[337]
also, that the position could not be held without the artillery, which had been moving off. I rode to General Ewell and gave him the message.
General Ewell said that ‘General Lee had positive information that the enemy was moving to turn his right flank, and had been so informed by the most reliable scouts, and that it was necessary for the artillery to move accordingly.’
I rode back to General Johnson, who was at the McCool House.
He was lying down in the house.
I told him I could not impress General Ewell with his views, and that he had better go and see him in person.
General Johnson arose and said: ‘I will go at once,’ and mounting his horse, he and I rode to General Ewell, who was in another house not far off, lying down, and apparently very uneasy.
He got up and told General Johnson that he had told me as to General Lee's information, but was soon convinced by General Johnson that the assault would be made.
Colonel William Terry, of the Fourth Virginia Infantry, Stonewall brigade, who had charge of the front line, had told General Johnson of his observations, and had been so close to the enemy that he could hear their talk as they massed together.
General Ewell then sent orders for the artillery to be returned to our front, close up, and General Johnson, on his return to the McCool House, instructed me to issue a circular of warning and direction.
This text is part of:
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.