lery is booming, shells are shrieking and bursting, rifles are rattling, and occasionally a volley is fired. The rebel yell is now almost continuous. Still, on we sweep.

There is the place, near those thick bushes, where the gallant Lieutenant Roane received a scrapnel shot in his abdomen, when one of his men, whom he had just given the flat of his sword for showing the white feather, said: "I'm mighty sorry for Lieutenant Roane, but he oughn't to beat me like he did."

We are halted. There is a lull in the fire and uproar. The Light Division has been ordered to take the lead. It is beginning to get dark. We move again, and just ahead is where we came out into the plank road (I could not understand before why we came out of the fields and woods into the road, but it is all plain now we went straight, but the road makes a turn). It is there where we saw the deserted artillery, and the dead and wounded horses. All looks now just as it did then. I do not think the trees have grown a bit; even the bushes seem to be the same.

HERE IS THE PLACE.

We march by the left flank along the road a short distance, and halt, and front. Here is the place. Our left is near the brow of a low hill or rise. It is so dark that we cannot see a man across the road. Lane's skirmishers are in front and open fire just abreast of our left flank.

In a short while a wounded man is borne along towards the rear, just behind our regiment. Several men were holding him up, and he was trying to walk, when brave Sergeant Tom Fogg recognized him, and said: "Great God, it is General Jackson!" Then the order is given to deploy the regiment as skirmishers, and almost immediately the road was swept by such a destructive artillery fire as can only be imagined. I don't believe the like was ever known before or since.

The darkness and the fire combined render it impossible to execute the movement. The men drop on the ground. Colonel Mallory calls upon the officers to do their duty (the last words he ever spoke). My company, which was the right company of the regiment, was wheeled to the left and marched through the storm down to the color line. How beautifully the company responded to their captain's orders. They were heroes among heroes. The captain intended to deploy by the right flank as soon as he reached the color

line, but to get there was all that we could do.
and live.

No man could stand

Being just a little behind the brow before mentioned, most of the shells which missed the brow missed us while lying on the ground, and those which struck the brow ricochetted over us.

It was impossible for us to rise, so the men only raised their heads to fire, and to add to it all, the men in the darkness behind us, not knowing that we were there, opened fire on us.

After we had remained sufficient time for our lines to be established in our rear, Major Saunders gave the order for us to fall back.

THE HOUSE GONE.

The old frame of a house is gone, but there is where it stood, and it was by the side of this old house, forty yards from the middle of the road, where I was lying, and by the light of the musketry fire and the bursting of the shells that I saw Major Saunders, and, although I could not hear his voice, I knew by his gestures that his order was to fall back.

A FAMOUS CHARGE.

Both together they numbered about six hundred-just the number that made the famous charge at Balaklava. They had been ordered forward, and could not stop without orders; so on they went.

"Was there a man dismay'd?

Not tho' the soldiers knew

Some one had blunder'd;

Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:

Into the Valley of Death
Marched the six hundred."

And there is the opening they came to. It is a valley with the hill next to the enemy rising somewhat abruptly, and crowned with fortifications, as far as could be seen, both to the right and to the left, behind which were the enemy's infantry and artillery, and within less than 100 yards of those breastworks, which were wrapped in a flame of fire and a pall of smoke, with

Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they marched and well,
Into the jaws of death

Into the mouth of hell,

Marched the six hundred."

And when the fire was so severe that the men could stand no longer, and knowing it was all the result of somebody's blunder, they lay on the ground and loaded and fired as fast as they could, waiting for orders to retire. But no order came.

Officers were falling so fast that no one knew who was in command. And just at this time T. R. B. Wright, who was then a private in the Essex Sharpshooters, seeing our flag fall, ran and seized it and carried it to the front, calling to the men to follow. Ah, Tom, Sergeant Jasper did not perform as brave an act as that, but the men couldn't follow. Had they attempted it, without an interposition of Providence, not one would have been left to tell the tale, and God alone spared your life.

And, when Adjutant R. L. Williams could find no officer above his own rank to command the regiment, he took the responsibility upon himself, and ordered a retreat; and

"Then they came back, but

Not the six hundred."

Casualties-Colonel, dead; Lieutenant-Colonel, wounded; Major, dead. Every captain, except one,* either dead or wounded. Every first lieutenant either dead or wounded. Every second lieutenant, except four, either dead or wounded. One-third of the men either dead or wounded. And what is left of the 55th Virginia Regiment is commanded by the adjutant and four second lieutenants.

Cardigan, at Balaklava, left hundreds of prisoners behind. Pickett, at Gettysburg, left thousands; but every man of the 55th Virginia who could walk was brought off the field.

* Captain W. J. Davis and several of his men having got lost from his regiment in the darkness after the wounding of General Jackson, called out for the 55th, and was answered, "Here we are!" ́and, not knowing any better, walked right into the enemy's lines, and inquired for his company, when a boy, apparently about sixteen years old, stepped up close to him, and, looking on his collar, discovered his rank, and, patting him on his shoulder, said "Captain, this is the 55th Ohio, and you are my prisoner."

When can their glory fade

On the wild charge they made."

I was lying on the ground by the side of Tom Wright at the time. I stood up, gave the order to my company and instantly I was wounded by a piece of shell from the enemy, and Garland Smith, only a few feet from me, was wounded by a bullet from our own men in our rear.

Yes, brave old Tom Coghill, you took me to that very white oak tree, with scars on it now from top to bottom, and there we lay with Garland Smith behind us, until the fire slackened.

Jackson and A. P. Hill both being wounded, Stuart was sent for during the night to command the corps, and our brigadier (Heth), was put in command of the Light Division, and Colonel J. M. Brockenbrough succeeded to the command of our brigade.

And over the same ground our brigade was ordered next morning (the 3d) to advance in line to near the same spot and halt-Fortieth and Forty-seventh on the right of the road, and Fifty-fifth and Twenty-second battalions on the left-and either by a blunder or dereliction of duty on the part of some one, when they arrived at the proper place, the Fortieth and Forty-seventh were halted, and the Fifty-fifth and Twenty-second battalions were not halted, but allowed to keep straight forward and charge the whole of Hooker's army alone.

[From the Richmond Dispatch, Feb. 7, 1897.

COMPANY I, 56TH VIRGINIA.

Roster of the Command-Some of Its Movements.

BALTIMORE, MD., February 4, 1897.

To the Editor of the Dispatch:

You will please publish in your Confederate column the enclosed roster of Company I, Fifty-six Virginia Infantry, organized in Charlotte county, Virginia, in June, 1861, and mustered into service at Richmond, Virginia, July 18, 1861. It was known as the Charlotte Grays. The Regiment went West, and shed its first blood at Fort Donelson, Tennessee. Returning to Virginia in May, 1862, it was

put in Pickett's Brigade, with the Eighth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-eighth Virginia regiments, and with these regiments helped to win for General Pickett his major-general stars at Gaines's Mill. It served until the end of the war in this brigade, taking a conspicuous part in the noted Pickett's charge at the battle of Gettysburg.

The company's roll has been carefully compiled by Lieutenant Floyd Clark, now living at Chase City, Virginia, and myself. Your's, very respectfully,

J. W. BREEDlove.

Private Company I, Fifty-sixth Virginia Infantry.

THE ROSTER.

William E. Green, captain, died since the war.

Thomas S. Henry, first lieutenant, nephew of Patrick Henry.
William H. Price, second lieutenant, died since the war.

John T. Palmer, third lieutenant.

Thomas N. Read, first sergeant, died since the war.

William P. Morrison, second sergeant, wounded at Fort Donelson, and died.

Thomas B. Smith, third sergeant, wounded at Gettysburg.

Peyton R. Lawson, fourth sergeant, killed at South Mountain. Robert A. Holt, fifth sergeant, wounded.

William T. Guill, first corporal, a color guard, and killed at Gettysburg.

Stanard Booker, second corporal.

Jacob W. Morton, third corporal, wounded at Gettysburg, and captured.

W. W. Berkeley, fourth corporal.

PRIVATES.

Allen, Joseph, dead; Baker, Elijah, killed at Gettysburg; Baker, John E., died during the war; Beasley, W. D., wounded at Gettysburg; Blankenship, Joel, died during the war; Blankenship, Dick, died during the war; Booker, Horace, discharged early in the war; Brightwell, William, dead; Brightwell, Charles; Breedlove, John W., wounded at Gettysburg; Clark, Charles J., promoted to captain, wounded at Gettysburg; Clark, Elijah W., dead; Clark, E. C., transferred to cavalry; Clark, William, dead; Clark, Floyd, pro