Reclining upon a bundle of straw, resting my tired, aching limbs, I was joined by my first Lieutenant, Shellman, who, with face radiant with joy, informed me that he had just heard the Colonel commanding express his belief that we would surely be in front of Washington before thirty-six hours. With all my heart did I hope it might prove true; but I had my doubts. I did not like the confusion we had witnessed, and feared it would require some days to reorganize the army, and place it in a condition to assume the offensive. That it was possible to yet retrieve the great error committed on the 21st and 22d, I was inclined to believe; but that it would be done was another question; and an observation from a private soldier suggested itself to me more than once. It was made while we were retracing our steps to Manassas after the battle, when all were out of humor. “A President and two Generals,” said he, “are too many to command one army.” And subsequent events proved how correct it was. As day after day passed by, and there appeared no indications of offensive operations being resumed, our hopes of a speedy peace vanished, and we saw nothing before us but a protracted and bloody struggle. Rapidly the enemy reorganized and reinforced his broken and discomfited army; and in an incredibly short time the genius of McClellan had placed around Washington an army and fortifications that it would have been madness for the Confederate Generals to attack. It was determined, however, to present to them a bold front to conceal as much as possible our own numerical inferiority, and, therefore, the Confederates were advanced until they held possession of Mason’s Hill, but five miles from Alexandria. Munson’s Hill was soon after taken also, after a slight resistance; and the Southern army was thereby placed still nearer to the National Capital. The infantry, under the command of Colonel J. E. B. Stuart, remained some weeks at Fairfax, when it was ordered to Fairfax Station, on the line of the Orange and Alexandria railroad, there to reunite with the balance of the brigade, now commanded by General Elzey. Here we set ourselves down for a long stay, as everything indicated that hostilities would not be renewed until spring, for both governments seemed to have set to work preparing their respective armies for the desperate fighting to be then begun. Strict and rigid discipline was sought to be enforced throughout the Confederate army; and it was then we saw the incompetency of many of our officers, and had forebodings of the disastrous results likely to accrue from the wretched system adopted by the government of electing officers to companies instead of their being appointed by the Executive after a searching examination by an experienced and competent soldier.