" It was when Meade fell back. K. had his large
cavalry division (perhaps 5,000 men,) but the rebs, in superior force,
had surrounded them. Things look'd exceedingly desperate. K. had two
fine bands, and order'd them up immediately; they join'd and
play'd "Yankee Doodle" with a will! It went through the men like
lightning--but to inspire, not to unnerve. Every man seem'd a giant.
They charged like a cyclone, and cut their way out. Their loss was but
20. It was about two in the afternoon.
WASHINGTON STREET SCENES
_Walking Down Pennsylvania Avenue_
_April 7, 1864_.--Warmish forenoon, after the storm of the past few
days. I see, passing up, in the broad space between the curbs, a big
squad of a couple of hundred conscripts, surrounded by a strong cordon
of arm'd guards, and others interspers'd between the ranks. The
government has learn'd caution from its experiences; there are many
hundreds of "bounty jumpers," and already, as I am told, eighty
thousand deserters! Next (also passing up the Avenue,) a cavalry
company, young, but evidently well drill'd and service-harden'd men.
Mark the upright posture in their saddles, the bronz'd and bearded
young faces, the easy swaying to the motions of the horses, and the
carbines by their right knees; handsome and reckless, some eighty of
them, riding with rapid gait, clattering along. Then the tinkling
bells of passing cars, the many shops (some with large show-windows,
some with swords, straps for the shoulders of different ranks,
hat-cords with acorns, or other insignia,) the military patrol
marching along, with the orderly or second-lieutenant stopping
different ones to examine passes--the forms, the faces, all sorts
crowded together, the worn and pale, the pleas'd, some on their way
to the railroad depot going home, the cripples, the darkeys, the
long trains of government wagons, or the sad strings of ambulances
conveying wounded--the many officers' horses tied in front of
the drinking or oyster saloons, or held by black men or boys, or
orderlies.
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