Show te N august 1862 the armies of general genera I 1 leo lee and general pope confronted each other on th the e rap R a p p shannock a h a enock river in virginia general lee iee had determined to attack pope and conceived a plan as aa brilliant as it was daring he purposed to leave one half of his army under longstreet Longa treet in front of pope and throw the other half under jackson by a cincu circuitous itous march to a point twenty one miles exactly between him and washington on august 24 1862 lee had troops while pope could muster with renos henos corps of burnsides burnside Os division and reynolds division of 01 pennsylvania reserves about the same number but two days later popes army was increased to by the arrival arriva lof of the corps of fitz john porter and heinzelman in pursuance of his plan and to facilitate cili tate its execution a vday day or two before jackson started lee determined to throw his falb cavalry under stuart twelve miles in popes rear at cat letts lefts station a point on the railroad connecting pope with his capital at that place were encamped the reserve baggage and ammunition 1 trains of popes army there to too 0 were his hie personal effects stuart captured a number umber of off officers leers and men a large sum of money in a safe in one of the tents tenta and dispatches and other papers but bui the rain fell ell in such torrents and the ohp night was so dark that A t 4 i A it was vacant etwas it was not pbs possible sible for stuart to damage the railroad to any extent or to burn trie railroad bridges or the acres of df camp wagons that were chere my aly command was in advance on that terrible rainy night I 1 was r riding id with the lieutenant commanding the platoon which formed the advance guard when I 1 suddenly saw between the flashes of lightning a man r un run across the roar road under the influence of the spur my horse in a single bound reached the I 1 man an and d under the influence of a pistol held to his head he told me mb that ho he was a servant of general pope who was there theme with his headquarters tents which he be said were pitched in a clump of pines cloud close by I 1 made him get up in front of ono one of the troopers and guide a squadron which I 1 detached detach bd from the leading regiment to the tents in the flie pines 1 on reaching the spot I 1 quickly 1 surrounded the federal headquarters and seeing a light in one of the tents 1 I 1 dismounted and with one of my men en it it was vacant but filled with a large number of papers showing where some one had be been en recently writings ther thera were also two glasses ai of toda on the table A few days thereafter I 1 captured a aqua squa squadron dron of the federal dragoons under major thomas litte of the regu lar army whom I 1 had formerly known when a cad cadet e t at west points point v the major said that he and lewis marshall the latter being an aide I 1 de camp of pope and a nephew of general 11 tae lee were in one of the tents tens that night and that he h had ad been ing I 1 fill all day over his quartermaster papers and in view of the fact as an well as aai the tempestuous character of th the d night he proposed to marshall that they should take a arl drink alc I 1 the whisky ht sky was brought out con I 1 linued the major sugar was put try in I 1 glasses with the proper amount of water to which a liberal allowance of whisky was added I 1 was just pouring the toddy from one glass to the other thinking how soon the situation would be improved by swallowing it when I 1 heard the poise noise of horses hoofs and the report of one or two pistol shots I 1 quickly put the glasses down saying 1 I bellave that teat is some of that d confederate cavalry at this point of the narrative tho the major paused and after looking around added Gentle gentlemen if you be lieve me I 1 do not know whether hether 1 drank than toddy ar or not the crebs were on us so quick that marshall and 1 I lifted the side of the tenth tent and rolled down into a friendly ravine and remained there shivering in ohp th drenching I 1 rain until they rode off k it only conly rema remains fris to say that alte and marshall did not drink the tod dies they but that they rapt disappeared down the throats of the two wet confederates who found them |