There is scarce a doubt that if we could have had two hours more of daylight, the Rebel army would have been totally annihilated, as it was we captured forty-nine pieces of artillery, besides retaking the ones taken from us in the morning, and over two-thousand prisoners. Our loss was very heavy, being over six-thousand in killed and wounded; that of the enemy being much less. The loss in our regiment was one killed, fifteen wounded and thirteen missing. The change from the gloom of disaster that hung over our army in the morning, to complete and undisputed victory in the evening, cannot easily be described. The rebellion for this portion of the confederacy was effectually closed. And when we remember the armies, great and small, that have at different times marched up and down this famous valley; the many hard fought battles for the mastery of its soil; its importance in the great drama of the rebellion is plain. Here the sons of nearly every State in the Union are sleeping the last long sleep: some in burial places set apart for their repose, while many, many more, quietly rest in unmarked and forgotten graves, the victims of a wicked, cruel and uncalled for attempt upon the life of the purest and best government upon the face of the earth. We encamped at night upon our old ground, but without tents, blankets or rations, the Rebels having made clean work of our camp, and as most of the men left their haversacks where they grasped their muskets, but very few had anything to eat, though fighting hard from five in the morning till seven at night has a tendency to make one hungry. We changed our camp the next morning to a more sheltered one; anything but refreshed from our sleep on the cold, damp ground. In the course of a few days we drew blankets, overcoats and some tents. Some of the officers rigged up quarters from pieces of old tents, wagon covers and old boards, not especially handsome; but they answered to write in, and after a great battle there was always plenty of that to do. It was an army saying that the trouble in fixing up papers after a great defeat was only exceeded by that occasioned by a great victory. We remained here for some time, doing nothing, as there was nothing to do. The valley was absolutely ours. On the 28th, the army was paid off, and of course money was plenty, much to the satisfaction of the suttlers, as well as the boys. On November 9th we moved back to near Kearnstown, about five miles from Winchester. It was here that “Little Phil” received his Major-General’s commission in the United States Army, just one month previous he having received a Brigadier-General’s commission in the same, winning the one at Winchester, September 19th, and the other at Cedar Creek, October 19th.