The enemy held a strong position on a ridge difficult of ascent, and immediately in front of a dense pine thicket. At least three hundred yards separated us, and the charge was to be across a wheatfield, and of course without shelter of any description. It was a desperate undertaking; but upon that charge rested the fate of the Confederate army. At the command, with one wild, deafening-yell, the Confederates emerged from the woods, and, amidst a perfect storm of bullets, the gallant fellows rushed across the field. But they never wavered nor hesitated, and, dashing up the acclivity, drove the enemy pell-mell from their strong position into the thicket in their rear. Halting the column for a minute to reform, Elzey pressed on in pursuit; and, when we came once more into the open country, we saw before us, and for a mile down to our right, no organized force, but one dense mass of fugitives. With the successful charge of Elzey upon their right flank, the whole of the Federal army had given way, and was rushing madly in the direction of Washington. Nothing that I ever saw afterwards could compare with that panic; and, as we pressed on in pursuit, men surrendered themselves by hundreds. It was whilst thus pursuing the enemy that President Davis and Generals Johnston and Beauregard rode up to Colonel Elzey, amid the joyful shouts of the men, and the former, with countenance beaming with excitement and enthusiasm, seizing him by the hand, and giving it a hearty shake, exclaimed: “_General_ Elzey, you are the Blucher of the day.” Inclining to the right, the command halted for a few minutes near the Henry House, and close by the famous Rickett’s battery, which had been captured by the Eighth Georgia infantry, after a most desperate struggle. The ground was thickly strewn with the dead and wounded of the Seventy-Ninth New York Highlanders, which gallant regiment had supported the battery. The wounded were suffering terribly for water; and our men spent every moment in attending to their wants.