"To what command do you belong?" I asked.
They told me that they belonged to the fifteenth Massachusetts regiment, but that the army was under the command of General Stone.
Horrible Incidents.
At the point where I stood the Potomac River was very wide, and it presented a sight such as I prayed that I might never behold again. The enemy were literally driven down the Bluff, and into the river, and crowds of them were floundering in the water, and grappling with death. This horrible spectacle made me shudder; for, although they were my foes, they were human beings, and my heart must have been hard, indeed, could it not have felt for their sufferings. I was willing to fight them to death's door in the open field, and to ask no favors, taking the same chances for life as they had; but I had no heart for their ruthless slaughter. All the woman in me revolted at the fiendish delight which some of our soldiers displayed at the sight of the terrible agony endured by those who had, but a short time before, been contesting the field with them so valiantly, and I could scarcely refrain from making some decisive effort to put a stop to the carnage, and to relieve my suffering foes. For the first time since putting on my uniform I was thrown off my guard, and should certainly have done something to betray my secret had I not fortunately restrained myself in time. Such scenes as these, however, are inseparable from warfare, and they must be endured by those who adopt a soldier's career. The pitiable spectacles which followed our brillant victory at Ball's Bluff, however, had the effect of satisfying my appetite for fighting for a time; and after it was all over, I was by no means as anxious for another battle, as I had been after the victory at Bull Run.
I have not the ability to give a minute description of the horrid incidents attending the rout of the Federals at Ball's Bluff, even if I had the disposition. As this battle, however, was an important event in my military career, and as it made a very painful impression upon me, some account, even if a very meagre one, of one of the most striking features of the affair, seems to be necessary in order to make my narrative complete.
When the enemy broke before the galling fire which we poured into them, they stampeded for the river, a disordered
