Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 35.djvu/247

Rh J. B. Starr, commanding Company F, or Lafayette Light Infantry, a man of that stubborn, bulldog courage which is never exalted by victory or depressed by defeat. An officer of the Virginia Cavalry, Lieutenant Goode, I think, who was thoroughly acquainted with all the country of the Yorktown peninsula, was selected as guide through the woods and swamps to the scene of action.

The men were ordered to equip themselves in light marching order that is, without blankets or knapsacks and to cook one ration. In the early afternoon, in the month of August, the command marched out of camp, with no sound of trumpet or tap of drum. I remember that the morning had been mild and beautiful, but the clouds gathered in the afternoon, with threatening of heavy rain.

After proceeding from Bethel Church for some distance the column wheeled sharp off to the left, traversed a byroad for about half a mile, marched through a piece of dense woods, then into an old field, overgrown with small oak and gallberry bushes, and halted. The men were told to rest at ease, eat their ration if they felt so disposed, and were cautioned to secure any buckle or other piece of metal which might jingle in walking; also, to rub wet earth on their bayonets and gun barrels, in order to dull their glint and shine. Then Captain Starr and the cavalry lieutenants, plunging through the undergrowth, disappeared, and were gone so long that the men ate their rations, smoked their pipes, and some of them were asleep by the time the officers returned.

The command was called to attention and the march was resumed, through a broken country, with thick undergrowth, and the signs of an approach to tidewater. Once again there was a halt, and the muskets of eight or ten men were replaced by axes, with which to cut away any obstructions in the dash on the redoubt. On the right of this squad stood Charles Haigh, a stalwart young soldier, now Major Charles Haigh, a gallant ex-Confederate officer, and one of the prominent business men of Fayetteville. Dark night was now upon us; but here and there through the openings of the trees the dim light showed, towering through the gloom and stalking on behind us gigantic centaurs of the days of mythology, as weird and