the house; but to my inexpressible sorrow I have just heard that the comparative immunity of my poor uncle was of short duration; for when Grant, after that "overwhelming victory" of Cold Harbour, was obliged to resume his triumphant but crab-like march to Richmond, he was followed by Sheridan's shattered command, who revenged themselves on the defenceless women and children for the hard blows of the Virginian cavalry dealt them. Maddened by repeated defeats they entered the Reed's and proceeded to take all they could lay their hands on. They carried off or tore up most of the clothes that were to be found, and not content with robbing my uncle Robert, aunt Virginia and cousin Anne of all they had, the ruffians actually laid violent hands on the food and money belonging to the slaves. This is their new system of forcing the negroes, for having found the poor creatures loath to leave their masters they now destroy all their provisions, in the hope that the fear of starvation would make them follow the invaders. Some of the servants at the Reeds were induced by the threats and lying representations of the Yankees to run away, but the majority of them stubbornly declined to abandon their homes. I am constrained by decency from attempting to narrate all the abominable outrages which many unfortunate women have been the victims of in this last campaign. Outrages so horrible that we ought to blush now at the thought of having lived in amity and under the same government with such fiends incarnate.

Four of these Vandals entered the house of a gentleman in King William County. He was away at the time, but his wife and daughter had not had time to effect their escape. They were immediately seized upon and every species of brutal indignity was offered them. Their shrieks were happily heard by some of the negroes, who rushed to the rescue just in time to save them from the hands of the detestable Northern savages. The two women were locked up in a safe place by the slaves, who in order to mollify the incensed Yankees laid before them all the edibles and drinkables

that were in the house. In the meantime one of the darkies ran to headquarters of General Fitzhugh Lee, informed him of what had taken place, and the general sent a troop of cavalry under the guidance of the faithful slave, to the house. It was surrounded and the Yankee wretches were bagged whilst gorging. A rope was procured and they were hanged to the nearest tree. Things have come to such a pass now that forbearance ceases to be a virtue. The coarse and brutal natures of the Northern people are incapable of appreciating patience and moderation; in fact impunity only renders them more furious and malignant.

Reprisals have therefore become absolutely necessary, and it is only by striking terror into their black souls that their enormities can be stopped. These excesses of the enemy have so exasperated the people of the south that old men and the gentlest women all clamour for retribution, and the government is very much blamed for its weakness in submitting to Yankee barbarities and in not taking an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

I went yesterday to visit the battlefield of Cold Harbour, where the Yankees are said to have lost twelve thousand men. The battle had raged there about a month ago, and yet the ground was strewed with the corpses of Yankee soldiers festering in the broiling sun. The carnage must have been awful, for within the space of ten square yards I counted no less than thirty dead bodies clothed in the Federal uniform. In some cases the flesh had been gnawed away, and the skeletons alone remained, clothed in Lincoln's detestable livery. On some parts of the field the dead men were literally heaped up like stones. Perched on these mounds of human putrefaction were the sleek and sluggish buzzards of Virginia, engaged in a hideous orgie. Like the shoddy contractors of the North they have grown fat on the war. The last campaign of Grant's must have met with their approval, for never has the army of the Potomac supplied them with such copious meals.

Accoutrements and muskets were lying about in all directions, mixed up with cooking utensils and every description of debris. Notwithstanding these indisputable signs of a precipitate retreat, Grant and his employers have the audacity to claim a victory at Cold Harbour.

The scene of desolation was heartrending. Fields which before this deadly struggle were covered with waving crops, are now trampled under foot and devastated; the houses in the vicinity are battered down and abandoned; and the poor farmers will have nothing to gather this year but Yankee carcasses mowed down by Southern musketry. My guide and companion on this sad expedition was a young Frenchman, who lost an arm in one of the fights of the West.

As we were rambling over the battlefield we fell in with two stragglers belonging to Grant's army. One of them was broken down and was lying down almost dead with heat and thirst. Although tales of Northern ruthlessness were fresh upon my memory, I could not refrain from giving him some restorative in the shape of a little whiskey and water and a little liquid ginger, which is said to be an excellent thing for this climate. His comrade professed to be very contrite, and told me he had been entrapped into the service when drunk, and that a few days after his impressment he had been sent down to fight the south. He appeared very anxious to be taken prisoner, and swore solemnly that he would never reenter the army. I had sallied out with the intention of joining the rear of Lee's army, but after hunting about for it all day, we met a cavalryman who told us that the whole of "Massa Bob's" force had crossed the James river in order to confront the invincible Ulysses, who had again changed his base. So we determined to retrace our steps to Richmond, and the next morning I left in a settler's wagon for Petersburg, where General Lee has established his headquarters. The railroad to that place had been cut by the enemy, therefore I had to choose this mode of locomotion, which

was none the pleasantest, seeing that the heat was intense and the dust exceeded anything of the kind I had ever suffered before. I reached Petersburg after a journey of ten hours and made straight for the headquarters of the great commander; but aides-de-camp and orderlies were rushing in and out so frantically that I thought this was not a seasonable occasion for an humble individual like myself to ask for an interview. I had brought out a letter from Mr. W. C. Rives (whose kindness let me tell you in passing I shall never forget) to General Field, now commanding Hood's famous division of Texans and Georgians, and so I determined to shape my course towards his division. In order to do so I had to make many enquiries but the civilians were too much flurried to give me much information, for the Yankees were shelling the city at the time and the noisy projectiles were tumbling about in a very alarming manner. I saw one in particular fall through the roof of a Yankee hospital, and the shrieks which followed the explosion were the most awful I ever heard. I don't know how long I should have been obliged to loaf about had I not met a civil young soldier who kindly volunteered to show me the way to Field's division, as he belonged to a Georgian brigade in that division. I followed him, and he first took me to his own regiment, which not having yet got into line of battle was taking it easy pro tem. in a cosy little valley well sheltered from the enemy's artillery. There I was asked by some of the privates to partake of their supper. The warm-hearted fellows pressed me so much that I consented to pitch into their grub, not however without some compunction, as I thought of the harrowing stories about starvation amongst the soldiers which have grieved us ever since this war commenced. But my scruples were soon quieted when I perceived they had plenty of corn-meal out of which they made capital cakes, an abundance of bacon and vegetables, and very fair coffee.

After supper the good-natured guide showed me the way to General Field's headquarters. I had a few moments' very inter

esting conversation with the general, who is a very gentlemanly and well-informed man. He gave me permission to visit his lines. When we started for our breastworks night had come, and skirmishing was going on all along the front; consequently our progress thither, to say the least was very exciting, for minie balls whistled every now and then close to our ears, and shells burst, as I thought, very near to us. At last we reached the trenches. There I sat some time chatting with the Texans, who seem to be a jovial set of fellows and utterly unmindful of cannon balls and rifle bullets. Crack, crack went the enemy's rifles, and yet my Texan friends laughed and talked as unconcernedly as if they were enjoying themselves in a café. The enemy made an attack upon our right that night, and were repulsed with great loss, losing sixteen hundred prisoners. It is evident that after the carnage of the past six weeks they no longer charge on our breastworks with any dash. The Southern troops are dead tired of burrowing like moles in holes and trenches; they want to meet the foe in the open, and drive off Grant as they did McClellan. I am happy to say that so far my health is capital, although the heat is the most terrific I have ever experienced. There are in the room in which I am writing, no less than one hundred and five degrees, and yet it is supposed to be in the shade. But alas I have come to the end of my last sheet, so I must say adieu to you and my dear mother.

My Dear Father:

BALLARD HOUSE, RICHMOND,

JULY 1ST, 1864.

Uncle Sam's Grant, by his grand strategic movement to the south side of the James has sent the universal Yankee nation into ecstasies; but we think here that he will not justify his present position any more than he has done elsewhere the crazy exultation of the Northern papers. It is just possible that their gullible readers, who are still indulging in amiable hopes and visions of