In the rear of these well-dressed troops I saw four mounted men among them; recognized
General Robert E. Lee and
Major-General John B. Gordon.
General Lee rode towards my brigade, and as soon as I had fronted the men I turned towards him, saluting for my orders.
He paid no attention to me, but wheeled his horse
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to the right, passed through the vacancy between the brigades, took off his hat and rode ‘Traveler’ grandly to the front.
He had scarcely got a dozen paces in front of our brigades when
General Gordon and an officer on his left, whom I took to be his adjutant, trotted quickly after
General Lee, and
Gordon, as soon as he reached him, seized ‘Traveler’ by the right cheek of his bit, stopped him, and said to
General Lee: ‘You must not expose yourself; your life is too valuable to the army and to the
Confederacy for you to risk it so wantonly; we are Georgians, we are
Virginians, we need no such encouragement.’
At this some of our soldiers called out, ‘No, No,’
Gordon continuing, said: ‘There is not a soldier in the Confederate army that would not glady lay down his life to save you from harm;’ but the men did not respond to this last proposition.
While
Gordon was speaking his adjutant rode around the heads of the horses of the two generals and facing his horse in a direction opposite that of
General Lee's began to tug at ‘Traveler's’ bit or bridle rein.
Looking through an aperture in our breastworks I saw a body of the enemy coming from our left, slowly, and cautiously approaching us.
