144 ' Norra CaroLina TROOPS, 1861-65.

had ever witnessed came on us, drenching us

i Ww EE
rain storm as submerged ;

to the skin, and being near the river our camp w mu
we either had to stand up or lie down in the water. «\t day

light the rain ceased, and soon the - —— . —
us up, but we were a most forlorn- 00 Lots ie Toe
being completely soaked. Making our brea as r eo
beef and soaked bad bread, we were again orderec — aon se
Driving in the Federal pickets, whom we eas = y -
hundred yards, our progress was slow, and it was late -
afternoon before, we came in sight of the enemy, in oF he.
position, at the lower end of a wide valley between git a
mountains, strongly fortified with heavy batteries of artillery,
Bee bescuher 1861, was made memorable by - i
currence that cast a gloom over the whole command an¢ en
dened the Southern heart all through the Confederacy. “
onel John A. Washington, the last owner of Mt. V ernon, act:
ing as Aid to General R. E. Lee, while on a reconnoissance on
a mountain road with Major W. H. F. Lee Giatet Maier
eral) was killed by a shot from the enemy's picket, ] see:
Lee, whose horse was killed, making his escape by mounting
Colonel Washington’s horse. ee
. Up to this time, we had been pushing our way sat . ‘
river through a narrow gorge between the mountains, but ©
the afternoon of the third day the scene opened out into a
wide valley, at the lower end of which we could see the en-
emy’s works, a strong position admirably selected, and pe
oughly manned with artillery and infantry, the pickets we
out across the valley from hill to hill. The river running
down at the foot of the mountain on the north side of the val-
ley, changed its course about the middle and cutting directly
across to the south side, divided the valley into two farms.
Just where the river crossed were posted a lot of sharpshoot-

ers, with long range rifles, who were making it lively for Gen- -

erals Lee, Loring and others at a house where they had estab-
lished headquarters. The Sixteenth always being in front,
Company G was ordered to go down and drive them —
A Major was put in command of the expedition, who marche

us across a field of high grass, until we reached the river at

SIXTEENTH REGIMENT. 145

the foot of the mountain, then down under cover of the moun-
tain as far as we could go without being discovered by the
Federals. We then climbed a steep mountain, pulling up by
the bushes until we reached the top, where we could see all
the way down ‘the river to the breastworks covered with bat-
teries of artillery and bristling with muskets. We were or-
dered to lie down and keep perfectly quiet, the sharpshooters
being just below us and in easy gunshot of us. Some of the
men became impatient, threatening to shoot. The Major

. arose saying he would kill the man that made any noise. We

lay there for half an hour, watching them shoot at our officers,
All at once they started back to their works, some of them
stopping to knock apples from an apple tree. Then our gal-
lant commander raised up with a long drawn sigh, said:
“Well, boys, if we must, we must, so come on,” and like the
Ning of France, we marched down the hill again. On get-
ting to the foot and coming up out of a deep ravine, we found.
ourselves directly in front and in full view of the whole force
ready to fire. The Major, taking in the situation at once
promptly jumped down a bank about ten feet into the river,
and ordered everybody to do the same, which order we all
promptly obeyed. Retiring then in good order, we kept our-
selves well under the bank of the river for about a hundred
yards, coming out on a sand bank, protected by a high fence.
The Major ordered us to stop where we were, and he would
go up and make report of our success and for further orders,
taking one man with him. When about the middle of the
grass field, a gun was fired from one of the batteries, the shot
passing high over our heads. The Major and his bodyguard

fell flat in the grass, saying he knew they were firing at him,

as with their glasses they knew that he was a field officer by
his sword and other decorations. He soon proceeded to head-
quarters, made his report, and asked to be relieved as he was
very sick. Orders were sent to us to remain at our post, and
to send a strong picket to the ford and hold it until morning.
The night was quietly passed with nothing to do except re-
lieving the pickets every two hours—we were all wet to the
waist, having but one blanket to the man, the night being
very cold, the men suffered considerably.

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