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wagons and all, and then double-quicked to keep from freezing; our clothes freezing stiff on us as we came out of the water.
We had now the inside track of our pursuers, and leaving them waiting for us to march up one of the many roads they had so well guarded, made our way back towards our lines, which we reached safely without loss of a man, wagon or mule.
The results accomplished by this expedition were nothing, but I have thought it worthy of a place in history, because of the effort.
Of the hardships of such a trip only those who have experienced them can judge, and I will not even attempt to paint those we encountered.
Our flag waved in the James river two months after the events I have endeavored to describe, but of the hundred and one men who composed this expedition, fully seventy-five were in the Naval Hospital, in Richmond, suffering from the effects of their Winter march, on the sad day on which we turned our backs upon that city.
Richmond, VA. 1884.
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