278 Nort Carotina Troops, 1861-65.

cuirassiers at Waterloo—a burial ground. While we might
have covered ourselves with glory, still the cause for which we
fonght would not have been advanced in the least. Observa-
tions of military men of modern education is that one live sol-
dier is worth a whole battalion of dead ones.

“For he that fights and runs away
May turn and fight another day ;
But he that is in battle slain

Will never rise to fight again.”’

RETREAT.

We knew the struggle must come sooner or later; that the
enemy flushed with victory and outnumbering us ten to one,
would not suffer us to retreat unmolested. Our horses had
subsisted on little more than green fodder for three days,
while the men had had nothing to eat but green corn snatched
from the stalks and hastily roasted. Night was coming on
and we hoped during that time to find some sheltered position
where the jaded horses and tired soldiers might find the much
needed rest and refreshment. Retreat was inevitable, if in
fact, it were possible.

The Fifth Battalion under command of Captain Lusk, was
ordered to the rear to cover the retreat, and the head of the
column turned in direction of Winchester. Before reach-
ing Winchester, the advance of the enemy was firing on the
rear guard, while the main force was plainly visible pressing
forward with great vigor and in force. We passed through
the town under a sharp fire from the enemy just as night set
tled down. A fight was inevitable. The Fifth Battalion
and the Tenth Confederate were thrown across the country
road east of the town and took up a position on top of a hill,
the North Carolinians holding the right of the line and the
Tenth Confederate the left, with orders to check the advance
of the enemy.

Tn front of the Fifth Battalion was a cultivated field from
which the rye had recently been cut and stood thick in large
shocks on the ground. The men had been dismounted and
ordéred to take shelter behind these rye shocks which offered
a kind of breastworks. We did not have long to wait. The
enemy very soon appeared in the field below our position and

Fiera Batra.ion. 279

opened a vigorous fire, which was returned all along our line.
By this time it was very dark and impossible to locate the en-
emy except by the flash of their guns, or to ascertain how nu-
merous the force was in front of us. The enemy was doing
a vast amount of shooting, but owing to the fact that our
horses were beyond the top of the hill and the men protected
behind the rye shocks, very little, if any damage, was being
done. Owing to the darkness, it was impossible to ascertain
the effects of our resistance. The fighting was kept up into
the night and the enemy made no attempt to force our posi-
tion from the front, but we discovered a flank movement on
our right which we were unable to check. This forced us to
abandon our position in the rye field and fall back on the road
in the direction of Irvine. The night was intensely dark and
to add hardships and discomfort to the already almost insuf-
ferable condition, a heavy rainstorm set in and continued
throughout the entire night. Owing to the darkness and
storm it was for a time supposed that the eneray would be
content to remain under shelter in Winchester until morning.
The expectation was not realized. Notwithstanding the in-
tense darkness of the night and the steady downpour of rain,
the enemy pressed vigorously on our rear guard, keeping up
a desultory fire all night long. Owing to the darkness, it was
impossible to preserve anything like a military organization
of the forces composing the rear guard; one could not know
who was before or behind; when to advance or when to fall
back; whether your file leader was an officer or a private;
whether you were firing on a friend or a foe, or whether the
shot intended for the enemy might not kill a friend. There
was a general mix-up of commands——friends and foes, Fed-
erals and Confederates. Occasionally forces got so badly
mixed that it was impossible to tell of a certainty whether one
was with his own command or whether he was with the Yan-
kees. ;

Notwithstanding the seriousness of the situation, some
amusing incidents oceurred which might have been funny
under more favorable circumstances, one of which will gerve
to illustrate the situation. The enemy had just fired a vol-
ley, seemingly at close range. A soldier at my side railed