Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 34.djvu/209

 Demonstration on Harper's Ferry. 201

From the condition of the troops, I had no idea we were near the enemy. They were completely worn out, and most of them enjoy- ing" a well-earned rest in sleep.

After leaving these troops all behind us we continued our ride, expecting every few minutes to come upon our infantry picket, but none appeared. We passed some houses on the road, but not a single living soul did we see. We finally came to several houses together, stretched along the pike for a distance of two hundred yards. It was still dark, and everything seemed to be perfectly still in these houses, no lights, no chickens crowing. As it was getting on towards morning I concluded this village must be de- serted. This was the first impression we had that we must be near- ing the enemy's lines, having seen no pickets and nobody on duty, even in the bivouac, I could hardly conceive of our being so near as it turned out to be.

PASSED HALLTOWN UNAWARES.

As I with my men approached the last house in the pike in a group of houses, I saw a man dodge behind the back of the house. This was the first man we had seen since we left the sleeping soldiers in the pike. I hurried my horse through the open front gate and overhauled him before he could get away. It was still dark, and he evidently was not sure who we were. I took him around to where my men were, and after his seeing them, I convinced him as to our identity, and he seemed willing to talk. In reply to my first question to him asking what village this was, to my great surprise he answered "Halltown," and there now, we had disobeyed the most positive order not to go into Halltown, and had ridden entirely through it. I expressed no surprise to him, nor did I have any idea of giving him a chance of getting away, although I believed him all right, and inquired what side he was with. As it turned out afterwards he was a rebel, in sympathy with us, but not in the army.

THINGS LOOKED UGLY.

I next asked him were there any Yankees about, he replied, "Oh, yes." "Where are they?" I asked. "A little way down the pike, where the railroad crosses." "Who are they, and how many?" He said it was a cavalry picket at the railroad crossing, and their reserved forces were some distance in the rear of the picket in a stone house on the right-hand side of the pike. All this I found to be true afterwards. The position of things looked