Even in that direction, owing to the overhanging blades
of corn, the view was not extensive. I had not gone more than a few
hundred yards when I saw a body of troops marching past me not fifty
yards away. I looked at them for a moment and then turned my horse
towards the river and started back, first in a walk, and when I thought
myself concealed from the view of the enemy, as fast as my horse could
carry me. When at the river bank I still had to ride a few hundred
yards to the point where the nearest transport lay.
The cornfield in front of our transports terminated at the edge of a
dense forest. Before I got back the enemy had entered this forest and
had opened a brisk fire upon the boats. Our men, with the exception of
details that had gone to the front after the wounded, were now either
aboard the transports or very near them. Those who were not aboard soon
got there, and the boats pushed off. I was the only man of the National
army between the rebels and our transports. The captain of a boat that
had just pushed out but had not started, recognized me and ordered the
engineer not to start the engine; he then had a plank run out for me.
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