August 17th. Reveille at daybreak, and immediately after breakfast about five o’clock the column fell in and continued the march, at first very slowly, on account of the troops ahead. At 9 A. M., we halted for half an hour, then continued the march to Charles City court house, where we halted for dinner; the heat very oppressive and dust frightful; no one would have guessed our clothing was originally blue, for we certainly looked more like a division of graybacks. The lieutenant-colonel and I rode over to the court house, which is a small, antique building, and found it deserted and dismantled, the floor strewn with public and private deeds, wills, and miscellaneous documents, many of them very ancient and very curious. We spent over an hour in examining them, in company with dozens of other officers, all of whom carried off something. Some of the papers were more than one hundred and fifty years old, and it seems a great pity they should be so summarily destroyed. However, it’s the fortune of war, and we did not begin it.
At 11:30 o’clock we fell in, and having a clear road marched steadily for four hours, passing many fine houses, most of them deserted; others left in charge of ladies, who showed no fear, but in every instance claimed protection. Some of them were attractive and got what they asked for, others had to contribute somewhat to the supplies for the evening meal. We halted about half-past three o’clock for an hour, then continued the march to the Chickahominy, the historic bete noir of our spring campaign. The river here is nearly half a mile wide, I think, quite a formidable stream, and only passable by boats; we found a magnificent pontoon bridge laid across, as straight as an arrow and very beautiful to look upon; no one would imagine these little canvas boats would make so fine a support as they do; the wagons and artillery were crossing in a continuous stream, yet the oscillations and vibrations were almost nil. The engineers had covered the planking lightly with earth, so there was no noise or abrasion of the bridge flooring, and it answered the purpose just as well as a permanent bridge could have done. When we arrived, heavy masses of troops were halted near the bridge approach, so we closed up, stacked arms, and rested till eight o’clock, then passed rapidly over, formed in close column of division, and halted for the night; marched altogether twenty-two miles during the day, and were well tired out, owing more to delays and the intense heat and dust than to the distance covered. Heard to-night that Lee’s army has certainly gone north, and that our destination is the capital.
