Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 23.djvu/305

 /'.,-.f the sentinel, giving the alarm at a double-quick. Before we reached him, he fired his gun and ran in. As we reached the lint- one of the foremost of my men cried, " There they are!" and fired. Then ensued an indiscriminate fusilade. I narrowly escaped being shot by my own men. My gum coat was scorched by a bullet or fire from a musket, but I escaped without injury to my person. By this time the camp was in an uproar. Men rushed out of their tents without their outer-clothing, and fired their guns in the air without aim or object. Some forgot to withdraw ramrods after loading, and the peculiar whistling of these implements could be heard as they flew over our heads. Colonel Strange threw out two companies as skirmishers, but no enemy was found, and the real cause of the alarm was never ascertained. It is quite possible that some of the enemy's scouts were prowling around the camp, and were discovered by the sentinel.

FIRST CAME BULL RUN.

It was not long after this before we learned what real fighting was. First came " Bull Run," which awakened us to the realities of war. Here the enemy made a reconnoissance in force, and that night I was sent in command of a detachment of 100 men to picket the ford at which they had attempted a passage. Our mounted scouts were passing and repassing the ford all night, and I did not get ten con- secutive minutes of sleep. I would occasionally fall into a doze, but invariably felt myself shaken by one of the guards, and half- awake would catch the whisper, "Lieutenant! Lieutenant! They are coming! " The enemy never materialized, however; the sounds heard usually proceeded from the splashing of the hoofs of a friendly scout's horse in the water on the other side of the stream.

The battle of Manassas followed quickly after this little affair on our right. Our regiment was stationed at Lewis' Ford, supporting Latham's Battery, which was masked near the road.

I shall never forget the morning of the day that ushered in that memorable battle. It was a typical summer morning in the "Old Dominion." The air was perfectly still. Not a leaflet rustled, and the trembling dew-drops hanging from twig and leaf waited to kiss the brows of the soldier boys doomed to die that day waited for the breath of the zephyr to send them on their errand of love, but