June 3 — It was cloudy and rainy last night, and when we were ready to go in the barn to creep into the sweet embrace of Morpheus’ soothing charms it was so dark that we could not see nor tell what from which, nor who from where, too dark to go to bed decently and in order, especially in a strange hotel. But we soon remedied the gloomy appearance of our surroundings by scraping up a pile of straw in the middle of the barn floor, setting it afire, illuminating the barn all over, and giving a splendid and cheerful light by which to retire, with grateful satisfaction. This morning we moved to Hawkinstown. After we were there about an hour we saw the enemy advancing over the hills, about two miles north of us.
We moved a little below Hawkinstown and went into position, remained there about half an hour, then fell back a half mile and took a position which we held until Jackson’s forces had safely crossed the river south of Mount Jackson. Then we fell back to a hill south of Mount Jackson and remained there in battery until the Yanks entered the town.
We then crossed the river and burned the bridge, moved nearly half a mile south of the bridge and went into position and remained there until the bridge fell. Just before it fell the Yanks appeared on the hill on the north side of the river, with a few cavalrymen and a company of sharpshooters. The sharpshooters crept along the hillside and came close to the river and opened a brisk fire on us with long-range rifles. We opened fire on them with our howitzer, which stopped their fusillade and scattered the men. After the sharpshooters ceased firing, a small squad of Yanks bunched on the hill beyond the river. We had a shell in the howitzer that we did not want to keep any longer, as it was ready for action, and we were willing to hand it over to the Yanks as a farewell shot for the day. We aimed the old howitzer at the little blue bunch on the hill, and when we fired I saw a horse walk away from the squad riderless, and am almost sure that its rider received an unlimited pass to the happy hunting ground.
While the bridge was burning, Jackson’s men were on Rude’s Hill. He had a battery in position there, which fired a few rounds, but the distance was too great for much execution. After the bridge fell we moved back six miles to New Market and camped.
