Page:History of the Ninth Virginia Cavalry in the War Between the States.djvu/128

122 opened fire, and more rapid discharges we never heard. The Thirteenth Regiment was ordered to move out by the road we had come, followed by the caissons, ambulances, and one gun. We were ordered to bring up the rear with our mounted squadrons. Captain John Lee, of the division staff, was conducting the movement. After going perhaps four hundred yards we were perplexed and uncertain as to the road we were to take, and halted while Lee went back for instructions. He did not ride two hundred yards, however, before he found his passage barred by a line of the enemy, which, moving obliquely from the Telegraph road above us, was almost in rear of the men of our own regiment and the Tenth, whom we had left fighting. Turning instantly down a road to our left which led to a private dwelling, we passed at a double-quick gait across a wooded bottom, and, ascending a hill beyond, emerged upon an open, high table-land overlooking the road.

The firing had now ceased, and we gave up our comrades behind us as captured, deeming their escape almost impossible. They began, however, very soon to come out from the thick wooded cover into the bottom which we had crossed, bringing off safely the gun that had just done us such good service.

We had struck a corps of Grant's army near the head of the column, and could now see them moving forward, regiment following regiment. One column, as flankers, was on the side of the road next to us, marching in close order, about a mile distant, and offering a fair target. Our gun was again unlimbered, aimed, and fired, and a shell was thrown within a yard or two of the flank of a regiment, and exploded just as it struck the ground. A wide gap was made in the column, and a good many of the enemy ran in confusion. A second shell from our gun fell way beyond the road. We moved on and entered a body of timber, where our road deflected to the right. We were quite out of range when the Federal artillery opened on the woods, and their shells fell fast and furious, but harmless, behind us.