Things looked ugly.
I next asked him were there any Yankees about, he replied, ‘Oh, yes.’
‘Where are they?’
I asked.
‘A little way down the
[
343]
pike, where the railroad crosses.’
‘Who are they, and how many?’
He said it was a cavalry picket at the railroad crossing, and their reserved forces were some distance in the rear of the picket in a stone house on the right-hand side of the pike.
All this I found to be true afterwards.
The position of things looked a little ugly, so I thought the best thing I could do was to send the man back to
General Jackson, so I told the soldier who had charge of him to arouse the first troop he found and tell the officers commanding that there was nothing between him and the enemy except a small company of cavalrymen, only about thirty men. Then to go to
Jackson's headquarters, wherever they were, and turn the man over to him and ask for instructions for me.
It was now getting towards daylight, and the man before I sent him off a prisoner to
Jackson, asked me to wait a few minutes, and he would show me the
Yankee picket.
I then sent the main body of my men back through the village.
I and one man remained with the prisoner to watch the
Yankee pickets as it became day.
