November 4 — This morning at sunrise we were ordered to Snicker’s Ferry on the Shenandoah River, five miles from Berryville. We struck out from our picket post immediately after we received the order, passed through Charlestown and Berryville, and went within a mile of the ferry and halted. The Yankees were on the Blue Ridge opposite the ferry, but some of D. H. Hill’s infantry were guarding the ford and the Yankees had no artillery there, consequently we were not needed and we moved back to Berryville, where our wagons are, and camped. We arrived at Berryville after dark. The weather is getting cold.
Three Years in the Confederate Horse Artillery — George Michael Neese.
November 1 — To-day we heard cannon firing, which we supposed to be at Leesburg.
October 31 — Still on picket. The second gun was ordered to Leetown on picket to-day; now there is only one gun on this post. This morning about three hours before day a courier came in from the outpost and reported that the Yankees were advancing on us. We were all roused and ordered to put our guns in position immediately, which we did, and kept them in battery till daylight, but no Yanks appeared. The report was false, and caused by some loose horses running in a field near the outpost. It is well enough to be very cautious and watchful on the outer picket post, but sometimes some of our cavalry picket men see the Yanks coming when it is really too dark to see anything.
October 23 — Still on picket. To-day we had an alarm at the front, caused by the explosion of a shell which some of our outer pickets found and threw in the fire just to see whether it would explode; and sure enough they saw, for the shell exploded with a report similar to a cannon, and sowed the fire and iron fragments around like a young volcano. The explosion stirred up a lively scene for a while among the reserve pickets. We rushed to our guns with the full expectation of seeing a Yankee battery appear over a hill about a mile in our front and open on us, but when we learned the cause of the sudden alarm all anticipations of a Yankee advance were expelled and quietude again reigned along our picket line.
October 20 — On picket. To-day twenty-seven wagons came from Harper’s Ferry through the Yankee lines and passed our post. They are wagons that the Yankees borrowed from General Jackson to convey their wounded from Harper’s Ferry to Washington, after the fight at Harper’s Ferry last month.
October 19 — This morning at daybreak we returned to our picket post again.
October 18 — This morning we moved to our old camp again, four miles from Charlestown on the Berryville pike. This afternoon the first piece was ordered to go on picket at our old post one mile below Charlestown, on the Harper’s Ferry pike. This evening we left our post and came one mile south of Charlestown and camped with the Sixth Virginia Cavalry. They had prayer meeting in their camp in the early evening by candlelight, which I attended. The Sixth seems to be the citadel of religion of the brigade, as they have more religious service in the Sixth than in any of the other regiments, yet I do not know as the plane of practical ethics in general is any higher in this than in any of the other regiments of the brigade. I suppose that their code of imprecations is of about the same standard as that adopted by the rest of the brigade, and perhaps employed with about equal frequency.
October 17 — Last night was about as dark as they generally get in this country. I was on guard duty during the fore part of the night and it rained very hard all through my whole watch. We had no fire until after midnight, the ground, wood, and everything else being soaking wet; even the darkness felt like a wet blanket. I made my bed on top of a rock pile. It was a little hardish at first, but it was the driest place I could find and I had the sweet consolation of knowing that the ground all around the rock pile was soft.
Early this morning we were ordered to Summit Point to do picket duty. Summit Point is a station on the Winchester and Potomac Railroad, sixteen miles below Winchester. When we arrived at the station it was reported that the Yankees were advancing, and we put our guns in battery immediately and remained in battery until dusk, when we were ordered to Charlestown. We moved in that direction about two miles when the order was countermanded and we returned to Summit Point; camped. We heard cannon this afternoon in the direction of Martinsburg.
October 16 — This morning the Yankees advanced on our picket post with cavalry, artillery, and infantry. One gun of our battery and three pieces of the Richmond Howitzers fought them and held them in check until our ammunition was exhausted, then retired from action, as it is perfectly indiscreet to try to hold a position without ammunition, especially under fire. The Yankees advanced as far as Charlestown. We fell back two miles south of Charlestown on the Berryville pike, took a position commanding the pike, and remained there until night, when we moved back a mile to our old camp. We remained there but a little while and moved back about eight miles from Charlestown, and camped. In the artillery fight this morning one man of the Richmond Howitzers was killed and two wounded.
October 15 — We were relieved this evening from picket by the second section of our battery and a portion of the Richmond Howitzers. We came back to camp.
