. Three rivers, the James, the Potomac, the Hudson: a retrospect of peace and war . n hacks, loadeddown with well-filled champagne baskets andother viands, were the first to block the roads andbridges in their mad haste to escape that night-mare of the army, that frenzy of the imagination,that phantom of the dark, the black horse cav-alry. The facts of the case are these, so far asrelates to the cavalry scare: The right wing of ourarmy had made a detour on a U-shaped linesome ten miles in extent (here it was that Alex-ander made his discovery), while the distancefrom the start to the finish ac
. Three rivers, the James, the Potomac, the Hudson: a retrospect of peace and war . n hacks, loadeddown with well-filled champagne baskets andother viands, were the first to block the roads andbridges in their mad haste to escape that night-mare of the army, that frenzy of the imagination,that phantom of the dark, the black horse cav-alry. The facts of the case are these, so far asrelates to the cavalry scare: The right wing of ourarmy had made a detour on a U-shaped linesome ten miles in extent (here it was that Alex-ander made his discovery), while the distancefrom the start to the finish across the arms of theU was not more than a half-mile. The men who had followed the road in their ad-vance did not, and, in fact, could not, appreciatethe real relation of things, and very naturally,when retreating, followed the road taken in theadvance. So blocked, indeed, were the severalroads that the small available force of the Con-federate cavalry could not have penetrated thismass had they tried, more particularly as the rearguard, a plucky little battalion of some two hun-. (Clpariity tl|f ISoa^ fnr Sattpnia Aiiuattrr, J. p. et pinx. THE POTOMAC RIVER iii dred regular infantry, covered the retreat andheroically contested every foot of ground. Herewas the difficulty in the case: After our troopshad traversed a distance of some eight or tenmiles on the U circuit, the field batteries of theConfederates and a few mounted men on horseswithout distinction of color or kind, fell upon ourflank, creating the not unwarranted impressionupon the minds of those in flight that the rear ofthe column was annihilated, and that the cavalryof the enemy had cut its way through to the headof the column. At this juncture the scene that has been de-scribed by Pollard of the Richmond JVhJcr^ aConfederate writer, as he says, beggared descrip-tion, two or three men on every horse, horsescut from wagons and artillery pieces with tracesdangling at their heels and wild with excitement,negro dr
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