Chapter 17:
- Pursuit of Early -- Army at Harrisonburg and Mount Crawfordterm of the battery expires -- down the valley -- tarry at Winchester--En route for New England -- Baltimore -- Wilmington -- Philadelphia -- New York -- reception in Boston -- Statistics 181-186
An immediate pursuit commenced,—the Federal infantry and artillery hastening along the pike, from Strasburg up the Shenandoah, through Edenburg, onward, the livelong night, reaching Woodstock at early morning. What a solid mass of troops was here, drawn into the field on the east side of the pike,— artillery in close order, and regiments likewise. The men were somewhat tired, we judge, as riders would be seen to throw themselves down, drop to sleep, and anon jump to their feet when some lead or swing horses would vigorously shake their chains. It would seem that the Sixth must have had the lead on the night of the 25th, for just before we again drew out into column, we saw infantry arrive, men of which we recognized as belonging to the Thirty-fifth Massachusetts, which was in the Nineteenth Corps. When we resumed the march, it was at a trot, and this continued through the forenoon, on through Lacey's Spring and Sparta. If less rapid in the afternoon, all day on the 26th, a steady pursuit, so also was it on the 27th, reaching, we believe, at the close of that day, Newmarket, where we rested till the following dawn. We went into camp somewhat before nightfall on the 28th of September, being then something like a hundred miles up the Shenandoah. During the three delightful autumn days that remained in September, we continued in Harrisonburg. Hospital tents were pitched, meanwhile, and those of the wounded and sick whom it had been practicable to bring forward from Strasburg were cared for therein. The cavalry was sent to Staunton, to the southeast, near a pass in the Blue Ridge, destroying provisions and munitions, then to Waynesboro.
