of his companions were able to accomplish. We are not the least surprised at this, as the distance is about one mile! If this statement is true, the patriot in his youthful days must have been a powerful boy, and able to put in the shade the feats of David of old.

CHAPTER XI.

FALMOUTH. VISIT OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

CROSSING THE RAP

PAHANNOCK. GRAVE OF MARY WASHINGTON. LOVE BUBBLE. CEMETERY. MARCH TO GRAY'S LANDING. EMBARKATION FOR THE PENINSULA. VOYAGE TO THE WHITE HOUSE. MARCH TO DISPATCH STATION.

THE town of Falmouth is situated on the east bank of the Rappahannock, below the Falls, and nearly opposite Fredericksburg, with which it was connected by two bridges, one at the upper and one at the lower end of the town, the latter being used by the Aquia Creek Railroad, but both of which were burned by the enemy, with several steamboats and a number of sailing crafts upon our approach. A church in which several denominations formerly worshipped, a cotton factory, and several store houses constituted the brick portion of the town, and about eighty houses, mostly in a dilapidated condition, constituted the frame portion of it. Deep water gulleys were worn in the streets, and the whole place presented the appearance of decay. What few articles the inhabitants offered for sale commanded enormous prices, but soon the town was filled with our sutlers, storekeepers and photographers, who gave new life to it.

On the 1st of May, private E. M. Woodward, Company II, was appointed sergeant-major of the regiment, vice A. T. Cross, promoted adjutant. On the 3d, Easton's, Cooper's and Kern's batteries arrived. On the 4th, the

Third Brigade, General Ord, arrived, and on the 11th, Company A, Captain Neidé came in with the Fifth Reserve, Colonel Simmons, from Bristoe Station, where they lost William Holmes, the first one of the regiment that died. On the same afternoon, the enemy drove in our out-posts of the Second New York Cavalry, under Major Duffie, on the Bowling Green road, back of Fredericksburg, but coming upon the reserve, they were handsomely repulsed, with the loss of one lieutenant and ten men prisoners, one killed and several wounded; our loss being but one horse. The enemy in our front were under the command of General Anderson, and numbered about fifteen thousand men. On the 12th, there was great rejoicing in camp upon the reception of the news of the evacuation of Yorktown, and the destruction of the Merrimac by the enemy, in honor of which a salute was fired of forty-four guns. About the same time, William Goucher, of Easton, Pennsylvania, was appointed sutler of the regiment, and soon after arrived with a good supply of stores. Lieutenant Robinson, with his recruiting party, also arrived from Philadelphia with a number of recruits.

At Falmouth a large bakery was established by Captain James B. Clow, division commissary, which was capable of turning out twenty-one thousand six hundred loaves of bread per day. The Reserves picketed as far as eight miles up the river, and in a circle around Falmouth, about two miles from camp. Several of the Eighth regiment were killed while on duty at the mines.

Near the upper end of the town, resided Mr. J. B. Fickner, a noted secessionist and a gentleman of great wealth, who owned large tracts of land on both sides of the river, the upper bridge and a factory. While we were on cattle guard at his farm, he frequently visited and conversed with us. He deeply lamented the war, not on account of the destruction of the Government, but of his property, but he consoled himself with the belief that the Government would have to pay for the damage

done by the rebels. To this we fully agreed, and suggested to him the propriety of applying for a pension for his son, who was wounded while in the Confederate service. The old gentleman looked somewhat confused at this, he not being aware that we were acquainted with his own and his son's antecedents.

While we laid here Dr. Edward Donnelly, of Philadelphia, surgeon Fifth Reserve, was transferred to our regiment, vice Dr. Thomas B. Reed, promoted brigade

surgeon.

On the 21st, at nine o'clock in the morning, we formed and marched about two miles to a large open field, where our brigade was reviewed and inspected by General Van Rensallaer, Inspector-General of our Corps. At the review, the bands of the five regiments numbering some eighty instruments were joined, producing the most soul-inspiring music. It was three o'clock in the afternoon before the inspection was got through with.

On the afternoon of the 23d, His Excellency the President of the United States, accompanied by the Honorable Secretary of War, and other members of the Cabinet, Major-General McDowell, staff and cavalry escort, reviewed the first corps about three miles from camp. As the President rode down the line on a fine spirited horse, the troops presented arms, the standards and colors drooped, officers saluted, drums beat, trumpets sounded, and a salute of twenty-one guns fired. Long and loud cheers for the honored chief, broke forth from the men, as he passed along the line.

As early as the 17th, General McDowell had been instructed to move upon Richmond by the general route of the Richmond and Fredericksburg railroad, as soon as joined by General Shield's division, which came in after long and fatiguing marches on the 22nd, and it was decided upon at a consultation between the President and the generals that the movement should commence on the morning of the 26th. But on account of the advance of the enemy under "Stonewall" Jackson down

the valley of the Shenandoah, rendering the position of General Banks' force critical, General Shield's, King's and Ord's divisions and four companies of the "Bucktails" under Lieutenant-Colonel Kane were on the 25th dispatched to his relief.

Although this unforseen circumstance prevented the contemplated advance of McDowell, on the 26th, at eleven o'clock, A. M., we broke camp and marched toward Falmouth, halting at the abandoned camp of the Twenty-second New York, where we put up our tents, but had hardly got through with our work, when we were ordered to again move. Striking tents, we marched to the river and crossed over on a trestle bridge, and entered Fredericksburg. The day was drizzly and the streets muddy, but with our unfurled banners and martial music we marched merrily through the city. The houses of the rich were mostly closed; a few old folks and young children gazed out of the windows at us, and at the corners the negroes were collected in knots and appeared in a very happy mood. Passing through the city, we moved out William street about a half mile beyond the cemetery on the heights back of the city where we bivouacked in some scrub-oak brush to the right of the plank road, strict orders being given to avoid injuring the growing crops of the neighboring fields. Considerable rain fell during the night, and the next morning we moved to the left of the road, and encamped on a gently sloping hill commanding a fine view of the city.

Fredericksburg is an ancient city, situated on the western bank of the Rappahannock, and is principally noted for the refinement of its inhabitants, their aristocratic characteristics and the beauty of its women. Prior to the war it contained about five thousand inhabitants, and its exports amounted to some million of dollars yearly.

The first account we have of this locality is that given

by Captain John Smith who ascended the river in 1608, and fought the Indians on the present site of the town.

It was here that Mary, the mother of Washington resided for many years prior to her death, which occurred on the 25th of August, 1789. Her grave is near the outskirts of the town upon the edge of a pretty bluff near the cemetery. Some years ago an attempt was made to erect a suitable monument to the memory of this good and estimable lady, and the corner-stone was laid by President Jackson, but for want of public spirit the project. fell through. Some years afterwards, a merchant from New York who was doing business there at the time, fell desperately in love with one of the Lewis branch of the family and her money, and to advance his suit determined to complete the monument, but before it was finished his firm collapsed and his bright visions of love and gold vanished like a soap-bubble. In the cemetery near by are several pretty monuments, and among them that of Hugh Mercer, M. D., a son of General Hugh Mercer, who fell so gloriously at Princeton. The general prior to the Revolution practised medicine here. There also, in newly-made graves, rested in quiet repose some three hundred Confederate soldiers, victims of the mad ambition of their reckless leaders. Though mostly strangers from the far South, the hand of sympathy had decked their graves with flowers, and already the "Loveentangled" and "Forget-me-not," had taken root in the new earth.

Soon after General McDowell arrived, work was commenced on the Aquia creek and Fredericksburg railroad, which was soon put in running order. The railroad bridge was also rebuilt across the river, a bridge of canal boats completed below it, a trestle one above, and a pontoon thrown over opposite Falmouth. Stockades and block houses were built to protect the approaches to these, and artillery commanded them on the eastern bluffs.

On the 9th of May, Mr. Hunnicutt commenced the reissue of his paper "The Christian Banner," which he was