Page:History of the Ninth Virginia Cavalry in the War Between the States.djvu/84

78 our faces turned northward. At Fairfax Station the troops in front had a skirmish with some cavalry. At Fairfax Courthouse a good many sutlers' stores fell into our hands, and late in the evening, near Dranesville, we were ordered to make ready to charge, but the enemy did not appear. About sunset we began bearing to the right, taking by-paths and the cover of woods, and winding through valleys, seemingly as though our wary General was approaching some unsuspecting foe.

After marching some miles repeated halts of the column satisfied those of us in the rear that the command was slowly passing some obstacle in front. The direction of our march, we knew, was to the Potomac. We reached it at last, and majestic, even here beneath the stars, was flowing the author's native river directly across our front. We had been conducted to a ford, to which no highway led on either side. The river seemed fully a quarter of a mile wide. The water generally reached as high as the saddle skirts, and in places covered the seat. When we seemed to be reaching the shore we found it an island, a hundred yards or more distant from the shore. The entire command, consisting of four brigades and some light artillery, was over before light, and the gray dawn found us on the hills in Maryland that skirted the canal and river.

We had spent a sleepless night, and our horses had had no food for twenty-four hours. Four companies of the regiment—A, B, D, and E–were now detached by General Stuart, the last of which did not rejoin us until the fall. In searching for grain for our horses, our Quartermaster encountered a considerable force of Union cavalry, who pursued the party back to our camp, capturing several. Lieutenant Pollard, commanding Company H, was sent forward, who reported a regiment in front, but, without waiting for support, he charged them. Eleven dead and wounded of Scott's Nine Hundred marked the scene of the encounter. The rest fled in the direction of Washington.