General Horace Porter, Campaigning with Grant

On the morning of the 29th, Wright, Hancock, and Warren were directed to moye forward and make a reconnaissance in force, which brought about some spirited fighting. The movement disclosed the fact that all of Lee's troops were in position on the north side of the Chickahominy, and were well intrenched.

General Grant was particularly anxious, that evening, to obtain information of the enemy from some inside source. Several prisoners had been taken, and one of them who was disposed to be particularly talkative was brought in to headquarters, it being thought that the general might like to examine him in person. He was a tall, slim, shock-headed, comical-looking creature, and proved to be so full of native humor that I give the portion of his conversation which afforded us the most amusement. He, of course, did not know in whose presence he was as he rattled off his quick-witted remarks. “What command do you belong to?” asked the general. “I'm in Early's corps, and I belong to a No'th Ca'lina reegiment, suh,” was the reply. “Oh, you re from North Carolina,” remarked the general. “Yes,” said the prisoner, “and a good deal fa'thah from it jes' now than I'd like to be, God knows.” “Well, where were you taken, and how did you get here?” was next asked. “How did I get h'yah! Well, when a man has half a dozen oa them thah reckless and desp'rit dragoons oa yourn lammin‘ him along the road on a tight run, and wallopin‘ him with the flats oa thah sabahs, he don't have no trouble gittin‘ h'yah.” “Is your whole corps in our front, and when did it arrive” inquired the general. “Well, now, jes' let me tell you about that,” said the prisoner; “and let me begin right from the sta't. I'm not goin‘ to fool you, ‘cause I'm fast losin‘ interest in this fight. I was a peaceful man, and I didn't want to hurt nobody, when a conscript ”