Not even the scenes on the late battle-field beyond the Rowanty, made
my mood gloomy; and yet these were not gay. Graves were seen
everywhere; the fences were broken down; the houses riddled by balls;
and in the trampled roads and fields negroes were skinning the dead
horses, to make shoes of their hides. On the animals already stripped
sat huge turkey-buzzards feeding. My horse shied as the black vultures
rose suddenly on flapping wings. They only circled around, however,
sailing back as I disappeared.
Such is war, reader,--a charming panorama of dead bodies and vultures!
Turning into the Quaker road, I went on until I reached the
head-quarters of General William H.F. Lee, opposite Monk's Neck. Here,
under the crest of a protecting hill, where the pine thickets afforded
him shelter from the wind, that gallant soldier had "set up his
rest"--that is to say a canvass fly, one end of which was closed with a
thick-woven screen of evergreens. My visit was delightful, and I shall
always remember it with pleasure. Where are you to-day, general, and
good comrades of the old staff? You used to laugh as hard as you
fought--so your merriment was immense! Heaven grant that to-day, when
the bugles are silent, the sabres rusting, you are laughing as in the
days I remember!
Declining the friendly invitation to spend the night, I went on in the
afternoon; and on my way was further enlivened by a gay scene which
makes me smile even to-day.
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