We camped below Richmond, and I obtained leave of absence to go
to Boydton for a few days, and from Boydton I crossed over into
North Carolina to make a visit to a friend who was staying there.
The Roanoke River was so high that the ferryman was unwilling to
cross; but by the payment of $250 in Confederate money I succeeded
in inducing him to take me over. It was a foolish performance, as
the chances were ten to one that we should not be able to make
a landing on the other side. From North Carolina I then went to
Stony Creek, where I was told that our division was. This little
railroad station, which had looked when I first saw it, in 1862, as
if it were not visited by ten persons in a month, was now a busy
military post, several thousand Confederates being encamped around
it. Finding that I had been misinformed, I hurried by a circuitous
route to Richmond, the enemy having possession of the railroad
between Stony Creek and Petersburg. I reported for duty just as the
division was on the march from Richmond. Through Powhatan County
we rode, and, as ours was the first large body of troops that had
passed through that happy place, the scenes of the early months of
the war were repeated, to the satisfaction and surprise of our men.
Ladies came out to the roadside with cakes and sandwiches and milk,
and our people enjoyed themselves thoroughly. It is true that there
were rather more of us than even the hospitable people of Powhatan
could accommodate. The ladies there were very much in the plight of
a good woman to whose house I went in the first Maryland campaign.
I rode up to ask for a glass of water, and, before I had said
what I wanted, was told that I really could not get breakfast, as
there was nothing left in the house. The kind soul told me that she
had made up her mind, when she heard that General Lee’s army was
coming, to give every one of his soldiers something to eat, and,
when she had stripped the smoke-house bare, and used up every dust
of meal, she was warned that only one division of the army had gone
by. Then she gave up her generous purpose in something very much
like despair.
This time we did not strike the enemy, as expected, and returned
to Richmond, stopping for a day in Powhatan, at the house of Mr.
Harris, the brother of Major Harris, who was Beauregard’s Engineer
Officer at Charleston, and who planned the more important defences
around that City. From Richmond we rode to Petersburg, and General
Fitz Lee was placed in command of the cavalry corps of the Army of
Northern Virginia, consisting of three divisions.