Breathed leaped upon one of them, and shouted:--
"Mount!"
The men threw themselves into the saddle--some armed with sabres,
others with clubs, others with pieces of fence-rail, caught up from the
fires.
"Charge!" thundered Breathed.
At the head of his men, he lead a headlong charge upon the Federal
cavalry, which broke and fled in the wildest disorder, pursued by the
ragged cannoneers, Breathed in front, with yells, cheers, and cries of
defiance.
They were pursued past Barboursville to the Rapidan, without pause.
That night Stuart went after them: their officers held a council of
war, it is said, to decide whether they should not bury their artillery
near Stannardsville, to prevent is capture. On the day after this, they
had escaped.
In passing Barboursville, on their return from Charlottesville, one of
the Federal troopers stopped to get a drink of water at the house of a
citizen.
"What's the matter?" asked the citizen.
"Well, we are retreating."
"Who is after you?"
"Nobody but old Jim Breathed and his men, armed with fence-rails."[1]
[Footnote 1: His words.]
Such was one of a dozen incidents in Breathed's life. Let me come to
that which took place near Spottsylvania Court-House.
Grant had moved, as we have seen, by his left flank toward that place.
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