 the exception of Colonel Haskell, Captain Loby, and 
 the thirty men before chosen — this party remained in - 
 the rear of the brigade, all moving off slowly, the last 
 of General Lee's division having by this time gone 
 out of sight over the top of the hill. 
 
 We had not yet been able to perceive that the 
 bridge was on fire. General Gary said that General 
 
 3 
 
86 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 Lee had left it to his discretion to cross at tlie bridge 
 if he could, as he expected we would be pressed very 
 closely at the last ; so, instead of following Greneral 
 Lee's hne of retreat, we turned down towards the 
 town agam and halted in the street while the Greneral 
 himself galloped down to the bridge to see if it was 
 practicable. The shells were bursting over the town, 
 and in the street occasionally, while the good people 
 of Famiville, in a state of great though natural 
 alarm, were leaving with theii' goods forthwith. We 
 told them we were going at once ; were not to make 
 a fight in the town ; to keep quiet in their houses, 
 and it was not probable they would be interfered 
 with. 
 
 The bridge, bursting into smoke and flame, told 
 the story before the Greneral got back. On we went 
 up the street, through the grove where we camped 
 the night before, on toward the railroad, following the 
 ti'ack taken by Greneral Lee. 
 
 Just beyond the wood, on the outskirts of the 
 town, a large creek runs under the railroad through 
 an arched way or viaduct, wide enough for the road 
 to pass along its bank. After crossing this creek, on 
 a bridge on the town side of the railroad embankment, 
 we passed along the road under the culvert, and 
 formed on the edge of the woods some three or 
 four hundred yards beyond. Colonel Haskell, with 
 Captain Doby and his thnty men, halted at the 
 bridge to destroy it, as by tliis time bodies of the 
 enemy's cavalry could be seen moving at a gallop on 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 87 
 
 the hill above. The creek was too deep for a ford ; 
 so it was all important, in connection with our cross- 
 ing the river, to check their advance by burning the 
 bridge. Colonel Haskell, dismounting, placed all of 
 his party, except his axemen, behind the railroad 
 bank which overlooked the bridge and served as a 
 capital breastwork, went to work with a will. By 
 this time the enemy was upon them and commenced 
 a heavy fire, which was returned handsomely by the 
 party under cover and with good effect. Colonel 
 Haskell succeeded in the complete destruction of 
 the bridge, with the loss of only one of his axemen 
 killed 
 
 , The cover of the bank, and the small number ac- 
 tually exposed when at work, enabled him to per- 
 form a gallant and dangerous piece of service with 
 slight loss. 
 
 Greneral Grary, who had occupied a position be- 
 tween the wood where the brigade was formed and 
 near where the bridge party was at work, so as to be 
 in complete command of whatever might take place, 
 moved on at once toward the ford where Greneral 
 Lee had already crossed his division. We moved by 
 regiments in intervals after him. 
 
 By some mistake of our guide we were carried to 
 a point in the river which was not practicable, at the 
 then " stage of the river, as a ford — which we duly 
 discovered after nearly drowning two or three men 
 and horses of the ambulance train, whom we found at 
 the head of the column when we reached the river, 
 
38 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 their usual place being in the rear. The adjutant, 
 finding them in front, asked them, " What the deuce 
 are you doing here — your place is in the rear?"" 
 " No, sir," said a long-backed individu.al of the party, in 
 a copper colored raiment, who seemed to have been 
 making a study of the rules and regulations as apply- 
 ing to his own department. " Not so. In the rear, I 
 grant you, in the advance ; in the front, if you please, 
 in a retreat." " So be it," said I. "In with you ;" and 
 in they went, nothing loth. The river was swim- 
 ming and the horses swam badly, making plunges to 
 reach the opposite bank, which, when they gained, 
 was steep and treacherou.s, and it was only after re- 
 peated efforts, and then riders getting off into the 
 river, that they made a landing. It was apparent 
 that this could not be the point that General Lee had 
 crossed his division. Some one turned up who led 
 us right. About a mile farther up we found the 
 ford that he had crossed at, and got over without 
 difficulty or molestation; it was scarcely swimming 
 to the smallest horse, and directly opposite lay all of 
 the Virginia cavalry to cover our crossing, if pressed, 
 while it was going on. We were the first regiment 
 that crossed ; found some stacks of oats ; halted, 
 formed in squadrons, fed our horses, ate what we 
 had to eat, rested, and, as usual, made the best of it. 
 
 . After a rest of about an hour General Lee moved 
 off, we following in his rear, the Virginians ahead of 
 us with General Lee destroying the equanimity of 
 the good people on their line of march by pressing 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 39 
 
 every horse found in their way. Ic seemed hard to 
 <iome down so on our own people, after all the sacri- 
 fices already made by them, but if the horse was lost 
 "by our taking him, which was apt to be the result, 
 the proceeding mounted at least one of our own 
 troopers ; on the other hand it gave a fresh horse to 
 the enemy, and was equally lost to the owner — and 
 this was the view the Virginians usually took of it 
 General Lee, being ahead of us, made a clean sweep 
 as he went along, leaving scarce a gleaning of horse- 
 flesh for us. After a while we came upon the wagons 
 and infantry again. It was not long before the ring- 
 ing of a volley and the roar of a piece of artillery let 
 lis know that an attack had been made on our train 
 .again. We moved up to the firing at a gallop, and as 
 we passed along there came sweeping through the 
 ivoods, from the road running parallel with the one 
 we were on, a body of infantry in line, moving at a 
 double quick upon the same point, which was but a 
 short distance ahead of u.s. They were what was left 
 of the famous " Texas brigade," well remembered by 
 .some of "US in 1861 on the Occoquon at Dumfries — 
 first commanded by Wigfall, then a short time by 
 Archer, then by Hood, then Grregg, who was killed 
 October 26th, 1864, at the fight on the Darby town 
 Toad. At this time the brigade counted about one 
 hundred and thirty muskets, commanded by Colonel 
 Duke. We had been fighting with them all summer, 
 irom Deep Bottom to New Market heights, to the 
 lines around Richmond, and they recognized the bri- 
 
40 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 gade as we rode along their front, and with a yell as 
 fierce and keen as when their three regiments ave- 
 raged a thousand strong, and nothing but victory had 
 been around their flag, they shouted to us, " Forward, 
 boys, forward, and tell them Texas is coming !" 
 
 When we got into the open field we found that 
 General Lee's di^dsion of cavalry had engaged the 
 enemy, driven him from his attack on our ti'ain, and 
 taken the Federal Greneral Gregg j^risoner. 
 
 The enemy were occupying in force, apparently, the 
 woods on the right of the field with infantry and artil- 
 lery. We were holding the open field which had 
 been the scene of the skirmish before we came up,, 
 and threw out skirmishers, and retui'ned the fire of 
 their sharpshooters — both sides using a j)iece or two 
 of artillery at long range. 
 
 After this had gone on for a while, "ours," the 
 Seventh, was ordered to charge in line on horseback, 
 through a piece of old field, gi'own uj) in scattering 
 pines, upon the battery that was working on us from 
 the edge of the oak woods. The line was formed and 
 we went at it very handsomely, our men keeping up 
 their line and fire astonishingly, considering we were 
 armed with " muzzle loaders " (the gi'eatest possible 
 of all drawbacks to the efficiency of cavalry). 
 
 We drew on ourselves at once a heavy fire of artil- 
 lery and small arms, which told smartly on our line, 
 knocking over men and horses, until the left flank of 
 the regiment came upon a ravine, or deep wash, cov- 
 ering nearly half of its front. The horses could not 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 41 
 
 cross. We moved by the right flank to clear the 
 obstruction, and then found that the object of our 
 demonstration had been answered. It had been made 
 to cover the withdrawal of a body of our infantry 
 that had been advanced on our right. It was sun- 
 down. We left a strong line of pickets, or rather a 
 skirmish line, under command of Lieutenant Muner- 
 lyn, upon the ground we had occupied, and drew ofi 
 into the open field, waiting for dark before going into 
 camp, or rather lying on our arms. It had been a 
 tiresome day, and, though neither then nor now an 
 admirer of strong drink, I fell back upon and fully 
 appreciated the contents of my canteen — the famous 
 apple brandy of Amelia Springs. 
 
 This, although we did not know it then, was destined 
 to be (save the last of all) the hardest night upon us. 
 We moved into a piece of woods as soon as it was dark, 
 and formed the regiment in squadrons, with orders to 
 water horses, a squadron at a time — the rest holding 
 position, the men in the saddle, until the return of 
 the preceding squadron — and then picket their horses 
 and make fires as near as possible on the same 
 ground. But when the first squadron returned from 
 the water, and the field ofiicers had just unbuckled 
 their sabres and stretched themselves on the ground 
 to take the rest so much needed, and watch that most 
 interesting process to a hungry man, the building up 
 the little fire that was to do his modest cooking, 
 when an orderly comes from General Grary to change 
 camp — to buckle up and mount, and follow the or- 
 
42 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 derlj a half mile to the rear. We were, it seemed, 
 too near the enemy's line, looking to the contem- 
 plated movement. 
 
 At the new location — a comfortable piece of piny 
 woods old field — we finished what we had begnn at 
 the other point. At onr mess, slee]D seemed to be the 
 great object in view. I went to sleep immediately, 
 my head on my saddle ; woke in abont a half hour's 
 time to eat what there was, and instantly to sleep 
 again ; bnt that was not to be. At abont ten o'clock 
 a quiet order mounted n.s, almost before, as the little 
 boys say, we got the " sleep ont of our eyes." We 
 were in column on the road, and non-commissioned 
 ofTicers under the direction of the adjutant riding- 
 down it, each with a handkerchief full of cartridges, 
 suppljdng the men with that very necessary " article 
 of war." And then commenced that most weary 
 night march, that will always be remembered by the 
 tired men who rode it, that ended only (without a 
 halt, except a marching one,) at Appomattox Court, 
 house. 
 
 The line of retreat had been changed, and by a 
 forced night march on another road a push was being 
 y made for the mountains at Lynchburg. Had we got- 
 ten there (and Appomattox Court-house was within 
 twenty miles of Lynchburg) with the men and ma- 
 terial General Lee still had with him, Lee's last strug- 
 gle among the mountains of his native State would 
 have made a picture to swell the soldier's heart with 
 pride to look upon. The end we know would have 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 48 
 
 \>Gen the same ; a few more noble hearts would have 
 bled in vain, and song and story would but have 
 found new themes to tell the old, old tale — how will- 
 ing brave men are to die for what they believe to be 
 right. Through long lines of toiling wagons, artillery 
 trains and tired men, we pushed on as rapidly as we 
 could ; at a bad piece of road, at a creek or a muddy 
 hill, the column sometimes got cut in two by a por- 
 tion getting through the wagons, the train then closing, 
 waiting upon a wagon mired down ahead. 
 
 At one of these halts for the brigade to close up 
 SLTid for the regiments to report position, General Gary 
 had halted, at a large fire made from the rails of some 
 good farmer's fence by troops ahead of us, and round 
 it we all gathered, for the night was cold. The 
 subject of conversation with the brigade staff when 
 we joined was, that Captain M., the inspector, not 
 being well, had, early in the night, halted at a farm 
 house and gone to bed, just to see how it would feel, 
 putting his horse in the farmer's stable ; and when 
 he roused himself to the necessities of his position, 
 and sought to ride with the rest, he found his horse 
 -was gone. Some pressing party had gone that way. 
 
 I remembered, when I hstened to the drowsy talk 
 :about the captain's loss, that a couple of enterprising 
 young fellows had reported some horses at a farm 
 house and gotten permission to go after them. They 
 had not long returned with their prizes; they, the 
 hiorses, stood just on the edge of light thrown by the 
 fire against the darkness that rose like a wall behind 
 
44 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 it, the Mnd-quarters of one, a large, leggy bay, with 
 stockings on his hind legs, could be seen from where 
 we sat ; one of the orderlies, looking with sleepy eyes 
 from the log on which he was sitting at the horses, ex- 
 pressed himself to the effect that he thought that- 
 " long-legged bay " looked about the hind-quarters a 
 good deal like the captain's missing charger. And so- 
 it proved. While the captain " dallied at Capua," press- 
 ing the luxurious blanket of the Virginia farmer, his 
 horse, in camp parlance, was " lifted " by our enter- 
 prising youth ; and, much to their disgust, the cap- 
 tain reentered into possession of his leggy war horse. 
 They expressed themselves to the effect. that they 
 would as soon have stolen his horse as any body 
 else's. 
 
 Again in the saddle, tramping through mud holes, 
 splashing in ruts, we worked Our way amid the long 
 line of wagons, troops and artillery, until daylight 
 came to our relief. About eight o'clock we came 
 upon our own wagon train — the first, and, by the way, 
 the only time we encountered it on our route — comfort- 
 ably camped in a fine grove, good fires, and a glori- 
 ous smell of cooking permeating the early morning 
 air. The headquarter wagons of our regiment were 
 parked near a fine fire, and our servants (never ex- 
 pecting to see us again, I suppose,) were cooking on a 
 large scale from our private stores for a half dozen 
 notorious wagon-rats of the genteeler sort. 
 
 Of course, as we rode up our boys declared they 
 expected us and were getting breakfast ready, which 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 45 
 
 Statement was sustained by " messieurs," the wagon- 
 rats ; but the longing look they cast at a big pot of rice 
 steaming by the fire as they drew off, indicated a 
 deeper interest than I think it possible for them to 
 have gotten up on any one's account but their own. 
 We had a most comfortable breakfast and a rest of an 
 hour only, the time being taken up in dozing and 
 eating. 
 
 Bad as the night had been the day was a beautiful 
 one. The sun was shining bright ; our breakfast and 
 rest had so refreshed us, short as that rest was, that 
 we resumed our march and the work before us, cheer- 
 ful and ready to meet it, whatever it might be, and 
 what that " might be " was no man troubled himself 
 to know. 
 
 Not long after resuming our march we posted 
 pickets at some cross roads, under the immediate 
 direction of General R E. Lee himself. .We moved 
 steadily on to-day without molestation of any kind, 
 the wagons moving in double lines, the road being 
 wide enough to admit it. About twelve o'clock or a 
 little later we had halted to water our horses at a 
 stream that crossed the road. It takes a good deal of 
 time for a large body of cavalry to water their horses^ 
 particularly if the stream is small, and the men have 
 to be watched closely to prevent their fouling the 
 water. 
 
 I had dismounted and was leaning across my horse,, 
 when I saw, as I thought. Captain Allen, of the 
 Twenty-fourth Virginia, of our brigade, having wat- 
 
46 THE FALLIXG FLAG. 
 
 €red his horse where the stream crossed the road. 
 The captain was a fine specimen of a Yirginia soldier 
 and gentleman, some sixty years of age, of fine pres- 
 ence, who was always said to resemble Greneral Lee, 
 wearing his grey beard trimmed after the fashion of 
 that of our great leader, and in the saddle having 
 ^bont the same height, though dismounted, the cap- 
 tain, I should say, was the taller. However, I watched 
 the old captain, as I thought, riding up the hill toward 
 me, on a very fine grey horse, and was thinking what 
 .a type of the veteran soldier he looked, as indeed I 
 had often thought before, until he got within a few 
 feet of me, when I changed my intended rather famil- 
 iar, but still most respectful salute, meant for the 
 captain, for the reverence with which the soldier 
 .salutes the standard of his legion — which represents to 
 him all that he has left to love and honor — as I dis- 
 covered that it was Greneral R B. Lee himself, riding 
 alone — not even an orderly in attendance. He re- 
 turned our salute, his eye taking it all in, with a calm 
 smile, that assured us our confidence was not mis- 
 placed. He bore the pressure of the responsibility 
 that was upon him as only a great and good man 
 €Ould^ — as one who felt that, happen what may, self- 
 ishness — consideration of what might happen to him- 
 self — -had nothing to do with it. 
 
 So I felt satisfied that there was a likeness between 
 Captain Allen, of the Twenty-fourth Virginia, and 
 •General R E. Lee of the Soathern Confederacy. 
 
 A little after this we got orders to move on, as 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 47 
 
 quickly as we could, in advance to Appomattox 
 Conrt-house. " Appomattox Conrt-honse " is a small 
 county town about a mile from tlie Lynchburg rail- 
 road. At tbe foot of tbe bill on wbich the court- 
 house and tbe three or four houses that constitn.te the 
 village stand, run the headwaters of the Appomattox 
 riyer, a small stream, not knee deep to a horse. 
 
 As soon as we cleared the wagon train we got over 
 ground much faster, and rode into and through the 
 town just as the sun was setting. We stopped at a 
 piece of woods on the outskirts of the village, and 
 halted in the road while the quartermasters were 
 selecting the gTound, and the regiments were closing 
 up. Our foragers, that had been detailed before we 
 got into town, were riding in with the hay they had 
 collected on the pommels of their saddles, and all 
 was as quiet as a scene in " Arcady," when the still- 
 ness was broken by the scream of a shell, the report 
 of a gun, and then the burst- up of the missile as it 
 finished its mission and reported progress — and then 
 another, and another, until as pretty battery practice 
 was developed down yonder by the depot — Clover 
 Hill I think it is called — as you would wish to hear. 
 
 Without knowing positively anything about it, 
 those whom I had conversed with relative to our 
 pushing on to the CoUrt-house were under the im- 
 pression that a large body of our infantry were ahead 
 of us — General Dick Anderson's corps. He was 
 there, as it turned out, but his corps had been ex- 
 pended a day or two before ; it had been completely 
 
48 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 fought out, for we had no better officer than Lt. Greneral 
 Eichard Anderson, an old West Pointer — cavalry at 
 that — and a South Carolinian to boot. 
 
 It was, however, " hammer and tongs " down there 
 at all events- — shell, grape and canister at short range. 
 Oustar's division of Sheridan's cavalry had taken the 
 chord of the arc, and reached the depot just abput 
 the time we got to the village. A knowledge of his 
 movements had caused our being sent forward, his 
 object being to strike the artillery train, which was in 
 .advance of us — sixty pieces, under General Walker. 
 Three batteries were left at the depot to hold it, while 
 the rest retreated along the Lynchburg pike. That 
 was the position of things when the firing began. 
 The three batteries were, Washington Artillery, 
 Louisiana ; the Donaldson ville Cannoneers, Creoles 
 exclusively, Louisiana ; and the Yirginia battery here- 
 tofore attached to our brigade. 
 
 While we were closing up our scattered ranks, and 
 getting the brigade ready for action as rapidly as 
 coolness, skill and courage could do it, a department 
 officer (I think he was) came galloping up to us from 
 the scene of action, apparently under orders from 
 himself to get out of the way ; but the natural inso- 
 lence of his class broke out in spite of the scare that 
 was on him, and he commenced giving orders at 
 once. I happened to be the person addressed — " Get 
 on at once ; the enemy are down yonder ! Why don't 
 you go at once ? Are all you men going to stand 
 here and let the eneni}^ '' — and so on. The colonel 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. ^9 
 
 had ridden down the column to see that all was 
 straight, while the " Legion " and the Twenty-fourth 
 Yirginia were closing up, so that when we did move 
 it would be as a compact body — when the oi^der 
 -came ringing along — " Forward, forward, men ! gal- 
 lop !" — and our indignant friend was lost in the rush 
 of the column while yet haranguing us for being so 
 slow. 
 
 The roar of the batteries was incessant. They 
 were evidently holding the dismounted cavalry in 
 ■check. As rapidly as we could get over ground we 
 moved towards them, and formed the brigade in the 
 £eld to the left of tlie position held by the batteries, 
 in what might be called a column of regiments. As 
 we formed the regiment from a column of fours into 
 line, they came down from a gallop to a trot at the 
 order, " Front into line," as steadily as if on parade ; 
 then followed, "Eight dress, front" — and all were 
 ready for. the next move. 
 
 Our batteries from the right were shelling the 
 woods opposite to us. In front, under cover, some 
 of the cavalry skirmishers were using their Spencers 
 upon us at long range, and a squadron of ours, the 
 Fifth, was detailed to move up and take a position 
 opposite and return their fire. 
 
 By this time the grey of twilight was lighted up 
 "by the rising moon, and there seemed to be a lull in 
 the attack. Greneral Grary and Colonel Haskell had 
 Tidden over our front and communicated with the 
 ■commanding officer of the batteries ; the consequence 
 
50 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 of wliicli was, the brigade was dismounted and 
 doiible-quicked tlirongh a small piece of wood to the 
 batteiies. Before our men could get to the guns 
 the enem}^ charged and got among them, but were 
 driven back by the fire and our rush, but taking 
 with them some of our men as prisoners — among 
 them Captain Hankins, of the Virginia battery, who 
 got away and came running up to me as I rode to 
 my place. Our men fell in between the guns, and 
 then began one of the closest artillery fights, for the 
 numbers engaged and the time it lasted, that occurred 
 during the war. The guns were fought literally up 
 to the muzzles. It was dark by this time, and at 
 every discharge the cannon was ablaze from touch- 
 hole to mouth, and there must have been six or 
 eight pieces at work, and the small arms of some 
 three or four hundi^ed men packed in among the 
 guns in a very confined space. It seemed hke the 
 very jaws of the lower regions. They made three 
 distinct charges, preluding always with the bugle, on 
 the right, left and centre, confusing the point of at- 
 tack ; then, with a cheer and up they came. It was 
 too dark to see anything under the shadow of the 
 trees but the long dark line. They would get within 
 thirty or forty yards of the guns and then roll back, 
 under the deadly fire that was poui-ed upon them 
 from the artillery and small arms. Amid the flash- 
 ing, and the roaring, and the shouting, rose the wild 
 yell of a railroad whistle, as a train rushed up almost 
 among us (the enemy had possession of the road), as 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 51 
 
 we were fighting around the depot, sounding on the 
 night air as if the devil himself had just come up 
 and was about to join in what was going on. 
 
 Then came a lull ; our friends in front seemed to 
 have had the wire edge taken oft. 
 
 Our horses had been sent back to the turnpike 
 road; General Gary taking advantage of the present 
 quiet sent Colonel Haskell to get them together — 
 rather a difficult task, as it afterwards proved. 
 
 General Gary's great object was to draw off the 
 guns, if possible, now night had set in, from the 
 depot, and get them bade with the rest of the train 
 in the line of retreat. So the order was given to 
 limber them up, which was done, and the guns 
 moved off at once, it being but a few hundred yards 
 to the main road. 
 
 Our brigade in line faced to the rear, the guns be- 
 hind them, and covered the movement. The silence 
 of the guns soon told our friends over yonder what 
 was going on, and they were not long in following 
 after ; our men, facing to the rear, delivered their 
 fire steadily, moving in retreat, facing and firing 
 every few steps, effectually keeping off a rush ; they 
 pressed us, but cautiously — the darkness concealed 
 our numbers. 
 
 We were going through an open old field, and came 
 now to a road through a narrow piece of woods, 
 where we broke from line into column, and double- 
 quicked through the woods so as to get to the road 
 beyond. Before we got to the turnpike we heard the 
 
 4 
 
52 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 bugles of the enemy down it, and as the head of our 
 column came into the road their cavalry charged the 
 train some two or three hundred yards below ns. 
 Sixty pieces of cannon, at the point where we came 
 into the road, the drivers were attempting to turn 
 back toward the Com-t House, had got entangled 
 with one another and presented a scene of ntter con- 
 fusion. 
 
 As our regiment got into the road some thirty or 
 forty men were thrown out from the last squadron 
 and faced to the rear on the right and left, opening a 
 fire directly upon those of the dismounted men who 
 were pressing us from that quarter. I had but little 
 fear of the enemy's cavalry riding into us on the road, 
 so blocked up as it was with the routed artillery train,, 
 and there were woods on both sides just here. 
 
 In passing from the old field, where the guns had 
 been at work, into the woods that separated it from 
 the turnpike, two men were walking just in front of 
 me, following their gun, which ^_was on before. I 
 heard one say, " Tout j^erdiC I asked at once^ 
 "What battery do you belong to?" " Donaldson- 
 ville." It was the Creole company ; and they might 
 well have added the other words of the gTcat Francis^ 
 after the battle of Pavia, " Tout perdu fors Vhonneur^'^ 
 all lost but honor ; for well had they done their work 
 from ' sixty-one, when they came to Yirginia, until 
 now, when all was lost, " Tout perdu " — it was the 
 motto of the occasion. 
 
 The stag was in the toils, but the end was not yet» 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 53 
 
 We could hear the rush, the shouts and pistol shots, 
 where the enemy mounted and in force had attacked 
 the train ; the artillerymen having no arms could 
 make no fight, as thej could not use their pieces. 
 We could do nothing (being closely pressed by a 
 superior force of their dismounted men) but fall 
 back upon the town toward our main body, making 
 the best front we could, leaving the road and march- 
 ing under cover of the timber on the side, being on 
 foot giving us a better position to resist any attack 
 that might be made upon us by the cavalry. 
 
 The fifth squadron of the Seventh, that had been 
 thrown out as skirmishers when we first came on the 
 ground, had kept their position covering our left 
 flank when the fight at the batteries was going on. 
 And when we commenced falling back after the guns, 
 the adjutant, Lieutenant Capers, was sent to bring 
 them to the road, so as to join the regiment. They 
 had also been dismounted, and their horses sent with 
 the rest. He found them, led them to the road, and, 
 on getting on it at a point nearer to the town than 
 where we struck it, hearing the bugles and the rush 
 of the cavalry on the train, he at once posted the com- 
 panies, with their captains, Doby and Dubose, in tlie 
 woods immediately on the road-side, and with the 
 parting salutation, " Take care of yourselves, boys," 
 (he had been a private in one of the companies, and 
 both were from his native district), dashed back to his 
 place in the regiment and disappeared round a turn in 
 the road. They had scarcely lost sight of him when 
 
54 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 a heavy volley rang out, and Ms horse came round 
 the bend at full speed without his rider, jumping over 
 in his fright a broken caisson that lay across the road 
 — the horse, a very fine roan, the one he was riding 
 when, at " Amelia Spring," he, Capers, was the only 
 one of the five in advance who escaped, to meet his 
 fate that night, pierced by a dozen balls ; the whole 
 fire of the cohimn was concentrated upon him, for we 
 found his body next day. Some kind hand had given 
 him a soldier's grave ; some one, most likely of those 
 who fought us, who could not but respect and admire 
 the gallant young fellow lying in his blood, and with 
 the feeling developed by a soldier's life, " So be it to 
 me and mine in my sorrow as I may be to thee this 
 day." All the respect was shown that circumstances 
 admitted of. 
 
 One of om- captains, who was wounded at the 
 " gTins " severely, fell into the enemy's hands when 
 we moved them — as everybody was too busy to look 
 after the wounded, and ambulance men and stretchers 
 were this time neither in the front or rear. He was 
 taken up by his new friends quite tenderly, as he 
 thought, and put into an ambulance ; but in the 
 course of the evening's entertainment the Yankee 
 wounded came dropping in, and our friend. Captain 
 Walker, was disposed of rather unceremoniously on 
 the roadside, for others they valued at a higher rate 
 than even a Confederate captain. 
 
 Immediately after the adjutant's horse came Cus- 
 tar's cavalry. Seeing all clear before them, they 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 55 
 
 came on without a clieck until, when nearly opposite 
 where our men of the Fifth squadron were lying in 
 the woods, they caught the fire of the entire squad- 
 ron, which emptied a good many saddles, and was 
 the last shot probably fired that night. 
 
 The Federal cavalry ke^Dt on toward the town, and 
 the squadron, under cover, drew deeper into the 
 woods, and moved round the town and went into 
 camp, but did not join the main body until next 
 morning. The enemy kept on until they got into, or 
 nearly into the town, but again fell back, establishing 
 their line somewhere between the town and the depot. 
 Our outside picket was in the town. 
 
 We went into camp about one o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, on the Kichmond side of the town, in the woods — 
 Greneral Grary riding to General Grordon's headquarters 
 to report before lying down. 
 
 April 9th. — The sun rose clear on this the last day, 
 practically, of the Southern Confederacy. It was cool 
 and fresh in the early morning so near the mountains, 
 though the spring must have been a forward one, as 
 the oak trees were covered with their long yellow 
 tassels. 
 
 We gathered the brigade on the green on the Rich- 
 mond side of the village, most of the men on foot, 
 the horses not having come in. About eight o'clock 
 a large portion of our regiment had their horses — 
 they having been completely cut off the night before 
 . by the charge of Custar's cavalry on the turnpike, and 
 were carried, to save them, into a country cross-road. 
 
56 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 Then tlie " Hampton Legion " got theirs. My im- 
 pression is that the Twenty-fourth Virginia lost the 
 most or a good many of their horses. The men built 
 fires, and all seemed to haye something to eat, and to 
 be amusing themselyes eating it. The woods on the 
 southern and eastern side swarmed with the enemy 
 and their cay airy — a portion of it was between us and 
 the " James Eiyer," which was about twelye miles 
 distant. General Fitz Lee's diyision of cayaliy lay 
 oyer in tbat direction somewhere ; G-eneral Longstreet 
 with. Greneral Gordon was in and on the outer edge of 
 the town, on the Lynchburg side, and so we waited 
 for the performance to commence. 
 
 Looking at and listening to the men you would 
 not haye thought there was anytliing sj)ecial in the 
 situation. They turned all the responsibility oyer to 
 the officers, who in turn did the same to those above 
 them — the captain to the colonel, the colonel to the 
 brigadier, and^so on. 
 
 Colonel Haskell had not yet returned — lia^dng sent 
 in all the horses he had gotten, and was still after the 
 balance. About nine or ten o'clock, artillery firing 
 began in front of General liOngstreet, and the blue 
 jackets showed in heayy masses on the edge of the 
 woods. General Grury riding up, put everything that 
 had a horse in the saddle, and moved us down the 
 hill, just on the edge of the little creek that is here 
 the " Appomattox," to wait under cover until wanted. 
 Two of our young men, who had some flour and a 
 piece of bacon in their haversacks, had improvised a 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 57 
 
 cooking utensil out of a bursted canteen, and fried 
 some cakes. They offered me a share in their meal, 
 'of which I partook with great relish. I then lay 
 down, with my head, like the luxurious Highlander, 
 upon a smooth stone, and, holding my horse's bridle 
 in my hand, was soon in the deep sleep of a tired 
 man. But not for long, for down came the general 
 in his most emphatic manner^ — and those who know 
 Gary know a man whose emphasis can be wonder- 
 iully strong when so minded. " Mount, men, mount !" 
 I jumped up at the sharp, ringing summons with the 
 sleep still in my eyes, and found myself manoeu- 
 vring my horse with his rear in front. We soon' 
 had everything in its right place, and rode out from 
 the bottom into the open hekl, about two hundred 
 and fifty strong, to see the last of it. 
 
 Firing was going on, artillery and small arms, be- 
 yond the town, and there was Greneral K, E. Lee 
 himself, with Longstreet, Grordon, and the rest of his 
 paladins. 
 
 When we rode into the open field we could see the 
 enemy crowding along the edge of the woods — cavalry 
 apparently extending their line around us. We kept 
 on advancing towards them to get a nearer view of 
 things, and were midway on the Eichmond side be- 
 tween the town and a large white house with a hand- 
 ;some grove around it. In the yard could be seen a 
 body of cavalry, in number about our own ; we saw 
 no other troops near. Two or three hundred yards 
 to the right of the house an officer, apparently of 
 
58 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 rank, with a few men — his staff, probably — riding 
 well forward, halted, looking toward the town with 
 his glass. Just as he rode out General Gary had 
 given the order to charge the party in the yard. 
 Some one remarked that it looked like a flag of 
 truce. " Charge !" swore Gary in his roughest tones, 
 and on we went. The party in the yard were taken 
 by surprise ; they had not expected us to charge^ 
 them, as they were aware that a parley was going on 
 (of which, of course, we knew nothing), and that there 
 was a suspension of hostilities. 
 
 We drove them through the yard, taking one or 
 two prisoners — one little fellow, who took it very 
 good-humoredly ; he had his head tied up, having 
 got it broken somewhere on the road, and was riding 
 a mule. We followed up their retreat through the 
 yard, down a road, through the open woods beyond, 
 and were having it, as we thought, all our own way — 
 when, stretched along behind the brown oaks, and 
 moving with a close and steady tramp, was a long 
 line of cavalry, some thousands strong — Custar's 
 division — our friends of last night. This altered the 
 complexion of things entirely ; the order was instantly 
 given to move by the left flank — which, without 
 throwing our back to them, changed the forward into 
 a retrv^grade movement. 
 
 The enemy kept his line unbroken, pressing slowly 
 forward, firing no volley, but dropping shots from a 
 line of scattered skirmishers in front was all we got. 
 They, of course, knew the condition of things, and 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 59^ 
 
 seemed to tlaink we did not. We fell back toward 
 a battery of ours that was behind us, supported. I 
 think, by a brigade of North Carolina infantry., We 
 moved slowly, and the enemy's skirmishers got close^ 
 enough for a dash to be made by our acting regi- 
 mental adjutant — in place of Lieutenant Capers, 
 killed the night before — Lieutenant Haile, who took a 
 prisoner, but just as it was done one of our couriers 
 — Tribble, Seventh regiment — mounted on a fine 
 black horse, bareheaded, dashed between the two 
 lines with a handkerchief tied upon a switch, sent by 
 General Gordon, announcing the " suspension of hos- 
 tilities." 
 
 By this time the enterprising adjutant had in turn 
 been made prisoner. As soon as the orders were 
 understood everything came to a stand-still, and for a 
 while I thought we were going to have, then and 
 there, a liltle inside fight on purely personal gTounds. 
 
 An officer — a captain — I presume the captain in. 
 command of the party in the yard that we had at- 
 tacked and driven back upon the main body— had, 
 I rather expect, been laughed at by his own people 
 for his prompt and sudden return from the expedition 
 he had set out on. 
 
 He rode up at once to General Gary, and with a 
 good deal of heat (he had his drawn sabre in his 
 hand) wanted to know what he, Gary, meant by 
 keeping up the fight after there had been a surren- 
 der. " Surrender !" said Gary, " I have heard of no 
 surrender. We are South Carolinians, and don't sur- 
 
60 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 render. [All ! General, but we did, tliongli.] Be- 
 sides, sir, I take commands from no ofiicers but my 
 own, and I do not recognize you or any of your cloth 
 
 as suck" 
 
 The rejoinder was about to be a harsh one, sabres 
 
 were out and trouble was very near, w^hen an officer 
 
 of Greneral Custar's staff — I should like to have gotten 
 
 his name — ^his manner was in striking contrast to that 
 
 of the bellicose captain, who seemed rather to belong 
 
 to the snorting persuasion — he, with the language and 
 
 manner of a thorough gentleman, said, " I assure you, 
 
 General, and I appreciate your feelings in the matter, 
 
 that there has been a suspension of hostilities, pending 
 
 negotiations, and General Lee and General Grant are 
 
 in conference on the matter at this time." 
 
 His manner had its effect on General Gary, who at 
 once sheathed his sabre, saying, " Do not sujDpose, sir, 
 I have au}^ doubt of the truth of your statement, but 
 you must allow that, under such circumstances, I can 
 only receive orders from my own officers ; but I am 
 perfectly willing to accept your statement and wait 
 ior those orders." (Situated as we were, certainly a 
 wise conclusion.) Almost on the instant Colonel 
 Blackford, of the engineers, rode up, sent by General 
 Gordon, with a Federal officer, carrying orders to that 
 effect. 
 
 We drew back to the artillery and infantry that 
 were just, behind us, and formed our battered frag- 
 ments into regiments. 
 
 Desperate as we knew our condition to be since last 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 61 
 
 niglit's affair, still tlie idea of a complete surrender, 
 which we began now to see was inevitable, came as 
 an awful shock. Men came to their officers with 
 tears streaming from their eyes, and' asked what it 
 :all meant, and would, at that moment, I know, have 
 rather died the night before than see the sun rise on 
 such a day as this. 
 
 And so the day wore on, and the sun went down, 
 «;nd with it the hopes of a people who, with prayers, 
 and tears, and blood, had striven to uphold that fall- 
 ing flag. 
 
 It was all too true, and our worst fears were fully 
 justified by the result. The suspension of hostilities 
 was but a prelude to surrender, which was, when it 
 €ame to a show of hands, inevitable. 
 
 General Lee's army had been literally pounded to 
 pieces after the battle of " Five Forks," aroimd Peters- 
 burg, which made the evacuation of Richmond and 
 the retreat a necessity. When General Longstreet's 
 corps from the north bank joined it, the " army of 
 Northern Virginia," wasted and reduced to skeleton 
 battalions, was still an army of veteran material, pow- 
 erful yet for attack or defence, all the more danger- 
 ous from its desperate condition. And General Grant 
 so recognized and dealt with it, attacking it, as before 
 stated, in detail ; letting it wear itself out by strag- 
 gling and the disorganizing effect of a retreat, break- 
 ing down of men and material. The 'infantry were 
 :almost starved. 
 
 It was not until the fourth day from Richmond, at 
 
62 THE FAJ.LING FLAG. 
 
 the higli bridge on tlie " Appomattox," the battle of 
 Sailor's Creek was fought, in which, with overwhelm- 
 ing masses of cavalry, artillery and infantrj^, onr 
 starved and tired men were ridden down, and Greneral 
 Grrant destroj^ed, in military parlance, the divisions of 
 Kershaw, Ewell, Anderson and Custis Lee. 
 
 The fighting next day was of the same desultory 
 character as befoie, and the day after there was no- 
 blow struck until we encountered with the artillery 
 Custar's cavalry, at the depot of Appomattox Court- 
 house, as has been described — all their energies being- 
 directed toward establishing their " cordon " around 
 that point. 
 
 The terms of the surrender, and all about it, are too 
 well known to go over in detail here — prisoners of 
 war on parole, officers to retain side arms, and all pri- 
 vate property to be respected ; that was favorable to 
 our cavalr}^, as in the Confederate service the men all 
 owned their horses, though different in the United 
 States army, the horses belonging to Grovernment. 
 
 General Garj^, true to the doctrine he had laid down 
 in his discussion with the irate captain, that " South 
 Carolinians did not surrender," turned his horse's head^ 
 and, with CajDtain Doby and one or two others, man- 
 aged to get that night through the " cordon " drawn 
 around us, and succeeded in reaching Charlotte,. 
 North Carolina, which became, for a time, the head- 
 quarters of the " Southern Confederacy " — the Presi- 
 dent and his Cabinet having established themselves- 
 there. 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 63 
 
 Colonel Haskell, who had been separated from ns 
 the night before, while gathering up the horses of the 
 brigade, by the charge of cavalry on the turnpike, and 
 liad joined and been acting with General Walker and 
 Tiis artillery, came in about two o'clock. All the Con- 
 federate cavalry at Appomattox, some two thousand 
 or twenty-five hundred, were under his command as 
 Tanking officer. 
 
 The brigade crossed the road and bivouacked in the 
 open field near the creek, within a few hundred yards 
 of the town. Our infantry, and what was left of the 
 artillery, was scattered along the road for two or three 
 miles toward Richmond — the enemy swarming in 
 -every direction around us, and occupying the town as 
 headquarters. 
 
 The articles of capitulation were signed next morn- 
 ing under the famous " apple tree," I suppose ; what 
 we saw of it was this : General Lee was seen, dressed 
 in full Confederate uniform, with his sword on, riding 
 his fine grey charger, and accompanied by General 
 Gordon, coming from the village, and riding immedi- 
 ately in front of where we were lying. He had not 
 been particularly noticed as he had gone toward the 
 town, for, though with the regiment, I have no recol- 
 lection of his doing so. As soon as he was seen it 
 acted like an electric flash upon our men ; they 
 sprang to their feet, and, running to the roadside, com- 
 menced a wild cheering that roused our troops. As 
 far as we could see they came running down the hill 
 :sides, and joining in, along the grou.nd, and through 
 
64 THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 the woods, and up into tlie sky, there went a tribute 
 that has seldom been paid to mortal man. " Faithful^ 
 though all was lost !" 
 
 The Federal army officers and men bore them- 
 selves toward us as brave men should. I do not 
 recollect, within my personal observation, a single 
 act that could be called discourteous — ^nor did I hear 
 of one. On the other hand, much kindness and con- 
 sideration were exhibited when circumstances made it 
 warrantable — such as previous acquaintance, as was 
 common among the officers of the old army, or a 
 return of kindness when parties had been prisoners 
 in our hands, as was the case with a portion of the 
 Seventh regiment when it was the cavalry battalion 
 of the Holcomb Legion, under Colonel Shingier, and 
 the Fifth Pennsylvania cavalry. 
 
 Regular rations were issued to men and horses. 
 An apology was offered, on one occasion, by the 
 Federal Quartermaster, for not ser^dng out horse 
 feed, as General F. Lee s division of cavalry, who 
 were, as I mentioned before, outside, up in the James 
 River direction, had cut off a wagon train that held 
 theh provender, so we had to send out a forage detail 
 in the neighborhood, with a pass from General Sheri- 
 dan, to get through the Federal troops that filled the 
 woods for miles around, for their name was legion. 
 We stacked eight thousand stands of arms, all told ; 
 artillery, cavalry, infantry stragglers, wagon-rats, and 
 all the rest, from twelve to fifteen thousand men. 
 The United States troops, by their own estimate, 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. 65 
 
 were 150,000 men, with a railroad connecting their 
 rear with Washington, New York, Germany, France^ 
 Belgium, Africa, " all the world and the rest of man- 
 kind," as General Taylor comprehensively remarked^ 
 for their recruiting stations were all over the world^ 
 and the crusade against the South, and its peculiar 
 manners and civilization, under the pressure of the 
 *' almighty American dollar," was as absolute and 
 varied in its nationality as was that of " Peter the 
 Hermit," under the pressure of religious zeal, upon 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 Success had made them good natured. Those we 
 came in contact with were soldiers — fighting men — 
 and, as is always the case, such appreciate their posi- 
 tion and are too proud to bear themselves in any other 
 way. They, in the good nature of success, were 
 more willing to give than our men, in the soreness of 
 defeat, to receive. 
 
 The effect of such conduct upon our men was of 
 the best kind; the unexpected consideration shown 
 by the officers and men of the United States army 
 towards us ; the heartiness with which a Yankee Sbl- 
 dier would come up to a Confederate officer and say^ 
 "We have been fighting one another for four years ; 
 give me a Confederate five dollar bill to remember 
 you by," had nothing in it offensive. 
 
 They were proud of their success, and we were not 
 ashamed- of our defeat ; and not a man of that grand 
 army of one hundred and fifty thousand men but 
 could, and I believe would, testify, that, on purely 
 
^Q THE FALLING FLAG. 
 
 personal grounds, the few worn-out half -starved men 
 that gathered around General Lee and his falling flag 
 held the prouder position of the two. Had the poh- 
 ticians left things alone, such feelings would have re- 
 ,sulted in a very different condition of things. 
 
 Those of us who took seriou.s consideration of the 
 state of affairs, felt that with our defeat we had as 
 absolutely lost our country — the one we held under 
 the Constitution — as though we had been conquered 
 and made a colony of by France or Russia. The 
 right of the strongest — the law of the sword — was as 
 absolute at "Appomattox" that day as when Brennus, 
 the G-au.1, threw it in the scale at the ransom of Rome. 
 
 So far, it was all according to the order of things, 
 and we stood on the bare hills men without a country. 
 General Grant offered us, it was said, rations and 
 transportation — each man to his native State, now 
 a conquered province, or to Halifax, Nova Scotia. 
 Many would not have hesitated to accept the offer 
 for Halifax and rations; but, in distant Southern 
 homes were old men, helpless women and children, 
 whose cry for help it was not hard to hear. So, in 
 good faith, accepting our fate, we took allegiance 
 to this, our new country, which is now called the 
 "United States," as we would have done to France 
 or Russia. 
 
 With all that was around us — the destruction of 
 the " Army of Northern Yirginia," and certain defeat 
 of the Confederacy as the i-esult — no one dreamed of 
 what has followed. The fanaticism that has influ- 
 
THE FALLING FLAG. bi 
 
 enced the policy of the Government, to treat subject 
 States, whose citizens had been permitted to take an 
 oath of allegiance, accepted them as such, and prom- 
 ised to give them the benefit of laws protecting per- 
 son, property and rehgion, as the dominant party in 
 the United States has done — exceeds belief. 
 
 To place the government of the States absolutely 
 in the hands of its former slaves, and call their "acts" 
 " laws ;" to denounce the slightest effort to assert the 
 white vote, even under the laws, treason ; and, finally, 
 force the unwilling United States soldier to use his 
 bayonet to sustain the grossest outrages of law and 
 decency against men of his own color and race ! This 
 has gone on until, lost in wonder as to what is to come 
 next, the southern white man watches events, as a 
 tide that is gradually rising and spreading, and from 
 which he sees no avenue of escape, and must, unless 
 an intervention almost miraculous takes place, soon 
 sweep him away. 
 
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