Three Years in the Confederate Horse Artillery — George Michael Neese.

August 31 —Last night at nine o’clock we received marching orders, and half an hour afterwards found us on the move through the dark. The sky was overcast with thick clouds, and the night all through was as dark as black could make it. We went to within a mile of Amissville, then turned to the left and moved in a northeastern direction over a rough road until we crossed the Rappahannock. Then the road was smoother. We forded the Rappahannock just before day. The ford was very rough and the Fauquier side was very slippery and steep, consequently some of the army wagons that were in front of us stalled, and we were detained some little time before we cleared the river. We marched till night, and camped one mile west of Salem in Fauquier County.