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STUART'S ESCAPE FROM THE FEDERAL CAVALRY.- Page 209.

Stuart threw himself upon his unbridled horse, seized the haiter. and digging his spurs into his sides, cleared the mainos and allowed off amid a hot fire."

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The General had to act promptly. There was no force within many miles of him; nothing wherewith to make resistance; flight or instant capture were the alternatives, and even flight seemed impossible. The Federal horsemen had rushed at full gallop upon the house; the horses of the General and staff were unbridled, and the only means of exit from the yard seemed to be the narrow gate in front, scarcely wide enough for a mounted man to pass, and right in face of the enemy. In addition to this, the little party had just been aroused; the General had even left his hat and cape upon the floor of the porch, so complete was the feeling of security; and when Mosby was fired on, he was standing bare-headed at the gate.

What followed all took place in an instant. The General and his party leaped on their horses, some of which had been hastily bridled, and sought for means of escape. One of the staff officers darted through the narrow gate with his bridle-reins hanging down beneath his horse's feet, and disappeared up the road followed by a shower of balls. The rest took the fence. Stuart, bare-headed, and without his cape, which still lay on the porch, threw himself upon his unbridled horse, seized the halter, and digging his spurs into his sides, cleared the palings, and galloped off amid a hot fire. He went on until he reached a clump of woods near the house, when he stopped to reconnoitre.

The enemy did not at once follow, and from his point of observation the General had the mortification of witnessing the capture of his hat and cape. The Federal cavalrymen dashed up to the porch and seized these articles, which they bore off in triumph-raising the brown hat, looped up with a golden star, and decorated with its floating black feather, upon the points of their sabres, and laughing at the escapade which they had thus occasioned.

Major Fitz Hugh, at the head of the main column, and beside the Federal Colonel, witnessed all, and burst into laughter and sobs, such was his joy at the escape of his General. This attracted the attention of the Federal officer, who said:

"Major, who was that party?"

"That have escaped?"

"Yes."

The Major looked again and saw that, on his fleet "Skylark," Stuart was entirely safe by this time, and unable to contain his triumph, exclaimed:

"Do you really wish to know who that was, Colonel?" "I do."

"Well, it was General Stuart and his staff!"

"General Stuart!" exclaimed the officer; "was that General Stuart?"

"Yes, and he has escaped!" cried the overjoyed Major.

"A squadron there!" shouted the Colonel in great excitement; "pursue that party at once! Fire on them! It is General Stuart!"

The squadron rushed forward at the word upon the track of the fugitives to secure their splendid prize; but their advance did not afford the General much uneasiness. Long experience had told him that the Federal cavalry did not like woods, and he knew that they would not venture far for fear of a surprise. This idea was soon shown to be well founded. The Federal squadron made a very hot pursuit of the party until they came to the woods; they then contented themselves with firing and advancing very cautiously. Soon even this ceased, and they rapidly returned to Verdiersville, from which place the whole column hastily departed in the direction of the Rapidan. The Colonel carried off Major Fitz Hugh to serve as a guide, for he had lost his way, and stumbled thus upon Verdiersville. If you wish to laugh, my dear reader, go and see Major Fitz Hugh, and ask him what topographical information he gave the Federal commandant. It very nearly caused the capture of his command; but he got back safe to Pope's army, and took our friend, the Major, with him.

Such was Stuart's narrow escape at Verdiersville. He succeeded in eluding them, but he lost his riding cape and hat, which the enemy had seized upon, and this rankled in the mind of the General, prompting him to take his revenge at the earliest practicable moment.

That moment soon came. Just one week afterwards, when

General Lee had pressed on to the Rappahannock, and General Pope had hastily retired before him, Stuart made an expedition to the enemy's rear, and struck the Orange and Alexandria Railroad at Catlett's.

It was one dark and stormy night that the attack was madethe column plunging forward at full speed, through ditches and ravines, without light enough to see their hands before them; and by a singular chance Stuart came on Pope's headquarters, which was at Catlett's. The Federal commander fled with his staff, and Stuart captured all his official papers containing the fullest information of his strength, position, and designs. Those papers were transmitted to General Lee, and probably determined him to send Jackson to Pope's rear.

In addition to the papers Stuart made a capture which was personally soothing to his feelings. In his flight, General Pope left his coat behind! and when the leader of the Southern cavalry, so recently despoiled of his cape and hat, left Catlett's, he bore off with him the dress uniform coat of the Federal commander, who had prophetically announced to his troops upon taking command, that "disaster and shame lurked in the rear." The account was thus balanced. Catlett's had avenged Verdiersville!

And so, my dear reader, you know why I always glance at that little house in the village as I pass. The dilapidated porch is still there, where Stuart slept, and the fence which he leaped still stands, as he pointed it out to me one day, when we rode by, describing with gay laughter his adventure. All these inanimate objects remain, but the noble figure which is associated with the place will never more be seen in the flesh-the good knight has been unseated by a stronger arm than that of man. He passed unscathed through this and a thousand other perils; but at last came the fatal bullet. At the Yellow Tavern he fell in front of his line, cheering on his men to the last, and on a beautiful slope of Hollywood Cemetery, above the city which he died defending, he "sleeps well."

Thus passed away the "flower of cavaliers," the pearl of chivalry. Dying, he did not leave his peer.

IV.

A GLIMPSE OF COL. "JEB STUART.”

THIS sketch, may it please the reader, will not contain any "historic events." Not a single piece of artillery will roar in it-not a single volley of musketry will sound-no life will be lost from the very beginning to the end of it. It aims only to draw a familiar outline of a famous personage as he worked his work in the early months of the war, and the muse of comedy, not tragedy, will hold the pen. For that brutal thing called war contains much of comedy; the warp and woof of the fabric is of strangely mingled threads-blood and merriment, tears and laughter follow each other, and are mixed in a manner quite bewildering! To-day it is the bright side of the tapestry I look at my aim is to sketch some little trifling scenes "upon the outpost."

To do so, it will be necessary to go back to the early years of the late war, and to its first arena, the country between Manassas and the Potomac. Let us, therefore, leave the present year, 1866, of which many persons are weary, and return to 1861, of which many never grow tired talking-1861, with its joy, its laughter, its inexperience, and its confiding simplicity, when everybody thought that the big battle on the shores of Bull's Run had terminated the war at one blow.

At that time the present writer was attached to Beauregard's or Johnson's "Army of the Potomac," and had gone with the

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