The attack on the cattle-guard was made at daylight, and was a complete surprise. Some 300 of the District of Columbia Cavalry were captured, most of them in their beds. Major Baker was wounded and captured. Another major of the same regiment was also captured, and most of the officers of the regiment; four herdsmen killed." And General Kautz reports to General Grant: 66 'Mr. Rollins informs me that Major Belcher stopped at his house, and said that their force was 14,000 strong; that they had cavalry and infantry; that they captured 2,460 head of cattle, and that the First District of Columbia Cavalry had escaped in the direction of Fort Powhatan.” The Captain and Commissary of Subsistence, in the anguish of his soul at the loss of his beef, sends the following report to headquarters: "The enemy got off with the whole herd at Coggins Point-2,486 head; none have been recaptured." After this raid, the Army of Northern Virginia had a thirty days' change of diet from hard-tack and mess-pork to hardtack and juicy beefsteak, and tenderloin at that a change much relished and enjoyed. Generals Lee and Hampton having partaken of one of Generals Grant's and Meade's porterhouses, General Hampton, in the exuitation of the moment, issued the following address: GENERAL ORDERS NO. II. HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY CORPS, The Major-General commanding takes pride in communicating to his command the praise which their recent achievement has won from the Commanding General, who, in acknowledging his report of the successful return of his command from the rear of the enemy's army, says: "You will please convey to the officers and men of your command my thanks for the courage and energy with which they executed your orders, by which they have added another to the list of important services rendered by the cavalry during the present campaign." To such praise the Major-General commanding would only add the expression of his own appreciation of the gallantry of his officers and men, whose conduct in battle is all he could desire, and inspires him with pride and perfect confidence in such a command. By command of Major-General Wade Hampton. H. B. MCCLELLAN, Assistant Adjutant-General. CHAPTER XVII. Integer vitae scelerisque purus Fusce, pharetra. Horace. Our brigade remained in the neighborhood of Reams Station until the latter part of September, when it received orders to move to the Shenandoah Valley to reinforce General Early, who had fallen back, after the battles of Winchester and Fisher's Hill, to the vicinity of Staunton. On the 27th, we bade farewell to the "Virginia Lowlands," marched through Burkeville and Lynchburg, where we crossed the James, and ascended that stream on the line of the canal until Lexington was reached, when the route to Staunton was taken. Passing through that city on the 5th of October, we joined the remnants of Early's army, and went into camp. near Bridgewater. On the 6th, General Meigs's son was killed by a scout of our cavalry near Dayton, and Sheridan, in revenge, ordered the Fifth New York Cavalry to burn all the houses in the vicinity of that town. In the report of General Sheridan, dated Woodstock, Va., October 7, 1864, is found the following: 'In moving back to this point the whole country from the Blue Ridge to the North Mountains has been made untenable for a rebel army. I have destroyed over 2,000 barns, filled with wheat, hay and farming implements; over seventy mills filled with flour and wheat; have driven in front of the army over 4,000 head of stock, and have killed and issued to the troops not less than 3,000 sheep. This destruction embraces. the Luray Valley and Little Fort Valley as well as the main valley. A large number of horses have been obtained, a proper estimate of which I cannot now make. Lieutenant J. R. Meigs, my engineer officer, was murdered beyond Harrisonburg, near Dayton. For this atrocious act, all the houses within an area of five miles were burned." The Goths and Vandals never boasted of such infamy. Lieutenant Meigs was out with a scouting party of Federal cavalry, which was met by a scouting party of Confederate cavalry, and in a fair, square fight, was killed. This Sheridan calls murder, and revenges it by destroying the houses of helpless women and children and non-combatants. On the 6th, our brigade ascertained that Sheridan was retreating down the Valley, burning as he retired. We started in pursuit on the back road. When nearing Brock's Gap, some Federal soldiers caught in the act of burning a mill were shot. On the 7th, we moved rapidly after the retreating enemy, and in the afternoon found them posted at the fords on Mill Creek. The Seventh Cavalry and White's Battalion crossed above the fords and attacked on the flank in a gallant manner, while the Eleventh and Twelfth Cavalry attacked in front, utterly routing them and capturing a large number of prisoners, wagons, forges, cattle and sheep. After pursuing the enemy several miles we found a considerable force posted behind rail-piles, at the edge of a woods, prepared to oppose our further progress. The Twelfth was ordered to charge, and, led by our gallant Lieutenant-Colonel, Massie, who was that evening in especially fine fighting trim, we rode over the breastworks, breaking their line and renewing their rout. After this engagement our commissary department called on Company B for a detail of two men to take charge of the captured sheep. As our Comrades Mote and Ike were farmers, and supposed to be learned in sheep husbandry, they were selected for this purpose, and accordingly reported for duty. There were about 1,000 sheep in this drove, and as Sheridan had only left a blackened waste behind him, and neither pasture nor feed could be obtained along his pathway, it was |