main body before serious opposition could be made. It chanced that at the time the charge was made, the 1st Maine Cavalry were on their way out upon a foraging expedition, and, although they had left their carbines in camp, retaining only their sabers and revolvers, they were enabled with the aid of the picket force, to repulse the charges of the enemy until aid arrived. The day was well spent before all the division had become engaged. Most of the fighting was done dismounted. From the position occupied by my regiment, large bodies of mounted troops were plainly seen, clearly indicating the presence of a largely superior force. It was evident also that the enemy had a larger artillery force present.

Notwithstanding these facts, we maintained our ground. The enemy's batteries obtained good range of our position, and from dusk until well into the night kept up a continual shelling.

The firing on our left indicated the heaviest of the fighting to be there. Long after dark the crack of the carbine, the roar of the cannon, and bursting of shells, reverberated through the woods and over the hills. The increased din of battle on our left was not at all pleasant to our ears. It indicated the enemy's desire to get possession of the road over which we had advanced from Harper's Ferry, if indeed they were not already in possession of it.

After dark we were drawn in from the extreme right to a point nearer the town. The situation was becoming serious, and we could only judge from the direction in which the fighting was progressing, that the enemy must have worked around and got possession of the Harper's Ferry road.

It must have been about two o'clock in the morning that instructions were received to withdraw as quietly as possible and join the division. It was evident that an attempt was to be made to get out of our awkward predicament. Details were made to bring the men together, as many of them were asleep, notwithstanding the screeching and crashing of shells. We quietly moved out upon the road, and thence to the village, where we took our position in the moving column. Instead of marching back upon the road over which we entered the town, we moved through the town and down a narrow lane toward the river. The writer, with two or three men, was detailed to remain in the village to direct the pickets on their arrival, in

which direction to proceed. Wearily the time passed, every moment seeming hours to us. Of course we expected the enemy would swoop down and take us prisoners.

As the light of coming day began to show itself, we concluded that our comrades had either been captured or had joined the division by some other route. Our presence would soon be known to the enemy if we remained where we were, but we determined to wait and take our chances. Daylight coming on, we espied a "solitary horseman" approaching and bearing a flag. It proved to be our color sergeant, who had remained and enjoyed his night's sleep, all unconscious of the departure of his comrades. Following the sergeant, came various others of the division who had remained behind for the same reasons. Then came the surprising information that the enemy had withdrawn under cover of the darkness. They had also barricaded the roads to prevent our pursuit.

The picket force coming up, we all pressed on to Harper's Ferry, where we found our infantry crossing. The battle of Shepherdstown was hardly fought-and hardly won by either side; but as it was anybody's victory, it was ours, anyhow.

Two Classmates at West Point

MEET IN DEADLY

DEADLY COMBAT.

FITZHUGH LEE'S LITTLE JOKE ON COLONEL TANNANT.

BY A STAFF OFFICER.

N 1861, Fitzhugh Lee, now governor of Virginia, was commanding the Confederate outpost in Fairfax county, as colonel of cavalry. Colonel Tannant, who was an intimate friend and classmate of Lee's at West Point, was in command of the Union cavalry outpost near Alexandria. One day Tannant received orders to advance and feel the Confederate position in front. A battalion of men, made up from the departments and the city of Washington, called the President's Body Guard, was assigned him to make the advance. He said to a friend before leaving:

"I want soldiers with me on this expedition. I know Fitz Lee. I have slept with him, and whenever we come together somebody will have to do some good fighting or fast running. I know Fitz will fight. If I had soldiers, and not these dressparade fellows, I would be delighted to give my friend a brush, just to let him see how nicely we can whip him back into the Union."

In the mean time, his wife had packed his valise with clean linen and a bottle of old Hennessy brandy. When everything was ready, Colonel Tannant took up the line of march, along the Fairfax and Alexandria turnpike, in the direction of Fairfax Court House. After the command had advanced a few miles and come to a halt to rest, the colonel addressed his men in the following words:

"Attention, battalion: I am now speaking to you as soldiers who have enlisted to defend your country, and not as fellowcitizens. I want every man to do his duty in the time of battle as a soldier should. If there are any of you who are not willing to do this, step three paces to the front."

Not a man moved. They stood like a wall of granite. This gave the colonel much encouragement.

"Now, my soldiers," said he, "with this determination on your part, we will continue our advance and drive the enemy back, or capture the entire force."

Within a few miles of the Court House they encountered the Confederate pickets, and succeeded in driving them back. This gave the command new courage. On they pushed. But alas! soon, Turner Ashby, with his Black Horse Cavalry, came charging on their flank, while Fitzhugh Lee pressed them in front. The engagement began to get interesting, when suddenly Pelham's horse artillery unlimbered on the left flank and began to pour a galling fire into Tannant's ranks. He rode to the front, leading the charge against Fitz Lee on the other side. The men, seeing the situation, became demoralized and retreated in confusion to Alexandria. The Union forces lost a few killed and some prisoners. Colonel Tannant's headquarters ambulance was captured, with his rations and baggage.

A few days after the fight, a dilapidated team drove up to his headquarters with the letters "C. S. A." branded on the skeleton mules, and in dim white letters on the side of the topless ambulance also appeared " C. S. A.," and the driver instead of wearing the blue had on a suit of gray. The driver entered Colonel Tannant's tent with a military salute, bearing in his hand the colonel's valise.

"Where did you come from?" demanded the colonel. "I came from Colonel Fitz Lee's headquarters," was the reply. "He swapped teams and clothes with me, and told me I could come back and bring your valise, and here it is, colonel." "All right, my man," said the colonel. "Go to your quarters and change your uniform and report for duty." Colonel Tannant took the valise over to his wife's room and opened it. The contents of the valise were a note, which ran in the following words:

OUTPOST CONFEDERATE ARMY, VIRGINIA.

MY DEAR "TANT":-I have opened your valise, appropriated your biled shirts for a change, and also your bottle of old Hennessy for a bad cold. I traded ambulances and teams also. When you come out again bring more commissary and quartermaster stores. FRITZ.

Colonel Tannant kept the note until the close of the war, telling no one about it but his faithful and loving wife. Tannant has heen living in Tennessee since the war. Recently he and Lee met, and the bottle of old Hennessy was discussed.

CAHAWBA PRISON.

ALABAMA.

A LONG EXPERIENCE OF CRUELTY AND HARDSHIP.

One Thousand Nine Hundred and Sixty Hungry, Ragged Skeletons Plunged into Hot Water, Steam, and Fire.

H. C. ALDRICH.

WAS captured at Athens, Ala., on the 24th of September, 1864, by Forrest's cavalry, who robbed us of our blankets, watches, etc., and then took us to Cahawba, on the Alabama river, near the center of the state. There they searched us again, and confined us in a brick building 200x300 feet, with a roof over a part of it, the center being left open. I shall never forget the first glimpse I caught of the inmates as we marched in. The poor fellows had been there six months; they had cut their hair as close as possible in order to keep off the vermin, and some of them had nothing on but a pair of drawers-and were nearly all as black as a colored person. I asked one of them what had become of his clothes and he said he had sold them to the guard for something to eat. One of our company, finding his brother there, took the blouse from his own back and gave it to him. Soon after we got there we drew a skillet for every squad of ten men, and this was the only dish of any kind that they let us have. We had to make wooden spoons and sharpened sticks with which to eat our food. We had a small yard outside of the wall for a cook yard, and you can imagine what a place that was when we got one hundred and eighty fires or smudges started. The smoke was too thick to breathe, and one could not stay there long enough to bake his pone, but had to be relieved by some of the squad that remained inside of the walls. There was a dead-line around, inside of the wall, where the guards marched up and down, and we knew that (241)

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