under the hind axle of the one just in front, and the tailboards used so as to span the slight space between them.  The plan worked well as long as the material lasted, but no other wagons than my twenty-five coming on the ground, the work stopped when the bridge was only half constructed.  Informed of the delay and its cause, in sheer desperation I finished the bridge by taking from my own division all the wagons needed to make up the deficiency.

It was late in the afternoon when the work was finished, and I began putting over one of my brigades; but in the midst of its crossing word came that Longstreet’s army was moving to attack us, which caused an abandonment of the foraging project, and orders quickly followed to retire to Strawberry Plains, the retrograde movement to begin forthwith.  I sent to headquarters information of the plight I was in—­baggage and supplies on the bank and wagons in the stream —­begged to know what was to become of them if we were to hurry off at a moment’s notice, and suggested that the movement be delayed until I could recover my transportation.  Receiving in reply no assurances that I should be relieved from my dilemma—­and, in fact, nothing satisfactory—­I determined to take upon myself the responsibility of remaining on the ground long enough to get my wagons out of the river; so I sent out a heavy force to watch for the enemy, and with the remainder of the command went to work to break up the bridge.  Before daylight next morning I had recovered everything without interference by Longstreet, who, it was afterward ascertained, was preparing to move east toward Lynchburg instead of marching to attack us; the small demonstration against Dandridge, being made simply to deceive us as to his ultimate object.  I marched to Strawberry Plains unmolested, and by taking the route over Bay’s Mountain, a shorter one than that followed by the main body of our troops, reached the point of rendezvous as soon as the most of the army, for the road it followed was not only longer, but badly cut up by trains that had recently passed over it.

Shortly after getting into camp, the beef contractor came in and reported that a detachment of the enemy’s cavalry had captured my herd of beef cattle.  This caused me much chagrin at first, but the commissary of my division soon put in an appearance, and assured me that the loss would not be very disastrous to us nor of much benefit to the enemy, since the cattle were so poor and weak that they could not be driven off.  A reconnoissance in force verified the Commissary’s statement.  From its inability to travel, the herd, after all efforts to carry it off had proved ineffectual, had been abandoned by its captors.