“Write it and sign it Berwick Jones,” said Captain Haskell, who by this speech seemed to give full belief that my name was reversed on the roll of his company.

As we walked back to our bivouac that night I asked the Captain whether, in the improbable event of our finding that I had belonged to the Fourth, I could not still serve with Company H. He was pleased, evidently, by this question, and said that he should certainly try to hold me if I wished to remain with him, and should hope to be able to do so, as transfers were frequently granted, and as an application from me would come with peculiar force when the circumstances should be made known at headquarters.  Of course, there would be no difficulty unless the application should be disapproved by my company commander, that is, the commander of my original company.

* * * * *

I wrote a letter, addressed “Manager of Hotel, Aiken, S.C.” inquiring if a man named Jones Berwick had been a guest at his house about October 17, 1859, and if so, whether it was possible to learn from the hotel register, or from any other known source, the home of said Berwick.

To anticipate; it may be said here that no answer ever came.

XXVIII

BEYOND THE POTOMAC

     “Thus far our fortune keeps an upward course,
     And we are graced with wreaths of victory;
     But, in the midst of this bright-shining day,
     I spy a black, suspicious, threat’ning cloud,
     That will encounter with our glorious sun.” 
    —­SHAKESPEARE.

We left the position near Fairfax Court-House early in September, and marched northward, crossing the Potomac on the 5th at White’s Ford near Edwards’s Ferry.  We reached Fredericktown in Maryland about midday of the 6th, after a fatiguing tramp which, for the time, was too hard for me.  My wound had again given me trouble; while wading the Potomac I noticed fresh blood on the scar.

We rested at Fredericktown for three or four days.  One morning Owens of Company H, while quietly cooking at his fire, suddenly fell back and began kicking and foaming at the mouth.  We ran to him, but could do nothing to help him.  He struggled for a few moments and became rigid.  Some man ran for the surgeon; I thought there was no sense in going for help when all was over.  The surgeon came and soon got Owens upon his feet.  This incident made a deep impression on me.  It seemed a forcible illustration of the trite sayings:  “Never give up,” “While there’s life there’s hope,” and it became to me a source of frequent encouragement.

* * * * *

On the 10th we marched westward from Fredericktown.  In the gap of the Catoctin Mountains we came in sight of the most beautiful valley, dotted with farms and villages.  Where the enemy was, nobody seamed to know.