August 20, 1864
A brigade of
cavalry passed last night, coming from Deep Bottom, and reported this morning
to General Warren, to cover his flank and rear, and help destroy the railroad.
A Lieutenant McKibbin, who once went out with me on a flag of truce, was badly
hit in the shoulder yesterday. He is a curious young man and belongs to a very
fighting family. Being the son of a hotel-keeper, he joined the army as a
sutler; but, at the battle of Gaines's Mill, as soon as the musketry began, he
deliberately anointed his tent with butter, set the whole shop on fire, took a
gun and went into the fight, where he presently got a bullet, that entered on
one side of his nose and came out under his ear! Thereupon he received a
commission in the regulars, where he still remains. . . . There was rain still
to-day, making the ground so bad that orders were finally issued that no waggons
should go west of the plank road, all stores being sent thence on pack mules.
In the morning came a couple of hundred Rebel prisoners, taken yesterday. Among
them were a number of their Maryland brigade, quite well dressed and
superior men, many of them. They were very civil, but evidently more touchy
than the extreme Southerners, who exhibit no feeling at all. These Marylanders,
however, were very anxious to say they were fighting hard when taken, which I
don't doubt they were. They had the remains of fancy clothes on, including
little kepis, half grey and half sky-blue. There was one officer who was
next-door neighbor of Dr. McParlin, our Medical Director, and the Doctor went
to see him. General Williams has just been in. His great delight is to rub the
fuzz on top of my head with his finger, and exclaim: “Wonder what color the
baby's hair is going to be!”
SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s
Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness
to Appomattox, p. 220-1
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