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 132 WEARING OF THE GRAY. command of nearly all the artillery on our left, and directed it with the hand of a master. When the army crossed back into Virginia, he was posted at Shepherdstown, and guarded the ford with an obstinate valour, which spoke in the regular and unceasing reverberation of his deep-mouthed Napoleons, as they roared on, hour after hour, driving back the enemy. Of the days which succeeded that exciting period, many per sons will long hold the memory. It was in an honest old country-house, whither the tide of war bore him for a time, that the noble nature of the young soldier shone forth in all its charms. There, in the old hall on the banks of the Opequon, surrounded by warm hearts who reminded him perhaps of his own beloved ones in far Alabama ; there, in the tranquil days of autumn, in that beautiful country, he seemed to pass some of his happiest hours. All were charmed with his kind temper and his sunny disposition ; with his refinement, his courtesy, his high breeding, and simplicity. Modest to a fault almost blushing like a girl at times, and wholly unassuming in his entire deportment he became a favourite with all around him, and secured that regard of good men and women which is the proof of high traits and fine instincts in its possessor. In the beautiful autumn forests, by the stream with its great sycamores, and under the tall oaks of the lawn, he thus wandered for a time an exile from his own land of Alabama, but loved, admired, and cherished by warm hearts in this. When he left the haunts of &quot;The Bower,&quot; I think he regretted it. But work called him. The fiat had gone forth from Washington that another &quot;On to Richmond&quot; should be attempted ; and where the vultures of war hovered, there was the post of duty for the Horse Artillery. The cavalry crossed the Blue Ridge, and met the advancing column at Aldie and Pelham was again in his element. Thenceforward, until the banks of the Rappahannock were reached by the cavalry, the batteries of the Horse Artillery dis puted every step of ground. The direction of the artillery was left, with unhesitating confidence, by Stuart to the young officer ; and those who witnessed, during that arduous movement, the masterly handling of his guns, can tell how this confidence was