October 18 — We forded Broad Run this morning and marched to Bristoe. Immediately after we arrived there we put our guns in battery, and about noon we first saw the enemy in the distance, advancing on us slowly from the direction of Manassas. They advanced on us steadily and very cautiously, with their indispensable, everlasting line of dismounted sharpshooters in front.
They came on and on, but we reserved our fire until their line arrived within about four hundred yards of our position, when we opened fire on them with four pieces and repulsed them speedily, and they retired toward Manassas. We remained in battery till dusk, then moved back to Cattle Run and bivouacked for the night. Cattle Run is a small ditch with water in it that crosses the Orange and Alexandria Railroad a few miles south of Bristoe. From our position to-day we saw the village of Brentsville, the county seat of Prince William; it is situated about two miles east of Bristoe Station.
