camps were infested with vermin--"war bugs," as we usually called them--which, with what we already had after two weeks of constant march, with neither time nor material for a change, made us exceedingly uncomfortable. CHAPTER X GENERAL JACKSON COMPLIMENTS THE BATTERY--MALVERN HILL--MY VISIT TO RICHMOND On July 1 we passed near the battlefield known as Frazier's Farm, also fought on June 30 by the divisions of Magruder, Longstreet, and others, and arrived early in the day in front of Malvern Hill. For a mile or more our road ran through a dense body of woods extending to the high range of hills occupied by the enemy. At a point where another road crossed the one on which we had traveled, and where stood two old gate-posts, we were ordered to mount the caissons and limbers and trot on toward the firing already begun. This order can be attributed to the reputation our battery had made, and is a matter of record, which I quote: "At Malvern Hill the battery was openly complimented by General Jackson in connection with Carpenter's battery. When Gen. D. H. Hill asked General Jackson if he could furnish him a battery which would hold a certain position, from which two or three batteries had been driven by the galling fire of the enemy, he said, 'Yes, two,' and called for Carpenter and Poague, and General Hill ordered Captain Poague to bring up his battery at once." Taking the road to the left, we soon emerged from the woods into a wheat-field, the grain standing in shocks. While seated on a caisson, driving down this road at a trot, I was suddenly seized with a presentiment that I was to be killed in this battle, the only time such a feeling came over me during the war. Finding myself becoming rapidly demoralized, I felt that, in order to avoid disgrace, I must get down from that seat and shake the wretched thing off. So down I jumped and took it afoot, alongside of the gun, as we passed down a little ravine which was being raked from end to end by the enemy's shells. The diversion worked like a charm, for in two minutes the apprehension toned down to the normal proportions of "stage fright." We were soon in position with our six guns ablaze. The enemy's batteries were posted on considerably higher ground, with three times as many guns and of heavier caliber than ours, which served us the same galling fire that had wrecked the batteries preceding us. After having been engaged for an hour, a battery posted some two hundred yards to our left was stampeded and came by us under whip and spur, announcing, as they passed, that they were flanked by Federal cavalry. In the commotion, some one in our battery called out that we had orders to withdraw, and, before it could be corrected, eight or ten of the company, joining in the rout, beat a retreat to the woods, for which they were afterward punished; some being assigned as drivers, and one or two gallant fellows having it ever afterward to dim their glory. We soon, however, recovered from the