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BURIAL OF THE DEAD RESUMED.

ing no call of duty to remain, the artist at once put spurs into his charger's flanks, and galloped off as fast as the noble steed could carry him. But the hostile gunners seemed to take particular pleasure in aiming at the flying horseman, and ever closer and closer flew the unpleasant missiles about his ears, while we who from Lee's Hill were spectators of the unenviable position in which our guest was placed, were for some time seriously alarmed that we should never again hear his merry laugh and joyous songs; but at last he reached us in safety, though much exhausted, and was received with loud cheering in our midst.

During the afternoon General Burnside renewed his request for the burial of the dead, which was at once granted; and the Federal troops destined to this duty, having crossed the Rappahannock in pontoons, went to work without delay. Having been again ordered to assist in the superintendence of the proceedings, I was painfully shocked at the inevitably rough manner in which the Yankee soldiers treated the dead bodies of their comrades. Not far from Marye's Heights existed a hole of considerable dimensions, which had once been an ice-house; and in order to spare time and labour, this had been selected by the Federal officers to serve as a large common grave, not less than 800 of their men being

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buried in it. The bodies of these poor fellows, stripped nearly naked, were gathered in huge mounds around the pit, and tumbled neck and heels into it; the dull "thud" of corpse falling on corpse coming up from the depths of the hole until the solid mass of human flesh reached near the surface, when a covering of logs, chalk, and mud closed the mouth of this vast and awful tomb.

On my return to Lee's Hill I saw President Davis and Governor Letcher with our Commander. They had come from Richmond to congratulate him and the troops under him on their success, and had been greeted all along the lines with the utmost enthusiasm. It was late at night when we returned to headquarters, where I stretched my weary limbs along my blankets, intensely soothed with the balmy reflection that I was about to enjoy a long spell of rest for my body, and relief for my mind from the racking anxiety and emotion with which the too familiar but never familiarised sight of death and destruction had so long and deeply affected it.

CHAPTER XVIII.

QUIET CAMP LIFE-THE ARMY IN WINTER QUARTERS-A VISIT TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RAPPAHANNOCK-STUART'S EXPEDITION TO DUMFRIES- - CHRISTMAS IN CAMP-PURCHASE OF A CARRIAGE AND HORSES-ENGLISH VISITORS.

NEITHER the thunder of cannon nor the sound of the bugle disturbed our peaceful slumbers on the morning of the 17th, and the sun stood high in the firmament when General Stuart's clear ringing voice assembled us again round the large common breakfast-table in his roomy tent. During the forenoon we had the pleasure of welcoming Mr Lawley and Captain Wynne among us, the latter of whom, a comrade and compagnon de voyage of Captain Phillips, had been detained in Richmond through illness. Amid his sufferings, he had eagerly listened to the rumours of the battle which had been fought and was expected to continue, and he had now hastened, though too late, to the scene of action. Both gentlemen expressed their sincere regret to have come a day after the fair, and envied very much Captain

OUR LOST CASE OF CHAMPAGNE.

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Phillips, whose better fortune had procured him the magnificent spectacle of the great conflict. Our new guests had brought with them from Richmond a case of champagne as a present to the officers of the Staff, although the General himself never took anything stronger than water; but finding no conveyance at Hamilton's Crossing Station, they had, as ill luck would have it, been obliged to leave the precious burthen there under charge of a South Carolina sergeant, acting as hospital steward near that haltingplace.

The following day Captain Wynne and Lawley started, accompanied by several members of our military family, for a ride over the battle-field, I myself undertaking an expedition after the anxiously coveted case of champagne; for although I entertained but slight hope of its having escaped the attention of the soldiers, I considered that there was a bare possibility of recovery, sufficient to make it worth while to risk the trouble in so valuable a cause. Alas! my worst fears were destined to be realised. Not a vestige of the case or of the faithless sergeant to whose keeping it had been trusted could I light on, and I had to return all chapfallen from my vain errand, and announce to my comrades that they must make the best of water and good spirits as a substitute for the effervescent stimulant; and, indeed, so

152. cheerily were we all disposed, that our indignation soon evaporated. Much to our sorrow, on the following day all our guests deserted us, and we were left to the unrelieved routine of camp life in all its dull and listless monotony. The bad weather, moreover, setting in with full force, the campaign might be regarded as completely at an end for the next two or three months; and as the hostile army was reported to have gone into winter quarters, our own soon followed the example.

GOING INTO WINTER QUARTERS.

The stroke of many axes rang through the surrounding forests and oak copses, and pine thickets dissolved from the view to give place to complete little towns of huts and log-houses, provided with comfortable fireplaces, from whose gigantic chimneys curled upwards gracefully and cheerily into the crisp winter air many a column of pale-blue smoke. Longstreet's corps remained opposite Fredericksburg and its immediate neighbourhood; Jackson's was stationed half-way between that place and Port Royal; and Stonewall himself had fixed his headquarters about twelve miles from us, near the wellknown plantation of the Corbyn family, called Moss-Neck. The weather became now every day worse, snow-storms alternating with rains and severe frosts; and if officers and men were tolerably well off under the circumstances, it was not so with our