August 23— The sun was an hour high this morning when we arrived at Warrenton from the ever-memorable raid on Catlett’s Station last night. Raiding with General Stuart is poor fun and a hard business. Thunder, lightning, rain, storm, mud, nor darkness can stop him when he is on a warm fresh trail of Yankee game. This morning our battery, guns, horses, and men, looks as if the whole business had passed through a shower of yellow mud last night.
We remained at Warrenton about an hour, then moved to the Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, which is on the left bank of the Rappahannock about five miles from Warrenton. This afternoon about four o’clock we went in an orchard a little below the Springs hotel and opened fire on a Yankee ordnance train that was moving back from the river in the direction of Warrenton. It was heavily guarded and proved to be something more than an ordnance train, for immediately after we opened the Yanks returned our fire promptly and in a businesslike manner with a six-gun battery, but their gunnery was very indifferent and wild. They scattered their shell all over the adjacent fields, ranging in altitude from the earth to the moon. We kept up a steady fire for two hours. Then my gun, like a fidgety, naughty child, kicked loose from its mounting and had to be taken from the field for repairs. The other guns in the battery were fired at intervals until dark.
When I left the field with the disabled gun the Yanks were still firing, shooting all over the surrounding country, and just as we passed the large hotel at the Spring one of their shell struck one of the chimneys and knocked some half dozen bricks off.
Jackson’s troops are camped near the river on the Rappahannock side opposite to the Sulphur Spring. Some of his men were building a bridge to-day across the Rappahannock near the Spring. The location of the bridge happened to be in the line of fire of the Yankee battery that fired on us. When the Yanks opened fire on us most of their shell were much too high and oversped their intended mark. Some of them whizzed over and near the heads of the bridge builders and scattered them like a hawk does a flock of chickens.
Down the river and not far away the whole country is full of Yankee infantry and artillery. I have not seen any of their cavalry to-day. I suppose they are hunting for us somewhere around Catlett, where we left our tracks last night. We have nothing on this side of the river but cavalry and our battery, and the river is past fording. If the Yanks knew how easily they could undo and rout us in our present situation they would make us get away from here quicker than lightning can scorch a cat.
Camped to-night a mile north of the White Sulphur. This makes five days that we have subsisted on three days’ rations, and I have no idea where our commissary wagons are. I have not seen any of our wagons since the evening of the 18th, at Orange Court House.
