Page:History of the Ninth Virginia Cavalry in the War Between the States.djvu/63

Rh No damage, save a few slight wounds and the loss of six horses, was sustained.

From our position we saw the flashes and smoke on the bloody field before Fredericksburg. We saw also the line of Federals as it moved across the River road to assault Jackson at Hamilton's Crossing; their flight back over that road; the panic which seized the reserve line as the yells of Jackson's men reached them, and the promptness with which their officers checked incipient disorder. Near night Pelham ran his guns down on the plain, followed by two or more batteries from the infantry line, and opened a rapid fire upon the lines of the enemy near the river. The enemy's batteries replied, and as night threw her mantle of darkness over the land the mass of sulphurous smoke was lit with a lurid glare from the explosion of shells.

The long dark line of our infantry descended from the hills, and we expected momentarily the rattle of musketry, but it came not, and we bivouacked in the woods which skirted the field we had occupied during the day. A few shells disturbed our quiet next morning, and we were made more uncomfortable by a cold rain and great scarcity of provisions. On the 15th of December we marched to Port Royal and camped with the brigade on the hills overlooking that village, performing picket duty up the river as high as Moss Neck. Near Christmas General Stuart, with details from many regiments, made a reconnoissance in the rear of the Federal army. Major Waller commanded the detail from the Ninth. They went around the right flank of the Yankee army, and advanced as far as Fairfax Station, and returned through Fauquier and Culpeper without any serious encounters.