. A soldier's recollections; leaves from the diary of a young Confederate, with an oration on the motives and aims of the soldiers of the South . anked him,and returning to my mess began packing my knapsackpreparatory to moving up to headquarters. Observ-ing this, the men asked me what I was doing, and inreply I told them I was tired doing the duty of an infan-tryman and was going up to headquarters to be onthe generals staff. I have mentioned that most ofmy immediate friends had preferred not to reenhst,and as the day approached (it was now only two weeksoff) when our company was to be muster
. A soldier's recollections; leaves from the diary of a young Confederate, with an oration on the motives and aims of the soldiers of the South . anked him,and returning to my mess began packing my knapsackpreparatory to moving up to headquarters. Observ-ing this, the men asked me what I was doing, and inreply I told them I was tired doing the duty of an infan-tryman and was going up to headquarters to be onthe generals staff. I have mentioned that most ofmy immediate friends had preferred not to reenhst,and as the day approached (it was now only two weeksoff) when our company was to be mustered out, I hadbeen made the butt of many a gibe as to what would bemy fate after that. I would, said they, be drafted company — which was made up of roughs — andwhat would I do then? Well, now it was my turn tolaugh, as I told them that the general said one reasonhe had selected me was that I had been the first toreenlist. My cousin, Wm. Duncan McKira, had, previousto this, been appointed aide to General Trimble, andMcHenry Howard had been given a place on GeneralWinders staff. I entered at once on my duties, but was embarrassed. LIEUT. RANUOLPII H. McKIM, 1862 STONEWALL JACKSONS VALLEY CAMPAIGN 111 by the fact that I had neither horse, nor sword, norspurs — and of course no uniform but my gray jacketwith the chevrons of a sergeant on the left arm, havingbeen made color sergeant not long before. I hadhardly reached headquarters when the enemy wasreported advancing, and in a very short time the bloodybattle of Cross Keys, Sunday, June 8th, had Steuart bade me mount a beautiful black horsebelonging to Major Kyle, the quartermaster, who wasabsent. I felt happy and proud when I found myselfastride of that fine animal. I need not describe the battle that ensued. Thathas been done with admirable accuracy by in his Life of Stonewall Jackson, andby various other writers. Ewell, with 6,000 infantry,5 batteries, and a small cavalry force, d
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