Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 31.djvu/23

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had gone out of town by the Harper's Ferry road, but were almost immediately charged by the i8th Regiment, and threw down their arms. Captain Julian Pratt made a dash for the color bearer and secured the colors. Colonel Simpson broke through our lines and struck out for the ferry with Harry Gilmor in hot pursuit, but reached the troops coming to his relief before Harry overtook him. A lucky man!

As soon as I saw that the Yankees were out of the courthouse I sent two men with a wagon and four horses, which we discovered hitched up near the courthouse, to go in and load up with plunder, for the Yankees had left everything behind in their flight. I espe- cially gave orders to get all' the knapsacks and blankets possible. I did not see my captain any more until the next day at Front Royal. We were looking forward to having a supply of blankets and cloth- ing to last the company through the winter, but to our bitter disap- pointment the men had loaded the wagon with drums thirteen drums drums of all sorts and sizes. I turned them over to Colonel Smith, of the 62d, and he organized a fine drum corps.

The General came along and said: " Hurry up and get out of <town, for the enemy are coming in heavy force from Harper's Ferry.'* Captain M. Frank Imboden was put in charge of the prison- ers and he took them through the town at a double quick, followed by the small boys, black and white, yelling and jeering at them. We followed and found the streets full of girls, waving their hand- kerchiefs and cheering with wild delight, but they soon changed their tunes when they found that we were going to leave them again in the hands of the hated enemy. They begged and entreated us to stay, and although we hated to do it we had to go, and go fast, for a much larger force than we had came into one end of the town as we went out of the other.

I tried to get the girls to leave the streets so that I could rake it with a parting load of canister, but they were too enthusiastic to do so and we would not have risked a hair of their dear heads to kill a thousand Yankees. The enemy followed us as far as Berryville and made several desperate and gallant efforts to recapture their friends, making it warm for us and giving us a running fight all all the way. We fired our guns en echelon, some firing and some retreating. Several times they came near capturing them. At one place, I re- member especially, they got on our right flank and within a few feet of us before we could turn our guns about, when Major Gilmor charged them and saved us. Just as he made the dash at them his