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By Heaven! it was a splendid sight to see, for one who had no friend or brother there."

No one who looked upon that wonderful panorama, can ever forget it. On the great field were riderless horses and dying men; clouds of dust from solid shot and bursting shell occasionally obscured the sky; broken caissons and upturned ambulances obstructed the way, while long lines of cavalry were pressing for. ward in the charge, with their drawn sabres glistening in the bright sunlight. Far beyond the scene of tumult were the quiet dark green forests which skirt the banks of the Rappahannock. The poet Haverd, in his "Scauderberg ", has well described the scene;

Hark! the death-denouncing trumpet sounds
The fatal charge, and shouts proclaim the onset.
Destruction rushes dreadful to the field

And bathes itself in blood: havoc let loose

Now undistinguished, rages all around:

While Ruin, seated on her dreary throne,

Sees the plain strewed with subjects truly hers,
Breathless and cold."

The Rebel cavalry, undoubtedly ashamed of their own conduct and defeat, reorganized their broken ranks, and again advanced upon Kilpatrick and Buford whose divisions had united to repel the attack.

For at least two long hours of slaughter these opposing squadrons dashed upon one another over this historic field. Charges and counter-charges followed in quick succession, and at times the "grey" and the "blue" were so confusedly commingled together, that it was difficult to conjecture how they could regain their appropriate places. Quite a number of prisoners

were made on both sides. It was a scene of wild conmotion and blood. This carnival continued until late at night, when the exhausted and beaten foe sank back upon safer grounds to rest, while our victorious braves, crowned with undying laurels, gathered up their wounded and dead companions, and unmolested, crossed the Rappahannock.

In reflecting upon the successive engagements at Brandy Station, the author feels a natural and, I trust, a commendable pride when he remembers that in each instance he shared the varied fortunes of his regiment on this field.

In the first action, on the twentieth of August, 1862, I was a corporal in the front rank of the first squadron that charged the Confederate cavalry under Stuart. My horse was wounded in the neck in this charge and the pommel of my saddle and canteen were struck with bullets.

On the ninth of June, 1863, being at that time a sergeant, I was chief of the first platoon of the first battalion that crossed the Rappahannock at Kelly's Ford and with my platoon acted as advance guard to the column. Accompanied by Lieutenant Estes of Kilpatrick's staff, we pushed the Rebel pickets and skirmishers back to the Station where we joined the regiment in time for the grand charge of Kilpatrick's brigade.

The twelfth of September, a Lieutenant commanding my company, I was again with the first battalion that crossed the Rappahannock and was sitting on my horse in front of the regiment after its formation for a charge when the first shot fired by the Confederate

artillery struck our ranks as described in my account of the Third Brandy Station.

On the eleventh of October following, my command having been increased to a squadron, I was with the battalion commanded by Captain Grinton, and being cut off from the corps by the sudden junction of the columns of Stuart and Lee, were compelled to cut our way through. My command being broken and scattered in this fight, I acted as a volunteer aid to General Davies and in the course of the engagement my horse. was shot under me. I received a sabre stroke on the shoulder, two bullets through my hat, and found after the affair was over, that my sabre scabbard had been split by a bullet or fragment of a shell. In the evening of this day General Davies sent Captain Pokeepsie of his staff to thank me for the personal services I had rendered him at Brandy Station, and to say that I should have the next promotion in the Harris Light Cavalry.

8

CHAPTER XIX.

MANASSAS, OR SECOND

BULL RUN.

The Opening Scene.-Sigel in the Foreground.-Sharp Skirmish 'on the Twenty-eighth.-Fitz-John Porter's Delay.-Attack on the Twenty-ninth.-Bayonet Charge of Grover's Brigade.-Thoroughfare Gap Left Open.-The Enemy Re-enforced.-Victory on the Twenty-ninth.-Where Was Porter ?-Pope's Despatch.-Battle of the Thirtieth.-Exhausted Troops.-Out of Rations.-Pope Discouraged.-Our Forces at Centreville.-Personal Experience.—A Shell from the Enemy and What it Did.-An Unknown Hero."Tear off Your Chevrons."-Successful Stand.-Charge of the Harris Light Cavalry.

N the twenty-ninth of August, 1862, the storm of battle again broke over the Plains of Manassas and surged furiously along the borders of Bull Run Creek and down the Warrenton pike. The figure of General Franz Sigel stands out in bold relief against the background of battle, the first actor appearing on the scene in this drama of war and death.

The time is daybreak, and the rosy light of early dawn, so peaceful and so pure, flushes the sky in painful contrast to the scene of strife and bloodshed below.

At noon on the day previous, General Pope had ordered Reno, Kearny, and Hooker to follow Jackson who, through the miscarriage of well-laid plans, had

been allowed to escape in the direction of Centerville. McDowell's command, then on the way to Manassas, was ordered to march to Centerville, while Porter was directed to come forward to Manassas Junction. The orders were promptly executed by the various commands excepting that of Fitz John Porter, who unaccountably on loyal principles, remained inactive during the ensuing contest. Kearny drove the enemy out of Centreville and in their retreat along the Warrenton road they encountered the division of King, McDowell's advance, marching eastward to intercept. them.

A sharp fight took place, terminating to the advantage of neither, and at night the contestants bivouacked near the battle field.

On the night of the twenty-eighth, Pope's forces were so disposed that twenty-five thousand men under McDowell, Sigel, and Reynolds, were ready to attack Jackson from the south and west, and the corps of Reno, Heintzelman, and Porter, consisting of an equal number of troops, were to complete the attack from the east. Lee was pushing forward his forces to support Jackson at Thoroughfare Gap, and it was necessary for the Union army to use all possible celerity of movement in order to make the attack before the main body of the Confederate army under Lee, could come up. But this combination failed like many another, and during the night King's division fell back towards Manassas Junction, at which place Porter's corps had recently arrived, and the road to Gainsville and Thoroughfare Gap was thus left open to Jackson. A new arrangement of troops became therefore necessary.