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When we came to cheat river, our Colonel S. V. Fulkerson gave his horse to our our Capt. and he started in saying come on boys. The ford was something like 2 1/2 ft deep and you know how high it struck. When we got across, we held up our feet in order to let the water out of our boots & traveled on. In that engagement we lost one of our best canons a rifled brass piece. The tongue got broken out and of course it had to be left. The artillery men cut the wheels down when an ax and left it. Our canons did terrible execution in that engagement from all accounts.

We learn from a citizen that the enemy were burying late Sunday evening - our loss small.

It is thought that we will leave here in a short time. We are getting the Yankees where we want them, where citizens cut their scouts down.

It is said that some 8 or 10 have already been killed on cheat mountain. It will be more dificult for them to get news from our camp now. We are getting down now among our own kind of stock. The home rifle will crack occasionally as they come thru the gorges of those mountains. Pendleton county is all right. The Yankees are releasing our prisoners. They make them take oath not to raise arms untill we release the same number. Probably they had another object in view viz; to win the favor of the people in these counties, as most of them were from the surrounding counties. If they should get me the oath would be from mustache out

You must not think, any of you, that because we have retreated this time we are much hurt. Read the history of the revolutionary war, where a Washington was general, and you will learn all about retreats.

I think about all of our men have got up showing the probable loss of 15 or 20. It is said that the Yankees

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